Chapter 11
“But that one’s pretty!” Zoe pointed out as Trevor simply sighed while he grabbed the pretty pink princess dog toy out of the carriage and returned it to the shelf.
“He’s a male, Zoe. He needs man toys,” Trevor stressed, picking up a dull brown rope and tossing it into the carriage along with a few, in her opinion at least, boring-looking chew toys.
She gestured to the pink princess chew toy. “Couldn’t we just get that and see if he likes-”
“No way in hell,” he said, giving her a quick swat on the ass to get her moving.
“Stop doing that,” Zoe hissed at him even as she started moving before he could do it again, and she knew he would. He simply shrugged as if it was no big deal and it probably wasn’t for him, but it was seriously screwing with her hormones.
It was just another reason for her to get her butt in gear and do something about it and she would. Right after she bought that really cute flowery pink bowl set for Toby.
“Don’t even think about it,” Trevor warned before she got into grabbing distance.
He reached past her and grabbed two large metal bowls and placed them in the carriage with the rest of the stuff that he’d picked out since every one of her suggestions was met with an exasperated sigh and a few muttered choice words.
“Fine,” Zoe said, making a mental note to swing back this way after she finished with her other shopping.
The same shopping that she was really nervous about.
She’d put it off as long as possible, but if she wanted to make some changes in her life and meet a guy and hopefully have sex again before she was eighty, then she’d have to suck it up and do it.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Why?” Zoe asked, stepping past him and that gaze of his that made her feel like he knew what she was thinking. What she had planned tonight was bad enough. She didn’t need him finding out.
Jumping back into sex by having a one-night stand wasn’t exactly something she wanted to share, especially with Trevor, who would never understand.
It wasn’t as if she’d ever done it before or even planned to make it a habit, but it was something that she needed to do.
Not just because she really missed and needed sex again or that she was sure she would die if she didn’t have it soon, which she was, but because she didn’t think her self-esteem could take the hit if she ended up dating a guy only to have him run the other way when he saw her naked for the first time.
Her self-esteem wouldn’t be able to handle a rejection of that level.
Tonight was the test. She was going to find a man that she was relatively attracted to and take a chance.
If he took one look at her naked body and made a run for it, then she’d know that she had more work to do before she pursued any relationship.
If, on the other hand, the man wasn’t repulsed, and they had sex then, she’d feel more confident about moving forward with her plans.
“Hey,” Trevor said, lightly tapping her on the nose.
“What?” Zoe asked, slightly startled.
“I asked if you saw the dog treats anywhere. I think we went past the aisle,” he said, craning his neck to look around.
“They’re probably back near the food,” Zoe said, already pushing the carriage that way. As she moved down the aisle, her eyes landed on a bottle of strawberry-scented dog shampoo.
Trevor muttered something as he reached past her and grabbed a bottle of unscented green dog shampoo.
Zoe added another item to her ever-growing list of items to pick up later.
She didn’t know how long she’d have Toby for, but she planned on making him feel special and loved until he went to live with his new family.
She knew how it felt not to have a real home and she didn’t want that for Toby. For as long as he was with her, she would make damn sure that he felt welcome.
“Can I help you find something?” a purely feminine voice asked.
He was barely able to draw his attention away from Zoe’s baggy jean-covered ass as it wiggled enticingly while she leaned over to search for the “perfect biscuits for the little sweetie pie”, her words, not his.
Instead of telling her to just grab the cheapest bag she could find, the words caught in his throat when she bent over.
Hell, he couldn’t even make out the exact shape of her ass, but that hadn’t stopped him from licking his lips or imagining his hands and mouth exploring her curves.
Holy shit, he needed to get laid.
“Sir?” that damn voice said again, sounding almost hesitant this time.
He barely stopped himself from cringing as it dawned on him that he’d just been caught ogling Zoe’s ass. At least he hadn’t been caught by the guys at work, Trevor reassured himself as he turned his attention to the woman trying to get his attention and nearly groaned.
Of course, he’d been caught ogling a woman like Zoe by an incredibly hot woman, Trevor thought dryly. No doubt the woman thought he was a desperate asshole.
“Can I help you find something?” she asked again, running the tip of her tongue over her pale pink lip as she ran her eyes over him. She was incredibly beautiful, tall with just the right amount of curves and the perfect amount of makeup applied to her face, making it look natural.
She was absolutely stunning and he should be working on getting her number, however...
Her nose wasn’t cute enough. It was nice, but he would have liked it more if it was smaller, almost button-like. She had pretty blue eyes, but a little too pale. Until that moment, he hadn’t realized he actually preferred a vibrant blue over a pale blue.
Her chin had a little tiny cleft that was barely noticeable, but he noticed it.
Her eyebrows were a little too thin, her hair a little too light, and hell, he might as well admit that she was just a little too thin for what he was looking for.
Not that he usually had a problem with women that were too thin, but he had been wondering lately what it would feel like to run his hands over a woman and not feel her hip bones or be able to count her ribs by touch.
He’d also been wondering how a woman with a full figure would cradle his body.
His eyes as if they had a mind of their own shot from the woman, who a few months ago would have met all of his physical requirements, to the woman who was seriously fucking with his head.
Her shoulder-length hair was pulled up into a messy bun, she didn’t wear any makeup and her clothes were increasingly baggy on her, hiding whatever figure she might have and his damn cock twitched with happiness just from looking at her.
He looked at the beautiful woman frowning up at him and his cock did nothing. His eyes shot back to Zoe and damn if his cock didn’t twitch happily. Trevor swallowed hard as realization hit.
There was something wrong with his dick.
“Are you okay?” the woman asked, drawing his attention. She met his eyes and gave him a sexy little smile that should have piqued his interest but did nothing.
“Excuse me?” Zoe suddenly said, once again drawing his attention back to her.
She stood in front of them, holding a small bag of what appeared to be tiny dog biscuits and not doing anything particularly sexy, but he found himself appreciating her adorable little smile, her beautiful bright blue eyes, and how she cared more about comfort than fashion.
He liked looking at her, talking to her and just being with her, he realized suddenly, much to his shock. At some point, he’d become attracted to his little tenant and he hadn’t even realized it. She was turning his life upside down and screwing with his head and he couldn’t understand it.
Women like Zoe shouldn’t be able to catch his attention for so many reasons he didn’t even know where to start.
He liked women like the one next to him and he should be putting in a little effort to talk her out of her panties and see if she met any of his criteria for a wife, but instead of doing that, he was checking out his frumpy little tenant and wondering how loud he could make her scream his name.
This wasn’t fucking happening. He didn’t like women like Zoe and refused to start now.
He had a game plan and he was going to stick with it.
The problem was he hadn’t gotten laid in too damn long and the only woman he’d spent any real time with the last couple of months was Zoe, so that’s why his poor neglected dick was so confused.
Tonight, he would take care of this little problem by hitting a bar and picking up the hottest woman he could find and fucking her until his dick was back on board with his game plan and gave up its rather disturbing demands that he get to know Zoe a little better.
“Do you have these in a larger bag?” Zoe asked the woman next to him, making him roll his eyes. Seriously, did the woman really not know anything about dogs?
“Zoe,” Trevor said as he took the small bag away from her so that he could look at the tiny biscuits through the clear plastic window on the front of the package, “these are for small dogs. Toby,” and how he hated having to call that poor dog by that name, “is pretty big and needs larger biscuits,” he pointed out.
She shrugged. “I know, but those are really cute,” she said with that damn adorable smile that had his damn cock taking notice.
Dumb bastard, he mentally cursed the rebellious appendage.
“Your brother’s right,” the woman next to him said with a knowing smile, expression, and tone that flat out let Zoe know the woman dismissed her as any real competition in case her words hadn’t.
His eyes once again darted to Zoe, wondering if he had time to get her out of the store before she started crying.
Christ, why did women have to be so fucking vicious?
Zoe hadn’t done anything to deserve her attitude.
He’d admit that in the past, this little scene would have amused him and probably would have entertained him to no end to have women fighting over him, but for some reason, he couldn’t stand the idea of Zoe being hurt. She was-
“Oh, he’s not my brother,” Zoe said brightly as if she didn’t realize the woman had just insulted her. She squished up her face adorably in thought. “At least, not until he makes it legal with Jonathan,” she said, her eyes flashing with amusement as she watched the woman take it all in.
Who the hell was Jonathan? Trevor wondered as the rest of what she’d said sank in and when it did, he glared at her as he fought back the urge to pull her over his knee and spank the hell out of her ass.
“You know damn well-” Trevor bit out tightly before she had the nerve to interrupt him with a teasing smile.
“They really are the cutest couple I’ve ever seen,” she said dreamily, leaving him on the verge of committing murder.
“Y-Your brother?” the woman next to him choked out, clearly not believing that he could be gay. At least one person realized how foolish Zoe’s claims were and-
“I should have known,” the woman said, sighing as she gestured to the end of the aisle. “There’s a larger bag on the top shelf,” she mumbled before walking away, clearly not willing to waste another minute of her time on him.
“Thank you,” Zoe said brightly, clearly fighting back a laugh as she threw him a wink and headed off, leaving him confused, pissed, stunned and admittedly impressed.
Any other woman would have either freaked out over the insult or started crying, but Zoe not only ignored the woman’s intended insult but had come out on top, laughing and knocking him on his ass for shits and giggles.
Self-confidence like that was fucking hot.
It was too bad she wasn’t his type, Trevor thought as he walked past her, only pausing long enough to grab the bag out of her hand and give her luscious little ass a swat for good measure, grinning when he heard that little growl of hers that he liked so damn much.
It really was too bad that she wasn’t his type.