Perfection: A Neighbor From Hell Novel Read online

  He shifted to the left quickly and reached out to grab her, making her squeal excitedly and jump to the right where he was already heading. She tried to turn and run, but he already had his arms around her waist.

  "Gotcha," he said, laughing as he pulled her back against him. She tried to squirm out of his hold, but he wasn't having that.

  "Take your punishment like a big girl," he teased as he pressed a surprising kiss to her cheek.

  "You are not spanking my ass!" she said, trying to squirm out of his grasp.

  Trevor sighed long and loud as he dragged her over to her small kitchen table. "I'm afraid you've left me very little choice," he said, sounding both amused and serious as he hooked the leg of a chair with his foot and yanked it forward.

  "It was just a slice of ham! If you let me go I'll buy you an entire grinder for lunch," she offered desperately.

  "I wish it were that simple," he said, sighing heavily as if what he was about to do truly pained him as he sat down on the chair, pulling her down with him until she somehow found herself lying across his lap on her stomach.

  "How in the hell did you just do that?" she asked, impressed that he'd managed to get her on her stomach and over his knee with very little effort or before she even knew what the hell he was doing. When she tried to move off his lap she found it impossible, especially with that huge arm of his lying across her back, preventing her from moving so much as an inch.

  "Trevor," she said nervously as he shifted in his chair to get more comfortable and sighed contently.

  "I believe I owe your cute little ass a spanking," he murmured, making her snort her disbelief.

  "Little?" she repeated, wondering if the man was high. Although she'd lost a decent amount weight and she thought her butt looked smaller, she wouldn't go as far as to call it small or cute for that matter. Clearly the man was insane, which could explain why he had her over his knees in her kitchen and was-

  "Why are you pulling my pants down?" she demanded as she felt her soft plaid pajama pants yanked down below her bottom.

  "I believe skin on skin action is more effective, don't you?" he asked as he traced a lazy path around the edge of her panties and in that moment she was glad that she took the extra time this morning to search for the pretty pink panties she bought over the weekend that matched her pajama pants to perfection instead of just grabbing a pair of her old panties from her bureau.

  "And I believe letting me up so I can get ready for work would be even better, don't you?" she said, trying to shift to the side in hopes of rolling off his knees so she could make her escape.

  "Well, I guess I could do that, but I'm not going to," he mumbled as he absently ran his hand over her bottom almost earning a betraying moan from her.

  When she felt his response beneath her stomach she did moan even as she couldn't help but wonder how a woman like her could possible excite a man like Trevor. It was as though they were trapped on a deserted island or something and she was the only woman around. She remembered the way women looked at him the other night in the bar and knew the man could probably have his pick of available women. So why did he want her? Maybe he was going through a plump fetish, she thought as he squeezed a cheek and groaned.

  Whatever it was it worked for her at the moment so she was going with it. It might end up being one of the dumbest things she'd ever done in her life, but right now she truly didn't care. Being with Trevor made her happy and after too many years of misery she wasn't going to be foolish enough to push any type of happiness away.

  "I'm feeling very generous this morning," Trevor announced as he palmed her other cheek.

  "You mean you're not going to spank my ass?" she asked, sounding hopeful even to her own ears. As happy as the man made her she was also exhausted and really needed to get to work. She hadn't missed a day of work in years and didn't plan on it now......well, unless Trevor could persuade her with that very gifted mouth of his. She'd consider listening to his argument for a few hours, just to be polite of course.

  "No, I'm still going to have to spank your ass," he said, giving it another squeeze as she felt the thing beneath her poke her hard. "What I meant was that I was willing to overlook the fact that you're wearing underwear in the house."

  As she did her best to hold herself up on his lap she frowned, wondering what the hell he was talking about. "Why wouldn't I wear underwear in the house?"

  "Because it gets in my way," he murmured, running a finger over her panty clad bottom until it met her slit and she knew the second he realized that she was wet, because he practically shoved her off his lap the same time she did her best to scramble away before they did something foolish.

  "I, um, I have to go," he said, breathing hard as he stepped back away from her.

  "To work," she said, feeling like an idiot as she pulled up her pants, but thankful that he'd stopped before she'd done something crazy like beg him to take her, but it had been damn close.

  "Yeah, work," he agreed absently, noticeably swallowing as he ran hungry eyes over her body. Zoe licked her lips as she did the same, pausing at the very noticeable bulge in his pants.

  "You should definitely go," she mumbled even as her body screamed for her to beg him to stay, but she wouldn't. Couldn't. This arrangement was about fulfilling their needs, not screwing with their lives. For the sake of both their lives and jobs they needed to stay focused.

  He started to take a step in her direction only to stop and abruptly turn towards the kitchen island and grab his lunch pail on his way out the door.

  "This was your only warning," he said gruffly, pausing at the kitchen door with Toby hot on his heels.

  Frowning, she asked. "Only warning about what?"

  Was he that worried about her feeding the dog his food? She knew the man loved food, but really one slice wasn't going to-

  "Wearing underwear in the house, Zoe. Next time your ass is mine," he said, giving her a wink before heading out the door and causing her mouth to drop open.

  "You're kidding, right?" she yelled, knowing that he was joking. The man couldn't be serious, she decided as she started cleaning up the mess so that she could get ready for work. There was no way he actually expected to go around the house sans panties, she decided with a soft laugh. That was just crazy.

  Chapter 19

  Why did everything hurt? Trevor wondered as he shut off his truck and sat there almost too afraid to move.

  After working a twelve hour day he could expect some muscle soreness and a night with several ice packs, muscle gels and aspirin to look forward to, but this was ridiculous. Of course he knew the real reason behind his current state.

  Zoe.

  Never in his life had he taken a woman all night like that before and he probably would have continued to take her until he was forced to leave the bed for work if Zoe hadn't conked out on him around three this morning. After seven hours of the best sex of his life the hot shower and two hour nap he'd taken hadn't done a damn thing to help ease the soreness from muscles that he'd never noticed before.

  Heaven help him, but having this arrangement with Zoe might just end up killing him. As much as it pained him to admit it, he was going to have to limit his time between the sheets with Zoe to once a day, at night, after a hot shower to relax, and he was going to have to keep it very simple. If he was going to remain in control she was going to have to lie on the bed, in the dark and not move a muscle or say one damn word.

  It would either take him longer to work her out of his system this way or bore the living hell out of him enough that he was finally able to break whatever weird little spell the woman had over him so that his life could get back to normal. One thing was for sure, he thought as he climbed out of the truck, groaning, if they kept this up nothing would ever get done.

  This morning when he felt how wet and ready she was he'd almost ripped her panties off and found out just how good a hot, wet woman really felt, but at the last second he somehow found the willpower to resist her. He couldn't
help but chuckle at the reminder that a woman like Zoe, a woman who shouldn't have caught his attention never mind had him drooling, had this much power over him.

  None of the other women he'd dated, not that he was dating Zoe, he wasn't, ever had this much control over him or distracted him this much. All day he'd had a hell of a time focusing on his job. Every time he started to think about Zoe, not sex with Zoe just Zoe, he forced himself to work harder to clear his head. When he found himself constantly looking over at the office trailer, hoping for a glimpse of Zoe, he punished himself by setting a brutal pace.

  He needed to get this under control before it got out of hand. Sex with her was great and he'd like nothing more than to spend the day with her in bed, but he couldn't. This was an arrangement. Nothing more. He wasn't about to make his plain little tenant the center of his world. Right now she was just a tiny part of it and the sooner they treated it like any other part of the day the better, he decided as he walked up the small walkway to his house.

  There were a hundred and one other things that needed his attention like a cold beer and the television after a hot shower and he intended to give them his full attention without the distraction of his little tenant. If later tonight he felt the need to make his little tenant a visit he would do just that. It would be quick and simple, like scratching an itch and then he'd be done with her for the night, at least as far as sex was concerned. He still liked listening to her read at night so he'd return to the comfort of his own bed, alone, and listen as she read. Then he'd get a nice relaxing night of sleep, Zoe free.

  "Do you see it, Toby?" he heard Zoe ask as he stepped into his apartment. It sounded like she was in his kitchen. Probably putting away the groceries, he thought with a careless shrug. He'd leave it in her capable hands and get started on his relaxing night, he decided, heading up the stairs.

  "Trevor is going to kill me when he finds out," she said, stopping him dead in his tracks.

  He turned around and headed back down the stairs, praying she hadn't brought home another dog or worse, a cat. He couldn't stand the damn things. As he made his way to the kitchen he swore if she broke another one of his rules, the rules that she agreed to when she rented the place, he was going to spank her little ass, he thought with a small frustrated groan.

  Wait, no ass spanking. Touching her ass only led to really naughty things that he was trying to cut back on, he reminded himself as he walked into the kitchen and nearly tripped over his feet at the sight that greeted him.

  Groceries covered every surface of his kitchen, but that's not what got his attention, okay maybe for a moment, he was a Bradford after all. Zoe on her hands and knees in that knee length navy blue skirt that he swore she wore to drive him nuts today. Every time he saw her today he had to stop himself from grabbing her and hauling her behind his truck or a shed and yank that skirt up so that he could bury himself in her.

  For a moment he watched as her ass swayed invitingly from side to side as she looked beneath his table for something. He could care less at the moment what she'd dropped. The only thing that concerned him right now was her lack of respect for his rules.

  Sure he could let it go and stick to the plan he'd made not even ten minutes ago, but how would that help Zoe learn to follow and respect his rules? It wouldn't, he decided as he spotted the thirty count box of condoms left on his kitchen island near a box of cereal. He grabbed the box and ripped it open, startling Zoe, but not enough to get off her hands and knees or even look over her shoulder.

  "Trevor?" she asked, leaning forward further as she continued her search.

  "Yeah, it's me," he said, pulling out a foil packet and dropping the box back on the counter.

  "You wouldn't happen to see a pint of ice cream somewhere on the floor, would you?" she asked, continuing her search. "I dropped it and I can't seem to find it anywhere."

  "No," he said, not even bothering to look, which just proved how much his rules meant to him. It was up to him to make the ultimate sacrifice and help her learn, he thought with a pleased smile as he unzipped his jeans and proceeded to roll the condom over his already straining erection.

  "Um, what the hell are you doing?" Zoe asked, frowning as she looked over her shoulder, but he didn't miss the hungry expression on her face or the way she licked her lips when she spotted his erection.

  "Getting ready. What does it look like?" he asked as he stepped closer to her and kneeled behind her, caging her legs in.

  "For what?" she asked, sounding a little out of breath.

  He reached down and grabbed the hem of her skirt and placed it over her back, baring that beautiful bottom that he was becoming a tad obsessed with.

  "To enjoy our arrangement. What does it look like I'm doing?" he murmured absently, tracing a finger along the waist of her pale lavender panties.

  "B-but I'm trying to put your groceries away," she argued, but he noticed that she wasn't trying to get away. Not that he expected her to. He didn't need her to tell him how much she'd enjoyed last night to know she'd be up for another round with him.

  "And I need you to fulfill your side of the agreement, Zoe," he said, slowly pulling her panties down until they were bunched just above her closed knees, revealing one of the most beautiful sights he'd ever seen.

  "I am," Zoe said, panting softly. "At least I was taking care of my side of the agreement before you came in here," she said accusingly with no real bite, he noted.

  "I was talking about our new arrangement and your duty to service me," he said, smiling when she did that little growl of hers.

  "Service you?" she repeated in disbelief.

  "Mmmhmm, your job is to service me anytime I'm in need," he said, punctuation his words by tracing her slit with the tip of his erection, earning one of the hottest little moans he'd ever heard.

  "And your part in this arrangement?" she asked, swallowing loudly.

  "To take care of your needs of course," he said on a drawn out sigh as if the thought of taking Zoe in every humanly possibly position and some that were impossible somehow pained him. It did, but in a good way and one that he him breaking out in a sweat as he struggled with his need to take her hard and fast. He'd have to wait at least a week before he stopped holding back. He didn't want to scare her off after all.

  "So.......anytime one of us needs to, um, needs sex the other has to take care of it?" she asked, sounding as if talking at the moment was a struggle, which only pleased him more.

  "Exactly," he murmured, leaning down and placing a kiss on each cheek. "Until we decide to end it," he reminded her.

  There would be no "we" about it. He'd end things when she got too clingy, he tired of her, or he found her replacement. Of course now that he thought about it, stretching it out would have been pretty stupid. He didn't want to chance her falling for him and forcing him to break it off when he wasn't done with her delectable little body.

  "Okay," she said as if she really had a choice in the matter. "But this can't interfere with our jobs or lives," she said, trying to sound firm, but really that little gasp of pleasure she cried out as he sank into her kind of wrecked it, but she did have a valid point.

  "This won't interfere in our lives whatsoever. It's just a little arrangement. Nothing more," he agreed, pulling back, quite proud of himself for managing to talk at the moment never mind form a coherent sentence.

  As good as she felt now he knew the novelty of having her would wear off soon and then she'd go back to being his good little tenant, nothing more.

  **********

  "Why are you so grumpy? I put my finger exactly where you told me to," Zoe said, ignoring Trevor's little glare as he reached over and gently picked up her hand and placed it six inches over onto a different bolt, nut, or whatever the hell he called those dull metal thingies peppered with orange rust.

  "Now don't move," Trevor said, again.

  She let out a long suffering sigh as she wrapped her free arm around herself and tried to stay warm. It was freezing out here and al
l she wanted to do was go back inside and curl up with a good book and a warm blanket, but Trevor had other ideas.

  When she pulled into the driveway ten minutes ago and her car made a horrifying grating sound that she was more than willing to ignore for the sake of warmth and comfort since the heater in her car had stopped working sometime last week, not that she'd mentioned that to him, Trevor came storming out of the house with Toby right beside him, looking as though he'd just woken up and wasn't too happy about it. Not that Zoe could blame him, she thought with a secret little smile. She had kept him up more than half the night for the sake of their arrangement. After a wonderful little encounter in the living room last night she'd demanded a shower with him that he'd been more than happy to give her. After their shower and the hour on the bathroom counter and against the wall that had followed they'd gone their separate ways.

  That is until around eleven when she decided that she could use the benefits from their arrangement again and had let herself into his apartment while he was watching the end of a game and helped herself to his incredible body.

  "Inside. Now," Trevor suddenly bit out.

  "What?" Zoe asked, sounding as though she was coming out of a daze, which she kind of was since she couldn't seem to stop thinking about all the very naughty things he'd done and promised to do. When she thought about the little thing he did with his tongue-

  A surprised and highly embarrassing squeak escaped her when she found herself suddenly upside down and over Trevor's sweatshirt clad shoulder as he made his way quickly towards the house.

  "What the hell are you doing?" she demanded, as she gripped the bottom of his sweatshirt and tried to push herself up without much luck.

  "Arrangement," he said tightly as if that explained it all and sadly it did. She knew that for the next few hours at least that she could look forward to really hot sex, which was great, but she had so many things to do.

  "What about my car?" she asked, hoping to distract him long enough so that she could get some work done. She wanted to clean her bathroom, catch up on laundry, and take a bath before she hit the gym to swim a few laps tonight. Mostly she wanted a nice hot bubble bath to relax in. Going from having no sex in five years to sex nonstop for a month and a half made her a little sore in a few unmentionable places and she had been hoping for a little break. Not that she didn't want to have sex with him, she did. Almost desperately, but she could also use a break.