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, he 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, he 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, but highlighting her best features.

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 too thin, but he had been wondering lately what it would be like to run his hands over a woman and not feel her hip bones or be able to count her ribs by touch or how a fuller woman 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 wore no 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 back 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 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 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 in 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," he said, sounding exasperated as he took the small bag away from her so 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 god how he hated having to call that poor dog 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 any time to get her out of the store before she started crying. Christ, why did women have to be so fucking vicious? Zoe didn't do anything to deserve her attitude. He'd admit that in the past this little scene would have amused him and probably 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? he wondered as the rest of what she said set 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-" he 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, he 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.

Chapter 12

"I just took you out twenty minutes ago," Zoe complained even as she reached for the new black leash with the small baby blue teddy bear pattern that she'd bought during her second trip to the pet store and headed for the front door.

Sure she could have used the black leather leash that Trevor bought, but she liked this one. It was manly no matter what he said. The teddy bears were blue not pink, she'd pointed out when he spotted it during their last walk. That was immediately followed by a one minute glare that she found kind of cute.

She wasn't sure if he'd been pissed about the so-called "girly leash" or the fun she'd had at his expense at the pet store, but it hadn't mattered because both put a smile on her face. Several times today she found herself laughing at the memory of the little scene from the pet store. She really wasn't sure what she found more entertaining, the disappointed expression on the woman's face who thought just because Zoe looked a certain way that she was a pushover or the horrified almost comical expression on Trevor's face when her words hit home.

He really was an entertaining guy. Haley was right. Screwing over a man just for the hell of it was a lot of fun. It was also nice having someone in her life that she could joke with and just be herself. Over the past three years she'd learned to keep her mouth shut and accept all the crap life handed her as she tried to make something out of her life.

She'd never been a pushover a single day in her life, her big mouth guaranteed that, but working in that office had slowly sucked the life out of her, leaving her gritting her teeth and accepting whatever bullshit her bosses dealt her all while fighting the urge to open her mouth and land her ass in trouble. Turning into a meek little worker had been one of the hardest things for her to do, especially when she was used to speaking up for herself.

Growing up the way she had there hadn't been much of a choice in the matter since there was no one else to speak for her. Even though she'd had about a half dozen different social workers from the age of two until fifteen when she finally ran away, none of them cared about what happened to her. To them she was just a case they'd gotten stuck with and she only saw them about once a year when they had their mandatory meeting to make sure she was actually alive.

Her foster parents, all one hundred and fifty-three of them, had been a different story completely. Some had been nice, some not so nice and some had acted like she wasn't there, but in each and every home she'd been a paycheck and a charity case, nothing more. Not in one single home had she been treated or expected to act like one of the family.

There were always separate rules for her and the other foster kids in each home and different expectations. She was expected to do as she was told and keep her mouth shut when something happened that she didn't like. They learned quickly that they couldn't push her around just because no one cared about her.

She knew other kids kept their mouths shut, too afraid to upset their foster parents and be shipped off to a new home, but that wasn't her. The inconvenience of packing up her small duffle bag and going to a new home, dealing with new foster parents, and learning new rules hadn't been enough for her to keep her mouth shut. If they treated her like crap she spoke up, plain and simple. She never acted like a spoiled little brat who liked to bitch and whine about everything, but when she had foster parents who wouldn't feed her unless she worked for it or liked to hit her or some of the smaller kids, she spoke up, loudly.

Instead of coming to her aide and reassuring her that it would never happen again a few of her social workers actually told her to learn to shut her mouth, telling her it wasn't so bad and that if she wanted a roof over her head and food in her stomach that she needed to learn keep her mouth closed. Sometimes she followed that little tidbit of crappy advice and kept her mouth shut. She might have been a kid, but she hadn't been stupid. She knew no one was ever going to rescue her and love her and that she was damn lucky not to have to live on the street, but sometimes the way her foster parents treated her was too much and she couldn't keep her mouth shut no matter how much she wanted to.

It wasn't until she was fifteen and found herself living in an abandoned car that she realized that sometimes it was better to keep her big mouth shut, especially if she was going to make a life for herself. Although she did her best to curb her big mouth sometimes it still got her in trouble and she found herself in a sticky situation a time or two.

When she landed an entry level job with The N.W. Corporation a few years ago she'd forced herself to keep her mouth shut, knowing she didn't want to mess up the opportunity to make something out of her life. As difficult as it had been she learned to keep her mouth shut, mostly, until she barely recognized the person she'd become where being screwed over didn't bother her because she truly believed she'd move up in the company and all the nonsense they put her through would be worth it.

Had she really been that delusional?