NFH 02 Perfection (9 page)

"I would really appreciate that,"
Jared said with a warm smile. His eyes shot to the clock. "But it
can wait until after your lunch break. I'll cover the phones for
you," he offered and before she could thank him he walked back into
his office, leaving her stunned.

She got a lunch break? she thought
with a smile, but then her eyes landed on Haley. Maybe she
should-

"I'm going to call Jason to come get
Haley," Jared said, popping his head out of his office long enough
to tell her.

"Okay," Zoe said, taking a seat behind
her desk. By the time Jason stepped into the office she'd already
gone through the packet, making notes of the figures that didn't
add up.

He stepped into the office quietly,
wiping sweat off his forehead with the back of his arm,
acknowledging her with a smile and a nod as he walked over to where
his wife slept.

"Hey, my little grasshopper, are you
ready to go home?" he asked in a hushed whisper as he laid his hand
over the swell of Haley's stomach and gently caressed his unborn
child. The gesture was so sweet and romantic that Zoe found herself
biting back a content little sigh. She might question his sanity,
but she sure as hell couldn't question his devotion to his
wife.

"Go away I'm working," Haley mumbled,
absently swatting at her husband as she tried to snuggle deeper
into the couch.

"I see," Jason said, chuckling softly.
"And you're doing a really great job of it, but it's time to go
home."

"I'm too tired to go home," Haley said
around a small yawn.

Jason leaned in and pressed a soft
kiss to her mouth. "I'll carry you."

Haley was quiet for a moment before
she responded. "Do I have to be awake for you to carry
me?"

He chuckled. "No."

She sighed heavily. "Fine. You may
carry me then," she said regally, not bothering to open her
eyes.

"That's very generous of you," Jason
mumbled, grinning.

"It is, isn't it?" Haley said sleepily
as Jason scooped her up into his arms. She curled up in his arms
and Zoe had no doubt that she was already asleep before Jason
finished standing.

Zoe quickly walked over and opened the
door for them. He nodded his thanks to her as he stepped out of the
trailer. After she shut the door she walked over to the large stack
of ledgers and prayed that the results weren't as disastrous as the
last time she looked into bank accounts that didn't add up, because
she was pretty sure she'd miss this place if she had to
leave.

Chapter
8

"You lying bitch!" Trevor hissed as he
stormed into her kitchen.

Zoe fought back a smile, knowing
exactly what he was pissed about. "Good morning to you, too," she
said, focusing her attention on making his lunch and barely biting
back a snort of laughter.

"Don't give me that 'good morning'
bullshit, Zoe. You know exactly what you did!" he accused, trying
to look stern as he pointed a finger at her. His eyes darted down
at the food spread out on her counter several times completely
wrecking the effect, especially when he went ahead and licked his
lips in anticipation.

"Can I have double cheese?" he asked,
momentarily forgetting why he was pissed at her, which she noticed
happened quite a bit when food was around.

Sighing heavily as if it somehow
pained her to do as he asked, she put down the jar of mayonnaise
and added extra cheese to his sandwiches.

"Only three sandwiches? Are you trying
to starve me?" he asked with a pout that she shouldn't find
adorable, but did. "You know we're not all on diets like you, don't
you?" he asked as he reached out and pushed the loaf of potato
bread towards her in silent demand.

With an eye roll she pulled out two
more slices of bread, wondering how she let him talk her into this
particular chore. Oh, that's right. Two months ago he pouted and
kept on pouting for a week until she finally had enough and agreed
to make his damn lunches for him. She hadn't missed the triumphant
smile he tried hiding from her, but she let it slide since it meant
more hours for her and because he was just so damn cute when he
thought he was pulling one over on her.

"Oh god! What the hell have you
poisoned me with now?" he demanded, drawing her
attention.

"Hey! Stop eating my food!" she
snapped, reaching over and taking her bowl of high fiber cereal
away from him. He practically shoved it in her hands. "You keep
screwing with my calorie count, you jerk."

A woman on a diet who was only
allowing herself twelve hundred calories a day was not someone to
mess with as Trevor should have already learned, but the man
couldn't seem to stop himself from stealing whatever food she was
eating. Most of the food she bought was admittedly gross, but it
worked. If she hadn't already lost a lot of weight and actually
felt good about herself she would have given up a long time
ago.

"You owe me an apology!" he demanded.
She'd wondered how long it would take him to get back to that. He
really had a problem with his focus when food was around, actually
now that she thought about it, all the Bradfords she'd come across
had that same problem.

"For what?" she asked, trying to
appear innocent, but her lips twitching as she fought back a smile
kind of killed it.

"For what?" he asked dumbfounded. "For
lying to me! You said that book had sex in it! You lied, again!" He
folded his arms over his chest as he glared down at her.

"Are you sure? I don't remember saying
that," she of course lied. It really did entertain her every night
when he would ask if they were getting to the sex part yet. She of
course assured him that they were while she did her damndest not to
laugh. She lost that battle several times, but thankfully he
couldn't see her burying her face in her pillow and laughing her
ass off at him.

"Yes, I'm sure, woman! That's two
books you lied to me about," he said, still glaring.

"Hmm, you know what, it's been a while
so I guess I just confused the books," she said, scrunching her
face up in thought. "It's definitely in the third book."

He narrowed his eyes on her. "Are you
sure this time?"

"Mmmhmm," she answered, looking back
down as she fought not to laugh.

"Fine, I guess we can start the third
book tonight," he said in that tone that he used when he tried to
make her think that he was somehow doing her a favor. She wasn't
fooled, but she didn't care enough to argue.

Over the past two and a half months
she'd come to enjoy their nightly ritual. It was nice to have
something to look forward to instead of the all consuming
loneliness she used to feel. Her days were no longer filled with
dread and boredom. Now she woke up looking forward to work,
although she missed having Haley to talk to it was still a thousand
times better than her old job.

Zoe hadn't really made many friends,
but the guys were really nice to her and every now and then Haley
called up to say hello. She'd even been invited to Haley's baby
shower. Everyone had been so nice and she'd really been enjoying
herself that is until Haley's water broke. It got a little crazy
after that.

But she did meet some very nice EMT's
and even got to help put a splint on Jason's fingers after Haley
broke two or three of them during the last contraction. Not that he
seemed to care or notice. The man had been a nervous wreck the
entire time. The only thing that seemed to calm him down somewhat
was when the EMT placed the cutest little baby girl she'd ever seen
in his arms.

Little by little, things were
improving for her and she couldn't be happier. Even her
relationship with Trevor was better. She wouldn't exactly call them
friends since they never socialized and he never really went out of
his way to acknowledge her at work, but he did provide her with
entertainment in the morning and at night so he was a much welcomed
part of her day.

She grabbed his lunch box and gestured
to the clock. "You're going to be late." She started the five
minute process of fitting all his food into the small
cooler.

"Shit," he said, reaching into his
back pocket. "Let me pay you before I forget."

Ah, payday, her new favorite day of
the week. It was nice not to cringe anymore when she got paid.
Granted her full-time job paid her more than enough so she had
plenty of money to pay all of her bills and put some away, but the
money she earned from Trevor was her favorite, probably because she
actually had fun plans for this money. If things kept going the way
they were she would be taking her first real vacation, ever, in a
very short time.

"Gimme," she said, grinning as she
held out her hand.

Chuckling, Trevor handed her the money
that brought her that much closer to her dream vacation.

"You better get going," she said,
gesturing with a banana for him to move his butt.

"Yes, boss," he said teasingly as he
swiped her banana.

"Hey! That's a hundred and ten
calories, buddy!" she said, hurrying around the kitchen island to
rescue her banana, but Trevor was already out the door by the time
she made it to the living room.

"There had better be sex in that book
tonight, Zoe!" he yelled from the hallway.

Definitely entertaining, she decided
as she went back to the kitchen to look for something to replace
her banana.

**********

"Hey, does anyone know where that girl
is?" David, one of the supervisors and a complete asshole, demanded
as he stormed out of the office.

Trevor ignored the prick as he relaxed
and ate his lunch. Zoe couldn't cook to save her life but she could
make a damn good sandwich. He was having some of the guys over
after work to watch the game. He'd planned on having her order
pizza for him, but maybe instead he'd have her run out and buy deli
meat so she could make them a platter of sandwiches. Then again he
might just have her do both, he thought with a smile. It was damn
nice to have someone at his beck and call, he thought with a
content sigh.

"Hey, David, I think that's her now!"
one of the guys announced.

He watched with bored interest as Zoe
hurried past the large dumpsters while hugging a large stack of
folders in her arms. She headed towards the office, but was cut off
by David.

"Where the hell have you been?" he
demanded, getting in her face.

Since it had nothing to do with him he
blocked out their conversation and focused his attention back to
the problem at hand. Should he just go ahead and eat the cake
snacks Zoe packed now or wait for his afternoon break? Such a tough
choice, he decided as he ripped open a chocolate cake package and
devoured the tasty treat. As he ripped into another treat he
resigned himself to sneaking into the office later and stealing
some of the fruit that Zoe kept as backup.

He really didn't know how she did it.
Two months without decent food was bad enough, but the shit she ate
was downright torture. The diet was working. It was hard not to
notice that, he thought as he looked up from ripping open another
cake snack open to run his eyes over Zoe.

There was no arguing that she looked
better than she had two months ago. She'd lost about thirty pounds,
but she was still pleasantly rounded, but in a sexy way now. Her
hair was shorter, shoulder length now, making her look less plain.
Actually, with the light tan she was now sporting she actually
looked cute and adorable, not in the cute and adorable sexy way
Haley did, but still cute.

Just then she turned, giving him her
back as she spoke quietly with the asshole and Trevor found his
eyes dropping to that generous ass that even he had to admit was
drool worthy. There was definitely no arguing with the results, but
that didn't change the fact that he was actually getting a little
worried about her.

He wasn't a doctor, but he didn't
think the twelve hundred calories she was restricting herself to
daily was healthy, especially since most of the time she didn't
even come close to that limit. It wasn't as if he was counting her
calories, he wasn't, but she kept her diet journal on the kitchen
counter and he made it a point to sneak a peek at it every morning
and what he saw had him seeing red.

Zoe was starving herself.

A few times he opened his mouth to
talk to her about it only to end up shutting his mouth. It was none
of his business what she did. If she wanted to survive on twigs and
water that was her business. He had his own shit to deal with and
didn't need to add the problems of his tenant onto the
list.

"Damn, I was hoping she'd bitch slap
him," one of the men muttered as David stormed away and Zoe walked
into the office.

"There's always tomorrow," someone
else said wistfully. Trevor didn't care enough to look up from
packing his lunch back up to add to the conversation. It was a moot
point since he really didn't think Zoe would ever have to raise her
hand. With her quick tongue she'd never have to. She'd put any guy
that fucked with her in his place and probably smile while she did
it.