His name was barely out of her mouth before he found himself running out of his room and taking the stairs two at a time. He flew out of his apartment and into hers, glad that they never locked their doors, only to curse when he found himself wondering if someone had managed to break in through the front door and found their way into her apartment. He didn’t stop to check the front door, but ran up the stairs, following the high-pitched screams and the dog’s furious barks and growls that wouldn’t stop.
He only paused in her room long enough to see that she wasn’t in it and headed for the open bathroom door and nearly tripped over Toby in the process. As he stumbled over the dog and tried to right himself, Trevor felt the breath in his lungs freeze and his mouth drop open.
There could have been an ax murderer in the room for all he knew and he wouldn’t have been able to look away from the sight of Zoe standing in the corner of the bathtub with her back to him as her baby pink towel threatened to drop even further, revealing more of that generous bottom that had him licking his lips and groaning. Thankfully her high-pitched screams covered the betraying sound.
Somehow, Trevor managed to tear his eyes away from the beautiful sight before him to look around for the serial killer that had to be waiting to attack them, judging by her screams. When he only found Toby, and he really hoped his new owners would take pity on the damn dog and change his name, growling at the cabinet, he couldn’t help but frown in confusion.
“What the hell is going on in here?” Trevor demanded loud enough to cut through Zoe’s screams and get her to shut the hell up along with the dog.
Without looking back, Zoe reached behind her and frantically pointed in the direction of the growling dog. “It’s in there!” she screeched as if that said it all.
Sadly enough, it didn’t. Although he did appreciate the fact that her towel managed to drop another two inches, revealing the top halves of two perfectly rounded cheeks. It was the least she could do for scaring the shit out of him, Trevor decided as he crouched down and gently pushed the growling dog aside so that he could take a look.
He carefully pushed aside extra rolls of toilet paper, a first-aid kit, a can of shaving gel, pre-treater, and an unopened box of a twelve-pack of condoms that earned a frown but didn’t find anything even remotely scream-worthy.
“What exactly am I looking for?” Trevor asked, shooting a glance over his shoulder at his shivering tenant, who was still cowering in the corner, which was probably a good thing since she’d probably rip him a new one for staring at her ass.
“A spider,” Zoe said, sounding so horrified that he couldn’t help but laugh.
“That’s why you were screaming bloody murder? Over a spider?” Trevor asked, knowing that if she was any other woman that he would be yelling at her for scaring the hell out of him, but for Zoe...
She was always so strong, never had a problem telling him off, and loved to piss him off for fun. So, to see Zoe freaking out over something as ridiculous as a spider was too much to believe. Other than keeping her mouth shut when she thought he was just the landlord’s asshole nephew, he couldn’t imagine Zoe being afraid of anything.
“It’s huge!” Zoe clarified, staying right where she was.
“Uh-huh,” he said, not bothering to hide his disbelief. It was probably just a tiny spider that had taken her by surprise.
“Well, I’m not seeing it now,” Trevor murmured, taking another look for this “huge” spider and chuckling.
He felt more than heard Zoe rush past him and wasn’t all too surprised to find her standing in the middle of her bed with the towel now snuggly wrapped around her body, much to his disappointment, a few seconds later.
“I tell you what, Miss Scaredy Pants,” Trevor said, grinning hugely when she shot him a venomous look, “after I get ready to go out, I’ll come back and take another look for the killer spider. Maybe by then, it will feel safe enough to come out.”
She licked her lips nervously as her eyes darted back to the bathroom where Toby, how he hated that name, obviously bored since Zoe stopped screaming, now lay across the bathroom floor sleeping.
“You promise?”
“Yes, I promise,” Trevor said, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. No doubt he was going to have to hunt down a small spider outside and throw it into a glass jar to convince her that he’d found it, otherwise, he wouldn’t hear the end of this.
“O-Okay,” she said, shifting on the bed.
Trevor bit back a smile as he paused near the bed, knowing she’d probably kill him later, but simply couldn’t resist. “There’s just one thing. I need a towel.”
Zoe yanked her eyes away from the bathroom to frown down at him in confusion. “Your closet is full of towels.”
“Uh-huh, but I need a pink towel,” Trevor explained as he reached out and ripped her towel away from her. He was already halfway down the stairs when he heard her gasp of surprise and heading out her door when she started threatening the poor confused appendage in his pants that didn’t know any better.
Chapter 13
“Zoe?” Trevor said as he walked up the stairs. “Are you still here quivering in fear?” he asked, chuckling when he remembered the expression on her face when he’d ripped the towel away.
Too bad he hadn’t been able to stick around to steal a peek at what he’d uncovered, Trevor thought with a heavy sigh. It was probably for the best that he didn’t know what lay beneath all her baggy clothes.
He walked into the bedroom to find Toby cuddled on the bed with the ratty old teddy bear that Zoe seemed to love. The playful pup raised his head, wagged his tail and panted happily as he watched Trevor approach the bed.
“Hey, buddy, you want to help me slay the monster?” Trevor asked, giving the dog a playful scratch behind the ears that earned a groan of delight. After a minute, Toby rolled over onto his back in silent demand that Trevor gave into with a little sigh. Damn demanding dog, Trevor thought with a smile.
If he wasn’t afraid that Zoe would think that he was a pushover, he’d be tempted to forget his rule and let her keep the dog. Hell, he was half thinking of stealing the dog for himself. He’d always loved having dogs as a kid and promised himself that he’d get another one when he was older, but he never seemed to have the time for one.
