“Don’t. I’m fine,” Zoe said, taking a deep breath and forcing herself to sit up, knowing that if she didn’t, she’d find herself hauled out of here against her will, further adding to her humiliation.
She opened her eyes to find Jared kneeling next to her on the frozen ground, looking concerned and upset. “Would you feel better if one of us drove you to the hospital?” he asked softly as he took off his much larger and thicker jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders. She pulled it tightly around herself as she nervously looked around the small group of concerned construction workers that stood around her.
“I’m really fine, guys. Embarrassed, but fine,” Zoe said, giving them a small reassuring smile, hoping it would be enough to convince everyone to walk away.
It wasn’t.
But thankfully, Jared took pity on her. With a long-drawn-out sigh that did not bode well for her, he gestured for them to leave. They did, but only after they made her promise one more time that she was okay.
“Are you okay to stand?” Jared asked.
Her head had stopped spinning for the moment, so she assumed that she was okay. She hoped, at least. Passing out hadn’t exactly been a fun experience.
“You look a little pale, Zoe,” Jared said, putting his arm around her and gently guiding her towards the office trailer.
“Oh,” Zoe said, worrying her bottom lip. She was tired, hungry, a little lightheaded, a bit weak, humiliated, and not really sure that she could show her face around the guys again, but other than that, she was okay. “I’m fine,” she said, giving him what she’d hoped was a reassuring smile.
He narrowed his eyes on her as if he didn’t quite believe her. “Are you sure?”
“Positive.”
“I could drive you to your doctor,” Jared offered, opening the trailer door and gesturing for her to step inside. “Or I can take you to the hospital.”
“I’m really fine. Don’t worry about it,” Zoe said, feeling the first sign that perhaps everything wasn’t exactly okay. A few seconds later when she sat down, her suspicions were quickly confirmed and she did her best not to wince when her butt screamed in agony.
Her eyes shot to the clock. Thankfully, she only had a few more hours to kill before she went home for the weekend and this weekend, she was going to make damn sure that she got some rest. After nearly two months of their “arrangement” Trevor had to be bored with her. Not that she wanted to end their arrangement.
No, what she wanted at this very moment was sleep, lots of it and a really large icepack for her bottom, and sleep wasn’t exactly something she got when Trevor was around. The man just could not seem to keep his hands off her, Zoe thought.
That didn’t change the fact that the man was killing her. No matter how many times they’d agreed to take a step back and limit their time together, and those conversations always ended with her on her back, they couldn’t seem to keep their hands to themselves and they’d tried. They really did, but it didn’t do them any good.
If they weren’t working, she wasn’t at the gym swimming, or he wasn’t watching a game with the guys, then they were having sex. They had sex in every room, in every position and they couldn’t seem to stop. As great as it was, she really needed some sleep. She wasn’t sure that she could keep going at this rate. She-
“Zoe,” Jared said, sighing unhappily, “we need to talk.”
“You owe me sex.”
Trevor didn’t even bother looking up. He grabbed another nail and drove it into the floor as he did his best to ignore Hank’s bitching.
“Did you hear me?” Hank demanded. “Because of you, I didn’t get sex.”
“How exactly is it my fault that you didn’t get laid last night?” Trevor asked, giving up all hope that the man would simply walk away.
“Because you didn’t show up last night,” Hank snapped, sounding truly pissed. Not that Trevor could blame the man. If he had to go a night without sex, and he was pretty sure he’d die because there was no way that he could go twenty-four hours without touching Zoe.
“And you needed me for what exactly? Pointers?” Trevor asked, slamming another nail into the floor.
“Hardly,” Hank said, making a sound of disgust. “When you didn’t show up like you promised, Mandy left because she didn’t want to be a third wheel. Then, Cindy left because she didn’t like the idea of her sister going home alone. So, thanks to you, I went home alone last night.”
“Uh-huh,” Trevor said, gesturing for the man to move back so that he could do his damn job and get home, hopefully on time. There was absolutely no doubt in his mind that the man had hung back at the bar after the women left and tried to find a bar bunny to spend the night with.
“Look, Cindy is willing to give me another shot. So, I need you to come out with us tonight,” Hank said, still sounding put out and really starting to piss him off.
“Just take this Cindy woman out and forget about finding the sister a date,” Trevor said, wondering why the man was bothering him with this bullshit.
“Because the sisters are close. They don’t like dating unless they’re both dating,” Hank explained.
“Then find someone else to take her sister out. I’m fucking exhausted.” Which, unfortunately, was true. He was so damn tired. He had to force himself to focus and move his ass when he was at work. When he was at home, he couldn’t seem to force himself to rest. If Zoe was around, he had to have her. It was as simple as that.
