Toby released the toy so that he could bark in the direction of Zoe’s apartment. He gave the dog one last pat and walked into Zoe’s apartment, frowning when he didn’t find her. She usually wasn’t too hard to find after work. She was either reading, watching television, or running around their apartments cleaning.
He put the bags down and grabbed the new baby pink leash Zoe bought last week. “You want to go for a walk?” Trevor asked even as the dog stood up on its hind legs and tried to jump into his arms. “I’ll take that as a yes,” he said, chuckling as he clipped the dog leash to his, God help him, matching baby pink collar and took the dog for a quick walk. He swore if one more person called his dog “a pretty girl” again, he was going to spank Zoe’s ass.
Ten minutes later, he was walking into Zoe’s bedroom carrying the bags with Toby on his heels. It didn’t take him long to realize that Zoe wasn’t in her bedroom. The soft sobs he heard coming from the bathroom clued him into her location and tore at his heart. Why did she affect him like this? Trevor wondered even as he headed for the bathroom.
“Zoe?” he said softly.
“Go,” a soft sob, “away.”
Sighing, he pushed the door open and walked inside, not all that surprised to find her sitting in the tub with her knees drawn up to her chest. When she saw him, she tried to avert her gaze as she wiped the tears away with the back of her arm.
“What’s wrong?” Trevor asked, placing the bags on the floor next to the tub as he knelt down in front of it and pushed a wet strand of hair behind her ear.
“I’ve just had a very bad day and want to get some sleep now,” Zoe mumbled, sounding truly miserable.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Trevor asked, turning the faucet on to add fresh hot water to her bath. He picked up the large pink plastic cup she kept by the tub and rinsed her hair as she sat there, resting her chin on her knees.
She shrugged.
“I heard you took quite a fall today,” Trevor said, squirting some shampoo into his hand.
“It was just an accident,” she said, sniffling.
He didn’t believe that for a damn second, but he bit his tongue. Screaming at her wouldn’t help, besides, it would kill him if he was the reason for her tears. So, for a few minutes, he didn’t say anything as he took care of her.
Without a word, he drained the tub and held up one of the extra-large, fluffy towels she liked. She gave him a small trembling smile as she stood up and allowed him to wrap the towel around her.
“Why don’t you sit right here?” Trevor said softly, leading her over to the chair by the bathtub. “I’m going to take a quick shower and then we can talk, okay?”
Worrying her bottom lip as more tears streamed down her beautiful face, she gave him a reluctant nod. He turned his back on her as he quickly stripped, knowing she probably wouldn’t appreciate the hard-on he was sporting at the moment. She was so damn exhausted, and he knew that it was his fault, but they had another matter he’d ignored for way too long that they needed to deal with tonight.
After a quick shower, Trevor wrapped a towel around his waist and sat down on the edge of the tub. Zoe sat on the chair, looking so damn miserable that it made his chest ache. Shoving away useless feelings that wouldn’t help either one of them, he reached into one of the bags and grabbed the two small bottles of orange juice, glad to find that they were still cold.
“Here,” he said, passing her one of the bottles.
“I’m not thirsty,” she said with a small shake of her head.
He simply ignored her refusal and pressed the bottle in her hand before he grabbed the small turkey grinder he’d picked up for her and handed it to her. When she tried to refuse, he decided the bullshit was over.
“Eat it,” he said softly.
When she shook her head again, he met her eyes. “I know you passed out today, Zoe. I also know that you’ve been starving yourself for the past few months,” Trevor said, not bothering to soften his words.
She worried her bottom lip for a minute before she responded. “I’m not starving myself. I just count calories.”
“You’re starving yourself, Zoe. You don’t eat meat. You’ve cut everything your body needs out of your diet and you’re losing weight too damn fast,” he said, praying for patience because if this didn’t work, he had no idea what the hell would.
She looked down at the drink and sandwich in her hands. “I don’t like being fat,” she mumbled sadly.
Cursing softly, Trevor moved to kneel on the floor in front of her. When she refused to meet his gaze, he gently cupped her chin and raised her face.
“Hey, you’re not fat, Zoe. You’re curvy and sexy as hell, but you’re not fat,” he said firmly. “But you are starting to scare the hell out of me and if you don’t start eating, I don’t think we can continue this.”
Her eyes narrowed dangerously on him as she processed what he’d said. “You’re cutting me off?”
“If you keep up this bullshit diet,” Trevor said, shrugging as if the idea of going without her luscious little body didn’t bother him.
She considered him for another minute before she said, “You’re bluffing.”
