"Trevor," she said nervously as he shifted in his chair to get more comfortable and sighed contently.

"I believe I owe your cute little ass a spanking," he murmured, making her snort her disbelief.

"Little?" she repeated, wondering if the man was high. Although she'd lost a decent amount weight and she thought her butt looked smaller, she wouldn't go as far as to call it small or cute for that matter. Clearly the man was insane, which could explain why he had her over his knees in her kitchen and was-

"Why are you pulling my pants down?" she demanded as she felt her soft plaid pajama pants yanked down below her bottom.

"I believe skin on skin action is more effective, don't you?" he asked as he traced a lazy path around the edge of her panties and in that moment she was glad that she took the extra time this morning to search for the pretty pink panties she bought over the weekend that matched her pajama pants to perfection instead of just grabbing a pair of her old panties from her bureau.

"And I believe letting me up so I can get ready for work would be even better, don't you?" she said, trying to shift to the side in hopes of rolling off his knees so she could make her escape.

"Well, I guess I could do that, but I'm not going to," he mumbled as he absently ran his hand over her bottom almost earning a betraying moan from her.

When she felt his response beneath her stomach she did moan even as she couldn't help but wonder how a woman like her could possible excite a man like Trevor. It was as though they were trapped on a deserted island or something and she was the only woman around. She remembered the way women looked at him the other night in the bar and knew the man could probably have his pick of available women. So why did he want her? Maybe he was going through a plump fetish, she thought as he squeezed a cheek and groaned.

Whatever it was it worked for her at the moment so she was going with it. It might end up being one of the dumbest things she'd ever done in her life, but right now she truly didn't care. Being with Trevor made her happy and after too many years of misery she wasn't going to be foolish enough to push any type of happiness away.

"I'm feeling very generous this morning," Trevor announced as he palmed her other cheek.

"You mean you're not going to spank my ass?" she asked, sounding hopeful even to her own ears. As happy as the man made her she was also exhausted and really needed to get to work. She hadn't missed a day of work in years and didn't plan on it now......well, unless Trevor could persuade her with that very gifted mouth of his. She'd consider listening to his argument for a few hours, just to be polite of course.

"No, I'm still going to have to spank your ass," he said, giving it another squeeze as she felt the thing beneath her poke her hard. "What I meant was that I was willing to overlook the fact that you're wearing underwear in the house."

As she did her best to hold herself up on his lap she frowned, wondering what the hell he was talking about. "Why wouldn't I wear underwear in the house?"

"Because it gets in my way," he murmured, running a finger over her panty clad bottom until it met her slit and she knew the second he realized that she was wet, because he practically shoved her off his lap the same time she did her best to scramble away before they did something foolish.

"I, um, I have to go," he said, breathing hard as he stepped back away from her.

"To work," she said, feeling like an idiot as she pulled up her pants, but thankful that he'd stopped before she'd done something crazy like beg him to take her, but it had been damn close.

"Yeah, work," he agreed absently, noticeably swallowing as he ran hungry eyes over her body. Zoe licked her lips as she did the same, pausing at the very noticeable bulge in his pants.

"You should definitely go," she mumbled even as her body screamed for her to beg him to stay, but she wouldn't. Couldn't. This arrangement was about fulfilling their needs, not screwing with their lives. For the sake of both their lives and jobs they needed to stay focused.

He started to take a step in her direction only to stop and abruptly turn towards the kitchen island and grab his lunch pail on his way out the door.

"This was your only warning," he said gruffly, pausing at the kitchen door with Toby hot on his heels.

Frowning, she asked. "Only warning about what?"

Was he that worried about her feeding the dog his food? She knew the man loved food, but really one slice wasn't going to-

"Wearing underwear in the house, Zoe. Next time your ass is mine," he said, giving her a wink before heading out the door and causing her mouth to drop open.

"You're kidding, right?" she yelled, knowing that he was joking. The man couldn't be serious, she decided as she started cleaning up the mess so that she could get ready for work. There was no way he actually expected to go around the house sans panties, she decided with a soft laugh. That was just crazy.

Chapter 19

Why did everything hurt? Trevor wondered as he shut off his truck and sat there almost too afraid to move.

After working a twelve hour day he could expect some muscle soreness and a night with several ice packs, muscle gels and aspirin to look forward to, but this was ridiculous. Of course he knew the real reason behind his current state.

Zoe.

Never in his life had he taken a woman all night like that before and he probably would have continued to take her until he was forced to leave the bed for work if Zoe hadn't conked out on him around three this morning. After seven hours of the best sex of his life the hot shower and two hour nap he'd taken hadn't done a damn thing to help ease the soreness from muscles that he'd never noticed before.

Heaven help him, but having this arrangement with Zoe might just end up killing him. As much as it pained him to admit it, he was going to have to limit his time between the sheets with Zoe to once a day, at night, after a hot shower to relax, and he was going to have to keep it very simple. If he was going to remain in control she was going to have to lie on the bed, in the dark and not move a muscle or say one damn word.

It would either take him longer to work her out of his system this way or bore the living hell out of him enough that he was finally able to break whatever weird little spell the woman had over him so that his life could get back to normal. One thing was for sure, he thought as he climbed out of the truck, groaning, if they kept this up nothing would ever get done.

This morning when he felt how wet and ready she was he'd almost ripped her panties off and found out just how good a hot, wet woman really felt, but at the last second he somehow found the willpower to resist her. He couldn't help but chuckle at the reminder that a woman like Zoe, a woman who shouldn't have caught his attention never mind had him drooling, had this much power over him.

None of the other women he'd dated, not that he was dating Zoe, he wasn't, ever had this much control over him or distracted him this much. All day he'd had a hell of a time focusing on his job. Every time he started to think about Zoe, not sex with Zoe just Zoe, he forced himself to work harder to clear his head. When he found himself constantly looking over at the office trailer, hoping for a glimpse of Zoe, he punished himself by setting a brutal pace.

He needed to get this under control before it got out of hand. Sex with her was great and he'd like nothing more than to spend the day with her in bed, but he couldn't. This was an arrangement. Nothing more. He wasn't about to make his plain little tenant the center of his world. Right now she was just a tiny part of it and the sooner they treated it like any other part of the day the better, he decided as he walked up the small walkway to his house.

There were a hundred and one other things that needed his attention like a cold beer and the television after a hot shower and he intended to give them his full attention without the distraction of his little tenant. If later tonight he felt the need to make his little tenant a visit he would do just that. It would be quick and simple, like scratching an itch and then he'd be done with her for the night, at least as far as sex was concerned. He still liked listening to her read at night so he'd return to the comfort of his own bed, alone, and listen as she read. Then he'd get a nice relaxing night of sleep, Zoe free.