Animalistic (Tiger in Her Bed)

She thought for a minute. “The one next to the kitchen, if you don’t mind? It has a small bathroom that I like.”

“You don’t want the one that has the big windows?”

“The master bedroom?” She shook her head. “Shouldn’t you be taking that one? I’m happy with just a small room. It’s the same size as my room in my old apartment. Plus, I don’t have a lot of stuff.” She blinked. Jesus, she didn’t have any possessions except the clothes she was wearing on the day of the fire. If Trent’s mom hadn’t taken her shopping, she wouldn’t have anything to wear at all. She was downsizing on a whole new level.

Trent ran his hand over his short cropped hair. He leaned against the windowsill in the spacious living room. “I got used to sleeping in tents, barracks and other strange places, so it doesn’t matter to me. I’d like you to have the best seat in the house.”

“That’s so generous of you, but the small one is fine.”

“All right then. Want to help me pick up some furniture tomorrow? You’re definitely not working this weekend, right?”

“No. I cleared it with Sabrina earlier. She said I can take as many days as I want. Paid days. So that’s good.”

“You think she felt guilty?”

Arielle shrugged. “Who knows? Sabrina and ‘guilty conscience’ are rarely used in the same sentence. Hey, shouldn’t we talk about rent?”

“Rent?” Trent raised his eyebrows. “I don’t need rent from you.”

“You and your family have helped me a lot in my time of need. Please don’t make me feel like a charity case.”

Trent lifted his hands up. “All right. How about one dollar for the next three months since you lost everything in the fire. And after that, pay me whatever you paid for your old place.”

“One dollar? Are you serious?”

“Dead serious.”

“Wow. I don’t know how to thank you. The apartment was rent-controlled, so we only paid around eight-hundred dollars for a three-bedroom place. Is that okay with you? It doesn’t seem like enough.”

“Sure it is. Like I told you, your money is no good here. Besides, I may need your help with legal stuff for the gym, drafting contracts and combing over the documents for my project. Quinn likes meticulous reporting and everything needs to be documented down to the smallest detail. I think you can help me with that.”

“Deal. I might not look like it, but I’m a whiz at tedious paperwork. I’ve handled setting up new companies with special tax exemptions before. A non-profit foundation would be no different.”

“I believe you.” He looked at his wristwatch. “Are you getting tired? Do you want to go back to my mom’s or is there any place you’d like to go?”

She scanned her surroundings. “You said you trusted me with furnishing the apartment? Why don’t we go to a paint store to look at samples? It’s been ages since I did some painting.”

“Sure, why not? Sounds good to me.”

Chapter Six

Two weeks later…

The girls in the office acted like someone in her family had died again when Arielle went back to work that morning. They offered solemn condolences on the demise of her apartment and asked her if they could do anything to help. Then they quietly whispered that they were shocked Chris and Sabrina were an item and expressed their outrage over how the two had stabbed her in the back.

Arielle was surprised that people knew she and Chris were over. News traveled fast in this office, but according to Emma, the two weren’t trying to be inconspicuous, so everyone in the office knew what Chris and Sabrina were doing. And they were all appalled.

To be honest, Arielle wasn’t even angry anymore. Trent and his family had helped her forget all the unpleasantness.

She had been busy helping him move in and furnish the apartment. They went shopping for kitchen appliances and got mistaken by the salesperson for a newlywed couple. When she tried to correct her, Trent smoothly interjected that Arielle wasn’t his girl, yet, but he planned to make her his soon. Arielle was amazed Trent didn’t seem embarrassed at being seen with her, even in her shabby state.

Unlike Chris.

When she and Chris started going out in high school, she was small and delicate, while Chris was brawny and imposing. They were the perfect couple. But then stress got to her and she started to let herself go. Chris was always on her case, telling her to exercise or diet, veiled by an “I’m worried about you” excuse, when in reality he was mostly just concerned about his image. But Trent wasn’t like that at all; he seemed to relish her curves.

Maybe what she needed was, in a cosmic joke sort of way, one hell of a bad day to stop her from clinging to her past and embrace the new. The apartment fire stopped her from living in her mother’s memories. Catching Chris cheating made her realize that there was nothing left for them to hold on to anymore. They had been great together in the past, but no more.

She needed to move on.