I rose a bit and pressed a kiss on her cheek. “Tell me the answer,” I whispered.
She smiled a little as she looked at me. “It's simple. Dogs lick our skin because they know there are bones underneath it.”
Jesus. Fucking. Christ.
I was shocked. Slightly numb, too, if I were being honest.
“Is this another one of Kenzie's jokes?” I asked her.
Her lips twitched. “Nope. Original. Allmine,” she said proudly.
“Fuck, Zaira. When the hell did you get so dark?”
She let go of a long breath. “I'm just being logical. Dogs love bones. We have bones. Hence, they lick us. Beneath those innocent eyes of theirs are tiny little hungry demons.”
“You're being scary is what it is, not logical,” I told her. “Please, never,everrepeat that again.”
Her eyes gleamed in amusement. “I can't promise that, but I'll try.”
I chuckled. “I'll take it. With you, I guess that's the best I’ll get.”
She raised a brow. “You’re getting better at negotiation. I like that.”
“Just adjusting to my niche, that’s all,” I said.
“What are you, an Okapi?”
I laughed. “What the hell is even an Okapi?” I asked.
“It’s an animal that comes from the giraffe family but looks kinda like a zebra,” she replied matter-of-factly.
“And you think I’m a zebra-like giraffe?”
She slapped my chest playfully. “You said you were adjusting to your niche, so that’s the first thing that came to my mind.”
I bit my bottom lip. “Zaira?”
She blinked at me.
“Why are you like this?” I asked her.
She stared at me for a long moment, and then suddenly burst into laughter. “I don’t know,” she said. “I seriously don’t know.” She laughed harder.
I joined her, and then shook my head when she began dragging a finger over my nose. “You’re madly flawless, you know that?” I told her.
She smiled and bent to kiss me. “Oh, I know, babe.I know.”
As I laughed and kissed her again, I once again counted my blessings, because it’s always a sensible idea to show appreciation towards what you’ve been so generously gifted, isn’t it?
And Zaira – she was the perfect kind of present. She was the only thing I would never give up on.
Not for anything.
