She sighed. “Fine. I didn’t know how to talk to you.”
“Why not?”
She hesitated, picking at the grass near her thigh. “Because that night…I don’t know what it meant to you.”
Zaire leaned back on one hand, the muscles in his arm flexing. “Why you think it ain’t mean nothin’?”
“You didn’t say a word about it.”
“You didn’t either.”
“That’s because I didn’t wanna look stupid,” Meadow confessed. She liked to pretend she was a man-eater but the truth was, romance made her heart dance and her soul smile. Yes, she’s hooked up with men just for the nut before, but Zaire was more than that. She liked him. Yes, it started off as physical attraction but talking to him and just watching him, Meadow could admit, she wouldn’t mind seeing if they could be more.
Zaire stared at her nose. It fit her face perfectly. “You could never look stupid to me.”
Her chest did a small flutter she tried to ignore.
He scooted closer. “Look, I wasn’t sayin’ too much ‘cause I wanted you to move how you needed to. You home. Your people watchin’. I ain’t tryna disrespect your space.”
Meadow let that sink in.
Zaire kept talking. “But don’t get it twisted. I ain’t been quiet ‘cause I don’t care.”
She looked at him.
His gaze didn’t waver. “I been thinkin’ about you every day since…thinkin’ about what we did… thinkin’ about how yousound…thinkin’ about how you look when you tryna hide how soft you really are.”
Meadow’s lips parted.
Zaire studied her face. “I don’t regret shit besides not bending you over the first day I seen all that ass.”
Meadow chewed on her lip. “You sure? I’m a big girl, so I won’t trip if it was just sex.”
“I’m lookin’ at you, ain’t I?”
She tried to bite back a smile, but it broke through anyway.
Zaire reached out and tapped the back of her hand. “I like you, Meadow.”
Her lashes fluttered.
“I’m not playin’ no games with you,” he said. “I ain’t perfect. But I ain’t gon’ waste your time.”
Meadow tucked her legs under herself, sitting a little taller. “You really like me?”
“Yeah. I do.” His eyes warmed. “You surprised?”
“Yes,” she admitted.
“Why?”
She shrugged, suddenly shy. “Because most people don’t stick around after they see how my life really is…how I barely have time for myself so I won’t have time to cater to a man.”
“Yeah, well…I ain’t most people and my money so long… you don’t gotta cater to me at all.”
She stared at him, letting her guard slip an inch or two.
Zaire nudged her knee with his.
