Zaire shook his head, smiling against her skin. “You ain’t learned how to act, yet.”
She whimpered softly, arching and begging him to put her through the mattress. “Zaire…” she sighed.
He kissed all the way down her neck, slow and torturous. “You heard what I said…I ain’t dickin’ you down ‘til you stop runnin’ from what this is.”
Her breath stuttered. “I’m not runnin’.”
He sucked lightly at the base of her throat. “Then prove it.”
Meadow clawed at his shoulders, kissing him again…hotter this time, messier, full of everything she felt but couldn’t say. Zaire kissed her back with the same hunger but kept control of it, refusing to take it further.
When she finally slumped under him, panting, lips swollen, he rested his forehead against her collarbone.
“You good?” he asked.
“No,” she whispered honestly. “I want you.”
“I know,” he said, kissing her once more. “But you gon’ wait. The last time I blessed you, you didn’t talk to me for four days.”
Meadow whined, “I won’t do it again, I promise.” When he shook his head ‘no’, she groaned into his neck, heated and frustrated.
He rolled off of her and sat up, grabbing his phone and handing it to her. “Log in.”
She frowned. “For what?”
“Our bills.”
Her heart dropped. “Zaire.”
“Log…In…” He tilted his head, staring at her like she was refusing water in the desert.
Meadow sighed, grabbed his phone, and typed in her login info for the water company.
Zaire watched her balance pop up, months behind, and his jaw flexed hard. “Pay it,” he said.
She hesitated. “Zaire…”
He leaned forward, thumb brushing her cheek. “Baby… pay it.”
She took a shaky breath and hit Pay Total Balance.
When the confirmation popped up, she felt her eyes burn again.
“Next,” he said, nodding toward the phone again. “All of them…even the ones I don’t know about.”
She went to the electric company’s site and logged in. She paid that too. And the gas bill since that was the one that got her caught up.
Her shoulders dropped with each payment, like bricks sliding off her back one by one.
When she finished, Zaire took the phone from her and set it on the nightstand.
He grabbed her chin gently, making her meet his eyes. “Now breathe.”
Meadow didn’t even try to fight the tears this time. She fell into his years.
Zaire kissed the top of her head. “You ain’t never goin’ back to carryin’ all that by yourself. Not while I’m here.”
She whispered into his neck, voice raw. “I don’t want you to leave in a month.”
