Tia grinned, “Oooooh, bitch.”
Meadow kept going. “Or NorthStar ’cause he feel like…I don’t know, direction…like he be keeping me steady without trying.”
Tia nodded slowly. “That’s the one.”
Meadow turned to the associate. “Can y’all do…Marai + NorthStar?”
The employee typed it in.
The preview screen lit up.
Marai + NorthStar stitched in gold cursive against midnight blue fabric.
Meadow’s breath caught. “Yeah, that’s perfect.”
“You getting soft.” Tia bumped her shoulder.
“I’m not.”
“You are.”
“Whatever.”
They both laughed, but Meadow’s eyes lingered on the screen.
It was cute.
It was intimate.
It was…them.
The associate smiled. “It’ll take about ten minutes.”
“Okay,” Meadow nodded, feeling her heart swoon even more.
As she stepped away, she clutched her new luxury bag in one hand and felt something warm bloom in her chest.
She wasn’t just spending his money.
She was choosing him.
And maybe…just maybe…he’d already chosen her.
Meadow layacross the guest bed in Tia’s house, bonnet on, lights low, city glow slipping through the curtains. She had beenstaring at her phone for ten minutes, pretending she wasn’t waiting for Zaire’s name to pop up.
When it finally lit the screen, her stomach dropped.
She took a breath, then answered, “Hello?”
Zaire’s voice was warm, relaxed, carrying that lazy West Coast slide that always made her shoulders loosen. “You sound tired.”
“I’m not,” Meadow lied, smiling into the phone. “Just full. Tia fed me like I been starving myself.”
His laugh was low, sexy, and rough. “Good. I know you run a tight ship and this is past the time dinner is served.”
Meadow rolled onto her back, staring at the ceiling, ignoring the truth. “You all settled?”
“Yeah,” he said. She could hear him shift. “Been hittin’ the balcony, practicin’ a little.”
