He tapped her leg before standing up.
He didn’t say a word as he walked around the room picking things up. Her heels first, gathering them from where they were tossed, lining them neatly against the wall.
Meadow blinked. “What…what are you doing?”
“Your room is loud,” he said calmly, still not looking at her. “Thought I’d quiet it down a little.”
She blinked again. “What does that even mean?”
“That fuckin’ question,” he grunted but continued doing what he was doing.
Zaire picked up a jacket off her bed and folded it with a neatness she didn’t expect from a man who kept a gun tucked in his waistband at sunrise.
“It means when your world feels heavy,” he finally answered her, “sometimes the space around you gotta be light.”
Meadow grabbed her throat trying not to choke on him.
He kept moving.
Collected her scattered jewelry and placed it all in a dish.
Stacked two books that had been half under the bed.
Straightened the lamp scarf so the light stopped flickering.
It wasn’t controlling…it wasn’t invasive…it was care.
Silent…Masculine…Needed.
Meadow watched him with her heart sitting in her throat. “You don’t have to do that.”
“I know.” He looked over his shoulder at her. “But you drowning in real life shit right now, least I can do is give you a room you can breathe in.”
Her heart broke open at his tenderness, something she hadn’t realized she’d buried.
He nodded toward her phone on the bed. “Put some music on.”
She sniffed. “You got a preference?”
“Something that ain’t sad. Something like you was listening to when I caught you bent over the other day.”
“Zaire!” Meadow shrieked.
“I’m always a man, baby.”
“What does that even mean?” she whispered, almost laughing at her own question.
He smirked. “Means play something that makes them hips move.”
She rolled her eyes and picked her phone up. “Zaire -”
“And if you put on that whispering R&B shit I’m leaving,” he added.
She laughed and clicked on a playlist.
A smooth beat filled the room, bass heavy and warm, the kind that lived low in the body.
Zaire bobbed his head. “I love it when you listen.”
