“‘Cause it’s Friday…I think.” I squeeze my eyes tighter. “What time is it? I need to get up and talk to Smit. I need to go to the bank?—”
“No,” she whispers, dragging a finger down my face. “You need to go back to sleep. When’s the last time you slept in?”
“I can’t remember.”
She tsks. “I figured as much when you were snoring like a bear this morning.”
I chuckle, pulling my eyes off the ceiling and staring at her perfect brown complexion, dark eyes, and rosy pink cheeks. I think she has makeup on again.
“Look at you,” I coo. “You look like a baby doll. You tryna leave me?”
I push up on my trembling elbows, swallowing the phantom cotton in my mouth and breathing through the heavy feeling that crawls onto my shoulders.
“I told you I had to take care of something today.”
I wrinkle my eyebrows.
“I told you in the last voice message I sent you, or have you been half-listening to my messages?”
“No, baby. I…I know. Monday you were mad at me. Tuesday y’all were supposed to clean Ms. Farris’ place but you said you were too sad to go so you stayed in bed. Wednesday, you went and sat with Senior, but you ain’t tell me in the message you sent that night. You told me about it in Thursday night’s message right before you said you had something to take care of today. Then you told me you loved me afterward. I save all of ‘em.”
That weird stutter in my chest creeps down into my stomach while bits and pieces from last night come back to me. There was some bartender at Jazzy’s that tried to tell me I was running from this. There was Arnez breaking down in my truck. And there was Faye and Kenny tryna tell me I couldn’t have the one person that mattered the most to me.
“Where you going without me?” I ask, touching a strand of her straightened hair.
“To take care of something for your dad.”
“Like what?”
She reaches up, pulling the roller from her head and releasing a perfect curl. “Like something that’s between me and him, but I guess I can tell you.”
She rolls her eyes, smirking. “I told him I’d help him with a few things—run a few errands for him to take some of the pressure off you. I’m gonna go make groceries for him and pick up something he needs. Is that okay with you, Mr. Lovelace?”
My dick jumps underneath her warm middle, and she smirks. I sit up, sliding my hands around her body and melting into that field of lavender I wanna live in. That heavy feeling on my shoulders makes me lean forward and lay my head against her warm chest.
“You okay?” she asks.
My heart stutters mercilessly, and if I ain’t know any better, I’d think I was having a heart attack.
She tosses the roller beside us, then rakes her fingers through my hair while I cling to her like a boy clings to his mama.
“It’s okay,” she whispers. “I know it’s scary at first because it’s all new, but when you relax and stop fighting, it feels really euphoric.”
The beats from the different songs blend into a perfect medley, and now they sound like one. Sunlight shines on us from the windows and tickles my skin in a way I haven’t felt since I chased Arnez around the oak tree in our backyard. I breathe in a breath full of lavender.
“Feel good, Tin Man?” she mutters.
I nod.
She pulls my head from her chest and plants a glossy kiss on my lips, and another one, and another one. “I’ll never take advantage of this feeling or of you. I’ll never abuse my control.”
I inhale the words from her mouth and let the stutters roll through my chest while she presses her lips against my cheeks, my nose, and my forehead.
I blink up at her, letting out a sigh of relief, and she smiles big, flashing the little gap between her front teeth. “So, can I drive the truck?”
I snort out a loud laugh, closing my eyes and appreciating our boring first morning together.
“Can you handle a pickup truck?”
