French Roses and Silk Kisses [Discontinued]

Remodel

"Zaria! Zaria! Zaria!" The screaming of Daniel caused her to spring from her bed, tripping over the comforter. Ignoring the pain that shot up her bicep, she sprinted into the living room. Smoke billowed from the kitchen and she could already feel the heat of a fire.

"Move! Move!" She called as she watched him pour water into a pan, the fire roaring to life and heating the sides of the sink. Reaching under the cabinet, she opened the large jar of baking soda and began throwing hand fulls on the fire. When the fire finally began to settle down to a reasonable size she used the pot cover to smother the flames.

Looking up, her heart sunk as she took in the damage to their kitchen. The bottom of the microwave had melted, falling on to the stovetop before seeping through the material. Multiple sections of the counter had pieces of the melted pot that burned through the resin only to solidify in place. The sink, which was unfortunately made of acrylic, had begun to melt along the sides where it had been exposed the most.

"I-I'm sorry." Daniel spoke softly as they sat in silence simply observing the damage. Before Zaria could reply, the shrill ringing of the fire alarm sounded through the apartment. Daniel hurriedly found the device to turn it off before the rest of the linked alarms went off.

Zaria couldn't begin to process what had just happened. While she knew Daniel was a terrible cook this was beyond the scope of what she assumed would happen.

"Z, I promise I'll replace it all. I-I didn't know what to do. I tried to put it out." He once more reasoned as he timidly stepped into the doorway.

"It's fine, Daniel. You didn't know any better. I'll have someone come take a look at it while I'm at work." She muttered before turning back to her room. Finally realizing she was up almost three hours before work, she knew she'd be unable to fall asleep again and instead headed to the shower.
...

"Yes, it was an grease fire that got out of hand. The counter, the microwave, stove and sink were all affected." Zaria listed off to the man on the other end. He was a well known contractor who often remodeled homes after natural disasters.

"Ms. Hopkins, sorry to interrupt but Mr. Belcourt is here for you." Her assistant peaked her head into the door and Zaria nodded silently as she listened to the man's questions.

"Yes. Yes, we managed to smother it before it could get to anything else. No ones touched it since." Opening her monitor, she saw a new email pop up listing all of the recent readings she'd need to do. Her head was pounding and she wanted nothing more than to take the rest of the day off.

"I'm not too sure about the material of the stove or the microwave, but the counter is granite with an epoxy resin and the sink was acrylic." Max stepped into the room and Zaria gave a sympathetic smile as she held up a finger for him to wait. Turning back to the monitor, she almost cried as another email popped up adding another 40 names to her, already 200 name, list of prospects.

"Sorry, sorry. I'm listening." She placed her head in her hand as she tried to focus on what the man was asking. Large hands gripped her shoulders and began to lightly message the tension away. Zaria couldn't be bothered to face him and instead placed her hand on his in appreciation.

"Yes. It's an apartment but we have free range to remodel as we please." The man began going on about needing to see the site before he could accept or decline the project. Zaria rattled off her information and approved for the man to come take a look at 3:45pm. Hanging up the phone, she quickly scrolled through her contacts and called Daniel.

"Hey, the contractor will be there at 3:45 to look at the damage." Silence met her ears and she pulled the phone from her face to make sure she'd actually called him. "Hello?"

"Yea, um, I'm actually not home." Daniel meekly muttered into the phone. Zaria could already feel the tension in her shoulders increasing despite the efforts of Max's fingers.

"Then get home, Daniel." She growled.

"Z, I'm sorry, I really am. I didn't expect you to get a contractor out so soon. I'm at the airport with Loren, I won't be able to make it back in time." Instead of arguing, she simply hung the phone up. Her blood pressure was sky high and she bit her lip to keep from exploding.

"Hey, hey, what's wrong baby?" Max whispered into her ear before turning the chair around. His eyebrows were pulled together in worry and his hands stroked her cheeks in an attempt to soothe her.

"It's nothing. I'll handle it, thank you." The tone of her voice was clipped and she shook his hands off as she stood from her seat.

"I know you'll handle it, but I want to help. Baby, look at me." Max grabbed her arm to stop her from leaving. While Zaria knew it wasn't his fault and she shouldn't take it out on him, she found herself unable to control her attitude.

"I got it, Max." She looked into his eyes to soothe his worry. Max leaned down to place a kiss to her forehead then her eyelids and her nose before finally softly kissing her lips. The slow kiss allowed her to focus on the feeling of his lips instead of her issues and she relaxed into his embrace. As he dipped his tongue into her mouth, his hands softly held her head in place. Zaria moaned as he lightly sucked her tongue before his tongue caressed her own.

"You've got this and I've got you- we're in this together. Now what do you need me to do?" He whispered against her lips. The kiss had effectively eased her attitude and she leaned her forehead against his. It felt good to have someone she could depend on.

"Our kitchen almost burned down and the contractor is coming today at 3:45, but I have work until 7. I just need you to watch him and make sure he's not trying to cheap me." She chuckled as she pulled away from the embrace.

"Let me guess...Daniel tried to cook?" Max poked as he followed her back to her chair. His arm grabbed her before she could sit down and instead sat in the chair, pulling her into his lap.

"Yes and destroyed half the kitchen. God bless his soul." She groaned before rubbing her temples. Leaning into his chest, she sighed in content as he began rubbing her arm and tucked her face into his neck.

"I'll handle it, don't worry your pretty little head about it anymore." He leaned over to peck her lips. "You know, you wouldn't have this issue if you moved in with me."

Zaria quickly pulled her head away from his neck to stare at him in shock. It wasn't unreasonable to consider them moving in together but Zaria had no clue that was something Max was interested in. Was she even interested in that?

"That's a pretty big step." She muttered watching as he smiled innocently at her.

"Yeah, but it's about time." He shrugged as if they weren't talking about something as big as actually living together.

"I mean don't you live an hour from here? I don't know about going that far. Plus, Daniel would probably kill himself without me. I-I don't know." She made up excuses when in reality she had no real objection to living with him other than her own insecurities.

"We can get a place close to work and within easy reach of Daniel. You can't coddle him, baby, he's a grown man whether he acts like it or not." She smacked his chest at the small jab he added at the end.

"Give me some time, okay?" Ultimately, all she needed to do was sit down with herself and reassure herself that she really liked Max. He was someone she hadn't expected herself to end up with, but she loved every second.

"I'll be waiting." He pecked her lips before standing up and allowing her to slide down his body to stand up. "I'll need your keys."

"Oh yeah." Leaning down, she pulled her purse from her drawer before detaching her house key and placing it into his awaiting hand. "You better not lose it."

"No promises!"
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