Page 179 of Prickly Romance

Or my body.

“Sazuki,” I rasp his name like it’s a magic spell.

Sazuki takes my hand and gives it a squeeze. “I am sorry.”

“That we aren’t alone right now?” I whisper.

The smile he flashes is brief and wolfish. Then it fades. “I am sorry about Ashanti.”

I’m still blindsided by what he just did with my finger, so it takes me a minute to catch up with the conversation.

“Um who?”

The dimples make a second appearance.

I can’t believe he’s mine.

This has to be some crazy dream.

Sazuki taps my forehead. “Ashanti.”

Oh right.

Ashanti.

His ex-wife.

Major douche-canoe who’s trying to one-up me in The Who Belongs With Sazuki Olympics.

“Is the solution simply to kiss you until you are dazed enough to make it through a meal?”

I blink rapidly. “No, no that’s not a good idea.”

I’m beginning tocravethis man.

If he touches me like that again, I won’t just be in a daze. I’ll be a wet heap of need that’ll have to be sopped off the floor with a Swiffer Jet.

And how am I supposed to face his daughter after that?

I force myself to remain on task. “You don’t have to apologize. In a way, I kind of get where she’s coming from. Niko’sherdaughter and yet this random woman is suddenly in her life. This is weird for all of us.”

“You are being gracious.”

I scowl. “I didn’t finish. Just because I understand doesn’t mean I approve. There’s a line and I think she’s inching over it.”

“I do not understand why she is behaving this way.” A crease appears between Sazuki’s brow.

“Isn’t she married?” I ask. “I think you told me that she had a husband who was also a singer?”

“She does.”

Weird. The way Ashanti looks at Sazuki is not like a woman who has an entirehusbandat home.

“I will speak to her,” Sazuki says quietly.

“It’s okay.” I run my hands down his lean but muscular arms. “I can handle her.”

“It is not just her I am worried about.”

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