Page 60 of Prickly Romance

She twists her head around to give me a dirty look.

I gently fix her head so she is staring away from me.

“Do you know what you’re doing?” she complains.

“I have done Niko’s hair many times.”

The mention of Niko makes her shoulders relax. “How often do you do Niko’s hair?”

“Almost every morning, except when I take her to a black hair salon to install braids.” I rake my fingers over Dejonae’s temple and into her scalp.

She moans softly and then slaps a hand over her mouth.

But it is too late.

My body burns with the memory of her soft moan and I know it will barge into my mind tonight as I ready for bed.

Making quick work of her hair, I fix all the stray tendrils into a clip and slide the ear plug in.

Dejonae turns to me the moment I am done and touches her ear tentatively.

“Can you hear me?” I ask.

She focuses on my mouth and yells, “What?”

I laugh under my breath and lean toward her. “Can. You. Hear. Me.”

She pushes up on the tips of her toes, her lips an inch away from mine. “I can’t hear you!”

This close, I cannot help but confront the truth of her beauty. Her brown eyes are obsidian marbles set in an exquisitely symmetrical face. Her dark skin, which seemed to drown in sunlight and gold outside, still appears a rich and flawless ebony beneath the lab’s artificial white lights.

Stunning.

In the moment, I do something completely out of character.

I press my thumb to her bottom lip and swipe.

Her eyes widen.

She drops flat on her feet, staring at me as if she’s been stunned by a thousand camera flashes.

“You are shouting,” I sign.

Her eyelashes flutter and she seems to buy my explanation.

Still looking flustered, Miss Williams signs back, “What should I do now?”

Adam returns to the lab. “Sorry about that. Are you ready to put the MTB on?”

“She is.” I gesture to her. “Adam, you take over from here.”

“I’d rather man the computer.”

“I will observe the results,” I insist.

Then I step back.

Away from the woman who has proven herself to be impossible, irritating, loudly opinionated, and frustratingly stubborn.

---