Page 167 of The Dragon 2

“What?”

I met her eyes. “This might be the best soup I’ve ever had in my life.”

She bit her lip, clearly affected.

I leaned toward her. “You will be in my mansion this evening.”

She blinked. “Or. . .you can simply enjoy our date and say thank you. You don’t have to kidnap people.”

“It’s not kidnapping when you’re mine.”

“Wow. Am I going to need to call the police?”

“The police wouldn’t help you, even if you called.” I gathered up more of the liquid and feasted, losing my mind at the flavor.

She watched me. "When was your last relationship, Kenji?"

My last relationship. Have I ever even had any?

I ran my mind through the past days, weeks, and months, then I tensed.

Oh.

A shadow passed through my thoughts—sharp, unexpected. Not regret. Not guilt. Just the cold click of a truth I hadn’t yet spoken to many.

Hmmm. How will she feel about that?

For the first time in a while I began to get nervous.

I set the spoon down.

Fuck. Why didn’t I bring this up earlier? Well. . .I never thought I would need to. I thought my Tiger was just going to be a few nights of fucking.

I reached for my drink, but my hand stalled halfway.

Just the confession was enough to shift something sharp inside me. I didn’t want to ruin this night, but I also knew I had to tell her, especially if she had put her foot down about the Four Seasons suite.

With Nyomi I had to be mindful and very fucking careful continuing forward.

She watched me. “What?”

"There’s something I should tell you, Tora."

“It looks like it’s something bad.”

“Well. . .” I ran my fingers through my hair. “It’s probably not. . .the best news to tell you on this spectacular date.”

Shit. What will she say?

Chapter thirty-two

The War of Seduction

Something in Kenji shifted.

It was small. The way he paused. The twitch in his sexy jaw. The slight hesitation before touching his glass again.

But I caught it—because I was slowly learning how to read Kenji the way I read subtext in a forbidden novel.