Page 149 of I Think They Love You

“Hey, Denz!”

His voice is deep, a stark contrast to his very boyish cheeks.

Inside Vista de Atlas’s banquet area, guests come and go. Suki’s ecstatic version of “Happy” is softened here. Denz could almost imagine the crimes against dancing Tevin’s committing, if he wasn’t so confused by the stranger in front of him.

Denz glares at him. “Uh…whoare you?”

“Oops. Forgot we haven’t formally met.” The other man extends a hand. “I’m Suraj.”

“No fucking way.”

Suraj beams at him.

“Wow. Shit,” Denz sputters, his brain ten steps behind his mouth. “You’re here? Like,theSuraj?”

Suraj’s laugh is nice, like hot cider in December. “In the flesh. That’s a weird saying. Like, how else would I be here? As a ghost? Ooh, a poltergeist!”

Denz shakes his hand. “Actually, I was starting to believe Kami had an imaginary boyfr—”

He catches himself, eyes chasing every face that passes them. Suraj has been a secret for a reason. Denz might’ve been an asshole to her yesterday, but he’s not going to fuck up whatever his sister has going on by inviting all of Atlanta into her relationship.

He lowers his voice: “You’rereal.”

“I am.” Suraj releases Denz’s hand. “Been dying to meet you.”

“Really?”

“Hell yes.” Suraj pushes up his glasses. “Kami never shuts up about you.”

Denz eyes him skeptically. “She talks about me?”

“All the time. In a good way!”

Denz smiles. Not in the charming, cover-of-Peopleway he grew up memorizing. Or the one he uses for clients. The rehearsed one he gives his family when all he wants is to run away. It’s genuine.

“She talks a lot about Nic too,” Suraj says earnestly. “But you have no idea how highly she thinks of you.”

No, Denz doesn’t. He assumes Kami hasn’t mentioned the fights. The absolute human trash fire Denz has been to everyone, including her, in the past twenty-four hours.

“Suraj? Babe? I’ve been looking for—”

At the soft, fond voice, Denz pivots ninety degrees, shocked.

The afterglow of being named CEO remains on Kami’s face. But the edges are starting to fade. Exhaustion sits heavy in her eyes. She’s carrying a sleeping Mikah. His tiny arms and legs cling to her like a koala’s.

She stops short when she notices Denz.

“Hey, love,” Suraj says. He’s got that lovesick sweetness in his eyes, something Denz never saw in Matthew. “I was just—”

“Excuse me,” Denz interrupts, aghast.“Babe? Love?”

Suraj’s cheeks flush. Kami doesn’t look opposed to yanking off one of her heels and stabbing Denz in the eye.

He’d deserve it.

Kami passes Mikah into Suraj’s arms. Denz is thrown by howeasythe transaction is, as if they’ve done it before. As if Mikah, who shies away from strangers, is suddenly comfortable snuffling his nose into Suraj’s shoulder.

He’s not sure how to feel about his nephew being held by the boyfriend he just met five seconds ago.

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