Ajay was making a move to stand and go when Raj spoke.

“I know that this is not the most comfortable spot to have that conversation, but if you’re up for it, I’d like to talk.”

“You would?” he said.

Raj nodded.

He took off his coat and set it on the rug next to him. “Okay,” he said.

“Ajay,” she started. Swallowing her pride was like choking on a fistful of nails. “I know you think I’m a coward, for good reasons, but I’m intelligent enough to know when a good deal is going to slip through my fingers because I’m holding myself back.”

“Are you going to tell me what was going through your mind last weekend? What happened?”

She rocked Khunda, comforted by the sound of tiny puppy snores. “Last weekend was sort of . . . Well, I reacted the same way I reacted today.”

“You reacted like you lost your dog?” he said.

She smiled at his skepticism. “Today wasn’t supposed to be like this. I did my research, and I have the time and the resources to successfully take care of one three-pound dog. Less than twenty-four hours later, I’m panicking. It’s not as easy as I thought it would be.”

“Love,” Ajay said, “no matter what kind, is never easy.”

The word frightened her. She didn’t think they were ready for it yet. It was too new, too powerful to say when they had so many battles ahead of them. Her company, his family, everything.

“You and I weren’t supposed to be like this, either. We were attracted to each other. We were going to have good sex, and then I would move on with my life and you’d move on with yours. But it didn’t turn out that way.”

Ajay shook his head.

“Did I ever tell you that Robert used to call me ice princess as a joke? He’d laugh about it because I’d have everything under control, but when something like this happened, he’d say that I’d thawed and become human. I think it scared him. I’m normally capable of doing anything and everything I want.”

“I won’t argue with you there, but Raj, tears don’t make you any less royal.”

Only Ajay would compare her to royalty when she was bedraggled and exhausted. “When I didn’t know what to do, I had to learn on my own and cope on my own. But losing a dog is so much different than any business-related loss I’ve faced.”

He reached out and scratched Khunda’s tiny head. “Happy to search for puppies in laundry baskets anytime you need.”