Page 21 of My Husband Problem

That, of course, rubs my body against his, and I freeze for a second. His fingers curl into my butt.

“What’s wrong?” he asks.

I keep my hand over my mouth. “I just kissed you withshrimp breath.”

I’ve been eating shrimp all night. Spicy shrimp.

Ewww…

I wiggle again, needing to get down.

Our first kiss. And I have shrimp breath.

Oh my God.

But I guess that will keep him from kissing me again, which can only be a good thing. We can’t keep kissing. No matter how much I want to.

I feel his fingers curl into my ass again, and I stop wiggling. Our gazes collide.

“I’m going to let you down,” he says. “If that’s what you want. But it’s not because of your breath. I don’t care what you’ve been eating or drinking. You can always kiss me.”

Then he loosens his grip and lets me slide to the ground.

How is all of that even hotter than the kiss? Or at least hotter than it would have been if he would’ve kissed me again, or kept holding me?

My thoughts and worries are interrupted by the fact that the moment my feet touch the ground, I have an otter weaving between them.

Declan blows out a breath. “You’re telling me that having them dig through your purse isn’t odd?”

“There is actually an otter club that meets and brings tote bags full of items specifically for them to go through,” I say,watching the animals pick through the remaining items in my purse, which they have now scattered across the grass.

They have found and eaten all of the shrimp, the cayenne pepper clearly not bothering them. They are Louisiana otters after all.

“You’ve got to be kidding.”

I turn my gaze back to his. “I’m not kidding when I say that these otters are practically royalty here.” Then I giggle.

His eyes widen with surprise and another emotion I’m not quite sure how to name. He looks almost…delighted.

“Sorry, even though I grew up with all of you, it sometimes hits me as amusing that you’re actually a prince.”

He tucks his hands into his pockets. “And you’re now a princess.”

I open my mouth to protest but then close it again. He’s right. Because I’m married to him. Hell, we’re probablysupposed tobe going back home and attending festivals and ribbon cuttings, and hosting parties and stuff. My sister is the king’s advisor, and she hasn’t said anything about having us attend dinners with VIPs or helping celebrate national holidays, but she also knows our marriage is in name only, so she’s probably trying to protect me.

Ugh. One more pile of expectations that I’m messing up.

The squeaking pulls my attention back to the animals at our feet. “They’re pickpockets. They’ll go through any bag they find on the ground. And zippers, snaps, and buttons are no barrier. The otter club is designed to train them to only go through specific bags. The totes the club uses are bright yellow, and people fill them with trinkets and treats that are fine for the otters to have. The hope is that will help them leave other bags alone.”

Declan lifts a brow and gives the otters a pointed look. “Unless, of course, they have shrimp in them.”

I lift a shoulder. “I guess that was just too much for them to resist.”

“Whydo you have shrimp in your purse?”

“I couldn’t eat it all, but I couldn’t let Bruce know that. But I also didn’t expect to be lingering in the park with my bag of contraband.”

Declan just gives a noncommittal grunt.