Read Online Master of the Deep by Cleo Peitsche - Free Book Online

overwhelming attraction between them was the problem. He thought he was being smart, being levelheaded, but maybe he was just wrong. The more he thought about it, the more he decided he had moved too quickly. There wasn’t any need to have told her so much already. It could have waited until a future visit.
    There wasn’t anything he could do about what had already been clumsily said, but he could certainly put a cap on the rest.  
    He wiped a hand over his face as he went around the other side of the car and got into the back. Monroe already had her seatbelt fastened, and he secured his even though he didn’t need to wear one. Short of exploding into a fireball, there wasn’t much that could happen in a car that he couldn’t recover from unless he decided to shift shapes before the healing was complete.
    He thought of the propeller scars on the right side of his body. If he hadn’t shifted human, he never would have gotten them. If he’d been human the whole time, he would have eventually made a full recovery. It just would have taken much longer.
    And that was a perfect example of details Monroe didn’t need to know.
    Thank goodness she hadn’t asked why he kept pushing her away during oral. She probably assumed it was because of the spurs. That did have something to do with it, but it wasn’t the main reason.
    If he told her that swallowing his come would do things to her body, that would be the end of them. He was sure of it. She was barely dealing with the differences between them as it was. If she learned that he had the power to cause changes in her body as well…
    Ditto for the sick in the water. From now on, he was going to focus on the things they had in common. And if she couldn’t deal with him by the time she left, he’d have to cut her loose for her own sanity.
    Christ. No wonder human and shifter relationships were frowned upon. He liked humans, but he sometimes found the differences between man and shifter jarring. That obsession with wealth, for example, and their inability to think long term. And he’d grown up in their world. All this must be a hundred times worse for her.  
    He turned to look at her, intending to apologize, and he was surprised to find she was already looking at him. She smiled, and it was like before, like everything between them was fine again.  
    He returned her smile. “I’m sorry about all of this,” he said.
    She shook her head as if trying to dissuade an obnoxious gnat, and he was almost amused at how unaware she’d been of her own discomfort earlier. Monroe was a lot of things, but he didn’t get the impression that she was closely in touch with her feelings. He wondered if there was a reason for that.  
    “Don’t apologize.” She laughed shakily. “I’m sorry. I’m not the most spontaneous, flexible person in the world. Anyway, I have more questions. For later.”
    Heaven help him.
    She leaned forward and pointed, and he could sense her curiosity in her elevated heartbeat and the dilation of her pupils. “What are those birds that look like parrots?” she asked.
    “They’re parrots,” Beth said, sounding equal parts surprised and amused. “I guess you’re not from around here.” Beth’s dark eyes flickered to the rear-view mirror.
    “No,” Monroe said. “Where I come from, we only have pigeons. And not normal pigeons. They’ve got tattoos, and they curse a lot.” She stared at the parrot until it was out of view.  
    Beth took another, longer look at Monroe, and Koenraad had a feeling that his relationship with Monroe would be spread far and wide before they got back to Tureygua.
    The lab was located thirty minutes from where they’d left the boat. Monroe stared raptly out the window, asking questions about the trees, the construction of the homes. She knew enough Spanish to translate many of the road signs they passed.
    Her enthusiasm wasn’t exactly contagious. This wasn’t a pretty area, but he did enjoy seeing her so excited. He