Going Deep (Divemasters Book 2) by Jayne Rylon Page A

to say? That didn’t make it okay.
    Her affair with Miguel was irresponsible at best.
    Sabine began to doubt herself. She wondered if she’d missed something because she’d been spending too much time with him instead of burning the midnight oil down here in the laboratory. Worse, maybe she’d screwed something up since some part of her didn’t want to find the cure, because then she would have to leave.
    Leave the Divemaster .
    Leave her new friends.
    Leave Miguel—the only man who’d ever made her wonder if she could do without him in a pathetically short amount of time.
    In the background, Marta was still trying to reassure her, talking about enjoying her stay in Hawaii as much as possible, and how incredible the Divemaster had looked in the photos and stories she’d Googled.
    “We’d love to have you onboard to see her for yourself sometime,” Banks told Marta. Tosin and Miguel grinned simultaneously. They poked Banks out of the viewable range of the camera.
    Sabine’s eyes grew wide as she looked between Banks and her surrogate mother. It was nearly impossible to conceive of Marta with any man besides Heinrich. Except when she considered it objectively…they were about the same age. Both incredible people, who thrived on supporting those around them.
    Maybe, someday, Marta would be ready to share her life with someone else.
    A man like Banks would be an excellent choice, really.
    And that felt like a betrayal.
    Confused and hurting, Sabine couldn’t take anymore.
    Overwhelmed, she rasped, “Marta, I’m not feeling so good. It’s been a long day, would you mind—”
    “I’m going now. I just needed to hear your voice. To see you for myself. Let that boy take good care of you, understand?” Marta wagged her finger.
    When had Sabine stopped being able to fend for herself? Her independent streak objected, strongly. She needed to be alone for a while. The Divemaster was enormous, but it was still a ship. There was nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide.
    “I love you,” Sabine whispered to Marta, terrified she might bawl if they didn’t disconnect soon.
    “I love you, too. Call me next time. When you’re ready.” With that, she was gone.
    Staring at the blackened screen, Sabine didn’t know which was worse—standing in front of Marta, facing deserved judgment that never came, or the absence of another important person from her life.
    When Miguel put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed, she snapped. She shrugged out of his hold and pivoted on her heel, whipping around to face him.
    Whatever unwise words were about to launch from her tongue froze when her timer went off.
    She dashed to her workstation, scooped up her specimen, and slid it under the microscope.
    If anything, the cancerous tissue appeared to be thriving instead of withering.
    “Fuck!” She slapped her hands on the solid surface of the counter hard enough to make her wrists ache for days. In her peripheral vision, she saw Tosin and Banks slip from the lab, leaving her alone with Miguel. Probably for the best.
    “You’re even beautiful when you’re throwing a tantrum,” he said in an attempt to get her to laugh.
    It didn’t work.
    “How long can we keep doing this?” She slashed a red marker through the latest on the list of eliminated specimens, then threw her notebook against the wall. “It’s pointless!”
    Sabine cringed as the pages fluttered then crumpled as it dropped to the ground.
    “Are you objecting to the failed experiments or me fucking you so well every night that you hope you never find what you’re looking for?” Miguel saw more than she gave him credit for sometimes.
    “You arrogant bastard!” She wished she hadn’t already chucked her pad or she would have flung it at his big head instead.
    Instead of responding, he stalked closer, invading her space when all she wanted was to put some distance between them. She wasn’t proud of herself, but she reached forward and shoved him, placing her palms flat against