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

his chest as she leaned into the gesture.
    Miguel didn’t budge.
    He smiled wolfishly then trapped her, his long fingers encircling her wrists. “Maybe. I’ve been holding out on you, though. Because you’re twisting me up, too, lindeza . Enough is enough. I know what you need.”
    “To kick you in the balls?” She thrashed, not that it did her any good.
    “You might want to watch that mouth of yours.” He backed her against the wall then leaned in so all she could see was the compelling blue of his eyes. “It could get you in trouble tonight.”
    Why did his bullying turn her on? Despite his pseudo-threats, she was certain he was no risk to her. At least not to parts other than her heart, which seemed to forget more and more every day what her purpose onboard the Divemaster was supposed to be.
    “Fuck this. I know what we need.” Miguel didn’t give her a chance to protest. He plucked her from the laboratory floor and tossed her over his shoulder as easily as if she was one of the tanks he hefted around day in and day out…not that she’d studied his form while he did it. “I have something to show you.”
    “Put me down.” She shoved futilely at his back, her slaps utterly ineffectual.
    The crack of his palm landing on her ass startled her more than the zing of sensation that raced from her cheek up her spine. She went dead still, wondering if he’d really just spanked her.
    Before she could ask, or freak out, or surrender to the part of her that kind of liked it, he did it again. Then a third time.
    “If you want to find out what’s behind that black door in the middle of our hallway, you’ll keep quiet and stop fighting me.” Despite her instincts, which encouraged her to struggle, she went limp in his grasp. Admittedly, it felt better to rest on him than to try to break free.
    Curiosity had always been both her biggest asset and her greatest downfall.
    “Good girl,” Miguel purred. “That’s right. Let me make us both feel better.”

Nine
    M iguel had had enough . The past few days had gotten increasingly difficult, watching Sabine growing distant, smiling less. It had affected him in ways he wouldn’t have imagined. After all, he was new at this—giving a shit about a partner’s emotions and having responsibilities to her beyond providing a night chock full of orgasms.
    Restlessness overtook him for the first time since they’d moved onboard the Divemaster . That urge he’d associated with wanderlust in the past—the compulsion that had prodded him to move on to the next place, and new people—maybe that sensation had been dissatisfaction all along. Or a certainty that he couldn’t find what he was looking for there, so it was time to try somewhere else.
    Except he no longer believed that picking up and moving would solve his problems or fill the void. No, after searching high and low, around the globe, the person who had the ability to quiet that restless part of him had found him instead. What a joke.
    Sabine made him feel like Archer and Tosin made him feel. Waverly, too, for that matter. But stronger. Like he was taking his home with him, wherever he went, as long as they were near. Talking with Sabine was easy and entertaining. Sharing meals and work with her had the days flying by.
    And the sex…son of a bitch. It was a miracle neither one of them had broken anything yet. Other than that one poor unfortunate chair he’d snapped a leg on when he’d bent her over it and gone a little wild. Shit, she made him feel so incredible he had hardly missed his extracurricular activities in the clubroom these past few weeks.
    That was about to change.
    He hoped he was making the right decision.
    “Do you trust me, lindeza ?” Miguel was as serious as he’d ever been in that moment. It wasn’t a question he asked to boost his ego, or as some sort of foreplay. He had to know before he pushed her like this. Had to be certain he wouldn’t frighten her away or do something that wasn’t in