Lords of the Deep Read Online Free Page A

tongue, emitting a soft sound that made his flesh pebble. He stared at her pretty little heart shaped face, watched the movement of her lips and the little pointed pink tongue he could just glimpse inside her mouth. For several moments he’d couldn’t focus on anything else beyond looking at her while her sounds flowed over him almost like … music. He realized after a moment, though, that expressions flitted across her features as she made the sounds.
    He didn’t give a fuck what Miles believed, he thought abruptly. She wasn’t just making sounds. She was trying to communicate. Even though he couldn’t understand any of it, he noticed she kept making the same sounds repeatedly.
    She stopped after a moment, distress evident in her expression. She splayed her palm against her chest. “Angie,” she said. “Mm, Angie.”
    He stared at her without comprehension, studying the movement of her hands. Finally, wondering if he’d gone off the deep end, he pointed at her. “Awngy?” he repeated, trying to wrap his tongue around the unfamiliar sounds.
    She stared at him a moment and suddenly her lips curled, parting in a smile that made his belly tighten as if someone had punched him. She nodded vigorously. “Angie.”
    He felt his jaw go slack. “Damien,” he said after a moment, pointing to himself, almost holding his breath.
    She frowned. “Damien?”
    Damien swallowed with an effort, nodding.
    She pointed to Miles.
    He glanced at Miles and then back at her. “Miles.”
    She repeated it, almost pronouncing it just the way he had.
    Pleased for no reason he immediately grasped, charmed by the funny way she moved her lips trying to mimic the sounds he’d made, he felt a grin tugging at his lips. “Did you hear that?”
    “Hmm,” Miles responded. “Obviously its communication skill level is fairly high—higher than I’d expected.”
    Damien’s lips tightened at Miles’ persistence in referring to her as an ‘it’. He supposed Miles was trying to maintain his scientific objectivity, but it still irritated the hell out of him.
    Mostly, he realized in surprise, because Miles was so determined to see her as little more than an animal.
    He discovered when he focused on her again that she’d lifted her hands and begun gesturing again. Frowning, he studied the movements, wondering for a moment if she was actually trying to communicate something or just waving her hands around for some other reason. She kept plucking at the thing hanging from her shoulders, though, and then pointing at him.
    She was pointing at the cloth he’d draped over his cock, he realized, disconcerted, and then inappropriately aroused all over again. He was still trying to get his mind to function when she inched out from under the trap and eased slowly toward him.
    “Watch it!” Miles warned him. “It might attack!”
    Damien flicked an irritated glance at him, but focused on her again immediately.
    He discovered she was watching his face—as if debating if it was safe to creep so close to him. Whatever she wanted, though, she wanted pretty badly.
    Pausing when she was directly across the tray from him, she met his gaze for a long moment and then, almost quicker than thought, shot her hand out. He caught her wrist, narrowing his eyes at her, but when he glanced down he saw that she’d grabbed the cloth—not him.
    Not that he wouldn’t have noticed instantly. His cock was already throbbing like a sore tooth. He eased his grip on her wrist cautiously, ready to grab her again if she tried to attack. Instead, she grabbed the cloth and clutched it against her chest.
    Scrambling back into the corner, she smoothed the cloth out, clasping with one arm across her globes to hold it over herself.
    Damien’s first reaction was supreme disappointment that she’d hidden them from him completely, although he realized almost immediately that that was why she’d kept her arm across them before. Why would she do that, he wondered? They were so pretty