Free Master of the Deep by Cleo Peitsche Page B

toppings of her treat and trying not to get drips of melting ice cream all over her dress.
    The park was smaller than she’d realized, taking less than a minute to cross. She stood on the far side and tried to decide where to go next. There weren’t many people around, but the area felt safe. The ocean was this direction, she thought. Even though they’d driven for some time after docking, she’d sometimes caught glimpses of water.
    A few minutes later, she was walking down a short wooden boardwalk. Underneath her feet, the wood felt stable even if it didn’t look it. That was probably good, as she hadn’t seen another person for several minutes. She took a seat on a bench in the shape of a bird with outstretched wings and looked out at the water.
    Living in New York had given her a sense of big , but after being on a speeding boat for hours and seeing nothing but water, she was starting to get a sense of enormous .
    The ocean was enormous. And terrifying. The waves in the open ocean were choppier than she’d expected, and while Koenraad was obviously a competent navigator, she’d had no idea which direction they were heading.
    Hell, even a shark was nothing compared to the vastness of the ocean.
    A slow smile tugged at her lips. Of course she would think that. But here she was, surrounded by air, and she didn’t think of it as overwhelming or dangerous even though winds could be brutal.
    Come to think of it, huge waves were caused by air. The water itself? Blameless. Thinking about it like that… maybe air was the more dangerous environment. And the ocean was full of fish that would surely agree.
    “Crazy,” she said, laughing aloud. It’d be interesting to see what Koenraad thought of her conclusion.
    She finished her ice cream and cleaned off her fingers with the napkins. Thank goodness she had some wet wipes in her bag, and she made use of them, then took out her camera and began taking photos.
    She wasn’t a photographer, her camera wasn’t top of the line, and the lighting didn’t even approach being perfect. But she loved this deserted boardwalk. The ocean here wasn’t like that in Tureygua. The blue was tinged with brown, the surface more agitated.  
    Still, it made a nice backdrop for the abandoned buildings. She lowered the camera and stared at a hanging sign above her.
    The wind and water had corroded the edges, and the paint was mostly missing. What looked like a yellow smiley face was now rusted. She stared. Had it once been black?  
    The boards over the building’s entrance were sloppy, and she carefully pressed her face to a gap between them. Couldn’t see a damned thing inside, though. She backed up, took a few photos, then continued walking.
    By the time she ran out of interesting things to document, her forty minutes had passed. Back to the lab.  
    As she reached the park, she saw a tall, wide-shouldered man, his head down.  
    For the briefest fraction of a second, she didn’t realize it was Koenraad, probably because she hadn’t expected to see him out here. But even after she recognized him, that first impression he’d made was fresh in her mind.
    The guy was sizzling hot. And also really, really big.  
    He looked up, already smiling like he knew she was there. “Did you enjoy your walk?”
    “I did.” All the stress she’d felt while on the boat was completely gone, and the way things were going, she doubted she’d be shocked by anything else he had to say. At this point, all things seemed possible.
    “Are you finished at the lab?”
    He slipped an arm around her shoulders, and she leaned against him as they walked. Their bodies just fit together, which she never would have predicted given their difference in height.
    “Yup, all done. And I have good news for you.”
    She looked up into those gorgeous eyes and wondered how she’d ever thought they were freaky.  
    “We’re flying back. Spencer will take us.”
    She thought of the bird bench she’d sat on. “If he’s