His Human (The New Neighbors #2) - M.A. Innes Page 0,50

me as you did.”

“A pull? How did you feel about Nolan when you met him?” Since he hadn’t wanted to take the cute waiter home and bond when they first met, I wasn’t going to worry.

“I enjoy his reactions to stimuli, but he does not make me want to take control of him.” Maverick was quiet as he stroked over my head. “When we first met in the grocery store, your…your scent, for a lack of a better human word, was very distinct and created a need to know more about you.”

“Then why didn’t you say something?” Leaning up to look at his expression, I grinned when he moved one tentacle to support my head.

“Your reactions were very…changeable. You went through several distinct emotions in a short period and I could not decipher the meanings behind them.”

So he’d been confused and walked away.

Sounded very human to me.

“I’m glad you found me again.” I nearly giggled as I remembered the marshmallows. “You found a way of catching my attention.”

Maverick chuckled, preening under my praise. “I was very inventive. Human dating manuals advise standing out in a crowd to catch a potential date’s attention. I am a very good student.”

“Yes, you are.” I tilted my head and rubbed my cheek against his tentacle since I couldn’t get close enough to kiss him. “And you were so hot in the parking lot I almost came right there.”

Maverick’s entire body seemed to fluff up with pride before settling back down. Petting my head, he returned the praise. “You did very well in our interaction to make your responses clear. That was quite helpful.”

He was so cute.

“Thank you, Master.” Yawning, I closed my eyes and let my body start to relax. “I’m so glad you’re my Master.”

Tentacles stroked over me before wrapping me in the blanket again. “I will always be your Master now, my little human; does that make you uncomfortable? Humans are often wary of long-term bonding and social contracts.”

I giggled. “Marriage, Master. It’s not a long-term social contract. We get married when we find the person we want to be with forever.”

Most of the time.

But I kept it simple since I wasn’t sure he’d understand our habit of just living together sometimes. Especially when I didn’t really understand it. I mean, some relationships just didn’t work, but why wouldn’t someone want to find their Prince Charming or Princess Fabulous and Badass?

“You have many fascinating social conventions, like birthdays and wakes. I will have to research the custom of marriage.” He made it sound like he was doing more studying on my eating habits again, and I loved how they all got dumped together.

Grinning, I ran my fingers over a tentacle and smiled. “You let me know what you think once you’ve done your research.”

’Cause that was going to be a fabulously funny conversation considering how many different types of weddings and couples there were. His take on the logic of it all would be cute.

“I’ve always liked the idea of getting married one day, but there are other ceremonies that also show serious relationships, like getting a collar in the BDSM community.” Hint. Hint.

“I shall have to research that as well.” His tone made it sound like he found that idea more interesting than getting married.

Maverick liked the idea of controlling me, so anything on the BDSM side of our relationship was probably more fascinating to him. “Let me know what you think.”

With the number of different ways a collaring could work, that was going to be an interesting conversation too. But with the way he liked control, I had a feeling he was going to have very definitive ideas about how collaring ceremonies should be done.

He was the type to go all in when he decided what he wanted.

“I look forward to presenting you with my ideas and questions.” Maverick stroked my head and trailed the tip of one tentacle right over my brow, encouraging me to close my eyes. “As your Master, I am supposed to make decisions regarding showing the permanence of our relationship. I shall endeavor to do justice to the topic.”

That was too hard to follow so I didn’t even try. Yawning again as I nodded, I stopped trying to find the will to stay awake or to figure out what he was so enthusiastic about. He’d let me know when he figured something out so we could talk about it later.

I had a flicker of a thought that I should probably find my phone and plug