His Human (The New Neighbors #2) - M.A. Innes Page 0,8

head. “No, if it would not be too much of an inconvenience, I would appreciate being on that side. Toward the back.”

Pointing to the other side of the restaurant, he looked casual, like it shouldn’t matter, but since he bothered to ask, I knew it did. She cocked her head and shrugged. “No problem.”

Moving back over to her stand, she changed something on her sheet and smiled again. “It must be something about the light on that side of the building.”

Maverick clearly wasn’t the only one of them to ask for that side, which had my curiosity growing. She might not understand the significance, but I knew enough about them to guess something was up.

However, since asking would give it away, I let her lead us through the restaurant and stayed quiet. When she looked back at Maverick and asked if the booth would work, he nodded. “Yes, thank you.”

His polite smile made hers widen and her gaze darted back and forth. But there was no way to miss the possessive hold he had on me, so she just gave a quiet sigh as she finished seating us. As she walked away, I dropped my voice and glanced around.

“Are you going to tell me why you had her move us?” I was just curious and excited, so I knew he’d get that I didn’t have an issue with it.

A tentacle wrapped around my ankle as he smiled. “I think I shall let you guess, little human.”

I had a feeling I was going to like this game. “What do I win if I guess right?”

The tentacle gripped me tighter, then started undulating again like he was going to make me come. “I am sure I can find an appropriate reward for you.”

Every time I thought the date couldn’t get any better, he had a wonderful surprise for me. “I can’t wait.”

Glancing around the room, I noticed this side had higher booths and the tables were arranged for more privacy. It might have just been because of the shape of the room, but I appreciated it. Turning back to Maverick, I smiled. “Because there’s more privacy?”

He gave a rolling movement that was supposed to be a shrug. “That is almost a correct guess.”

So that was part of it. “I’ll keep thinking about it.”

“Do you remember our conversation about safewords, little human?” It was asked like it was any old question, but with the way he was stroking my leg, it made me shiver.

My answer came out breathy and I didn’t even try to hide what I was feeling as I answered him. “Yes.”

He nodded like I’d done a good job. “Then am I to assume you understand that if I steer our evening in a way you find unappealing, you will voice your displeasure? You are not a difficult species to read, but there are facets of human behavior that are very curious.”

So we weren’t too confusing but were occasionally a bit strange?

I could accept that. Knowing someone was turned on didn’t always make it clear why they were excited, and the same could be said for anger or any other emotion.

“Yes, I will let you know if there’s something I don’t like and I’ll do my best to explain why I didn’t like it.” Just saying no and making him guess why was a recipe for disaster.

“Thank you.” His tone said he genuinely appreciated it, but my reward was for his tentacle to ease higher up my leg.

I was starting to love these pants.

Swallowing hard, I nodded. “No problem.”

He smiled knowingly and inched his tentacle up even higher. It was now above my knee and the bulge he was making was quite noticeable. I thought it looked hot in a dirty kind of way, but my heart skipped a beat as the waiter came over.

“Hello, my name is Nolan—” His voice skidded to a halt when he looked up and finally noticed who was at his table. “I…Nolan…”

Oh, this was going to be fun.

He was cute in an innocent kind of way and thankfully older than the pizza waiter. But he lost that air of innocence when he watched Maverick with a wide-eyed expression that said he was imagining dirty things.

Swallowing several times, he blinked and seemed to find his voice. “Can I get you something to drink while you look over the menu?”

It wasn’t quite the order I thought he should be saying things in, but it was better than just staring. Maverick nodded. “I would enjoy water, please.”

Then Maverick