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Taking a deep breath, he turned back to her. "What for? I'm not interested in dating your friend. You should take a picture of Max and send it to her."
"Ugh, Negal. You are such a party pooper."
"I'm sorry." He dipped his head again and walked out.
Outside her room, he found Dagor delivering a cup of coffee to the nurse.
"Leaving so soon?" his friend asked.
"Yeah. Frankie wanted to take a picture of me and send it to her friend. Can you please talk to her and ask her not to try to set me up with anyone?"
Dagor grimaced. "Why won't you give it a try? You might find Margo attractive."
Behind Dagor, the nurse cleared her throat. "Do you really want to have this conversation in front of me?"
Damn. Negal had plans for that nurse. Turning his best smile on her, he lifted his hands in mock surrender. "I'm sorry. I didn't come here expecting matchmaking." He lowered his hands. "I much prefer to court ladies of my own choosing."
3
PETER
Peter sat on the Lido deck and watched the sunset with an Old Fashioned in his hand, swirling the dark liquid around the large ice cube in the middle. It was getting cooler, which was a welcome respite from the day's heat.
He was a little miffed about not having been chosen to join the Guardian force that had dealt with the Doomer and cartel infestation. It would have been a nice break from thinking about Kagra and what had gone wrong in their relationship.
Things had been great between them during the joint Guardian and Kra-ell mission to China, the sex was phenomenal, and for a while Peter had thought that they had something special, but she had made it clear in so many words that he had been merely a passing curiosity. Kagra had wanted to experience what it was like to be with an immortal, and Peter had been conveniently available and willing.
Had she found him lacking compared to the males of her own race? Was that the reason she'd dumped him?
The Kra-ell males were faster, stronger, and could properly challenge her in the cruel Kra-ell mating rituals.
It was ironic that despite his proclivity for dominant bedroom games, he couldn't give her what she needed. Compared to the males of her species, he was too gentle, but he'd naively hoped that she would find his style of lovemaking revelatory.
Oh, well. When it wasn't meant to be, it wasn't meant to be, right?
It was her loss. He was wittier, funnier, and much better mate material than her fellow Kra-ell.
Still, despite the self-pep talk, the sting of rejection lingered.
Whatever. He was tired of mulling over the mysteries of love and the unpredictable nature of relationships.
Evidently, he was more clueless than he'd believed.
"Can I please have a mojito?" An unfamiliar female voice caught his attention.
It was heavily accented and a little nasal, which meant that it belonged to a human, and he had never seen one of the human servers on the Lido deck. It wasn't that they weren't allowed, but they preferred not to mingle with the immortals any more than they had to while serving in the kitchen and the dining hall and keeping the ship tidy.
Given their experience with the Kra-ell, that was perfectly understandable.
These humans were used to having been exploited by the powerful aliens, being treated as serfs at best and slaves at worst. The females had been given very little choice regarding accepting invitations from the male Kra-ell. Once they had produced a hybrid offspring or gotten beyond a certain age, they had been released from that obligation, but it must have been a miserable existence. Logically, they might acknowledge that their rescuers were different than their former masters and that no one would take advantage of them, but he could understand why they were wary of yet another kind of alien overlord.
Turning to look at the female, Peter recognized her as one of the servers from the dining room. Her blue hair and the piercing in her left eyebrow were her calling cards. He didn't like either, but he liked the rest. She was pretty, even beautiful, for a human, with smiling eyes and a mouth made for kissing. Her tiny T-shirt left her midriff exposed, and her waist was so small that he could encircle it with his hands. Low-hung jeans hugged her rounded hips and delectable bottom.
For a brief moment he considered flirting with her, a playful smile forming on his lips, but then he remembered where she had come from and changed his mind. During her time in the Kra-ell compound, she must have been subjected to the whims and desires of the powerful Kra-ell, and she might feel trapped.
The last thing he wanted was for the woman to assume that she had to suffer his advances the same way she had been forced to submit in the Kra-ell compound. He didn't want her to feel obligated to please him or to be caught in a situation where she felt powerless.
He had never asked Kagra about her own experience under Igor's rule. She had also been a victim and had suffered worse than the human females, so when she hadn't volunteered information about that time, he'd respected her choice to put the past behind her. It was better not to draw out pain that was best forgotten.
