Page 16 of The Minotaur's Milkmaid
She nods. Her hands are shaking, but she reaches for the cloth anyway, biting her lip as she gently begins wrapping it around my arm.
Her soft fingers brush my skin carefully. I watch her work, more aware of her touch than the pain.
“You’re surprisingly good with your hands.”
She rolls her eyes, but a faint blush colors her cheeks. “Try not to bleed out before I finish, would you?”
“No promises. Might be worth it, with you this close.”
Her fingers falter for just a second before tightening the wrap just enough to make me hiss.
“Oh, sorry,” she says, not sounding sorry at all.
I grin. “Knew there was a little cruelty in you.”
“You’re impossible,” she says, but there’s a smile hiding at the edge of her voice.
“And yet,” I say, smirking as she ties off the bandage, “here you are. Nursing me like a dutiful mate.”
She blinks. “I’m not—”
“Shhh,” I say. “Don’t ruin the moment.”
She shakes her head and finishes wrapping the bandage around my shoulder, fingers still trembling. I watch her closely. She’s gone quiet, her eyes downcast, lips pressed together.
Then she looks up at me.
Tears well in her eyes, clinging to her lashes like dew, and it punches something straight through my chest.
“I didn’t know,” she whispers. “About the other girls. About what they…what they did to us. And then you got hurt. Because of me.”
Her voice breaks.
My cocky smile falters. I reach out with my good arm, curling my fingers beneath her chin, tilting her face toward mine. “Hey. No. None of this is your fault, little cow.”
“But—”
“None of it,” I repeat, firmer. “You didn’t ask to be taken. You didn’t know. And I would’ve taken a bullet for you a dozen times over.”
She blinks, stunned. And then the tears spill over.
“I hate crying,” she swipes at her face.
I stroke my thumb across her cheek, wiping away the tears before they fall too far. “You’re allowed to cry. You’re also allowed to kiss me. In fact, I strongly encourage it.”
She laughs, a wet, snotty sound that somehow makes my chest tighten, as it’s the most perfect thing I’ve ever heard. She leans in, and our lips brush.
It’s soft at first, but then she sighs into me, her fingers gripping my bare arms as she leans in. The pressure makes pain shoot through my shoulder.Fuck.I grit my teeth, refusing to give in to it.
Don’t you dare cry, Dakar. Not now.
She presses against me, the heat of her body against mine, and I let out a low groan, tasting the edge of her sadness, her need, her want. And I give her everything back in return.
The kiss deepens, and she climbs into my lap. I welcome her with one hand splayed against her back, pulling her closer, tighter. Her body fits against mine like it was made for me, and all the pain in my shoulder is suddenly a distant thing, drowned out by the fire she ignites inside me with every brush of her tongue.
I grab the back of her head, pulling her to me. Her soft little gasp is swallowed by my kiss as I take her mouth. My hands drag down her sides, finding the hem of her tunic. She doesn’t resist when I pull it off.
Gods.
