Page 54 of Bred By the Minotaur
Hank arranges it all just-so on the mat, then leans back and spreads his arms wide for me. “Eat up.”
“Wow.” It all looks so delicious, when nothing has appealed to me in days. “Thank you.”
I make a sandwich with the bread, but it’s dry and so is my mouth.
“Any beverages?” I ask, pushing my luck.
“Oh, right!” Hank sits up straighter and rummages through the front pocket of the backpack. Then he withdraws a pair of...
Juice boxes.
“No!” I fall backward dramatically. “Not apple juice!”
“It’s mango and apple juice,” he corrects. “The best flavor.”
“There are no good flavors of juice box!” I cackle and roll back over to look at him. “Water would have been fine.”
“Sorry. I did forget that.”
He’s really a dad through and through. He even has the stupid jokes to go with it.
I watch him as he eats, carefully placing one of each type of food on his bread before stuffing it in his mouth. When he chews, his whole huge jaw moves.
He arches a brow when he catches me staring. “Do I have something on my face?”
I bite my tongue to keep from telling him, No, you just look beautiful, too.
But that feels like stepping over some sort of line. What we’re doing right now, having this secret date at the park... that line is growing blurrier. When I agreed to “something more,” I wasn’t sure what that meant—I just knew I wanted it.
Now what does it mean?
I shake that thought away because I don’t want to ruin this moment. I have plenty of time to ruminate when I have to scuttle back to my room in the middle of the night and inevitably can’t fall back asleep.
“Yes,” I say instead. “There’s a crumb on your cheek.” So I reach out and dust an invisible crumb off.
“Oh, thank you.” His hand snakes out and finds mine, and he wraps his huge fingers around it. “And thanks for coming out with me today. It’s nice to have some time with you that’s just... us.”
The more romantic he’s getting, the more uncertain I am. This is what I feared when we started sleeping together—that it would, inevitably, become this.
Gently, I pull my hand away and sit up like I needed to do that all along, then make myself another sandwich. He follows it up with a little bag of my favorite candy, and I become as melted as the chocolate.
Damn it. I’m in love with this minotaur.
Twenty
Hank
I have a plan, and I think it’s working. I couldn’t outline exactly what the steps are, but my intention is clear: sway Phoebe into marrying me. I want to ditch DreamTogether. I know we could survive without it if we worked as a team. She already fits so perfectly into our lives. Seeing her belly get rounder, watching her read to Milo at night or playing with him in the bath—and getting herself all wet in the process—makes me long for it.
I saw how she pulled away when I touched her hand. She’s afraid of real intimacy, of getting any deeper than the amazing sex we’ve already had. As if that hasn’t been life-altering. I know she feels it, too.
But I will change her mind, whatever it takes, however many romantic dates. I know what I want, what I need, and it’s Phoebe.
I kiss her head as we clean up lunch, and trot away with the backpack before she can say anything. After packing up the car, we hurry through the rest of our errands so it’s not quite as obvious we took a detour.
That night, I stand in the doorway while Phoebe reads to Milo, her voice softening the closer he gets to falling asleep. Eventually, she trails off mid-sentence, then sets the book aside and tucks him into bed.
When she steps out into the hall, I run a hand down her back, over her ass. She twitches, and I know I do to her what she does to me. With a gentle push, I start down the hallway and she follows, my arm still around her. I’m excited about what I have planned tonight.
