Page 4 of Taken By Taurus

The grass under my feet is soft. The guests all look amazing, and some of them are wearing scandalously little. They smile at me, and I smile back, despite my stomach jumping with nerves. There isn’t a high heel in sight. My new look fits right in. Kent ties on a simple black mask as I look around.

Some partygoers have simple masks like mine and Kent’s. Some of them have more elaborate masks, with large structures. There’s a man with a fake bull’s head, no shirt, and plain linen pants tied at the waist. A minotaur, for a maze.

Huh. Clever. He definitely has the body for the shirtless look. He stands a head above all the other men, and his broad chest is enormous.

I stare at his muscles a moment too long, and he turns his strange fake head towards me. The eyes blink, and my mouth goes dry. Wow. It’s a good fake mask.

There’s tension in the air - a bubbling excitement. I thought it was just me, but there are more than a few giggles from the surrounding guests. And my friends are nowhere to be seen.

Oh god. What if this isn’t a prank?

I take a glass of champagne from a passing server and sip it, but it makes me feel queasy. Some men openly eye me, and I resist the urge to cover my cleavage. My mind scrambles, remembering the contract. One man, that’s all I agreed to. One man, one night. Not an orgy in a hedge maze.

“You may enter now,” the butler in front of the maze says, and steps aside. “The main festivities are in the center. Please enjoy your evening.”

Kent takes my arm and we filter into the maze along with the others. “Looks like there’s a theme. Is your costume supposed to be a character?” Kent asks.

“A virgin sacrifice?” I say with a nervous laugh.

A woman in a scanty genie costume laughs loudly from the other side of me. I turn my head and realize she’s looking at me. “The guest of honor! God, that I would be so lucky,” she says. She nudges me and cants her head at the man with the bull’s head, walking ahead into the maze. “One night is all I’d need, right? But do you know who the sacrifice is, really?”

“No I…” I try to explain, anxiety blooming in a sharp pang in my chest. Oh god what if this isn’t a prank.

Her eyes widen in realization. “Oh! I’m so sorry, I thought you’d be younger!”

It’s hard to take offence when my mind is still whirling.

“Well, you’ll have to let me know if he’s that big everywhere,” she says, and winks at me before running off down the right-hand fork in the maze.

Kent still has a hand on my arm, and he raises an eyebrow at me. “My lady?” he drawls. But the woman’s words are still with me, and my eyes are glued on the retreating minotaur walking into the maze ahead.

“I have to… I’ll see you later,” I say, and run after the minotaur. “Hey, wait up!”

Chapter four

The Minotaur

Ihurry after him, and he turns. When I’m standing right in front of him, words leave me. He’s so… big. I didn’t appreciate it from afar. I’m not a small girl, and it’s rare for me to feel tiny.

His shoulders are broad and sculpted, his six-pack impressive, and below them his muscles veer into a v on pants that are sitting too low to be decent.

No man in the civilized world should have muscles like this. These are battlefield muscles - hard and bronzed from the sun. And he smells like something spicy cooking on an open fire. Smoky, musty… it’s making my mouth water.

My assessment shifts. This guy is a stripper, for sure. Or an escort, but I doubt my friends would go that far. Or dear lord, would they?

When my eyes roam back up to his face, I blink at the bull’s head that looks back.

“That mask is so real,” I say, and reach up to touch it. He puts a hand on my wrist before I reach him.

“Amazing what money can buy,” he says. His voice is a deep rumble of amusement as he lifts my hand to his mouth and kisses the back of it. With big, bovine lips.

My core twinges at the shocking intimacy of it, and my nipples harden. The laughter of flirting partygoers is distant now as they wander off through the maze. It’s just him and me, in this part of the maze, surrounded by hedges.

I blink back to myself, trying to focus. “I wanted to ask you about this contract.”

“Your virgin sacrifice,” he says. “I’m so glad you said yes. It wasn’t easy finding a woman like you.”

I scoff. “Yeah, us virgins over 25 are rare,” I say bitterly. He is still staring at me, not reacting to that. “Okay, look, the makeover has been really great. I feel pretty and appreciated, but I’m just… I’m ready to see my friends and my brother now. I’m done. It’s not funny anymore.”