Page 35 of Rauf: Minotaur Mates

“Stay a minute.”

“I’m here.”

He said it like a promise.

Rauf eased back onto the bench and gathered me onto his lap. I curled against him, my legs loose around his hips, the open shirt trapped between us. His skin was slick and overheated beneath my cheek. He drew the shirt around my shoulders, then tucked his chin over my head and held me with both arms.

No one had ever held me like he couldn’t bear to let go.

I closed my eyes and listened to his heart slow beneath my ear.

There was no way to pretend I hadn’t just complicated everything.

Tomorrow, that might terrify me.

Right then, my body felt warm and loose and thoroughly satisfied. Rauf’s thumb moved in lazy circles at the base of my spine. His tail rested over my bare foot, and every breath pressed his chest against my cheek.

I didn’t regret a single second.

“I’ll talk to Korfas when we get to town.”

I looked up at him. “What?”

He was going to tell Korfas about us?

“I’ll make sure he knows exactly where we found that man. And I’ll help him if he needs it.”

Oh. The man in the cave. I’d almost forgotten about him.

“Why the change of heart?”

“There’s no change of heart.”

I’d meant about the town. At least, that was what I’d meant when I asked. But he was already getting up, and I had to slide off his lap so he could stand.

I pulled the shirt closed. He picked up his towel and wrapped it around his waist, then bent to gather my dirty clothes.

“I’ll put your clothes in the machine so we can head back.”

Oh. Right. Thanks for the reminder that this didn’t mean anything.

Rauf walked away.

12

RAUF

I could smell Teresa on me.

If I stayed near her another moment, I’d never let her leave the farm. I wanted her back in my lap. I could still feel her arms around my neck.

I made myself keep walking.

But she was still wearing my shirt, and a few marks made from our lovemaking.

I couldn’t call it merely fucking.

I was a fool.