Page 50 of The Minotaur's Nanny Bride

When her fingers find me, I inhale sharply. No hesitation in her movements, just like everything else she does. Direct and purposeful, yet gentle. I'm already painfully hard, have been since I first tasted her.

"Maya," I whisper, my voice rougher than I intend.

She guides me between her legs, lining me up against her entrance. The heat of her nearly undoes me before we've even begun. I hold myself still, afraid to rush, afraid to hurt her. I'm not small, even for a minotaur, and she's so delicate beneath me.

Her eyes find mine, holding my gaze steady. "I love you, Dex."

The words hit me like a physical blow. Three simple words that I've never truly heard directed at me—not like this. Not with this meaning, this certainty. My mother's love came with conditions, my sister's with obligation. But Maya's love is a choice, freely given.

"I love you too," I whisper back, the words inadequate but necessary.

I push forward slowly, watching her face for any sign of discomfort. She takes a sharp breath but nods for me to continue. The feeling of sinking into her is unlike anything I've experienced—not just physical pleasure, but a sense of rightness, of completion.

"Gods, Maya," I breathe when I'm fully seated within her.

Her legs wrap around my waist, pulling me impossibly deeper. "Don't hold back on me now."

I begin to move, establishing a rhythm that has her sighing beneath me. My large hands find purchase on her hips, guiding our movements together. Always the trader, always the negotiator—finding the perfect balance between give and take.

But this isn't a transaction. This is a joining, a merging of two lives that have somehow found each other despite all odds. A human healer cast out by her family for helping my kind. A minotaur merchant who chose commerce over combat, disappointing his own family. Both outsiders, both stubborn in our convictions.

"You feel incredible," I murmur against her neck, increasing my pace slightly.

Her fingers dig into my shoulders, her body arching to meet each thrust. "So do you."

I've never been a believer in fate—too much time haggling over prices and negotiating contracts to trust in cosmic plans. But as Maya moves beneath me, her body accepting mine, her lips forming my name like it's sacred, I find myself reconsidering. Perhaps some things are meant to be, not by chance but by choice. By the thousands of small decisions that led us both here, to this moment.

The pleasure builds between us, her movements growing more urgent. I can tell she's close again by the way her breathing changes, by the flush spreading across her chest. I adjust my angle, driving deeper, wanting to watch her come apart again.

When she does, clenching around me, calling my name, I follow her over the edge. The release is shattering, my vision blurring as I spill inside her. For a moment, I forget everything—my worries about Ellis, my business concerns, even my own name. There is only Maya, only this connection between us.

29

MAYA

Dex holds me for a while, and I have never felt so perfect as I do in his arms. The sun spills in through my window, warm against my skin, a contrast to the coolness I've felt these past few days away from Ellis. Away from both of them.

"I'm ready to come home," I say, the words rushing out before I can overthink them. My fingers tighten around his, and I look up to read his expression.

Dex's green eyes light up, brightening his entire face. The bronze rings on his curved horns catch sunlight as he turns to me, a smile spreading across his features.

"Really? You're sure?" His voice carries a fragility I've rarely heard from him, like he's afraid to hope too much.

"I miss Ellis." My voice catches on the little one's name. "And I miss you. I don't want to be apart anymore."

Dex pulls me close, holding me like I am precious to him. It warms my heart. "The house doesn't feel right without you. Ellis keeps looking around like he's searching for something. For you."

The thought squeezes my heart. I'd grown so attached to that baby, his little tawny fur and those curious gold eyes. Walking away had felt like tearing off a piece of myself.

"Then take me home," I say against his chest.

The walk back to Dex's house—our house now, I suppose—passes in a blur of anticipation. Dex chatters about how Ellis has been, filling me in on missed moments, his usual jovial manner returning with each step closer to home.

"Lyra actually came by to watch Ellis," he explains. "She told me she was babysitting and basically kicked me out of my own house."

I laugh. "That sounds like Lyra." Practical, protective Lyra, who never let her own pregnancy slow her down or diminish her sharp sense of humor.

When we reach the front door, Dex fumbles with the key, suddenly nervous. I place my hand over his, steadying it.

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