Page 11 of Minding the Minotaur (Monsters of the Labyrinth #1)

A RLO

It’s been ages since Otis and Samantha left the room.

My head is chock-full of questions, and my body is still buzzing, every nerve ending on fire. Being locked in, unable to gallop along the Labyrinth tunnels—which is my way of releasing stress—is making me even more stir crazy.

I’m pacing around impatiently, wondering what the hell happens next, when there’s a soft knock at the door.

I stop abruptly. “Yes,” I call out gruffly.

The door opens a crack and Samantha’s head peeps around. My heart jumps.

“Come in, I won’t bite.” I gift her what I hope is a welcoming smile.

“I, um, just wanted to check in and see if you’re hungry. It’s nearly lunch time.”

“Shit, lunchtime already? Time flies when you’re having fun.”

She steps into the room, and we stand staring at each other for long moments. I think I might drown in the blue of her eyes. “That was a joke,” I mumble.

Her lips quirk. “I know.”

I can’t help my gaze panning her body. The buttons of her jacket strain over her bouncy tits, her gorgeous thighs rub together in the dark pants, and her knees have the cutest way of slightly turning inward.

She is so freakin’ adorable. I jerk my gaze back to her face.

“Do you have to wear that cap?” I ask abruptly.

“I don’t know. I guess not.”

“Take it off,” I demand huskily. Her eyes widen a little. “Please,” I add, remembering she’s in charge. She pulls it off, and tugs at her ponytail. I want to see her hair, wild around her face like it was when we first met.

“Let your hair down.”

“Erm—okay.” She pulls out the tie and shakes her hair until it’s a golden curtain almost reaching to her waist. My breath hitches.

“You have the most amazing hair.”

She laughs nervously, smoothing her hands along the outside of her thighs. “My one good feature.”

“That’s rubbish. You’re… beautiful.” My eyes stray down to the delicious curves of her legs once more, the material of her pants stretching up and around her crotch. My nostrils twitch. I detect the definite sweet muskiness of arousal.

She doesn’t respond to my compliment, but when I look at her, I see she’s turned a cute deep pink in the cheeks.

“Sorry I was so rude when you came in. The last human I expected to see was you,” I blurt out. “I was in shock.”

“Same.” She giggles nervously. “What were the odds?”

“Maybe it’s fate,” I say, then kick myself for sounding trite, and rush on. “Didn’t Otis tell you what species you were minding?”

She shakes her head. “He really didn’t tell me much at all. ”

“Probably didn’t want to put you off.”

“It wouldn’t have.” Our gazes lock, skitter away again. I scratch my head, and paw at the ground with one hoof to distract myself from my lecherous imaginings. Seducing your guard in her first hour on duty might get her sacked, and that’s the last thing I want.

I want her around for a long, long time.

“So, we’re stuck together for the next four weeks.” Even that feels like heaven right now.

“Yep. Seems so.” She flaps her arms in a cute shrug.

“You won’t keep me locked in my room?”

“There’s no need. I have screens to monitor your movements.”

My jaw drops. “Well, fuck me.” So Otis meant it when he said he was setting up surveillance. He must have got it up and running while I was stuck at his place yesterday. Any excuse to try out one of the new systems he loves to invent.

Looking around, I locate a tiny little camera just above the door. “So… even in my bedroom.” I try to feign shock, but in truth, the idea of her watching me is… very pleasant.

She pulls a face. “Sorry, yes.”

“What about the bathroom?”

“No, not the bathroom.”

“Well, thank the gods for that.” I snort out a laugh. “I get to piss in private.”

“From what Otis told me, as long as we stay in the house, you can pretty much do what you like, but I will be sticking close to you.” Her eyes stray to the huge bed behind me, and maybe she doesn’t realize, but the tip of her tongue slides over her lips.

Gods, how much I’d like to throw her on that bed, rip off her pants, part her thighs and fuck her sweet cunt.

Back up the truck, Arlo.

With difficulty, I focus back on her words. “Otis says you can spend time in the garden as long as I’m at your side. Though I should warn you, he’s given me a zapper thing.”

She pulls back her jacket and shows me a holster with a small taser in it, fixed on her belt.

My jaw drops. “You’re kidding me.”

“Just in case you try to jump the walls or?—"

“Or what?”

“Trample on me.”

“Why would I trample on you?”

She gives me an apologetic look. “Otis said you can move fast and, er, be a bit clumsy.”

“I wouldn’t ever trample on you,” I retort indignantly.

“Yeah, okay, I charge sometimes, but that’s just what minotaurs do.

And I may have knocked someone over in the past, but only a couple of times at most.” I suddenly remember the annual Running With the Bull race.

I did bowl over a few monsters in my eagerness to win, and a Satyr did break his leg, but I was eighteen then.

Young and foolish. I decide not to mention it.

“I would never hurt you, Samantha, you know that, right?”

“Yes, I knew that the moment I first saw you.” She smiles, so gently my heart melts. “You can call me Sammy,” she adds. “If you’d like.”

“Is that what your friends call you?”

She nods.

“Then I’d like that—Sammy.”

“You know what? I’m going to take this off,” she says, undoing the taser and putting it down on the dresser. My filthy mind wishes she hadn’t stopped there. “Why don’t you show you me the garden before lunch?” she adds.

“Sure, I’d love to.” My garden is my pride and joy. It’s small, but I’ve spent a lot on making it beautiful. “Follow me.”

Our arms brush a couple of times as we walk along the corridor, which is just wide enough for the two of us.

Every time we make contact, it feels like an electric current zapping up my arm.

She’s tiny next to my huge body, though not small for a human.

I guess Otis was right to warn her about my bulk.

I walk carefully next to her, controlling my desire to touch her.

But at the door into the garden she makes to go first, and so do I.

We bump into each other, hard enough that she loses her footing, trips on the step, and goes sprawling onto the pavers outside.

Utterly mortified, I reach down and offer my hand.

“Oh gods, Sammy, I’m so sorry,” I stutter, tugging her up. “Seems maybe you needed that taser after all,” I add ruefully as I gently pull her up to face me.

She looks up at me, all big blue eyes, then makes a face as she casts her gaze down her body.

“Dang, I think I’ve torn a button off my shirt,” she says wryly. Sure enough, the buttons have flipped open, exposing the creamy curve of her breast, encased in black lace. I can just see the dark point of one of her taut nipples.

We stand there, suspended as if in honey, her lips slightly parted, plump, luscious. I could so easily reach down and capture her mouth with mine, sweep my tongue across her lips and part them, then dive in.

She breaks the spell first, stepping away and fixing her blouse. “No, no, it’s not you being clumsy, it’s me. I’m a bit knock-kneed, which makes me trip over my feet. I did the same thing when I was walking with Jax.”

“Jax?” Jealousy hits me in the solar plexus, and I can’t help saying in a churlish tone, “Is he your boyfriend?”

Her eyes widen. “Oh, no. No way. But he got me this job. He’s a peripheral.”

“Right.” I try to swallow the caustic resentment that another guy should get to walk with her anywhere.

“He’s also my best friend Clem’s brother. After I met you… I fessed up to her, and she knew about the Labyrinth. Because Jax works down here. ”

Jax. Now the name is ringing a bell. “Tall skinny guy?”

She nods enthusiastically. “Smoker.”

My brow furrows. I recall seeing him in Otis’s office quite a few times. “He’s something to do with exports, right?”

“I don’t know what he does exactly, but I—I needed a job, and he found me this one.” She looks up at me, and this time when she smiles, I see the sweetest dimple in one of her cheeks. “And truthfully, I hoped that I’d bump into you again if I worked in the Labyrinth.”

“Really?” I feel myself blushing under my scruff.

“Yeah, really. You made quite an impression on me.”

I’m so happy I don’t know what to say. Finally, I mumble gruffly, “Erm, yeah, ditto.”

We both laugh, a little embarrassed, and I’m aware of my huge arms hanging at my sides, like a fucking virgin on their first date.

She breaks the connection by looking around her. “Wow, it’s so bright out here, and you have so many flowers. How do you light it?”

I point up to the huge overhead lamps hanging from a network of wires strung across the cave roof.

“Oh, that’s clever. I didn’t get to see much on the way in because the windows of the jeep were blacked out, but it’s lighter down here than I expected.”

I nod. “It’s common practice with humans new to our culture to limit the visuals. Humans can get what we call Labyrinth overwhelm. Culture shock. The confined spaces, all the different species—it can all be a bit much at first.”

“I get that. It’s a lot to take in. So, is everywhere else in the Labyrinth this brightly lit?”

“Some parts are—the trading areas and manufacturing levels. But not so much in residential parts. I had to purchase these lights, and the cost is high for the energy. But there are places in the Labyrinth where you do get to see natural light.”

She frowns. “As in, light from Sparkle City? ”

“No, I mean real daylight. From outside.”

Her brows shoot up in surprise. “You mean from Earth?”

“Yep.”

“B-but I thought it was permanently dark out there?”

“That’s a lie. It’s light half of every day. And when it is dark, there are stars. Real stars.”

“No way!”

“Yes!”

“You’re jerking my chain.”