Page 163 of Dancing for the Minotaur

At last, he spoke again.

“Where are we going?” Because they had left downtown before and were now driving through the residential area of Tampa Heights.

“My house,” she said shortly.

He frowned.

“Why?”

Terra gave him a look.

“Because my children have been asking about the Bull-man approximately fourteen thousand times a day, my mother thinks I’m an idiot for letting you go, and I am not having this conversation while one of your horns is hanging out of my Honda.”

Taurex stared at her.

Terra glanced back at him, and there was something in her expression he hadn’t seen in weeks. Something warm…something nervous. Something that made hope try very hard to rise in his heart despite his efforts to crush it.

“Besides,” she added, “if we’re supposedly getting married, we need to plan the wedding.”

Taurex’s heart seemed to stop for a moment. She really meant to go through with this! She wanted them to plan a fake Joining ceremony just to back up her lie to the human authorities.

He thought again of trying to stop her—of trying to get her to turn around and go back to the authorities and then decided it was futile. Terra had always been stubborn—if she set out to do something, there was no stopping her.

He just wished the Joining they would be planning was real.

42

TERRA

By the time Terra pulled into the driveway, she had almost convinced herself that bringing Taurex home had been a terrible idea. Not because she didn’t want him there—that was exactly the problem.

She wanted him there far too much.

The entire drive from downtown had left her painfully aware of his enormous presence beside her, despite the absurdity of one horn sticking out the passenger window and his knees practically jammed beneath his chin.

Every time she glanced at him, she remembered the way he had leaned into her hug in the police station after she threw herself against him, slow and careful as though he still wasn’t entirely convinced he had permission to be close to her. She remembered calling him “baby” without thinking, remembered the startled look in those golden eyes and the way her entire body had seemed to relax the moment she felt his warmth against her again.

Now she was bringing him back to the little bungalow in Seminole Heights where her mother and children were waiting, and Terra had absolutely no idea what she was going to do once they got there.

But as it turned out, she didn’t need to decide. The moment she turned into the driveway, the front door flew open and her kids came rushing out.

“The Bull-man! The Bull-man!”

Lisa came tearing across the front yard barefoot, despite the fact that Terra had told her approximately four thousand times not to run outside without shoes. Cody was only a few steps behind her, and Lucy appeared in the doorway after them, one hand pressed against her chest as though the excitement had already raised her blood pressure.

Taurex looked startled but pleased at the children’s reaction to seeing him.

Terra barely had time to park before Lisa reached the passenger side and began bouncing beside the door.

“Bull-man! Bull-man! You came back!”

“It appears that I have,” Taurex said gravely.

Terra got out and hurried around the car.

“Give me a second, Lisa. He’s kind of stuck in there.”

“I am not stuck,” Taurex protested from inside the Honda with dignity.