Page 19 of Delicious Prey

She’s quiet for a few seconds while I grab what I need, and then she switches back to defending herself. “I didn’t just grow up on candy.”

“Frozen pizza too?” I ask when I turn around.

She rolls her pretty blue eyes at me. “My dad wasn’t much of a cook.”

Her dad is a touchy topic, so I sidestep it and say, “Well, you have me to cook for you now, and things are going to change.” To prove my point, I pour her a glass of organic orange juice and hand it to her.

She scowls at me, but she takes it. She looks less enthusiastic about the bowl of muesli and yogurt I fix for her. “What the fuck is this?”

I add in some dried cranberries and scoot the bowl towards her. “Every damn bite, sweetheart.”

Stirring her spoon around, her lip curls up in a grimace. “I’m not so sure I’m going to like living here.”

Laughing, I lean against the counter. “Tough shit. Stop being a baby and try it.”

I take a big bite, proving that it is edible. It’s actually pretty fucking tasty if she’d just give it a chance. She fills her spoon and takes a small, hesitant bite. When it doesn’t immediately kill her, she finishes the rest of the spoonful and digs in for some more.

“Told you,” I can’t help but say.

She ignores me and finishes her bowl. When I scoot her glass of orange juice closer to her, she rolls her eyes at me again but picks it up and downs the rest of it.

“Happy now?”

“Immensely.” I give her a wink and set our dishes in the dishwasher, spotting the yawn she tries to hide. “Time for bed.”

She waves towards the windows around us and the sunny light filtering in. “It’s morning.”

“Yeah, but you didn’t get much sleep last night. You never get enough because the nightmares always wake you. Maybe they’ll go away now that I’m here.”

“That’s an interesting theory. The monster in my bed will keep out the monster in my head.”

“You’re cranky because you’re tired, zaika.”

I cut off whatever she’s about to say by picking her up. At first she just lets her legs hang while I cup her ass, but after a few awkward seconds, she sighs and wraps her arms and legs around me. Her body molds to mine, fitting perfectly as I carry her back upstairs. She rests her chin on my shoulder while I savor the feel of her ass in my hand and her tits pressed against my chest.

“What happens now?” she whispers. The warmth of her breath against my neck sends a shiver of pleasure straight down my spine before settling in my balls.

“Now I wait for you to realize you’re in love with me.”

“Do you think you’re in love with me?” Her voice is barely more than a whisper this time, and I have to strain to hear it.

I kiss her shoulder. “I know I’m in love with you.”

“You don’t even know me, Kirill.”

I press her against the wall outside the bedroom and run my tongue over the crook of her neck, pinning her tight enough so I can feel the rapid beat of her heart against my chest.

“I know you, zaika. I’ve memorized all your letters, and I’ve memorized every line of your body, every detail of your expressions. Sometimes I feel like I know you better than I know myself. I knew the first second I saw you that we would always be tangled up together, a part of us always connected to the other. That look in your eyes,” I sigh and rest my forehead against hers. “I will never be free of it.”

“Are you sure you don’t hate me instead of love me?”

Her breathy whisper hits my lips, and it takes all my willpower to not close the distance, to kiss her so fucking sweetly, leaving her with no doubt about how I feel.

“I don’t hate you, baby. I could never hate you.” I let out a soft laugh. “I was very angry when I first got to prison, but I knew it wasn’t really hate. I was more angry that I couldn’t hate you.”

I know she’s struggling with how she feels about me, and when I see a flash of guilt in her eyes, I give her ass a hard squeeze. “No, Lydia, don’t you dare feel guilty about me. I’m not a good man, and my ass deserves to be in prison. I’ve killed hundreds of people. I don’t deserve freedom.” I give her a small grin. “I’m just too big of a jackass to accept my punishment.”

“I’m not about to argue with the jackass part.”

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