Page 27 of Delicious Prey

“Work stuff,” he says when I’m still waiting for an answer.

“That’s all I get? What about no secrets between us?”

“I will try my best to keep you as informed as possible, but I see no reason to worry you with unnecessary details.”

“Maybe I should be the judge of what’s unnecessary.”

He laughs and pushes a fork towards me. “Eat, zaika. You need the protein.”

When I don’t eat, he sighs and says, “I’m going to need to take care of Ivan soon, probably in a day or two.”

“By take care of you mean kill?”

“Yes.”

“Does it ever bother you?”

I watch his face, looking for any trace of guilt or remorse, but there’s nothing. We might as well be discussing the weather.

“No, zaika, it doesn’t. We all have our talents. Mine just happens to be killing people.”

“What kind of future do you expect us to have?”

He puts his fork down and leans back in his chair, knowing lunch is going to have to wait. “I have more money than we could ever spend, and I have fake IDs. We will get married, and we will live wherever you want. We’ll have a family, and every day you’ll walk around with an ache between your legs because you’re mine, little bunny, and I will always remind you of that.”

This time he leans across the table and puts the fork in my hand. “Eat your damn lunch. You haven’t had enough calories today.”

I bite back the smile at how damn bossy he is and stab a forkful of salad. Stuffing my mouth, I give him a grin and say, “Happy?” The word comes out muffled, but he groans, and I know he understood me.

“God, you’re going to be a handful,” he mutters before taking a bite of his own salad.

Chapter 9

Kirill

I wait until Lydia finishes every bite of her lunch. Only when her bowl is empty do I allow her to get up, not that she tried to get up before then. She may like to make a fuss about my healthy meals, but she sure devours them in a hurry. I’ve never cooked for anyone else before, and I’m surprised by how much I like it. I enjoy taking care of her. She brings out things in me that I never knew existed. I didn’t think I was capable of love, and I sure as fuck never thought I would be the kind of guy who likes to cuddle in bed, but here I am, already looking forward to tonight when she’ll curl her body up against mine and dance her fingers along my chest as she falls asleep. She’s turned my world completely upside down, and I’m oddly okay with it.

Instead of leading her inside, I hold my hand out to her and say, “Do you want me to show you around?”

She smiles and threads her fingers through mine. “I would love that.”

I walk with her beyond the veranda, wanting to see her reaction when the yard opens up on the side and she sees all the flowers. I know the second the notices the purple irises by the way her whole face lights up.

“Those look just like the ones at my house,” she says, pointing at the line of flowers. I don’t say anything, just watch her when she notices the yellow dahlias and purple hyacinths. She looks up at me, her brow furrowed in thought.

“Did you have these planted because you know I like them?”

“I asked Vadim to start transplanting them last year. You told me the flowers were important to you, that you and your mom planted them together, so I wanted you to have them here. No matter where we move to, this house will always be ours. We can come back whenever you want, and they’ll always be here waiting.”

“That’s insanely sweet, Kirill.”

“Insane, I’ve been called, but never insanely sweet.”

She laughs and kisses the back of my hand, and before I can do something really embarrassing like get down on one knee and beg her to marry me, I gently lead her to the path behind the house, the one that leads to our private beach. Because the house is on a hill, it takes a few minutes to get to the beach, but once we’re there, she laughs and takes off running. My dogs are on duty, but Peanut scampers down the hill, running after Lydia. I watch the two of them with a smile on my face. Partly the smile is because I just genuinely enjoy seeing her so happy, and partly it’s because she’s braless and I know she’s not wearing panties. She drives me fucking crazy. I’d nearly lost it when she’d dropped the towel in the closet, showing me her newly shaved pussy. If Vadim hadn’t showed up, I’d probably still have my head buried between her legs.

“Kirill,” she shouts, cutting into the oral fantasy that’s taking shape.

She waves me over, and when I start walking towards her, she laughs and takes off running. I go from being semi-hard to full-on hard as soon as she takes off, looking over her shoulder with a smile on her face.

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