Page 41 of Delicious Prey

She nods and when she turns to leave, I tell Boris and Grisha to go with her. They walk on either side of her, guiding her back to the house and making sure she’s safe. I hear her talking to them, but it’s too low for me to catch what she’s saying. Once they’re out of sight, I turn my attention back to Jay. I grab the key from his front pocket and then search his body again, not at all surprised that he came here with nothing but weapons and the clothes he’s wearing.

After a quick trip to the garage for a shovel, I toss his body over my shoulder and walk with Pyotr and Igor further into the woods. I find a nice spot and start the long process of digging a grave. By the time it’s as deep as I want, I’m coated in sweat and cursing Jay’s stupid greedy ass for attempting to come after me. Tossing his body in, I shovel the dirt back in and tamp it down. It’s after midnight by the time I finish. When the sun rises, this will actually be a pretty spot that’s close to the edge of the hill, overlooking the ocean. It’s a professional courtesy that I buried him here instead of chopping him up and letting the sharks finish him off.

I give a low whistle for the dogs to follow me as I walk back. Stopping at the hose by the side of the house, I rinse off the worst of the dirt and then clean the blood from Pyotr’s muzzle. Making sure they have food and water, I spend a few minutes praising them on a job well done, and when I realize I’m stalling, I force myself to leave them and go inside.

Peanut runs up to me as soon as I enter. I scoop him up because it’s easier to pet him in my arms than for me to stay bent over to reach him. He gives a happy yip and licks my hand. Lydia watches me from the couch. She’s curled up at one end with a soft blanket draped over her. A movie plays on the TV, but the volume is so low that I know she just put it on for some background noise and not because she’s actually watching it.

“Everything okay?” she asks.

“Yeah, it’s all done.” I set Peanut down and he runs to her.

“I’m going to take a quick shower. We can talk when I get out if you want.”

She nods and watches me leave. I hate the distance I feel between us right now. I hate that she caught a glimpse of my darker side, the part that I’d hoped would remain as hidden from her as possible. My fear is that the distance will just grow, that she’ll close herself off to me. I shake my head at the thought, knowing I couldn’t bear it, not after everything we shared today.

Stepping under the hot spray of water, I wash the blood and dirt off me while the hurt look in her eyes replays over and over again in my mind. When I’m as clean as a man like me can get, I step out and dry off before pulling on a pair of grey joggers. Walking into the bedroom, I’m surprised to find Lydia already under the covers and waiting for me. I lay down, letting out the breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding when she immediately closes the distance and snuggles up against me. She doesn’t say anything, just kisses my chest and drapes an arm and leg over me while Peanut makes himself comfortable on my stomach. If someone had described this sleeping position to me a couple of weeks ago, I would’ve said it sounded like a claustrophobic hell, but when I run my hand through her hair and listen to the soft sound of her breathing, it doesn’t feel like hell; it feels like pure heaven.

Chapter 12

Lydia

I have no idea what to expect when I go downstairs the next morning. Our routine seems to be that he wakes up first and goes downstairs to make breakfast with Peanut while I sleep in and then shower and meet him in the kitchen. This morning isn’t any different. After I’m showered and dressed, I find him by the stove, flipping an omelet and looking sexy as hell while doing it. He’s still in nothing but that pair of grey joggers, and the sight of him makes my damn head spin. He does not look like a man who just committed murder and buried the body on his own land. He looks like I should be slipping money into the waistband of his joggers and begging for a private dance in the back room.

When his grey eyes meet mine, I can tell he’s worried about what he’ll find, but his shoulders visibly relax as I step closer and wrap my arms around his waist. Closing my eyes, I hug him tightly, hearing the steady beat of his heart and savoring the feel of his strong arms as they wrap around me. I’m still sore from yesterday, but not even that ache between my legs can stop the warm flush from running through my body at the memory of how damn good he’d felt inside me.

I rest my chin on his warm chest and look up at him. “What the hell are you doing with me?” I ask.

He smiles and gives a soft laugh. Reaching over to turn the oven off, he keeps his other arm around me and asks, “What do you mean?”

“You could have anyone. You should have some gorgeous six-foot-tall woman with legs that never end and the kind of big tits that make men drool when they see them.” I shake my head in confusion. “I don’t get it.”

He studies me for a second, brow furrowed in confusion, and then he picks me up. I wrap my legs around him and rest my hands on his muscled shoulders.

“What the hell made you think that?”

I shrug and wave one hand at the gorgeous chest and face in front of me. “It’s just kind of obvious,” I say.

He lifts a dark brow at that. “You think so, little bunny?”

“Yes,” I whisper.

“Well, I feel the same way about you.”

I laugh before I can stop it.

“I’m serious,” he says. “The only difference is that I don’t look at you and wonder why you’re with me. I’ll never understand that, so I’ve given up trying. I look at you and think that I would kill any motherfucker who tried to take you from me.”

He leans closer and very lightly licks my lips, sending an immediate rush of pleasure straight through me. “You’re the only woman I want, and you’re the only woman I’ll ever want. You’re so beautiful, zaika, so goddamn beautiful it takes my breath away every time I look at you.” He rests his forehead against mine. “I think I fell in love with you the first second I saw you.”

“When I was trying my hardest to not throw up on the witness stand? Yeah, that must’ve been hot as hell,” I say, but he doesn’t smile or give a soft laugh like I’m expecting. His eyes fill with a deep pain that takes me by complete surprise. I guess me trying to make a joke of wrongly accusing him of murdering my dad isn’t in the best taste, but I’ve always hidden behind sarcastic humor.

“I’m sorry,” I say. “I guess I shouldn’t joke about that.”

“You have nothing to apologize for. I was just thinking how much better you deserve and how I’m a selfish jackass because I’ll never let you go so you can find an honest man.”

“I don’t want anyone else,” I remind him. I cup his face and stroke his stubbled cheeks. “I don’t ever want you to let me go.”

He tightens his grip on me and says, “I never will, little bunny.” He holds me for several more seconds before setting me down and giving my ass a soft smack. “You need to eat breakfast.”

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