Page 94 of Prey

But this one was so gentle I wanted to cry when he pulled away.

He pressed his thumb against my bottom lip, took me in once more, and with a groan, pressed another kiss against me.

When he finally pulled back, both of us were breathing hard.

He kept his lips close to mine when I heard him say softly, “Too late.”

* * *

I hummed happilyto a pop song I had heard recently while working on my iPad.

My next project was on a family of bears, and I was having a blast creating all the different expressions on each of them to go with the storyline.

Roman had left forwork, even if he considered work to be different from most people. I was back in my apartment, getting back to my routine and feeling as if a huge weight had been lifted from my chest.

I was happy.

My phone chimed from where I had set it next to me on the sofa, and I reached out for it, looking at the new text message that had just come in.

I could feel my good mood deflating as I read the text from my mom.

My relationship with my parents was still a bit rocky, though better than it had been when I first moved into this apartment.

At least we were communicating now, though not as much since I got back from the cabin.

I didn’t know how to talk to them without feeling like I was betraying them somehow, yet I couldn’t make myself let Roman go.

It was an unnerving thought, to think that there would come a time when my parents would make me choose between them and Roman, and I wouldn’t choose them.

No matter what I said this morning to him, I was just as incapable of letting him go as he was with me.

Perhaps there was something unhealthy about our relationship.

I couldn’t bring myself to care at this point.

But I couldn’t ignore my parents now, especially when Mom just invited me to their house for an early dinner.

It had been so long since I stepped foot into my childhood home, the thought of it almost felt foreign.

I knew if I refused, she might come here, and the last thing I needed was for her to show up unexpectedly and come face-to-face with Roman.

I shuddered at the thought of my high society mom meeting the VP of the King’s Men MC.

I texted my mom back and slowly went to my room to make myself presentable enough to be Bennett and Vivian Hudson’s society daughter once again.

* * *

There wasa sort of heaviness in my stomach that seemed to only become more pronounced the more miles I ate up, until I found myself parked in front of my parents’ estate.

Over 8,000 square feet, with seven bedrooms, two home offices, a home gym, and seven and a half bathrooms, it was much too big for three people to live in.

I imagined it was even more so now that it was only two of them.

My parents didn’t share a bedroom.

They hadn’t since I was fourteen—or at least, I thought it was fourteen. I didn’t know exactly when they stopped sleeping in the same room, but I discovered it at fourteen, and even then, it had struck me as odd.

Now, I couldn’t imagine sleeping apart from Roman.

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