Dark Alpha (ALPHA 2) Read online

  “Here you go.” He now placed a mug of steaming coffee down on the black marble table, his hair still disheveled, and he was wearing a fitted black T-shirt and faded jeans, his feet bare on the marble floor. “You can come in, Nicky,” he taunted when she made no move to enter the kitchen. “No ravishing you on the kitchen table this morning, I promise.”

  How Nicky still had the ability to blush, after the intimacies the two of them had shared the night before, she had no idea. But she definitely felt the warmth heating her cheeks as she crossed the kitchen and sat down at the table.

  “I wasn’t being difficult earlier.” Her gaze avoided meeting Lucien’s, but she was very aware of him standing beside her as she looked down at her steaming mug of coffee. “I just—I’m a little sore,” she admitted uncomfortably.

  Lucien winced as he realized that explanation hadn’t even occurred to him. Although possibly it should have. Nicky was an amazing and enthusiastic lover, but after that initial show of taking control, she had been happy to follow his lead last night, rather than initiating any more moves herself. And she had also told him that it had been years since she’d last had sex.

  He stepped back as he realized his proximity probably felt intimidating. “Would you like to accompany me to a wedding reception on Saturday evening?”

  “I—what?” Nicky gazed up at him wide-eyed.

  Lucien grimaced at her obvious surprise. “In a moment of weakness I agreed to attend a...a friend’s wedding reception on Saturday. Just for an hour or so,” he added dismissively. “I thought it might be more bearable if you came with me. Obviously not,” he bit out hardly as Nicky continued to stare up at him. “Forget I asked.” He turned away, disgusted with himself for having obviously suffered another ‘moment of weakness’ by even asking her. What the hell had he been thinking—

  “Are you actually asking me out on a date?” Nicky sounded incredulous.

  Lucien was frowning as he turned back to her. “I wouldn’t go that far—”

  “Oh I would.” She nodded, dark eyes glowing with humor at his obvious discomfort.

  He eyed her suspiciously as he carried his own mug of coffee over to the table and sat down opposite her. “Is something amusing you, Miss McKenzie?”

  Nicky wasn’t exactly amused, more surprised; attending a wedding reception just didn’t seem like the sort of thing the aloof and solitary Lucien Wynter would do.

  But she was already aware that she didn’t know Lucien as well as she wanted to.

  He had once told her that he didn’t have ‘friends’. But someone obviously considered him friend enough to have invited him to their wedding reception. And Lucien obviously felt enough of an obligation to that friendship to feel he had to attend, even if only ‘for an hour or so’.

  That he had asked her to accompany him was even more surprising. “Is it going to be a big wedding or something more private?” While Nicky was tempted to accept the invitation, if only so that she could spend the evening with Lucien, she certainly didn’t want to have her photograph appear in any society newspaper. But she couldn’t imagine Lucien would want that either.

  “Private.” Lucien confirmed with a grimace. “I believe Finn and Eva had enough publicity earlier this year to last them for a lifetime.”

  Finn...?

  It wasn’t such an unusual name, but coupled with the quartet of photographs Nicky had seen displayed on the wall of Lucien’s bedroom, and the mention of ‘publicity earlier in the year’... “Are you talking about Finn Devlin, the photographer?”

  “You know him?”

  “Of him,” Nicky corrected distractedly as she remembered that ‘publicity earlier in the year’ had involved Finn Devlin’s stalker ex-girlfriend. “His photographs are just amazing!”

  “Yes, they are.”

  “I didn’t realize he was getting married.”

  “As I said, it’s a private ceremony.” It was impossible for Lucien to miss the totally feminine admiration in Nicky’s eyes as she obviously thought about the handsome blue-eyed Irishman. A feminine admiration, for the photographer, that seemed to be universal.

  “And the two of you are friends?”

  “According to Finn we are, yes,” he confirmed hardly.

  She raised one eyebrow. “But not you?”

  “I’m attending his wedding reception, aren’t I?” Lucien was still slightly annoyed with himself for being talked into that one; unfortunately Eva’s charm was as lethal as her future husband’s, and he hadn’t liked to say no when she issued the invitation personally.

  “For an hour,” Nicky teased.

  “An hour,” Lucien conceded decisively. “And even that’s giving Dair heart palpitations,” he added ruefully.

  “I don’t understand why you need such intense sec—sorry.” She gave a self-conscious grimace. “We agreed that we wouldn’t ask each other personal questions,” she dismissed lightly.

  Lucien didn’t remember agreeing to that. Just as he was now regretting his decision not to have Dair investigate Nicky further. Because he was now more convinced than ever that she was hiding something.

  It was there now in the way she refused to meet his gaze. The way she was trying to make light of the subject—and failing.

  Lucien was an expert in all the ways of avoiding talking about himself and his past. Enough so that he knew when someone else was doing the same thing.

  But what could a twenty-something woman possibly have to hide?

  A husband, maybe?

  Possibly a child?

  No, Lucien didn’t think either of those things was feasible, when Nicky had been a student until just a few months ago.

  Then maybe she had an abusive ex-husband?

  She had also mentioned she had a brother, so maybe it was something about him she was hiding, rather than about herself?

  Or maybe her dead parents?

  She hadn’t talked about her mother much at all except to say she was dead, and her father only briefly, on the occasions Lucien had asked her about the locket she always wore.

  Whatever the problem was, whatever Nicky was hiding, it seemed too big a burden for someone of her age to have to cope with alone.

  Lucien reached out and rested his hand lightly on top of hers as it rested on the table. “Nicky, I may not be happy about anyone touching what I consider mine, but conversely I also protect what’s mine,” he assured huskily.

  She looked down at his hand on hers for several long seconds, as if she were giving the unspoken question some thought.

  Finally she gave a firm shake of her head. “I don’t need protecting.”

  “No?”

  “No.” She glared at him as she pulled her hand from beneath his. “And I’m not yours, either. I’ve told you before, I’m my own person, and I make my own decisions.”

  “Then I suggest that right now you make the decision not to go into work today,” he said lightly.

  “Why? So that you can keep me here and ask me yet more questions I don’t want to answer?”

  His jaw tightened. “I was only offering to help—”

  “I don’t need your help, Lucien.” Nicky stood up noisily, her cheeks flushed as she glared at him.

  Lucien held on to his own temper as he studied her through narrowed lids, easily recognizing that Nicky was spoiling for a fight. That she was deliberately pushing him away.

  Because he had gotten too close?

  Because, as she said, he asked too many questions she didn’t want to answer?

  Lucien had a feeling it was a combination of both those things rather than just one of them.

  And he respected that, he really did. Nicky’s determination to be totally independent, not to need anyone, was one of the things he most admired about her.

  He just had no intention of letting her get away with pushing him away.

  Nicky had no idea what happened in the next few seconds, Lucien moving so fast she couldn’t keep up with him, except to know that at the end of it she
once again found herself thrown over Lucien’s shoulder as he marched out of the kitchen and down the hallway to his bedroom.

  “Put me down!” She demanded as she pummeled his muscled back. “Lucien, please...!” She tried cajoling when the pummeling had absolutely no effect.

  “Oh I’m going to ‘please’ you, Nicky,” he assured her through gritted teeth. “And I’m going to go on ‘pleasing’ you until you stop fighting me!”

  “I told you, I can’t—” Nicky gave an oomph as Lucien dropped her on the bed before following her down, the weight of his body on hers preventing her from moving. “Lucien...”

  He took his weight on his elbows as he smoothed the hair back from her face. “I’m sorry if I got carried away again last night and hurt you.”

  “You didn’t hurt me,” Nicky assured him. “I’m just—I’ve only ever had one other lover, and as I told you, that was years ago,” she reminded huskily as the heat of embarrassment warmed her cheeks.

  Lucien looked down at her searchingly. “One other lover?”

  “Yes. And even that was—well it was nothing like the things we did together last night.” Nicky turned her gaze away from that probing one.

  He ran the soft pad of his thumb over her puffy bottom lip. “Nicky, do you trust me to find ways to make love to you now that aren’t going to cause you a single moment of discomfort?”

  Nicky thought this man was capable of doing pretty much anything he set his mind to.

  Just as she knew that just minutes ago she had been teetering on the edge of telling Lucien everything. Of asking him to help her to find a way to escape from the past once and for all. Of asking him to help her find a future where she didn’t live in fear every minute of every day.

  Luckily good sense had come to her rescue before she had done any of those things.

  She had no doubts that Lucien was a powerful man; he had demonstrated just how powerful when he dealt so quickly and decisively with Lionel Jenkins. But her past was so much worse than that, was the sort of problem that could get someone killed. Maybe even Lucien himself.

  And Lucien being hurt was the last thing Nicky wanted.

  To Lucien she was a brief obsession for a man used to taking what he wanted, and then discarding it when it no longer held his interest. A few days, a week at most, and Lucien would lose interest in her.

  Nicky had already accepted that when she spent the previous night with him.

  How she felt about Lucien was something else entirely.

  She’d never had a ‘brief, meaningless affair’ in her life, and in the past had always had to weigh the pros and cons of even dating someone, and invariably found more cons than pros. She had dated precisely two men in the past five years, had even cared enough for the second one to lose her virginity. But neither of those men had been in the least like Lucien.

  Lucien was a force, a power that was virtually unstoppable.

  He was also, no matter what he might claim to the contrary, both a generous and giving lover. Demanding and insatiable, yes, but he also gave as much—more—than he took, and last night he had been far more interested in her pleasure than in his own.

  Also—and Nicky knew Lucien would definitely deny this—he did care. And whether he liked it or not, whether he wanted it or not, he had people that cared about him too. His cousin Dair. Finn Devlin and his fiancée. Nicky...

  She was falling in love with this man.

  The arrogant, the domineering, the bossy Lucien Wynter.

  And much as Nicky might want to confide in Lucien, she knew that she had only stayed alive this long because she had never told another living person about the past.

  She moistened her lips before speaking. “Tempting as that sounds, Lucien, I really do have to go to work. My boss is a very demanding man,” she added teasingly as his expression darkened. “And I’ll still need this job once—once we decide this, whatever this is between the two of us, is over.”

  His eyes glittered down at her like the hard gemstones they resembled. “I’ll say when this is over!”

  Nicky gave a rueful smile. “You just can’t believe that I might be the one to call a halt to this, hmm?”

  “Now is not the time to tease me, Nicky.” He frowned his irritation.

  “Now is exactly the time to tease.” She reached up and touched his clenched jaw, the dark morning stubble feeling abrasive against her fingertips. “I promise you, I’m not going to run away from you again, Lucien.” Nicky knew, after last night, that there was no point in her even attempting to stay away from him.

  Lucien wanted her, and she wanted him, and for as long as that lasted she would be a fool not to just accept and enjoy it.

  “There do have to be some ground rules, however—”

  “Ground rules?” he repeated, dark eyebrows rising incredulously.

  “Ground rules.” Nicky nodded determinedly. “No more personal questions, for one. On either side,” she added firmly as he would have spoken again. “I also need to continue with my job, see my brother, and spend time with my friends Chrissie and Fleur. I need to keep my own life, Lucien.” A life that had been so hard-won, and one she was totally aware could still be taken away from her at any moment.

  But not yet, she pleaded silently.

  Please not until after she sucked the marrow from this relationship with Lucien.

  She had spent so many years protecting her brother as well as herself, and she had never really asked for anything more than that. Now she wanted more. After last night she wanted Lucien, for as long as this wild and unpredictable relationship continued.

  She smiled up at him now. “I’ll come back this evening, if you would like me to? And I won’t bother to wear panties this time—it will save you the trouble of having to rip them off.”

  Lucien knew when he was being played, and that right now, for reasons of her own, Nicky was hoping to divert his attention away from delving into her past, by being deliberately provocative about the immediate future.

  Not that he wasn’t in favor of her coming back here this evening not wearing any panties; he couldn’t think of a single red-blooded heterosexual male who would object to a woman offering to do that. But he wasn’t fooled for a moment by Nicky’s method of distraction.

  Even if, for now, he was willing to allow it to pass.

  Nicky was coming back here this evening, and he would have hours and hours in which to convince her she could confide in him. That he would help her, if she would let him.

  “Fine.” He kissed her hard on the lips before moving off her to sit on the side of the bed, his back towards her. “I’ll drive you home—”

  “That really isn’t necessary—”

  “It’s seven o’clock in the morning, Nicky,” Lucien turned to give her a narrow-eyed look. “And I’m driving you home.” He stood up, moving away from the temptation that was Nicky, as he crossed the room and looked out of the window.

  He had grown up on those streets down there, knew only the strong survived.

  He had survived. Just.

  He intended ensuring that Nicky survived too, initially by not allowing her to walk those streets at ridiculous times of the day or night. And later…he was going to make sure she survived then too.

  “It’s non-negotiable, Nicky,” he bit out abruptly as he turned back to face her. “And either Dair or I will collect you from your apartment at seven o’clock this evening.”

  Nicky studied the grimness of Lucien’s expression for several seconds; his eyes were implacable, the sensual lips set determinedly. “Fine.” She nodded as she got slowly to her feet.

  The denim really was uncomfortable against her bared flesh, and she decided then and there that she would wear a dress or a skirt when she came back this evening.

  “Did you just agree to something without argument?” Lucien quirked a derisive brow.

  “I did,” she acknowledged as she crossed the room to stand in front of him. “But don’t get too used to it,” she added dryl
y as he gave her one of those rare, confident grins. “I could have a really shitty day at work and be in a really argumentative mood again by this evening.”

  “Then I’ll just have to think of ways to help you forget that tyrant boss of yours and make you feel less...argumentative,” Lucien murmured as his arms moved confidently about her waist and he pulled her in against the muscled hardness of his body.

  As usual his closeness and heat made Nicky melt inside. “We can stay here rather than go out to eat,” she added huskily. “I can go shopping after work, and I’ll enjoy cooking. Besides which, those empty restaurants you sit in are just too weird.”

  Lucien chuckled softly. “And you have the nerve to accuse me of being bossy!”

  Nicky gave a wince as she realized that the evening she had just described probably sounded far too domesticated for a man like Lucien. “Just say if you would rather do something else.”

  “No, I’m fine with staying in. We can cook together. And choose fresh fruit for dessert, hmm?” he added huskily as the brightness of his gaze ran over her in slow and sensuous appreciation. “Strawberries and succulent grapes, definitely.” His hands stroked over the fullness of her breasts. “And anything else you think I might...enjoy.”

  Nicky felt a shiver of anticipation down the length of her spine as she easily guessed exactly where and in what way Lucien intended eating his dessert...

  Chapter 11

  “What the—!” Lucien looked down at the file that had just landed on his desk, thrown there by Dair after his cousin had marched unannounced into his office shortly after five o’clock. “What the hell have you done, Dair?” he demanded harshly as he saw that Nicky’s name was clearly printed on the front of that slender file.

  His cousin met his gaze unapologetically. “Be as pissed as you like, Lucien, but you employ me—my company, at least—to take care of your protection—”

  “I don’t pay you—or your fucking company—to pry into the private life of the woman I’m currently seeing.” Lucien couldn’t even look at that file sitting on his desk. “I did not ask you to do this, Dair,” his voice shook with fury.