Dark Alpha (ALPHA 2) (17 page)

She had been so aroused by the time Lucien tossed her on the bed, before following her down, that she had been panting and pleading for more. Lucien hadn’t disappointed her, Nicky so limp with pleasure by the time Lucien took them both to another earth-shattering climax that she had promised herself never to challenge him in that way again.

Maybe.

She gave a satisfied smile now as she slipped from beneath Lucien’s arm and leg, badly in need of the bathroom, followed by a shower. Then she needed to either hope that her own clothes had made a miraculous appearance, or hope there was something in Lucien’s walk-in closet that she could wear to go home in. She needed to get ready for work.

Lucien might be his own boss, but he was also
her
boss, and she didn’t intend taking advantage of the fact the two of them had spent the night together—

“Where are you going?”

Nicky’s breath caught in her throat as she turned to face Lucien, the weak daylight shining in through the window allowing her to see that he was leaning up on his one elbow and frowning across the bedroom at her.

The darkness of his hair was tousled—a definitely just-been-fucked look, and without the help of a stylist!—a night’s stubble darkening his jaw.

He looked edible, Nicky decided longingly.

At the same time as the aches and soreness of her body—her nipples felt raw from where Lucien had bitten and sucked them—alerted her to the fact that she presently wasn’t physically capable of going back for more.

She gave him a rueful smile. “Bathroom. Shower. Coffee. Then home and work.”

Lucien was guessing that Nicky had absolutely no idea how wildly sexy she looked right now. An unashamedly naked woman, the redness at her breasts and thighs, the seductive smile on her lips, all showing she had been well and truly satisfied the night before.

God, she had been insatiable, wild, and ready to try all and everything he asked of her. That he wanted to ask of her again right now.

“Come back to bed,” he encouraged gruffly, his cock already hard and throbbing as it tented the sheets in anticipation of more.

It was a reminder of the morning sex he had been missing out on all these years, by never spending the whole night with a woman.

“I
can’t,
Lucien,” Nicky groaned now.

Lucien frowned darkly at her refusal. “I said come back to bed, damn it.”

She gave a grimace. “I was really hoping that he wouldn’t come back.”

“What the hell are you talking about now?” He gave an impatient shake of his head as he threw the sheets back and stood up. “Who is ‘he’?”

Nicky gave a weary sigh. “I’m going to take a shower now, Lucien,” she told him firmly. “Maybe by the time I‘ve finished Mr. Bossy McWynter will have gone back into his icebox!” She walked into the bathroom and closed the door behind her, the sound of the key turning in the lock seconds later.

Lucien glared his frustration as that closed and locked bathroom door.

Mr. Bossy McWynter?

What the fuck did that mean?

Mr. Bossy McWynter...

Some of the tension started to easy from Lucien’s shoulders—shoulders that Nicky had bitten and scratched the night before as she screamed out her pleasure—and he started to chuckle as he realized the ‘he’ she had been referring to a few minutes ago was him. Or, at least, his alter ego. The part of him that ordered rather than asked. The part of him that took, also without asking.

Not that he believed for a moment that Nicky disliked all of that side of him; her uninhibited response to their lovemaking the night before was proof of that. She had even enjoyed having her bottom lightly spanked, and she had definitely enjoyed everything that came after it.

Nicky was just obviously of the opinion that there was a time and a place for his dominating side, and first thing in the morning obviously wasn’t one of those occasions.

What had been her list of things she had to do...?

Oh yes.

Bathroom.

Tick.

Shower.

Tick.

Coffee.

Pending.

Then home and work.

Lucien didn’t think so to that last one!

“I guess you’re not a morning person, hmm.” Lucien turned from making coffee to look at Nicky as she now stood hesitantly in the kitchen doorway.

Nicky had been surprised to find the bedroom empty when she came out of the bathroom wrapped in a cream bath towel. All the time she was in the bathroom she had imagined Lucien on the other side of the door, waiting for her broodingly. With the intention of exacting retribution for her having defied him.

Another surprise had been finding her clothes from last night on the bed, now laundered and pressed—including the ripped panties. Something that had made Nicky’s cheeks blush hotly as she thought of the rugged Dair handling her ripped underwear.

No need for the other man to even speculate as to how they had gotten that way, when she had obviously been completely naked last night, apart from Lucien’s dinner jacket, when he carried her from the back of the car to the elevator.

Once she was dressed there had been no further reason for her to linger in the bedroom. Besides which, the smell of coffee brewing was a definite lure.

Considering that Lucien seemed the least domesticated man she had ever known—in more ways than one—her eyes had widened as she stood in the kitchen doorway and saw he was the one making the coffee. Although, considering his obsession with his own privacy, perhaps it wasn’t so surprising that he didn’t have a housekeeper to do those things for him.

“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.