Free Dark Alpha (ALPHA 2) by Carole Mortimer

lips grazing her cheek before they claimed hers.
    Incredible as it seemed, after some of the intimacies they had already shared, this was the very first time that Lucien had kissed her.
    Nicky’s knees almost buckled as those chiseled lips took complete possession of hers, heat suffusing her body at the raw hunger of that kiss as Lucien’s mouth devoured hers, teeth nibbling, biting, sucking her bottom lip into the heat of his mouth as his tongue stroked the sensitive inner flesh before piercing, claiming, as he thrust that tongue deeper still.
    Lucien didn’t touch her in any other way but with those hands cupped about her cheeks and his mouth totally possessing hers. He didn’t need to. Nicky was his, with just that one hot and devouring kiss.
    And he knew it too, damn him.
    That knowledge was there in the way his kiss became slow and sensuous, a leisurely exploration rather than a claiming, even as the hardness against her thighs told her all too clearly that he was as aroused as she was.
    Nicky’s breasts ached, nipples engorged, between her thighs achingly hot and slick, her panties damp and becoming damper by the second, her clit a swollen throb.
    She reached out and grasped hold of Lucien’s shirt front to stop herself from falling when he finally ended the kiss, his forehead damp as it rested against hers, his heart pounding rapidly beneath the palm of her hand, the hard length of his arousal pressing demandingly against her softness.
    Nicky ran her tongue moistly over her now swollen lips. “Why did you do it?”
    “He touched you.” Lucien didn’t even pretend not to understand her question was about Lionel Jenkins.
    She gave a slow shake of her head. “That isn’t a good enough reason.”
    “It is to me,” he assured grimly.
    “Lucien—”  
    “Just sit down.” He untangled her fingers from his shirt front before taking both her hands in his to lower her down onto one of the kitchen chairs. “You need to eat more than you need to do anything else right now.”
    Nicky’s eyes were dark and haunted in the pallor of her face as she looked up at him. “You bought the man’s company, and then forced him into an early retirement, because he touched me?”
    “After I had told him exactly why I was doing it, yes,” Lucien nodded grimly, realizing on reflection that although it might have given him a lot of satisfaction at the time, it may not have been the wisest thing for him to have done if Nicky was right about being followed and watched.
    Something he intended on asking Dair to look into immediately. As well as instructing his cousin that from now on Nicky was to be watched and protected at all times.
    “Why?”
    His mouth tightened as he moved to turn on the stove in readiness for cooking Nicky’s omelet. “I don’t like other people touching what’s mine.”
    “I’m not yours.”
    Lucien glanced at her over his shoulder. “Aren’t you?”
    She gave a weary shake of her head. “I really don’t know anymore...” Nicky was tired of fighting Lucien. Of fighting herself. Of fighting for herself.
    “You will,” he assured purposefully as he concentrated on cooking.
    Nicky was feeling too dizzy, both from the mouthwatering smell of the omelet cooking and the sheer male presence of the man doing the cooking, to fight him right now.
    “Why are you being so nice to me?” A frown creased her brow as Lucien placed the plate of steaming-hot food in front of her just minutes later.
    Lucien leaned forward over the table as one of his hands cupped beneath her chin and tilted her face up towards his. “Never mistake practicality for kindness, Nicky,” he advised harshly. “I intend on being inside you very soon, and for that to happen you’re going to need all your strength. It’s simple logic.”
    Nicky tried not to flinch as she looked up at him searchingly; his eyes were so cold and hard as he looked down at her, a mocking tilt to the mouth that minutes ago had devoured hers with such