furious,” he commented lightly. “Have I done anything to offend you?”
Her lips pursed, and the sight had Alessandro torn between laughing and forcing her lips to part with a kiss.
“Well?”
She shook her head, muttering, “It’s nothing.”
He lifted a brow. “Are you sure?” He looked at her, knowing that the lack of expression on his face would get to her. She was so delightfully easy to read like that.
Anytime now , he thought. Three, two—
“It’s your fault,” Kassia burst out.
The possessive thread in her voice was beautiful to hear, but the misery in her gaze slayed him. He softened against his better wishes, and instead of disciplining her, as he had meant to do, he found himself wanting to comfort her instead.
He reached for her, using just the smallest fraction of his Lyccan power as he yanked Kassia to him. She gasped as she stumbled onto him, and he immediately caught her lips in a kiss.
She gasped again, her lips parting, and he promptly slid his tongue inside her mouth. This time, he didn’t bother to be sweet or gentle. He kissed her with possession in mind, kissed her to remind Kassia whose property she was. It took only another second before she surrendered to him, her tongue mating with his, her hands clutching his shoulders to keep her balance.
When he pulled away, the dreamy look on her face and her kiss-swollen lips filled Alessandro with the most intense form of satisfaction. It was almost frightening – if he felt this good about kissing her now, how much more possessive would he be once he had claimed her body?
Kassia chose that moment to try pulling away, and his attention went back to her. She was sulking again, the pouting shape of her lips unmistakable. “Enlighten me,” he said coaxingly. “What do you think is my fault?”
“You were smiling!” She paused right after, her cheeks flushing. It was as if she, too, realized the absurdity of her words.
“Smiling?” He was more amused than puzzled, but he did his best not to show it.
She pointed accusingly at his mouth. “Like that!”
His lips curved more widely.
Kassia released a gasp of outrage. “Exactly that!” She glared at him. “You’re not supposed to be smiling at any girl like that. You’re not supposed to be flirting with anyone—”
He cut her off, asking, “Whom am I supposed to flirt with then?”
Her eyes narrowed, as if she wasn’t quite sure his words posed a trick question.
Alessandro returned her suspicious gaze with a lift of his eyebrow.
She said finally, “Me.” The next words came out in a mumble that was both determined and embarrassed. “You’re only supposed to be flirting with me.”
And if it had been any girl who said that, he would have dumped her on the spot.
But it wasn’t any other girl.
It was Kassia, and for some reason, he saw her as different from everyone else.
Her lips were pursed again, and her gaze was a mix of resentment and misery. This time, he traced her lips to soften it, murmuring, “Stop sulking.”
“I’m not sulking.”
“You are.” He kissed the corner of her lip, and as she gasped at the unexpected contact, he whispered, “You’re sulking because you’re jealous...” Pulling away, he looked into her eyes and said simply, “But you don’t have any reason to be.”
It was the most assurance he had given any woman, but his young jealous chick refused to believe him. “I don’t like it when you flirt.” A tone that was both mulish and hurt, and because it was so, the wolf and man in him made Alessandro want to eat her up.
“I wasn’t flirting.” His voice was mild, but his touch was bold, his fingers stroking the slender column of her throat.
As he started drawing an invisible line on her body, his fingers moving past her throat and towards the valley between her heaving breasts, he heard her say, “Well, she was flirting with you.” Her tone was a little breathless now, but still with a thread of