Since I Saw You (15 page)

She blushed, looking away from his gleaming gray eyes, and picked up her fork again. “Ian is my boss,” she stated unequivocally.

“He doesn’t just think of you as just an employee. He told me so.”

She felt his stare on her cheek and resisted an urge to squirm. “Really?” she asked, taking pains to keep her voice level. She took a bite of bread. “When was this?”

“Last night. When he was ever so delicately warning me I’d better tread carefully when it came to you.”

Her fork fell against the bowl. She suddenly felt queasy.

“Please don’t tell me that Ian realized what we were doing in that cloakroom,” she muttered, horrified. “Did you tell him anything?” she asked, realizing too late she’d sounded accusatory.

“Do you think I would?” he demanded, scowling.

“If you didn’t say anything to him, then why was he warning you about me?” Lin asked.

“He’s not stupid,” Kam muttered, holding her stare. “Although he can keep his holier-than-thou attitude to himself, if you ask me. You and I are grown-ups, free to do whatever we damn well please.”

It brought to mind all their recent, extremely grown-up activities. Suddenly, she couldn’t remember the topic of their conversation. His gaze sunk down over her, and as usual, she experienced that swooping sensation in her belly. Kam leaned in, his warm breath brushing across her parted lips. Their mouths touched. “If we want to spend time together, it’s none of Ian’s business.”

Ian
. Right, that’s whom they were discussing.

“Spend time together?” she asked, her mouth twitching against his. “Is that a euphemism for having sex?”

“We’re not having sex now. Unless you’re interested?” he murmured, a devil’s glint in his eyes. He nipped at her lower lip, his narrow-eyed, predatory stare on her mouth making her breathless.

They were halted in their flirtation and kissing by the waiter arriving with their entrees. Kam glanced up at the interruption, his expression fierce. The waiter’s eyes widened in alarm. It seemed utterly impossible for Kam to even thinly disguise his wrath. The waiter served their food and escaped as quickly as he could.

“What?” he asked, his expression darkening even further when he saw Lin laughing under her breath.

She gave him an amused glance and patted his thigh. “Kam,” she attempted gently, her palm lingering on jean-covered, dense muscle. “You do realize you scare people half to death the way you glower constantly, don’t you? I get the impression people worry they might be knocked over by the force of your scowl.”

“What?”

“See?” She pointed to his face. “Right there. Hurricane-force glare.”

His gaze flickered down to where her fingers dug gently into his thigh. His expression went suddenly neutral, but she recognized that spark of male interest in his eyes.

“Does it scare you?” he murmured, the gruff quality of his voice making the little hairs on her nape stand on end.

“Sorry. No such luck.”

“
Merde
. What am I supposed to do now?” he murmured, giving her a swift grin, which she returned.

She just watched him for a few seconds when he began to cut his chicken. She resisted a strong urge to run her hands across his broad shoulders. He looked very masculine and extremely appealing in the soft cotton white shirt she’d bought him, the color highlighting his dark skin and hair. She’d been surprisingly aroused when he’d restrained her wrists earlier, making her a captive to the pleasure he evoked so masterfully. But at the moment, she wanted nothing more than to put her hands all over his strong, virile body.

“I thought you were hungry,” he said, turning toward her after he’d taken a swallow of water and noticed she wasn’t eating.

She leaned forward abruptly and pressed her mouth to his. She’d never once in her entire life kissed a man in a restaurant. And this was no peck on the cheek. She shaped and molded his lips with her own, enjoying the firm succulence of them. She moaned softly into his mouth when he raised a hand and clutched her head at the same moment he sunk his tongue between her lips, claiming her completely.
Yes
. This is the response she’d been coaxing from him. So bold. So possessive. So Kam-like.

His mouth was still cold from the ice water he’d just drunk. She sought his heat just beneath the chilled veneer. He penetrated her with his tongue—back and forth, back and forth, a slow, suggestive slide. She felt his languorous, sexy kiss all the way to her core. Desire stabbed at her, the strength of it shocking her. She resisted a sudden, strong urge to touch herself to dull that sharp ache. No sooner did she have the inappropriate thought than Kam’s hand was there, doing what she’d thought of doing to herself.

Doing it
better
.

I
like you in jeans,” he said next to her lips as he rubbed her outer sex in an eye-crossing manner and examined her through heavy eyelids. “They show off your long legs and tight ass. And this”
—
he added, his lips rubbing against hers so seductively, his gaze sinking to where he stimulated her with strong fingers
—
“sweet little pussy.”

“Kam.”
She’d meant it to be a remonstrance—he really shouldn’t be touching her like this in public or saying such outrageous things—but instead, it came out as a shaky invitation. Wasn’t this what she’d been asking for when she kissed him? His dirty talk in tandem with his stroking of her pussy aroused her.

A lot.

He moved his mouth and nuzzled her ear, making her shiver. “Eat some of your food,” he said quietly. “Go on. I won’t have you starving.”

She glanced uneasily around the restaurant. It wasn’t crowded, but she could see a couple dining at a table fifteen or so feet away. They seemed entirely unaware of Kam and her in the booth, but if they looked over, what would they see? Not much, probably. Just Kam nuzzling her, which wasn’t the most scandalous thing on earth. The hanging tablecloth would disguise his movements between her legs.

“Eat,” he ordered again next to her ear. She picked up her fork and took a bite. She was so focused on Kam’s fingers on her pussy—rubbing and circling and pressing on her clit—that she couldn’t have said what it was she ate. He used the thicker, stiffer material on the fly to his advantage, pressing against it, applying optimal pressure to her body. She registered none of what she saw in front of her. Every fiber of her awareness was targeted on him, and him alone.

“That’s a girl,” he murmured, nipping at the shell of her ear and making her shiver as she chewed. “I didn’t get a chance to tell you how much I appreciated your mouth. Wet and sweet and so eager. You have no idea how much I wanted to come in it.”

She flexed her hips against his ruthless fingers and bit off a moan. Who knew it could feel so good, even through her clothing?

“The first time I saw you,” he continued ruthlessly, “I thought you were too delicate to like it fast and hot and furious,” he murmured, taking her earlobe between his front teeth and scraping the sensitive flesh. “Too elegant. Too sophisticated. But you have a wild side, don’t you,
mon petit chaton
?” he asked in that rough, deep voice in her ear. “Would you have liked it? For me to have erupted in your mouth?”

“Yes,” she admitted; for how else was there to be with Kam but honest? She felt feverish, sitting there while he rubbed her and murmured outrageous, scintillating words into her ear. No one had ever talked dirty to her before, so she hadn’t known she’d like it so much. He shifted his hand to the small of her back. She jumped slightly, glancing guiltily over at the other couple when his long forefinger burrowed beneath her low-riding jeans and underwear. He began to slide it in and out of the crack of her ass while he pushed her subtly forward with his palm, giving her more friction on her clit as he rubbed it firmly. His finger dipping between her ass cheeks struck her as intensely erotic, but also forbidden. Naughty. Electric.

Especially here, in a restaurant.

“That’s what I thought,” he said next to her ear. “You’re all cool and crisp professional on the outside, but this”—he palmed her entire outer sex with his big hand in a starkly possessive gesture—“burns white hot. Keep eating,” he instructed when she dropped her fork and her eyes sprung wide at his illicit words. She picked up her fork and slid some tender whitefish into her mouth, squeezing out the juices while her entire attention was on Kam’s moving lips and the sound of his rough, accented voice. “Next time, you will swallow it,” he assured her in a whisper that sent ripples of pleasure down her spine. “Every . . . last . . . drop.”

She shuddered in excitement.

“Eat some more, or you’ll be hungry later,” he murmured. She blinked. She’d stopped eating and just stared, becoming increasingly dazed and fevered as he rubbed her. Mechanically, she took a few more bites. He slid his long finger deeper into the crack of her ass. She jumped and went still when he skimmed it against her asshole.

“Did you like being restrained while I played with you?” he murmured before kissing the opening of her ear and applying a slight suction that made her tremble uncontrollably.

“Kam . . . let’s go. Please. This is crazy,” she whispered shakily.

“Answer me,” he murmured as he rubbed her asshole with his fingertip and pressed with his palm, amplifying the pressure on her burning clit even more. Lin glanced around nervously. The couple in viewing distance were gathering their coats in preparation to leave. She bit her lip. Her clit simmered. It was exciting, having him touch her in such an intimate way.

Oh no. She was going to come.
Here
.

“Lin,” he prodded darkly, his warm breath on her damp skin increasing her shivers.

“Yes.
Yes
, I liked it,” she said brokenly.

“Yes. And you looked so beautiful, letting me have my way with you. I think we’ll go back upstairs now,” he mused. “I want my cock in you.”

“Yes. Yes,” she chanted, relieved and excited at once. She dropped her fork on her plate, growing mindless with excitement.

“But you will come first.”

Heat flooded her cheeks. She felt dizzy. His fingers were ruthless.

“I don’t think I should—”

“But you will,” he said, his tone brooking no argument. His entire arm began to move as he stimulated her pussy more forcefully. She cried out in stunned arousal, but fortunately the other couple had just walked away. She placed her palms flat down on the table, bracing herself, and she began to shake in orgasm.

“That’s right.
That’s
the real Lin,” he muttered thickly in her ear as pleasure shot through her in heady waves. “Hot. Sexy. Risk taker.”

She tried to whisper “no” but another shudder of pleasure blasted through her. She swallowed the word. Why deny it, when the truth of his words quivered in every cell of her body? Apparently she
was
a hot, sexy risk taker.

With Kam she was, anyway.

•   •   •

When they were on the elevator, he forced himself not to look at her. Something had happened to him while he’d sat there and watched her climax in that restaurant. Whatever it was, he wasn’t sure he liked it. He felt strangely off kilter. Out of control.

Her image had been burned in his mind. He didn’t need to look directly at her now to remind himself—her cheeks and lips had grown rosy as he’d stimulated her, her lustrous eyes had turned even shinier than usual with arousal. He knew he’d never forget the vision of Lin setting her palms flat on the table and coming against his hand. It had been the most potent vision of surrender he’d ever seen. It’d driven him half-crazy with need. He’d shouted at the waiter when he saw him, startling the man, and demanded the check. He’d managed to shove some chicken in his mouth during the short wait, knowing he’d need the energy, because yet another storm was about to hit.

It made him feel uncomfortable, the magnitude of his lust, but he couldn’t seem to control it. This wasn’t something easily walked away from.
Lin
wasn’t.

He took her keys from her as they got off the elevator, and then grasped her hand, leading her down the hallway, neither of them speaking. He was eager, so much so that it seemed ridiculous to disguise it. The door flung inward at his urging, banging against the wall. Then he was pulling Lin over the threshold and slamming it shut behind them. She gave a surprised whimper when he swept down on her and covered her mouth with his own.

A haze overcame his consciousness as he absorbed her taste and the sensation of her tongue dueling with his. His hands made a greedy worship of her taut curves. Then he was lifting her to him and striding to the bedroom for the second time that evening. Was it just her physical beauty that drove him wild? He wondered dazedly as he set her at the edge of her bed and whipped off her shoes. Maybe. He’d already admitted to himself he’d never made love to a more beautiful woman. He peeled her out of her clinging jeans, revealing the smooth, pale harbor of her belly, round hips, and shapely thighs. He jerked down her panties. She lay back on the bed, spreading her legs slightly. He hissed a curse.

Who was he kidding, trying to figure it out? A man didn’t require logic to want
that,
he thought, staring hungrily at her pussy. Kam certainly didn’t.

He could tell by the arousing vision of her flushed, damp-looking outer sex that she didn’t need any preparation. He jerked down his clothing and sheathed his erection with a condom.

He rolled her hips back by pushing on her shins, keeping her pussy at the edge of the bed. Still standing, he arrowed his cock into her slit. She gave a sweet, soughing sigh as he penetrated her.
Mon Dieu
, it was good. He watched her with a narrow focus, knowing the tension in her face and the excitement in her eyes mirrored his own blatant arousal. When he’d pushed into her to the hilt, her muscular walls squeezing him, he paused. She was too small for him.

She was too perfect.

“You’re going to be sore tomorrow, aren’t you?” he mumbled.

“Maybe,” she whispered urgently, reaching for his shoulders. Her fingernails dug into his back muscles. “But I’m not now. It feels so good.
Fuck me
.”

He exhaled roughly, her harsh whisper, so
not
like her and yet so completely Lin-like at once. The paradox of her, the sweetness, tore through him. “Oh baby, you’re going to get it for that,” he assured roughly.

He came down over her, his weight pinning her knees to her chest, his hands digging into the mattress. It was heaven.

“God,” he grated out, withdrawing his cock and then driving back into the glory of her. Again, he pumped, and again, both of them immediately finding their rhythm, the slap of their skin coming faster and faster a driving drumbeat neither could deny. The mattress began to hop up and down beneath them, the bedsprings making a squeaky protest. It filled his ears along with the sound of their smacking skin and Lin’s surprised gasps and whimpers of pleasure.

He was doing it again, taking her like she was a damn rodeo ride. He gritted his teeth at the thought, but he couldn’t stop. Her pussy rode his cock, not the other way around. He was big and strong and he was on top, driving into her slender, sleek body, but it was he who was helpless in the face of this relentless frenzy of need. He fucked her like he thought the answers to the questions of the universe were just a quarter of an inch higher in her tight, clasping depths and he was straining closer with every pass; hungry, searching . . .

He lost all sense of time, only feeling her holding him like he’d never been embraced.

He flexed his hips forcefully, slapping their bodies together. A cry popped out of her throat, but then he felt that telltale rush of heat and her muscles clamping him, adding fuel to his flames. He transferred his hands to the backs of her thighs and pushed, sending her knees down next to her ears. She straightened her legs as he continued to pump, her feet above both of their heads, demonstrating her flexible, strong muscles to optimal effect. His eyes sprung wide in disbelieving pleasure at the new angle she granted him. He fucked blindly, a madly racing, vibrating mass of electric nerves and flesh, striving and pushing and feeling . . .

. . . and feeling
more
, until he roared as pleasure crashed into him. He pressed his face against the side of Lin’s neck, burying his nose and lips in her fragrant skin.

“God, I want to be naked inside you,” he grated out against her throat almost angrily as he pumped and emptied himself inside the condom. It seemed indescribably unfair—ridiculously wrong—in that moment that even the thinnest of barriers should come between him and this woman.

•   •   •

“Do you want to talk about our meeting with Jason Klinf?” Lin murmured later as they embraced under the covers, growing increasingly relaxed as Kam massaged her neck and scalp. He really had the most amazing hands.

“Not really.”

Lin lifted her head off his chest. He gave her a heavy-lidded smirk and pulled her higher on his body. Using his hold on her head, he brought her to him. She melted against him, submitting to his drugging kiss.

“I think it’d be a good idea,” she said breathlessly against his mouth a moment later. “Just some basics about Klinf and Jason himself?”

His right eyebrow quirked upward. “I told you. I don’t like being your work duty.”

“Then do you want another Noble employee for the job?”

His lazy, satiated expression hardened. “Not a chance.”

She rolled her eyes in exasperation. “Then you’ve got to focus at least a little. Look, I’m not a fan of mixing business with pleasure, either. In fact, I’m going against all my principles doing this with you.”

He shut his eyes. Despite his impassive expression, she sensed his frustration and regretted it. Still . . . this was her job, and Lin did things
right
. Or at least she always had in the past. The realization hit her that if she wasn’t screwing Kam like a feline in heat every chance she got, she might be a lot more prepared for these upcoming meetings than she was.

She sighed with genuine regret and forced herself to move away from his deliciously warm, hard body. Kam’s touch was a logic evaporator. His jaw tightened when she extricated herself from it, but he didn’t say anything or move. Pulling the sheet up snugly over her breasts, she settled on the pillow next to where his head rested.

“Jason Klinf is a very cultured, sophisticated man,” she began.

“
Hourra
. Just my type,” Kam muttered under his breath.

Ignoring him, she launched into a brief overview of Klinf Inc., hitting some crucial industry highlights.

Kam didn’t move from his pose. It was a little distracting, talking business with him lying there with his naked, sculpted torso exposed, one hand lying casually over his head on the pillow, his taut, ridged abdomen falling up and down ever so subtly as he breathed evenly. Despite his negligent pose, however, she had the distinct impression he was listening closely to her.