Since I Saw You (26 page)

For a few seconds, they didn’t speak. The sunlight brought out the russet highlights in his dark hair. Before she could second-guess herself, she touched the thick waves. He smelled good, like soap and the outdoor air. “Ian described your character a little to me. It guided what I bought for clothing. Rugged. Independent. Nonconformist.” She met his sun-gleaming eyes. “Utterly male.”

His eyebrows went up. “Ian described me that way?”

She smiled as she reflected. “No. But somehow, I got that impression.”

He caught her stroking hand and pressed his mouth to her palm. Warmth spread in places far away from his lips.

“I like your glasses,” he said when he lifted his head slightly, his breath brushing against her skin.

“Thanks. I wear them for reading.”

She felt him studying her intently.

“What?” she asked, grinning, sensing he was analyzing her component parts again like he did a machine’s.

“This is how you should be all the time,” he murmured gruffly. “You can’t take the love of work out of the girl, but you should do it more like this. With your hair down. Sitting on the floor in the sunlight. Wearing one of my shirts . . .”

His lips were suddenly moving on hers, warm and sweet as the sunlight. She held her breath during that kiss, as if by doing so, she could hold on to the moment. His arms surrounded her, molding her back muscles in that delicious, bone-melting manner he had. Their kiss became wet and deep, tongues dueling sensually. She slid her hand beneath the blue-and-white plaid cotton shirt he wore, touching his warm, smooth skin. He groaned into her mouth and tightened his hold. He brought her onto his lap with a flex of hard muscle. She landed, straddling his hips, their kiss barely pausing.

Lin wasn’t sure how long they kissed and touched, their actions simultaneously languorous and hungry. She was wrapped in a cocoon of sunshine with him and she was melting, her body softening and heating, her flesh yielding in a way it never had before. Maybe he felt the need to stretch the moment, too, because while he touched her, he did so fairly chastely, framing her jaw with his hand or brushing his fingertips against the shell of her ear or her nape. He rubbed her back, coaxing her muscles to yield even more. She touched his neck and shoulders, stroking him through the opening of his shirt. At one point, he leaned back and calmly removed her glasses, placing them on the couch behind him, then resumed his sensual kiss. She felt his arousal beneath her spread pussy, but for once, urgency didn’t ride her as it often did with him. Kam trumped all that. His taste and his molding lips and his sleek, masterful tongue.

Inevitably, their arousal swelled untenably, though. She panted softly, helping him to unbuckle his belt and unfasten his button fly. She came up on her knees, granting him room. He worked his clothing down to his thighs, and then she came back over him. He held his erection in place and she lowered, gritting her teeth as his flesh slowly fused with her own. Her core had gone liquid with sweet arousal, but she had to apply a steady pressure to get her flesh to relent. Their gazes held fast until she sat in his lap and his cock pulsed high inside her. A sharp cry escaped her throat and he caught it with his seeking lips, nibbling at her, calming her as he rubbed her back.

“Venez maintenant. Commençons,”
he coaxed gently against her mouth after a moment.
Come now. Let us begin
. His large hands slipped beneath the shirt and palmed her buttocks. He lifted and brought her back down on him, squeezing her ass when he was fully sheathed, his mouth shaping into a snarl of pleasure. She joined him in the movement, rising and falling onto his cock, their mutual dance creating a divine friction. As they grew more frantic, he took more of her weight, his arms flexing powerfully as he lifted and crashed her down into his lap with increasing speed. The pressure was intense.

“I’m going to come,” Lin cried out.

“No,” he said sharply. He pushed her down onto his lap with a loud smacking sound. He held her there, his cock throbbing in protest in her deepest flesh.

“Oh . . . I have . . . to,” she said in a strangled voice, her hips flexing, straining for the required pressure to come.

“Don’t,” he said so sharply she opened her eyelids sluggishly. His facial muscles were strained, his eyes fierce. “Make it last.” His words went straight to her heart. She wanted it to last, too, but she sat on the launching pad, flaming, straining to ignite. She moaned, her hips struggling against his hold.

He grabbed some of the hair that trailed down her back. He lifted her shirt with his other hand and transferred it to the fist gripping her hair. Gently, he pulled back on her hair, pulling back her head. Chin up in the air, she whimpered when he slapped his palm against her bare buttock in a sharp, rapid rhythm.
Smack, smack, smack.

“Oh!” she cried out, grimacing. He’d stung her skin, but his cock had jerked viciously inside her at the sound of his palm cracking against her ass. It’d been that which had made her exclaim in a mixture of discomfort and acute arousal. He released her hair and she met his gaze slowly.

“Better?” he asked hoarsely.

She nodded. The absolute necessity to climax had been pushed back temporarily by his spanking hand. They just stared at one another for a moment, both of them breathing heavily. A slight sheen of sweat shone on Kam’s upper lip and forehead. The sunlight made his eyes into slits of blazing silver.

“Let’s make it last,” he repeated.

“I’ll try,” Lin agreed shakily.

“Don’t move,” he directed.

Holding her stare, he began to rapidly unbutton the shirt she wore. He pushed back the plackets, baring her breasts to the sunlight and his gaze. His nostrils flared. Again, she grimaced as his cock jumped inside her.

He began to play with her breasts. Lin moaned in rising misery as he plucked at the nipples, stiffening them into aching points. He looked up at her face, watching her reaction. She bit her lip, sweating in a sweet agony.

“I want to move,” she whispered tremulously.

“I know. I want it, too,” he muttered heatedly. “It feels so good. I want it to last a little longer, though. That’s all. Stay still.”

He whisked the shirt off her shoulders and down her arms. It was gone. She was naked and quivering, nailed to his lap. She began to unbutton his shirt, but he caught her wrists.

“Not now,” he said. “I have something else in mind. I want you to gather all your hair and hold it against your head with both hands. I love your hair, but it’s getting in the way of my touching every inch of you.”

She quickly gathered the long strands and did as he asked, her breathing erratic. She didn’t understand why he wanted her to do this, but following his terse demands excited her for some reason. “That’s right,” Kam said roughly. “Put out your elbows. Arch your back. Open yourself to me.”

So, it wasn’t just the restraint of her hair he had in mind. She stared down at him after she’d taken the position. It did make her feel open, her naked body fully exposed, her spine arched, her breasts thrust forward . . . her heart vulnerable.

His gaze ran over her from head to thigh, slow and hot. She was scorched by that stare. She could barely draw breath.

He spread both hands on her hips and whisked them along her sides and over her breasts and down her belly and up her back.

“Kam,”
she moaned, undone by his worshipful gaze, tormented by his possessive touch. He swept his hands everywhere, his actions somehow both lewd and cherishing at once.

“It’s all right,” he soothed when she whimpered as he massaged her ass in both hands. “Just a moment longer.” He placed his hands on her hips and stretched his thumbs toward her sex. He parted her labia, fully exposing her glistening pink folds and clitoris. Her exposure was complete. A rough groan tore at his throat. His cock swelled. Her shaking amplified. He looked up at her face, his expression tight with rapt wonder.

“God, you’re beautiful,” he breathed out. Then he leaned forward, his back leaving its rest against the couch, holding her so tightly she could barely draw breath. One of his forearms slipped beneath her ass like a supporting bar, his hand cupping a cheek, his other arm surrounded her waist, hugging her against him. He began to move her. She rose and fell over him like a crashing wave as he took complete control of her weight. Every muscle in his body grew hard and flexed as he strained for relief.

She’d begged for him to unleash the storm, and suddenly she was at the center of it, taking its full wrath. His cheek was pressed against a breast. He gave a low, guttural growl, the sound and vibration in her flesh thrilling her, sending a spark through her. She lowered her arms, her hair falling around them, and grabbed his head.

“Kam . . . oh . . . God,” she cried as he pounded her down on him, her voice vibrating with the strength of his short, staccato thrusts inside her. She felt him swell, heard his tortured groan.

He slammed her down on him again, roaring as he climaxed. For a moment, he seemed frozen by pleasure, but then he inhaled roughly and began pounding her up and down on his cock again as he ejaculated. The feeling of him pouring himself inside her sent her over the edge. She cried out sharply, the blast of climax all that much hotter and more powerful for having endured the flames with him.

S
he lay draped over him like melted candle wax for long, languorous moments, stroking his strong back muscles, coaxing them to release after their intense contraction during lovemaking. She didn’t like that he was still mostly dressed while she was nude, but she felt too weak to undress him, too content to move.

Angus made a muted woofing sound in her dreams, the sound making Lin blink and focus. She saw the bag Kam had left when he’d joined her on the floor and they’d lost themselves to passion.

“You never showed me my dog-walking outfit,” she murmured, nuzzling her face in the crook of his neck and shoulder.

“Hmmm?” he muttered lazily as he continued to stroke her naked skin from buttocks to shoulders, his low, resonant hum tickling her ear.

“The clothes you bought me,” she reminded him, kissing his neck.

“They won’t be as good as the ones you bought for me, but they’ll work. Why didn’t you tell me you bought me the clothes and the things for Aurore?” he asked gruffly after a few seconds.

“Ian thought you might take offense.”

“Why would I take any more offense if you chose things for me versus him or Lucien?”

She brushed her lips against the slowing pulse at his neck and leaned back to look at his face. “I don’t know exactly, except to say that I think he worried you’d become irritated if you got the impression he was trying to . . .” She paused, searching for the words. “Make you into something you’re not. Change you. He cares about you, Kam. Truly. He just wants the best for you.”

“Now that I think on it, I would have taken offense if anyone else had done it,” he said after a moment.

“Done what?”

“Bought me things. I know I paid for them, but still . . .” He faded off, his gaze narrowing on her. “Because it was
you
, it didn’t bother me. Somehow.”

She held her breath. It was an incredibly sweet thing to say. She waited, a prickle of anxiety or anticipation or
something
going through her when he just continued to pin her with his stare.

“Did you ever consider working for someone other than Ian?”

“What?” she asked, taken off guard by the direction of his question.

“I know you told Jason Klinf ‘no way’ last night—even though from what I heard, he was offering you a pretty interesting opportunity. Others have to have offered you even more lucrative opportunities. I’m just wondering if you ever really considered leaving Noble in the past?”

“Not really, no. I’ve thought about offers, of course, but never seriously.”

“What makes you stay? Why are you so loyal to Ian? Is it because your grandmother worked there and helped him build his company, and it feels like a family endeavor to you?”

Lin looked down from his piercing stare. “Maybe that has something to do with it,” she admitted. She hesitated. Kam cradled her jaw and silently bid her to look at him. She saw his questioning glance. “A friend—Richard St. Claire, actually; you know him—recently pointed out to me that I tend to—” She paused, blushing in embarrassment and staring at his collar.

“What?” Kam prompted.

She shrugged. “I tend to cling onto familiar things, like my work, because I’m afraid of change. Of abandonment.”

“Abandonment?” Kam asked.

Her blush deepened. “I know, it sounds ridiculous.”

“No it doesn’t.”

She looked up in surprise. “It doesn’t?”

He shook his head. “No. Not really. You must have been hit pretty hard when your mother and father left the States, leaving you behind. You were close to your grandmother, right?”

“Very,” she said.

“When she passed, and you were all alone in the world. But Noble Enterprises was there. Familiar. Knowable. Comfortable, even, given your history with your grandmother. What’s more, you’re amazingly good at what you do. That gives a feeling of affirmation all on its own. I can understand how all that would make you want to stay.”

“Yeah,” she admitted. “I guess you’re right.”

He stroked her cheek with his thumb. “There’s no reason to look sad about it,” he said quietly. “It’s completely normal. We all want what’s familiar. Sometimes I feel like I’m going to jump out of my own skin in this city. I keep longing for home, and the silence of the woods, and my old routine myself.”

“You do?” she asked, holding his stare. He nodded. “But you came. You’re staying put, despite the fact that you’d rather be home. How come?” she asked.

“Because I realized that unless I stepped out of my comfort zone, I was never going to grow. I’m ready. I’m ready for a change.” His thumb brushed her cheek softly.

Her heart began to pound in her ears in the silence that followed. Angus startled up suddenly, looking around the room. Lin glanced from the golden retriever to Kam with amusement.

“I’d love to know what that dog dreams,” Kam muttered dryly. Angus turned at the sound of his voice, her eyelids falling drowsily when he reached and scratched her behind the ears. “One thing I do know, she’s going to want a bathroom break now that’s she awake. You up for a walk?”

“I’d love one,” Lin replied, thinking that the brisk fall air might clear some of the confusion and chaotic thoughts she’d been having lately about work and Ian. What bothered her most was that she never would have been having these feelings if it weren’t for Kam.

He’d been the catalyst for everything.

•   •   •

Lin scrambled some eggs, which they ate with toast before they headed out with Angus. They walked south on the lakefront, Kam suggesting they take the path around the museum campus. It was a brilliant, warm fall day with the temperature in the low 60’s. They walked hand in hand, talking about anything and everything—comparing notes on favorite spots in London and Paris, architecture, the kind of music they liked. She learned that his full name was Kamryn Patrick Reardon.

“I told you my mother never gave up an inch of her Irishness,” Kam said sheepishly when Lin exclaimed over how much she loved the name. “The fact that Trevor Gaines seemed irritated by my Irish-sounding name only seemed to make me like it more.”

She recalled what he’d said about how withdrawn and laconic he typically was, and was warmed by the fact that he seemed completely unguarded on that walk. The sunlight sparkling off the great lake seemed to perfectly reflect Lin’s effervescent mood. Angus certainly seemed happy in the sunshine, bounding over to every dog and person she encountered on the lakefront path. If the person or pet seemed interested—which they seemed to be more often than not—Kam let the friendly golden retriever socialize for a moment before he pulled on her leash and Angus good-naturedly walked on with them.

Kam pointed to the western cityscape once they’d made a tour of the picturesque museum campus situated on the lakefront.

“Let’s go this way. There’s a park over here where we can unleash Angus,” he said.

“How do you know so much about the city already?” she asked, puzzled.

“Running,” he stated simply. “I’ve been out nearly every day since I’ve come to Chicago. Gave me a chance to check out the territory. Do you run?”

“Yes,” she said smiling, thinking of his extremely muscular, well-toned body. “But I doubt I could keep up with you.”

“I know how strong you are,” he said, and she thought he referred to having watched her dance. “You could keep up.”

They passed Lucien’s hotel and kept walking south. By the time they reached Coliseum Park, dark clouds were gathering in the west, although the sun still prevailed in the sky. Kam unhooked Angus’s leash in the enclosure, and the golden retriever immediately rushed over to bark and sniff at three other dogs. Lin laughed, watching her.

“If pets are supposed to share their owner’s personalities, you must have a social butterfly hidden somewhere inside you,” she told Kam amusedly.

He grinned, his expression doubtful. “I’d say Angus and I are complete opposites.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Lin murmured, her smile widening as she watched Angus bark and bounce around ebulliently with a chocolate Labrador. “You both certainly have the ability to make others happy.”

He opened his hand along her neck, his thumb feathering her jaw. She looked up at him and blinked. Until she saw the look on his face, she hadn’t fully realized what she’d said. He leaned down and kissed her. Lin knew it was his way of thanking her for telling him he made her happy. She smiled up at him when he lifted his head a few seconds later, knowing her heart was in her eyes. For once, she didn’t hide it. He
did
make her happy.

“I might have to take my word back on one thing. I’m just as good a shopper as you are,” he said, his hand still cradling her jaw, his gaze trailing down over the jeans, running shoes, and fresh, light green sweater he’d bought her. The sweater clung to her breasts, and his gaze lingered there—not for the first time since she’d donned the garment.

“I agree. You even got the sizes perfect. How did you do it?”

“I pointed out a woman working at the store who looked about your size. Except for there,” his brows lifting slightly as he glanced at her breasts. “She was smaller than you, but I didn’t say anything. I’m glad I didn’t. I like the result.”

Lin snorted with laughter. They walked back through the city, pausing to stroll around a bustling Millennium Park before they returned to Kam’s new apartment. By the time they returned to Kam’s building, it had become cooler and overcast. They’d be getting rain later.

When they’d left the building earlier that morning, Lin had experienced a moment of anxiety. What if they ran into Francesca or Mrs. Hanson? How would she explain what she was doing with Kam when she’d called and told Ian she couldn’t make an important business brunch?

On the return trip to the building, she never even thought of it. Her head was too filled with Kam to consider anything else.

Perhaps the realization that she’d so easily forgotten her other life was what was responsible for her temporary relapse into her work mindset when they returned. The promise of a storm cloaked the apartment when they entered. The living room was cast in shadow.

“I’m just going to go wash up,” Kam said, pointing toward the bathroom.

“Okay,” she said, suddenly feeling shy for some stupid reason. The dim apartment seemed in stark contrast to their former warm, easygoing mood on the walk. There was a hushed quality to the luxurious interior. Expectant. It seemed very intimate. Her awareness of Kam suddenly ratcheted up several degrees, making her feel self-conscious and . . .

. . . excited.

She spotted the computer she’d been using earlier still on the floor. She walked over and picked it up distractedly, sitting on the couch. It wasn’t that she really
planned
to check her e-mails, they just popped onto the screen when she touched the mouse pad to turn off the computer. Spotting a new, potentially crucial, subject line, she pulled on her glasses. She was paging down on the e-mail, studying the screen intently when Kam spoke.

“Now you’ve gone and done it.”

She looked up in surprise. Her mouth fell open when she noticed his expression—both grim and amused at once.

“What?”

“I told you what I was going to do if I caught you working,” he said matter-of-factly. He stepped forward and grabbed the computer off her lap, setting it on the couch. She was reminded of his piratical side when he lifted his dark eyebrows in a challenging expression. “Are you going to come willingly for your punishment, or should I carry you?”

She smiled, half disbelieving, half anxious because she kind of
did
believe him. “Give me a break.”

His brows lifted another fraction of an inch, as if to say,
I’m still waiting for an answer
. His cockiness pricked her pride, but it also excited her. She lifted her chin, daring him with her stare. “I was just checking my e-mail. I’m not going anywhere.” She reached for the computer.

“Fine,” he said unconcernedly. “So your answer is that you’re not coming willingly.”

“Kam!” she squawked when he swooped down and lifted her from the couch so rapidly she was taken by surprise. She grabbed his shoulder to steady herself. She was suddenly flying through the living room. Kam gave her a dark glance when she met his stare, but she saw amusement pulling at his mouth. She couldn’t help it. She snorted with laughter.

“I told you that you were going to get it if you worked instead of focusing on relaxation and pleasure, buy you just had to go and test me,” he said with mock sadness as he carried her down the dim hallway.

“So now I’m going to be punished for the horrible crime of checking e-mail?” she asked, containing her grin. Despite his playfulness, she saw his determination. His single-minded intent to steal her away to the bedroom for what she expected would be more experiments in dominance and submission and smoking-hot sex sent a forbidden thrill through her.

“Somebody’s got to cure you of your addiction.” He shut the bedroom door with his foot and entered the suite, setting her down next to the four-poster bed, his hands lingering on her hips. “You agree with that, don’t you?”

She arched her eyebrows. “It’s hardly an addiction. But
maybe
I shouldn’t be quite so concerned about work.” He continued to watch her expectantly. “Especially on the weekend.” He waited. She bit her lip. “Especially on a weekend when I’m supposed to be focusing on fun.”

“And?”

“Pleasure,” she whispered. Suddenly, all the playfulness faded from his expression. He released his hold on her and sat down at the edge of the bed near the headboard.

“Take off your clothes.”

His quiet command kept repeating in her head like an echo. Her mouth suddenly felt very dry. She untied her laces and kicked off her shoes, feeling shy meeting Kam’s gaze. Her new sport socks joined her shoes on the carpet and then her jeans. Her fingers felt stiff as she began to unbutton the clinging green knit. The underwear Kam had bought her was in stark contrast to the casual clothing. He’d purchased three pairs of matching bras and panties, each of them silk and lace from a top designer. The set she wore today was a pretty periwinkle blue. When she’d teased him about his purchase of fine lingerie for a day of leisure earlier, he’d merely shrugged, unembarrassed.