by BETH KERY
The silence roared in her ears.
“Just think about it, Lin,” Ian continued, his tone warmer than usual. “More than you’ve thought about the dozens of other offers you’ve gotten over the years that you’ve turned down. You and I were going to discuss this week the relocation of Noble to London, at least for a short time period. That would certainly change up your life as well. If anything, it’s another factor you’ll need to consider in making your decision.”
“Yes. I have a lot to think about. Thank you for telling me your thoughts on the matter, Ian,” she said, glad to hear that her voice sounded even.
“I’m available if you need to toss things around. I’m also flexible in regard to making your position at Noble as comfortable for you with the location change as I can. This isn’t about me not wanting you, Lin. You’re the best damn executive I’ve had, or will ever have. I can say that without a doubt of ever changing my mind. More importantly, you’re a good friend. I care about you. I want whatever you want. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” Lin managed.
She signed off with Ian and put her phone away. She just stared out the window for a stretched moment.
I want whatever you want.
What if she didn’t know what she wanted, though? Just minutes ago, she would have said she wanted what she had with Kam to flourish and grow, but on a personal basis, not a professional one. Or at least primarily on a personal basis. She really hadn’t ever considered being business partners with him.
The realization that was probably what Kam had in mind all along made her feel like she’d been dropped down a dark, fifty-foot hole with no ladder.
Chapter Eighteen
She went home that night instead of to her dance class, trying to absorb everything that Ian had told her, trying to decode what it all meant. She’d already decided she wasn’t going to call Kam until she’d thought things through and gained some perspective.
It surprised her the next morning, however, to discover that he hadn’t tried to call her, either. That was odd. He’d said he was going to call her. Before her conversation with Ian, she’d assumed they would be seeing one another.
Not that she relished the idea of seeing him now, but it just seemed strange that he’d avoided her as well.
She spent a highly distracted day at work. At around four o’clock, however, she realized she couldn’t keep avoiding Kam. They had the meeting scheduled with two executives from Stunde Watches tonight at the restaurant Festa. Lin had yet to even brief Kam about Stunde.
“Has Kam come into the office to see Ian or called?” Lin asked Maria, poking her head out of her office.
“As a matter of fact, I just got off the phone with him,” Maria said, setting down her pen. “He says to tell you he’ll meet you at Festa at seven.”
Irritation spiked through Lin at his distance handling of the matter, but so did confusion. “That won’t do,” she murmured. “Can you call him back and ask him to meet me at six thirty at the bar? We should at least touch base about Stunde before we meet with Kyle Preston and Nina Patel.”
Maria rang her a few minutes later and told her that Kam had agreed to six thirty. Again, she experienced bemusement that he hadn’t asked to speak with her personally.
That night Lin dressed with extreme care for their last meeting with the luxury watchmakers. She still hadn’t decided precisely what she wanted to say to Kam, but had already determined they should stick to business before and during the meeting. She’d call him out about his tactics for gaining her trust and interest after everything professional was over and done.
How dare he play with my emotions this way? she fumed silently for the thousandth time. He wanted her for his business and so he’d forced a physical relationship in order to secure his place in her life? Well, not forced precisely, she conceded irritably as she zipped up her dress that evening and closely studied her reflection in the bathroom mirror. She’d been more than eager to go to bed with him that first night, and progressively more enthusiastic every time since.
She’d loved every second of his primal, powerful lovemaking.
He just wanted me for his business.
But he could have wanted me for me as well, couldn’t he? A man couldn’t fake passion like Kam had shown, another part of her argued.
Now you are kidding yourself. Of course a man can make lust look like true feeling. Every day women are fooled into thinking sex means caring.
Kam’s not most men, though. He’s brutally honest.
He didn’t tell you what he was planning, though, did he?
Disgusted by her internal battle, she forced herself to focus on the moment. She’d just get tonight over with. After dinner, she had no choice but to confront Kam and try to discern the truth in him. She was admittedly scared of what that truth might be.
Taking a deep breath, she lifted her chin in preparation for battle. She wasn’t displeased with her appearance. None of the cracks in her armor were showing on the surface. Her hair was styled in an elegant partial upsweep with loose curls falling down her back. She wore a silk sarong print dress that left one shoulder bare, the feminine ruffles of the skirt tempered with a black leather belt that echoed the Reardon watch. She’d toyed with wearing the stunning pearls Kam had bought her, but no. Those were just another example of his unfair influence on her heart. The watch, she wore because it was business . . .
. . . and this was a business dinner, no matter how Kam had tried to alter the playing field to suit him. If there was one thing Lin could rely on, it was her professional persona. Calm. Charming. Polished. She’d rely on that persona tonight, just like she’d depended on it for years to survive.
• • •
She arrived at the restaurant bar before him and took a seat in a sleek upholstered chair at a cocktail table. Her anxiety grew as she waited. She sensed his presence before she saw his tall form approaching in the corner of her eye. Several heads turned to admire him as he walked toward her. He may not customarily wear suits, but he looked good in them . . . extremely good, wearing them like he did his casual clothing—like a second skin on his toned, athletic frame. His face remained impassive when their gazes locked across the crowded bar. She waited for that gleam of warmth and arousal she’d grown used to seeing, but his glance remained as cool as his expression.
“Thanks for meeting with me early,” she said neutrally when he took a seat next to her at the table.
“Ian told me that he spoke to you about the position. I’m furious at him for doing it, although I understand why he did,” Kam added grudgingly.
She blinked in surprise. There it was: his ever-present, blunt honesty.
“Don’t worry. I know you aren’t planning on accepting my offer,” Kam said, his eyes flashing.
“How can you know that when I—” she broke off when a waiter approached. They gave their drink orders, both of them tight-lipped.
“I’m not sure this is a good time to discuss it,” Lin said evenly once the waiter had left. She sounded calm, but her heartbeat had started to pound in her ears. “I want to tell you a few key things about Stunde, and Nina and Kyle are going to be here any minute.”
“Right. The top secret briefing.”
She simmered at his sarcasm. “I’m just trying to get through this evening without any major mishaps.”
She felt her cheeks heating when he studied her closely for a silent moment.
“Who’s going to make a mishap?” he finally queried, leaning forward with his elbows on the table. His eyes were like ice chips. Before she knew what to expect, he reached for her hand, flipping her palm up.
“Don’t,” she whispered heatedly when she realized what he was doing. He expertly tapped on the tiny screen. He looked up at her with a grim smile when he quickly scanned her vitals, which—damn it—indicated a marked escalated stress response like a neo
n sign.
“What’s wrong, Lin, not as cool and collected as you’re leading everyone in this snooty restaurant to believe?”
She gritted her teeth in anger and yanked back her wrist. “That’s none of your business.”
“If I were you, I’d take off the device then,” Kam replied. “I mean it,” he said and gave her a defiant glare, a trace of steel to his voice. “I don’t want those people gaping at what’s going on inside of you.”
“But you have that right?” she asked angrily, removing the watch and putting it in her purse. Maybe he was right, as annoyed as that realization made her. They’d gotten through the first meeting with the Gersbachs without the device in evidence, they could do the same with the Stunde representatives. “And if I’m not calm, it’s with good reason. You’ve been messing with me, Kam,” she accused, unable to stop herself. “You’ve had ulterior motives in sleeping with me.”
His sharp bark of laughter made her jump slightly. She gaped at him, aghast at his manner. “I had ulterior motives in sleeping with you? That’s rich.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” she demanded.
“Lin?”
She blinked dazedly at the sound of the woman’s hesitant voice.
“Nina, Kyle. I didn’t see you arrive,” she said, standing and shaking hands with the Stunde executives. She forced herself into her professional role, difficult as it was, especially with Kam’s scowl and surliness fully in evidence when she made introductions.
Fortunately, the dinner was a moderate success, despite Lin’s confusion and anger and Kam’s inexplicable coolness. At least nothing was ruined, and Kyle and Nina were very interested in the product. Kam’s manner during dinner segued from his perplexing anger at her to being aloof and distant, but since Nina and Kyle were unfamiliar with his typical presentation, they seemed not to notice anything unduly remarkable. Like the Gersbachs before them, they seemed to assume he was an idiosyncratic, somewhat withdrawn genius. He answered their questions with his typical succinctness, his incising intelligence impossible to hide despite his preoccupation. By the time the meeting and luxurious meal came to a conclusion, Lin was feeling very raw and abraded, her façade worn thin by Kam’s palpable chill. She didn’t think it was her imagination that his coolness was aimed exclusively at her.
Why was he giving her the cold shoulder? Wasn’t she the one who had a right to be miffed, given the circumstances?
She turned toward him on the sidewalk after Kyle and Nina got into the first cab and it drove away.
“You are such an arrogant ass,” she hissed furiously, unable to contain her summation of his character a second longer.
Fury and confusion pulsed through her when she saw the trace of sarcasm cross his handsome face. He glanced down at her contemptuously.
“You really do turn that act on and off like a light switch, don’t you?”
“What is wrong with you?” she grated out, stunned by his disdain.
His lip curled into a snarl. Suddenly it seemed impossible to Lin that she’d thought he’d been cool since Kyle and Nina had arrived. He wasn’t just simmering with emotion. He was about to boil over.
“Wrong with me? Maybe it turns my stomach to watch you smile and charm and look like a beautiful doll all night long. You always have the perfect line on the tip of your tongue, don’t you? Does anybody ever see the real you, Lin? I wonder if you even know who she is.”
“You son of a—”
He caught her flying hand in midair. A shock resounded in her flesh. She gasped in disbelief. His blazing eyes burned right through her. She’d never told herself to do it, but she’d been about to slap him before he’d stopped her. Dozens of diners would have witnessed the spectacle she made through the glass windows of the posh restaurant. She’d never lost control in public like this before. She rarely did in private . . .
Kam’s nostrils flared in anger. Lin’s lungs burned. She couldn’t draw air. He jerked her wrist and her body thumped against his. Electricity seemed to jump from him to her. Against her will, she felt herself respond to his long, hard length.
“So the polished little kitten has claws. Well, that’s a start at honesty, I guess,” Kam muttered through a clenched jaw. His remark bounced off her; she was still momentarily stunned by her actions. He put out his hand to hail the next waiting cab. Lin said nothing when he held open the door for her. She couldn’t believe he’d goaded her so easily. Her entire body seemed to vibrate with chaotic emotion.
Kam slid into the seat next to her and tersely gave the driver the address to his apartment before he slid the plastic divider between driver and passenger seats closed. Lin turned to him, her mouth opening to accuse him of being a manipulative bastard. Kam opened his hands along each side of her jaw, holding her in place, and seized her mouth in an angry, searing kiss.
All her confusion about her desires, all the longing she’d felt ever since she left Kam’s arms on Monday morning, all the bubbling emotion she’d been feeling since Ian had told her about Kam’s plans, all of that and more found a channel in erupting lust and need. It roared to the surface, both a threat and a potent thrill that was impossible to resist.
Still, she was outraged. She wrenched her mouth free after a moment and tore his hands from her face. Their gazes clashed in the city-lit cab. She saw the dangerous glint in his light eyes.
“Do you honestly think I only want you because I want you to work for me? I wish that were true. I haven’t had a moment of peace since the first second you walked into that restaurant,” he growled ominously, sounding furious at that fact.
“Damn you, Kam,” she whispered, affected by his raw admission whether she wanted to be or not.
“Damned is right,” he assured her before he bent to her again. This time, his kiss was every bit as dark and dangerous, but it was more controlled. It was the devil’s seduction. His tongue claimed her mouth, sweeping it everywhere. He moved his lips in a sensual enticement, sucking at her, pulling her in to him in a way that was impossible to deny. Lin tangled her tongue with his, angry, aroused, overwhelmed. He wrapped a hand at her waist and pulled her closer against his hard body, and Lin knew she was something else.
Lost.
Kam pulled her after him once he’d distractedly handed a pleased cabdriver a twenty for a six-dollar fare. He pulled her through the lobby like he thought he was evacuating a fire, but going in the wrong direction. The doorman behind the desk greeted her by name when they arrived, and Lin gave a breathless, unintelligible reply. She’d been there countless times to Ian’s penthouse. Kam immediately swept down on her without waiting for the elevator doors to close. Despite the fact that she was aware of the doorman’s eyes watching them curiously as they got onto the mahogany-paneled elevator, she turned her face up and put her arms out to receive Kam’s hot, demanding kiss. She melted against his length. The doors closed and she felt herself rising, lifted on the steam of single-minded desire.
Kam’s mouth burned her throat. He reached beneath her wrap and began to loosen the single strap of her dress. She arched against him when his hand brushed a prickling nipple, tempting him to touch her. She moaned and nipped at his snarling mouth when he filled his palm with her breast, then plucked at the aching nipple with his fingertips. He bent and ravaged her mouth again.
The elevator doors dinged open. She broke their kiss and whimpered his name when he didn’t appear to notice, but just continued to consume her. When the doors started to close, he moved away from her quick as a lightning strike, halting the doors and pulling her after him.
The luxurious, muted hallway was a blur; the snick of the metal lock giving way beneath Kam’s key sounding illicit and secretive. The interior of the apartment was dark, the main source of light the rows of high-rise after high-rise glittering like a sparkling necklace along the body of black water. Lin’s spell of hazy lust wasn’t diminished even when Kam gav
e a harsh demand to a bounding Angus, telling the excited dog to go into the dining room. Then Kam was pulling her over to the couch and urging her to lie down, her head at the corner. He came down over her, sealing her tight in the cocoon he spun around them of heat and forgetfulness and blind need. His kiss was dark and addictive, his touch on the naked skin of her shoulder, breast, and thigh desired above all else.
The next thing she knew, he was rearing over her, a dark, powerful presence, his arms bracing his body on the back and armrest of the couch, one of his feet on the floor and his knee between her thigh and the cushion. Her dress was rucked up around her waist, her panties evaporated somewhere into the darkness. Her bare breasts rose and fell rapidly, looking pale in the city lights. He lowered one hand to her shin, pushing her bent leg onto the back of the couch, opening her to him. The hard, swollen knob of his cock moved along her labia. She was slick with arousal. She could hear the subtle sound of him moving in her flesh, and it ramped up her excitement. He gave her clit a firm caress, and then he was pushing against her slit, demanding entrance.
“Say my name,” he muttered hoarsely from above her.
“Kam.” She repeated it, his name on her tongue a pleading endearment. He flexed his hips. Her lips opened into a silent scream as he filled her.
• • •
Kam could see her face from the glow of the city lights as he burrowed into her clasping pussy. Hearing her chant his name and watching her lips open into an O of rapture as he slid into her to the hilt left him desperate.
He wanted his name to be the only one seared into this woman’s brain. Her heart. The very marrow of her bones. He wanted it in that moment more than he’d ever wanted anything in his life. It was like a fire racing in his blood. He’d burn both of them with it.
He began to fuck her, continuing to brace his upper body at the corner of the couch, his foot on the floor and his hips powering his thrusts. Her cries were sharp. Wild. He couldn’t take his eyes off her beautiful face pinched tight with desire.
