Since I Saw You

by BETH KERY

  Free.

  He tightened his hold on her hips as he continued to eat her and she writhed against him. Her clit sizzled. She longed to ignite. She grew so frantic, perhaps he grew weary of having to hold her steady for his tongue.

  Smack.

  He’d popped her bottom with his palm.

  Lin stilled, feeling the sting on her ass. She looked down in amazement and saw him looking up at her, his eyes hot, his lower mouth slick with her juices. He was so beautiful, her core clenched tight in instinctive craving.

  “Keep still and take your pleasure, mon petit chaton,” he ordered gruffly.

  She nodded, panting raggedly. No one had ever swatted her before. She had the impression no man would ever dare. Not that it hurt. It stung, though, like a sexy, tactile tattoo. She swore she could feel his handprint burning on the side of her right buttock. His gaze sunk down over her face and latched onto her heaving breasts.

  “Such perfect breasts. Touch them,” he demanded suddenly, his nostrils flaring as he looked at her face again.

  She lowered her hands from the rod and skimmed her fingers beneath her breasts. He tracked her actions with his gaze, his steady stare making her shift her hips, tempting him back to the center of her heat. She cradled each mound and lifted, plucking at the nipples with thumb and forefinger.

  “Squeeze them,” he said harshly. “That’s right,” he muttered when she complied and molded the firm flesh to her palm. “Keep that up. Don’t stop.”

  He jerked her panties down to her ankles, and then whisked them over her heels. He leaned down over her again, tilting his head. Lin moaned in overwhelming anticipation as she watched him use his fingers to gently pinch the bottom of her labia together. He tilted his head and looked up at her as he slid his tongue down into the pocket he’d formed, slipping the tip against her clit. He moved it, rubbing her, applying a firm pressure. She gave a restrained groan and pinched at her nipples, cresting, all the while aware of his hot eyes watching her. His red tongue plunged and thrust into the juicy pocket of flesh, lewd and insistent. Her clit went from a sizzle to a mind-blowing burn.

  A moment later, she clutched onto the metal bar and quaked in climax.

  As she shuddered in orgasm, he released his gentle pinch on her labia and used just his mouth. He covered her outer sex with his lips, the insistent suction he applied making her eyes go wide in shock and her tremors amplify. It was almost impossible to muffle her cries as ecstasy blasted through her.

  He lifted his head as her trembling waned. Watching her face, he thrust a thick forefinger into her drenched channel. Another wave of orgasm hit her. He grunted, a snarl shaping his mouth.

  “Come here,” he said, reaching for her waist.

  A fresh wave of excitement tinged with wariness went through her. She wasn’t afraid of him in the slightest, but he was one hundred percent primal male in that moment, savage in his intent. A woman would be crazy not to feel pure excitement and a hint of anxiety upon seeing the wild light in Kam’s eyes as he lifted her into his arms and set her high heels back on the floor. He swooped down and kissed her like a bird of prey claiming its meal before he turned her. Her eyes sprung wide when he bent his knees and pressed his cock to her backside.

  Oh my. They had unleashed a tempest.

  He pushed aside her hair and pressed his mouth against her neck; she stumbled slightly in her heels, not because he was pushing her, but because another wave of heat and excitement had gone through her at his kiss, making her dizzy. He steadied her, pressing her more firmly back against the solid length of his body.

  “Slip off your heels,” he muttered next to her ear before he sealed his mouth to it, sending a delicious ripple of sensation through her.

  Kam grunted when she followed his order and her body slid a good four inches down his.

  “The angle isn’t ideal with us standing. Not with the way I want you right now.” Lin swallowed thickly at the heat in his tone. She didn’t have to be a brilliant engineer like Kam to realize the obvious. He was too tall and the cabinet too high for her to lean over for optimal positioning. His lips moved firmly and hungrily. He bit gently at the skin just below her hairline, and she shivered in his arms. “Can you go on your hands and knees on the floor with your wrap under you?” he coaxed.

  For a split second, she pictured what was about to happen. Liquid heat surged through her at the raw eroticism of the image.

  “Yes,” she whispered.

  He helped her spread her wrap. He held one of her hands, steadying her when she went to her knees in the dim closet. She sensed him pull back slightly, halting her.

  “What if I tear your hosiery?” he asked.

  “I’ll take them off if need be. Afterward,” she added, meeting his stare, her gaze solemn.

  His nostrils flared slightly. He nodded. She raised her dress to her waist.

  She was in a dim, unfamiliar cloakroom in a hotel, positioning herself to be fucked while her boss and his family enjoyed their elegant meal just down the hall. The illicit, exciting sound of Kam’s zipper lowering pierced her awareness, and all thoughts of Ian evaporated.

  She looked over her shoulder anxiously. He was shucking off his new trousers, and much to her surprise, he didn’t just shove them or his boxer briefs down to his thighs. No, he whisked them all the way down and stepped out of him. He retrieved something from his pocket, his pants draped in front of him. He tossed the pants onto the cabinet. She stared, her mouth going dry. His cock sprung from his body at a nearly perpendicular angle, poking out from the bottom opening of the placket of his dress shirt. From her vantage point, it looked fearsome and flagrant. Beautiful.

  He grasped his heavy erection from below, stepping behind her. He caught her staring as he rolled on a condom—this one actually fit. Had he bought a new box since their tryst the other night? Had he guessed something like this would happen?

  Didn’t you? A voice in Lin’s head asked. No, she immediately answered. Not like this. Not like this crazy, impulsive moment.

  Their gazes held for a heart-stopping second.

  Then he lowered to the floor behind her.

  • • •

  He saw her watching him as he rolled on a condom, and a fierce stab of need went through him, a feral mandate to mate. Her dark eyes were somber and achingly lovely, her pale skin a stunning contrast next to the black of her dress, her ass round and compact. Her taste still lingered on his tongue, taunting him. His cock swelled tight as he lowered, heaven within his reach.

  He knew what to expect after Monday night and used a finger, and then two, to ready her, his lust mounting to rabid levels all the while. Her pussy was a man’s dream come true, especially when accompanied with Lin’s choked whimpers and gasps of arousal. She clung to even the relatively slender invaders of his fingers like a sweet, sucking mouth.

  His cock lurched. Best not to think about Lin and sucking mouths right now.

  He slid out his fingers and replaced them with the tip of his cock. “Shhh,” he soothed as he pulsed into her pussy and she gave a muffled moan. She clamped him like a vise, but her heat and abundant juices welcomed. Tortured. Lust raged in him. Jesus. I’m not going to last any longer than I did that first night, he realized incredulously. He flexed forward, accepting his fate. Relishing in it. Clutching one tight buttock, he watched as he sawed his hips and penetrated her more and more with each pass. Finally, he gripped both buttocks and pulled her against him, his balls grinding against her outer tissues.

  She made a high-pitched, strangled sound. He could only imagine how it must feel for her. He was near to bursting with lust himself, she was so compact and small . . . supple and sleek . . .

  “You’re so fucking perfect,” he growled before he began to thrust.

  After a few moments of pounding into her and hearing their body’s frantic mating rhythm and Lin’s arousing whimpers and
hums of pleasure, he stared at the back of the cloakroom. The sensation of her bobbing hips, strong counterthrusts, and the tight, unrelenting clasp of her pussy were more than enough to make him come. Watching the whole thing made it twice as excruciating. God, she was a fast, scorching ticket to heaven. Even if he was hell bound for rutting like a slavering savage on this exquisite, elegant woman, he’d arrive at the gates like a charging locomotive.

  He jerked up her hips and ass and drove into her. “C’est si bon,” he hissed in pleasure as he fucked her at the divine new angle. He paused after a moment and grimaced at the halt of the intense friction. “Put your shoulders and head down on the cloak, baby. That’s right,” he praised, once again enthralled by the vision of her. Holding her hips up to his raging cock, he withdrew up and sunk into her again and again, his actions deliberate.

  Perhaps a little ruthless.

  Distantly, he became aware that he was likely putting too much pressure on her knees, but it felt so damn good. His only saving grace was hearing her sharp cry and feeling her muscular walls squeeze his driving cock as she climaxed a moment later. Her warmth rushed around him.

  He saw red.

  He rose to his feet, crouching over her. By lifting her hips to his thrusting cock and controlling her weight with his straining arm and legs muscles, he took some of the pressure off her knees while creating an optimal friction. He let go, fucking her in a frenzy of blind lust. The sound of their slapping skin outpaced his heartbeat in his ears. Nothing could have stopped him in that moment. He grasped for nirvana, taking one last savage thrust.

  He crashed into her, holding tight. Orgasm hit, brutal and blistering, sparing neither of them. He wasn’t sure later if he’d continued to move, fucking her as he ejaculated, or if he’d been frozen in a rushing overdose of pleasure.

  He only knew that as his orgy of need quieted, and his lust was appeased, regret began to worm its way into his awareness.

  She kept her head lowered a minute later when he stood and helped her to her feet, the long, dark drape of her hair hiding her face. She started to turn away and lift her dress up over her breasts, but he stopped her.

  “Lin?”

  She didn’t move, her beautiful, thrusting bare breasts still rising and falling irregularly following their shared storm of lust. He used his free hand to push back her silky hair so he could see her face. She jerked her head away, but not before he saw what she tried to hide. Two tracks of tears shone on her flushed cheeks. Dread swept through him.

  “Did I hurt you?”

  “No.” She swiped at the dampness and turned, finishing pulling up her dress. “Of course you didn’t hurt me. You must have . . . realized how much . . . I liked it,” she faltered.

  It alarmed him, the strained quality of her voice. She was typically so controlled. True, she’d lost her temper with him this morning—deservedly so—but this break in her armor was much more alarming. He put his hands on her shoulders and turned her to face him.

  “What is it? What’s wrong?” he demanded, sounding harsher than he intended, out of concern. He wouldn’t apologize for taking her under these circumstances. In his opinion, it was a natural conclusion to all the heat they’d been generating all day, as normal a progression as a storm breaking after the buildup of a hot, sultry day. But he did feel guilty for how forcefully he’d made love to her . . . how savagely . . .

  “I just had sex with you on the cloakroom floor of a hotel—”

  “There’s no one around—”

  “With my boss dining just down the hallway,” she finished without pause. His mouth snapped shut. She stared up at him wildly. Desperately. He couldn’t say which. One thing was for certain: He’d run up against her walls again.

  He dropped his hands. “So. Here we are. Back to Ian.”

  She turned abruptly and began fastening the collar of her dress around her neck. She found her discarded panties. Unable to think of anything else to say to make her feel better, he removed the condom, found a place to dispose of it and grabbed his discarded clothing. The atmosphere in the small cloakroom seemed to take on a heavy, stifling weight as they both gathered themselves. Their separation and silence seemed especially glaring following their raw, uninhibited joining just now. It seemed a little bizarre that they’d both been frantically in the grips of lust only moments ago. He finished dressing first, seething as he watched her smooth her hair and apply some lipstick from her purse, her back turned to him the whole time.

  She finally turned and met his stare calmly. His irritation mounted, but then disappeared in an instant when he looked down over her.

  “Damn it. Your knees,” he muttered. Her delicate hosiery hadn’t torn, but the color of it was so sheer that he could see the skin of her knees was red and abraded.

  Merde. You rode her like a fucking animal.

  “I’m going home,” she said quietly. His eyes widened with alarm as he studied her impassive, beautiful face. Her cheeks were still flushed from arousal and orgasm, but her skin looked especially pale beneath it. “Will you please tell Ian, Lucien, and Francesca that I felt a little unwell?”

  “But—”

  “Tell them. Please. I can’t show up looking like this.”

  “I’m sorry about your . . .” He glanced down at her knees, regret swamping him. “I tried to take the pressure off them by standing, but—”

  “I know you did,” she said. “I’m not blaming you. It’s my fault. I’m the one who let it happen.”

  He made a disbelieving sound at that. “You make it sound like you agreed to a crime. We didn’t commit murder together,” he added darkly.

  She closed her eyes. He flinched inwardly, seeing her discomposure. “You don’t understand. I don’t do things like this.”

  “You obviously do now,” he said before he could stop himself. “Why is that such a problem?” She shot him an anxious glance and draped her wrap over her shoulders, covering herself.

  “Lin, wait—” he called out when she moved past him. She unlocked the door. “We still need to talk.”

  “I know. We still need to discuss the details of the Klinf meeting this weekend. I also need you to tell me all that you require for the first demonstration of your device for the Gersbachs. I’ll call,” she said.

  And she was gone.

  For several seconds, he just stared blindly up at the ceiling, replaying the last half hour of his life and trying to make sense of it, with not a modicum of success. They’d gone from combustible lust to uncontrollable, wild, blistering sex to Lin saying the only thing they had to discuss was business.

  “C’est vraiment des conneries,” he cursed bitterly before he stalked out of the cloakroom and slammed the door shut with a loud bang.

  • • •

  The Coffee Boutique was hopping with customers when he arrived. He understood from Lucien that while Elise’s heralded new restaurant was the soul of their hotel, the coffeehouse was the heart of the thriving microcommunity. It was the comfortable living room of the luxurious establishment, a place where travelers, locals, and tourists alike lounged on deep couches and chairs and sipped premium coffees that had been individually prepared with chicory-roasted beans. They devoured mouthwatering confections made by Elise’s pastry chef. Some of the patrons read books and magazines they’d bought at the attached bookstore that specialized in first editions, rare books, and antiquities. Lucien must have spent about what Kam survived off of annually on the two space-age coffee makers behind the bar.

  Not that Kam was focused on any of these niceties. His purpose was single-minded as he stalked into the energetic room. He saw Lucien exiting the coffee bar at the same time he was entering. He gave Kam a bland look as they met, and paused.

  “What happened to you?” Lucien asked.

  “What?” Kam demanded sourly.

  “You look like you’re about to kick someone’s
ass. And your shirttail is hanging out,” Lucien added calmly under his breath as several patrons passed them.

  “Merde,” Kam muttered, shoving his shirt down into his pants. He never wanted to dress like this to begin with. He wouldn’t be trussed up in this damn suit if it weren’t for Lin.

  “Did something happen with Gersbach?” Lucien asked.

  “No. It went well with the Gersbachs.”

  “Was Lin pleased?” Lucien asked, glancing in the direction of the lobby as if in search of her.

  “What, my opinion isn’t good enough?” Kam growled.

  Lucien’s eyes narrowed on him. “Trying to pick a fight?” he asked levelly, gray eyes as cool and sharp as a driving ice pick. “Pick a better target. I’ve got too much work to do at the moment. If you still feel like a spar tomorrow, give me a call and we’ll go a couple rounds at the gym.”

  Kam rolled his eyes in mounting frustration when Lucien walked past him. His eldest brother was intimidating and tough, but it was his control that was already growing legendary in Kam’s mind.

  He’d apologize to Lucien for his rudeness tomorrow. Tonight, he was done being a polite, powdered good boy. Lucien was right. He did feel like kicking someone’s ass just for the satisfaction of hearing his victim thump to the floor.

  “Lin didn’t feel well and had to leave,” Kam said to Ian without any preamble when he approached the seating area where Ian and Francesca lounged. “She wanted me to tell you.”

  “Oh no,” Francesca said, concerned. “Was she all right to go home by herself?”

  “She seemed to think so.”

  Francesca glanced at Ian with arched brows at Kam’s curt reply. She cleared her throat and stood. “If you two will just excuse me for a moment? I’ve decided that the baby’s favorite room is going to be the bathroom, as much time as he wants me to spend in there.”

  “Have a seat,” Ian said quietly when Francesca walked away, nodding at the chair across from him.

  Kam gave his brother a sidelong glare. “I’m not really in the mood for—”