Since I Saw You

by BETH KERY

  “You get that from her,” Lin murmured.

  He nodded before resuming. “During that summer, that kitten went everywhere with me . . . except for inside the big house,” he added darkly. He fell into silence, his fingers still running through Lin’s hair.

  “Gaines didn’t like cats?” she whispered.

  “It wasn’t just that. I never showed him that I cared about anything,” Kam said. “As a kid, I learned that lesson fast enough. Don’t show your weak spots. He’ll use them against you. Even my mother . . .” he trailed off, thick regret flooding him. “I never let him know how much she meant to me. I was afraid he’d terminate her employment as a maid and laundress and send her away when he was in one of his tempers over some imagined error he believed I’d made in my work. I led him to believe that I didn’t care that much for her, that I looked down on her . . . that I considered her a simple commoner. I never told her I did that,” Kam admitted, the truth burning his throat. He’d never told anyone about the ugly fiction he’d enacted.

  “Your mother knew you loved her. You let Gaines believe that for a reason, a good one. Of course you would learn early on how to keep things that mattered to you off his radar. He was a sick, twisted man. You were smart and resourceful for protecting your mother that way, especially when you were so young with no one to guide you. Never think otherwise,” Lin stated fiercely.

  He believed her, but guilt was often not a rational emotion. “Your father did something to the kitten. Didn’t he?” Lin asked in a hushed voice after a pause.

  “That fall was the first time I went to attend school in the town. Gaines allowed it, but he didn’t like it. It was inconvenient for him, to have to do some of the manual labor I usually did for him, assisting him in his workshop. On the first day of school, he grew restless when I didn’t immediately report to work in the big house and went looking for me. I’d rushed home so that I had time to see Chocolat. I’d left her that morning with her brothers and sisters and her mother in the barn. She visited them often enough, and her mother continued to treat her as one of her own. Gaines found me there with the kitten. He ordered me to the workshop. After I left, he asked the gardener to round up the stray cats in the barn and drown them. He said they were infected with disease.”

  He felt Lin shudder next to him. He blinked away the toxic memory and focused on Lin’s face. The sadness he saw her in her dark eyes pierced him. He brushed her cheek with his thumb.

  “It was a long, long time ago,” he said.

  “I’m sorry I made you remember.”

  “I’m not,” he said steadfastly before he pulled her higher in his arms and laid her back on the mattress. He came down over her, seeking the sweet benediction of her mouth.

  • • •

  They spent the entire day in bed, talking and touching and making love. The acute fury of the storm abated, but clouds remained hovering over the city. Rain occasionally pattered on the windowpanes, adding to the sense of delightful relaxation and intimacy.

  “You better watch out,” Lin told him as she trailed kisses down the side of his rib cage later that afternoon. “This playing hooky business could definitely become my new addiction.”

  “Then my plan is working,” he assured her, cradling the side of her head and praising her gently in French when her mouth lowered still.

  Kam got up as dusk fell to take out Angus. Lin rose to call to have food delivered. When the Thai carryout arrived, however, they returned to bed, feasting naked amongst the rumpled bedclothes. Afterward, they roused from lazing about to luxuriate in the large bathtub.

  “Where are you going tomorrow?” Kam asked her later when they returned to bed after their sensual soak, Lin’s muscles rubbery with the relaxation that came from repeated lovemaking and hot water.

  “I have a series of meetings on Tuesday in San Francisco,” she said, cuddling closer to him. She really hated the idea of leaving Chicago at that moment . . . of putting distance between her and Kam.

  “Do you travel a lot for work?”

  She hummed an affirmative, stroking his muscular upper arm. “Usually three or four times a month.”

  “Do you like it? Traveling?”

  “Not as much as I did when I was younger, but I’m used to it. It’s not too bad,” she said, her eyelids drooping under the weight of drowsiness. Still, she’d begun to wonder about something all afternoon and couldn’t resist voicing it now. “Kam?”

  “Hmmm?”

  “I know that I said I didn’t want Ian or anyone to know about this . . . us. But if I hadn’t said that, would you have been okay with him and Lucien and everyone knowing?”

  “Yeah,” he said, stroking her shoulder. Her eyes blinked open wider at his firm answer. “I hate faking things.”

  Of course he would, Lin realized. He’d grown to despise lying and façades from an early age.

  “Why would I want to hide the fact that we’re involved from anyone?” Kam asked bluntly.

  “I don’t know. I was just wondering if it would make you . . . you know. Uncomfortable.”

  “No,” he said, and she heard the thread of familiar steel in his voice. “It’s you that’s uncomfortable with people knowing.”

  “I’m not,” she whispered. His stroking hand on her spine paused. She lifted her head and met his stare. “Not anymore,” she said emphatically.

  She leaned down to kiss his mouth. His arms slowly closed tight around her.

  • • •

  The next morning, she awoke before dawn, knowing she would have to get up very soon and reenter her normal life, and dreading it. These had been stolen moments with Kam. She was sad they were over. For a while, anyway.

  She studied his face as he slept when the pale light of dawn peeked around the closed curtains. The vast, swelling feeling she experienced in her chest cavity amazed her . . . humbled her.

  Maybe it was best she was going to be away for a few days. Something had happened to her this weekend. Something earth-shattering. Game changing. She had been a fool to ever think she’d been in love before. She’d never begun to fall until she’d seen Kam, never even knew what the words meant. Her feelings for Ian seemed like a shallow, weak facsimile now, a child’s idealistic fantasy.

  Kam’s eyes were open when she came out of the bathroom several minutes later after washing and dressing.

  “What time is your flight?” he asked, his deep, rough voice in the hushed room caressing her sensitive skin. She walked to him and sat at the edge of the bed. He ran his knuckles over her forearm, and Lin wished nothing more than to be back in his arms at that moment. It felt all wrong to be leaving him, even if it was for just two nights.

  “It’s not until one o’clock, but I need to get into the office this morning.”

  “Some caveman kept you from catching up on work this weekend,” he said with a small smile. “I have something I want to give you before you go to the airport.”

  “You don’t have to give me anything else, Kam.”

  “It’s related to the Gersbach demo on Wednesday. I would have given it to you earlier, but it’s not ready until this morning. If I have it delivered to Noble by say . . . ten o’clock, will I get it to you in time?”

  “Yes, plenty of time,” she said warmly, touching his whiskered cheek. He grasped her wrist and pulled her down to him, his hand opening at the back of her head. “Thank you for this weekend,” she whispered against his lips a moment later.

  “I expect more of your weekends.”

  She swallowed thickly, a tingling sensation going through her as she carefully studied his sober expression.

  “You’ll have them then” she whispered. She started to get up to go, but Kam paused her with a touch on her hip.

  “When you get back, there’s something important I need to discuss with you,” he told her pointedly.

  • • �
��

  At ten fifteen that morning, Maria tapped on the door of her office.

  “The limo will be here at ten forty-five to take you to the airport. And this just arrived.”

  “Thank you, Maria,” Lin said, watching the admin place a pale gray box on her desk. Curious, she broke the tape seal and opened the lid. Inside were two identical jewelry boxes, one of black velvet, the other of red leather. Her heart started to throb in her chest as she opened one of them. She lifted out a message from Kam.

  Yours is the perfect wrist for the first prototype of a Reardon watch. Jarvis Cooper, the jeweler from E, put it together for me this weekend. I thought you might like to get used to what it can do while you’re out of town. A tutorial will lead you through the instructions when you turn on the device, but call me if you have any questions about how it works.

  Just call me period, or I’ll call you.

  Kam

  Lin smiled and set aside the papers, giving an ooh of amazement when she saw the specialized timepiece. It was silver and thin, the face of the “watch” a miniature display screen. She pushed a button and activated the device. Immediately the screen lit up. Welcome, Lin, hope you are having a good time. She smiled at the greeting and tapped the screen when prompted. When she hit the display that gave the time several minutes later, she realized she’d lost herself in playing with the fascinating device. She’d continue to work with it on the way to the airport.

  She removed the Klinf watch that she wore, strapping on Kam’s in its place. Unlike most watches, the device went at her inner wrist. Jarvis Cooper, the jeweler, had given the mechanism a trendy, attractive black leather strap—not all that dissimilar from her cuffs. In fact, Lin realized with a small smile, there was a telling platinum loop sewn into the leather. The watchband could be used as a restraint. Despite that prurient purpose, it was a very chic piece. The buckle was a stylized letter R, which was made of platinum and worn at the outer wrist, where the face of a traditional watch went. It was really quite eye-catching, Lin decided with a thrill. She loved it. She ran her finger over the R in dawning amazement. A thrill of excitement coursed through her.

  Kam was going to start his own company in the near future. He was ready now. She’d been suspecting it all along. That’s what this whole trip to Chicago had been about. He was trying to wet his feet, get experience with the business world. Not because he planned to sell his patent to a different watchmaker, but because he planned to begin his own business.

  She’d almost forgotten about the other jewelry box in her mounting excitement. Most women wouldn’t have overlooked that famous red leather box. She opened the lid and gasping, staring wide-eyed at the most stunning Tahitian black pearls she’d ever seen. Her fingers ran over the smooth, iridescent jewels of the necklace rope and matching earrings in wonder. Between every third pearl on the necklace was a row of sparkling diamonds. It was a striking combination.

  A note was at the top of the box from Kam. It read simply: They were beautiful, so they must be yours.

  • • •

  That evening, Kam halted Ian and spoke to him quietly. “May I have a word with you in private before we go up to the deck?”

  Mrs. Hanson had just served Ian, Francesca, Lucien, Elise, and Kam in the dining room. It was a mild night, so Francesca had suggested they take coffee up on the deck.

  “Of course. Francesca,” he called to his wife. “Kam and I will be up in a moment. He needs a word in the library.”

  Francesca nodded brightly. Ian led Kam down the wide, gallery-like hallway to his library-office.

  “Is everything all right?” Ian asked after he’d shut the walnut-paneled door.

  “Probably not. For one of us, anyway,” Kam replied.

  Ian blinked, clearly not having expected that answer.

  “Maybe you’d better sit down,” Kam said.

  “I’m not sure I like the sound of this,” Ian said, studying Kam with a sharp gaze.

  “Nobody is sick or dying,” Kam said wryly.

  Ian shrugged slightly. “Then I suppose we’ll survive it.” He went to sit on one of the two couches that faced each other. He gave Kam a cool, expectant glance. Kam sat across from his brother and wondered for the thousandth time that night where to begin. Never having been much of a wordsmith, he finally just cut to the meat of things.

  “I’m going to ask Lin to work for me.”

  A stunned silence followed.

  “Excuse me?” Ian asked, leaning forward, his gaze narrowing dangerously.

  “I’m aware that almost every chief executive officer on the planet has tried to poach her from you, so I thought it was only fair to warn you beforehand. I respect you too much to ever consider going behind your back. I didn’t come here with the clear intention to offer her a position. I didn’t come to Chicago with any intention of undermining you, Ian.”

  “Have I done something since then to make you want to?” Ian demanded, nostrils flaring.

  “Of course not,” Kam declared. “You’ve gone out of your way to try to help me. You and Francesca and Lucien and Elise . . . all of you have been . . . great.”

  “And this is how you thank me? By trying to steal my top executive?” Ian bellowed in disbelief.

  “I’m not ‘stealing’ her,” Kam tried to reason, although he couldn’t resist glaring at Ian’s accusation. “I’m telling you aboveboard that I’m going to ask her to work for me. With me. It’s her decision. She may very well say no.”

  “Will she?” Ian snapped, blue eyes flashing with anger. He stood, his long body suddenly tense as a coiled spring.

  “I have no idea what she’ll say,” Kam said honestly. “Probably no, just like she says to every other person who tries to hire her.”

  Ian came to an abrupt halt, swinging around to stare at Kam. “Hire her. Hire her? For what? You plan to start your own company in the near future instead of waiting to build capital?”

  Kam just nodded, holding his brother’s stare.

  “Using your mechanism as the linchpin product instead of a means of capital for future ones?”

  “Yes. But I have a lot of ideas for expanding the uses of the technology.”

  “Do you think you might have told me this before?”

  “I’m telling you now,” Kam said, standing. “I wanted to gather some information before I announced it. Figure out whether I could pull it off or not.”

  “Scope out my prize employee,” Ian hissed and cursed under his breath. He started pacing again. “I can’t believe this.”

  “I need her more than you do,” Kam said brazenly.

  Ian swung around, his eyes wild with disbelief. “You have more balls than anyone I know, and I don’t mean that as a compliment.”

  “I’m just telling you the truth,” Kam bit out, walking toward Ian aggressively. It was a risk. Ian was furious at that moment, and Kam was irritated himself. No one seemed to rile him more than Ian when he got all arrogant and holier-than-thou. He held Ian’s stare. “You sent Lin to work with me because you knew she’d make me look good. She makes everyone and everything look a hundred times better than it is because she’s a thousand times the worth of any of us. I suspected she was good before I even met her, but she surpassed by expectations by far. I . . . need her more . . . than you do,” Kam repeated succinctly.

  Ian’s incredulous, furious expression seemed to melt slowly.

  “You’re in love with her,” Ian breathed out, stepping toward him.

  Kam’s heartbeat throbbed in his ears.

  “I know I’m a start-up company,” he continued levelly, wanting Ian to understand, needing him to. He cared about his brother. He and Lucien were all the family he had. “But I have capital, I have the skill to create future technology and I have a fucking fantastic, game-changing product. I’m not averse to exploring possible partnerships with companies like
Gersbach or Stunde, but I want the control of my technology. If they want it in their watches, they’re going to have to pay to use it. I want my product to be available to most consumers, not just the rich and privileged. I didn’t know if I could make this work until I met Lin and saw how well we could potentially work together. She’s the last piece of the puzzle.”

  He paused, trying to read Ian’s mood. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you didn’t believe me, Ian, but I am thankful for everything you’ve done for me. You helped facilitate things for the pharmaceutical deal. It’s because of you that I have seed money. You’ve helped me here in Chicago. I want to show my appreciation by allowing Noble the use of any Reardon product you think you can use.”

  Ian inhaled slowly. Kam thought he was listening, but he also sensed he was still simmering with anger.

  “I’m determined to make this work,” Kam continued. “That’s why I need Lin. I plan to offer her a full partnership, if she wants it. She can own up to fifty percent of Reardon Technologies stock, if she chooses. The sky is the limit as far as where we could take it . . . where Lin could take it, if she decided to. Can you offer her anything equivalent at Noble?” he challenged quietly.

  Ian just stared at him, his mouth hanging open. “You fucking little bastard,” he said dazedly after a moment.

  “I’m a fucking bigger bastard than you,” Kam muttered through his teeth.

  A bark of mirthless laughter fell past Ian’s lips. He set his elbow on the mantel of the fireplace and put his forehead in his hand.

  “I’m sorry if you feel that I’m doing this to spite you,” Kam said truthfully, feeling the tension ease between them. “I’m not. I don’t mean to sound belittling, but it’s got nothing to do with you. It’s just that . . .”

  Ian looked over at him when he faded off. “It’s what makes the most sense,” Kam continued. “It feels right. Lin is precisely what I need. I think you even sense that. And she could use an opportunity like this . . . a place to be in the forefront, where she can shine at her fullest and reap all the benefits. Lin should be with me.”