Since I Saw You by Beth Kery Page B

listening. Even though he wasn’t looking at Lin, the vision of her still burned in his mind’s eye. She usually wore her hair up. The only time he’d seen it down was when they’d been in bed together. Then, it’d been a waving, curling, tumbling delight that fell to her mid back. Tonight, she wore it down, but it had been straightened. Without the curls and waves, it fell in a straight, fluid line almost to her waist. It was drop-dead sexy. As Lucien and he had approached her, the silky curtain of it brushed her naked back, the vision disrupting rational thought.
    She’d turned, and it was like silk whisking against silk. He was suddenly overcome with a brutal, primal need to be inside her once again, pounding inside all that soft, sleek glory, straining to build a crashing crescendo in the harmonious orchestra that was Lin. A pulse began to throb in his temple and his cock at once as he’d met her stare.
    How inappropriate could he be? He really was going to ruin this whole fucking night.
    “. . . he just arrived on Monday. Isn’t that right, Kam?”
    He blinked and the present moment plummeted into his awareness jarringly.
    “Yes,” he said, realizing that Otto Gersbach’s hand was extended. He shook it and mumbled something that was mostly unintelligible except for the word
pleasure.
He did the same when he was introduced to Brigit Gersbach. Brigit stared at him with wide blue eyes like he was part of the exhibit. Kam glanced uncomfortably sideways at Lin, looking for a cue as to what he should do or say next. Her hand looped around his elbow, and it suddenly didn’t matter.
    “I can’t tell you what a pleasure this is for us to meet you as well,” Otto was gushing in crisp, Swiss-accented English. “Brigit was very busy with the advertising campaign for the holidays, but she insisted upon accompanying me in order to meet the genius who created such a revolutionary mechanism. Even now, I can’t quite grasp what you’ve managed to accomplish.”
    Kam resisted an urge to shrug and just held Otto’s stare.
    “He’s modest,” Brigit said in mock-confidential tone to Lin. “The brilliant ones often are.”
    “He’s unconventional, that much is true. Don’t try to pigeonhole him if you truly want to draw his character,” Lin said, smiling warmly up at Kam.
    “Do you?” Kam asked Lin, looking down at her upturned face.
    She blinked, taken off guard by his question. “Do I what?”
    “Want to draw my character?”
    “Of course she does. Everyone knows Lin has a talent for seeing straight to the heart,” Otto joked. “She can see to the rotten core of a person in two seconds flat during a business deal. It’s one of the many reasons Ian guards her like a personal treasure.”
    “Fortunately I see no rotten cores here tonight,” Lin replied.
    Her manner was easy, polished, and businesslike, but Kam took heart from her light touch on his arm. A waiter approached carrying sparkling fruit juice and carbonated water. “Shall we take in Francesca’s exhibit?” Lin invited when they’d all taken a flute.
    “Absolutely. Such a talented young woman . . .” Otto was saying. Kam tuned him out as the four of them began the circuit around the room. He was forced to break contact with Lin as they moved about. He was too distracted by her to be anxious about meeting the Gersbachs. He was caught up in the spell of Lin’s lithesome bare arms and sexy long legs. His senses were always extremely sharp, but tonight they seemed exponentially sensitive. He was entranced by the sound of her melodious voice and the nearly silent swish of hair on both her bare skin and the fabric of her dress. He managed several responses to the Gersbachs, a decent amount of which were longer than two words. It wasn’t that hard, given his honest admiration of Francesca’s sketches and Lin’s effortless, yet warm and genuine skill for social conversation.
    Even though he’d been forced to allow her to drop her hand