“There’s no such thing as instant families, but yeah. I guess there’s some truth to that.” He gave her a flashing glance as he chewed.
“What?” she asked, sensing he wanted to say something.
“Ian is more family to you than he is to me,” he said before taking a swig of ice water. “Your work is your life. That’s what everyone says, anyway. Noble Enterprises became your family.”
She blushed, looking away from his gleaming gray eyes, and picked up her fork again. “Ian is my boss,” she stated unequivocally.
“He doesn’t just think of you as just an employee. He told me so.”
She felt his stare on her cheek and resisted an urge to squirm. “Really?” she asked, taking pains to keep her voice level. She took a bite of bread. “When was this?”
“Last night. When he was ever so delicately warning me I’d better tread carefully when it came to you.”
Her fork fell against the bowl. She suddenly felt queasy.
“Please don’t tell me that Ian realized what we were doing in that cloakroom,” she muttered, horrified. “Did you tell him anything?” she asked, realizing too late she’d sounded accusatory.
“Do you think I would?” he demanded, scowling.
“If you didn’t say anything to him, then why was he warning you about me?” Lin asked.
“He’s not stupid,” Kam muttered, holding her stare. “Although he can keep his holier-than-thou attitude to himself, if you ask me. You and I are grown-ups, free to do whatever we damn well please.”
It brought to mind all their recent, extremely grown-up activities. Suddenly, she couldn’t remember the topic of their conversation. His gaze sunk down over her, and as usual, she experienced that swooping sensation in her belly. Kam leaned in, his warm breath brushing across her parted lips. Their mouths touched. “If we want to spend time together, it’s none of Ian’s business.”
Ian. Right, that’s whom they were discussing.
“Spend time together?” she asked, her mouth twitching against his. “Is that a euphemism for having sex?”
“We’re not having sex now. Unless you’re interested?” he murmured, a devil’s glint in his eyes. He nipped at her lower lip, his narrow-eyed, predatory stare on her mouth making her breathless.
They were halted in their flirtation and kissing by the waiter arriving with their entrees. Kam glanced up at the interruption, his expression fierce. The waiter’s eyes widened in alarm. It seemed utterly impossible for Kam to even thinly disguise his wrath. The waiter served their food and escaped as quickly as he could.
“What?” he asked, his expression darkening even further when he saw Lin laughing under her breath.
She gave him an amused glance and patted his thigh. “Kam,” she attempted gently, her palm lingering on jean-covered, dense muscle. “You do realize you scare people half to death the way you glower constantly, don’t you? I get the impression people worry they might be knocked over by the force of your scowl.”
“What?”
“See?” She pointed to his face. “Right there. Hurricane-force glare.”
His gaze flickered down to where her fingers dug gently into his thigh. His expression went suddenly neutral, but she recognized that spark of male interest in his eyes.
“Does it scare you?” he murmured, the gruff quality of his voice making the little hairs on her nape stand on end.
“Sorry. No such luck.”
“Merde. What am I supposed to do now?” he murmured, giving her a swift grin, which she returned.
She just watched him for a few seconds when he began to cut his chicken. She resisted a strong urge to run her hands across his broad shoulders. He looked very masculine and extremely appealing in the soft cotton white shirt she’d bought him, the color highlighting his dark skin and hair. She’d been surprisingly aroused when he’d restrained her wrists earlier, making her a captive to the pleasure he evoked so masterfully. But at the moment, she wanted nothing more than to put her hands all over his strong, virile body.
“I thought you were hungry,” he said, turning toward her after he’d taken a swallow of water and noticed she wasn’t eating.
She leaned forward abruptly and pressed her mouth to his. She’d never once in her entire life kissed a man in a restaurant. And this was no peck on the cheek. She shaped and molded his lips with her own, enjoying the firm succulence of them. She moaned softly into his mouth when he raised a hand and clutched her head at the same moment he sunk his tongue between her lips, claiming her completely. Yes. This is the response she’d been coaxing from him. So bold. So possessive. So Kam-like.
His mouth was still cold from the ice water he’d just drunk. She sought his heat just beneath the chilled veneer. He penetrated her with his tongue—back and forth, back and forth, a slow, suggestive slide. She felt his languorous, sexy kiss all the way to her core. Desire stabbed at her, the strength of it shocking her. She resisted a sudden, strong urge to touch herself to dull that sharp ache. No sooner did she have the inappropriate thought than Kam’s hand was there, doing what she’d thought of doing to herself.
Doing it better.
Chapter Nine
I like you in jeans,” he said next to her lips as he rubbed her outer sex in an eye-crossing manner and examined her through heavy eyelids. “They show off your long legs and tight ass. And this”—he added, his lips rubbing against hers so seductively, his gaze sinking to where he stimulated her with strong fingers—“sweet little pussy.”