Since I Saw You (Because You Are Mine #4)(18)

“It was just a suggestion on my part, that’s all. Ian is on more familiar terms with the Gersbachs,” she said evenly.

Kam slouched back in the chair. “If you aren’t up for doing it, that’s fine by me. The whole thing is a joke, so it hardly matters to me who’s in on the laugh.”

Her head swung around at that. “Who is going to be laughing? And at what?”

“Presumably the Gersbachs at my rustic ways, isn’t that what you and Ian are worried about?” he replied without pause. “But don’t worry, I’m sure I’ll get a good laugh out of the whole thing as well.”

“Do you often think people are laughing at you?” she asked with quiet sarcasm. “That’s called paranoia, Kam. No one is laughing at you, or is going to be laughing at you. You think far too much of yourself if you think you affect other people so much.”

She started back slightly when he laughed. Kam’s burst of amusement faded and was replaced by guilt when he saw how stunned Lin looked by his impulsive reaction. He knew it’d been rude, but her depiction of him had given him a sudden bird’s-eye view of himself—a bitter, paranoid loner who was more comfortable with his dog than with most people. The vision had struck him as apt, sad, and strangely comical as well.

“I get it,” Lin said, recovering from his harsh bark of laughter and turning away from him dismissively. “It’s easy to stand on the sidelines and jeer.”

Irritation spiked through him. A movement broke his focus on Lin, briefly fracturing his attention. Ian sat behind his desk, a very untypical expression of rapt bemusement on his face as he watched the two of them.

“If you don’t think I’m going to be a source of amusement in all these meetings you have planned, why are you backing out of them?” Kam demanded of Lin.

“I don’t appreciate your disdain for the proceedings,” she said, picking at an invisible piece of lint on her dress and sweeping it away. “You’re determined to ruin the whole thing without even really trying. It’s an insult to all the preparation I’ve done.”

“At least I was willing to show up tonight. More than you can say.”

“So you actually want me there?” she demanded, giving him a sideways glare.

“I figure you’re the best bet I have.”

Her nostrils flared slightly as they faced off in the silence.

“I couldn’t have said it better myself,” Ian said. Both Lin and he turned to look at him.

“Yeah. I’m still here,” Ian said drolly under his breath.

“Fine,” Lin said abruptly, as if Ian had never interrupted. Kam blinked when she practically hurled herself out of the chair, her actions rapid yet graceful, controlled but somehow aggressive as well. Ian seemed as cowed into silence as Kam was as they both watched her grab a pad of paper and pen off Ian’s desk and lean over to write in a slashing scrawl. Kam saw that the sexy shirtdress was slightly longer in the back than the front, but still gave him a tantalizing view of slender calves. In her bent-over position, he could see the outline of her shapely, taut ass through draping fabric. It twitched ever so slightly as she wrote.

She ripped the piece of paper off the pad with a vicious swipe.

“Meet me at this address at noon. Bring your credit card,” she said, handing Kam the slip of paper. She turned to Ian and flipped her hand open in a succinct demand. “If you’re finished with the Tyake numbers, I need them back.”

Ian handed her the file wordlessly. They both watched Lin sweep out of the office.

“I’ve never seen her this way,” Ian said a moment after his office door shut briskly behind Lin. He stared at Kam looking a little sideswiped. “What in the world did you say to her when you two met?”

“Nothing,” Kam said laconically as he stood. He noticed Ian’s skeptical glance. “I just told her I thought she took her job way too seriously.”

“You told Lin Soong that?”

“Yeah,” Kam muttered under his breath as he walked over to study the view. “I didn’t realize at the time it was a dead-on poke at the hornet’s nest.”

Chapter Four

She circled the tailor’s podium like a sleek cat on the prowl, examining every detail of the tailor and his assistant’s work, occasionally calling out adjustments she wanted.

“No, the sleeve is too short,” Lin said.

Kam glowered at her display of cool efficiency in the mirror, but she was impervious. He felt very much like an elephant in the center ring as the tailors poked and prodded at him. He’d purposefully goaded Lin into guiding him through the next few weeks. He’d realized too late she’d issued a return challenge when he saw that the address she’d given him was a high-end men’s haberdasher. Knowing what a big deal he’d made in Ian’s office, it was too late to back down. Now that he stood here with one man kneeling before him and another poking at his arm and back, however, he wished he’d turned tail and run while he had the chance.

The assistant’s hand brushed against his balls as he measured his inseam.

“Merde,” Kam muttered heatedly. The young tailor’s assistant’s hand jerked back guiltily. “Watch where you put that tape measure!”

“I’m sorry, sir.”

The boy looked too anxious to continue. Kam glanced up in the mirror and noticed the amusement in Lin’s expression.