Blind Reader Wanted

“I might have mentioned it,” I whispered. This close I could smell his skin. My stomach tightened.

He kissed me long and lingeringly, and I felt my blood pulsing in my veins, and my stomach clench tightly. In his arms my body began to shiver with desire. Just when I thought my whole soul would be laid bare to him, he raised his head and whispered, “Do you know I’m batshit crazy about your scent? It’s fucking driving me insane. Aren’t you wearing pants, or something?”

I giggled. “You don’t think I would be that naughty, do you?”

He rubbed his hands sensuously around my butt cheeks, then stopped and said, incredulously, “You little tease. You’re not wearing any, are you?”

“Nope.”

He groaned. “Fuck, how am I supposed to eat knowing you’ve gone commando? Did I just feel the garters of your stocking against my leg?”

“Obviously, since I’m planning on seducing you tonight.”

“The only one seducing anyone tonight, will be me. Guess what I’m going to do to you this fine night?”

My cheeks burned. “I don’t know. What?”

“I’m gonna open your legs and make full use of my free parking permit for hours and hours.”

“You are a wild and wicked man, Kit Carson,” I mock-scolded while grinning stupidly up at him. Nobody had ever wanted me like this. Despite the fact that Sawyer seemed to have developed some kind of creepy possessiveness all of a sudden, until now, nobody wanted the blind girl. I was more like the town mascot. A way for them to feel good about themselves. No matter how bad things got at least, thank God, they still had their sight. Not like poor Lara, living all alone in darkness.

“Do you want to come in?” I asked.

“Do I ever?” he said. Without letting go of my body, he walked me backwards and shut the door with his foot.

“Want a drink? Elaine brought a bottle of shine, and there’s still some left.”

“Nope. I want to see your studio.”

I was suddenly shy. “Oh! Uh … it might not be your thing.”

“I don’t have much time for art, but I do want to see what you’ve created. It’ll be like peeking into your head.”

I bit my bottom lip. “Okay, but you don’t have to pretend you like it or anything like that if you don’t. I’m all right with the fact that it might not be to your taste.”

“You’ll never catch me pretending anything,” he said softly, almost absently, while his finger lightly stroked my cheek.

I took a step back from him, and squaring my shoulders led the way.

“Jesus, that’s some dress you have on. Even the back view is giving me a hard on,” he growled behind me.

I laughed and kept walking as if I was sophisticated and had men say such risqué things to me all the time, but there was more sway to my hips than there was before. It was quite amazing how quickly I had become such a sexual creature after a lifetime of being completely sexless.

At the door to my studio, I hesitated.

“I’m gonna have to see some day,” he whispered close to my ear.

I turned the knob and entered, knowing the first thing he would see would be Ella, my mermaid. No one, not even Elaine, had laid an eye on her yet. She was the biggest project I’d ever attempted. I knew in my heart that she was the best thing I had ever done, but that made me nervous as hell that she might not be as good as I thought she was. “This is Ella. She’s not completely finished yet. The rock she is sitting on still needs to be polished and painted,” I said nervously.

“Where’s the light switch?” he asked.

“Oh, of course.” I whirled around, fumbled at the wall and switched the light on. I hadn’t used it in years, and hoped it still worked.

He gasped behind me. I stood very still, and listened to him walk towards my mermaid.

“My God, Lara, this is … it’s … just … superb. Wow, I never imagined something so magical … and the colors, how? Wow.”

I heard him walk around the sculpture, then stop, and turn towards me. “You saw this in your head?”

I shrugged. “Yeah.”

“But the colors? They match and blend. How did you?” He seemed amazed.

I shrugged. “That’s the way my mind thinks a mermaid should look.”

“It’s incredible, Lara,” he said sincerely. “I don’t know what I expected, but not this. I wouldn’t even have expected something so accomplished from someone with sight, but someone who lived in darkness. It’s pure genius.”

He walked up to me. His wonderful scent filled my nostrils as I buried my face in his neck. “Thank you,” I whispered.

“No, thank you.”

“For what?”

“For being so beautiful.”

“I’m not beautiful,” I said automatically.

“Shall I let you see what I am looking at?”

“Okay.”

“Elaine has painted your eyes so they look really big. Your cheeks are pink, and your mouth is the same color as the ripest, most delicious strawberry. It is slightly open as if it is begging for a kiss … or my cock.”

“Or food,” I said cheekily.

He laughed, a rich, deep sound. “Come on, little minx,” he said, putting his arm under my hand.

He helped me into my coat and buttoned me in. It was lovely to feel so protected and safe. I locked my door and we walked down the path together. It was cold and I was careful in my black boots. He put me in the truck, closed the door, and went around to the driver’s side.

Thirty-three

Lara

“Where are you taking me?” I asked.

“It’s in Charlottesville and it’s called Camel Hump Grille, but don’t let the name put you off.”

I laughed. “I’ve been to Charlottesville with Elaine, but I’ve never heard of a restaurant called Camel Hump Grille.”

“It’s small and it’s almost just a roadside shack, but they do one heck of a steak. Their dry aged cuts are almost a legend.”

Camel Hump Grille was more than an hour away. He parked and came around to let me out. As I turned to get down, Kit curled his hands around my waist and lifted me down to the blacktop. I took a deep breath. My stomach was full of fluttering butterflies. I put my palm against it.

He had gone very still. “What are you doing?” I asked.

“Just gawking at you.”

“I’m actually a bit nervous, Kit.”

“Don’t be. You look absolutely beautiful. If I can walk into that place with my charred face you can definitely go in looking like a million dollars.”

I smiled up at him. “Ma used to say I was pretty, but nobody’s called me beautiful before.”

“Then they’re all blind as bats,” he said firmly.

I laughed and hooked my hand through his. Kit made me happy. When I was with him I forgot I was considered disabled by the world around me. We walked into the restaurant together; his body warm against mine.

The restaurant was full of noise, people talking, laughing, cutlery, footsteps, children’s voices, music, and more. The smell of food mingled with that of perfume, deodorants and aftershaves. A woman greeted us cheerfully, took our coats, and showed us to our table.

It took a moment to realize the seating was banquette style. As I slid along the curving leather seat, I felt Kit’s muscular thigh slide flush against mine from the opposite side.

He ran his hand up the inside of my leg making my skin tingle. A waitress brought menus, but Kit said we had no need for them. We were there for Boone’s big ole steaks. He told the waitress he wanted his so rare he might as well go up to a cow and bite its butt. I heard the waitress’s pen scratching as she wrote down bloody and medium on her notepad. I ordered a glass of wine, and Kit got himself a cold beer. Then we talked. Unimportant things. He told me he was allergic to the smell of soy sauce and I told him I couldn’t eat spaghetti.

“Why?” he asked.