Blind Love

by Kishan Paul

  Gabe held on tight, rubbing her back. Through every ugly wail, he kept his lips pressed against her head, whispering things she couldn’t hear. When the heaves began, he didn’t loosen his grip or shush her. Instead, allowed them to happen. After completely drenching his tee with her sadness, Lauren was finally done.

  “Your shirt is soaked.”

  “It’ll dry.”

  She moved her hand to the hem of his wet tee and tucked it under the fabric, letting her fingers roam across his stomach. When he sucked in a breath, she kissed his chin. “I love touching you.”

  He chuckled. “I know the feeling.”

  Her palm inched higher, making a barrier between the wet fabric and his chest. “Thank you.”

  “For?”

  Lauren shook her head. “For saving my life. Being here.”

  He stiffened. “Today should have never happened.”

  She played with the now-damp patch of hair on his torso. “But it did, and we’re alive. It’s what matters, isn’t it?”

  Gabe didn’t respond. Instead, he held her close and continued to rub her back. She melted into him and let the even beats of his heart pull her in deeper.

  When he swallowed, the sound tickled her ears.

  “Do you remember anything about our run through the forest?” he asked.

  The pads of her fingers scraped across his chest as she considered her answer. “I do.”

  “What do you remember?”

  “You were sexy, sweaty and shirtless. By the way, if you need help taking this one off so it can dry, I’ll be happy to.”

  His body shook from his laugh. She moved her hand farther down to his waist until he pressed his palm against hers, stopping the descent.

  “For the record, I had a shirt on, and you’re really good at changing the subject. You know that?”

  She smiled at how husky his voice sounded and played with the little trail of hair below his navel.

  “Do you remember anything else?”

  “What, you being sexy wasn’t enough?”

  Gabe gently tugged her hand away and started to pull himself off the bed. “No, it isn’t.”

  She grabbed his arm. “Wait, don’t.” Lauren closed her eyes and pushed out the words. “I do. I remember telling you I loved you.”

  He didn’t move, and she couldn’t tell if he was even breathing.

  “A lot’s happened today. It’s made me more emotional than normal. What I said out there wasn’t typical for me.” The bed shifted as she rambled. He pulled her back onto his chest and rested his chin atop her head. “Things like that aren’t easy for me to admit because they leave me all sorts of vulnerable,” she mumbled into his shirt.

  Gabe stayed silent, his fingers digging into her arm. Lauren’s nerves took over. She had spilled her heart out, and, yes, he was holding her, but not uttering a word.

  When he filled his lungs with air, her body rose along with his. Slowly, he blew it out. “Say it,” he whispered.

  Her muscles relaxed immediately. She reached up and touched his face, letting her fingers run across his lips. “I love you, Gabriel Briggs.”

  His lips stretched into a wide grin. While she traced his mouth with the pads of her fingers, it seemed to grow even bigger.

  She waited for him to tell her the same. “Well?”

  He kissed her hand, which currently rubbed against his cheek. “Well, what?”

  She narrowed her eyes. “I confessed my love to you. No response?”

  “Thank you?”

  Lauren laughed, the movement again causing her lips to burn. “Ow.” She covered her mouth. “You’re a jerk.”

  He tucked her hair behind her ear and returned his hand to her naked back. “When?”

  She tilted her head. “When what?”

  “When did you fall in love with me?”

  Lauren rolled her eyes. “First, tell me when did you become a sap?”

  He chuckled and kissed the top of her head for the hundredth time. “The day I met you.”

  Her face flushed all sorts of embarrassed, and again her lips stung when she tried to smile. “The night you brought over Chinese food and we talked. Before we ever, ahem, you know.”

  His fingers moved from her spine and slowly worked their way up, brushing lightly against the edge of her breast. Lauren closed her eyes as heat shot to her core.

  “I remember, and the multiple ahems were my favorite part.”

  She shuddered when his hand inched farther, brushing against her nipple.

  “That’s because you only think with your dangly parts,” she said.

  “Trust me, my parts are rarely dangly when you’re around.”

  Voices grew louder outside the room. He pulled his arm out from under her gown and rested it on her waist.

  When she tried to move away, he tightened his grip. “Not letting you go, no matter who comes in.”

  Once the chatter moved farther down the hall, he planted his lips on her forehead. “Now, what did I do before we ahem’ed that made you fall in love with me?”

  She closed her eyes. “Sitting there on the couch, you put your arms around me.”

  As soon as she said the words, he squeezed her closer.

  Lauren smiled and continued. “It felt, safe, like right now. I didn’t want you to let me go.”

  Gabe planted soft pecks behind her ear. “Good, because I don’t want you to go.”

  She tilted her neck as his lips explored the area. “Why?”

  “Because I love you.” His breath warmed her skin and his words crumbled the last of her fears away.

  Her eyes filled. “When?”

  He chuckled. “So I’m not the only sappy one, huh?”

  She rested her cheek against his and didn’t answer.

  “The first time you came knocking at my door. When I opened it and saw you standing there, arms crossed, glaring at me.”

  Lauren cringed at the memory. “I didn’t glare at you.”

  “Sorry, eyed me with intent to kill. Don’t get me wrong, you were smiling, but you looked like you’d have beat my head in with a hammer if you had the chance.”

  She giggled. “Ow. Stop making me laugh.”

  For a long while, neither one spoke. His fingers found their way back inside her gown and returned to caressing her spine.

  “So what now?” she asked.

  “Stay right here and keep touching you. I’m pretty happy doing that.”

  “By the end of the summer, you’ll be heading back to Texas.” Lauren pushed out the rest of the words. “When you do, I won’t ask you to stay.”

  His hand froze. “Why?”

  “Because this is about Evan and what’s best for him.”

  Gabe’s hold on her tightened.

  “But it’s okay. It’s the right thing to do, and I’ll be okay when you leave.”

  He tugged a lock of her hair. “I know you will. I’m the one who won’t be.”

  Lauren grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze, encouraging him to continue speaking.

  “I’ve spent most of my life doing what’s best for everyone else, and not what I want. Maybe it’s selfish, but I want to stay here with you for as long as you’ll have me. Anyway, my being in Denver with you is what’s best for Evan too.”

  When his teeth tugged at her ear, she hesitated, trying to figure out how to tell him the rest. “Gabe, there’s something else.”

  “Mmhmm,” he mumbled and continued to nip at her.

  “My vision has gotten worse.”

  His lips hovered over her skin. “Because of today?”

  “One eye a few days ago, and today the other. I can still see, but it’s a smaller visual field.”

  “Is it why you were running off to Hawaii?”

  She nodded.
r />   “What did you think would happen if I knew?” he whispered.

  Lauren shrugged. “I don’t know. The idea of leaving seemed like the best way to handle it. Things are only going to get harder for me and for anyone in my life.” Her thoughts drifted to her ex-husband and his recent confession of why he cheated on her. “Ben said I pushed him away because of it.”

  He pulled her close. “First of all, let’s make something real clear. I’m not Ben. Second, when you were a teenager and your vision first got bad, what did you do?”

  “I got mad, cried and then got mad again.”

  “Makes sense. And after all that?”

  “I’m not sure what you’re asking.”

  “After you were done being upset, you went back to high school, graduated, got married and went to college. It might have slowed you down, but it didn’t stop you from doing the things you needed to do.”

  “It hurt me in other ways.”

  “Good point. But that’s life, isn’t it? Things are going to hurt you one way or another. When your vision goes, you’ll get upset and after a while you’ll get back up and do the amazing things you always do.”

  She gazed across the room. “How can you be so sure?”

  He moved her hair and went back to kissing her neck. “I just am.”

  “Are you going to stay in Denver?”

  “Are you asking me to stay?”

  “I’m a proud woman.”

  Gabe laughed and continued peppering her skin with his kisses.

  Her eyes shuttered, and she swallowed her pride. “I don’t want you to go.”

  She felt his lips stretch into a smile against her skin. “That wasn’t so hard, was it?”

  “Well, you haven’t said yes,” she said.

  “Good point. How’s this? There’s no way in hell I’m going anywhere without you.”

  Epilogue

  Lauren tried to keep the gun steady, but her hands shook too hard. Gabe came up behind her and wrapped his fingers around her wrists, steadying the weapon. With their cheeks pressed together, he whispered. “The gun is a part of you. It senses what you feel.”

  She rolled her eyes at his cheesy line. He bent her index finger around the trigger, and she shuddered. “Then it knows I’m going to pee in my pants.”

  When he laughed, she closed her eyes and savored the way his chest rumbled against her back. One year together, and his effect on her hadn’t changed.

  He planted a kiss on the corner of her mouth. “There’s nothing to be scared of.”

  “Says the man who isn’t blind to the gun-wielding woman who is.”

  He tied a blindfold over her eyes. Fear brewed inside her as soon as everything turned black.

  “First of all, you’re not fully blind. Okay, well, you are now, but usually you’re not, and second, it’s a paintball gun. What’s the worst that can happen?”

  Images of damaged trees and cars popped into Lauren’s head. Not to mention the unsuspecting hikers who could be defaced. “Seriously? Do you want me to answer that?”

  “You have the sharpest senses of anyone I’ve met.”

  “Because you’ve never met a blind person before,” she snapped.

  Lauren was scared…a little, but she knew Gabe wouldn’t let her do anything too disastrous.

  Yes, he’d let her embarrass herself and stand back and laugh. The memory of him allowing her to walk into the men’s restroom while on their honeymoon to Maui a month ago popped into her head.

  Big dummy.

  But he always stepped in when the situation got a little touchy. Like when an over-friendly gentleman in the bathroom kindly offered his assistance.

  Hmm, maybe we need to define touchy.

  His hands moved lower and palmed her stomach. Yeah, definitely the good kind of touchy.

  “I want to help you realize how amazing your senses are.”

  “And so you are going to leave me blindfolded, in a forest, with a gun, and see if I can shoot you? Seriously, what’s wrong with you?”

  His body shook with laughter, making parts of her warm and tingly.

  She rubbed her hips into his and smiled when he sucked in a breath. “You know there are other dangerous things we could do instead.”

  He pressed her waist deeper into his arousal. “Trust me, Mrs. Briggs, we’ll do plenty of dangerous things afterward. Just seeing you with that weapon in your hands has me imagining you holding my gun.”

  Lauren rolled her eyes. “Gun, stick shift, Batmobile…let’s say it together, shall we? It’s called a penis.”

  Gabe nipped at her ear. “All I know is my penis likes parking in your Batcave.”

  Her core sizzled. She turned her head and kissed him long, deep and hard. “Tell me again, why are we wasting our time out here in the woods instead of in the cabin?”

  She knew the answer but hoped she might be able to change his mind. Ever since her kidnapping over a year ago, she avoided forests and nature walks like the plague.

  Gabe repositioned her body and the gun as he answered her question. “Because if you realize how good your senses are, you might stop being scared of the woods. Aaaand…I want to see if I can sneak up on you. If I’ve still got my skills.”

  Lauren’s jaw dropped. “That’s what this is about? You want to outsmart the blind lady?”

  When Gabe let go of her, Lauren turned around to reach for him but grabbed only air. The bastard had disappeared. “You can’t be serious?”

  He didn’t respond. “I know what you’re doing,” she hollered. “You’re taking advantage of my disability.”

  Her heart pounded faster with every second she waited for him to answer. Memories of weaving around trees while Raymond West pursued her flashed through her head. Lauren lowered the gun and wiped the bead of sweat forming on her lip.

  Gabe overestimated her; she wasn’t ready for this yet.

  Right when she considered calling for him, the faint scent of pine and musk filled her nostrils. Her muscles instantly eased.

  Strong arms wrapped around her from behind. His lips pressed against her cheek. “Remember, you’re the most amazing person I know. You can do this.”

  Seconds later, he disappeared again. “And for the record, I married a blind woman because she’s hot and because I never know what’s going to come out of her smart-ass mouth.”

  Her chest warmed while she grinned. How did he always know when she needed him?

  In the distance, a dog barked incessantly. “You’re scaring Willy Wonka.”

  “Nothing should ever be named Willy. His name is Will and I checked on them. He’s playing cops and robbers with Evan and your parents.”

  She smiled at the image of the now very verbal eight-year-old bossing her father around while her mother most probably stood under a tree complaining about the heat and the possibilities of skin cancer.

  “Now position your gun and stop wasting time.”

  She rolled her eyes at his bossiness.

  Twigs crunched and soon his cologne faded into nothingness.

  “Gabe, this isn’t funny. You can’t marry blind women just to use them for training practice.”

  Somewhere to her right, he chuckled.

  Then silence.

  Not a bird tweeted or bug chirped. Again, her stomach twisted and fear began to crawl up her throat. Lauren swallowed the emotion down. She was safe. Gabe would never let anything bad happen to her. This was about trust. Trusting herself and him.

  Her finger rested against the gun’s trigger and she pointed it straight ahead. With the tips of her boot-clad feet, she felt against the earth for even ground as she moved. Slowly, she took a step, and soon another.

  She reached out with one hand to make sure nothing like a tree limb, a bear or a snake hung around waiting for her.

  This was a
dumb idea.

  Why did I let him talk me into this?

  Something thick grazed against her elbow. When she turned to inspect, she ran smack into a tree.

  After cursing the timber and her husband, she walked around it and continued on.

  “When I find you, I’m going to empty every one of these paint pellets into your pitiful body. You hear me? Oh, and in case you’re wondering, the Batcave is closed indefinitely.”

  Although he didn’t respond, she knew there was currently a big grin plastered on his face. They both knew she wasn’t capable of following through on the last part of that particular threat.

  A twig broke behind her. She twisted around and pressed against the trigger. The pellet popped out of her gun with such force she fell back onto her rear. But not before it smacked into something solid. Although Gabe was pretty much all muscle, the thing it pelted sounded dense, like another tree.

  Less nervous than a few minutes ago, Lauren got to her feet and aimed the gun, continuing on.

  The wind shifted and something snapped behind her as she took in a long, steadying breath of air.

  Although covered behind the blindfold, her eyes widened. She fought the smile tugging at her lips. After a quick turn to her left, she planted her feet and emptied the rest of her pellets in the direction of the sound and smell. At least a couple should hit the target.

  “Oh, for crying out loud!” he yelled.

  Bull’s-eye!

  Retinitis Pigmentosa and How You Can Help

  Although Lauren is a fictional character, her struggles with retinitis pigmentosa (RP) are very real for an estimated 100,000 Americans. RP is an inherited disease in which the retinas degenerate. Most individuals with RP are legally blind by the age of 40 and at this point there is no known cure. If you would like to learn more about RP and how you can help, log on to www.blindness.org/retinitis-pigmentosa and www.facebook.com/RetinitisPigmentosa. Together let’s see if we can help find a cure for RP.

  About the Author

  From daring escapes by tough women to chivalrous men swooping in to save the day, the creativity switch to Kishan Paul’s brain is always in the “on” position. If daydreaming stories were a college course, Kish would have graduated with honors.