by Ju Ephraime
Twelve
Lisa returned carrying a fresh pot of coffee, and she proceeded to refill his cup without asking his preference. She knew he took his coffee black, no sugar. She poured herself a cup, which she took light and sweet. She was always teased on her preference for milk and coffee rather than coffee and milk, which is why she usually only drank a cup or two a day at breakfast. She was certainly not a coffee lover, not like Damien and Jake.
Bracing herself on the edge of the table, she’d turned to ask Damien if he wanted to work here or if he would be going to his office when she caught him staring at her intently. Had she not known he did not have the use of his sight, she would have thought he was able to see her. She quickly straightened up before it occurred to her he could not see what she was doing.
As she moved, his eyes followed the movement of the cup to her lips. It was the strangest feeling; she could have sworn he was able to see her because he even followed her as she placed the cup on the table.
“Take a seat, Lisa.”
A command rather than an invitation, but she found herself obeying. Picking up her cup, she took the seat farthest away from him. He immediately commented on this.
“You don’t have to sit so far away. The last time I checked what I have isn’t contagious.”
“How do you know how far away from you I am, Damien?” she asked curiously.
“So long as you are in the same space with me, Lisa, I know where you are. I don’t even have to try or work at it. It’s as natural as breathing.” He was thankful she had no idea how literal that statement was.
Lisa felt a hot jolt in the vicinity of her heart, which spread to her toes. Not for the first time, Lisa thought this man was lethal. She could imagine him before his accident. He must have been a force to reckon with. He exuded sex without even trying. His was an unvarnished masculinity with his intense hot stare that belied the fact that his was a sightless stare. The heat was still there, whether he knew it or not.
“Besides working in the hospital and the one private client, what else have you done? Tell me about yourself, Lisa.”
“What’s there to tell? I graduated high school and went straight from there into nursing school. I did my four-year stint and secured my first job after graduation at the local hospital. I’m somewhat of a loner and found I enjoyed working one-on-one with my patients. So far, you are only my second.”
“Why did you decide to go into nursing?” he asked.
“It was sort of a natural progression for me. My parents are both doctors. My dad is a neurosurgeon, and my mom is an internist. I did not want to go that route, but I still enjoyed care giving. So, voilà, your dedicated RN.”
“Do you have any siblings or are you an only child like I am?”
“I’m the middle child for my parents. I’ve an older brother and a younger sister. My brother moved to Hawaii after his stint in the military, and my sister is trying her hand at acting. She lives in California. Don’t ask me where. She moves around quite a bit. Last I heard, she was contemplating moving back to the East Coast by way of New York.”
“Do you get together for the holidays?” he asked.
“We do. My mother is part French and part Spanish. She is a big one for the family get-together. My dad, like you, is an only child, so he humors my mom and does the big get-together to please her.”
“I used to envy my friends who always seemed to have this brother, cousin, or relative around for the holidays. It was always only my parents and me.”
“Oh, that must have been lonely. I love my family, and getting together for the holidays gives me an opportunity to catch up on anything new happening with them. My brother recently got engaged to his childhood sweetheart. The news made my parents very happy. They are looking forward to grandchildren.”
“So, do you enjoy being a nurse, really enjoy it? Not just because it’s a job?” he asked her again.
“I really enjoy being a nurse. Nursing in any form is a joy for me.”
“What about your personal life? Is there someone special waiting for you back home? Being away from home for such long stretches, it must be difficult for you to maintain a relationship,” he asked.
She didn’t want to appear naïve and inexperienced, so she played it off with a laugh. “At the moment, I’m free, single, and disengaged.”
No sooner had the words left her mouth than she felt silly. Damien would think she was throwing herself at him.
For a moment, his lids dropped low, hiding his expressive eyes from her view, and she could have sworn he muttered under his breath something that sounded like, “Great!”
But it was probably just her imagination playing tricks on her again.
“What about you?” she asked him, curious to hear his answer. In the time she had been working for him, she had not seen any female visit him. But it was better to be safe than sorry.
***
Shifting in his seat, he prayed that the arousal he was trying hard to conceal would deflate before she became aware of it. He kept his voice neutral and completely groan-free as he searched around for a suitable answer to her question without appearing too obvious.
“You have not seen any one of the female gender beating a trail to my door, have you? If you have, no one had informed me. Also, I don’t have to tell you of all people that most women don’t want to be saddled with a handicapped man.”
“You are not handicapped, Damien, far from it. I see nothing about you that’s handicapped.”
“You should have seen me a couple years ago. I’m sure you’d be singing a different tune,” he replied.
“I very much doubt it,” she answered.
“Over the last couple of years, I have been learning to do some things for myself, but believe me when I tell you, it wasn’t easy…it was not a pretty sight. But I made a promise to myself that I would not look back, and I don’t intend to start now.”
“Good! That’s a great attitude to have,” she informed him. “So how many girlfriends did you have at the time of your accident, and where are they now?”
“I did not have girlfriends, Lisa. I had only one serious relationship, but within a couple months after my accident, I found out all that glitters is not gold.”
“What happened?”
“She moved on to bigger and better things. To hear her tell it, I’d be a weight around her dainty neck, and she didn’t feel like carrying it around. She discarded me like garbage. That forced me to work hard at not letting the loss of my sight make me too dependent, even if it killed me.”
“Well, apparently, it didn’t kill you because here you are, none the worse for wear,” she replied.
“I’ll take your word for it,” he said. “Come, let’s sojourn to the office. I have some phone calls to make, and you don’t want Jake coming in here looking for us,” he said, smiling at her.
***
As she moved towards him, he swung his chair around and waited until she had gone ahead before moving to follow her. She loved seeing the play of muscles on his arms as he moved the chair. She knew the chair was specially constructed, which made it heavier than most wheelchairs, but he moved it with ease. She waited until he came abreast with her, and then they made their way slowly out of the room and down the corridor to the office.
***
Jake was in his office with the door closed. Damien wheeled himself into his own office. She was preparing to leave him to make his phone calls, but he took her hand, stopping her from leaving. He used one hand to move his chair behind his desk as the door closed behind them. He did this all the while his thumb was stroking the center of her hand. The casual sensuality of his touch sent a deep, subtle quiver through her. She felt an equal measure of pleasure and hopelessness, acknowledging that for a woman who had decided not to get involved in anything other than a professional relationship, she had made a hell of a lot of wrong choices lately.
It was impossible for Lisa to deny that she was developing strong feelings for D
amien. She could love him if she let it happen, deeply, passionately, disastrously. It was just the sort of relationship she had once desperately promised herself to avoid. If she were not careful, she would find herself changing careers, and that she did not want to have to do. But she was the first one to acknowledge there was too much sexual tension between her and Damien for them to continue without one or both succumbing to it.
She tried to remove her hand from his, and he tightened his grip before releasing her, almost reluctantly it seemed.
“I’ll leave you to your phone call,” she informed him. “I have to meet with Jake to review the ledgers.”
“I resent the time you have to spend with Jake. Isn’t that silly? I just can’t help feeling as if something that should be wholly mine is being shared. Does that make sense to you?” he asked.
“I’ll admit it does to a certain extent because I don’t know how I’d feel if someone began working with you in my stead. I’d definitely feel left out and bereft,” she admitted.
“That makes me feel a little better. I guess I’ll see you when it’s time for dinner. I’ll be having it in here today,” he told her.
“Do you have a preference for dinner today? Cook said its meatloaf or corn salad with grilled chicken.”
“I’ll have a bit of both. Cook knows I love her meatloaf and her corn salad is my next favorite. So yes, I’ll have a bit of both.”
“Very good,” Lisa answered, biting her lower lip to smother a chuckle.
“What’s so funny?” he wanted to know.
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You don’t have to. I could tell by the sound that you made.”
Lisa was not aware she had made any sound. She would have to be more careful around Damien because he appeared to be very perceptive. He was in tune to her every action. In times like these, she found it hard to accept that he was sightless.
Thirteen
Damien spent the better part of the afternoon trying to locate a company to install a sensor system in the house. He wanted to have this done before Jake left. He would make the place as efficient as possible. He didn’t want to appear incapable when he would have only Lisa to rely on for help. A part of him resented his inability, and a part of him was grateful he had her. He had come to rely on her in a way that he had not done with Jake. He was already missing her, and she had only been out of his presence for a couple of hours. He found himself counting how many more hours before he got to inhale her rich scent of violet.
When he finally heard the clank of the dishes as they were being wheeled toward his office, his jeans became uncomfortable. He hurriedly tried to adjust himself before the door opened to admit Lisa. Damn, he thought. It’s been way too long if just the scent of a woman can make me hard.
But there was something about being close to Lisa that was as addictive as any drug. He let out a silent breath and shifted on the seat. He dropped a pile of papers onto his lap, trying in vain to appear nonchalant.
When she spoke, her voice was husky. “I have to move some of your papers to make room for your tray. What would you like to drink? Beer or wine?”
He laughed. “I’ll have a beer. I feel the need for something stronger, but I’ll settle for a beer. Are you going to have dinner with me?”
“There really isn’t enough room on the desk unless I remove everything.”
“Please, humor me,” he replied.
“Okay, but I’ll have to replace everything where I found them,” she told him.
“Don’t worry about that now. I’ll tell you where to put everything when we are done,” he said.
“You know the location of everything on your desk?” she asked.
“I have to,” he answered. “How else would I find everything I needed without having to call you or Jake?”
Damien took the beer she handed him and waited as she busied herself with setting the places for their meal. Suddenly his office felt very small, intimate. The papers over his hard-on must have shifted because he heard her breath hitch, and a dish slipped from her hands.
Damien’s hand snaked across the desk and grabbed her wrist. “You okay? Burn yourself?”
“No, I’m okay. Just a bit clumsy,” she answered
“You’re never clumsy, Lisa.”
They were both silent as he took a sip of the beer, content just to listen to her breathing unsteadily. It made him feel good to know she was affected as he was by the closeness of the small office and the sexual tension, which had thickened the air.
“I assume you’re going to start off with your salad,” she said, as she placed the bowl of salad in front of him.
“What are you having?” he asked her.
“I’m having the meatloaf, but I’ll wait until you get to yours before I start on mine,” she told him.
“So you’re just going to sit and watch me eat? I think not,” he said. “Come, have some of my salad. If I know Cook, it’s probably enough for three.”
“Okay, I’ll have a small serving. I have to leave room for my meatloaf. I love Cook’s meatloaf. The balance of carrots and other ingredients is just right. I usually make a pig of myself on her meatloaf,” she said.
“I can’t imagine you making a pig of yourself, Lisa. You appear so in control.”
“That’s just a front. You have no idea.”
“I don’t. You should lower the front sometimes to give me a glimpse of the woman behind the front.”
“Be careful what you ask for. You might not like it when you get it.”
“Let me be the judge of that.”
“Okay, don’t say I didn’t warn you,” she said.
***
Staring at him, Lisa saw the glint of laughter deep in his eyes. “You’re jerking my chain,” she said.
“No more than you’re jerking mine.”
“You don’t believe I have it in me to go wild and hang the consequence, do you?” she asked.
“No,” he said gently, “I don’t.”
Lisa was too worked up to sort through the entire range of emotions inside her. There was fear, alarm, even a touch of amusement. But none of that was responsible for the vibrant, shivery heat that had begun to pump through her entire body. The sensation collected between her legs and made her awareness of him unbearable. She wanted him, right then, with a stomach-lifting, heart-pounding, dizzying need that left her breathless.
***
Damien moved from behind the desk. To hell with the fact that she could see the state he was presently in. He braced himself on the desk, half enclosing Lisa in an embrace without actually touching her. “Tell me about what I have to look forward to. Tell me about your wild side.”
He tried and failed not to breathe her in. He realized on a primal level why many cultures and, in particular, the wild primal creatures identified their mate by scent. He felt almost primal in the way he was breathing her in. God, the way his body responded to her was like nothing he’d ever felt before.
“The more I get to know you, Lisa, the more I find to admire. It’s like peeling away layers of an onion. Speaking of which, I believe we should eat this wonderful food that Cook prepared for us before it gets ruined.”
“I’m ready,” she informed him.
She tried very hard to resist the temptation of checking on the fit of his jeans, but it was a losing battle. In the end, she sneaked a peak. She was heartened to see he was still in full-battle mode.
Take your mind out of the gutter, she admonished herself.
It’s so hard.
I know, she muttered to herself, before realizing that she’d spoken out loud.
“Are you carrying on a conversation with yourself, Lisa?” he asked.
“Sorry, I tend to do that sometimes,” she replied.
***
He reached for her hand on the desk. He always marveled at how he knew exactly where her hand was on the table. There was no fumbling on his part. Without stopping to think, he allowed his hand to travel up her
arm. Smooth. Her skin felt like silk. He couldn’t help imaging her skin naked against his. Boy, his cock began to throb. If he didn’t stop, he was afraid he’d embarrass himself with that thought. He withdrew his hand, wrapping it around the bottle instead. That proved to be an equally bad idea; his over-active imagination would not quit.
***
As she felt him remove his hand from her arm, Lisa looked down at his hand. He had beautiful hands, the nails square and neat and the fingers thick and long. She didn’t know why that had come to her mind. Thick and long. He was clasping and releasing his fingers, as if around some imaginary object. He was staring straight at her, as if he was looking at her observing him. He had such beautiful eyes with the longest lashes. The lids were heavy, almost hiding his gorgeous green eyes from her. A woman could drown in those eyes. And indeed, she was drowning. She could not stop looking at him, breathing him in. She was so taken in that she didn’t realize her breathing had accelerated until he asked her.
“What’s the matter, Lisa? Are you in distress?”
“No, why do you ask?”
“Your breathing had changed, and you made a sighing sound, so of course, I was concerned,” he replied.
She kept forgetting how acute his hearing was. She would have to be more careful next time. Something had to be done about this attraction between them. It was driving her crazy. She did not know how long she could stand it. She was on the verge of begging him to take her---take her now! She had to introduce a neutral topic into this conversation, if she did not want to make a fool of herself.