Caught Up In You

by Jules Bennett

  “I don’t say that to make you uncomfortable,” he went on, purposely keeping his tone soft. “Surely you’re used to men complimenting you.”

  She picked back up her even motions. “I’ve been complimented, yes, but the words sound different coming from you.”

  He didn’t comment. What could be said? She was stunning, she was breathtaking, and he wanted so much from her it scared the hell out of him. Mostly he was terrified because he couldn’t pinpoint exactly what it was he wanted from her. Well, other than the obvious because he was a guy. But there was so much more and he was going to have to come to grips with that fact sooner rather than later or he’d drive himself insane.

  “I was engaged.” Her hands moved up to his shoulders. “Well, I was almost engaged. In the eyes of my parents and Eric, I was taken.”

  Finally she was opening up. Relief slid through Braxton, but he wasn’t sure if he should comment or let the silence calm her enough to keep going.

  “I’m just not ready to settle down,” she went on. “And I definitely don’t want someone my parents think is perfect simply for the fact he’s the son they never had and he can take care of me.”

  Braxton laughed. “I’ve known you a week. Want me to call and tell them you can take care of yourself?”

  She stared at him for a moment before her smile spread across her face. “Thank you. You get it. I was the perfect daughter for so long, then with the accident and ultimately losing my sight, they only see me as handicapped now. It’s a struggle because I’m still me. I’m still the same person I was when I could see, only now I’m hurt. I hate hurting and I hate that I’ve let myself feel this way.”

  Braxton jerked sideways, cringing at the sudden movement that caused her hand to fall away. He wanted to fix these emotions, now. Every bit of hurt she had, every single insecurity, he wanted to wipe them out and wrap her in a shield of protection.

  “Handicapped? Do you see yourself that way?”

  She perched her hands on the edge of the cushion, right next to his side. “I don’t know,” she told him, her tone a bit defeated. “It’s just . . . never mind. No reason to dredge this topic up. It is what it is. I’ve learned people will think and say what they want. Not all of it is kind, but I can’t control that. It’s been nearly three years, but it still seems like yesterday and I wonder if I’ll ever stop adjusting to this new life.”

  She had so many doubts, so many insecurities that she tried to keep hidden. And from the veiled conversations about her parents, he knew she had little to no support from them. Braxton wanted five minutes with her parents. He wanted to tell them what an amazing daughter they had, how loyal and loving and perfect she was regardless of her vision.

  On a sigh, she moved her hands to her lap and tipped her head to the side. “How’s your back and shoulder feeling now?”

  Slowly he eased into a sitting position, surprised how he wasn’t groaning or praying for strength. He rolled his shoulders and expected that familiar pain to radiate down his back, but it didn’t.

  “I’m still sore, but that intense pain isn’t there anymore.” He continued to move with caution, but he was so damn glad to be moving this well at all, he couldn’t stop working out those sore muscles. “How the hell did you do that?”

  Cora felt for the bottles at her side and placed them back in her bag. “It’s what I was trained for.”

  “You were also trained as an accountant,” he reminded her.

  “Don’t remind me. I get bored just thinking of how my life could be right now.”

  Braxton reached for her busy hands and took the bottles from her, setting them on the floor by her side. “I know my opinion doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things, but I want you to know how amazed I am by you. Every single day you show me something new about the world you live in.”

  A world he was sinking deeper into.

  “I’m sorry you’re hurting,” he told her, tipping her chin up when she tried to hide her face. “I’m sorry people in your life don’t see the special person you are. Tell me you don’t believe that you are flawed. Please, tell me you know how valuable you are to everyone whose life you enter.”

  Cora opened her mouth, then closed it and shook her head. Heidi had curled up next to Cora, but as soon as Cora shifted her body, the dog immediately jumped to her feet. Cora patted her head, calming down the obedient dog, who went back to a curled-up position by the sofa.

  “I don’t want to talk about this,” she told him, feeling around her for the bottles and quickly shoving them back in her bag.

  Braxton glanced at the clock, shocked to see an hour had passed. Dark clouds gathered outside, making the evening seem darker than what it really should be at this time of day. He didn’t know what Cora’s plans were now that she was done, but he wasn’t in any hurry to see her go and he definitely wasn’t letting her out of here while all this turmoil surrounded them.

  Leaving her to battle her issues alone wasn’t an option. She’d come here to help him, he damn well would see that she was comforted, too. Her comfort would just be of the emotional variety, but still just as important.

  Steady rain started beating against the windows on the side of the house. Braxton loved this lazy type of weather and he had a feeling Cora never took time to appreciate the simple things in life. Whatever she came from was a world of rushed, fast-paced living and trying to fit inside a perfect box.

  Braxton wanted to be the one to obliterate that box.

  “Is Sophie coming back to get you?” he asked.

  Cora felt for the sofa and eased up onto the cushion beside him. “I told her I’d call her when we were done.”

  Perfect.

  “I’m going to take your hand and you’re going to trust me.”

  Tipping her head to the side, her hair falling over her shoulder, Cora pursed her lips. “Is that a request or demand?”

  Braxton stood, took her hands in his, and pulled her to her feet, ignoring the ache in his muscles. Her abrupt movement caught her off balance and she tumbled against his chest. The pain in his back was worth enduring. Having Cora plastered to his front definitely kept his mind off his injury.

  When she made no move to step back, he gripped her shoulders and slid his cheek over her silky hair for just a moment before he took her hand and cautiously moved toward the entryway.

  “What are we doing?” she asked as he led her from the room. “Do I need Heidi?”

  “You don’t need her, but she’s always welcome to come.”

  “You’re heading toward the door.” She reached down and took Heidi’s collar. “It’s raining.”

  He chuckled as he opened the front door. “It’s getting ready to storm and we’re going to enjoy it.”

  “By doing what?” she repeated.

  Braxton moved to the porch and steered her to the left. “By doing nothing.”

  Gently guiding her to the swing, Braxton held it still as she took a seat. He snapped his fingers until Heidi came to him and he gestured for her to have a seat at enough of a distance to avoid getting hit by the swaying swing.

  “There,” he sighed, taking a seat beside her. “We’ll listen to the rain.”

  “And then what?”

  Braxton shook his head and laughed. “There’s no more. Damn, I thought I was a stickler for schedules.”

  “Maybe being on break has spoiled you and now your life is just one big open slot. Maybe you don’t know how to fill your time so you’re choosing to do nothing.”

  He reached over, slid his hand over hers, and squeezed. “Or maybe I’m choosing to do exactly what I want, which is more important than anything. Maybe I want to sit on my porch with a beautiful woman and watch the rain bounce off my rail.”

  Cora pulled her knee up onto the seat between them as she turned to face him. Her hand still in his, she offered a smile. “Tell me what you see.”

  She’d had the same request at the pond. He wanted to be able to show her the world through his eyes, a
world she’d never see again. And, he feared, a world no one cared to show her.

  He watched as the sidewalk in front of his house started to develop puddles. The slightest dips in the concrete soon became mini wading pools for birds. He loved a good, hard rain. Could sit on this porch swing for hours and just listen to it fall down, almost as if washing away the worries and cares of the world. These cooler evenings and nights were the most relaxing times. Winter in Georgia was actually rather nice. He never wanted to live where they had piles of snow and slick ice. He’d take the Southern temps any day.

  “The sky is darker than usual right now. Almost as if there’s just one, big gray cloud hovering over Haven.”

  He glanced around, trying to figure out exactly what to share with her. Everything around him he took for granted. Rain, flowers, grass, trees, cars. Every single thing he saw day in and day out was just mundane, but to her it was everything.

  “My sister planted some shrubbery along the edge of my porch,” he told her. “She claimed my bachelor pad needed some curb appeal and I let her go at it. I have no clue what the hell she called it, but it’s nice.”

  He stared at the white blossoms on the bushes, wondering if Chelsea would be proud of him for keeping it alive for another season.

  “Drops of rain are settling into the petals,” he added. “Almost like teardrops, I guess. They land, then they slide away.”

  Cora’s head dropped to his shoulder. “Keep talking,” she murmured. “Your words are pretty.”

  Braxton swallowed. He’d never been told his words were pretty. He’d never taken the time to think about pretty words before, but with Cora he found he wanted to. Whatever made her happy, made her smile, he wanted to be part of.

  “The drops are hitting the railing around the porch. They splatter and every now and then occasionally hit my arm.”

  “Close your eyes,” she told him.

  Tipping his head down toward hers, he asked, “Close them?”

  “Please.”

  Wondering what she had in mind, he closed his eyes. “All right. They’re closed.”

  “Now tell me what you see.”

  Shocked at her request, Braxton shook his head. “I can’t see.”

  Her hand squeezed in his. “You can. Just think about it.”

  Concentrating, Braxton tried to pull in anything from his other senses. The difficult exercise he was struggling with was her everyday life and he totally understood why she wanted him to do this. She was giving him a glimpse into her world. A glimpse he’d been wanting and the fact she was exposing herself in such a unique way humbled him. He would do this for her, and for himself.

  He inhaled and instantly caught something. “Sweet. I smell something sweet.”

  “It’s the flowers. What else?”

  “My skin feels damp, not just from where the droplets are hitting, but everywhere. We have more humidity than normal.”

  When she remained quiet, he reached further into his senses. How the hell did she do this? He just wanted to open his eyes and see. A simple task he took for granted. Sight was such a powerful sense, one she’d been robbed of. His admiration for her kept rising. But she was so much more than a blind woman. He admired her for her determination to reclaim her life, for her drive to keep going when giving up would be so easy. She captured the spirit of every single thing he didn’t know he was looking for.

  “The rain is picking up,” he went on. “It’s harder now than it was, but still steady.”

  A drop of moisture landed on his arm and it wasn’t from the rain. Braxton shifted in the swing, wrapping his arm around Cora as she nestled deeper into his side.

  “Why the tears?” he asked, reaching with his other hand to swipe away the dampness.

  “It’s nothing. Really. I just get emotional sometimes.”

  Stroking his thumb over her bare arm, he chuckled. “Honey, I haven’t known you very long, but I can say you’re not one to get emotional. You’re pretty strong and determined not to let your feelings show.”

  “Being strong is my only option.”

  Braxton didn’t like the underlying vulnerability in her tone, he didn’t like how defeated, how tired she sounded. He tipped up her chin and stared down into those violet eyes that he’d found so mesmerizing from day one. She pulled him in and had no clue she’d done so. Women flashed cleavage at him, licked their lips suggestively, batted their lashes and passed their number to him with promises in their eyes.

  But none of that packed the punch quite as intense as a look from Cora with unshed tears as she bared her soul.

  “Has anyone ever tried to see the world through your eyes in the past three years?” he asked.

  “You.”

  He stroked a finger over her wet cheek. Pushing her into humiliation wasn’t his goal, so he let the subject drop. Something much more important was happening here. Something beyond chemistry and even a little deeper than intimacy, but the label couldn’t be made. He’d never been in this territory before and he’d never wanted to get so deep with a woman. But here he was, in a playing field he knew nothing about with a woman who pushed away each time he took a step closer.

  But she wasn’t pushing now. She was actually leaning on him, literally and figuratively. He wanted her to smile, though. He needed to see her smile, to know he caused it because wherever she went in her mind just now wasn’t a happy place. When she was with him, he was going to demand happy.

  Damn it. When had he turned into the man who wanted to care again? When had he turned into the guy ready to put his feelings, possibly his heart, on the line again?

  Was he ready for that?

  Braxton sighed and shook off the thoughts. He couldn’t analyze anything right now, not when Cora was touching him. His mind went to her, but later, when he was alone, he could decipher what all of his mixed thoughts meant.

  “Take your shoes off,” he told her.

  She lifted her head from the crook of his arm. “What?”

  “You heard me.” He leaned down and slid off her dainty black slip-ons. “I have the best idea.”

  “What else do I need to take off?” she chuckled.

  Braxton came to his feet, which prompted Heidi to stand at attention and move closer to her master. “If you want to take that dress off, don’t let me stop you.”

  “I think I’ll keep it on,” she stated, reaching over to pat Heidi’s head. “So where are we going with no shoes and where clothing is optional?”

  Braxton took her hand and brought her to her feet. “You may want Heidi to stay on the porch.”

  Cora jerked back. “We’re going out in the rain?”

  “Don’t look so shocked. It’s water.”

  Before she could protest fully, he tugged her to the edge of the porch. “Remember the two steps here,” he cautioned, and held on to her hand as she carefully inched one foot down at a time.

  “Ready to have fun?” he asked.

  “I’m already scared by the tone of your voice.”

  The rain had already soaked them and they’d been in it for ten seconds. Braxton reached out, smoothed the hair from her face, and eased her toward the sidewalk in front of his house. With the street having very few houses, the lots were wide and neighbors were fairly spread out. Even if they’d been close and people could see, he wouldn’t care. This was all for Cora.

  The second her foot hit a puddle, she gasped, then smiled. “Are we dancing in the rain?” she asked.

  “We’re stomping in the rain,” he yelled over the roaring downpour.

  They were absolutely soaked. Cora laughed as she lifted her face to the sheets. With her arms wide, her hands up toward the sky, Braxton had never seen a more beautiful sight.

  Stepping forward, he slid his arms around her waist and waited until she dropped her arm and tipped her face back down to his.

  “Dancing was a great idea, though,” he told her as he began to move.

  He had no clue how to dance, had never had a reason to kno
w. But right now, he didn’t care if he made a fool of himself, he wanted to hold this woman in his arms and move to the rhythmic music the rain provided.

  “You’ve never done this, have you?” she asked, her smile still spread wide across her face as the rain trickled down her pink cheeks.

  “Never.”

  She held his hand tighter, threaded her fingers through the hair on the nape of his neck. “Let me lead. I’ve been schooled on dancing.”

  “The control is all yours.”

  He didn’t mind one bit relinquishing the power to her. As they gently spun in uniform circles, Braxton quickly picked up the footsteps. He threw a glance to the porch where Heidi obediently sat beneath the shelter of the roof, no doubt wondering what on earth was going on.

  Braxton couldn’t help but wonder himself. Any other woman he would’ve already been trying to peel that wet dress off and explore all that was beneath. But with Cora he knew she was different, she was special. He didn’t give a damn that she would be working for him. That was the least of his worries. What kept weighing heavy on his mind was how fast and far he’d fallen. He’d sworn when Anna had betrayed him that he’d never let a woman get close enough to hurt him again. Yet here he was aching to be with Cora, needing to spend more time with her, wanting to uncover so much more about her.

  He didn’t know how long they swayed, he didn’t care. Her body moved against his, eventually she relaxed even more and laid her head against his chest, their hands tucked between their shoulders. As much as Braxton wanted her on a physical level, he wanted her to know that whatever was happening between them meant so much more than that.

  Braxton stilled his movements, causing her to stop and raise her gaze to his. Droplets settled on her lips, her lashes, they streaked down her porcelain skin. Braxton lowered his lips to kiss away the moisture that fell onto her cheeks, her nose, and finally her lips.

  She opened beneath his touch, sighed into him, and returned that control he’d given her moments ago. Braxton plunged his hands into her wet hair and tipped her head just enough to give him more access. Cora was a craving he didn’t know if he’d ever grow tired of.