Blind Love (22 page)

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.

Mother of two beautiful children, she has been married to her best friend for over seventeen years. With the help of supportive family and friends, she balances her family, a thriving counseling practice, and writing without sinking into insanity.

She can be found at:

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www.kishanpaulauthor.net

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www.tsu.co/kishanpaul

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This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.

Samhain Publishing, Ltd.

11821 Mason Montgomery Road Suite 4B

Cincinnati OH 45249

Blind Love

Copyright © 2015 by Kishan Paul

ISBN: 978-1-61922-684-5

Edited by Tera Cuskaden

Cover by Kanaxa

All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

First
Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
electronic publication: June 2015

www.samhainpublishing.com