Love is Blind (20 page)

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Authors: Shayna B

Tags: #romance, #love, #young adult, #disabilities, #guide dogs

BOOK: Love is Blind
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We got to the room and I slid the keycard in.
Once the door was open, we stepped in and I looked around. The
suite was fairly large, with a separate bedroom. There was also a
huge Jacuzzi tub just off the living room, and I fully intended to
make use of that.

I saw the bag that I had packed and given to
Sophie sitting beside the couch. Another bag was sitting there as
well and I assumed it was Blake’s. I let out a shaky breath before
turning to Blake. “It’s a very nice room,” I said.

I heard him let out a little breath. “I know. I
came here earlier this week to familiarize myself with it so that I
didn’t end up tripping and falling on my face in front of you.”

I laughed. “That would have been entertaining,
but I’m glad that you got to familiarize yourself with it. I know
how much easier it is for you when you don’t have to rely on other
people to lead you around.”

He put his arms around my waist and nuzzled at
my neck. “I don’t mind so much as long as it’s you leading me
around.”

I shivered a little as his breath tickled me.
“You can be so corny and sweet sometimes,” I informed him.

“Only with you.” He lifted his head and placed
his forehead against mine. “You’ve made a huge difference in my
life, Hailey. I don’t know what I would’ve done without you.”

“Probably continued to be sarcastic and push
everyone away. Now you’re just sarcastic,” I teased.

He chuckled. “That I am,” he replied. He took my
hand and led me to the sofa in the living room. He sat down and had
me sit on his lap. “Are you nervous?”

I nodded. “A little. The only other guy I was
ever with was Marcus, and we both know how that turned out.”

He tensed up when I said Marcus’s name, but
didn’t comment on it. “I was only ever with my ex, Clarissa,” he
said. “So neither of us had the best previous experiences.”

I put my head on his shoulder. “No, we didn’t.
But this will be different, right?”

“Definitely. I have no intention of letting you
go, so you’re stuck with me.”

I smiled. “I’m okay with that.” I paused for a
moment. “Are you nervous?” I asked quietly.

“Honestly? I’m kind of terrified. I don’t really
know what I’m supposed to do, since I can’t actually see you.”

“Well, you use your hands to ‘see’ so you’ll
just have to use them for that.” Then my eyes widened when I
realized how that sounded. “Wait, I didn’t mean it like that!”

Blake started laughing and he hugged me to him
tighter. “Oh Hailey, I really do love you.”

“That’s a good thing, because I seem to love you
as well.”

He used his hands to guide my face to his so he
could kiss me. “You seem to, huh?”

“Yeah,” I murmured as I sank into the kiss.

Our lips moved together and the kiss was so
tender that it made my heart melt a little. Even when it became
more passionate, it was still achingly sweet. It was then that the
nerves melted away from me. Being with Blake would be a totally
different experience than anything that had happened with Marcus
because what Blake and I had was much deeper than anything I’d
experienced in the past. I knew that I’d never just have “sex” with
Blake; it would always be making love with him.

We moved into the bedroom and undressed each
other slowly. There was an awkward moment when Blake asked me about
birth control, but I quickly assured him that I was on it. We took
our time before finally coming together and it was one of the most
amazing experiences in my life. He held me tightly afterwards and
that was how we fell asleep.

 

 

When I woke up the next morning, I was lying on
Blake’s chest and he had both arms wrapped around me. We were both
curled up under the down filled comforter, and I was so comfortable
that I was tempted to go back to sleep. But then the phone beside
the bed rang, and Blake jolted a little before reaching over and
fumbling for it. He picked it up, grunted a greeting and then hung
up a moment later. He then snuggled in closer to me, obviously not
wanting to get up.

“Blake?”

“Hmm?”

“Who was on the phone?”

“Wake- up service,” he mumbled.

“Doesn’t that mean we should get up then?”

He kissed the side of my head. “I don’t want
to,” he stated.

I grinned. “Me neither. But you obviously
ordered a wake- up call for a reason.”

He sighed and raised a hand to rub at his eyes.
“What time is it?”

I glanced at the clock. “Just after nine.”

“Our appointment is at ten thirty, so we should
probably get up and eat something.”

“What appointment?”

He grinned at me. “You’ll have to wait and see,”
he replied teasingly.

I huffed out a breath and watched as he climbed
out of the bed and started feeling around for his clothes. I
couldn’t help but admire his body as he finally located his boxers
and pulled them on.

“You know, I can feel you watching me,” he
said.

I smiled. “So?”

He chuckled as he walked back over to the bed
and carefully placed his hands on either side of me. “I was just
stating a fact,” he murmured before kissing me lightly.

“Are you going to tell me what the rest of the
plans are for this weekend?” I asked as I ran my hands down his
chest.

He shivered slightly, but then quickly pulled
away. “Nice try, but I’m still not telling you.”

I pouted as he left the bedroom. I hated that he
could actually be more stubborn than me sometimes. With a sigh, I
got up and dug into my bag for some clothes. I pulled on a pair of
pajama pants and then stole his t-shirt that was still on the
ground and put it on as well.

An hour later we were both dressed and in the
elevator. He had told me to go to the second floor rather than the
lobby, and I was a little confused at first. But I quickly
understood when I saw the signs as the doors slid open. “A spa?” I
asked.

“Yeah. We’re both getting massages and you’re
getting a manicure and pedicure as well, plus some facial scrub
thing that Sophie said you would like,” he said.

“What will you be doing while all of this
happens?”

He shrugged as we walked into the spa. “Waiting
for you like a good boyfriend, I guess. I have my Ipod, so I can
listen to some music. And the massages are last, so I’ll be with
you for that.”

I turned to face him before we got to the
reception desk. “I don’t know why you’re doing all of this for me,
but I’m not complaining.”

“I just wanted to make this weekend special,” he
muttered.

I could tell he was a little embarrassed, so I
didn’t say anything else about it. Instead I turned to the lady
behind the desk and gave her our names. A moment later, a different
lady came out from the back and asked us to go with her.

For the next two hours, I was primped and
pampered and by the time I went into the massage room, I was
utterly relaxed. Blake was already in there, sitting in a chair
waiting for me. When he heard me come in, he stood up. “Having fun
yet?” he asked.

“Definitely. You bored out of you mind yet?”

He laughed. “It wasn’t that bad. I managed to
have a nap, so the time actually went by fairly quickly.”

When the two masseuses entered, Blake and I were
directed to change rooms so we could get undressed and put our
robes on. After that was done, we went back out and it was at that
moment that I started feeling a little unsure. I pulled Blake to
the side so I could talk to him. “Blake, do they know about the
scars on my back?” I asked quietly.

He put an arm around my waist and hugged me to
his side. “Yeah, I told them about them. But I didn’t say what had
happened to you.”

I let out a little breath. “You and Jared are
the only ones who have really touched my back since the accident,”
I said.

He turned and put his other arm around me as
well. “We don’t have to do this if you don’t want to.”

I shook my head. “No, I want to; it just caught
me off guard for a moment when I realized that they would actually
be touching me.” I pulled away and led him to the two tables just
as the masseuses came back in.

I was a little tense as my masseuse started
massaging me, but he didn’t mention the scars so I relaxed. Blake
had a female masseuse and he had his eyes closed, looking
completely zoned out. I couldn’t help but smile as I watched him.
It was nice to see him so completely relaxed and carefree. It
wasn’t something that happened all that often.

The massages lasted for forty-five minutes and
my body felt loose and wobbly when we were done. Blake and I went
back up to our hotel room and found a way to entertain ourselves
that required very little clothing until it was time for
dinner.

We went to the restaurant in the hotel for our
meal and then we got into the limo once again. Blake still hadn’t
told me where we were going; he only repeated that it was some sort
of a show.

When we pulled up to a theater, I read what was
on the sign and started smiling. “A comedy festival?”

“I figured this was something we would both
like. I don’t really need to be able to see the comedians to enjoy
them.”

“This is an awesome idea. I never would have
thought of it,” I said.

“What can I say? I’m brilliant,” he replied with
a grin.

I rolled my eyes and climbed out of the limo,
choosing not to answer him. We went inside and I found our seats
near the front. We sat down and about twenty minutes later the show
started.

There were a few times throughout that I had
to tell Blake what the comedians were doing, but for the most part
we were able to just listen and enjoy it all. By the time the last
comedian left the stage, my stomach hurt from laughing so much.

All in all, it was an amazing day and night, and
I was in a great mood when we got back to the hotel. I decided I
had to show Blake my gratitude by once again finding something to
do that involved no clothing. He was more than happy to let me, and
pretty soon we were snuggled up under the blanket on the bed for
the night.

“Thank you for an amazing time,” I murmured.

“You’re more than welcome. And you can thank me
like that anytime you want to,” he replied.

I laughed. “Figured you might say that.” I
yawned and pressed myself into him a little more. “Good night
Blake.”

We both fell asleep, only to be woken up three
hours later by my phone ringing. We both jolted awake and I cursed
quietly as I tried to find my phone. “Who the hell is calling me at
this hour?” I grumbled before finally locating it. “Hello?”

“Hailey, he’s awake.”

 

Chapter twenty-two

 

 

I blinked a couple of times. “Huh?”

“Jake’s awake. The hospital just called the
house to tell us,” Jared said.

It took a moment to sink in, but once it did, I
bolted upright. “He’s awake?”

“Yeah, and apparently he keeps saying your
name.”

“Holy crap! We’ll meet you at the hospital,” I
said and then hung up the phone. I turned to Blake to see that he
already had his phone to his ear. “He’s awake.”

“I heard, which is why I’m calling Jack right
now. I’ll get him to pick us up.”

“Thanks,” I said then climbed out of the bed and
got dressed quickly. I went around the suite and packed everything
into our bags, not really caring whose stuff went into which one.
We could sort it out later.

Blake came out of the bedroom, wearing his jeans
and pulling his shirt on over his head. He made his way over to
where I was just finishing zipping up the bags. “Jack should be
here in five minutes.”

I straightened up and looked at him. “Thanks. I
can’t believe this is happening.”

He closed the distance between us and pulled me
into his arms. “How are you feeling right now?”

I pressed my face into his shoulder.
“Overwhelmed. It’s been ten months and I really didn’t think he’d
ever wake up. I’m also scared, because I don’t know what he’s going
to be like.”

Blake rubbed my back gently. “Well you’ll find
out soon enough, so don’t worry about it too much. Whatever
happens, happens.”

I let out a breath. “I know. Promise that you’ll
stay with me?”

“Of course I’ll stay with you. Now come on, Jack
should be here very soon and I know you want to get to the hospital
quickly.”

I nodded and bent down to pick up the bags.
Blake took them from me and then grabbed my hand. We left the room
and went down to the lobby to wait. We only had to wait for about a
minute, and then Jack was there.

Once we were in the limo, I couldn’t sit still.
I was bouncing my knee up and down and I kept shifting in my seat.
After about five minutes Blake finally reached over and laid a hand
on my knee. “Easy Hailey,” he murmured.

I took a deep breath and managed to get my knee
to stop bouncing, but I still couldn’t sit completely still. Every
few minutes I would move a little and Blake just let me.

The drive seemed to take forever, but in reality
it was probably only about twenty minutes. As soon as Jack pulled
the limo to a stop I jumped out, literally dragging Blake with me.
I went directly to the elevators and bounced in place until it
arrived. I pulled Blake on with me and pushed the button to take us
to Jake’s floor.

When the doors opened, I saw Jared waiting
outside of Jake’s room. When he saw me, relief washed over his face
and he hurried towards us. “Thank god you’re finally here. He’s
been asking for you and he’s getting agitated.”

I looked into the room and saw three nurses
surrounding my brother. Jake was looking around wildly and every
few seconds he’d mumble my name. I walked in and he looked in my
direction, his expression immediately relaxing. “Hailey,” he
said.

“Hey Jake,” I said as I went to his side.
“You’ve been asleep for a long time.”

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