Ivy woke to find her mobile phone was plastered to her face, and pulled it loose. She’d apparently fallen to sleep listening to the audiobook and had slept on the phone all night. Wiping her cheek she flicked the phone on and waited to hear whether there were any new emails. She had a few and listened to each one, making notes where she needed to and responding to others. Then she finally heard the one she’d been waiting on.

“I’ll let you keep my heart, if you’ll let me have a taste of your sweet lips, 7:30 it is.”

The man was a charmer, and definitely had a one-track mind. He was honest at least, and she knew right from the start what he was after. Maybe an affair is what she needed right now, Ivy thought, something wild and inspiring for her next novel. She sent a simple response, no more than “see you then”, and giggled hoping Emily would arrive soon. A new dress was called for.

Getting out of bed she went into her kitchen, set the kettle to boil, and prepared some breakfast. Ivy was pleased with how things were progressing, though she wasn’t sure exactly where it would all lead. She was just happy for something new and exciting to be happening. Liam obviously thought he was the one in control, at the moment, but Ivy was soon going to turn things around on him.

* * *

By their third date Ivy was ready to throw in the towel. Dating a blind woman had been challenging from the first and Liam’s response was to try and coddle her, though that seemed to anger her for some reason. Ivy was always insisting on doing things on her own and all he wanted to do was to protect her. He was a firefighter, an emergency service responder, trained to save lives and give care. Letting someone just wander out into traffic with only her hearing and a cane to guide her along terrified him.

The tension finally broke towards the end of their first date, after Liam had shifted her glass of wine closer to her hand and she knocked it over because it wasn’t where she thought it was. Ivy wiped the spill up with a napkin, put the napkin down, and began to gather her things.

“I’m really sorry, Liam, but this just isn’t going to work out. You have to understand that I am not helpless. Yes, sometimes I need some direction or help, but I don’t need coddling, I don’t need someone trying to be helpful that makes my life harder, and I certainly don’t need a protector. I’m blind, not a child, and that’s how you’ve been making me feel. It’s simply not going to work.” Sighing Ivy began to walk away and realized she couldn’t remember where the door was because she was just too flustered. Rather than run into something, or someone, she listened to the sounds she was hearing and realized where the door was and began to walk to it. She stopped at the front and ordered a cab, and was sat waiting outside on a bench when she sensed Liam sitting down next to her.

“I’ve been a bit of an ass, haven’t I?” Liam finally said. He’d been sitting there trying to think of what to say and that was all he could think of.

“Yes, you have. I’ve been trying for the last two weeks to show you, to convince you that I don’t need saving. I’ve hinted at it and you just didn’t pay any attention. You continued to plough over everything I’ve said and you’ve made me feel worse than I have in a very long time. I thought you’d be fun to go out with, I thought you’d take me to parties or on wild adventures, but all we’ve done is come to this same restaurant, every single time. We sit there and talk over dinner; you move my glass, my tableware, even my plate the last time we were here, trying to be helpful without realizing that when you do that I have no idea where you’ve moved it to! Then you take me home, you make sure I get into my apartment, and then you leave. Where’s the fun in all of that? Where’s the adventurous spirit that you obviously have that I wanted to experience?”

“I’m sorry, I just wanted to keep you safe and be helpful. I’ve never dated anyone that wasn’t sighted before and, well, I guess I have treated you pretty badly haven’t I?” Liam finally responded.

“No, you haven’t really. You’ve been a perfect gentleman and tried to be helpful. As you say, you’ve never been around anyone like me so maybe I should have been more up front with you to begin with? I was given the impression that you were a bit of a playboy, an Alpha male, and I wanted to experience that. So, I’m doing the same thing, aren’t I? I’m judging you and not being very fair to you, at all.”

“Shall we try this again, Ivy? I feel like such an idiot now. Hey, how about we go get a drink at a pub I know?

“That sounds like the best idea you’ve had yet, Liam. Shall we take my cab, if I’m not mistaken that’s them pulling up to the curb now.”

“How did you know that?” Liam asked, trying to figure the trick out.

“You learn to pay attention to the environment when something like this happens to you. Even light can be felt, if you pay attention. This time I heard the car approaching and by the direction the car moved in I knew it was pulling up to the curb here. This is a loading area; it’s not raining, I called a taxi, it must be my taxi. I’m not always right but usually I am.” Ivy said with a grin, turning her face in Liam’s direction.

“That is brilliant! So you’ve learned to cope in a world without sight. What else do us mere mortals not notice then?”

They spent the rest of the evening chatting about how Ivy had lost her sight, how she’d learned to cope, and actually talking to each other. Their previous dates had been spent making small talk with no real discoveries being made about each other. Ivy kept hoping the tension would break the strangeness that seemed to grow between them with each date because each had their own hopes and expectations. Now that they’d laid it all out for each other they could relax and actually be themselves.

Ivy sensed attraction growing between them over the next few weeks but neither took it too far. They went out and danced and Ivy learned Liam was an excellent dancer. Now that he wasn’t worried about killing her or breaking her he focused the full force of his charm on her and the little touches he didn’t seem to notice were starting to drive her mad with wanting more. Ivy stopped expecting Liam to tear her clothes off and started looking at their relationship as something that might go further than a simple love affair. Because, Ivy realized, it was quickly turning into a relationship with nightly texts, emails, and phone calls when either was working and every moment they weren’t working was spent together. But still no sex and that was starting to bother Ivy.

Ivy was far from a virgin and liked to explore her sexuality. Liam had made intimations, whispered in here ear how beautiful she was and how much he adored her, and they’d kissed but every night Liam left her at her door. Tonight was going to change that, she was certain. She’d made plans at one of the sexiest clubs in the city, they had their own private area, she’d ordered a taxi for them both, she knew that Liam had the next few days off, and she was planning on spending it in bed with him. It was only 1 pm so she had a while to wait before Liam got off of work so she put on some music, slipped into the tub, and let herself relax.

As Ivy relaxed in the hot lemongrass and lavender scented water she thought about the last few weeks. The low-growls Liam couldn’t hold back when she danced against him, the gasps as she kissed him with abandon played in her memory and made her body tingle with awareness. The way his hands always lingered on her willowy hips was enticing, even now when he wasn’t near her. The memory of that one time when they’d been dancing and she’d turned around in his arms, her bum nestled into his groin, and the way his hands had clenched her tightly to him for a moment as he inhaled sharply, it made her pulse race. All of these things played through her mind and her hands were just starting to slide down her body when her mobile rang.