Blind Attraction (25 page)

But then along came
Victoria, who managed to be everything he never knew he wanted. If he hadn’t lost his vision, he probably never would have given her a second look. Well, he might have looked but it wouldn’t have led to anything, even if there was that
zing
. He had always dated statuesque, fair-haired, golden-skinned beauties; short pixies never even appeared on his radar. Before Victoria.

He hadn’t even been aware of her height, which went to show how willing he was to ignore anything that might tarnish the image he had. There were so many clues had he been willing to analyze them: the thickness of her hair, the feel of her in his arms when they lay naked side-by-side, the shape of her face. He
had been all-so-eager to sleep with her that he dismissed anything that didn’t match up to the image he had in his head.

His eyes kept returning to her picture, drawn to her even while resisting her pull. She wasn’t what he was exp
ecting; she was supposed to be his perfect social mate, not a little wood nymph with violet eyes and a sensuous body. He loved her but he didn’t know how to get over the feeling of… betrayal.

Scrubbing his fingers through his hair, he groaned in pain; she had betrayed him but it wasn’t her fault. She was generous to a fault and she was better than he deserved.

He would call her. Soon.

James attempted to return his attention to his work
but his thoughts were in chaos. His gaze kept returning to the folder on his desk and the picture of Victoria smiling back at him. Maybe if he just stared long enough he would be able to forgive her for making him fall in love with the wrong woman. How could he admit that he had spent nearly half of his life in foolish pursuits of the perfect woman when the perfect woman for him would never have been a blip on his radar had he never lost his sight?

He was a fool.

*****

Sitting in his darkened room
Saturday evening, a half-finished bottle of brandy on the nightstand, James punched in Victoria’s phone number. He'd had a few days to contemplate everything that had happened over the past few days, weeks, but he was no closer to any answers than he had been last week when he had kissed the blond instead of Victoria. For the first time in his life he did the cowardly thing, avoiding her calls, knowing that if he talked to her, if he heard her voice, he wouldn't be able to think at all.

His thumb hovered over the send button but he hesitated,
embarrassingly nervous about talking to her. When he couldn’t see, he imagined Victoria as her friend, but now he knew the truth and it almost felt like he was cheating on his memory; which made no sense because Victoria was his memory. Just, not Victoria.

He
had desperately enjoyed spending time with her, talking with her; he loved kissing her, making love with her. Did he fall in love with the image he had of her or did he fall in love with her? He had to know. No, that wasn't why he was going to finally call. The truth was that he simply missed her.

He was going to do it; he was going to call
Victoria. Tossing back the glass of the brandy, he hit ‘send.’ His stomach clenched and threatened to rebel as the phone rang in his ear.

“Hello?” her low, velvety voice answered. His body responded as if she were standing in front of him, naked and wet, but the image was of two
Victoria’s and he realized that he was going to need more brandy. Maybe the false image would disappear and only the true Victoria would remain.

“
Victoria,” he breathed, pulling the stopper out of the crystal decanter. With a shaking hand, he filled his glass, hoping to make the sound of her voice less seductive. It was already hard enough to try and get through this conversation without her bewitching voice muddling his head even further.

“James
; I didn’t expect to hear from you,” she sounded surprised. “It’s been nearly a week and you haven’t returned any of my phone calls; I’d just about given up.”

He winced. Taking a sip from his glass, he said, “We have unfinished business.”

“I don’t think so,” she contradicted. “I understand.”

“I don’t think you do,” he said, clenching his jaw. Taking a larger gulp of brandy, he closed his eyes as the liquid burned past his esophagus. “
You aren’t what I expected; for one, you’re short….”

“
Being short is not a crime,” she interrupted.

“Vi….”
He clenched his teeth together, trying to put his thoughts into coherent words, to make her understand his actions the past week. “You were supposed to be beautiful; when we made love I was picturing her in my head but you’re not her, are you?”

“Please stop talking,” she whispered.

He could hear the pain in her voice and he knew that his words weren’t coming out the way he had wanted. He took another swallow of the brandy, needing her to understand that he wanted to start over. “But I need to explain.”

“You don’t have to
explain, James,” she said, rushing through her words as if she feared never getting through them. “I understand; you’re attracted to Taylor and you’d like to see where things go with her.”

“Did I say that?”
He was pretty sure he hadn’t said that. He took another drink but his glass was empty. His hands shook even more as he poured another glass full.

“
You didn’t have to say anything.” She took a deep breath but her words faltered. “I saw how you… reacted when you saw her and then again when you saw me.”

“My… reaction?” he asked in disbelief. His brain was fuddled… was that even a word? Befuddled was a word; fuddled had to be as well. He shook his head to clear it;
Victoria required his complete attention, especially when half of his brain was sloshing about in a brandy haze. “What reaction?”

“The way you kissed her
and the way you turned away when you saw me.” Victoria explained slowly, as if he were an idiot. She took a deep, deep breath and then rushed through the next word, “I think you should take Taylor out and see how things work out between the two of you.”

James sputtered, not sure how to respond to such a crazy statement. “Are you insane?”

“I’m perfectly sane,” she sighed. “It’s just that you didn’t see me. You saw Taylor and it’s obvious that you want her otherwise you would have returned any one of my calls before now.”

“
Did you expect me to simply be okay with everything?” he asked, increasingly frustrated with the conversation. This phone thing wasn’t working and he realized that calling her was a bad idea. If they were face to face he could grab her and kiss her to shut her up. Then she could see that he… that he… what? Maybe having too much to drink wasn’t the brightest move he ever made.

“Um, I’m not sure what you mean,”
Victoria hesitated. “I mean, obviously it’s been difficult because you couldn’t see and when you met me you thought I looked like someone else.”

“You never told me what you looked like,” he huffed, knowing the conversation was spiraling out of control but unable to stop it. The brandy was having a deleterious effect on his seduction skills; at least the skills involving words and, what are those things called? Oh, right – sentences.

“I did tell you and you saw me with your hands; you saw all of me!” she shot back. Her words trailed off into silence as she sighed heavily. “Fine, you’re right; I didn’t use words but can you blame me?”

“Yes,” he said firmly, before hearing what she said. Bewildered, he asked, “What do you mean?”

“Under normal circumstances you wouldn’t have been attracted to me; you wouldn’t have even noticed me,” Victoria explained, tumbling over a few of her words. “You didn’t even look at me when I showed up the other day.”

“Is that
what you were trying to prove by spying on me?” he asked, angry and hurt and a lot drunk. “Was it some kind of damn test? Since I couldn’t pick you out of the crowd I failed? Is that it?”

“It wasn’t like that,”
Victoria said, her words lacking conviction. “It was just a stupid fantasy you would recognize me if I stood right in front of you and I know that now. If things had been different I would have gone up….”

“
Do you mean if I recognized you?” he hissed. “Did you have sex with me because you figured a blind man would be grateful? Was I a pity fuck to you? Because I couldn’t see?”

“At least when you were blind you could see; what the hell, James?” She laughed mockingly, “I had sex with you because I loved you, you asshole.”

James snorted in his drunken righteousness, letting the poison that was festering in his soul spew forth. “And I had sex with you believing that I was having sex with a sophisticated goddess, not an impish tree nymph.” A painful gasp filled his ear and he immediately regretted the words but he couldn't take them back.

“Oh, James,” she sighed mournfully.
“Take your sophisticated goddess out and find out for yourself if you’re a match. Maybe afterwards your eyes will be open and you will be able to see once more. If you are truly happy with her then this tree nymph will wish you all of the happiness in the world; Taylor is really a wonderful person; you're going to love her.”

“Fine!” he hollered, a moment before he realized she was breaking up with him. Standing, he clutched the phone to his ear. What the hell just happened? The room was spinning and nothing made sense any more. Why was she going on about tree
nymphs? Grabbing his temples, he closed his eyes. “Whoa, wait a minute, that’s not what I want.”

Victoria
laughed gravely. “I’m such an idiot, James, because in spite of you hating me, I still love you.”

“I don’t hate you,” he whispered, but she wasn’t listening.
The world around him spun madly out of control and in the center of the chaos stood Victoria with a serene smile on her beautiful face. “I lo… I love….”

“Whatever,” she managed before hanging up.

“Victoria, wait!” he called out as he heard the phone slam down in his ear. Holding his cell phone away from him, he looked at it, wondering what the hell just happened and why the damn room was spinning. Hitting redial, he put the phone back against his ear, chanting, “Pick up the damn phone, Vi.”

He heard the click and started to speak when he heard another click; she
had hung up on him. He tried a few more times until the last time when all he got was a busy signal. Perturbed, he tried to figure out what to do. He had never been in love before and he was definitely out of his league. Damn it, he loved the infuriating creature known as Victoria; he had never felt more alive than when he was arguing with her, except for, perhaps, when he was simply holding her in his arms as they talked about nothing at all.

The more he thought about it, the more he knew it was true. He wanted
Victoria, with her warmth and charm and her sensual nature. He would rather fight with her than make love to any other woman he knew; of course, then he would like to make love to her. She was his match and he wasn’t going to let a misunderstanding get in the way of them being together.

He’d find out the best way to win
Victoria over and then he’d make love to her with all of the lights on so he could burn her real image into his brain. Then he’d marry her. Satisfied with his plan, he was going to go to the bathroom and then go to bed. He was exhausted.

His fantasy was
interrupted when the phone rang. Not recognizing the number, he answered, his voice slurring with too much brandy, “James Templeton.”

“Hello,” the stranger’s voice was
familiar: pleasant, a little sultry, but nothing like Victoria’s.

“Who is this?” he asked, his body relaxing, his eyes already closing. He might not make it out of the chair. No; he had to hit the bathroom….

“Taylor Danner,” she purred, lowering her voice. “I just talked to Vi and she told me that you and I are to go out. How does this Friday sound?”

Did his brain just leak out
of his ear? He could have sworn his brain just leaked out of his ear. Was Victoria that anxious to pawn him off on her friend? This was going to present a slight hiccup in his plans; if Victoria was so eager to be done with him then maybe he misinterpreted her declaration of love. No; he knew her. She loved him. Maybe if he weren’t drunker than a skunk he would be able to politely decline this girl’s offer and let her know that his heart belonged to another. Unfortunately, there was a synapse misfiring between his pickled brain and his tongue. “Uh….”

“We’ll have dinne
r and then maybe a movie afterwards,” Taylor gushed, not letting him take a breath. “Or whatever; it doesn’t matter to me.”

“Um,” obviously the brandy wasn’t wearing off as quickly as he had hoped. Plus, it just wasn’t his night to participate in a conversation; was there a conspiracy? There must be a conspiracy.

“We can meet at
Indulgence
at seven,” she continued as if he agreed. “I’m looking forward to meeting you, Mr. Templeton, properly this time.”

“Wait a moment,” James protested but it was too late, she had hung up the phone, leaving James spinning. Did he really just agree to go out on a date with
Victoria’s best friend? No, he hadn’t but he might be able to use the meeting to his advantage. He could explain that he wasn’t interested in her at all, that he was in love with Victoria.