Blind Ice (Razors Ice Book 5) (18 page)

Chapter Twenty

House Call

When Logan swung this front door open, the last person he expected to see was the woman in Kate’s photographs. And she had a dog with her. A big golden retriever that wore a harness she was holding onto. The woman wore dark sunglasses and her short hair spiked out away from her head. The scowl on her face clashed with the happy grin on the dog’s face.

She was so young and innocent looking that if he had never seen the photos at Kate’s, he might have thought she was there to sell him Girl Scout cookies or something.

“Can I help you?” he asked Kate’s sister—or so he assumed. His head and eye were throbbing and he hoped to get her off his welcome mat as quickly as possible—whoever she turned out to be.

“Are you Logan?” she asked.

“Yeah.”

“I’m Kate’s sister Julia.” She gave the big dog a command and sailed past Logan and into his living room.

Holy shit! Logan thought as he grasped the doorknob. Kate’s sister was blind. Capital B. Capital L. Capital
I can’t see a damn thing
.

Julia sat on the sofa, the dog sitting obediently at her feet. She would have preferred to pace the room while she gave Logan a piece of her mind, but that wasn’t possible in unfamiliar surroundings.

Fortunately, a well-rehearsed speech could be effective from any platform.

Logan closed the door and walked over to stand in front of her. He still couldn’t believe he didn’t know Kate’s sister was blind. Wasn’t that something she should have told him?

After removing her sunglasses, Julia cleared her throat. “I had an entire speech ready in the cab over here. But I decided not to say any of it.”

Logan crossed his arms over his chest. It was a defensive gesture, but she couldn’t see it. “What was the speech?”

“Just a bunch of crap about how you’re lucky it’s just one eye and how if you had half a brain you would call Kate and apologize.”

He opened his mouth to tell her she didn’t understand. But he couldn’t tell a blind person that, now could he?

“Look, I’m not interested,” he said instead.

“Like hell you’re not. If you have any feelings for my sister, you’ll stop acting so childish.” She plowed ahead with her non-speech and didn’t give him the chance to answer or defend himself. “Carl was a giant douchebag and I’d hoped you’d be different.” Unintentionally mirroring his body language, she folded her arms across her chest and huffed. “Well?”

What did he have to say for himself after
that
?

“Well…I…uh… You’re right,” he sighed.

“Of course I am.”

“But I’m nothing like Carl,” Logan defended and took a seat across from her on an ottoman.

“I know. Carl never made Kate as happy as you do…or, more appropriately
did
.”

“I don’t…God, I can’t believe I’m telling you this…I don’t want her to see me like this.”

Obviously disgusted, she shook her head in disbelief. “You could look like the Swamp Thing and she’d still love you.” She cocked her head to the side. “You don’t look like the swamp thing, do you, Logan Murray?”

“No,” he answered earnestly. He was bruised and swollen, but he didn’t look like the— Wait, did she just say Kate
loved
him?

Kate’s sister didn’t elaborate. “Good,” was all she said.

Then she stood up, gave the dog a command and he led her back to the door with an obedience that must have taken months to achieve. “I hope you’ll think about what I’ve said and start thinking about someone besides yourself.”

As quickly as she’d walked into his life, Julia Kapowski walked right back out again.

Logan stood up and looked out the window and watched her climb into a waiting cab. He didn’t expect to meet Kate’s sister under these circumstances. Then again, he hadn’t expected to get hit in the face by an errant puck either.

Julia’s words rang true. And as unexpected as her visit had been, the message was expected.

Man, she’d given him a helluva lot to think about.

* * *

Julia stopped off at Kate’s house, adrenaline still coursing happily through her veins. Shamus plopped down on his favorite spot by the fireplace and Julia proceeded to pace the small living room. Three strides to the sofa.

“I had a word with your supposed boyfriend just now.” Three strides from the coffee table to the mantle.

Kate frowned even though she knew Julia couldn’t see her expression. She would sense her displeasure in other ways. “Over the phone?”

“At his house.” Three strides from the mantle back to the coffee table.

“Why on earth would you go to Logan’s
house
?”

Kate’s voice raised an octave and Julia held back a small smile. So, her sister was still committed to this relationship. That was a good sign. A very promising sign.

“I gave him a piece of my mind,” Julia answered. “A pretty big chunk actually.” Three strides back to the mantle where she bent down and stroked Shamus’s head.

Kate sighed. Why wasn’t she surprised that Julia would do something like this? “He’s made it clear he doesn’t want anything to do with me. I can’t believe you went over there. And without telling me!”

“What? So you could try and talk me out of it? He needed a new perspective on the situation and I’m the only person who could give it to him.” She stood up straight and stared in her sister’s direction. “You didn’t tell him I’m blind.”

“If we had a brother who was gay I wouldn’t introduce him as our gay brother. Being blind isn’t your identity, Julia. It’s just one small part of who you are.”

“Thanks, I guess.”

“So, what did you think of Logan? When you weren’t yelling at him.”

“He had a great voice. He sounds cocky, but not in an obnoxious way. He’s probably good looking and he knows it.”

“That’s an accurate assessment, I guess.”

“You didn’t want to introduce him to me, did you?” Somehow she couldn’t let the subject drop. “You didn’t want your perfect guy knowing you have a blind sister.”

“No! Before all this happened we didn’t have the chance to get to the part where we introduced each other to our families. And I couldn’t tell him after the accident because he wouldn’t talk to me. And now he’s spooked about his sight enough as it is.”

Julia went to the sofa and sat down. “I’m not really angry at you.”

Kate sat down next to her and scratched behind Shamus’s ears when he joined them. “I know.”

For a while they sat in silence, both of them knowing they didn’t have to fill the quiet.

“So,” Julia said, finally breaking the silence, “tell me more about this fictional gay brother of ours.”

* * *

After having some time to think about it, Logan didn’t really appreciate Kate’s little sister barging into his home and poking her nose into his business. But she had given him the kick in the pants he needed to stop feeling sorry for himself.

He still wasn’t sure he wanted Kate to see him yet, but he would call her and apologize. Just as soon as he could find someone’s phone to borrow.

Regardless of what Julia had said to him, he knew he had to keep moving forward, placing one foot in front of the other and keep walking. With a woman like Kate holding his hand, what could possibly go wrong?

* * *

Kate knocked on the ornate door and a minute later, Logan yelled through the door, “Who is it?”

“Logan, it’s Kate, your
optometrist
.” She had waited as long as she could for this confrontation, but when he didn’t make an attempt to reach out to her after Julia’s visit, Kate decided to take it upon herself. Sure, he had told her to leave him alone, but she deserved an explanation. It was the least he could do after tricking her into loving him.

Logan yanked open the door with a scowl. He looked terrible and not in the least bit happy to see her, but she kept the smile plastered on her face anyway.

In fact, he looked like he’d gone twelve rounds with Muhammad Ali with one arm tied behind his back. Purple and black bruises surrounded his swollen eye and it took every ounce of her willpower not to reach up and caress his cheek.

“I didn’t know eye doctors made house calls,” he said, bitterness curling around his words.

“Normally, I don’t. But I wanted to check and see how you’re doing.”

“How do you think I’m doing? I’m on the IR and I may never play hockey again.”

She had meant physically, but she didn’t tell him that. “Are you having any headaches or pain of any kind?”

He cocked his head to the side in an annoyed gesture. “Really?” She’d ignored his plea for her to stay away and now she was here asking about his goddamn health?

She blew out a breath, her patience obviously wearing thin. “Can I come in?”

Hesitantly, Logan waved her inside. He was having as much luck at keeping the Kapowski sisters out of his house as he was coming to the realization that he may lose vision in his eye.

Kate stepped into the foyer and spun around to face him. “Tell me to my face that you don’t want to see me.
Me.
” She poked her finger into her chest. “
Kate
.”

He looked down at his feet and shook his head.

She stood there, the piano in the room behind her, somehow knowing this was a pivotal moment in their relationship.

When he finally looked her in the eyes, he said, “I can’t.”

Her shoulders slumped and the expression on her face softened.

“I’m sorry, Kate. Everything’s so fucked up right now.”

The façade of arrogance slid away to reveal a look of panic, fear and loneliness. Kate imagined this was how he must have looked as a child. Although he was a grown man experienced in the ways of life, innocence clung to him and had her reaching out to him to comfort and soothe. “It’s okay. I understand.”

“I didn’t want you to see me like that…like
this
.”

She went to him, slid her arms around his body and held on tight. “Just close your eyes and let me love you.”

“I need you, Kate,” he choked out.

“I need you, too. Please don’t push me away.”

Their tears mingled together as their tongues found each other and mated frantically. They drank from each other. Hands groped, tongues touched. His fingers fisted her hair, his lips claimed her mouth, her neck and then bit at her shoulder.

Fix me
, his body seemed to say.

I’ll try
, hers promised in reply.

She pushed his shirt up and he pulled it up over his head, taking care not to graze his stitches. A soft sigh warmed his ear when he touched her skin. He plunged his hands up under her blouse and found her breasts. Pebbled nipples greeted his hungry hands.

Frantic to make it up to the bedroom, he pushed her to the stairs. When her heels bumped the first step she climbed backwards. One, then two steps.

They didn’t make it to the third step.

He knelt over her and she grabbed for a condom from her purse. His hands skimmed down her body. Metal rasped against metal as she pulled down the zipper on his jeans. He leaned closer until their thighs brushed.

Before she could even spread her legs for him, he was nudging at her entrance. She braced herself on the stairs and he slid home.

“God, I missed you, Kate.”

His breath was hot in her ear. She ducked her head to take his nipple in her mouth. She nibbled and sucked until he moaned with pleasure/pain. It didn’t take long before they were both spent and satisfied.

Afterward, she snuggled against him and he stroked her hair.

“I met Julia today,” he said softly.

“Oh?”

“She came over this morning with her killer watch dog with the intentions of giving me a piece of her mind, but she just ended up charming the pants off me.”

She smiled. Julia had that effect on people. “But you kept your pants on, I presume.”

“She’s amazing, Kate. Why didn’t you tell me she was blind?”

“We hadn’t really gotten to the stage of meeting each other’s families yet. I wanted us all to sit down to dinner sometime, but...”

“Does that mean I get to introduce you to my parents?”

“Only if you want to,” she replied coyly. “I’m not here to pressure you, Logan.”

“I’d like you to meet my parents. They’re flying in when I have the operation. Is Julia why you became an optometrist?”

“Yes. I wanted to better understand what was going on with her eyes and also to help people understand their own. I’m still fascinated with how the eye works. How it reacts to light, how it can distinguish millions of colors, how the iris controls the size of the pupil… The eye is a magnificent organ.”

As soon as she said the word ‘organ’ he smirked.