Love is Blind (19 page)

I blew out a breath. “I can’t believe I’m
actually going to ask you this, because I feel like a cliché
insecure girl. But are you sure it’s not just because you don’t
want me?”

Shock covered his features. “Are you
serious?”

“Yeah.”

He lowered his head and brushed his lips softly
over mine. “Hailey, I want you more than anything. But I don’t want
our first time to be somewhere that we have to worry about other
people. I want to be able to take our time and not feel
rushed.”

I lifted a hand and ran it through his hair.
“That makes sense. Apparently I just have no patience for some
reason.”

He gave me a devilish grin. “It’s because I’m so
damn sexy,” he informed me.

I rolled my eyes. “I still haven’t decided if I
like this conceited side of you or not.”

He shrugged. “You know you secretly love it.” He
stroked my back gently. “Maybe we should plan to go to a hotel for
a night or something. That way there will be no interruptions.”

“That might be a good idea. When?”

He pressed his lips to the spot beneath my ear.
“How about next weekend? I’ll make all the arrangements.”

“Sounds good. For now, how about we go think
about a song for the talent show?”

He groaned a little, but then nodded. “You’re
lucky I love you.”

“You like saying that, don’t you?”

“What?”

“That you love me.”

He shrugged. “Maybe.”

“Just admit it.”

“Never.”

“Stubborn ass.”

He grinned. “You wouldn’t have me any other
way.”

I rolled my eyes. “I guess. That makes me weird,
doesn’t it?”

“Yeah, kinda.”

“And what does that make you for being in love
with me?”

He thought about it for a moment. “Extra weird?”
he offered.

I laughed. “Well, you’re definitely that. But I
love you anyways.”

“Now who likes saying it?” he mocked.

I smacked his shoulder. “Don’t be such a
jerk.”

He nuzzled at my neck. “I can’t change who I
am.”

I shivered a little as his breath tickled me.
“I’ll never ask you to change who you are. Although I might try to
tweak you a little bit here and there.”

He reluctantly pulled away from me and got to
his feet. “Well let’s go work on a song then. Do you have any idea
about what you want us to do?”

I climbed off the bed and stood next to him.
“Not really. I figured we could just play around until we found
something we liked.”

“Works for me. Can I get something to eat
first?”

I heaved a fake sigh. “Oh, I suppose so.”

He chuckled and took my hand, leading me out of
the room.

An hour later, we were both sitting on the piano
bench. I had brought my Ipod along, so I set it up on the table
beside us and set it on shuffle. As we listened to some songs, I
played around on piano a little. Blake was sitting quietly, one arm
loosely wrapped around my waist.

We’d been listening to the music for about half
an hour, when a Run to You by Lady Antebellum came on and had both
of us perking up a little. “Can you play this on the guitar?” I
asked him.

“Yeah. Can you do it on the piano?”

I furrowed my brow. “I think so, but I’ve never
tried to go through it fully. I can learn it though; the talent
show isn’t until right before Christmas break. This song is perfect
for us.”

He grinned. “Yeah, it really is. So this is the
one we’ll do then?”

“Definitely. That okay with you?”

“Yeah, I’ve always liked this song and this
band. They have good music.”

So for the next hour and a bit, we practiced
playing the song. Blake had gone to get his guitar, so he sat on
the bench facing the opposite way from me. We goofed around a
little as well, which made it a lot more fun.

When Blake had finally had enough, he put his
guitar down. “I’m done for now. I want to go do something
else.”

I turned my head to look at him. “What do you
want to do?”

He stood up and stretched his arms over his
head. “I don’t really care; I just need to move around a
little.”

My eyes lit up. “I know; we can go
shopping!”

He dropped his arms back down to his sides.
“Shopping?”

“Yeah. We can buy clothes to wear for the talent
show.”

“Can’t you just go by yourself?”

“Nope, you have to come with me.”

“I haven’t gone shopping in two years,” he
whined.

“All the more reason for you to come with me.
I’ll buy you an ice cream after.”

He rolled his eyes. “Oh yeah, because ice cream
makes everything better.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “It does. Suck it up,
you’re coming with me.”

“Were you always this bossy?”

I thought about it for a minute. “I think so.
Now let’s go. We can see if Sophie wants to go as well.” I grabbed
his hand and pulled him out of the room to search for Sophie. I
found her in the living room watching TV. “Hey, we’re going to the
mall to go shopping. Want to come with us?”

She looked at me with raised eyebrows. “You
convinced him to go shopping?”

“Yup. Want to help torture him?”

“That sounds like fun. Just give me a few
minutes to get ready.” She scurried out of the room.

Blake groaned and ran a hand over his face.
“Damn women are ganging up on me.”

I put my arms around his waist and hugged him,
resting my cheek against his chest. “It won’t be that bad. Besides,
at least we get to spend time together this way.”

His arms came around me as he kissed the top of
my head. “That’s true I suppose. I won’t bring Abby with me, since
you and Sophie will both be there. Just don’t randomly abandon me
if you see a pair of shoes that you really like.”

I laughed a little. “No promises. That
reminds me; I wanted to ask you something. Do you have one of those
cane thingies?”

“Cane thingies?”

“Yeah you know. Those sticks that fold up and
you use them to find your way around.”

“Oh those things. Yeah I have one but I barely
ever use it. I almost always have Abby or someone with me as a
guide when I go somewhere new, so I’ve never really needed it.
Why?”

I shrugged. “Just curious. I’ve never seen you
use one, so I just wanted to know if you had one or not.”

“I can show it to you sometime if you want,” he
offered.

A wicked grin spread across my face. “Are you
offering to show me your stick?”

“Oh ew, that’s gross,” Sophie said as she came
back into the room.

I laughed. “Oddly enough, that isn’t exactly
what it sounded like.”

She shuddered. “I don’t want to know. Let’s just
get going before you make me gag.”

Blake laughed. “Oh this could actually end up
being fun. I didn’t realize this kind of stuff made you
uncomfortable, Sophie.”

“You’re like my brother, Blake. I really don’t
need to hear about what goes on between the two of you.”

Blake grabbed my chin and tilted my head up so
that he could kiss me softly. “Payback is going to be fun,” he
murmured.

I pushed him away. “Don’t make her
uncomfortable. I know it always used to make me gag when I saw Jake
and Amanda together.”

“Who are they?” Sophie asked.

I froze as I realized that she didn’t know about
my brother. “Uh, no one. Let’s get going.”

Sophie looked at me curiously for a minute
before nodding. “Sure. This is going to be so much fun.”

Blake sighed as I started walking with him to
the front door. “You so owe me after this,” he told me.

“Yeah, yeah. That’s what you always say.”

Chapter twenty-one

When the next weekend rolled around, I was both
nervous and excited. Blake told me he had planned everything out,
but he wouldn’t tell me anything other than that I should be ready
by six on Friday night. That confused me, since I was the one who
would be driving.

But at six o’ clock on Friday night, my doorbell
rang and I went to answer it. I opened the door and raised an
eyebrow at the man standing there. “Can I help you?”

“Are you Hailey Baker?”

“Yes?”

“Mr. Adams sent me to pick you up.”

It was then that I noticed the limo parked out
front, and my eyes widened. “He rented a limo for the night?”

“Actually, he rented it for the weekend,” the
guy informed me. “Are you ready to go? I’m supposed to have you at
your destination in twenty minutes.”

I nodded and slipped into my coat and grabbed my
purse. I called out a farewell to Jared and Liam, and then followed
the driver out to the limo. He held the door open for me and I slid
into the seat, giving him a bright smile before the door closed. I
gazed around the spacious vehicle and saw a single pink rose
sitting on the seat with a piece of paper sitting underneath it. I
scooted over and raised the flower to my nose so I could inhale the
scent. Picking up the paper, I read what the typed words said.

Hailey,

I hope this surprised you. Jack is taking you
to meet me and we have him and the limo for the weekend. I want you
to be able to relax and not worry about having to drive us
everywhere. See you soon (well, not really see, but you know what I
mean).

Love, Blake

I was torn between laughing because of the last
sentence, or swooning over the sweetness of the entire thing. When
I first met Blake, there was no way I would’ve believed he was
capable of this kind of romance.

Fifteen minutes later, the limo pulled to a stop
and Jack hopped out to open my door. We were at a restaurant that
I’d never been to before, but it looked fancy and I was glad that I
was wearing a nice black skirt and dark pink blouse. I thanked Jack
and went inside.

The hostess greeted me and I told her who I was
supposed to be meeting. Her eyes lit up when I said Blake’s name.
“Oh, you are so lucky to have such a charming boyfriend!” she
gushed.

I raised a brow. Charming? Blake? Those two
words didn’t really seem to go together, but I shrugged it off and
followed her through the restaurant. We went past the main dining
room and into a private area. As soon as we walked through the
door, my jaw dropped.

Candles were lit all around the room and there
were dozens of pink roses everywhere. There was a cozy table set
for two and Blake was standing by one of the chairs, wearing black
dress pants and a blue shirt that nearly matched the colour of his
eyes.

I left the hostess and walked up to him, sliding
my arms around his waist and leaning into him. “How did you plan
all of this?”

He wrapped his arms around me and pressed a soft
kiss to the top of my head. “Sophie helped me with everything.”

I pulled back a little so that I could kiss him
lightly. “You didn’t have to go through so much trouble.”

“Well, I can’t be a normal boyfriend when it
comes to a lot of things. I figured treating you to a relaxing
weekend is the least I can do.”

I kissed him again, a little longer this time.
“Normal is so overrated,” I murmured. “This is much better.”

He smiled before pulling away so he could slide
my chair out for me. “Have a seat,” he said.

I sat down and he pushed my chair in for me. He
kept one hand on the table as he went around to the other side and
took his own seat. I gazed around at everything once more. “Did
Sophie choose the flowers?”

“No, I chose everything. She just helped make
sure everything was set up properly, that’s all.”

“This is amazing. I can’t believe you went
through so much trouble for me.”

“I figured with all the crap you put up with
because of me, this was the least I could do for you.”

I laughed lightly. “I don’t mind all the crap we
have to go through. It’s worth it.”

A waiter came in and placed a couple of drinks
on the table, then disappeared again. Blake smiled at me. “I
ordered everything already because I know what you like. I hope you
don’t mind.”

I sat back in my seat a little and regarded him
closely. “Okay, who are you and what have you done with my
boyfriend?”

He laughed. “Sorry, I know this might seem a
little overboard. I just want to make everything as perfect as
possible for you tonight.”

My heart warmed at his words. “Mission
accomplished so far.”

The entire meal seemed like a dream to me. Blake
and I chatted easily and the food was amazing. The wait staff was
efficient and polite, always making sure we had what we needed
without being in the way.

When we finished eating, I linked my arm with
Blake and we left the restaurant. Jack was waiting for us out front
again, so we both got into the limo. “It’s about a half hour drive
to the hotel,” Blake informed me.

I kicked off my shoes and stretched out on the
long seat, resting my head in Blake’s lap. His fingers lazily ran
through my hair and I let my eyes drift shut, even though I wasn’t
tired at all. It was just so relaxing. “So what else do you have
planned for the weekend?”

He smiled down at me and shook his head. “I’m
still not telling you. You’ll have to wait and see.”

I sighed. “Fine then, don’t tell me.” I lasted
about another minute before breaking. “Please tell me?”

He laughed. “So impatient. We’ll be going to
some kind of show tomorrow, but that’s all I’m telling you.”

I frowned a little. “A show?”

“Yup.”

“Damn it, now I’m really curious,” I pouted.

“Don’t worry, you’ll like it. I promise.”

I knew I wouldn’t get anything else out of him,
so I let the subject drop. Blake reached up and felt around all the
dials above his head until he managed to turn some music on. We
spent the rest of the drive just relaxing and listening to the
music.

When we arrived at the hotel, the nerves came
back full force. We walked to the elevators and Blake told me that
we were on the sixth floor. Once on the right floor, he handed me
the keycard and I was a little relieved to see that his hand was
trembling a little. At least I wasn’t the only one who was
nervous.