Blind Ice (Razors Ice Book 5) (7 page)

“My brother does.” A look of profound sadness settled over her face and then it was gone. “We used to watch games together all the time.”

“Awesome. Here’s another card so you can have an extra to give him.”

She took the card and sat it precisely on top of the other card on the tray so that the corners lined up. She looked at her bare nails again and her shoulders slumped. “Will you help me?”

When she looked up at Logan with those rich brown eyes, he was powerless to say no.

“Sure,” he answered before he realized what he was agreeing to. He could execute a slap shot seventy miles per hour toward the net, but a manicurist he was not.

Rebecca handed him the bottle of nail polish and he gently took it from her trembling hands.

“I’ve never done this before,” he admitted. This wasn’t exactly what he thought he’d be doing when he came to the hospital today.

“It’s okay. I’m not very good at it either. Don’t you have any sisters to practice on?”

“I do have one, but she’s older than me and she wouldn’t let me within ten feet of her nails.”

“Does she play dress up?”

“She did. She’s all grown up now. Yeah,” Logan thought back to childhood memories. “Come to think of it, she was always trying to get me to wear a dress.”

Rebecca laughed and it came out like a snort, but it was a wonderful sound nonetheless.

Very carefully, Logan painted each of her fingernails until they were all matching pink.

When he was done, she spread out her fingers and beamed up at him. “Thank you!”

“They look very pretty.”

“Now let me paint yours.”

Logan swallowed. He’d give this poor kid the moon if she wanted it, but he wasn’t too sure about a pink manicure. “How about just a pinkie.”

“Okay,” she agreed and laid his pinkie flat on the tray.

“Hey!” Trik bellowed and strode into the room. “What’s goin’ on in here?”

Rebecca looked up at Trik and smiled. “Now we match!”

“Ooh,” Trik cooed with a smirk and looked at Logan’s pinkie. “Pink. Very pretty.” He turned back to Rebecca and asked, “Would you like a card?”

Rebecca nodded, took his card and added it to the pile, keeping Logan’s cards on top. “Thanks.”

The event coordinator came in to the room and was pleased to see smiles on everyone’s faces. “We’re ready for you in the game room,” she said. “There’s an air hockey table set up and I know some of the patients are eager to play a game or two.”

Trik followed her out the door and Logan stood up. “It was nice to meet you, Rebecca.”

“Thanks, Logan.” She looked down at her painted nails with a smile so big that Logan could feel it in his heart.

Logan spent the afternoon shaking hands, taking pictures, reading stories, playing air hockey with leukemia patients, and signing shirts, hats and team photos. He helped draw the shy kids out of their shells and did crafts, colored, and played cards. It was a humbling experience and he had a plethora of different emotions rattling around his brain at the end of the day.

By the time he arrived on Kate’s doorstep he was emotionally drained. He’d handed out dozens upon dozens of trading cards and pucks, but it just didn’t seem like enough when most of those kids were battling for their lives.

He looked down at his phone and immediately deleted Kammie-with-a-K’s phone number. A few weeks ago, he would have given the nurse a call and let one thing lead to another. Now, after meeting Kate, he didn’t even give the eager nurse or her phone number a second glance.

What was it about Kate that kept derailing his thoughts when he least expected it? She wasn’t the type of woman a man could just toss aside after a tumble in the sheets—or on her dining room floor. She deserved to have a man take the time to get to know her—physically and mentally—and he just might be open to that kind of relationship after so many unfulfilling ones.

The nurse and the kids were forgotten when Kate swung open her front door and smiled at him. She was wearing a strappy sundress and her feet were bare. She looked so fresh and beautiful that Logan wanted to take her right there on the front porch.

“Well, come on in,” she said with a wave of her hand when he just stood there looking at her.

He followed her inside and she went into the kitchen to check on dinner. He stood at the counter and picked at his pinkie. As much as he tried to pick it off, the pink lacquer clung to his nail like superglue.

“How was your day?” Kate asked, stirring something on the stove. She looked as beautiful in bare feet in her kitchen as she did all dressed up for work.

“It was good,” he mumbled, still working on the polish. As grateful as he was for the gift from Rebecca, no self-respecting hockey player could go around with pink nail polish on his fingernails. “We went to the children’s hospital and visited with the kids.”

“Aww.” Kate set the spoon down on the counter and went to him. “That’s so sweet. Did the whole team go?”

“Yeah.”

She took his hand in hers and kissed his knuckles. “What have you got here?” she asked with a twinkle in her eye.

Logan sighed. “This little girl wanted to paint my nails. And I can’t seem to get the damn stuff off.”

Kate laughed and pulled him down the hall and into the bathroom. After rummaging through the cabinet, she produced a bottle of nail polish remover and a bag of cotton balls.

The bathroom was small and her thighs bumped his as she rubbed a wet cotton ball over his pinkie.

Logan scrunched up his nose at the strong odor. Man, that nail polish was something to be reckoned with if the only thing that could remove it was this foul smelling liquid.

When Kate was finished working her magic, there was no trace of pink. But that didn’t mean he’d ever forget the little girl named Rebecca.

Kate dropped the smelly pink cotton ball in the wastebasket and screwed the lid back on the bottle of nail polish remover. Her hair fell around her face and Logan tucked a lock of it behind her ear.

She was smiling ear to ear and he tilted her chin up so he could see her eyes. “What’s so funny?” he asked.

“I was just imagining you letting some little girl paint your fingernail pink.”

“For your information, her name was Rebecca.”

Kate smiled. “Sounds like Rebecca had you wrapped around her little finger.” She gripped his pinkie and stroked it to make her point.

He lowered his head and touched his lips to hers. She sighed and reached up to circle her arms around his neck. One kiss led to another and before they knew it they had positioned themselves so that they could make love on the counter.

Somehow, they could never seem to make it into the bedroom.

* * *

The only time Julia felt truly sexy was on the nights she played at the Blue Key. Although she couldn’t see what was going on around her, she could
feel
the electricity in the air whenever she came here. You didn’t have to see the couples who were sitting close together in the booths or the singles bellied up to the bar waiting to be paired off with someone for the night to know that something provocative was happening here.

As much as Kate despised the place, Julia thought her sister would probably enjoy coming here with her mysterious new man. A visit to the Blue Key would be the perfect date for two people who couldn’t keep their hands off each other.

Julia preferred classical music, but she also liked to mix things up with jazz and more upbeat rock-based popular music like Crush 21. Cassidy St. Claire wouldn’t be making an appearance at the Key anytime soon, so Julia played what was requested of her along with the sultry, sensual R&B that suited the club. The kind of music that encouraged thoughts of sensuality and seduction and provided an ideal backdrop for the risqué behavior happening out on the dance floor and in the hotel on the next floor. Julia had heard tales of racy goings on in the elevator as well. Apparently no place in the Blue Key was off limits when its patrons were feeling frisky.

As she began to play her first set, Julia wondered if Gabe had ever been to a place like the Key and whether or not he liked it if he had. He didn’t seem like the kind of guy who frequented places like this, but people were always full of surprises. But probably not Gabe. He would be much more comfortable at a comic book convention or a seminar about all that computer code he wrote.

Sometimes, when she could think beyond events of the past, Julia let herself think about the things men and women did behind closed doors—and in elevators. They weren’t things she was completely opposed to doing with Gabe, but unfortunately their relationship would never progress that far. If she didn’t end things first, then he would do it eventually, long after her heart could be resuscitated.

So, with the sexy thoughts of what was going on around her and in the elevator, Julia played the piano for a room full of new lovers, old lovers, and ones who belonged to someone else.

Chapter Seven

Decoded

Gabe scraped his hand over his face and rubbed his eyeballs vigorously until he saw red spots. The code on his screen wasn’t going to write itself, but because it was for some stupid mundane project for his boss and not for VINCE, his heart just wasn’t in it. If Killingsworth kept pulling him away from VINCE like this, Gabe would be old and gray before he ever got to see the program come to fruition.

When the phone on his desk rang, he was glad for the distraction. The cheery voice on the other end wasn’t Julia’s and that automatically made him grouchy again.

“Hi, Gabe, it’s Sherri in Personnel.”

Sherri was always flashing too-white teeth when she saw him in the hallway, along with a too-big smile. Gabe had the feeling that if he stuck around long enough to talk to her she would probably ask him out. There wasn’t anything wrong with her per se, but he just didn’t like how she looked at him like she was ready to pounce.

In all reality, he really should get out more and actually
date
, but he couldn’t find the appeal in chatting with a woman about their lives and trying to explain what he did for a living without her eyes glazing over from boredom.

Although there was one woman who understood and genuinely appreciate his work. Julia. No wonder he couldn’t seem to talk himself into diving into the dating pool. He compared every woman to her. That might not be so bad, he thought to himself. Julia was smart, funny and sweet. But she also happened to live twenty-two hundred miles away and he didn’t see a visit to the west coast anywhere in his future.

“Gabe?”

Sherri’s voice reeled his thoughts back in from the greener pastures they’d been roaming in.

“Oh, hey, Sherri.”

“I just wanted to let you know that your two weeks of vacation are available now. They should show up on today’s paystub.”

Vacation. Ha! Good one, Sherri. He hadn’t taken a vacation since long before VINCE had been a twinkle in his eye.

“Thanks,” he said, not really meaning it. She really could have just emailed him with the big news and left him to wallow in his work.

He was just about to hang up when she continued on in her overly cheerful voice. “I noticed you haven’t used your vacation in the last few years.”

“Yeah, I know—”

Wait! That was it! The idea popped into his head like an achievement notification popping up in an Xbox game.

He bolted upright in his chair and nearly sent it banging into the wall behind him. He’d use his vacation time to visit Julia!

Without realizing Sherri was still on the line, Gabe hung up the phone and pulled up a website to search for airline tickets. And then he dialed Julia’s number.

* * *

Shamus navigated Julia through the courtyard and to the front door of her apartment. She had her key ready and slid it into the lock just as a sound came from behind her.

She turned and was assaulted by the strong smell of Old Spice. Someone should really tell her neighbor Lawrence to use that stuff sparingly.

“Hey Lawrence,” she greeted. “How’s it going?”

He chuckled, amused. “There’s really no sneaking up on you, is there?”

“Let’s hope not,” she joked.

“Hey, I got some of your mail by mistake again.”

“Thanks.” She grabbed onto the letter he was holding out to her and smiled. “Have a good one.”

“You too.”

When she was safely inside her apartment, Julia dropped her keys on the table, kicked off her shoes, and removed Shamus’s body harness.

VINCE alerted her to an incoming call from Gabe and she quickly answered it.

“I’ve got some vacation time to use,” Gabe told her, sounding suspiciously nonchalant.

“Cool. I hear Bermuda is beautiful this time of year.” She took a moment to picture him lounging on the beach, exotic drink in hand. Maybe she should talk Kate into planning a sisters-only vacation. Surf, sand and salt water sounded like just what she needed.
If
she could pull Kate away from her new mystery man.

“I’m coming to Red Valley, Julia. I already bought the plane ticket and everything. I want to meet you. I mean
really
meet you.” In a rush, he rattled off the dates and flight information.

Julia swallowed. What had he done? She’d gotten so comfortable with talking on the phone with him and now everything was going to change. He would come to Red Valley and he would see her and see how
blind
she was. On the phone it was easy enough to forget, but once he got here he’d be reminded of just how real it was. How
permanent
.

No
.

He couldn’t come here and jeopardize everything they’d built over the past year.
Please no
.

“I hope it’s okay,” he said when she didn’t say anything in response. “You don’t have any plans that week, do you?”

She couldn’t dash his hopes. He sounded so damn excited.

Why did he have to sound so damn excited?

“Nope, no plans. My calendar is wide open.”

“Great.”

“Are you
sure
you want to spend your vacation
here
?” she asked in a last-ditch effort to persuade him to go
anywhere
but Red Valley.

“Yeah, I’m sure.” His voice fell. “You sound like you don’t want me to come.”

“I…I do. It’s just a surprise.” A really big, unexpected, horrible disaster of a surprise.

“Talking on the phone is great, Julia, but I’d like to see you and… I can’t wait to hug you and hold your hand.”

She wanted those things, too. But she didn’t want the rejection that would almost certainly result from them.

Gabe had gone and screwed the pooch and he was completely oblivious of it.

* * *

Cassidy was a long-haired cat who hated to be brushed, so Julia wasn’t surprised when she noticed a knot in her fur. She tried to untangle it with a brush—much to Cassidy’s extreme displeasure—but it only made matters worse. Cassidy was so angry that she had escaped Julia’s grasp and was now hissing in the corner. Frustration mounted when the angry cat refused to come out and Julia threw the brush down on the carpet.

Damn, it was infuriating not being able to do anything on her own.

She hated to make the phone call, but unfortunately, it was unavoidable. “I need help.”

“I’m on my way. What’s wrong?”

“Cassidy has a tangle in her fur. It needs to be cut out and I can’t do it. Jesus, Kate, I had the freakin’ scissors in my hand, but I can’t do it without the risk of hurting her.” Her voice broke on a sob and she bit down on her lip. “Dammit, I can’t even do the simplest thing on my own.”

“It’s okay, honey. I’ll be there in two seconds.”

Kate’s calm and reassuring voice made Julia that much more frustrated. “That’s great and everything, but what if you weren’t around to help me?”

“I’m not going anywhere, Julia. Where else would I be?”

“I don’t know. Maybe to have your own life without your pathetic sister holding you back.”

“Jeez, Julia. I don’t know where you come up with this stuff. I was on my way home for lunch anyway.”

A short time later, after her arrival was announced by VINCE, Kate breezed in through the door. “Now where is the offending creature who has caused such an uproar?” she asked playfully.

Julia was on the couch, scowling. Kate ignored her for now to focus on the matter at hand. After a few moments of peering underneath tables and chairs, she finally found Cassidy cowering behind the toilet.

Julia had been right. The tangle needed to be cut out because it was pulling at the skin and making the cat miserable.

With a quick snip of the scissors, the knot was eliminated.

As she approached Julia on the sofa, Kate knew to tread lightly. “What’s got you so freaked out?”

Well, maybe not too lightly.

Julia took a ragged breath and swiped her hair out of her face. “Nothing. Everything is perfectly perfect.”

“No, it’s not. Now spill.”

Julia’s shoulders slumped and her whole body seemed to sag. “Gabe is coming here to Red Valley.”

Kate clapped her hands together. “That’s great! It’s about time the two of you finally met in person. Wait,
that’s
what’s got you all huffy? Why are you acting like Darth Vader is coming for a visit?”

The scowl deepened. “I like the friendship we have. Why go and ruin a good thing?”

“How would seeing Gabe ruin your friendship?”

“What if he doesn’t like me and I lose my best friend?”

Kate let out a heavy sigh and threw up her hands. “Do you hear yourself? You’re talking like a crazy person.” Since when was her baby sister so insecure?

Since she liked a boy. A man. Gabe.

“Don’t you dare hide behind your blindness.”

Julia’s jaw dropped open and she made a sound like she’d been punched in the stomach. “You can go now. Thanks for helping Cassidy.”

“Yeah right. Like you can get rid of me that easy.” She shoved Julia over and sat down on the couch next to her. “This isn’t bad news, JuJu.”

Julia threw her head back and groaned. They why did it feel like it was the end of her little world as she knew it?

* * *

When Gabe called her that night, Julia was still in a sour mood. She liked to think that she had some façade of control over her life and now Gabe was pulling the rug out from under her.

“What kind of music do you listen to? Besides classical?”

The question was simple and she knew exactly how to answer it, but it still made her pause. After hours on the phone together, how was it that there were still things about her he didn’t know?

Still, she was thankful he hadn’t brought up his big trip out west.

“I like Crush 21,” she answered.

“Me too.” He sounded relieved that they shared the same taste in music. “I saw them in concert last summer.”

“Really?” She would have loved to experience her favorite band playing live.

“Yeah. It was one of the best shows I’ve ever been to. But I guess you already know how little I get out and do anything. Anyway, Cassidy the lead singer was born to work a stage.”

“She has an amazing voice. I guess I never told you how my cat got her name.”

“That makes sense. Yeah, their album is good, but being there and hearing them play live was phenomenal. Cass was all over the stage head banging to the music. The drummer was rockin’ out like crazy. The guitar player shredded like a bad-ass. And when the bass player switched places with the drummer, the crowd went crazy.”

Julia could feel the excitement radiating from him. She could tell by his voice that he was moving around and probably gesturing and acting out the concert.

“Everything is ten times louder and amplified,” Gabe continued. “The audience was really going nuts.”

“I hear the guys in the band are good looking,” she commented.

He laughed. “I don’t know about that. But it’s like they were born to be rock stars. And I was born to be a computer geek. What do you think you were born to do, Julia?”

It was an innocent question, but it struck a tender spot inside her. What
was
she born to be? Blind? Disabled? Pathetically alone?

“Sorry.” Gabe bit his lip and looked sorry for asking such a dumb personal question. But she couldn’t see his expression. He kept forgetting that she couldn’t see him.

Sheesh, that made him want to reach out and touch her all the more. Sound and touch were senses she could read. “I know you were born to be a composer, Julia. And a great mom to Shamus and Cassidy, too.”

“Yeah,” she mumbled. “I guess so.”

“What’s going on, Julia?”

“What are you talking about?” Somehow it wasn’t so easy to play dumb with her best friend. It didn’t seem to work very well with her sister either.

“Ever since I told you I’m coming to Red Valley you sound…different.”

So, she mused. He’d picked up on that.

“Honestly?” Of course honestly, she thought. They’d never been anything but honest with each other. “I’m afraid to lose what we have.”

“Well, that’s not going to happen,” he said as if the notion was news to him. “If anything, it’ll just make our friendship stronger.”

“I’m going to hold you to that.”

“Good.”

“I can have a car sent to the airport for you. Or I could meet you there.” Gabe deserved to be greeted by someone when he got off the plane. Being a gracious host was one of the obligations of friendship, wasn’t it?

“Nah, I’m going to rent one at the airport. I’ll want a car if I’m going to be there for a week anyway. That way we can go anywhere together. You and me and Shamus can hop in the car and drive wherever we want.”