“I proved to him that I can play hardball just as well as he can. I knew a city reporter, a guy who was dating a friend of mine, and I told Dad if he didn’t get his nose out of my business, I would leak the story to the press, about how a city councilman, which was his job then, was using his clout with local banks to block small-business loans. If I went on record, it would have been a nasty political blow,” she said. “And I had the paperwork to prove it.”

“That sounds … bad.”

“It was. He backed off and let the loan go through. It didn’t matter. If he hadn’t, I would have just used my trust fund left to me by my grandfather. He couldn’t touch that, but I didn’t want to use it if I didn’t have to.”

She sighed. “We didn’t speak to or see each other for two years after that. Then my mom got sick, and when we were trying to be there for her, and after she was gone, it brought us together again. He had to admit I was doing well, and things got better. He even came to the shop, and we have lunch now and then. But I’m always wary of him.”

“I had no idea,” Jonas said quietly.

“No one does. My exploits, as you know, were fairly well noted in the media. I know I was wrong to act out like I did back then, but I couldn’t help it. He was smothering. He says it’s all out of love, and I think he believes that sometimes, but it’s hard for him to let me be who I am.”

“You’re probably more like him than you think,” Jonas said.

Tessa drew back. “Why would you say that?”

“I’m sorry. It didn’t come out how I meant it. Just that … you’d have to be a strong personality not to let someone like him, with his own strong presence, completely obliterate you.”

She took a deep breath, and released it, relieved. “Yeah. I never thought about it that way, but I suppose that’s probably why we came at each other so hard over the years.”

Jonas was quiet then, his face pensive, and she watched him closely.

“What are you thinking about?”

He blinked, as if not realizing he had mentally wandered off.

“Oh, sorry. I just can’t imagine growing up with all that pressure.”

“Different families have different dynamics.”

“Yeah.”

She noticed he hadn’t taken even one sip of his champagne. “You don’t like your drink?”

“Not thirsty.”

“Me, neither,” she agreed, and set the glasses down. She quickly stripped off her scrubs and returned to the seat, straddling his lap. His arm grazed her bare skin, his hand finding its way down her arm to her waist, hip and leg, his pulse slamming in the base of his throat.

“You’re naked.”

“You noticed.”

She leaned in to kiss him. “I hope Collins takes the long way,” she said, bringing both his hands up to cover her breasts.

“Where are we going?”

The way his voice lowered and caught ever so slightly as he massaged her made her happy. She wanted him to be affected by her.

“It’s a surprise,” she said.

He didn’t say anything, and seemed to be holding his breath, as if deciding something.

That internal war again, whatever it was, she knew.

So she decided for him, leaning forward and kissing him until she had his complete attention. If he still thought she was seducing him for her own purposes, he was right.

Maybe he had the intentions wrong, but this was definitely selfish. She wanted him, and she knew he wanted her. She was willing to deal with any backlash later to have him now.

But he seemed to come around to her way of thinking rather easily, taking her into his arms and easing her down to her back. She stretched out on the sumptuous leather, and he followed, covering her with his own body.

She pushed his shirt up over his head, and he kicked his pants off. Then they were skin to skin, head to toe, and she almost purred when the strong, muscular legs wedged in between her thighs in a very erotic way. He didn’t rush to get inside her, but lay there, covering her, touching her and whispering sweet things she’d never forget.

Tessa closed her eyes in the bliss of Jonas’s body against her. As they settled into each other, nestled in the soft leather of the seat, Tessa had a sense of rightness she hadn’t ever felt before. She knew she was meant to be with this man. She had the rest of the night to convince him of that.

JONAS WAS A GONER as soon as he’d realized Tessa was naked.

Though their discussion had created more questions than answers for him, at the moment he had had five feet seven inches of delectable, delicious woman spread out beneath him.

He sighed softly against the skin just below her ear.

“This is nice,” she said breathlessly.

“Nice is a weak word,” he said lightly, nipping her earlobe, then sucking on it, swirling his tongue around the delicate inner shell. “Awesome. Fantastic. Mind-bending,” he offered, punctuating each word with a kiss, then a bite, then another kiss to soothe the sting.

Jonas was so hungry for her he didn’t know where to start. His hands explored lower, sliding down the smooth lines of her back to cup her firm ass and pull her up against him. He groaned as his erection rubbed against a soft patch of curls and slick flesh.

Being so close with Tessa shook him to his core. He took his time, moving his shaft slowly along her sex, driving them both crazy. He was gratified when her nails dug into his back and she pushed up against him, seeking him, a wordless sigh and whole-body tremor releasing yet another wash of heat from her body.

She made the prettiest sounds, her body cradling his perfectly. Drawing a lush, erect nipple in between his lips, he let the sensations of touch and taste roll over him.

“I wish I could see you,” he said, rising to find her lips for a kiss. “I’ve only ever touched you in the dark.”

“You’re right,” she said softly. “I hadn’t realized that. It will come back, Jonas.” She moved against him. “And when it does, I’ll still be here, if you want me to be.”

Her words made him ache. He was starting to want that more than just about anything, and that was dangerous, he knew. What she’d told him about her father had explained a lot. Jonas had made a hell of a leap based on partial information.

And he was keeping a secret that would tear her from his arms, he knew.

“I guess until then touching and tasting every inch of you will have to suffice,” he teased, injecting lightness into his voice, though his heart was heavy.

“I can live with that,” she said, sliding her hand down his chest to his lower stomach, finally caressing his cock and making him suck in a sharp breath.

As she left fluttering kisses all over his face, neck and shoulders, he moved to accommodate her as she worked her way lower and took him into her mouth.

He dived his hands into her hair, enjoying the multitude of sensations her mouth was creating as she licked and sucked, her warm mouth and soft lips nearly driving him over the edge. Pulling her around, he slid his hand between her legs and found her soaked, hot. He slid a finger inside, then two, and loved how her moans made her mouth vibrate around his cock.

“Condom. Now,” he demanded raggedly.

The next thing he heard was the ripping of the packet. He held his breath, waiting, hoping … and hissed out a sigh as she deftly covered him, kissing and teasing while she did.

Jonas eased her back on the seat, sliding his hand down to her ankle and pulling it up to rest against his shoulder.

“I’ve dreamed of this,” he confessed.

“Me, too.”

Turning his mouth to find the soft skin of her inner leg, he moved his fingers down to the crux of her body, seeking the hard, pebbled nub of her clit and stroking in slow, rhythmic motions.

Tessa’s whole body twisted toward him on the seat as she sought more, writhing under his touch, her gasps and moans increasingly urgent.

“Jonas, please, I want you inside me when I come,” she panted.

He pushed her a little more, turned on by her restraint, how she held back even as her body trembled with the effort.

When Jonas was sure she was as close to the edge as he was, he guided himself into her welcoming body, the very act drawing the breath out of him. She closed around him like a fist as he filled her with one, deep, purposeful thrust that made them both groan in ecstasy.

He’d never felt anything quite so perfect, he was sure of it. He paused, fighting the impulse to move, soaking up the sensation of her hot, inner muscles pulsing around his cock.

“Please, Jonas,” she begged, arching up under him.

He granted her request, withdrawing slowly and then thrusting forward again, his hand caressing her calf as he tried to create the image of what she must look like in his mind’s eye.

He nipped and kissed the flesh beneath her knee, opening her farther to his thrusts as he moved faster, letting need set the pace. She drove him on with hot, raw descriptions as she joined in, touching herself, telling him what she was feeling, what she wanted him to do to her.

He wanted to do all of it, over and over again.

He was sure he’d died and gone to heaven when he felt her hand down between them, her fingers circling the root of him as he thrust inside her.

“So. Good. Jonas,” she moaned, alternating touching him and herself.

Pulling her other leg up over his other shoulder, Jonas pumped into her without restraint, all the pent-up desire, need and anticipation he had for this woman driving him.

The orgasm was like nothing he had ever experienced. Release created a splash of color behind his eyelids as it shook his body. He kept thrusting, and amazingly, when normally the sensation would start to fade, it was instead followed by a second wave of pleasure that had him gasping as she clenched him tight, her nails scraping his chest as she cried out her own release.

Finally the urgency eased and he lowered her legs, withdrawing from her body reluctantly and pulling her up against him. Jonas had never been what he would call a snuggly kind of guy, but he needed the contact as if to reassure himself that this was real, that Tessa was really here with him.

Her skin was damp with perspiration, which intensified the scents of soap and sex. Her body was pliant and he stroked her wherever he could touch.

“Keep that up,” she said on a sigh, “and we’ll be reaching for the box again soon.”

“Sounds good to me,” he said.

He sought her lips for another kiss, the heat actually growing again between them, when a buzzer sounded somewhere close. Collins’s voice followed on the intercom.

“We’re close to our destination, unless you’d like me to drive around more. If so, hit the intercom button twice.”

Jonas and Tessa laughed at their driver’s discretion in not asking for a verbal response.

“He drove all the way from Baltimore already tonight. I think we can get dressed and give the guy a break,” Tessa said, extricating herself from Jonas’s embrace, though slowly.

“We can,” he agreed, but didn’t let her go before he pulled her in for another heart-stopping, promising kiss.

The next few moments were filled with the sounds of them righting themselves, dressing and hoping they were presentable before they gave the okay to Collins.

The car stopped, and a door opened on Tessa’s side. While making love to Tessa, Jonas hadn’t even noticed that the pounding rain on the outside of the car had lightened to a drizzle. The winds had calmed and he heard thunder rolling gently off in the distance.

As Collins opened his door, Jonas looked skyward, though he couldn’t see anything. The reflex to look was automatic, especially now that he had some hope that his vision was returning.

“It appears the worst of the storm has passed, sir,” Collins confirmed. “But the blackout is quite widespread and has not been rectified.”

“Where are we?” he asked.

“It’s a restaurant called Noir,” Tessa said.

“I’ve heard of it,” Jonas said. “They serve meals in complete darkness. The waitstaff is blind, as is the owner,” he said, unsure how he felt about that. “But how can they be open during a blackout?”

“A lot of the businesses have back-up generators, especially restaurants, since they need to keep food cold,” Tessa elaborated. “Though I imagine they might have a limited menu tonight.”

“That makes sense.”

He guessed Tessa was trying to make him feel more comfortable, which wasn’t at all necessary. He’d be just as happy going back to her place and finding something to eat there—preferably naked.

She stepped up close to him, and he could still detect the scents of sex on her skin, his soap mixing with her flowery scent. It was so sensual, he didn’t want anything to break the mood.

“I’ve heard such great things about it, I thought it would be … interesting,” she said, sounding unsure. “One of the things about Noir is being able to understand what it’s like to be blind. I want to understand how you’re experiencing the world right now, Jonas, but if it bothers you, we can go somewhere else.”

Taking his hand in hers, she absently rubbed her thumb over his knuckles, waiting for his answer.

“I’ve eaten all my meals in the dark for the last month, but I’m still curious about the place,” he said. “It’ll be fun,” he offered gamely.

They walked in and followed their server’s instructions to follow the handrail along the wall of the dark hallway to the back dining room, where a private table had been reserved for them.

“You are two brave souls to venture out tonight. We had dozens of cancellations, understandably,” the server said.

Jonas heard Tessa’s surprised gasp, and felt her stop beside him.

“Tessa?”

“Sorry. There’s not so much as a slant of light in here. It’s so black … it feels like it swallows you,” she said, and her fingers closed around his a little more tightly.

“We don’t have to stay,” he said.

“No, I’m fine. I was just thrown by how dark it is, stupid as that sounds, especially since we’ve spent all night in the dark.”

“Not stupid at all,” the server interrupted. “People often have that initial response to complete dark. Though you may turn off the lights at night, most places still have degrees of light twenty-four hours a day, whether from the moon, streetlights, night-lights, et cetera. So the experience of complete darkness can be quite startling,” he explained kindly.

“You’re right. I never thought about it that way,” Tessa confessed, sounding more relaxed.

“But you learn to use your other senses, and you learn to trust the people around you. You’ll see,” he said, and led them to a table, seating them next to each other.

“Being in the dark can be a revelation. You start to know each other in a new way, to find out things even about people you thought you knew well.”

As they settled into their seats, the waiter offered a short history of the restaurant.

“Dinners in total darkness started, as far as we know, as early as the nineteenth century. In the 1990s, Europeans began experimenting with dark dining, dark bars and similar events. The Paul Guinot Foundation, a French organization for the blind, came up with the idea of dinners in total darkness called Le gout du noir or ‘Taste of darkness.’”

“That’s fascinating,” Tessa responded. “But how is the food prepared?”

Jonas admitted that he, too, had initially thought it was only a marketing angle, and had no idea of the history of the place.

“Our cooks are able to see, along with minimal other staff,” the waiter assured them before asking if they had any questions. He also cautioned them to stay at their tables, to keep the area where he walked clear before he left.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Jonas asked, leaning in close to find her neck, nuzzling it.

He was concerned about how disoriented and fearful she’d sounded when they’d walked into the room, so he made sure he kept touching as they sat in the dark. Though it was not all for her benefit, he had to admit.

Now that he’d had her, he was even more needful to be with her again. Soon.

“I’m okay now. It’s very … shocking. I walked into this room and it hit me how awful it must be to live in complete darkness all the time,” she said.

He squeezed her hand. “Well, this has been a good reminder that I’ve spent a lot of time feeling sorry for myself when other people have spent every day without their sight and go on with their lives just fine.”

“That wasn’t my intention, not at all,” she rushed to say, and he shushed her.

“I know it wasn’t. But I think when I lost my sight, my first reaction was to feel like this was only happening to me. The waiter, and being here, reminded me otherwise,” he said with a sigh, regretting his own attitude over the last month.

He, at least, had the return of his vision to look forward to. Others never would have that. It was humbling.

“I’m sure my brothers would confirm I’ve been a huge pain in the ass,” he said with a smile, but then turned serious.

“I think you’re being too hard on yourself,” she chastised.

She leaned in, intending to kiss his cheek, but ended up kissing his shoulder instead, making them both laugh.

“Obviously my coordination in the dark needs some work,” she said ruefully, finding his face with her hands and offering another kiss.

“You were doing just fine in the subway car,” he said huskily as the door opened again, their waiter returning with drinks and appetizers.

“Maybe later we can find a blindfold,” she said in a suggestive tone. “One thing is for sure, your other senses really do take over when you don’t rely on your sight. Everything is so … intense.”

Jonas agreed. If there was one word for what was happening between him and Tessa, it was intense.

1:00 a.m.

“OHHH … THAT’S WONDERFUL,” Tessa said with a sigh as Jonas found her lips with his fingers, letting her nibble a piece of the rich cheese that the waiter had delivered to their table. This had very possibly been the best meal of her life.

Though at first it was awkward, the waiter’s prediction had come true: as each course was served, they became more proficient at handling their food using their other senses, and even trusted each other’s coordination enough to feed each other.

Tessa knew that she trusted Jonas with her life. She had, literally, on several occasions. She hoped their experiences together were helping him to trust her more, too. He seemed to have relaxed toward her since their conversation in the car, and since making love.

A shiver ran over her skin. She couldn’t wait to get him alone again.

Tessa absorbed the experience of dark eating full-on. This was definitely something she wanted to do again. After she let go of her sense of disorientation and fear of the complete dark, she found she could manage more easily.

She wondered if Jonas would want to come back here after his sight returned. She wasn’t sure how she would feel about that in his shoes.

What she was finding entertaining and enlightening might be a bad reminder of what he went through. There was still a huge difference between spending a few hours in the dark and being blind. She knew she could walk out of the room and have her sight back. Jonas, and others who had lost their vision, didn’t have that luxury.

Though another part of her wondered if people who relied on their vision weren’t the ones who missed out. Being in the dark demanded such focus that it enriched as much as it denied.

“So tell me something that you could only tell me in the dark,” he said.

She paused. “I can’t think of anything.”

“Really? A secret that you never told, a fantasy that you are too shy to share in the light of day? Isn’t that what blackouts, airplanes and dark restaurants are for?” he joked, but she knew he was serious, too.

Her heart beat a little faster at the idea, and the seductive tone of his voice.

“Maybe,” she said, unsure.

“Tell me.”

Tessa couldn’t believe she was so nervous. She wasn’t shy, in fact, she was often the one who initiated sex with her partners. But there was one thing … she had never told anyone. She didn’t know if Jonas would be okay with it. What if he thought she was demented?

“The problem with sharing secrets in the dark is that we have to go out into the light at some point,” she said, thinking twice.

“Tell me, Tessa,” he said again, stroking her hand with his thumb.

Sparks lit along her skin and she almost expected to see them light up in the dark.

“Okay. There is one fantasy I’ve often had …”

“Mmm-hmm.” His hand was on her thigh, rubbing lightly there now, and she had a hard time focusing.

“I’d like to have someone watch me have sex.”

His hand stopped. “What do you mean exactly?”

“I’d like to perform for a lover. You know, just have you, for instance, sit back and watch. Maybe I could use a vibrator, my hand or some other toys, but I’d love to feel free enough with someone to do that, to know that they could enjoy just staying back and watching me pleasure myself,” she said, her voice catching. She was getting turned on just talking about it, but also felt embarrassed admitting it.

“I can’t imagine anyone saying no to that,” he said, his own voice a little rough.

“Men don’t want to think women can find pleasure without them. It’s a dent to their egos, I guess,” she said.

“Not mine. I could do that. If you want, I want to do that,” he said, his hand rubbing her leg again, moving higher. “When I have my eyes back, I mean. Just say the word.”

She was incredibly turned on by sharing that with him, and by the prospect of being able to do it. But as he buried his face in her neck, she pushed him back.

“Your turn.”

He took a breath. “Right. I don’t suppose I can get away with the standard guy fantasy of two women, right?”

She laughed. “I know you can be more creative than that.”

“I don’t know. I have always been a pretty traditional kind of guy in bed. What you did to me on the train … that was about as kinky as I have ever gotten.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah.”

“So is there anything you’ve ever thought you’d like to do? You know, the thing you can only share in the dark?”

She put her hand on his thigh now, mimicking his motion on hers earlier.

“You are evil,” he said.

“Tell me.”

“Okay. I’ve never done it, but I think I’d like to try …”

Tessa realized she was actually holding her breath.

“Maybe being tied up,” he said. “and tying up my partner in return.”

“Bondage?”

“Yeah,” he said softly. “I’ve never trusted anyone enough to allow myself to be completely at their whim. To let them do whatever they wanted to me. For them to be completely in control. No pain or anything like that … or maybe just a little,” he said in a tone that tantalized her. “And hopefully they could trust me in the same way.”

Tessa took a deep breath to try to slow down her speeding heart.

“I could so do that,” she said, enjoying the image of Jonas bound to her bed. “I mean, if you ever thought, you know, if you wanted me to—”

She stopped, realizing she had dug her nails into his thigh. When she pulled her hand away, her fingers brushed his cock, hard and testing the looseness of the scrubs.

“I’ll go find our waiter to see if he can bring a check,” she said quickly.

He got up, too, and as she turned on her heel, she bumped into the chair and stumbled forward.

Amazingly, Jonas was there, his strong hands closing on her upper arms, steadying her and then pulling her in to hold her close.

“Hey, careful.”

“Good catch,” she said, linking her arms around his neck.

“Mmm,” he said, kissing her.

“We all go through life stumbling around in the dark, Jonas, looking for something to grab on to that makes sense. You and I, we seem to keep bumping into each other. We fit.”

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