“Until they found out I had epilepsy.” I grunted, feeling more bitter than I’d meant to share.
“Oh, be quiet. That’s not true.” The hesitation in her voice said she agreed, though. As soon as they’d gotten my medical report, they’d pulled their offers, each school using the same vague words citing they’d found a better candidate for the scholarship. Mom wanted to sue for discrimination, but with no money, there was little we could do. Not to mention I’d always thought it was worthless to try. I’d been discriminated against my entire life. The colleges’ reactions weren’t anything new.
“He played in a league for a while after he lost his sight. Did he tell you that, hmm?”
I sighed, but she’d firmly caught Darcy’s attention.
“What sort of league?” he asked.
“A blind league,” I answered. If anyone was going to tell the story, it was me. “It was more for fun than competition. Anyone with sight issues could play. The ball had a sound echoing from it so we could hear it, and that’s how we knew when to swing. The bases were the same. They’re about four feet tall and they emit sounds, too. It’s called beep ball or beep baseball.”
“And he’s still good at it, but he quit the league a year or so ago.”
I rubbed my forehead, a stress headache already forming. “Work got busy, Mom.”
“That job is always hectic, Brooks. Darcy, tell him he needs to go back and play it.”
“Uh….” Darcy shifted closer to me, and I slid my hand into his, linking our fingers.
“Mom, stop it.” I smiled anyway because while she was pushy, she meant well. This was her version of caring, but I was sure Darcy wasn’t used to this kind of mother. Madam Winters cared about him, but she had a more tactful way of doing things, like throwing him into an auction without him knowing.
“Am I not allowed to worry about you working all the time?” She huffed at me. “Your company may have bought us this place, but money is nothing if you aren’t enjoying your life, Brooks.”
She had a point, but what she didn’t know was that by making Darcy relax, it would help me, too. Taking time for the Jet Ski was something I hadn’t indulged in much recently. Except for the occasional vacation when I could tell I was getting ready to burn out, I’d worked every day, all hours, just to keep my mind occupied. I would have gone on that way forever, except Madam Winters had called to ask if I was still interested in Darcy. I couldn’t have said no to her even if I’d tried because I hadn’t stopped thinking about him since the moment I met him.
We spent the next hour with Mom while Dad was at his volunteer job. While he didn’t need to work anymore, he liked to get out and about and do something with his hands, which I could respect. So, while Darcy didn’t get to meet my dad, he and Mom got along like a house on fire—after he loosened up some. Mom told him more stories about my childhood, like the time I saved a baby deer’s life and took care of it until a wildlife rescue worker could take it off my hands, and Darcy listened eagerly until I decided enough was enough. I didn’t want her giving away all my secrets.
She never once mentioned my epilepsy, and that was the thing about Mom—to her it meant nothing. It didn’t matter to her that she and Dad had worked multiple jobs to support my bills. When they reminisced about my childhood, they didn’t talk about my illness. To them, I was a happy child, and that was all they cared about.
By the time we got back to my house, Darcy had an extra bounce in his step. I was sure he didn’t notice it, but I did, because I paid attention to things like that more easily.
“Did you like my mom, sweet prince?” I asked when I opened the door. Levi’s soft snores echoed quietly in the living room when we went past it, and I smiled. He’d had a big day, too, and while an afternoon nap sounded nice right about now, I had other plans for Darcy.
“Pru was amazing. Nothing like Mother.” It didn’t sound like an insult, but it was mostly the truth. Mom was a soft person who had no idea about the dark sides of the city, while Madam Winters practically ran one side of the underworld of New Gothenburg. But while they were yin and yang in that regard, they had a lot of similarities. They both took people under their wings like a true mother, just in different ways.
I led Darcy into my office, and he came willingly, moving with me without a struggle. When I had him in there, I pushed him onto the couch, and he huffed but went until the sound of him falling onto the cushion met my ears. Unbuckling Lemonade from her harness, I guided her to the door of the office and let her out into the rest of the house, closing the door behind her.
She whuffed, but her nails clicked on the floorboards as she pranced away. I turned to face Darcy and smiled wickedly.
“What are you going to do to me?” he whispered, lust infused in every word that slipped out of his mouth, like a tempting siren drawing me closer.
“The real question is whatwon’tI do to you.” I moved to my desk and felt around until I found the handle to the top drawer. With a grin, I pulled the drawer open, grabbing the rope I had in there for occasions like this. His gasp told me he saw what I held in my hand as I patted around the top of my desk for the blindfold we’d abandoned this morning, and when I had it, I walked back over to him.
I kneeled in front of the couch, and he sat up, his knee nudging me. “Hold out your hands, sweet prince.”
Darcy did as I’d ordered, and I looped the rope around his wrists, testing the tightness by tugging on it. When I was sure the restraints wouldn’t slip, I grabbed the blindfold and put it over his head and across his eyes. Once finished, I ran my thumb over the bottom of the eye covers to make sure he really couldn’t see a thing.
“Why did you put me in this?” he whispered, his breath hitching in pleasure when I tested the rope’s tightness again.
“Because I want you to be in the same headspace as me.” I cupped his face and kissed his lips gently. “I want you to use your other senses. Your touch, taste, smell, and hearing. Can you do that for me, Darcy? Can you feel what I feel?”
“Yes,” he gasped out. “Yes.”
“Good boy.” I tugged on the rope at his wrists, and he came with me as I led him to my desk. He shivered and I felt it through the restraints as I shoved him none too gently onto the flat surface of my desktop. Darcy slammed onto his back, flailing slightly, and I steadied him.
Dark vision meant nothing when I was touching Darcy because he lit up my world in ways he wasn’t aware of. The planes of his chest were smooth under my fingers, not a single hair tickling my skin. He was any man’s dream come true—sexy and sinful.
I dragged my mouth across his stomach, feeling him quiver under the kisses I placed there as I trailed up to his chest. “I’m going to fuck you so hard over this desk that you’ll be walking screwy for weeks. Everyone in the Courtesan will know what I did to you.”
