Free Seeing Forever by Vanessa Devereaux Page A

this?”
    “Do what?”
    Before he answered he’d brought her hand up to his
mouth and kissed the back of it.
    She relaxed back into the pillow. How she’d wished
it had been her mouth and not her hand.
    Katey glanced at him. His eyelids started to flutter. It looked like he was drifting
off to sleep again. It would be a long time before she got to that point. She
was in her mid-twenties and this was the first time she was sharing a bed with
a man.
     
     

 
     
    Chapter
Ten
     
    When Luc woke up the following morning he could tell
that the sun was already up, because he was able to see some brightness in his
room.
    He recalled the night before. The terrible dream
he’d had. He’d relived the bomb going off and then the darkness and nothing
else. In his sleep he’d even smelled the vile odor of that day. He’d never
forget that as long as he lived. He was sure it was the burning flesh of the two
men who’d been killed.
    And then he remembered Katey waking him. Her kindness, and as he felt the bed beside him, realized he hadn’t
imagined it and that it hadn’t been part of the dream. He’d asked her to lie
beside him and she had.
    He felt her thigh under the blanket but tried not to
wake her. The poor girl had offered to stay the night and instead of being in
the comfy bed in the guest room, here she was asleep under some blankets on top
of his bed. Yesterday he’d been adamant about telling her he didn’t need help
but after last night he realized that she brought him a certain sense of peace.
It was hard to explain. He sat up and Willow brushed his hand.
    “Hi, big guy. We
have to be quiet because Katey’s asleep. I need to go
to the bathroom.”
    He pulled on the harness and stood as Willow led him
out into the hallway.
    Katey and
Willow were quite a team. But what would he do when they were gone? Katey wouldn’t be with him for more than a month. Willow
would be sticking around, but dogs didn’t live forever. Jake had told him
Willow was three, and a dog his size probably lived to be eleven, twelve max.
Nine years was a long way off, but one day he’d have to start all over again,
new trainer and new dog. The thought depressed him.
    Luc slapped the wall and then edged his hand along,
feeling for the sink. He took a deep breath. Unlike his blindness, Katey was a temporary fixture in his life. He opened the
cupboard above the sink, recalling his feeble attempt at trying to end it all.
    Willow nudged his thigh. Luc reached down and found
the dog’s head and gave him a pat. If he didn’t know better he’d assume that
the canine sensed what he’d done and that he was contemplating it yet again.
    “It’s okay, I’m not going to
kill myself…not today, anyway.”
    Luc turned suddenly when he heard floorboards
creaking. He knew this house like the back of his hand. That particular squeak
meant that someone had walked past the bathroom.
    “ Katey ?” Shit,
he hoped she hadn’t overheard him telling the dog about his plans to kill
himself. And if she had, that she wouldn’t say anything to Josie or even Jake.
What if they locked him up?
    “Good morning,” she said.
    “I hope I didn’t wake you?”
    “No. I’m used to getting up early. Are you feeling
better this morning?”
    “Yep, much, and thanks for last night.”
    “Glad I was here to help.”
    So am
I.
    “I thought I’d make us some breakfast.”
    “Great. Josie put bacon and eggs in the fridge a
couple of days ago. I’d like to take a shower before I eat.”
    “I’ll get cooking while you’re doing that.”
    Another creak, which meant Katey had walked away. He couldn’t grow dependent on
her so there’d have to be some compromise. No more staying overnight and only
an hour’s training per day, max. Yeah, he’d tell her that as diplomatically as
he could while they ate breakfast.
    ****
    Katey’s cell
phone rang just as she’d put the bacon into the pan. She picked it up and saw
that it was Jake’s name and number.
    “Hi,