Carnal Vengeance by Marilyn Campbell

serious he looked. "Of course I trust you, you know that." He let out a breath he must have been holding until she answered. It made her stomach flutter to know she had the power to make him nervous.
    "Good. The theory is that if someone loses one of his senses, like his eyesight, his other senses become more acute, or at least the person learns to tune in on them better. You know, like how a blind person seems to hear little things you or I might not notice."
    "Yes, I know what you mean." Holly angled her head a little, waiting to find out what he had in mind, and wondering why they couldn't go inside for this conversation.
    "Well, there's a, um, what was that word? Oh yeah, he's a pa-ra-psy-chologist. Anyway, this guy believes that if our ability to communicate with our usual senses was eliminated, we would learn to use mental telepathy."
    "Hmmm. I don't know about that."
    "C'mon. Try it with me. It'll be fun. Who knows, you and I have gotten real close. Maybe we could read each other's minds if we did what that guy said. Unless you're afraid of the dark."
    Holly stifled a laugh. It suddenly occurred to her that this was probably an elaborate ruse to sneak past her defenses, including the traditional challenge to her courage. What Jerry didn't know was that the joke would be on him, since she was already bent on surrender.
    "Okay, but there's something important I wanted to talk to you about."
    "You could have talked to me for the past hour," Jerry grumbled. "Sorry. I didn't mean it that way. It's just that I have this, uh, paper due and... well, if you don't want to help—"
    "You don't need to pout, honey. We can play your game and we'll talk afterward."
    "No. I mean, not tonight. We'll talk tomorrow. Once we start, neither of us is allowed to use our voices or turn on a light for the rest of the evening. No talking, no humming, nothing." He pulled out a white handkerchief and shook it loose of its folds. "I'm going to blindfold you until we get inside. I figure we can use your bedroom since there aren't any windows in there, and then I'll take the blindfold off. Ready?"
    Holly nodded her head and smothered another laugh. Did he honestly believe she would fall for such a harebrained excuse to get into her bedroom and throw her off balance? He was just lucky his plans went along with her own. Later she would tell him he hadn't fooled her for a minute, but for now she'd let him think he was terribly clever.
    He removed her glasses and handed them to her. Without her glasses the world became a murky place, but she was accustomed to dealing with that shortcoming. The instant he secured the makeshift blindfold around her head, however, a surge of panic welled up inside of her.
    She felt the keys being tugged from her clenched fist and had to force herself to relax. The lock clicked back into its chamber. A slight puff of air blew into her face, notifying her that Jerry had pushed the door open. This experiment could prove to be interesting after all, she thought. Jerry grasped her hand to guide her.
    "Oh, wait," Holly said, thinking of the bottle of wine in the fridge that would help them both relax. His fingers pressed lightly on her lips, reminding her not to speak aloud. Forget the wine.
    The game had begun.
    It was her apartment; she should have been able to maneuver around the few pieces of furniture without difficulty. Instead, she found herself taking shuffling steps and clutching Jerry's hand tighter than necessary, as he led her into her bedroom and closed the door behind her.
    As promised, he slipped the blindfold off with his free hand. It made no difference whatsoever. Her eyes were open, but there wasn't a single speck of light.
    Remembering her glasses, she pulled Jerry further into the room, until her knee nudged the bed. Feeling her way along its edge, she was able to locate her nightstand and place her glasses in their assigned position. Only once before had she failed to be so careful, and the result was an