In Braille by Alby Mangroves

Official Description: A young woman, scarred inside and out. A guilty man looking for forgiveness. Will they recognize their redemption in each other? Beauty is not just skin-deep. The winning entry into the anon Beautiful Edward Challenge. A/H, Bella and Edward, Romance
Word Count: 5,276

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Who would have imagined that a big, slobbery dog could lead to a moment filled with pure sensuality? Not me. That’s for sure.

But of course, chance encounters are just that… Chances.

And sometimes chances are beautiful.

Good Samaritan, Edward Masen finds his ‘chance’ when he and his friendly German Shepherd, Balt visit the local hospital for their usual therapy session with kids in the children’s ward. Something unexpected happens, Balt’s typically graceful and laid-back behavior is thwarted by a cupcake.

Yep. A cupcake.

Something that feels much like a warm hairy wall bulldozes its way under her table. Bella yelps in surprise and instinctively pushes away from the table, upending her chair and crashing backwards to the ground in a graceless tangle of limbs. She’s a little stunned by this development, and just lays still for a moment, trying to gather her wits about her.

“Baltazar!” A man’s voice sounds suddenly very close as a hand encircles her upper arm. She can feel his presence as he kneels on the floor alongside her. Fearing her face is arranged in an expression resembling a stunned mullet, Bella snaps closed her mouth and exhales through her nose, finally under control again.

“Are you alright?” Says the man, his voice softly quiet in her ear and his warm breath fluttering across her cheek.

What Edward doesn’t realize is that while Bella can hear him, and feel his warm breath… She can’t actually see him. It’s clear in the moments following their first encounter that she feels insecure about her impairment. But, even though her eyes are blind – she sees more in those minutes spent with Edward than perhaps ever before in her life. And gosh, it’s so gorgeous.

“You have me at a disadvantage, Edward,” She eventually chokes out.

“I do?” Strangely, Edward’s voice sounds equally unstable.

“You already know what I look like, but I have no idea about you.” Bella knows this could go either way; he might laugh it off, or he might play along. She hopes like hell it’s the latter, because this bizarre aura around them is zapping at her sensitized nerves and she needs to know more, to see more about him. Hesitatingly, she lifts her hand toward him, allowing it to hang in the air between them.

She smiles with relief when she senses Edward reposition himself directly in front of her, and unwittingly licks her lip as his warm fingers take a gentle hold of her own, guiding them to his shoulder.

Trust me when I say that is just the tip of the iceberg… *sigh* Let’s just say her ‘exploration’ of Edward will leave you tingling. Go check out In Braille (and help me convince Alby to continue it!), you won’t regret it!