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He was beside me in another heartbeat.
“I don’t like it when it’s completely dark,” I said in a weak voice I hardly recognized.
“Then I guess we’re having a slumber party,” he said reassuringly as he picked me up and carried me to the bed. “Get in. Your whole body is shaking. Are you cold?”
I scrambled under the covers, finding the spot that was still warm from Chase’s body. “I-I don’t think so,” I stammered.
“Then why are your teeth chattering?” he asked as he slid in, pulled the covers over both of us, and wrapped his arms around me. “Christ! Your feet are cold, Vanna. I knew we lost power, but I figured you’d sleep through it.”
“I woke up,” I told him, my voice quivering. “It was dark. I always leave the light on, Chase. It was off.”
I swung my leg over him and tried to claw my way closer. I knew I was trying to crawl up his body, but I couldn’t help myself.
He was warm.
He was safe.
He was Chase, and the only thing keeping me from losing it.
“If I would haveknownthat you were afraid of the dark, I would have come to you as soon as I realized the power was off,” he growled as he pulled my body flush against his. “Why the fuck didn’t you tell me, Vanna? I’m your advisor. I should know about these things.”
My heartbeat started to slow as I absorbed Chase’s warmth and the hardness of his body beneath me.
I took a deep breath. “What was I supposed to say? That I was afraid of the dark like a three-year-old? It’s embarrassing. But it’s something that hasn’t gone away after the kidnapping.”
“It’s perfectly understandable, Vanna. Jesus! Did you really think I wouldn’t understand?” His voice sounded annoyed, but he was running a soothing hand up and down my back.
I started to relax as I pleaded, “Don’t be mad. The only one who knows is my counselor. I find it absolutely mortifying that I have to sleep with the bathroom light on every night. I’m a grown woman for God’s sake. I don’teverremember being afraid of the dark, even as a child. It’s not rational. I know my kidnappers aren’t coming to get me.”
“Fear isn’t always rational, baby,” he said in his low, slow, fuck-me baritone that I adored. “But that doesn’t mean it’s not there. Yours was born from trauma, Vanna. You were obviously terrified. If you would have told me, you never would have woken up in the dark alone.”
“That’s the first time it’s happened,” I admitted, my voice muffled because my face was buried in Chase’s neck. “I always leave the bathroom light on. As long as it’s not pitch dark when I wake up, I’m okay.”
My body was now completely relaxed, and the dark was no longer scary because Chase was here now.
“Or if you have company,” he said, amused.
“I don’t exactly run around climbing into other people’s beds,” I said drily. “Well, not under usual circumstances.”
“Sweetheart, feel free to crawl into mine any time you’re afraid of the dark,” he said in a gruff baritone that vibrated through my entire body.
I blew off the flirty comment. I’d gotten used to them. I was convinced that compliments rolled off Chase’s tongue pretty easily.
Not that I didn’t want to think he was attracted to me, but I knew he wasn’t.
I slowly loosened the choke hold I had around his neck as I asked, “Can you breathe? I’m sorry.”
I wasn’t sure what he was wearing, but he was covered. I was pretty sure he’d been hastily putting something on when he’d jumped out of bed.
It felt like a soft cotton thermal shirt and flannel bottoms.
God, did I really want to think about the fact that he might sleep naked?
No. No, I probably shouldn’t.
Even though I appreciated his tantalizingly masculine scent and every hard muscle of his body, I felt guilty for flinging myself over him.
I started to pull my leg off him.
