“Sure, but first you might want to slow your breathing. If you keep hyperventilating like that, you’ll pass out before you get there.”
She deliberately took some slow breaths. “Okay. I think I’ll be all right long enough to reach the door if you can help me find it.”
“Stand up and I’ll guide you.”
“Wait. I have to find the floor first.” She covered her chest with the sheet, leaned away from Sly and felt for the edge of the bed. When she had it, she dragged her feet over and set them on the hardwood. She tugged on the sheet, but she couldn’t pull it free. “Okay. I—uh, I’m not dressed. You won’t look, will you?”
“How the hell can I guide you out of the room if I can’t look?”
Morgaine mentally rolled her eyes. “Okay, you have a point, but don’t stare.”
“Fine,”he said, sounding bored.“It’s nothing I haven’t seen a million times.”
She gasped. “You’ve seen me naked a million times?”
He laughed.“No, but I got your mind off what’s happening, didn’t I? Now stand up and I’ll put my hand under your elbow. We’ll walk around the bed to the door.”
“But you don’t have a hand.”
“Just relax and let your other senses take over.”
Morgaine chewed her bottom lip, but forced herself to stand, leaving the safety of the mattress behind. Good to his word, she felt Chad’s gentle pressure on the underside of her arm, near her elbow. She shivered at his cold touch but was grateful for it.
“Ready, set, walk with me.”
She tentatively advanced a few baby steps at a time. “I thought you promised to stay out of our bedrooms. Does my waking up and finding you here mean you’re not doing that?”
“Not at all. I just noticed you didn’t make it back to your place last night, and knowing how freaked out you get in the dark, I figured you’d be in deep shit when you woke up.”
“Uh, yeah. I guess everyone knows my little secret now. Thanks.”
“What? That you’re afraid of the dark? Please. Any thirty-year-old who sleeps with a night light on is either afraid of the dark or thinks she’s five.”
Eventually she ran into something soft with her foot. “Oh! My dress.” She bent over and scooped it up with her free arm. “Thank the Goddess. Now I have something to wear when I get out of here.”
“Damn,”Chad said.
“Don’t tease. I’m about a hair away from losing it.”
“Okay, okay. Relax. We’re almost there.”
She walked a few more steps completely blind when she stubbed her toe. “Ow!”
“Sorry, I should have warned you. You made it. That was the door.”
“Oh!” She fumbled around until she found the handle. As soon as she twisted it, relief washed over—only to be replaced by despair when she discovered that darkness lay on the other side of it too.
“Shit. The living room is blacked out too. Now what?”
“I’ve got you. I’ll just take you to the other door.”
“Wait. I need to put my dress on.”
Fortunately, it was a peasant-type dress with elastic around the neckline and bodice, so all she had to do was slip it over her head. Once she had it on, it felt funny, and she tried to adjust it.
“You have it on backwards.”
“Oh, for Goddess’s sake.” She blew out a frustrated breath.
