Free Seduced by a Dangerous Man by Cleo Peitsche Page A

something,” she said. She sounded… not insane. That surprised me. But then, what did an insane person sound like? “Thank you,” she said.
    “To new friends,” Henry said. Their glasses clinked, and I rolled my eyes so hard that it actually hurt.  
    A hand brushed the door. I tensed my muscles, ready to bolt. With a little luck, I could make it out the back door before Henry pulled himself together enough to react. He would see me, sure, but I would just deny everything.
    “Forget the crackers,” the woman said.  
    “You sure?”
    “Yes,” she purred. “I’d rather nibble on you.”
    I heard slurping kissing sounds, a low male growl, a woman’s giggle. Then the light clicked off.  
    Their footsteps faded.
    The second they were gone, I felt a scream building in my chest. I wanted them to come back! Only the fear of what would happen to Rob kept me quiet.  
    I felt woozy. The adrenaline overdose from nearly getting caught was running headlong into my fear of enclosed, dark spaces. Henry and his date might still be in the living room, but I couldn’t wait.
    I pushed my fingers on the handle, doing my best to keep quiet even though I wanted to shove the door open and run.
    The door didn’t open. I pushed harder.
    It was… locked.
    The breath I gulped in wasn’t nearly enough to stop my vision from going spotty. Immediately, I tried to convince myself that I was fine, that I was in the open and had merely closed my eyes.
    But this darkness was different. It attached to my skin, my lips, the inside of my nose and mouth, my lungs. Millions of cloying little demons with suckers for mouths. It had weight, and it was suffocating me as surely as if I had been shrink-wrapped.
    I had no control over the high-pitched whimper that escaped my throat. My eyes squeezed tighter, and the constricting darkness squeezed, too, like an enormous snake, waiting for me to exhale, then taking advantage.
    Snake. It made me think of Corbin, of rattlesnakes and king snakes. Corbin. Corbin…
    My chest suddenly loosened, just a notch, but enough for me to pull in a breath. I knew what was coming next… more breaths, faster and faster until I hyperventilated and passed out.
    Which wouldn’t be so bad, to be passed out and freed from this. Except… Henry.  
    I slid down carefully as my chest expanded suddenly. The fresh air went straight to my head. It was dizzying. Somehow, I ended up on the floor, propped up against the wall. My flailing brain retained just enough of a handle on the situation to realize that I hadn’t made too much noise.
    My hands cupped over my mouth. They were a poor substitute for a paper bag, which had never worked anyway. I dredged up the memory of poor Mrs. Rico, the anxiety specialist who had tried her best to help me as a child—but it was too late for that. This was worse than being in a car in a snowstorm.  
    I was locked in a dark closet.  
    And I needed to get a grip.
    Corbin’s voice came faintly toward me. “Are you afraid of the dark?”  
    It was a memory, I knew, but I latched onto him with every ounce of strength I possessed. I could see his soft, full lips, the corners raised in a pleasant smile. “Are you afraid?” he repeated softly.

    ~~~

    “It’s not a difficult question.” Corbin turned toward me, smiling gently. He had pulled off his overcoat while we were checking in, and he tossed it lightly over a handsome wingback chair.  
    “No,” I scoffed. “Are you?”
    “No,” he said evenly. I had the impression that if the answer had been different, he would have admitted it. “So what is it that freaks you out so much?”
    During a leisurely dinner at a bistro, conversation had turned toward my panic attacks. I’d told him that my last two were when my car crashed and the first time he’d handcuffed me for rough oral sex. He’d dropped it, but apparently he hadn’t forgotten.
    “It’s not the dark, though…” I shuddered.  
    Corbin set down the backpack that we’d