The rapid tramping of footsteps in the leaves behind her startled her and she looked over her shoulder, swamped with irrational fear for a second until she saw who had found her. Then she wanted to disappear under the nearby rock.
“Shoot. Me. Now,” she whispered, plunking her butt down so she sat on her haunches, a really uncomfortable position considering her swollen ankles. Honey, you’re just a ticking time bomb, aren’t you?
Tank and Troy came running up to her, their faces tense. Troy’s cheeks were flushed like he’d run the entire way. Breathlessly, he said, “Sweetie, are you okay?”
Tank kneeled down to her and wrapped a gentle hand around her upper arm. “We saw you walking along the creek and then the next time I looked up you were gone. I decided to check and I thought—we thought we heard you crying.” His gaze noted the tears in her eyes and on her cheeks which she quickly swiped with her shirt sleeve.
“And then we saw you down on the ground. Honey, are you okay?” Troy asked as he gently grasped her other arm. “Here, let us help you.”
Unwilling to have them think she was a damsel in distress in need of rescuing, even though that seemed to be a pattern with her, she pulled away and tried to rise to her feet on her own. As if proving the point, she lost her footing in the slippery oak leaves covering the ground.
“Whoa, sweetie. Here let us help you out of here,” Troy said, placing her arm around his waist. “You just hold on to us, okay?”
“Sorry,” she muttered, furious with herself. “I should’ve stayed on flat ground up where I belonged. It just looked so inviting in here.”
“Did you fall down?” Tank asked as he slipped her arm around his waist and they maneuvered her around to a flatter area.
As if she wasn’t humiliated enough already, she realized she needed to find a bathroom, if the damp state of her undies was any indicator. Not that she was going to tell them that.
“No. I got down there on my own volition.”
“Did you lose something?” Troy asked, looking at her like she’d been in the sun too long.
Besides control of my bladder? “No. This is so embarrassing. On my hands and knees is one of the few positions that’s still comfortable. I just wanted to get some fresh air and the baby started acting up. Stop, I need to sit,” she said as her belly tightened up with another Braxton-Hicks contraction. She rubbed the heel of her hand against her stiff, aching lower back, feeling like a wreck. It was so embarrassing to be seen in such a weak state, especially by those two hunks.
So much for making a good impression on people.
“Why were you crying?” Tank asked as he gazed down at her, his bulky arms crossed over his muscular chest. He probably didn’t mean to be so imposing but he succeeded anyway.
She frowned as a sharp pain shot down her right leg and she had no choice but to straighten it out as she kept rubbing her back. Oh yeah, real dignified.
“Honey?” Tank squatted down so he was at eye level.
“Oh. I wasn’t crying, at least not at first. I was laughing. I—I have kind of a goofy laugh. My position suddenly struck me as funny and I had to laugh. Once I got started I got tickled and couldn’t stop. I haven’t had that much to laugh about lately, you know? That’s all. Although this pain is no laughing matter,” she said as she suddenly grimaced.
Tank frowned and asked, “Did you bring your cell phone with you down here?”
“What? No. I was just going for a little walk. I was within sight of the cabin and the ranch house.”
Tank lifted a dark red eyebrow. “Until you came down here. What if you’d really fallen down? Or fallen in the water? This area isn’t safe for you to walk in alone. You should’ve brought the phone, or asked one of us to come with you.”
“I know that now,” she snapped as the baby let her know that he or she really didn’t like her sitting down on that hard rock by squirming hard enough to send a pain rocketing through her nether regions. “Oh, fudge, that hurt,” she gasped, more at the baby than to the men.
Troy and Tank looked at each other over her head and then Tank said, “I think we need to get you up to the ranch house. Troy, call Lydia and let her know.”
“Oh, don’t bother Lydia. I do need to get back to my cabin but I think I can make it if you can just help me back up to the flat ground. Then I can just waddle my ass to the nearest little girls’ room.
She gasped as Tank kneeled down and scooped her and her big baby tummy into his thick arms. A gush of hot fluid between her legs startled her and Tank as well and horror filled his eyes.