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After ten minutes or so, Helen moved in on Goliath. He brushed her aside, but Lacey was sure he did a double take, and that was it. He inched closer to her, sniffing her.
Then, oh… oh… oooh.
Lacey turned around so fast that she may have given herself whiplash. But she had been too busy trying to avoid the fact that the pigs were suddenly getting up tothat, that she hadn’t heard them come in behind her, and she was doubly startled when her gaze collided with the three cowboys in front of her. Instantly, her body sizzled up. Her nipples peaked, and the panties she wore started to dampen.
That wasn’t supposed to happen.
She had by now turned blood red as well. What was happening to her? Damage control—that’s what she needed.
“You’re welcome,” she said saucily because she had gotten their prized pigs to do the deed, but she had been so startled by her body’s reaction to the sudden presence of Joshua, Case and Tyler, that she had been stunned into silence for the first few moments. She hadn’t even heard them come up on her.
“Don’t forget to put that in your review,” she said as a parting shot.
The instant she reached the house, she shut herself in the room and paced the floor. She then sat down and told herself it was not the time for a real, honest heart-to-heart with herself because the outcome would not work in her favor.
Okay then. Crisis averted for another day. Three more days, and she’d be home free. And if she never saw any one of them ever again, that too would be a welcome reprieve since the harrowing evidence that she may have been lying to herself all that time inched closer to the surface.
Putting on a nonchalant act, she showered, then served them their dinner of chicken roast and potatoes. So far, nobody complained about her repeating the menu, which was just as well because their complaints would not have reached her anyway.
Being way too distracted with thoughts she shouldn’t be thinking, she did the stupidest thing ever.
She took a hold of the roasting pot without mittens on and burned all ten of her fingertips.
They came to her immediately and tended to her fingers despite her protests that she was fine all the while as she tried very hard not to cry in front of them, but crap, her fingers throbbed relentlessly.
Case smeared aloe vera very gently onto her reddened fingers, and Joshua and Tyler wrapped her hands loosely in gauze.
She felt like a real idiot.
“I’m sorry,” she murmured. “I wasn’t thinking. But thank you,” she added softly before fleeing the kitchen.
Great. She had been on such a roll, and now this. Ugh. Jenna would have never made such an amateur mistake. But she wasn’t Jenna.
Go figure.
Feeling miles sorry for herself since she was not allowed to help with cleanup, she escaped to her room when she felt the beginnings of a headache.
Really? Scorching her fingers when she was ahead wasn’t enough?
But soon that headache was accompanied by the sighting of her period, a week early.
Oh shit.
She knew what would follow next. Debilitating cramps. Awkwardly fumbling through her toiletries, crying because her fingers hurt so bad, she found her stash of emergency tampons, retrieved one and quickly used it, and then had to look for her painkillers. Gripping the container between her palms, she carried it to the sink in the bathroom, filled the glass, and then tried to open the child-safe cap.
Tears kept streaming down her face. She really had no option but to ask them to open the bottle for her, but just then, after a pride-filled effort, the lid separated from the bottle, and the few meager pills she had inside were tossed out into the basin and rolled down the drain.
She stared in disbelief at the only things that could give her any relief.
Her cramps started to amp up. She had no choice. Drying her eyes, she opened the door and went in search of them. They were in their study.
“Do you have any painkillers I could use, please?” she asked.
“No,” Case said. “Why? Are your fingers hurting?”
“You don’t? What do you do if you have a headache?”
“We drink it away,” Tyler said, lifting his glass to her. “What’s going on, Lacey? Is it your fingers?”
