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He didn’t run away.
Distantly, I thought that was kind of nice. I wasn’t sure I’d have done the same.
I gripped my belly as what I’d thought were Braxton Hicks rippled through my body.
That was a nope, judging by the moisture running down my legs.
I was in active labor.
On a boat.
On a stupid spiral staircase.
With a stranger.
Goddammit.
FIVE
“Holy fuck.”
I rushed up the stairs. I knew I shouldn’t have let her talk me into going to the second level. Even without…this.Whatever this was.
It wasnota woman giving birth on my brand new boat.
I wouldn’t even let myself entertain that thought.
From instinct, I slid my hand along her back to steady her. I did not need her falling down. Not where she could slide through the slats of the stairs and break an ankle. Or worse, tumble us both down and hurt her.
Or the baby, you idiot.
I gripped her closer to me, ignoring the back of her dress drenched in sweat. How long had she been in labor?
That was ridiculous. She couldn’t be in actual labor. Could she?
“When are you due?”
She turned into me, gripping my shoulder with a strength that almost buckled my own knees.
She smelled like the ocean and cinnamon at the same time. Spicy and free and somehow golden. I wasn’t sure if the smell was from her hair floating all around us, or the fact that the sun was roasting us on the metal staircase, making me delirious.
Suddenly, she shrieked, and I grabbed her closer. “Hang on.”
I looked around. We were a few feet up and still had a handful of steps to go to reach the second level. I shouldn’t have let her come on the boat. Even more, I shouldn’t have let her go up the spiral stairs when there were perfectly good regular stairs off the outside deck.
Not that I really had a choice—she’d been determined to push through the interview and all that bravado was captivating as hell.
Her belly bumped into mine and I had the strongest urge to wrap myself around her to protect the two of them.
What the hell was happening?
A biological response. It had to be. Protectors ran in my family. But I hadn’t realized I also had that gene until just now.
“Let’s get you downstairs, yeah?”
“No!” Her huge blue eyes flashed as she clutched my shoulder with one hand and my arm with the other. Tears overflowed and raced down her pale cheeks. “No, I can’t move.”
“I can’t let you fall on these stairs.”
