“Trap?” she called again. He still didn’t answer, and Lila Mae’s heartbeat skipped and jumped around in her chest.
These rooms had had flooring added as well, and when she reached the end, she peered inside, already turning around togo check the outdoor area that was attached to the back of the stable.
A gasp flew from her mouth when she saw Trap collapsed on the floor, unconscious.
“Trap!” She ran toward him, her shoulder knocking against the edge of the door frame. She barely felt anything as she dropped her knees onto the hard flooring that he had clearly been installing. “Trap, you’ve got to wake up.”
She had already sent Scarlett home, and there wasno wayshe could lift this broad-shouldered cowboy. He had to be twice her size and built with muscle.
She finally reached out and put one hand against his chest. He radiated heat, and she looked around and found a gallon-sized water jug only a few feet away. All of the warnings about heat stroke and heat exhaustion ran through her mind, and while Lila Mae had paid attention to them, she certainly wasn’t a medical doctor and didn’t know how to treat it.
Still, she reached for the water jug and twisted off the lid. When she found the jug almost full of ice water, she dumped it straight onto Trap’s face and chest.
“Trap,” she said. “Wake up.”
He groaned, his eyes fluttering open. “Come on,” she said. “Get up. We’re going to get you to your truck and go get help.”
He moaned something that was probably words, but Lila Mae didn’t understand them. He did manage to stand, and Lila Mae held him under his arm, and he leaned on her heavily as painstakingly, they moved step by step down the aisle and out of the stable.
She got him in the passenger seat and fished in his pockets for his keys. When she got behind the wheel, he looked over to her and said, “Please don’t take me to the hospital. My momma will kill me.”
Lila Mae swallowed, realizing how very hot it was in the truck, which had been sitting out in the heat for who knew how long. She gripped the steering wheel, nodded, and made her decision.
8
Trap woke up slowly, and as he rose through the layers of consciousness, he had no idea where he was. He opened his eyes without moving. The sound of someone humming in the background disoriented him further.
This was not his ceiling. Not at the cowboy cabin where he lived at Seven Sons Ranch, and not in his childhood bedroom at his parents’ house either.
The scent of butter and browning ground beef rose in the air, and Trap’s confusion doubled. Footsteps came closer, and then a woman said, “You’re awake.”
Lila Mae knelt down next to him and reached up and brushed his hair off his forehead in a tender, loving way, and Trap knew then that he’d entered some sort of fever dream.
“Are you awake, Trap? Can you hear me?”
He could hear her, and with every word she spoke, Trap realized where he was. After all, he’d built that ceiling and stained it that dark oak color himself.
“Lila Mae.” His throat barely croaked out the words, getting caught amongst the dry scratchiness there. “I’m so thirsty.”
How had he ended up at Lila Mae’s house?
“I’ll get you something to drink.” She scurried away to do that, and Trap let himself lay there trying to remember the last thing he’d been doing.
“Here you go,” Lila Mae said just as Trap’s memories unlocked. He’d been laying flooring in the stable.
He sat up suddenly, pulling in a breath. “I passed out.” His shoulder knocked her hand with the drink, and the cold liquid splashed onto his arm.
“I remember being really hot and thinking I needed a drink. I reached for it, and….”
“I found you in the stable passed out,” Lila Mae said.
“How long has it been?” he asked.
Lila Mae glanced over to her tiny kitchen. “Twenty minutes?” she guessed. “I don’t know how long you were passed out before I found you, but you’ve been here for about twenty minutes.”
“How did I get here?” he asked.
“I woke you up.” Her eyes dropped to his torso. “I dumped your water on your face and chest, and you woke up enough to walk to the truck and into the house. You begged me not to take you to the hospital, so I brought you here, and I did everything I could think of to cool you down.”
