Free Accidental Cowgirl by Maggie McGinnis

on? Why was she lying on the ground? Why was Decker looking at her like she was two steps from the loony bin? She tore her eyes from his when she felt someone lift her left hand. Cole had his fingers around her wrist, looking at his watch and counting silently.
    Her brain was foggy and she knew she needed to get up, but she couldn’t get her body to agree with her. When Cole let go of her wrist, she tried to get her elbows under her to hoist herself up, but they weren’t working. Good Lord, had she had a stroke?
    “Kyla, look at me.” Decker’s hands were on her face again. She obeyed his command because it was somehow comforting to have someone tell her what to do. “We’re going to get up now. I’m going to help you.” He started to lift her. Kyla fumbled for his hand as she tried to make her body cooperate. His hand closed around hers, and she held on for dear life.
    As she finally stood, Decker steadied her shoulders, pulling her close to his body. “We’re going to take a walk and get rid of some of this adrenaline, okay?” Kyla nodded as he stepped forward, his arm steady around her back. Her feet felt like she’d tied full paint cans to them, and she fought not to stumble as Decker led her across the lawn.
    After an excruciatingly slow trip around the house, Kyla’s fog started to lift. Oh, holy hell. She’d had an honest-to-goodness, no-holds-barred, full-fledged freakin’ panic attack. Again. In front of a whole herd of strangers. Again. In front of Decker, who was now guiding her over the lawn like a mental patient. Who was so warm, so strong, so steady that she wanted to stay forever in this position.
    She stopped walking, and Decker loosened his grip as he peered down into her eyes. “How we doing, honey?” His voice was so tender. But he was an EMT. He was trained to talklike this. It meant nothing. He probably called everybody honey .
    “I’m okay.” Kyla took a deep breath. “Oh, God. I’m so sorry. I don’t know what to say.”
    Decker came around to face her, placing his hands on her biceps. “Don’t apologize, Kyla. You can’t control a panic attack.”
    “How’d you know?”
    “I’m an EMT, remember?” He winked, and she was struck by the fact that he was so matter-of-fact about it. She’d felt like nutter-of-the-month since the attacks had started, but here he was just helping her walk off the adrenaline, not looking at her like maybe it was time to call the white-coated men and have her carted away.
    She sighed. “I made a complete scene. I’m really sorry. I didn’t see it coming.”
    He leveled her with a look, but didn’t say another word for a moment. Then he put his arm back around her shoulder. “Come on. Let me show you something.”
    As much as she wanted to say I can walk by myself or I’m fine—you can go or anything of the like, the words wouldn’t come out of her mouth. The only thing she wanted right now was to nestle her body against his as he guided her down the path past the barns. He was just tall enough, just strong enough, just warm enough to make her feel safe. And though the last thing she wanted was to be dependent on anyone else, she couldn’t help but lean into him as he pulled her closer.
    The panic attack was actually completely logical, from a medical point of view. This desire, this need to be near Decker right now?
    Completely illogical.
    Five minutes later, Decker dropped his arm from her shoulder and instead took her hand firmly in his as he veered off the cabin pathway. He led her down a grassy slope into the pine forest that sat below the barns. The hill sloped mildly through the pines, and the pine needles silenced her shaky footsteps as she followed him toward the sound of bubbling water.
    It took only a couple of minutes to reach the brook, which meandered along a rocky path down the hillside. She imagined it was no more than a trickle by the end of September, but that was a good six weeks away, and right now it burbled over the