“I don’t think so.” He looked down at her with a pale face and big, shocked eyes. “I heard someone call 911.”

“Thanks for the assist.”

“No problem.”

As the market slowly returned to normal around them, Sam sat on a curb with Dawn until a couple of uniforms arrived to take statements and cart her off. Sam promised to write up her portion of the report and get it to them later.

“Nice job, Sam,” one of the vendors called to her.

“Thanks,” she said as Nick helped her up.

The moment she was upright, the pain she had managed to stave off during the confrontation with Dawn roared through her, leaving her breathless and weak in its wake.

“Jesus Christ, Sam,” Nick muttered.

“S’okay,” she said, bent in half as she took deep breaths. “Just give me a second.” It took several minutes, but she was finally able to straighten only to find his hazel eyes hot with dismay and anger. “I’m fine.”

“You’re not fine.” He took hold of her arm to steer her toward home. “And don’t you ever push me out of the way again so you can dive at a gun, do you hear me? Don’t ever do that again.”

Startled by his tone, she stopped and turned to face him. “It’s instinct and training. You can’t fault me for that.”

“How do you think it makes me feel, as a man, when the woman I love pushes me out of harm’s way so she can throw herself in front of it? Huh?”

“I have no idea,” she said sincerely.

“Well, let me tell you, it makes me feel like a useless, dickless moron.”

“I’m not the kind of woman who needs a big strong man to protect her, Nick. If that’s what you want or need, you’ve got the wrong girl.”

“And you think I’m the kind of man who needs his woman to protect him? Is that what you want?”

“Why are we fighting?” she asked, perplexed. “I saw a shooter. I took her down. What the hell did I do wrong?”

“You pushed me out of the way!”

“Excuse me for not wanting your dumb ass to get killed. Next time I’ll let her blow your head off. Would that be better?”

“Now you’re just being a jerk.”

Stunned and dismayed, she stared at him and said a silent thanks a lot to Dawn for turning their romantic afternoon to shit. “I’m the jerk? Whatever.” Without a care as to whether he followed her or not, she stomped off toward home. When she got there, she heard voices in the kitchen and figured her sister Tracy’s family had arrived. But rather than go see them, Sam went straight upstairs, needing a few minutes to get herself together first.