“Me versus black ice. The ice won.”

He winced.

She tugged two badly bruised and scraped elbows out from underneath the comforter.

“Ouch.” Dropping soft kisses on each elbow, he said, “Did you have X-rays?”

“Nah. Nothing broken.” She made a brave attempt to bend each arm to prove her point. “Stop. That’s making me hurt just watching it. Anything else?”

“Knees. Same as the elbows.”

“Samantha, my poor baby.” He brushed a soft kiss over her lips. “Did you put something on the road rash?”

“Celia fixed me up.”

“So this was really just you and some ice?”

“Uh-huh,” she said, looking away.

“You can either tell me the truth or I’ll tickle it out of you, which, in light of your injuries, might not be as fun as usual.”

“You wouldn’t do that to an officer wounded in the line of duty.”

He raised his fingers in a menacing claw over her ribs. “Try me.”

“Fine! I was chasing Reese. He came back to his house when Freddie and I were doing another walk through.”

“Without backup?” Nick asked, alarmed.

“I had Freddie. Do you want to hear this or not?”

He gestured for her to go ahead, and she told him the rest.

“He fired at you?”

“It was a wild shot. Missed by a mile.” Nick put his head down face first into his pillow and groaned.

“I heard that, and you made me tell you.”

Turning on his side, he faced her. “You wouldn’t have, though, would you?”

Her eyebrows knitted with confusion. “What?”

“You wouldn’t have told me if I hadn’t forced it out of you.”

“I don’t like to upset you, and my job can be upsetting. I’m fine, so what’s the point in dumping it on you and getting you all wound up?”

Reaching for her hand, he laced his fingers through hers. “The point is I want to know. If you get shot at or hurt in any way, I want to know. Deal?”

“You promise not to freak? That was kind of an issue with Peter. I never told him anything because he always freaked out. But then he would find out from someone else, and that was always worse.”

“I can’t promise not to be upset, but I won’t freak. At least not at you.”

“Or anyone else from the MPD.”

He hesitated.

“Nick…”

“Or anyone else from the MPD, unless—”

She silenced him with a kiss. “No unless. We have a deal.”

“Where’d you get this?” He held up the book she’d been reading and couldn’t believe it when his brave, competent cop blushed.

“You weren’t supposed to see that.” She took the book from him and dropped it to the floor.

Careful to avoid her injured chin, he gently turned her face to force her to look at him and raised an eyebrow in question.