"I think so." She flexed her fingers, her feet, warily elbowing up. A small groan slipped between her gritted teeth. Dust powdered the inside of her mouth, a minor inconvenience compared to her throbbing temples. "Except for a killer headache."
He palmed her back. "Okay, easy now."
She forced herself to sit upright without his help. Resting her elbows on her knees, she swallowed down nausea. "What happened?"
"A flat tire, remember? You hit your head when the second tire blew."
"Oh, yeah." She forced herself to breathe evenly. Slow and steady so she wouldn't hurl all over Tanner's big shoes in front of her.
He stroked the back of her neck. God, it felt so good, so soothing. She allowed herself to accept that much comfort, her eyes drifting closed as the pain abated. "Why are we out here, though?"
A breeze wafted past, carrying the acrid odor of smoke and gasoline their way. She sniffed. Her eyes snapped open. She jerked to look behind her and found their car burning steadily fifty yards away.
Nausea frothed from her stomach up her throat. Kathleen clapped a hand over her mouth just before hanging her head between her knees. "Ohmigosh."
"It's okay. We're okay." He gripped her shoulders with a firmness echoed in his tone. "The fuel tank must have sprung a leak when rocks from the lake bed ripped out the undercarriage."
Her breathing ragged, she rested the side of her head on her bent knee, eyes trained on the car. Flames licked toward the sky. Metal blackened to a skeletal mockery of their rental car.
She could have still been inside.
Kathleen raised her eyes to Tanner. "You pulled me out of there?"
He grunted, then shrugged. "No big deal. Just carried you away from the car when I smelled the gas."
Kathleen shuddered. If Tanner had been knocked out, as well, they both would have died. She blinked back team. A world without his broad shoulders seemed an empty place. Tears burned hotter, became tougher to control, but she would … after she stared at him for another ten seconds to reassure herself he was unharmed.
The vee of his shirt stretched open at his throat, displaying a patch of blond hair against his bronzed neck. What she wouldn't give to rest her head right in the crook for five minutes. Just five. And then she would be herself again. "Thank you."
His eyes collided with hers, and she saw a flash of something. Fear? For her? But of course he would have been worried. He was human after all, a decent man.
Why did she want to convince herself she saw something more?
Then it was gone. His lighthearted dimple kicked in with familiar predictability—along with the power to make her forget about her aching head for a full minute.
He rocked back on his heels. "Couldn't let anything happen to you. Who would I argue with?"
She gathered her tattered composure. She was an Air Force officer, after all. It was time to start acting like one, rather than becoming a basket case because she'd bumped her head. "Keeps you on your toes. Can't let everything in life come easy for you."
"This investigation hasn't been easy."
"You mean working with me."
He looked from the wreckage to his hands. His thumb massaged over a raw patch of skin on the other palm. "Like you said, vintage Keystone Cops."
Smoke-tinged air tickled Kathleen's nose as a sense of whimsy tickled her raw throat. They had actually blown up their rental car. That wouldn't play well with the Hertz folks at checkout.
A giggle sneaked free.
Tanner stared at her as if she'd left her brain back in the car. He thumbed one of her eyebrows and lifted. "Your pupils seem even. What else do I need to check for?"
Kathleen batted his hand aside and laughed harder. Every chuckle hammered her head, not that she could stop even when Tanner scowled at her.
"What the hell's so funny?"
She snorted on a laugh, choked back another before she could answer. "We blew up the car."
"Yes," he said, enunciating with extra precision. "We did."