He jabbed a finger toward the horizon. "That house would have been there a half hour later if you'd taken the time to wake me up. Did it ever cross your lone-ranger brain to take me along?"
"No." Of course it hadn't because she'd been running from him, couldn't stop herself from running now. "In case you haven't noticed, hotshot, I'm not one of your girlfriends needing you to take care of me."
"Excuse me?"
"Oh, come on. You've got to realize every woman you want needs helping, saving, protecting. Like with what's-her-name. Mindi. You took a whole weekend installing new locks on her doors to protect her from some stalker ex-boyfriend."
"That makes me a bad guy?"
"Why not call a locksmith? And it's not just Mindi. It's all of them. Haven't you noticed the protector-syndrome pattern? You don't have to coddle, cosset or save me. I can take care of myself." Even as she rolled through her arguments, she wanted him to step in and disagree. Prove her wrong. "Kind of interesting the past two times we kissed were tied into times you thought I was in danger or hurt."
His eyes blanked, no signs of either the angry or playful Tanner in sight. "I didn't realize your degree included psychology, Doc."
Part of her wanted to recall her words. Except they were true. "What was I supposed to do? Wake you up so you could haul your injured back up there, instead? I don't think so."
"I could have spotted you if you got dizzy."
"I don't get dizzy."
"You're arguing just for the sake of arguing."
"And you're being an ass."
He leaned in until they were nose-to-nose. "You scared the crap out of me, okay? I saw you kick off that roof, thought about your head injury, and I just…"
Tipping his head to the sun, he offered an unrestrained view of the muscles working along his jaw. Her anger deflated. Exhaustion rippled over her in a surprising wave. She was too tired to fight anymore. Too tired of the fight altogether.
She wanted to touch him, but she didn't always want what was best for her, so she kept her hands twisted in front of her. "That's kind of sweet."
"I'm not sweet." A half smile negated his grumble.
"Okay."
"At least try to sound convincing."
"Sure, hotshot." She nudged his foot with hers. "You're not just an ass. You're a bad-ass."
"Damn straight." He gave her a brusque nod, looked down at his shoes, then up at the sky again. His chest rose and fell with a shirt-stretching sigh. "Just take it easy on my heart, okay?"
Shock rooted her feet to the desert sand. "What?"
Tanner lowered his gaze to lock with hers. "Try not to make it stop again with another stunt before I can get you to an E.R."
"Oh, yeah, right. I'll try to restrain myself from arm wrestling any coyotes on the way back to base."
"My heart would appreciate that."
Eyes drawn to his, held by his, she wished that house could be another ten miles away so this once-in-a-lifetime Christmas didn't have to end yet. Tanner's simple naming ceremony had been the perfect gift, offering something she'd never expected to find. His choice of names indicated he understood and accepted her in a way her family and Andrew never had. "I guess we should head out."
She didn't move. Neither did he.
"I'm going to miss your mouth, O'Connell."
"Miss me?" She blinked to clear her thoughts. Warmth spread a scary excitement within her at the compliment. "When?"
Tanner winced. "Never mind. I didn't mean to say that yet. We can discuss it later once we've had a big lunch and a shower."
"No. How about tell me now." She crossed her arms and planted her feet. "When are you going to miss me?"