Page 6 of No Man Left Behind

“I know. I’m so sorry. Shaggy was an amazing dog. My students and I loved her. If it hadn’t been for you and her, Damsa wouldn’t have survived that day. Scooby was devastated. I don’t think he spoke more than a dozen words in the time before your team had to leave.”

Marcus nodded. He knew losing his partner had nearly broken Garrett. Until very recently, Marcus hadn’t been sure his friend would ever recover. “It took him a long time to come to peace with Shaggy’s death. He’s in a good place now, though.” That made Marcus smile. “In more ways than one. He’s learned to live with Shaggy’s memory, and he’s here in Phail.”

Elina’s eyes widened. “Scooby’s here, too?”

Marcus laughed. “We all are. Troy finally got his way. The entire team lives in Phail now.”

Her laugh was like sunlight bursting through rain clouds. “That’s amazing. I assume Epic’s name is Troy?”

He nodded. “Troy Phail. His ancestors built this town once upon a time.”

Another laugh filled him up. “I love it. Now all the puns and jokes you all made around the wordfailmake sense.”

That made him laugh, too. There were always going to be fail jokes around Troy. And his buddy would be making half of them.

Elina’s eyes sparkled. “So, are you going to tell me your name, Arrow?”

“Are you telling me you don’t know my name or anyone’s name, but you still found us?” That seemed like a healthy dose of luck mixed up with a shit-ton of determination.

Elina shrugged. “None of you ever used anything other than your call signs. At least, not that I remember. One of the pilots almost messed up but stopped himself. I think either your first or last name starts withMar. Am I right?”

Damn, she was amazing. “Marcus Ramirez, at your service. Now, you’ll have to tell me your last name.”

“Vasquez.”

He held out his hand. “Hello, Elina Vasquez. I’m Marcus Ramirez, and I’mverypleased to see you again.”

That heady smile widened as she took his hand. Her eyes sparkled, making him grin. The zip of chemistry definitely wasn’t one-sided, which was a relief. He hadn’t imagined a single thing.

“I’d love to keep you to myself tonight.” Marcus felt his face flush and was thankful he wasn’t light-skinned.

Elina’s eyes widened at his words.

He held up his hands and shook his head. “Wait. That sounded creepy. What I meant was that I’d love to take you to dinner at the Saloon and have the team and their ladies meet us there. What do you think?”

Elina laughed, and he wondered if maybe his inadvertent innuendo hadn’t been totally misplaced. Hewouldlike to keep her to himself. For a hell of a long time. After they got to know each other again. For now, dinner with the team was the right move.

“I’d love to go to dinner with you.”

“I’ll text everyone to meet us there in thirty minutes, but I’m not telling them why or that you’re here. I’ll just say I’ve got a surprise.” He smiled at her. “A very good surprise.”

After he sent the text, he silenced the phone. Something he never did. Ever. But he wasn’t going to answer the nosy texts. He wanted to spend every moment of those thirty minutes finding out more about Elina.

He set the phone on the bench. Maybe to keep an eye on the texts in case there was an actual emergency. Maybe to keep himself from crowding her. “So, tell me what you’ve been doing these past few years. When did you get back from overseas?”

Joy slipped from her eyes at his question, and he wanted to kick his own ass. He knew as well as anyone that what happened overseas wasn’t always pleasant. A high percentage of people returned because of trauma. Elina might not have been in the Army but the threats she’d faced had been as real and as dangerous as any of them. Maybe more so as a woman in a country that didn’t always respect that.

He reached for her hand again and squeezed. “I’m sorry. That was too intrusive. You don’t have to answer that but know I’m here to listen if you want to talk about it. And I’m even more sorry that I wasn’t there to help you out, to keep you safe.”

She blinked rapidly until her eyes were clear. “Sorry. I’m fine. Things got a little rough for a bit, but I’m fine. I was very lucky.”

He kept his gaze on hers and waited.

After a few seconds, she blew out a breath. “I’ve been back in the States for a few years. I first headed to Seattle because that’s where my parents had once lived.”

He hated that she’d been through something, and while she said she was fine, he knew there was more. Knew that she’d been through her own version of hell.

He also knew that he wanted to fix it for her. Even if it was just to be a shoulder to cry on, he wanted to fix it. Now, he just needed to get her to stay so he could get on that.

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