Page 18 of No Man Left Behind

With a deep breath to steady herself, she let her gaze drift back to the rest of the room. It was neat as well, but the boxes proved that he definitely needed more room.

Marcus brushed his hand down her arm. When she looked at him, his gaze was concerned. She managed a small smile. “You definitely need more space, but you’re an organized soul.”

He studied her with such intensity that she wondered if he could read the past in her eyes. Finally, he nodded. “If the army teaches you anything, it’s staying organized. You need to know where everything is at a moment’s notice. Sometimes lives depend on it. Sometimes, it’s merely not wanting to have some colonel chew you out.”

“I bet you didn’t get chewed out too often.”

His grin had her smiling back. “Not after the first time.”

Marcus angled so that the cell was at her back. Of course, he’d noticed her reaction. The man was incredibly observant and intuitive. She doubted she’d have much left to tell if she ever decided to talk about her past.

“That’s the door that connects to Troy’s store up front. More people come through that door than the one we used. When I first agreed to take on the policing job here, there was no funding for space, just enough for my salary. Troy had been using this space for storage, but we cleaned it out and set me up here.”

“That’s amazing.”

He nodded. “But it’s time to move on. It would be great to have a space with actual rooms so I can have separate areas for different needs. It’s ridiculous to have a conversation with a victim when the criminal is in the same room. I end up using Troy’s office a lot of the time.”

“And it looks like you need some storage place of your own.”

He grinned. “That would be awesome. And if I could lock up the evidence in something other than a filing cabinet, even better.”

That made her smile. “I’m looking forward to seeing the building you’ve got your eye on.”

The landline on his desk rang, making Marcus turn. “Excuse me a minute, I’ll need to take this.”

“Should I leave?”

He shook his head while he rounded the desk and picked up the phone. Elina moved to the side of the room where the chairs were grouped to give him at least the semblance of privacy. If the call seemed personal or private, she could move into Phail General and see Troy.

“Ramirez.”

Even the way he answered the phone made her smile. Authoritative, calm, ready for anything. She had it bad.

Elina tried to tune out the conversation by focusing on a comic strip idea. She based her strips on her own experiences and observations. Marcus had shown up in many ways over the years.

The boy who always wore shirts with an arrow on them.

Arrows pointing out subtle parts of the cartoon that hopefully caused the reader to smile.

And Lobo, the wolf who showed up in almost all of her animal strips. She’d based his personality on Marcus. Wise, calm, patient, with a wry sense of humor. Strong and sure without being obnoxious.

Every time she drew Lobo, she thought of Marcus. And fell a little bit harder. No man had ever measured up.

His voice broke into her thoughts of Lobo in an overcrowded den, overrun with the other creatures he’d been helping survive.

“That’s what I was hoping for. Thank you so much.”

She turned as he hung up the phone. He made eye contact, and the joy dancing in his eyes had her smiling. “Good news?”

He moved behind the desk and swung her up into a hug, and then whirled her around in a circle, making her laugh. Whatever it was, it was definitely good news.

Still holding her to him, with her feet off the floor, he grinned. “The funding came through.”

“That’s amazing.” Almost as amazing as she was feeling, being held in his arms.

His eyes, still twinkling, moved from her eyes to her mouth and back up. “Amazing.”

She mimicked his movement and smiled. “I’m so happy for you.”

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