Page 66 of The Scout

She didn’t push, but she didn’t back down either. Instead, she looked back at Marcus, and I swore I saw her posture shift—shoulders straightening, weight shifting onto one hip.

“Do all the guys at Dominion Hall look like you?” she asked, her voice full of teasing interest.

“Like me?” Marcus smirked. “No. But put all seven of us in a room, and people start mistaking us for a damn pro football team.” He leaned against the counter, muscular arms crossed. “We’re all brothers. All former military. Now we run the company together.” His tone was casual, but there was weight beneath his words—something Pia clearly picked up on.

Pia laughed, a light, easy sound that I hadn’t heard from her in a long time.

And Marcus—he was interested. I could see it in the way his smirk turned into something real, in the way his gaze flicked over her, not in a careless way, but like he was seeing her.

This was … interesting.

Pia wasn’t easily impressed. But something about Marcus had her attention.

She leaned against the kitchen counter, her long blonde hair falling over one shoulder in soft waves. She was wearing one of her usual off-duty outfits—tiny black athletic shorts that showed off her toned legs and a cropped white tank that clung to her curves. Casual, effortless, and yet undeniably sexy. The kind of look that made men trip over their own feet when she walked past. It was a sharp contrast to the scrubs she wore during her long shifts as a nurse at the MUSC University MedicalCenter, where she spent her days saving lives and keeping patients in line with a firm but kind hand.

And Marcus? He was definitely looking.

I narrowed my eyes slightly, watching the way his gaze lingered, the slow smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. They both had that sun-kissed blonde thing going on, like they had just stepped off a yacht in the Mediterranean. Marcus with his easy surfer-boy confidence, Pia with her effortless charm.

I cleared my throat, drawing Pia’s attention back to me. “So … how’s Ben?”

Her expression barely flickered, but I caught the way her fingers tightened around the coffee mug she was holding. A beat of silence passed before she exhaled through her nose and shrugged. “We broke up.”

I blinked. “What? When?”

“A couple days ago,” she said lightly, like it wasn’t a big deal. “It wasn’t working out.”

I frowned. Pia wasn’t exactly the settle-down type, but she had seemed happy with Ben. At least, I thought she had.

Before I could press, Marcus spoke, his voice low and amused. “Ben?”

Pia turned her gaze to him, her lips curving slightly. “Ex-boyfriend.”

“Ah,” Marcus said, nodding. “So you’re single now.”

A slow, knowing smile stretched across Pia’s face. She took a sip of her coffee, her eyes locked on his. “That depends.”

“On?” Marcus leaned forward slightly, resting his forearms on the counter.

Pia tilted her head. “On whether or not you’re about to ask something interesting.”

Marcus chuckled, shaking his head. “I like you, Pia.”

Her smile deepened. “I know.”

I rolled my eyes, half-exasperated, half-amused. “Oh, for the love of God, can we focus?”

Neither of them looked remotely sorry.

“Come on,” Marcus said, nodding toward the hallway. “We’ve got work to do.”

Pia looked between us. “Need help?”

I hesitated. I wasn’t sure if I wanted her diving into this with me, but she had been my friend for years. If something happened to Will, she’d be there to pick up the pieces.

“Yeah,” I admitted. “I think I do.”

The safe was still there, tucked into the closet of the second bedroom. I had forgotten about it until the moment I saw it.

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