From what little she could glean from their interactions after their recent marriage, Marcus seemed pretty damned happy.Sure, they’d had their troubles before the marriage, but who didn’t?Her parents had troubles, but there was no doubt in hell they loved each other.
And even if Marcus was unhappy, that was his problem to solve, not hers.She wasn’t the “other woman.”She would never be a homewrecker.The fact that she even thought about it for more than ten seconds was offensive.
But she thought about it the entire drive back to the field office.Marcus: big, brawny, Marcus.All grins and bad jokes and cheerful quips.Lovable, strong, tenacious, incredible with people, loyal to a fault Marcus.Marcus, who loved fine art despite the fact that it made no sense at all that an ex-Navy SEAL should care about the difference between a Picasso and a Léger.Marcus who was always there for her, even when she wasn’t there for herself.Marcus, with whom Kate felt safe and comfortable and happy and not like an awkward, hopeless, gangly tangle of stunted emotions and haunted memories.
Marcus, to whom she was thinking almost seriously about baring her feelings despite the fact that it meant breaking rules she considered sacred.Marcus, who would probably be horrified at the confession and tell her there was no chance, he was happy with Cheryl, and if that’s how she felt, then they probably shouldn’t be partners.He was sorry, but he couldn’t jeopardize his marriage, and she couldn’t fixate on him when he wasn’t available to her.
“So, I can’t,” she said, tapping her steering wheel.“That’s all there is to it.I can’t, and it’s a waste of time thinking about it, so I’m going to not think about it and enjoy my partnership with my friend.”
So, saying, she pulled the car into the parking lot of the Portland Field Office and walked inside to find out what was so urgent that her partner had pulled her away from her conference in New York without telling her why.
The Portland FBI Field Office had all the grandeur of an FBI field office located in one of the least important cities in the country.It’s brick façade—once red now faded a dull orange brown—reminded Kate of an underfunded high school in a neighborhood that gentrification had passed by.
The sign didn’t declare the place as the center for federal law enforcement in Maine so much as offer the information as an afterthought with plain brass letters several sizes too small for the sign and decades removed from any semblance of shine.
The interior, too, reminded Kate of something that had long left its glory days.It was clean, and at the moment, everything worked, but the creaky office chairs, thin “motel special” carpet, and wheezy ventilation system spoke wonders about the Bureau’s budget in this corner of the country.
Still, this was home, the place Kate had gone to work for most of her adult life.Despite everything that had happened over the past year or so with Elijah Cox, she was glad to be back.
The feeling, it appeared, wasn’t mutual.Few faces looked up to greet her, and those that did wore cold expressions.Kate’s decision a month ago to ignore orders and pursue personal leads on the Quinn Marsh case had earned her no friends, and the fact that those leads had panned out and led to Marsh’s capture only deepened the anger they felt for her.
And she hadn’t even talked to her boss yet.
A hand closed around her chest.Was that why Marcus had called her here?Because Winters was finally moving her?
Another hand closed around the first as she realized she might be separated from Marcus.She released a shaky breath as the thought struck her.Winters wouldn’t do that, would she?Marcus wouldn’t allow it.
Unless Cheryl told him to.
Kate doubted like hell Cheryl suspected that Kate had feelings for Marcus, but she knew from snippets of overheard conversation that Cheryl resented Marcus for prioritizing his job, and she suspected Cheryl was jealous of their connection even if she didn’t know about Kate’s feelings.
Kate sighed.This was bullshit.She pressed her lips together, straightened her back, and told herself firmly to stop acting like a lovesick teenager and go talk to Marcus for the love of God.
She took a deep breath, walked into the office, and…
Nothing.Marcus wasn’t there.
She pushed a breath out of her nose.Lovely.
“Hey, fellas,” she said to the room.“Anyone seen Marcus?”
Eleven pairs of cold eyes looked up at her.Irritation rose up her spine.Damn it, she’d wrestled with enough conflicting emotion to have to deal with everyone acting like she waspersona non grata.“Marcus Reid?Big guy?Clumsy?Cares way too much about sports?”
“Kate?”
“Thank God.”
Kate walked toward the voice and saw Marcus sticking his head out of the records room.She lifted an eyebrow as she entered.“Ooh, are we gonna make out in the closet?”
He flushed red when she said that, and she instantly regretted it.She didn’t apologize, though, because that would mean overthinking it, and she’d done enough of that for one day.
“Yeah, the last thing I need is Cheryl being even more jealous.”
And queue the overthinking again.“Why?What’s going on?”
He opened his mouth, tilted his head, then shook it.“Nothing.Forget about it.”
This was normally when Kate would press him for more information, but she really was playing with fire right now.“Whatever it is, I’m sure things will work out.They always do between you two.”
