Page 36 of Ford
His heart nearly stopped. He turned, and yes.Yes.
His words clogged in his throat because Scarlett stood right there wearing a body-hugging swim skin, her short brown hair tousled, red highlights glistening in the sunlight, her beautiful brown eyes big as she stared at him, as shocked as he was, maybe, to see him.
“I thought you were gone,” he said stupidly.
No—no, that’s not what—
“I had a family emergency,” she said softly. “Sorry. I should have called you right away, but—”
“No need. I got spun up right after the rally. When I got back, I saw that you called—I should have called you back.”
Yes, he should have. He saw it in her eyes, the flicker of hurt.
Then, just like that, it vanished. She lifted a shoulder as if hearing from him or not was no big deal.
With the gesture, something just sort of died inside him.
Just teammates.
She’d made that clear, and he planned on respecting it.
He had one job, one goal, and that was to get his sister back.
But he needed help doing it. So, the best thing to do was come right out and… “Scarlett, I…I need you.”
She blinked at him, her mouth opening slightly, and he didn’t stop. “My sister is…okay, it’s a very long story, but she’s disappeared in Russia, and I’m going to find her.”
She closed her mouth. Swallowed. Then, “What…why do you…need me?”
“I’m going in-country with a former SEAL who runs SAR ops for situations sort of like this, but we need backup, someone who can stay behind, but close enough for support if we need it.”
“The voice on the radio,” she said softly.
He lifted a shoulder, nodded, and added a smile. “One more go before you head to Rescue Swimmer school?” Then he frowned. “Wait—I sort of assumed you were on transfer leave. This won’t make you AWOL, will it?”
“No.” She looked past him toward the ocean, then back, and her smile seemed forced. “It’ll be fine. I have a long time left on my leave.”
“This shouldn’t take more than a few days, tops. Senator White is trying to track her down—”
“You got the presidential candidate to help you?”
He started walking with her toward the boardwalk. “Yeah. Apparently, he’s a fly-fishing buddy of my mother’s, uh…boyfriend.”
Scarlett stopped and raised an eyebrow, and—
“Right? Hello, thank you very much. Someone who finally understands. Yes, my mother’sboyfriend.Just saying that weirds me out.”
Scarlett laughed, and the sound of it hit his bones like a balm—cool, refreshing, sweet.
Wow, he’d missed her.
“You’re going to live through this, Marsh.”
He liked it when she called him by his nickname. “I dunno. It feels like there’s a live grenade in the room and no one wants to acknowledge it.”
“Oh, please. It can’t be that bad. Besides, your mom is smart. She’s not going to get into a relationship with someone your family doesn’t like.”
“Yeah, I guess. It just feels weird. My parents were married nearly thirty years.”