Marcus raised his glass to the happy couple. And it was with real joy in his heart. That wasn’t to say there wasn’t a healthy amount of jealousy as well. Mari and Jay looked happy as hell. Snuggled up to one another as they sat at Ryan’s kitchen table, staring down at their bandaged ring fingers.

They’d gotten their rings tattooed on yesterday afternoon, flown to Vegas last night, and were back in time for a celebratory dinner with their family tonight.

That’s what Marcus was the most happy about. That Mari had a family again. A real one. She was a part of this ragtag group as much as any of them. He looked around at the kitchen. Tia sat on Eli’s lap, her head on his shoulder and her fingers messing around with her own engagement ring.

Jace sat on the kitchen counter and Laura stood between his knees, leaning back on him. And even Ryan and Kat were holding hands. They’d started being much more open about their relationship, although no one had outright asked about it yet, as far as Marcus knew.

He sighed to himself. And then there was him. Alone as usual. He didn’t mind being lonely in any given moment. It was the lifetime of loneliness thing that wore away at him. He wasn’t into that.

Marcus could feel Eli’s eyes on him but he didn’t look up. He and his friend hadn’t talked again about what Marcus had told him in Hawaii. About his failures with women. And that was fine by Marcus. He wasn’t looking for advice or pity. But it had been good to get it off his chest.

Especially since he’d decided that the best course of action was to throw himself back into work full force. He hadn’t wanted to take the glorified babysitting job; it was too low action for his taste. But honestly, it was better than a desk job and not as likely to get him on the business end of a gun. So it seemed like a happy medium.

Marcus felt his phone beep in a familiar pattern and he knew it was the bureau contacting him. He’d agreed to take the job that morning, more than a month after it had been offered to him. He was surprised it was still up for grabs, honestly. But he’d felt a sense of relief when he’d taken the assignment. Pretty soon he was going to have something else to think about besides a lifetime of mistakes.

He looked down at his phone and saw an encrypted file had been dropped to him. Wow. They were giving him the case details already? They must really need to get someone on this chick immediately.

Marcus rose from the kitchen and went into the living room to review the file in peace. He glanced over the file, scrolling over the duty description. He already knew what he was supposed to do, stick to this chick like velcro, make sure she didn’t have to open a jar of mustard on her own. Make sure she didn’t so much as trip on a crack in the sidewalk. He frowned, hating that that was going to be his reality for the next few months.

“Better than desk work,” he muttered to himself as he continued to scroll down the file. He got to the personal information, including a series of pictures of the target herself. Marcus’s eyebrows shot up. “Way better than desk work.”

She was cute. Really cute. He couldn’t tell her height or her figure from the head shots, but she had a face that could break your heart. Delicate and pale and heart shaped. Hair so light it was almost white. Like a doll. For some reason, looking at her picture made him feel funny. Oddly protective of her. He figured that was a good thing, considering he was the one who was charged with protecting her.

He saw her name was Iris Stanton. And for some reason knowing her name gave him a funny little feeling as well.

He’d just scrolled past her pictures and down to read the FBI’s description of her connection to the mob when another notification popped up on his phone. A call.

“Marinos,” he answered lowly.

“Good evening, Agent Marinos,” a smooth voice he recognized very well spoke to him. It was his handler on the inside of the Bureau.

“Evening.”

“There’s been an incident with your most recent assignment.”

He stayed quiet, though his hand clenched on the phone. An incident already? The damn thing had been assigned thirty seconds ago.

“Yes?”

“She was on her way to you, in full escort, when she was abducted about ten miles from where you are right now.”

Something clenched in Marcus’s chest as he thought of that pale, delicate face. The sweetheart of her chin. He thought of men grabbing her, fear marring her perfect features. “Copy,” he growled.

“Obviously, your assignment has changed.”

“Search and rescue Iris Stanton,” he guessed, already switching into full-on agent mode, everything in him hardening as he prepared to do his job.

“Exactly. New case details will be messaged immediately.”

“I’m ready,” he growled again. And he was.