3 YEARS before E-DAY
Eleventh day of Heat
Ephyra City
Anya and her friends were having ice cream and sodas in the crowded park on a summer afternoon when suddenly they heard the thump-thump-thump of running feet on the grass.
Anya turned that direction and shielded her eyes against the sun. A streaking shadow blocked out the light and she took a sharp breath as it lunged at them.
The dark figure leapt full-length onto the long marble table, barely avoiding their cups of soda. It was a man, who skidded to a smooth stop on his side, left knee bent and right hand propping up his head like he was sunning himself on a beach.
"LLLadies," drawled Carlos Santiago. He grinned rakishly, showing off the dimples that he knew damn well worked like a charm.
Anya rolled her eyes, but she was smiling in spite of herself. Anyone would instantly like Carlos, who was equal parts dashing and goofy. That is, anyone who wasn't dating a woman within a ten mile radius of him.
Carlos turned his smile on her. "Who are your lovely friends here, Lieutenant?"
"Good afternoon, Private," she said, in tones that let him know she wasn't exactly displeased with his flamboyant entrance, but that he shouldn't make a habit out of it. "My 'lovely friends here' are Mrs. Jennifer Riyad and Ms. Cassandra Bryant. Jenny, Cass, meet Carlos Santiago."
Jenny smiled back at him. "Pleased to meet you, Carlos."
Cass looked his extremely athletic body up and down and said, "Hello, sailor," in a way that made Anya want to hide her face in her hands. Carlos's dimpled grin widened. He dropped off the table with a twist and landed catlike on his feet before settling down on the bench facing them. The women had all been sitting on the same side of the table for a nice view of the pond, but Jenny and Cass didn't seem to mind that being blocked by a nice view of The Santiago instead.
"Soldier, not sailor," he corrected Cass with a hint of apology. "26th Royal Tyran Infantry, at your service."
"Two-Six RTI?" Jenny asked. "Now there's quite a pedigree."
Carlos grinned with professional pride. Anya had to admit, he had knee-weakening smile, what with the perfect white teeth and the killer dimples and how it made you feel like a witty, beautiful, desirable person.
"At my service, you say?" Cass leaned her elbows on the table, mirroring his posture. Carlos tipped his head as if he were enjoying every word that came out of her mouth. "You made me drop my ice cream." She flicked her eyes down at the melting puddle of vanilla dessert on the grass.
"Oh." Carlos looked genuinely dismayed. That was another thing ladies loved about him; he wasn't the kind of man to dismiss someone's problem, no matter how small. "I didn't really think that through, did I?"
Jenny laughed. "It was worth it."
"Oh, absolutely," Cass agreed. "You can superhero yourself onto my table any day of the week."
His smile came back. "Let me get you another dessert." He looked to Anya and Jenny as he stood up. "Anya? Jenny? Any preference flavor-wise?"
"Strawberry," Anya replied.
"Vanilla," Jenny said.
"Definitely chocolate," Cass added.
Carlos gave them his lady-killer smile as he left for the ice cream vendor. "Don't disappear on me, now."
Anya laughed internally. As if she could pry Jenny or Cass off this bench with a crowbar.
Jenny elbowed Anya in the side. "Did you have to tell him I'm married in the first five seconds?"
"Is there some reason he shouldn't know?"
Jenny sighed. "No. I just would have enjoyed a bit more flirting, is all. He's very ..." She stared at his back as he strode away. "Very ..." Carlos had That Walk, which some men were born with and others spent years trying to learn.
"He is indeed very very," Cass agreed. "Hot damn." She took a slow sip from her soda straw. "Where have you been hiding him, Anya? And why aren't you two … y'know ..." Cass raised her eyebrows and tapped her lips, not too suggestive but unmistakable in her meaning.
"I haven't been hiding him anywhere; he's been in training for something classified. And officers cannot fraternize with enlisted unless they're aiming for a dishonorable discharge."
"Cannot openly fraternize," Jenny corrected, having dated a few military men before her marriage.
Anya laughed briefly. "One does not secretly date Carlos Santiago. He's not the kind of man who can keep his feelings concealed, and he's a terrible liar." Anya pointed delicately at Cass. "I can tell he fancies you, for example, and isn't just flirting for the fun of it like he does with me."
"Is that so?" Cass looked in his direction, with a softer gaze this time.
"That is so. You are exactly his type."
"Which is?" Jenny asked, clearly enjoying this vicarious reminder of her single days.
"Pretty," Anya began.
"Thank you," Cass acknowledged the compliment.
"Curly hair..."
Cass patted her blonde head proudly. "All natural."
"Flirtatious ..."
"Oh, I can tell this will be fun."
"And most of all ..."
Jenny and Cass leaned closer to hear the defining characteristic.
"... female and not wearing a wedding ring."
Cass laughed. "Is that all it takes?"
Jenny giggled as well.
"For the year I've known him? Yes." Anya smiled.
Cass propped her chin in her hands. "Tell me everything."
Anya described Carlos's rank, background, length of service and duties. It was all very vague and boring, but the ladies listened with rapt attention, eager to glean more info about their newfound object of fascination.
They were both turned toward her when Anya saw Carlos pat his pockets and freeze.
Marcus Fenix appeared at Carlos's side seemingly out of thin air. Anya took in an extra breath, as she had to do every time she saw him. How such a big man went unnoticed in a crowd of average-sized people, she could never quite figure out. Maybe he'd learned the trick from Dominic, the commando brother.
It looked like they were having an extremely low-key argument, and Private Fenix was trying to push some kind of rolled-up paper into Carlos's fist, which the soldier kept resolutely closed as he spoke quickly and nodded in the women's direction.
Finally Fenix's shoulders sagged slightly, and Anya saw that the roll of paper Carlos allowed himself to be given was actually money. She realized Carlos had forgotten his wallet and Fenix wanted to pay, but Carlos would not accept until his friend agreed to something.
She sat up straighter in alarm as Carlos retrieved the carrier with the four kinds of ice cream popsicles and they started back toward her table. 'He's coming over here.' Her face immediately flushed with heat. She prayed anyone who noticed would put it down to the touch of the bright sun on her fair skin. Anya played with the delicate scarf around her neck and was thankful she'd worn it like a high collar. No one would see her nervous swallowing through the fabric.
Jenny and Cass were both giving Carlos seductive smiles when he sat down. Anya swallowed as Fenix took the only other seat available, directly across from her.
Carlos distributed their desserts. "This is my peace offering for disturbing your lunch break, ladies. And this," he said, grinning hugely at the man beside him, "is the best friend a guy could ever have: my good buddy Marcus."
Cass and Jenny looked skeptical that Private Fenix was anyone's "good buddy," but Carlos clapped Fenix on the back as if his friend had made a clever joke instead of sitting there like he was part of the marble bench.
"Marcus ...?" Jenny prompted.
His face was blank. "Just Marcus, ma'am."
Cass asked, "You're not having ice cream?"
"No."
There was an awkward pause where a regular person would have offered additional explanation. Fenix didn't offer. He didn't blink, either. Jenny shifted uneasily.
"You'll have to forgive him, ladies: he's on duty."
"On duty?" Anya asked. "Wouldn't he be in uniform?"
"Not on duty for the Army." Carlos elbowed Fenix in the side jokingly. "He's my chaperone."
Cass cocked her head to the side. "Chaperone?"
"Yeah, he's here to make sure I don't elope with the first beautiful woman I see." He winked at Cass. "I tend to be hasty like that."
She raised an eyebrow. "Not too hasty, I hope."
"Only in the good ways, Ms. Black."
Anya tried to follow the light-hearted conversation as she ate her dessert before it melted, but she could see Fenix out of the corner of her eye, which was very distracting.
"Well, I'm glad I came early to scope out the crowd before the show," Carlos was saying in between his own licks of ice cream.
"The show?"
"I'm playing the drums for the band before the fireworks this evening."
"Two-six RTI and a musician. You seem very talented."
Carlos gave Cass a look that could be interpreted several ways, all of them inappropriate for a sunny afternoon in the park. "Ms. Black, I am practically bursting with talent."
Jenny laughed and elbowed Cass in the side. Cass was giggling and following up with her own innuendos, which made Carlos's smile even larger.
Private Fenix turned an exasperated eye-roll into a slow blink and rubbed his forehead. Anya couldn't suppress a smirk, either, and their eyes met in mutual amusement. Fenix's eyes were gray, but when she looked into them right then they seemed to flash pale blue, and for just a half-second the chagrined amusement seemed to become something much more … primal. Her reaction to it was like every sexual urge she'd ever had was condensed down into one electric shock that hit her like a thunderbolt.
Anya almost choked on her ice cream. She coughed a little, and the moment was gone, his expression restored to a sort of bland tolerance of the situation.
'Belay that, Stroud,' she told herself. 'You're letting your crush on an enlisted man make you see things that aren't there. Stop interpreting things to suit yourself,' she scolded. 'You are not going to hit on a subordinate just because he has beautiful eyes and shared a laugh with you.'
But she was having a hard time keeping her breaths regular. She'd impulsively broken up with Michael eight months ago; was she so starved for affection that she was getting turned on by a man literally just sitting there? So what if Carlos had told Anya that Fenix liked her? His mild interest in her might already be over. "Liking" was a shallow and temporary feeling, fading as quickly as it had bloomed. She could not do shallow and temporary.
Maybe she needed to contact a dating service.
Carlos had no such difficulty getting attention or dates. He was exceptionally good at flattering women, and somehow managed to make Jenny blush and smile prettily, despite never saying anything to her that might make her husband challenge him to a duel.
"How's your ice cream, Cassandra?" Carlos asked, and ran the bare popsicle stick across his tongue as if he didn't know exactly how sexual that looked.
"Creamy," she said in a low voice.
Fenix surreptitiously rolled his eyes again.
"How about I buy you another. Say, this weekend at the Farmer's Market?"
"That sounds delightful. Are you going to wear your uniform?"
"Ah, no. That's not really allowed when we're off duty."
"What a shame. I would have loved to see you in it."
"Ah, but I do have several shirts from the Lauren Ralph Rubber Ducky Collection." He gestured with exaggeration down his blue shirt, whose yellow dots did turn out to be tiny ducks.
Cass let out a genuine giggle, which made Carlos's eyes twinkle in delight. "Are you serious?" she asked.
Carlos put a hand on his broad chest as though the question shocked him. "I would never joke about rubber duckies. Not after all they've done for me."
Cass gave him a real smile this time, not the calculated kind. "And what have they done for you, exactly?"
"Ah, but that is a story best told at a Farmer's Market. The duck-related ambiance, you see. So you'll have to come with me if you want to hear it."
"It's a deal." Cass gave him her number. Jenny tried not to pout. Fenix stared into the distance as though he'd rather be bird-watching.
After a bit more back-and-forth, during which Anya tried not to stare at Fenix, Carlos announced, "Sadly, we have to take our leave, ladies. I need to meet up with the band for warm-up, and Marcus is helping set up the stage. I'd invite you all to dinner with us afterward, but we're going to a family gathering."
"I'll see you this weekend, though," Cass said as though he needed reminding.
"I'll be counting the hours, Ms. Black." He gave them all one more smoky look before the two men strode off.
"Anya," Jenny said, "you know all the hot guys, don't you?"
"Two-six RTI does seem to attract a certain type of man."
"The other one doesn't look like a 'Just Marcus' to me." Cass pondered. "I could swear I've seen him somewhere before."
Adam was a public figure, and everyone knew about Elain from the movies based on her career, but their son stayed out of the limelight as much as possible. He had been years younger the last time the staff of Scandal! magazine had published photos of the family attending some white-tie social function they couldn't get out of, and the rest of his recent publicity was only a few seconds in the background of a news segment about 26 RTI. Anya had secured a copy of that broadcast, then immediately stuffed it in a safety deposit box and never watched it. Being a quasi-stalker was hideously embarrassing.
Anya decided to get it over with. "He's Marcus Fenix," she said. "That's why you recognize him."
"Whoa, really?" Jenny's eyebrows shot up. "As in 'Adam and Elain' Fenix?"
"Yes." Anya had to consciously relax the fist her left hand had made.
"So that's their son. Wow. I expected..."
"Expected what?"
"I dunno. Someone wearing a little more bling. You know: gold watch, fancy shoes, fast car. He could buy and sell this entire park with just the cards in his wallet, and he's walking around in worn-out jeans and a T-shirt."
"A very nice T-shirt," Cass added, sucking on her soda straw. "Very … tight."
"Don't!" Anya snapped before she could stop herself.
Cass's straw dropped out of her mouth in amazement, and Jenny looked slightly shocked.
"Don't what?" Cass asked.
"Don't … you dare drop Carlos because his rich friend came around. Carlos is an incorrigible flirt, yes, but he's also a sweet, gentle person like all the Santiagos." Anya warmed to her subject, realizing that she meant every word, and thankful it drew the conversation away from her reaction to Cass admiring Fenix. She pointed the popsicle stick at both of them, just in case Jenny were also getting any ideas about an extramarital affair. "He's not the one-night-stand type, either."
"If he's that wonderful, then why hasn't some lucky woman married him already?"
Anya really didn't want to answer that, but she'd been asked a direct question, and Cass would soon find out the truth anyway if she were going to date him. "The Santiagos are … not rich."
Anya did not want to get into how Carlos gave most of his paycheck to his various family members. The women he'd dated thought that it was cute and noble at first, and then gradually became annoyed when he didn't keep enough of his money to buy them the things that they wanted. Most Significant Others didn't like hearing No, we can't go to Kashkur for the weekend; my dad's car needs a new fuel pump.
Cass's face fell. "He's poor?"
"Technically speaking." Anya did not elaborate.
Cass sighed.
Anya narrowed her eyes. "You are going to the Farmer's Market with Carlos. You promised."
"I will. Don't worry." She smiled foxily. "I have to get at least one good kiss out of that beautiful mouth."
'Damn it, damn it, damn it,' Anya cursed internally. 'She's going to break his heart.'
Anya's grim prediction came true, unfortunately. And she never spoke another word to Cass.
In the novels Anya met Carlos and Marcus during the preparation phase for Operation Leveler (stealing the Hammer of Dawn prototype from Aspho Point), but we're going to pretend she knew them for about a year before that.