Forged in Steele (KGI #7)(26)

“Then don’t go,” she whispered.

He pressed a kiss to her neck and then rolled to the side, slipping free from her body. When he got up to discard the condom, she reached down, testing for any sign of wetness or evidence that the condom had broken. But she felt nothing more than her own moisture.

Maybe the other was a fluke. Maybe it didn’t break at all and maybe she wasn’t pregnant. She wouldn’t know for sure until those results came back. And if he planned on staying a while, it was likely he’d still be here when she got the results. Then, if she was indeed pregnant, she’d tell him face to face. It certainly wasn’t news she wanted to deliver over the phone or by having a message passed along to him by Sam, Garrett or Donovan.

Satisfied that if he was hanging around he’d be there when she got the results back, she shoved the matter from her mind and focused instead on the gorgeous male specimen crawling back into her bed with a fresh condom in his hand.

Yeah, she liked a man who came prepared, and she was going to enjoy using every damn one of those condoms.

CHAPTER 10

MAREN woke from a dreamy fog that surrounded her. She was utterly sated, her body deliciously sore. Parts of her still throbbed and she stretched experimentally only to collide with a hard male form.

She turned her head, instantly seeing a muscled chest. She was lying flat on her back and Steele was on his side facing her, his leg and arm thrown possessively over her body. She let out a sigh and his eyes opened. He regarded her lazily, making no effort to loosen his hold on her.

“Good morning,” he murmured.

“What time is it?” she whispered.

“Oh six hundred.”

She groaned.

His eyebrow went up. “Everything okay?”

She grimaced. “No. I have to get up and get showered. My patients start showing up at the clinic at around seven. Sometimes earlier. It’s first come, first served, and so they line up early and wait for me to open.”

“Want some help?”

She blinked, not knowing what to say. She wasn’t entirely certain what he’d planned to do while she was working or if he’d even planned to stay. They hadn’t discussed it other than his saying he was taking some downtime. That could mean anything. Maybe she was just a stop on his way to somewhere else.

“Uh sure, if you want to come hang out at the clinic, I’d love the company.”

“You jump in the shower first. I’ll wash up after you’re done. Do we have time for breakfast? I’ll see what I can rustle up while you shower.”

Okay, this was not Steele. Aliens had descended and taken over his body. Or maybe he’d been cloned. But this was not the Steele she knew at all. He sounded positively domestic.

“What’s that look for?” he asked.

“You have to give me some time to process this, Steele. I mean, the first night was unexpected enough, and you made no bones about the fact that it was a onetime deal, you wouldn’t be calling and you were working me out of your system. Next thing I know, you’re back, we have hot monkey sex all night long and then you want to come hang out with me at the clinic after cooking me breakfast. Are you seeing why I’m a little befuddled here?”

The corner of his mouth quirked up. “Hot monkey sex? Is that what you call it?”

She rolled her eyes. “Trust you to ignore everything in my statement except the sex part.”

“It’s the most important point,” he said smugly.

She stared balefully at him, waiting for him to expound.

He gave an exaggerated sigh. “If you want an explanation, I can’t give you one because I have no idea what the hell is going on either. I couldn’t stop thinking about you. It was bad enough before we actually had sex, but after? I haven’t thought of anything else but you, and it’s f**king with my focus. So now I’m here, and I’m liking being here a hell of a lot, and I’d like to hang out with you at the clinic because I came to see you, and if you’re there and I’m here, I won’t see you. And if I help out, maybe you’ll get done quicker and we can go back to having that hot monkey sex you’re talking about.”

“Well, all righty then. I guess that about covers it all. You go make breakfast. I’ll hit the shower and then we’ll go to work.”

He leaned over and kissed her thoroughly. “It’s a plan then.”

* * *

HAVING Steele at the clinic made for an interesting day. Not to mention he was terrific with her patients. She’d spent much of the morning gawking at just how good he was with the children. And the women as well. At first, they were intimidated by him, but in no time at all, they warmed up to his gruff personality and the children all clamored for his attention.

It was hard not to picture him with his own child. A child she could very well be pregnant with. She caught herself drifting off several times and then jerking herself back to the patient she was treating.

Seeing Steele in a nonprofessional capacity when he wasn’t Steele the team leader, but rather Steele the ordinary, not-so-superhuman badass was . . . eye-opening. Not that he was lacking in any way, but she was accustomed to his stern exterior and seeing him locked behind his warrior armor. The Steele she’d seen not once but twice now was challenging every preconceived notion she’d ever formed about him.

He was approachable. Suddenly very human and not the machine other members of KGI only half-jokingly called him.