Forged in Steele (KGI #7)(27)

She was drawn to the badass Steele, but the Steele she had been treated to the last two times they’d been together? Utterly irresistible.

She was in deep, deep trouble. Apart from any pregnancy concerns, she was fast falling under his spell, and that was the dumbest thing she could do. He wasn’t relationship material. Hell, he’d been brutally honest about not liking the fact that she was under his skin. He didn’t want her there and he didn’t want to be sexually attracted to her. After he was satisfied, he’d be gone again, and she’d likely never see him again unless his team needed her services.

Which made her an even bigger idiot for agreeing to do this with him. Spend time, have sex, have a cozy, almost romantic breakfast for two. Him in her kitchen, shirtless, wearing only a pair of jeans she’d never seen him in, and day-um he looked mouthwateringly delicious in those jeans. They beat the hell out of the fatigues he always wore, although he made camo look pretty damn good.

If she had any self-preservation, she’d stay the hell away from him and not let him come and go on a whim when he got the urge to exorcise her from his system. So she was an idiot. Because she had no intention of denying him anything, even knowing this road was going to lead to heartbreak.

Steele poked his head into the exam room where she was finishing up bandaging an animal bite on a child’s leg.

“I just put the last patient in the second exam room. The waiting area is clear. Want me to close down while you work the last one?”

She uttered a wistful sigh. How nice it was to work in tandem as they had today. Things had gone so much smoother with his help in organizing the patients, finding out histories and doing triage for her. His company had been a great comfort to her today. She liked it. Liked him being here in her space, her world. She was seeing a side of him she hadn’t known existed because she’d never seen him outside the realm of KGI and his missions.

“Yeah, check outside to make sure no one else is coming or has arrived. If it’s clear, lock up and we’ll let the last patient out when I’m done.”

He started to withdraw, but she called out to him. He paused and turned around, waiting for her to speak.

“Thanks,” she said softly. “Today was nice.”

He smiled warmly at her. She felt it all the way to her toes and it gave her a ridiculous, giddy thrill. She felt like a sixteen-year-old with a monster crush on the high school jock.

“You’ve done all the work. You’re a good doctor, Maren. They trust you. You’re great with them. I’ve always known you were good, but I’ve only seen you with my team. You work damn hard. I don’t know how you do this every day, at all hours of the day and night.”

She glowed under his praise, her cheeks burning with instant heat.

He gave her a two-finger salute and then left the room. She turned back to the child and sent his mother a look of apology. But the mom just smiled and winked.

“He is a good-looking man, yes?”

Maren smiled. “Yes, he certainly is that.”

She patted the child’s arm and then ruffled his dark hair. “Okay, you’re all set,” she said in Spanish. “Keep the bandages on and let your mother apply ointment and rewrap it. We don’t want it to get infected, and whatever you do, don’t pick at it.”

Then to the mother she said, “Keep watch for signs of infection. If he starts running a fever or the wound gets red or starts looking infected, come back and I can give him an injection of antibiotics. Keep it clean and dry.”

The mother nodded and then thanked Maren. She smiled at both and then led them from the exam room back to the waiting area, where Steele was just locking up.

When he saw them, he opened the door to let the mom and child out. He ruffled the child’s hair and spoke to him in Spanish. The child beamed back and then followed his mother outside.

Steele closed the door and turned back to Maren. “I’ll wait out here until you finish and then let the last patient out. How long do you normally stay after your last patient? Do you have to do paperwork or catch up on other stuff? You’ve been working nonstop today seeing patients.”

Then he frowned. “You didn’t even take a break to eat lunch.”

“Neither did you,” she pointed out.

He shrugged. “I’ve gone a hell of a lot longer than that without eating. Skipping one meal doesn’t bother me.”

“Me either. I often work through lunch. It’s not fair to make them all wait so I can take an hour lunch. My clinic doesn’t have set hours. If there are patients to be seen, I see them and I eat afterward.”

“You got a grill?”

She blinked at the sudden change in topic. “Yeah, a small one. Nothing huge or anything.”

“Big enough to cook the steaks I saw in your freezer? Or at least I think that’s what they were.”

She smiled. “Yep. One of the locals gifted me with four steaks from a cow they butchered recently. I suck at grilling and I hate the idea of them going to waste, but I didn’t want to refuse and hurt the man’s feelings.”

“I’ll throw them on the grill once we get back to your place. You can relax, put your feet up, and drink a cup of your tea while I make us dinner.”

Her heart did a funny twist in her chest, and warmth invaded her veins. How they’d gotten from one night of never-to-be-repeated sex to acting like a couple was beyond her, but she’d hold on to the dream for as long as it lasted. There was plenty of time for reality to sink in later. Much, much later, if she had her way about it.