Forged in Steele (KGI #7)(84)

“The baby,” Sam began. Then he broke off and said, “I shouldn’t ask. It’s none of my business. I just . . .”

“It’s mine,” Steele said in a low voice, correctly guessing where Sam was going with his question.

Garrett and Donovan both looked relieved.

“We thought maybe you stepped up to save Maren from going through everyone knowing Caldwell abused her and got her pregnant,” Donovan said.

“The baby is mine. She was pregnant before Caldwell kidnapped her.”

Sam wasn’t able to hide his surprise at that revelation, but Garrett and Donovan didn’t react.

“Congratulations then,” Sam finally said, a glimmer of amusement in his eyes. “I guess we’ll get to give you shit for the next while. I figured you’d be the last to fall of any of us. And here Van is going to outlast us all.”

“Footloose and fancy free,” Donovan said smugly. “The rest of you are pu**y whipped.”

“And proud of it,” Garrett cut in before Donovan could continue.

“Besides, you all got all the good ones,” Donovan said with a dramatic sigh.

“This is true,” Sam agreed.

“Although if Maren is the highly intelligent woman I know her to be, she’d do a lot better with me,” Donovan said. “We have a lot in common. We could play doctor together.”

“Only if you want your balls removed without the benefit of anesthesia,” Steele growled.

Sam and Garrett burst into laughter.

“Man, when he falls, he falls hard,” Sam said shaking his head. “I thought Rio was bad, but Steele makes him look like a guppy swimming around in the ocean.”

“Can we dispense with discussing my personal life and get back to the pertinent matter here? Such as my leave of absence and my team being headed by nerd boy now?”

Donovan snorted. “At least they’ll finally be handled with intelligence. Maybe by the time you decide to come back, they’ll have decided they like me better. I won’t get them shot as many times as you do.”

Steele scowled while Garrett and Sam laughed this time.

“In light of what we know now, I’m thinking he got them shot on purpose so he’d have an excuse to visit Maren,” Garrett said in a sly voice.

“Fuck you,” Steele muttered.

He glanced back up the walkway to see Maren standing against the wooden rail of the deck, her side turned in his direction so she could look over occasionally. As soon as he looked her way, it was as if she sensed his gaze and she turned, smiling when she saw him watching her.

“If we’re done here,” Steele murmured.

The others traced the direction of his stare and then chuckled.

“Yeah, we’re done,” Sam said. “Not like we’d have your attention any longer anyway.”

Steele made his way up the steps, ignoring everyone else. His focus was on Maren and in getting back to her. It seemed like they’d been apart for hours when in fact it hadn’t been over thirty minutes. But he itched to be close to her. He liked her next to him, where he could touch her or even just see her right there at his side.

Uncaring of who was with her or what they’d think, he moved in behind her and then stepped to her side, wrapped his arm around her waist and slid his hand into her opposing jeans pocket.

She fit him perfectly. Like she was made just for him. Her head came to right underneath his chin, providing a perfect resting place when he wanted to hug her.

He wasn’t a hugger. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d hugged anyone. A few of the Kelly women had experienced mad hugging spells, usually after being rescued or scared out of their minds, and he’d been the recipient of more than one of those, but he hadn’t hugged anyone himself since before his parents died.

With Maren, he just loved touching her. And it wasn’t just sexual. He liked being close to her, having her in his space, occupying his mind. He liked holding her and hugging her. The night before, when they’d watched a movie with her in his lap and eventually falling asleep on him, had been one of the best nights of his life.

If he had any choice in the matter, they’d still be on his couch, snuggled up like two bugs in a rug, and f**k the outside world.

And damn. Speaking of outside world.

He lowered his head to Maren’s ear. “Gotta go talk to Sam about your parents. I forgot to ask him about the jet. You going to be okay here for a minute?”

She turned and shot him a dazzling smile that nearly made his knees give out. “I’m fine, Steele. Go do your thing with Sam.”

She glanced down at her cup and then around as if looking for something.

“What you need?”

“Oh nothing. It’s all right. I was going to get something else to drink.”

He snagged her cup. “Be right back. You want lemonade again or tea?”

She sent him a soft smile that made his heartbeat accelerate.

“Lemonade is good.”

He waded through the crowd of people and noticed Sean and Rusty standing over to one side. Predictably, Rusty was wearing a frown—it was her usual expression when she spent any time around Sean—and Sean looked annoyed and impatient. Again, no surprise there. He’d be more shocked if the two ever had a conversation that didn’t rapidly deteriorate into an argument of some kind.