Forged in Steele (KGI #7)(90)

“No instructions are necessary,” she said with a smile before offering her mouth for another kiss. “I love this. I love you. Come with me, Steele. I’m so close and it’s so beautiful. Like nothing I’ve ever felt. No frenzied, panting explosive orgasm. Just . . . beautiful. Soul deep. I feel you in every part of me. You’re there.”

“You’re in me too, Maren. You’re the best part of me. You occupy my heart. My soul. My every waking thought and when I go to sleep, you’re there, in my dreams, and when I wake up and see you next to me, I can’t even describe the satisfaction that grips me. It’s like I’ve waited my whole life for you and it feels right to have you right here beside me. In my space. My bed. My life.”

His words washed over her, heightening her desire as a wave of love and emotion consumed her. She wrapped herself around him. Arms, legs, trying to imprint herself into his very soul.

He tightened over her, his face suddenly becoming strained, and his breaths sped up and he pushed deeper.

“Are you ready, Maren? Do I need to slow down so you can catch up? I want you to get there. With me. Always with me.”

She touched his face, gently caressing the lines of his jaw and then feathering over his lips. “I’ll always be with you, Steele. Me and our child. We’re a family now. Your family.”

Emotion rippled over his face and he couldn’t seem to form the words he was trying to say. He looked overcome and so she held him tighter, urging him to his release as hers washed over her like a soothing wave. Beautiful. Poignant. Unlike any orgasm she’d ever experienced.

It rippled through her in waves, intense and pleasurable. And then his movements quickened, almost like he no longer had control over his body and it acted instinctively, driving into her as his muscles coiled and contracted. He filled her with his warmth, the hot jets of his release bathing the inside of her vagina and making his thrusts easier.

She arched into him, wanting all of him, all he had to give. She wanted every inch of him inside her so that she surrounded him and took everything he had to offer.

She kissed him again, easing the lines of tension around his mouth, and then she pressed her forehead to his again just before he collapsed onto her, blanketing her with the heat of his body.

For the longest moment they lay there in silence, each breathing deeply as they recovered from the emotional intensity of the moment. She stroked his back, caressing up and down and over his shoulders, offering him her touch.

He buried his face in her neck and then kissed just below her ear.

“Never been this way with another woman, Maren. Only you. Always you. There’ll never be another.”

She smiled, soaking in the quiet vow.

“It’s a good damn thing,” she said lightly. “I’d hate to have to go kick someone’s ass for encroaching on my territory. I’m tempted to make you wear a sign that says ‘Taken. Hands Off.’”

He chuckled, his chest vibrating against hers. “And I think I’ll get you a shirt that says ‘Don’t mess with a pregnant woman.’”

“Very sound advice.”

He rolled, taking her with him so they remained connected, him still deeply embedded in her.

“I know I should get up and get a towel to clean us up, but I don’t want to move. I like it right here inside you. How ’bout we just change the sheets in the morning and sleep just like this.”

She kissed him, lingering just over his lips. “Works for me.”

CHAPTER 33

STEELE was careful not to wake Maren the next morning when he slipped from the bed. They’d spent the night making slow, leisurely love. They’d made love until they’d both fallen into an exhausted, sated sleep, but even with the few hours of sleep, he felt completely rested. He couldn’t imagine another time when he’d wakened when the world around him felt right.

But it wasn’t, and he couldn’t allow himself to relax his guard even as he reveled in the newness and intensity of their rediscovery of one another. His team would be here soon, and they had a lot to discuss and a lot to do before he felt his home was as safe as he could make it for Maren.

He wasn’t sure how his team would react to being turned over to Donovan, even for a short period of time. It wasn’t a situation he or they had ever faced. It was nothing new for Donovan or even Garrett or Sam to participate in their missions, and there’d been plenty of times when the teams had worked the same mission together, but it had always been clear. Rio led his team. Steele led his. Rio and Steele might take their orders from KGI, but their teams took their orders from Rio and Steele alone.

Hell, he didn’t like giving up his command to another person, even though he had complete confidence in Donovan and knew his team was in good hands. But he and his team were a solid, unbreakable unit that had been greatly tested when the mission had gone horribly wrong for P.J. But they’d come through stronger than ever. They were more than a team. Before Maren, they had been the most important people in his life. Now Maren, and their child, took precedence above all else. Even his team.

They’d understand that. They’d support him absolutely. He knew they had his back no matter what his decisions were. But until he resumed command, it wouldn’t be the same. For any of them. Just as it hadn’t been the same when P.J. had left for a period of time.

They clicked. They worked in perfect accord. They had chemistry that often took years if ever to develop. He couldn’t give that up any more than Maren could give up her career. But they’d both have to make compromises going forward because they had more than themselves to consider.