“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.
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.”