Her legs wrapped around him, trapping him against her, and her arms circled his shoulders, her fingers digging into his back.
He kissed her again, their tongues colliding as he deepened the kiss.
“I’m coming back,” he said in a strained voice. “Believe that, okay? I know I never said I’d be back that first time, but this isn’t over. We’re not finished. As soon as I wrap things up, I’m heading back.”
“Okay,” she whispered.
Her eyes flared and her body tightened, suddenly going hot and wet around his cock. Her pu**y fluttered and clenched him tighter as her orgasm rolled through her body into his. He thrust deeper, committing to memory just how good she felt without the barrier of latex. And he knew he’d never have her again with a condom. No way in hell he’d go back after experiencing her silky softness against his skin.
He plunged inward again and then began thrusting hard and deep as his release swept over him, colliding with hers. They strained together, moving in rhythm, each reaching and desperate for the same thing.
And then he collapsed on her, covering her completely as he tried to catch his breath.
“Incredible,” he murmured. “I’m so damn sorry we didn’t have more time.”
She kissed his shoulder and smoothed her hands over his back. “We’ll have time later.”
He lifted himself off her and kissed her one last time. “Bet your ass we will. No force on earth is going to keep me from coming back to you.”
CHAPTER 14
MAREN stared at the fax machine as the results of the labs she’d couriered out began to print. She held her breath, nearly paralyzed with nervousness. Steele had departed three days earlier, and she hadn’t heard from him—not that she’d expected to. There was no telling just how long he’d be gone, and the very last thing she’d wanted to do when he was leaving on a mission was to tell him she might be pregnant with his child.
She hadn’t wanted him to leave without knowing, but then she’d thought that he’d still be there when she got the test results back and she could tell him face to face. But telling him that kind of news, and that she didn’t even have confirmation yet, when he needed absolute focus and concentration wasn’t the right thing to do. How the hell was he supposed to concentrate when his mind was occupied with the knowledge that he might be a father? No, she couldn’t drop that kind of bomb on him, and now she was glad she hadn’t told him the minute he’d arrived because the result would have been the same. He would have had to go before she got the official results, and he’d be left wondering.
Or maybe he would have actually told Sam he couldn’t go? It was a possibility, and one she would have never considered. His job was everything. It consumed his life. He’d admitted he was as married to his career as she was to hers.
But now she was faced with the results, and she’d give anything for him to be here right now. It was selfish of her. Steele saved people. It was who he was, and he was important to KGI. But she wanted him here with her to face the news, whatever it was.
The results were finished printing from the fax machine, but still, she stared down at the papers, hesitating as if they were a creepy bug about to bite her.
“Quit being such a coward,” she muttered. “You knowing one way or another doesn’t change what is. If you’re pregnant, you need to know. If you’re not, then you still need to know.”
After having an argument with herself, she snatched up the printouts and walked back to her desk. She placed the papers in front of her and then sat, taking a deep breath.
She rifled through, looking for the name she’d put on her labs. She’d go back and read the other reports later. If she attempted to make sense of them now, she’d just have to do it all over again anyway. Her only focus was on knowing whether she was pregnant.
Her pulse leapt when she got to her results and she quickly scanned, absorbing those few, life-changing words.
Positive for pregnancy.
She stared in shock, paralyzed by the revelation. Yes, she’d certainly known, suspected, that it was a good possibility. But somehow seeing it there in black and white burst her denial bubble. Maybe in the back of her mind she’d thought the results would come back negative and it all would have been a presumptuous fear on her part. But there it was. She was definitely pregnant and Steele was definitely going to be a father.
Oh God. She was going to be a mother.
She sat back in her chair and blew out a long breath. She cupped her hand over her still-flat belly and marveled that there was a tiny life growing inside her. And then, as if knowing the results had suddenly instigated her symptoms, she lurched for the wastepaper basket and emptied the contents of her stomach in a violent retch, her glasses falling down her nose and nearly into the trashcan.
She stayed there, hanging over the basket for a long moment as she tried to catch her breath. Her stomach was in knots and nausea overwhelmed her. Her pulse was racing and sweat broke out on her forehead.
When she was certain she wasn’t going to vomit anymore, she staggered out of her office and into the bathroom so she could wash out her mouth and splash cool water on her face. Then she caught her reflection in the mirror and winced at how pale she appeared.
She braced her palms on the sink and closed her eyes. Pregnant. She was carrying Steele’s baby. No matter how many times she thought it or replayed those three little words on the lab results, she still couldn’t quite wrap her brain around it.