Maya Banks - Forged in Steele

“And KGI? What about that?”

He hesitated a moment but then looked her squarely in the eye. “You are more important to me than KGI. You and our child. I’d walk away in a heartbeat if it’s what would make you happy. If it made you feel more secure. My job is dangerous, Maren. There are no guarantees when I leave on a mission that I’ll come back. If you can’t live with that uncertainty, then I’ll give it up. I never want you to feel that you come second to anything else in my life.”

“Oh God, you have to stop,” she said with a sniffle. “You’re going to make me cry!”

“I only want you,” he said quietly. “Everything else is meaningless unless you’re with me.”

She continued to stroke his face, fanning out her fingers as she gazed lovingly at him.

“I know how much you love your job. It’s a calling. Just like my job is. It’s who we are and it’s not fair for either of us to change who we are just to be together. For now, and for a while after our daughter is born, I’d like to stay with you. In Tennessee. I want my parents and my brother to see my daughter and spend time with them. I want to go visit them and have them visit us. I want to be a bigger part of the KGI family instead of being on the periphery and only seeing them when they come to me for medical treatment. I’m sure I can find something to keep me occupied while you’re off saving the world.”

“You could open your own practice in Dover,” Steele said. “I talked to Sam, Garrett and Donovan about it. KGI needs a doctor. We have three teams now and we need an onsite doctor. Also, Doc Campbell is talking about retiring, but he’s a hands-on doctor. He still makes house calls. He has a rural clinic. I think you and he have a lot in common. You could talk to him about working with him and maybe taking over his practice when he retires. The possibilities are endless. I don’t want your talents to go to waste. You’re too good a doctor for that, and I know you wouldn’t be happy not practicing medicine. It’s who you are, just like KGI is who I am.”

Excitement crept up her spine. The idea of practicing medicine and working with and near Steele was hugely appealing. Plus she liked the members of KGI. And working in a rural clinic and even making house calls was precisely what she’d been doing for the last several years of her life.

“I like that idea,” she said. “It would be perfect. We could stay in Tennessee until our daughter is older and then decide whether I want to go back into the field. Who’s to say that I won’t have another child after this one?”

A look of savage satisfaction crossed Steele’s face. His eyes blazed and utter contentment settled over his features.

“Never thought this would ever come out of my mouth, but I’d love to have more than one. I loved having an older brother.”

Pain briefly registered in his eyes as he thought about his own brother. Maren touched his face again, and he leaned into her palm, turning so he pressed a kiss to the inside of her hand.

“Our daughter would need a playmate. Not that she wouldn’t have plenty of those with all the Kellys popping out children. By the time our daughter is born, who knows how many more Kellys will be scheduled to make their appearances.”

Maren laughed. “You’re probably right about that. I know Sam would love another child. And it’s only a matter of time before Garrett and Sarah start thinking about babies. I’ve seen Sarah with Charlotte and she’s hooked.”

“So you’ll marry me and move into my house? Or would you prefer to live closer to the compound? I can sell my place and build whatever you want.”

God, she loved this man. And it was obvious he loved her just as much. He was willing to make so many sacrifices because he wanted her happy.

She shook her head. “I love your house. It’s perfect. The perfect hideaway when we want to escape the world and just be together.”

He leaned in and brushed his mouth softly across hers. “I like the way you think. But you still haven’t given me my answer.”

“I did too!” she said in exasperation.

“Tell me again,” he said, his expression growing serious. “I need to hear it, Maren. Give me the words again.”

“Yes, I’ll marry you, Steele. I love you so much. I’ll marry you whenever and however you want. I’ll elope to Vegas if that’s what you want. As long as the end result is that you’re my husband and I belong to you, nothing else matters.”

He captured her lips in a long, seeking kiss. It wasn’t as gentle as before and he poured the depth of his emotion into it. His love with every breath. Their tongues tangled and he sucked and licked at her lips, tasting and nibbling as he explored every inch of her mouth.

“I love you,” he said hoarsely. “I’ll never love anyone else the way I love you.”

“That’s good, because I plan on keeping you around for a very long time. I did the impossible.”

He reared back, giving her a puzzled look.

“I took down the ice man,” she said with a smile.

He grinned back. “Damn straight you did.”

“WHY’Dyou do it, Hancock?” Steele asked bluntly.

He was standing by Hancock’s bed, and the man looked like shit. He’d already been beat to hell and back by Maksimov’s henchmen, and that was before taking a bullet and then being pulverized in the helicopter crash.

Hancock slowly trained his gaze on Steele, steadily regarding him. Steele engaged in the staredown, neither man speaking as they felt each other out.

“You complaining because I saved your woman?” Hancock asked mockingly.

“I owe you,” Steele said grudgingly. “And I’m sure you’ll collect.”

“Oh, I’ll call my marker in. One day,” Hancock said. “But for now you can rest easy. I’m out of commission for a while, and then I’m going after Maksimov.”

“Who do you work for, Hancock? I can’t figure you out. One minute you’re a flaming asshole and the next you’re Captain Fucking America.”

Hancock made a derisive sound. “I leave the Captain America crap to your KGI. We all have the same job, Steele. We just have different ways of getting it done. You think your missions are righteous. I think mine are. Who’s right? Who’s wrong? Does it really fucking matter who I work for? It probably sticks in your throat, but we’re on the same side. We just have different methods. And while you work strictly for Uncle Sam and the private sector, I work for the greater good. That’s not always Uncle Sam. Vipers are everywhere. Your government isn’t immune.”

“My government? It’s your government too,” Steele pointed out.

Hancock’s face became stony. “I don’t claim a government that when it decided for political reasons that they no longer wanted to risk Titan becoming a liability, we became expendable. They labeled us traitors and did their damnedest to take us out. But they were the traitors. Selling out and fucking over the American people. My government? No fucking way.”

“And yet you take missions to bring down people who are a direct threat to national security,” Steele said.

“I don’t give a fuck about politicians and bureaucrats. But I do care about innocent lives, American and non-American. The world is a better place without Farnsworth. Without Caldwell. And it’ll sure as hell be a better place without Maksimov. You may not agree with my methods, but in the end, our goals are the same.”

Steele frowned, not liking that Hancock had a point. Steele was no Boy Scout, and he could hardly point the finger at Hancock when he himself had made choices steeped in shadows.

“Take care of yourself,” Steele said grudgingly.