“I’m off the books for a while,” Steele said.

Sam didn’t react. He didn’t seem surprised. “Okay. How long are we talking about here?”

There was caution in his tone, and maybe he worried that Steele would go completely off his rails and walk away now that he had Maren and a child on the way.

“I can’t answer that,” Steele said honestly. “My first priority has to be Maren’s and my child’s safety.”

Garrett nodded. “I get that.”

Donovan nodded too.

“Not fair to my team to take the downtime with me,” Steele said. “They need the action. The longer we’re down, the rustier and more complacent we get. Plus they don’t get paid when we’re not in action.”

Sam lifted an eyebrow in surprise. “You telling us to take your team? That’s not something I ever expected from you.”

Steele ran a hand through his hair. “Look. For a long time my team has been my life. KGI has been my life. They’ve gotten a hundred and ten percent of my loyalty. Maren gets that from me now. She deserves it. Our child deserves it. Not saying I won’t be back. But we have a lot to work out. And that’s why I want to talk to you all. First, I need to be out of action for a while. I don’t trust Caldwell not to make a grab for her.”

“I hear you,” Garrett muttered.

“Second thing is, we have a hell of a lot to figure out. Maren had a practice in Costa Rica. No way in hell I want her going back there or anywhere for a long damn time. But that’s not fair to her. I can’t make that decision for her, no matter how much I’d like to.”

“Smart man,” Sam said, amusement sparking in his eyes.

“I’d like to get her something here so she can stay with me and I can keep an eye on her and our child. KGI could use a doctor, no doubt. But she could also open a practice in this area, at least until our child is old enough for it to be a consideration to go back into the field if that’s what will make Maren happy.”

Donovan cupped his chin and rubbed thoughtfully. “It’s not a bad idea. Doc Campbell has been making noises about retiring. I think he would have done it already if he had a replacement lined up. Maren is a hands-on doctor and Doc Campbell still makes house calls, which is unheard of in this day and age. He’d want someone like him because it worries him what his patients will do when he retires. He’d like Maren a lot and she’d be perfect to replace him.”

Excitement simmered in Steele’s mind. He didn’t want to seem too eager, but he’d do damn near anything to make Maren happy here. With him. Not thousands of miles away.

He never wanted to hold her back, but he was scared shitless over the idea of her being someplace like where she’d been, alone and defenseless. Their child just as vulnerable. Not that she’d be alone. Because if she did insist on going off, he’d damn well pack up and go with her. But it wasn’t his first choice. Not yet.

There’d be plenty of time down the road for them to go wherever the hell she wanted. He didn’t have roots in any one place. He’d made Tennessee his home out of necessity, not because he had ties here.

“It’s worth it to see if she’d think about it,” Steele said. “I’ll bring it up when I get a chance.”

Then he glanced at Sam. “You okay with me taking leave? I can’t even tell you how long. Definitely until the baby is born. Maybe longer if Caldwell is still a threat. If you can’t hold my job that long, I understand.”

Sam held up his hand, his brows drawn together and his lips flat with annoyance. “Your job will be here when you get back. For now, Donovan can take over your team. He’s worked with them more than Garrett or I, so he’d be the logical choice to assume the team leadership role. Van? You got a problem with that?”

“Guess not, since you just volunteered me,” Donovan said dryly.

“They won’t like it,” Garrett interjected. “They aren’t used to following anyone’s orders except yours.”

“They’ll understand,” Steele said. “They’ll do it for me.”

Sam nodded. “You going to tell them?”

“Tomorrow. I invited them to my place. After that, they’re yours, Van.”

“Okay. I’ll give them a shout-out and do a meet-up here at the compound in a few days. They need the time off for now.”

“Yeah, they do,” Steele said. “We all do.”

“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 pussy 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 fuck 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.

After filling Maren’s cup with ice and lemonade, he turned and sought her out again. She was back by Rachel, holding one of the babies while she and Rachel spoke. He took a moment to savor the image of her holding the child, and he pretended that it was their baby she cradled in her arms.