Steele sighed. “Sam had the same question. He and Maren are close. He was worried. And he wanted to know whether to go kick Caldwell’s ass. Yes, the baby is mine. And yes, it’s really none of your damn business, but here’s the deal. For the next while, until the baby is born, I’m out of commission.”
There was a mixture of reactions from surprise to quick frowns.
“What does that mean exactly?” Cole asked in a low voice.
“It means that you’ll be working under Donovan until I’m back in action. For now you’re all taking downtime unless something comes up—and we all know how that goes—but Sam is letting Nathan and Joe’s team loose so they can pick up the slack. Donovan is taking you until I come back. For now my focus has to be on Maren and our child and making damn sure she’s safe. We have a lot to work out, including where we go after the baby is born. Neither of us wants to give up our careers, but as of now, those jobs take a backseat to the child.”
“I get it,” P.J. said. “It won’t be the same not working for you, Steele. I of all people know that most. But I agree, you have to do what you have to do. We’ve worked with Van enough that we’re comfortable with him in the lead. Just don’t get lazy while you’re out of action and expect us to pick up your slack when you come back to work.”
The others laughed at the ribbing P.J. gave him. Steele relaxed. He’d not been looking forward to having to tell his team this. They were a huge part of his life. His everyday existence. He spent more time with them than most married couples spent together.
“The other reason I brought you out here is so you could help me beef up security around here. I want to make sure that if anyone breaches the perimeter I’ll damn well know about it and be prepared.”
The others nodded.
“You’ll call us up if you need us,” P.J. said, not as a question but as a statement of fact. Then her voice lowered. “You fought for me. No way in hell I’m not going to fight for you when you need it. I won’t forget that, Steele. You need us, you say so. Don’t give a damn about downtime. If you have any concerns at all, we’ll be here, even if it’s to take watch shifts.”
Steele stared back at P.J., his chest tightening. “You know I will. There’s no one I trust more to protect my back than my team. There’s no one I trust more with Maren’s safety.”
“Okay, well, we got that all out of the way,” Dolphin said. “Now let’s get to work on making sure no one gets in or out without a huge fucking wake-up call.”
“Now we’re talking,” Renshaw said. “Tell us what you want, boss man, and we’ll make it happen.”
After outlining the things he wanted done, Steele rose and the others followed suit just as Maren walked into the living room, her hair damp from a shower, and she was wearing jeans and a T-shirt but had bare feet. It struck him that she looked utterly at home. In his house, as if it were the most natural thing in the world for her to walk out of his bedroom after taking a shower and dressing.
The sense of rightness hit him hard, and for a long moment all he could do was stare until he realized he was making her uncomfortable with his silent scrutiny.
“Uh, hi, everyone,” she said with a small wave. “I completely forgot you all were coming today. I sorta slept in.”
Everyone greeted her warmly and her awkwardness visibly disappeared. Steele went to her, steering her toward the kitchen.
“I’ll catch up to you guys in a second,” Steele called back. “You can head out to the shed where all the equipment is stored and also unload the stuff you brought with you.”
As the others left, Steele sat Maren down at the bar and then went to the stove to turn on the burner under the kettle of water he’d already prepared.
“I thought you could start with tea and some crackers. If that works for you, I’ll fix you something a little more substantial. I have bagels and cinnamon rolls, or you can have toast. If you think you can stomach eggs, I can scramble some up for you.”
She smiled and propped her elbows up on the bar. “Thanks, Steele, but you don’t have to pamper me, though I won’t lie and say I’m not enjoying it. But you have stuff to do and I don’t want to keep you from it. You go ahead and do your thing with the others so they aren’t kept waiting. I’ll finish up the tea and if I’m hungry after the crackers I’ll figure out something to fix. Want me to make lunch for everyone? How long will this all take?”
“A few hours,” he said. “I hadn’t thought about lunch, and it’s not like we get pizza delivery out here. Or anything else, for that matter.”
“Want me to do burgers or something like that for everyone? It’s the least I can do since you and they are all doing this for me.”
He kissed the top of her head. “Don’t think you have to repay any kind of debt. We look out for each other. I have their backs and they have mine. This is them having our backs. But yeah, burgers sound fine. You sure you can handle the smell of raw hamburger meat? Or for that matter the smell of frying them up? If you want, just make the patties, if you can stomach it, and after we’re done I’ll throw everything on the grill. We’ll have beer and burgers. I guarantee my team isn’t going to turn that down.”
She laughed. “No, I imagine they wouldn’t. That’s a deal. I’ll season the meat and make the patties and stick them in the fridge so they’ll be ready to go when you’re finished. Then I’ll rustle up all the fixings, slice a few tomatoes and onions and wash the lettuce and we’ll be set.”
He rotated her bar stool so she faced him and he pulled her into his chest. “I like you in my kitchen. I like having a perfectly ordinary mundane conversation about who does what for the food preparation. I like having you here. Period. I think you’re domesticating me, Maren.”
She cracked up and rested her forehead against the hollow of his throat so his chin rested atop her head. “Oh, the horror. The world may well be coming to an end. Who would have ever thought the almighty Steele would admit to being domesticated, never mind actually becoming domesticated.”
“How about me admitting, at least in the short time of my newfound domesticity, that I like it?”
“Stop,” she said dramatically. “There’s only so much I can take in one day. That kind of shock can’t be good for the baby.”
He tugged teasingly at her hair and then tilted her head back to kiss her. “I’ll see you in a couple of hours. If you need anything at all, just stick your head out the back door and holler. We won’t be far and one of us will hear you.”
“Okay. Thought I’d wait until after lunch and everyone clears out before I call my parents to arrange their flight out here. Then we can both sit down while I talk to them and hash out the details.”
“Sounds good.”