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.”

She glowed under his praise, her cheeks burning with instant heat.

He gave her a two-finger salute and then left the room. She turned back to the child and sent his mother a look of apology. But the mom just smiled and winked.

“He is a good-looking man, yes?”

Maren smiled. “Yes, he certainly is that.”

She patted the child’s arm and then ruffled his dark hair. “Okay, you’re all set,” she said in Spanish. “Keep the bandages on and let your mother apply ointment and rewrap it. We don’t want it to get infected, and whatever you do, don’t pick at it.”

Then to the mother she said, “Keep watch for signs of infection. If he starts running a fever or the wound gets red or starts looking infected, come back and I can give him an injection of antibiotics. Keep it clean and dry.”

The mother nodded and then thanked Maren. She smiled at both and then led them from the exam room back to the waiting area, where Steele was just locking up.

When he saw them, he opened the door to let the mom and child out. He ruffled the child’s hair and spoke to him in Spanish. The child beamed back and then followed his mother outside.

Steele closed the door and turned back to Maren. “I’ll wait out here until you finish and then let the last patient out. How long do you normally stay after your last patient? Do you have to do paperwork or catch up on other stuff? You’ve been working nonstop today seeing patients.”

Then he frowned. “You didn’t even take a break to eat lunch.”

“Neither did you,” she pointed out.

He shrugged. “I’ve gone a hell of a lot longer than that without eating. Skipping one meal doesn’t bother me.”

“Me either. I often work through lunch. It’s not fair to make them all wait so I can take an hour lunch. My clinic doesn’t have set hours. If there are patients to be seen, I see them and I eat afterward.”

“You got a grill?”

She blinked at the sudden change in topic. “Yeah, a small one. Nothing huge or anything.”

“Big enough to cook the steaks I saw in your freezer? Or at least I think that’s what they were.”

She smiled. “Yep. One of the locals gifted me with four steaks from a cow they butchered recently. I suck at grilling and I hate the idea of them going to waste, but I didn’t want to refuse and hurt the man’s feelings.”

“I’ll throw them on the grill once we get back to your place. You can relax, put your feet up, and drink a cup of your tea while I make us dinner.”

Her heart did a funny twist in her chest, and warmth invaded her veins. How they’d gotten from one night of never-to-be-repeated sex to acting like a couple was beyond her, but she’d hold on to the dream for as long as it lasted. There was plenty of time for reality to sink in later. Much, much later, if she had her way about it.

Carpe diem. It was fast becoming her motto.

“That’s a deal,” she said. “Let me run back and see what I’m dealing with and then we’ll get on out of here.”

Thirty minutes later, Steele waited as she locked the door behind them, and then he looped an arm around her shoulders as they began the walk back to her cottage.

Thanks to Steele’s help, what would normally have been a very long day, with the number of patients who’d come through her clinic, they’d finished before dark and the sun was only just starting its descent on the horizon. The sky was painted pink and gold with lavender shades blending. It was a perfect late afternoon, verging on dusk. Sipping a hot cup of tea while Steele manned the grill was about as perfect an evening she could ask for.

He pulled her closer still, until she was nestled against his side as he matched his stride to hers. She was in no hurry, savoring the usually tedious, routine path that she’d walked hundreds of times before. But with him it was a new experience. Companionship, intimacy. Things she hadn’t enjoyed until now.

Being with him brought home just how isolated her life was. Her schedule was fixed, rarely deviating from the norm. She woke, she worked, she came home. Wash, rinse and repeat. But today had been a wonderful change to her monotonous routine.

She slid her arm around his waist and leaned further into him, enjoying the feel of his muscled frame against her.

“Thanks again for today,” she said softly. “I liked having you there.”

She hoped she wasn’t saying too much or that he’d take it as a hint or invitation. She didn’t want to come across as demanding or expectant. But she wasn’t going to be so nonchalant about his presence today. She didn’t care if he knew just how much she’d liked having him around. The sex was great. No denying that. But his company was nice too. Just being together, even with her working. It had been nice to look up and see him there in her space. In her life.

He squeezed her shoulder, pressing her more firmly into his side. “I liked being there. I was impressed, Maren. I don’t think I could do what you do every day.”

“But you do. Sorta. You help people. I help people. We just do it differently.”

“I guess you’re right. But each mission is different. I never know going in what exactly I’m dealing with. You do the same thing day in, day out. And yet you don’t act like you’re fatigued with it. You had a smile for each patient and you looked genuinely interested in them. I guess what I’m trying to say is that it didn’t look to me like you ran through your patients robotically, working by rote. You personalized each exam. You treated them like real people. Not all doctors do that.”

She could feel herself blushing and she practically squirmed at how sincere he sounded in his praise. Thankfully they arrived at her cottage and he opened the door, then did a quick scan of the interior before he guided her in.

“I hate that you don’t lock your door, and I hate more that it wouldn’t do a damn bit of good to lock it because it would take no effort to get in this place whatsoever,” he muttered.

She smiled at his gruff concern and the way his brow furrowed when he was irritated.

“I’m fine, Steele. The locals all like me. They look out for me. I’ve never had an ounce of trouble here.”

“It’s not the locals I worry about,” he said.

She rose up on tiptoe and kissed his lips. “It’s sweet of you to worry, but you don’t need to, Steele. I’ll be fine. Besides, I have connections. I know some people who work for a kick-ass organization that specializes in rescues and beating up bad guys.”

She grinned as she said it, and his lips quirked in amusement.

“Yeah? Who’s that?”

“I’ll never tell,” she said solemnly.

He smacked her playfully on the behind. “Go put your feet up. If you’ll tell me what tea you want—you have over a dozen that I saw—I’ll put some water on to boil while I get the steaks out and prep the grill.”

“I could seriously get used to having a houseboy,” she said wistfully.

He raised an eyebrow. “Boy?”

“Er, um, house hottie then? House stud?”

He winced. “Sorry I said anything at all. If it ever gets out that you called me your house hottie, I’ll never be able to show my face to my team again.”

She laughed. “I won’t tell if you don’t. Or unless I ever need to pay you back for something you’ve done to piss me off.”

“Can’t guarantee I won’t piss you off, but I’m liking the idea of makeup sex already.”

“Are you bipolar?” she blurted.

His look of complete what-the-fuck was hilarious.

“What the hell kind of question is that?”

She raised her upturned palms and shrugged. “It’s a logical question given the data I’ve collected on you.”

He groaned. “Good God. Don’t get all doctorly on me. You’ve done research on me?”

She grinned again. “No, but given what I’ve known of you all this time, you have to admit that it’s like looking at two entirely different people. I would say talking to two entirely different people, but Steele the badass didn’t ever speak to me. Or not more than a few one-word responses here and there. Steele the human is flirty, has a sense of humor, smiles a lot and says nice things that make me all shivery on the inside.”

“You’re one to speak your mind, aren’t you?” he said dryly. “Guess I don’t ever have to worry about you trying to spare my feelings.”

“What can I say? I’m a say-it-like-I-see-it kind of girl. You have to admit that you underwent a pretty radical personality change. Either that or you had a lobotomy or maybe you got a little too close to those explosives that got Baker and suffered a head injury. It’s been documented that head injuries have radically changed people’s personalities.”

He groaned and shook his head. “Look, I like you, okay? And I don’t like very many people. That’s why I get the reputation for being a hard-ass, an asshole, a machine, and a whole bunch of other not-so-nice names. As a rule, I hate people. But I like my team. I like the Kellys. And I like you.”

She grinned bigger. “Did that kill you to admit?”

“You can shut up anytime now,” he said in a sour voice. “You’re about one smart-ass remark away from having to cook your own damn steak.”

She held up her hands in surrender. “I give, I give. Cook away. I’ll shut up now and put my feet up like I was instructed. Surprise me and just pick a tea bag. I like them all.”

Before she could walk away, he hauled her up against him and thrust his hand into her hair, holding her in place as his mouth descended on hers. “Like those glasses on you. They’re cute. Make you look all serious and smart, even though I know you don’t need glasses to look that way. Gonna have to leave them on sometime when we have sex. It’s a serious turn-on.”

Okay, that tilted her universe just a bit. She didn’t reach to adjust them even though they slid down her nose just a bit when he kissed her. Instead she let him deepen the kiss, enjoying the feel of his mouth against hers.

He kissed her hungrily, his tongue sliding deep and then brushing over hers in light, teasing strokes. When he pulled away, his eyes gleamed and his pupils were slightly dilated. Arousal hummed from him, was thick in the air. Her own pulse quickened as she took in the evidence of his desire.

“I like that you give as good as you get,” he murmured. “Love that saucy tongue of yours, and I love that you give me shit. No one else does that.”

“That’s because they’re scared shitless of you,” she muttered.

“But you’re not,” he stated. And he looked quite pleased with that fact.

But she was scared of him. Not in the way he was talking about. But she was definitely terrified of him. Because she knew without a doubt that he had the power to hurt her. He wouldn’t do it maliciously or intentionally. But she was already in way over her head with no way out. She didn’t want out. Even knowing the eventuality of the hurt she’d endure.

She’d already been attracted to Steele. Fascinated by the side he presented to the world. But now that she’d gotten a good look at the man behind the hard-ass exterior? She was doomed with a capital D.

She’d liked him before. Had wanted to pull back those layers that surrounded him. But where she’d liked and admired him before? She was already falling hard for the man behind the brick wall.

CHAPTER 11

MAREN sat across from Steele at the tiny garden table that overlooked her small backyard. It was merely a clearing before the landscape plunged into dense foliage and thick trees. She’d always been mesmerized by the burst of green all around her. Everything was lush and vibrant and the air smelled clean.

No, she wasn’t a city girl nor could she ever imagine having a private practice with a cushy office and making rounds in a hospital. She loved what she did. It was immensely rewarding. It was who she was.

She’d traded her cup of tea for a glass of wine she saved for rare occasions, such as Steele cooking her a steak and their being immersed in actual conversation. If she’d had champagne, she’d have broken it out because this was definitely a moment that would likely never happen again. And though she normally removed her glasses as soon as she got home, she left them on this time. For him. Because he found them cute and sexy, and she liked that.