She ran her hand through his short-cropped hair, lovingly stroking as he kissed her belly again. Tears crowded her eyes as she took in the enormity of this moment. She wanted to remember this forever. She wanted this moment to last forever.
This man, this gruff, beautiful man kneeling in front of her with such reverence and love in his voice. He spoke of her and their child being a gift, but he was her gift. One she’d never thought to receive as well.
When she was old and gray, she’d remember this moment. She’d tell her child of the time her father knelt in front of her and kissed her stomach, vowing to love and protect her always. She’d tell her child how very much she was loved from the very beginning.
“I love you, Maren,” Steele whispered against her belly. “I need you to believe that. I don’t know how or when it happened. But it’s there and it feels like it’s always been there. I can’t remember what it was like before you. Only that until you, my life was cold, lifeless and mechanical. No color. No vibrancy. I didn’t live. I existed. You changed all that. Before, my purpose, my goal, was to protect others. My life didn’t matter and I would have given it to protect my team or a person we’d been sent to save. But now it matters. You matter. You are the most important person in my life now. Not my team. Not KGI. Not nameless victims we rescue. You and this child are my life. You’ve given me reason to really live and not just exist anymore. I don’t think you realize just how much you’ve changed me in a very short period of time.”
Tears slid soundlessly down her cheeks as she absorbed the heartfelt words that poured from his lips. He lifted his head, catching her gaze, and the look in his eyes took her breath away. They burned with intensity and sincerity. Every word was reflected in those fierce blue eyes she’d once thought were cold as ice.
Now they blazed with warmth and love.
She cupped his face in her hands, not even bothering to wipe the tears away. Then she leaned down and kissed him and then she hugged him to her, his cheek pressed to her belly.
“I love you too, Steele. Oh God, you undo me. What can I even say to all you just told me? You can’t even imagine how hearing that affected me. I never dreamed of anyone saying things like that to me. I want to soak them all in so that twenty years from now I’ll still remember every single word.”
He slowly rose, holding her to him as he straightened to his full height. He tipped her chin up so she was looking him in the eye.
“You don’t ever have to worry about forgetting,” he said quietly. “Because I’m going to remind you every single day.”
He backed her slowly to the edge of the bed, their bodies touching, his mouth hovering just over hers, and as he leaned her down, he kissed her again. Hot, scorching. His body came down over hers, pressing her into the bed. He was a warm blanket, surrounding her with him, with his love.
He rolled to the side so she was no longer bearing his full weight, but before she could protest, he pressed his mouth to the curve of her breast and gently nuzzled closer to her nipple. He caressed her belly and then moved his hand to her other breast, palming it and then carefully brushing his thumb across her other nipple.
“Are they more sensitive now?” he asked. “Are you okay with me touching you here?”
“Oh God yes,” she breathed.
He chuckled lightly. “Is that an oh God yes, they’re sensitive, or oh God yes, you’re okay with me touching you?”
“Both. They’re definitely more sensitive. In the first weeks of pregnancy you wouldn’t have been able to get anywhere near them. They were so sensitive it hurt to even touch them. But now they’re just more tender, I guess. But I love you touching me.”
“Then you won’t mind this either,” he murmured just before he lowered his mouth to one straining peak.
She moaned as he sucked her nipple carefully into his mouth, exerting light pressure but enough to make her crazy with want and need.
He lifted his head to look at her. “Too much?”
“Oh no. I love it. Please don’t stop.”
He lowered his head again and then he traced a line around her other nipple with his fingertip while he tongued the other.
“They’re darker,” he said.
He moved his hand down, splaying his fingers over her belly, rubbing and caressing.
“You’re firmer here. I can feel the beginnings of a bump. It’s small and barely discernible by sight, but I can feel it. It’s amazing.”
She smiled, completely mesmerized by his gentle exploration of her body and his noting the physical changes wrought by her pregnancy.
She’d had every intention of having her wicked way with him as she’d told him in the living room, but in truth, he was making love to her. Slow and exquisite. A sensual rediscovery after a long separation.
And it was making love. They’d had sex before. More intimate the second time, when they’d been getting to know one another on a deeper level. Forming the foundation of what would bring them to this, to the discovery of something meaningful. Love.
Love happened. She would have never thought that it could happen so rapidly. Love was something you worked at, and she had no doubt their relationship would take a lot of hard work and dedication. But it had simply happened. No explanation. No cataclysmic event or earth-shattering revelation brought on by some external event.
It had simply happened. And she had no desire to analyze it, to figure out how or why. She just knew that she loved this man, and God, he loved her too. Her heart was near to bursting with so many feelings, so many things she wanted to say but had no words for. The only thing she could do in this moment was to show him her heart. And that he’d entrenched himself so deeply within her very soul.
Time was simply that. Time. It moved at different speeds for different people. For her, she’d fallen in love with Steele when he’d come back and they’d spent those precious few days learning each other, talking about everything and nothing at all. She’d always treasure those stolen days before fate had taken them in different directions and before she feared she’d never get back to that place where she and Steele had begun something special and meaningful.
She was so grateful that fate had given them a second chance. That she was here in his arms. Safe. Protected. And so very cherished. She knew this was exactly where she wanted to be. No matter what the future held, she knew she wanted Steele there with her, facing whatever obstacles they encountered. Together. With him at her side, she knew that nothing was insurmountable. Nothing was too challenging. They were in this together and she had faith that no matter how new and fresh their relationship might be, they would face the future together.
He took his time, lavishing tender affection on every inch of her body, as if he too were memorizing and committing to memory this moment of rediscovery. As if he were reassuring himself that she was here and safe where nothing bad could touch her. He seemed determined to wash away the last months when she’d lived in constant fear and uncertainty.
And when he finally brought her to a fever pitch, her body flushed and aching with desire, he rose over her, parting her thighs to settle between them, his erection tucked just inside her opening.
“It’s like the first time all over again, Maren,” he said in a tender voice. “It’s our first time where we’re truly together. This isn’t sex. It’s much more than that. It’s my way of showing you my love, of showing you with more than words—words I can’t even express—how much I care about you. I don’t want to rush this. We have all night, and I intend to spend the entire night showing you just how much you mean to me.”