fighting to stay strong and won’t let herself mourn her sister yet.”
“That will come,” his mother said. “I think you’re right about now not being the time to tell her. I’d wait until after the funeral, which I’m sure will be sometime this week.”
“I would imagine so.”
Grady kept hold of Josh and sat in the armchair kitty-corner to the couch. He could handle being a father. And if what Katarina said was true about Sage possibly being his mate, he was all prepared to settle down with her and the baby. All that remained to see was if she did set off the magic in his pendant.
Sage awoke from a bad dream, calling her sister’s name. She snapped open her eyes and looked around. It took her a few seconds to remember where she was. She sat up and glanced at the clock on the bedside table next to her. According to it, she’d only been sleeping for an hour, and she seriously doubted she’d be able to go back to sleep.
She rubbed her eyes, remembering what she’d dreamed about. She’d been calling for Macy, searching for her, knowing she had to find her. When she did, her sister lay bloody and broken, her eyes staring sightlessly at Sage. Tears threatened to rise to the surface, but she pushed them back. There was too much to do. She had to call Hank’s parents in an hour to arrange a time with them to go to the funeral home. She dreaded it.
Sage lay back on her side and clutched the other pillow to her chest. It smelled like Grady. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Without him, she didn’t know how she would have been able to keep it together. And making love to him had her not wanting to lose him. For the first time in her life, she wanted to depend on a man.
Even though her emotions were in turmoil, Sage was falling for Grady. After having the kind of father she’d had, she’d never believed she would be able to fall in love with someone so quickly, or even at all. Macy had found it with Hank, but Sage hadn’t thought she’d ever have it for herself. That was part of the reason she’d focused so much on a career that a relationship came last.
Now she didn’t know how she was going to handle being a cop and raising Josh. There was no way she could continue working the night shift. He’d lost his parents, he didn’t need her being absent most of the time. At least she’d be given time off because she’d lost a family member, and more after that since Josh was now hers. She could get maternity leave, she hoped. It wasn’t something she paid too close attention to.
Giving up on sleep, Sage threw back the covers and got out of bed. She’d changed her clothes before leaving with Grady, but she hadn’t had a chance to take a shower. She didn’t think he would mind if she took one. It would help wake her up.
Sage took her first good look around Grady’s room. It was huge. There was a small sitting area complete with a couch, side table and brass floor lamp. She figured there would be an en suite bathroom since this was more like an apartment than a regular bedroom. The first closed door she tried opened up to a large walk-in closet. Grady’s clothes took half the space. The second door ended up being the bathroom.
Like the rest of the room, its proportions were huge. There was a two-person whirlpool tub at one end, two sinks set in a granite countertop and a glassed-in shower stall that had been done in black-veined white marble.
Sage found some fluffy bath towels on a shelf near the shower along with shampoo, conditioner and a bar of soap. Already naked, she stepped into the stall and closed the door behind her. Once she had the water at just the right temperature, she ducked her head under the spray. She didn’t take very long to wash her hair and body. The water did help wake her up. She turned off the faucet, then stepped out and dried herself.
As she walked out into the bedroom Grady came in from the hall. She gave him a small smile. “I hope you don’t mind. I took a shower.”
He closed the distance between them and gave her a kiss. “Of course I don’t. What’s mine is yours while you’re here. I was only coming to check on you. I figured I’d let you sleep for another hour.”
“I couldn’t sleep anymore. Do you have a comb I can borrow?”
He took her hand and led her over to the dresser, then handed her the one that sat on it. “Here.”
“How’s Josh?”
Grady smiled. “Fine, and getting spoiled rotten by my mom and sister-in-law. They’ve pretty much claimed him as their own and won’t let anyone else have him.”
Sage nodded. “Would you mind watching him again while I go to the funeral home? I don’t want to take him there.”
“How about I have my mom and Katarina look after Josh and I go with you? You shouldn’t deal with that alone.”
“Hank’s parents will be there.”
“I know, but they have each other to lean on. I want you to feel you can do that with me.”
She finished with her hair and put the comb on the dresser before she turned to face Grady. “I’d like that. I’ve always been strong, but going through this shows I’m not all the time. I thought it was hard when my parents died. I was just a teenager then.”
“What happened to them?”
“My dad killed my mother, then killed himself. He was abusive and didn’t like the fact she’d left him.”
“That would have been rough.”
“It was, but it also made me want to be a cop so I could protect other women from suffering the same fate as my mother. I just wish I could have done that for Macy.”
Grady tugged Sage into his arms with the side of her face pressed against his chest. She reached up and held on to his cougar head pendant. Holding it made her feel more connected to him for some reason. A part of her wanted to take it from him and put it around her neck so she’d have something of his on her all the time. The old her before her sister’s death would have told her to smarten her ass up and not be so needy, but this new her didn’t care if it made her appear weak.
“How about you get dressed, then I’ll take you downstairs for something to eat. The last thing you ate was the pizza we had last night.”
Sage lifted her head and kissed Grady’s chin. “All right, though I’m not very hungry. I’ll force myself to eat. I can’t be passing out from lack of food. Not when I have Josh to think about.” She kissed him again when he angled his mouth in her direction.
“No, that wouldn’t be good.”
“Thanks for looking after us.”
“You’re welcome. I’m glad I can help.”
With her free hand, Sage reached up and traced Grady’s lips with her fingertip. “I probably shouldn’t be saying anything right now, but having lost Macy, I’ve come to realize how quickly I can lose someone. I don’t want it to happen before I get a chance to tell a person in my life how I really felt about them.” She paused for a few seconds. “Don’t take this the wrong way, thinking I’m usually this quick when it comes to relationships, because I’m not. Grady, I want you to be a part of my life. For the first time, I have strong feelings for a man.”
He cupped her face and smiled. “I feel the same way about you. When it’s right, it’s right.”
“Really? I didn’t think you would since I tried to get rid of you last night.”
Grady chuckled. “I didn’t let you, though. I think I started falling for you when you stopped me from getting my head bashed in and tried to take care of me.”
Sage let go of his pendant and with both hands angled Grady’s head down. She ran her fingers through his hair along the spot where he’d been hit. Much to her surprise, there was nothing there, not even a scabbed-over cut. It’d only been two days. There was no way it would have healed that quickly, even if it had been minor as he’d told her last night.
She pulled her hands away and met his gaze when he lifted his head. “There’s nothing there. I can’t feel where your wound was. That shouldn’t be possible.”
Grady ran the backs of his fingers along her cheek. “For me it is. It’s something we can talk about, but not right now. Let’s wait until after you’ve gone through what you have to do for your sister.”
“Tonight. We’ll talk about it tonight.”
“I don’t think you’ll be in the right frame of mind for it.”
“I’m going to be up front with you. I can’t stand being lied to or have people keep secrets from me when it’ll affect me. You do either of those things, we won’t work out, and I don’t want to regret accepting you into my
