Something slammed into the back of Grady’s head, knocking him to the ground. A second hit came before he had a chance to gather his wits about him enough to roll out of the way. The blow made him see stars, and darkness hovered around the edges of his consciousness. It felt as if his head had almost cracked in two.
The sound of a police siren coming saved Grady from another blow. Dazed, he vaguely heard a metal pipe being dropped to the ground near him, then footsteps running away. A car came to a screeching stop a few feet from where he lay at the side of the road. The door opened and another set of feet hurried toward him.
Grady reached up and felt the back of his head. Wetness came away with his fingers, and the smell of blood filled his nose. He groaned. Caleb had done a number on him. And he knew it was his prey who’d gotten the jump on him from his scent.
“Don’t move,” said the person who crouched beside him. The voice was female. “Let me check you to see where you’re hurt.”
“I already know where I am. It’s my head.”
“Let me have a look.”
Grady turned his face in the woman’s direction and had a split second to see she wore a cop’s uniform, and how beautiful she was, before she clicked on a flashlight and aimed it at him. He closed his eyes as the light hit them and sent a surge of pain through his skull.
Fingers gently touched the spot where Caleb had beaned him. Grady sucked in a sharp breath when she hit a particularly sore area. At least his head had to still be in once piece. The woman cop surely would have said something by now if it wasn’t.
“Sorry,” she said. “I just want to see how bad this is. I think I should call an ambulance. You’ll more than likely need stitches.”
That had Grady surging to his feet. He moaned and clutched his head. The quick movement made it feel as if it would fall off. “No hospital. I’ll be fine,” he said with his eyes closed as he concentrated on stopping the world from spinning.
She grabbed his arm to steady him as he swayed a trifle in place. “I’m pretty sure you have a concussion. The doctor will want to keep you in the hospital for observation. I’m going to make the call.”
Grady snapped his eyes open and took hold of the cop’s hand that held her radio. “Please don’t do that. It might look bad, but it really isn’t that serious.”
It probably was as bad as she thought, but as a cat shifter Grady healed a lot faster than a human. By tomorrow the wound would be almost a hundred percent gone. And because of what he was, there was no way he could go to a hospital. One little blood test and the doctor would know there was something different about him.
“I have to disagree with that,” she said.
He focused fully on her face. Able to see in the dark as well as if it were daylight, Grady had no problem seeing her. She wasn’t just beautiful, she was very, very beautiful. Her eyes were an unusual light blue. What he could see of her hair that wasn’t tucked under her uniform’s hat was auburn. And she was tall. He guessed her to be around five-foot-nine. Being six-foot-three, he liked his women not to be too short.
He looked at the nametag pinned to the front of her jacket. “Well, Officer Sage Moran, we’re going to have to agree to disagree. There’s no need for an ambulance.”
“What’s your name?”
“Grady.”
“Grady, I have first-aid training.” She lifted her flashlight and shone it into his eyes, which caused him to groan. “And from the looks of you, my assumption of you having a concussion has to be correct. You really need to see a doctor.” She jerked her hand with the radio out of Grady’s grip. “I’m calling an amb—”
Grady took hold of Sage’s hand again and tugged her to his chest before he brought his lips down to hers. He couldn’t think of anything else to distract her, and the thought of kissing her had come to mind more than once since he’d seen her face. He kissed her deeply, pushing his tongue between her lips to get a good taste of her. Not sure if he could get arrested for coming on to a cop, he decided to get as much as he could.
He licked and sucked and couldn’t hold back from purring like the big cat he was as Sage’s fingers gripped his arm harder and kissed him back. Grady’s cock grew hard. The scent and taste of her filled his head, pushing some of the pain away. She sighed into his mouth and it took everything in him not to take her to the ground and see how far she’d let him go.
The scent of Sage’s arousal wafted around them. From the way she continued to kiss him as if she were going to crawl inside him, Grady had the feeling she wasn’t going to put an end to this anytime soon. He wanted nothing more than to let their kiss go on, but the pounding in his head reminded him all too well where they were.
He lifted his head and looked at Sage. Her eyes were closed and she breathed at a fast rate. Her lips were also puffy from his kisses. Damn, even wearing her cop’s uniform she looked delicious enough to eat. He definitely had to see her again.
“See? I’m okay,” he said. “Will you go out with me?”
Sage blinked open her eyes, suddenly aware of where she was and what she’d been doing. Talk about totally unprofessional. She’d been so completely involved in sucking face with Grady that anyone could have snuck up on them—like the guy who’d hit Grady with the metal pipe—and she wouldn’t have cared. This was the first time since becoming a cop she’d let her guard down while on duty.
She looked at Grady and had to admit his gorgeous looks were mostly to blame for her bad behavior, as well as the toe-curling kiss he’d laid on her. Even when he’d been down on the ground, Sage had to have been blind not to see he was a hunk. He had features a male model would kill for. His tawny-blond hair was on the long side, perfect for a woman to bury her fingers into and hold on as she kissed him for all she was worth. And his eyes. They were such a light brown they were damn close to gold. She’d never seen anything like them, and right now they appeared to be eating her up. Plus he was tall. She had nothing against shorter men, but at her height, she wanted to be able to wear heels and not feel as if she towered over the guy she was with.
It then dawned on her what Grady had asked. “You mean like a date?”
He gave her a sexy crooked grin that made her pussy clench with unfulfilled desire. “Yeah. A date. Then we can continue where that kiss ended.”
At first, Sage didn’t know how to answer Grady. Since she’d started her career as a police officer, she really hadn’t taken the time to date. She worked long hours, and her being a cop wasn’t something a lot of men could handle. Sometimes she had a hard time shutting off that side of her when she wasn’t on the job. She had to have a tough personality to do it.
“I…ah…” Now she sounded like an unsure teenager being asked out on her first date. It’d been a long time since she’d had sex, but she hadn’t thought a mind-blowing kiss would strip her of the confidence she usually had in spades.
Grady put his arm around her waist and tugged her even closer. There was no missing how hard his cock was as it pressed against her stomach. Sage quickly swallowed back a moan before it pushed past her lips.
“Just say yes,” he said.
Sage heard herself agree to the date before her brain could catch up with her mouth. Grady took her lips in a hard, fast kiss, then let her go. She vaguely heard him ask for her address, which she gave him. He also asked her when would be a good time for them to go out. She mumbled that tomorrow night she was off work. He said he’d see her around seven, then turned and ran toward the alley closest to them.
She shook her head, coming out of the haze of arousal that’d taken her over after Grady had kissed her again. What was the matter with her? She didn’t normally act so ditzy around a guy. She then realized Grady had left before she could call an ambulance for him.
Sage took off at run in the direction he’d gone, but once she reached the alley there was no sign of him. For someone with a head wound, he sure could move fast. Deciding there was no point in trying to chase after him, she returned to her cruiser and got inside. She turned off the flashing lights before she put it in drive and drove away.
She really couldn’t believe she’d so quickly agreed to go out with Grady or that she’d allowed him to distract her enough to slip away without making sure he went to the hospital. Tomorrow night she’d get to see if he’d had someone look at his wound or not.
For the rest of her shift, Sage went from looking forward to seeing Grady again to dreading it. And with no
