In way of answer, Sage went on tiptoes and kissed him. She pushed her tongue past his lips and thoroughly tasted him. Her grip on his waist tightened as she tugged him closer so their bodies met. Some guys would have done their best to stop what was about to happen based on principle, but Grady wasn’t even going to try. If it was something she needed from him, then he’d give it to her.
He wrapped his arms around Sage and took over their kiss. He licked and sucked, pushing inside her mouth. It didn’t take much to have his cock fully engorged. What they’d shared at her house before she’d been informed about her sister… He remembered all too well what she’d looked like as she’d come apart in his embrace. He wanted to make her come again, but this time while his cock was buried deep inside her.
Grady slowly stripped away her clothes one at a time, learning her body with each inch of skin he exposed. Once he had Sage completely naked, she helped him undress. Now as naked as she, he pulled her close again. The feel of her skin-to-skin caused his cock to jerk between them. He sucked in a sharp breath as she reached down and put her hand around it. She pumped up and down, squeezing tight.
He let her stroke him a few more times before he gently pulled out of her grasp and lifted her onto the bed. He came down beside her, running his hand down her body until he reached her pussy.
Purrs rumbled out of him. “You’re so wet.”
“I don’t want to wait anymore. I want you inside me. Show me I’m not alone.”
Grady gently kissed her as he shifted to lie between her thighs. “I’m right here for you.”
He nudged the head of his erection into her pussy. He pulled back, then sank a little deeper until he’d worked his full length inside her. Sage moaned as he set a pace that was sure to bring them both to release. She lifted her bent legs to either side of his hips and matched his strokes. Her inner walls tightly hugged his shaft as he surged in and out of her.
Grady purred again, unable to hold it back. Making love to Sage didn’t compare to other women he’d been with. He was more in tune with her, wanting to make this good for her, to show her this was all for her.
He thrust into her faster, loving the feel of her taking him. She panted and moaned, clutching his biceps after he lifted his upper body off her. He sank deeper, his cock growing even harder.
As her pussy tightened around his plunging shaft, then clutched and released it as Sage climaxed, Grady’s point of no return rushed to the surface. He growled like the cat he was and surged into her one final time before his orgasm overtook him.
Once he’d given her all he had and she’d settled beneath him, Grady lowered himself on top of her, bracing on his elbows so she didn’t have to take his full weight. He kissed her gently. He pulled out of her and rolled onto his back, bringing Sage up against his side with her head resting on his chest. He ran a caressing hand up and down her back. She slowly, by degrees, relaxed. She reached for his pendant and closed her fingers around it.
Grady kissed Sage’s forehead and saw her eyes were shut and her breathing had evened out. He’d lie there with her for a while to make sure she stayed asleep, then he’d get up and see how Josh was doing.
Chapter Five
Grady gave Sage one last look before he headed out his bedroom door. She was sound asleep. He’d gently eased out from under her and gotten out of bed without waking her up. Now dressed, he went downstairs to see how his other guest was doing.
He found Josh being showered with attention from his mom and Katarina in the living room. They had a thick blanket on the floor, which the baby lay on as the women sat on either side of him, smiling and laughing at what he did. Jase and his father were on the couch watching them.
“You two are going to spoil him if you’re not careful,” Grady said as he went to join Katrina and his mom.
His mother looked at him and smiled. “You can’t pay too much attention to a baby. Is Sage asleep?”
“Yes, but I have to wake her up in a few hours. She has to go to the funeral home with her brother-in-law’s parents to make arrangements for Macy and Hank.”
“Will you go with her?” his dad asked.
“If she’ll let me. I already know none of you will have a problem looking after Josh for us.”
“Of course we won’t,” his mom said. “Jase and Katarina were telling your father and me how you met Sage, and that she’s a police officer.”
“Yes, she’s a cop. And I suppose you also know Caleb got the jump on me.”
His dad nodded. “And Jase told me about your assumption of what he could have been doing meeting a human in the middle of the night in a parking lot. I have a feeling if we don’t capture him soon he’s going to leave the country and we’ll be lucky if we find him again.”
“I know. Draven is working on something that will hopefully help us find him. I don’t know how he plans to do it, and quite frankly, I’m not going to ask since I’m sure it’ll be illegal.”
Josh whimpered, and Grady went and picked him up. The baby smiled and rubbed a hand wet with drool over Grady’s face. He didn’t care. During the night when he couldn’t get Josh back to sleep right away, he’d had lots of time with him. He’d grown attached to him, as he had Josh’s aunt.
His mother sighed. “What?” Grady asked.
“Seeing you holding a baby, it makes me want grandchildren.” She then grew serious. “You feel something for Sage, don’t you? For only knowing her a short time, you’ve taken on a role of a mate for her by standing with her during a bad time in her life. And for someone who has never looked after a baby before, that didn’t stop you from taking care of Josh all night. Plus, you brought them both into our home so you can continue to look after them.”
Grady kissed Josh’s cheek. “I’ll admit I’m falling for Sage. And I have no trouble with Josh being a part of her life. I’m just not sure how she feels about me yet.”
Jase chuckled. “Well, from your scent, which smells like sex and Sage, she has to have some feelings for you if she slept with you, especially considering the state of mind she’s in.”
“Jase,” Katarina said as a rebuke.
“It’s okay,” Grady reassured her. “She at first wanted to cancel our date, but she reluctantly invited me into her place. Now, losing her sister who was her only relative, I think she feels as if she’s alone. I’ll do everything I can to show her she isn’t, that I’ll be here for her.”
“Don’t be surprised if she sets off your pendant,” his dad said. “It already sounds as if you’re falling in love with her.”
Grady didn’t dislike the idea of that. The few short hours he’d been with her and then helping her through her loss, he had to agree with his dad that he truly was falling for Sage.
His brother chuckled. “If that happens, Grady will be an instant father and Mom will be a grandmother like she wants.”
“True,” he said. Then softly laughed as he pried his cougar head pendant out of Josh’s grasp before the baby put it in his mouth. “He’s always trying to put drool all over my pendant or tugging on it. Sage is the same, minus the drool. She fell asleep on me before I came downstairs. I had to get it out of her hand. She has a tendency to want to hold it too.”
Katarina smiled. “I have a feeling she’s your mate. Aspen, Harley and me have been talking about what it’s like being human and mated to a cougar shifter. All of us agreed about one thing—we were all drawn to our mate’s pendant, wanting to touch it, claim it, even before we set off the magic inside. We also found it warm, warmer than it should be just from normal body temperature.”
“Interesting,” said his mother. “Cougar shifter females don’t experience anything like that when we first meet our mates. I guess a human mate must affect the magic differently.” She then turned to Grady. “If what Katarina says is what’s happening to Sage, how do you feel about that?”
“I would want her as my mate, and I would accept Josh as mine as well.”
“Then you’ll have to let her know what you are either before she sets off the pendant or after.”
“I know. The only problem is when to do it. Right now she already has too many emotional things to handle. Me telling her I’m a cougar shifter might just push her over the edge. She’s barely hanging on as it is. She’s
