“Don’t cry, sweetheart,” he said gruffly. “Please. There’s nothing to cry about.” He moved over her, looked down into her sweet, sweet face. “We’re going to do this together. Understand? There’s no more you, no more me. There’s only us. Okay?”
“Okay,” she whispered, and he bent his head, kissed away her tears, kissed her lips …
“Sage,” he said thickly, and she opened her arms to him …
More than that.
She opened her heart.
She awoke alone in the bed.
Her heartbeat stuttered. Was he gone? She reached for her robe …
And smiled, as Caleb entered the room. Oh, her lover was beautiful. His hair was rumpled; he was shirtless and barefoot; his trousers, the top button undone, hung low on his hips.
“Morning, sleepyhead,” he said.
She blinked. “Is it really morning?”
He came to the side of the bed, leaned down, caged her within his arms and gave her a coffee-laced kiss.
“Morning, evening, I’ve no idea.” He kissed her again, slowly, tenderly. “I made coffee. And herbal tea.”
She smiled. “Perfect.”
“Of course, we could skip the coffee and tea and get right to dessert …”
Sage’s belly rumbled. Caleb grinned, dropped a quick kiss on her forehead and rose to his full height.
“On second thought, how about breakfast?”
She made scrambled eggs.
He made toast.
“Too bad you don’t have any cheese,” he said, peering into the fridge.
“I have cottage cheese.”
“Cheese,” he said with a dramatic shudder. “Real cheese. You know. Yellow. Sliced. Comes in a package—”
It was Sage’s turn to shudder.
“Or hot dogs,” he said. “Hot dogs would be perfect.”
“Please don’t tell me those are your favorite food groups!”
He chuckled, shut the fridge and turned toward her. Damn, she was gorgeous. No makeup. Hair long and loose. Lush body wrapped in a robe that kept coming open.
“Caleb? Packaged cheese and hot dogs are …?”
He cleared his throat.
“Specialties of the house,” he said. “Well, Wilde brothers’ specialties.”
“Oh,” she said, and it hit him that she didn’t know anything about his family, but there’d be time to tell her more.