Hollywood Heir (Westerly Billionaire #4)(19)

Nothing he’d ever experienced, no drug he’d ever taken, had ever felt as good as being given a chance to redefine himself. With Sage, Eric didn’t carry the weight of every mistake he’d ever made. He could finally, simply, be himself. “You should trust your own instincts.”

Sage clutched her purse on her lap. “I don’t want to be anyone’s doormat, but I need to leave people better than I found them.”

Need? Leave? The words stood out to him. She wasn’t seeking a relationship with this woman she felt compelled to comfort. So why care about her at all? What drove Sage? When he’d first met her, he’d thought her profession was a flighty fantasy. She hadn’t come across as someone he could take seriously. He was beginning to believe she had scars as deep and dark as his own. He was choosing the best way to phrase his next question when she slapped a hand on his thigh.

“I’ve found my next client,” she exclaimed in an excited whisper.

He fought his body’s lusty reaction to her touch and looked around. There were several people in the small park. “Who?”

“The man sitting on the bench behind you.”

Eric tensed. He didn’t like the idea of her looking at, forget about working for, another man. He swung around.

Sage grabbed his arm and said quickly, “Don’t be obvious.”

I’ll be what I need to be, Eric thought, giving in to a novel wave of possessiveness. Relief flooded in when he realized that the object of her attention was an older man of small stature and silver hair. “Him?”

Still holding Eric’s arm, Sage whispered, “Yes, him. Now turn around before you scare him off.”

Eric obediently turned back toward Sage. Pink rushed to her cheeks, and the fire in her eyes made saying no to her unthinkable. “Do you know him?”

She shook her head, sending her ponytail whipping back and forth. “No, but he has to be the one.”

“The one?”

“I told you—my clients find me. He came to this park for a reason.”

“And you think you’re that reason?” He regretted the question as soon as he voiced it. It sounded more sarcastic than he’d meant.

She looked away and then back. Her back straightened with defensive tension that he’d put there. “You don’t have to believe in me or in what I do, but please leave if you don’t intend to be helpful.”

Leave? No chance in hell. “What do you need me to do?”

She studied his expression, seeming to gauge his seriousness, then stood. “Follow my lead.”

He stood and squared his shoulders. “Let’s do this.”

She placed her hand back on his arm, but as if he were a prop rather than a partner in crime. Like him, she didn’t give her trust easily. She’d told him that only one other person knew what she did.

He hoped it wasn’t because it was criminal.

He couldn’t overlook pickpocketing, no matter how adorable she was. He wanted to believe she was about to offer to help the man with a plant issue, but how could she know if he had one? The way she talked, it sounded more like he was a target than a potential client. Eric took a closer look at the man they were approaching. Hunched forward, he stared blankly ahead, holding a collar and leash in his hands. A profound sadness hovered about him.

Somehow, Sage intended to help him. At least, that was what Eric wanted to believe—needed so fucking much to believe. He pulled Sage to an abrupt stop beside him. “About that woman you offended.”

“Yes?”

“Apologize to her. Not because it’ll make things better, but because it’s the right thing to do.”

A huge smile spread across Sage’s face. “Thank you. You get me.”

I hope to God I do.



Sage had never shared this part of her process with anyone else—not even Bella. She had described it to her best friend, but it wasn’t something Bella would have understood. It required trusting in a way that defied logic. Sage didn’t have any special powers or even a gift. What she did have was an open heart and a desire to help people. The formula required no magic—just patience and the belief that people were often much more than they first appeared.

Wayne was the perfect example of the last part. He’d been rude and dismissive, then withdrawn and angry. Yet, a few moments earlier, he had not only comforted her but had also shared something that still hurt him deeply. He was reaching out.

When she’d first met him, she’d thought he would be her next client. He was definitely troubled enough. Being with him was so much more complicated than that.

Sage didn’t share personal information with clients. She certainly didn’t tell them about what she did. The people she helped hired her to care for their plants. While in their lives, she did what she could to bring joy back into everything. They paid her for her work with their plants. That was simply how it worked.

So if Wayne wasn’t a client, what was he?

That thought was put aside as she and Wayne reached the older man. Sage tugged on Wayne’s arm. “You’re so wrong,” she said in a playful voice.

It took him only a heartbeat to fall into step with her. “I don’t believe I am,” he said just as lightly.

“Here, I’ll get us a tiebreaker.” Sage stopped just in front of the man who was too lost in his own sadness to notice her. “Excuse me, sir?”