Chapter Three #2
Sam rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. “It takes some getting used to.”
He swallowed heavily. Being a reaper was their birthright. He couldn’t imagine it gone. “You can’t reap?” Their father had said as much, but it still seemed unreal.
“No.” The bleakness in Sam’s eyes hit him like a sledgehammer to the chest. His brother was well and truly human.
“Then why didn’t you take the damn soul you were sent to collect? Help me understand.” Because there was no explanation he could come up with to justify such an action.
The corners of Sam’s mouth turned up in a satisfied grin that lightened his entire face. The change was startling and so unlike his normally serious and austere brother. “I fell in love.”
“Right, tell me another one.” When all Sam did was stare, Kieran realized he wasn’t joking.
With a groan, he brought his head down on the top of the table and lightly hit it several times.
“I don’t believe it. You gave up your life, your entire existence—your birthright—because you fell in love with some human? ”
“Yes.” The finality of that single word was a death knell. “Her name is Adrianne, and she means everything to me.” The warning was clear.
“I can set things right.”
“So that’s Dad’s game.” Planting his elbows on the table, Sam stared across the short expanse.
“Don’t you see? It’s another competition he’s set up between us.
What I don’t understand is why he sent you.
Alex and I made our choices. In five or six decades, maybe less, we’ll be nothing more than a memory. You’re all he has left.”
A coldness wrapped around him at the finality of it all. Sam might’ve accepted his fate, but Kieran hadn’t. “If I don’t save you and Alex, I end up in exile for eternity. Or I can live out a human life here. Either way, I lose.”
“I’m sorry, brother.”
Kieran pushed up from the table. “So am I. I have no intention of giving up everything so you can enjoy a few decades with some human woman.”
Sam, the big brother he’d looked up to and respected his entire life, slowly stood, looking every inch the dangerous man he was. “Touch Adrianne and I’ll kill you.”
…
At three o’clock on the dot, Georgia flipped the sign on the door and turned the lock.
It was earlier than usual, and there were a handful of cookies left in the showcase, but she was done for the day.
Eventually, she’d like to open longer hours, but that would require more counter staff and a part-time baker.
For now, she’d be grateful to have a single employee.
She peered up and down the street, noting people and traffic.
“Stop it.” Every time the bell over the door had jingled, she’d found herself holding her breath in anticipation.
Each time, she was disappointed it was a customer and not Kieran.
“For all I know he’s talked to his brothers and left town. ”
Determined to put him out of her mind once and for all, she wrapped the remaining cookies and set them in a basket next to the cash register.
She’d sell them at a reduced price tomorrow.
The early customers would snap them up. That done, she wiped down the bistro tables and chairs.
The window counter and stools were next.
It was routine, something she did without having to think about it.
This was when she missed her part-time worker the most. Between the two of them, they got through the chore quickly. Alone, it added to an already long day.
A knock on the window startled her. Expecting to find a local hoping to grab a cup of coffee, she was surprised to see Kieran peering in at her.
The bottom of her stomach dropped out, and butterflies began to flit around inside her.
When he motioned to the door, she shook her head.
“Come back in the morning.” She wasn’t ready to deal with her unexpected reaction to him. He frowned and motioned again.
With a sigh, she gave into the inevitable and flipped the lock but only opened the door a crack. “Yes?”
“I’m here to work.” His shoulders were stiff, tension rolling off him in waves. Whatever had happened after he’d left here hadn’t been good.
“You can start in the morning.” She kept her voice low and calm, like she would if faced with an unfamiliar dog. Not that she thought he’d hurt her, not intentionally, but she didn’t want to risk getting snapped at.
A muscle in his jaw worked, and he swallowed heavily. “I don’t have anywhere else to go.”
The admission caught her off guard. “What about your brothers?” After all, that’s why he was here.
“I saw Sam.”
“I take it things didn’t go well.” As an only child, she’d always wanted siblings, but they did seem to complicate things.
When he shook his head, she inwardly cursed her soft heart.
“Come in.” She opened the door far enough for him to enter before locking it again.
“You can call the motel. Or did you want to try Ivy House?”
“It’s probably best I don’t go anywhere near Alex yet.” Like a caged animal, he stalked around the room. As someone who’d spent many long days and nights needing to work off stress, she recognized the signs.
“The broom’s out back. After you sweep, you can run a damp mop over the floors.”
He stopped and stared. “What?”
“You said you wanted to work. If you’d rather, I can give you the last of the coffee and cookies and you can head to the Easy Rest Motel.”
The tightness of his body uncoiled, and a look of what might be respect gleamed in his eyes. “Trying to get rid of me?”
“Giving you options.” Rather than wait, she went behind the counter and began to pull the wire racks out of the glass-fronted display case to take back to the kitchen.
She held her breath, not sure if she wanted him to stay or go.
It should have been impossible to miss someone she’d only just met, but there was no denying she had. Kieran made an impact.
After several long seconds of silence, his footsteps rang on the hardwood floor.
“Where’s the broom?”
Biting the inside of her mouth to keep from smiling, she waved him toward the kitchen.
“Utility closet is off to the right.” She half expected him to balk at the manual labor, but he tossed his leather jacket over the back of one of the chairs and went to work.
If he wielded the broom with more force than necessary, she pretended not to notice—while surreptitiously admiring the flexing of his huge biceps and broad shoulders.
The way the man filled out a pair of jeans ought to be illegal.
The well-worn material clung to thick thighs and a firm, muscular behind.
Sweating, she fanned a cloth in front of her face when his back was turned.
Stop gawking at him. If he caught her looking, it would be embarrassing.
That was the impetus needed to make her take the wire racks to the kitchen and scrub them until they sparkled.
If her gaze occasionally strayed toward the doorway and into the other room, well, she was only human.
By the time she was done, he’d finished sweeping and mopping and was putting things away in the utility closet.
There was something inherently sexy about a man doing household chores.
They hadn’t lived together, but her former boyfriend had never offered to help with meals or dishes whenever they’d had dinner at her place. She shoved the thought out of her mind. David Petras was part of her past, and that’s exactly where he was going to stay.
“What’s next?”
With the industrial appliances and large stainless-steel work table crowded together, the kitchen was pressed for space.
Standing in the opening that separated the two areas of the store, he swallowed up much of the remaining square footage.
His white T-shirt clung to his broad chest and had come untucked from his jeans.
When he placed his hands on the top of the doorframe, it rose up, giving her a glimpse of smooth olive-toned skin.
She cleared her dry throat. “We haven’t discussed pay.”
“Whatever you’re offering is fine. It’s a temporary position.”
“You can come back before opening tomorrow morning. I’ll give you a quick tutorial on the register.
It’s not complicated, and I’ll be here if you run into trouble.
You need to find a place to stay.” And she needed to bake.
It was when she did her best thinking. She also needed him out of her space.
Her visceral reaction to him was unsettling.
After the fiasco with David, she’d sworn off dating, and she hadn’t felt a sliver of desire for another man since coming back home from Boston.
Not until Kieran had walked through the door.
As though making up for lost time, her sex drive had kicked into high gear, revving whenever he was in the same room.
That made him dangerous to her peace of mind.
“Can you recommend anywhere besides the motel? I saw it when I was out and about.”
“You weren’t impressed by the industrial beige and concrete? Seriously though, it doesn’t look like much from the outside, but it’s clean and cheap,” she added, not wanting to put him off.
“I’d prefer something closer. I don’t have a vehicle.”
She noticed he’d walked earlier, but hadn’t thought much of it, figuring he’d decided to explore. “How’d you get here?” None of the major bus lines stopped in town.
He crossed his arms over his chest. “Long story.”
And if his body language was any indication, like the conversation with his brother, it wasn’t something he wanted to share. “The town isn’t big enough to support more than the motel and Ivy House.”
“Does anyone rent rooms?”
The empty apartment over her garage popped into her head. She’d been toying with the idea of getting a tenant. Starting up a business took money, and her resources were stretched thin. The extra income would be a huge help. But having Kieran that close wasn’t a good idea.
“You thought of something.” He closed the distance until only the island workspace was between them.
She chewed her bottom lip. “No one I know rents rooms.”
“But?”
“I’m going to regret this,” she muttered. “There’s a furnished studio apartment above my garage. I’d planned to rent it out, but on a monthly basis.”
“How much for a week?” He pulled his wallet out of his back pocket.
“You’ll be here that long?” She’d figured a few days, tops.
He shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe not. Either way, you keep the money.”
“A hundred bucks.”
He’d pay that for two nights at the Easy Rest Motel and a heck of a lot more at Ivy House.
“It’s a deal.” He held out a crisp hundred-dollar bill to seal the bargain. When she took it, their fingers brushed. An icy shiver raced up her arm, leaving her wondering what exactly she’d bargained for.