Chapter Five #2
“Decided to join me after all, did you?” Alex was kicked back in his chair with his bottle of water in hand.
“Looks like you’re finished.” This had been a stupid idea. But he’d helped her out of two difficult situations. The least she could do was accept his offer to eat with him.
“I was going to help myself to some of that coffee cake Rosa promised me earlier.”
She set her meal on the table. “I’ll get it.”
With a shake of his head, he stood. “You sit down and eat. I’ll get it. You want some?”
“Ah, yes. That would be nice.” He’d surprised her.
Both her brother and ex would have assumed she’d get them what they wanted.
She really needed to stop comparing other men to them.
There were plenty of good ones out there.
She saw examples of it all the time with guests and with the fathers, brothers, boyfriends, and husbands of friends.
Look at Cal. He treated his sister and mother with the utmost respect.
She’d spent a lot of time with Rosa’s family since setting down permanent roots in Redemption—was closer to them than her own.
It was quiet, the cloud cover gathering, the slight breeze cooling. Letting the tension of the day flow away, she dug into her salad, enjoying the combination of spinach, strawberries, and feta cheese.
“Here you go.” For a big man, Alex moved like a shadow. She hadn’t heard the screen door open, let alone footsteps. He placed a plate with a slice of coffee cake beside her and took his seat.
She grinned. “Is it big enough?” He had a huge hunk on his plate.
“What can I say, I’m hungry, and it smells delicious.”
“Rosa’s a great baker.”
“Not you?” He forked up a piece and ate. He closed his eyes and made a sound of pleasure. She couldn’t stop looking at his lips, remembering the taste of them. Now they’d taste like cake.
“Not me what?”
He pointed his fork at her. “Not a good baker?”
“I do okay with cookies and pies.” Under Rosa’s patient guidance, she’d improved her skills significantly over the past year.
Rob and his buddies had devoured the peach pie she’d made yesterday.
“If you have a sweet tooth, you should drop by Baker’s Dozen while you’re in town.
It’s newly opened. The owner, Georgia Baker, is a wonder in the kitchen. ”
“I saw it when I was out earlier and may do that.”
They ate in companionable silence, neither of them mentioning what had happened earlier. Birds twittered and the breeze picked up enough to keep the insects at bay. The knots in her shoulders began to loosen.
Footsteps pounded down the inside stairs, followed by the door opening and closing and the sound of engines starting.
“Your guests?” Alex asked.
“Um.” She savored a piece of the coffee cake, wishing she had a cup of coffee to go with it. “Group of friends taking a few days together. They check out tomorrow.”
“So it’s just us.”
She slowly set her fork down, butterflies taking flight in her stomach.
“I guess it is.” Strangers stayed here all the time, but it was rare she was alone with a single male guest. A bed and breakfast was different from a motel—usually, couples or groups of friends or single women stayed here.
Would he question her about her confrontation with Richard? He had to be curious.
There was another possibility. She had kissed him earlier. He didn’t seem the type to push something like that, but then again, she didn’t really know him. Would he try to talk her into bed? If he did, would she let him?
She ignored the tingling in her breasts and the throb low in her belly. She’d refuse any offer, of course. She wasn’t the type to sleep with a man she’d just met. No matter how sexy and compelling he was, Alex was an enigma.
Defenses fortified, she proffered a smile and issued a challenge of her own. “Tell me about yourself.”
…
It was fascinating to watch myriad emotions flit across Cilla’s face.
Alex didn’t need his enhanced senses to be able to read her.
She was so open and expressive he could practically hear her thoughts.
First, she’d been disconcerted by the idea of the two of them being alone.
It had been followed by speculation—would he ask her about her fight with her brother or would he try something because of the brief kiss she’d given him earlier today?
Determined not to allow either to happen, she’d deftly turned the focus back on him.
Cilla was proving to be both an intriguing and challenging woman, but she was no match for him. He was a master at the game of evasion. He’d been hiding what he was from humankind for thousands of years.
“What do you want to know?” It could prove advantageous to draw her out in conversation. It would also allow him to satisfy his natural curiosity, which was understandable considering the circumstances.
He almost rolled his eyes at his justification. She fascinated him, plain and simple. What he didn’t fully understand was why.
“What’s the deal with you and your brother? Does Sam have any idea you’re here?”
Stunned by what she’d just revealed, Alex leaned forward and pinned her with his gaze. “He’s still in town?”
When his father had told him Sam had completed his assignment, Alex assumed he’d gone back to his current home in Las Vegas. What possible reason could there be for him to stick around?
She paused with her fork halfway to her mouth. “You didn’t know?”
He shook his head. It was impossible to picture his stylish, sophisticated brother willingly hanging around Redemption for any longer than necessary.
An urbanite at heart, Sam had always gravitated to cities, partaking in the art, culture, and fine cuisine while wheeling and dealing in the courts of kings, stuffy boardrooms, and backroom bars.
Alex enjoyed the open road and getting his hands dirty in his garages.
Jeans and a T-shirt suited him far better than any three-piece custom suit ever would.
“Wow, your family is more messed up than mine.” Her cheeks flushed and she lowered her fork. “I’m sorry. That was thoughtless, totally uncalled for, and none of my business.”
He waved off her apology. “I’m the one who asked you what you wanted to know. And you’re not wrong. My family is not…normal.”
His father was Death, and he and his brothers were reapers, nothing the least bit ordinary about it.
He appreciated Cilla’s honesty. Most people were tight-lipped and uncomfortable around him without understanding why.
They sensed there was something different about him, even if they’d never in a million years guess what it was.
With his natural abilities currently muted, that didn’t seem to be as much of an issue.
“I’m not sure what normal is. As you saw, I’m not exactly on great terms with my brother.”
It was the perfect opening to ask about their sibling relationship, but he was more concerned about his own.
It was more likely to have a bigger impact on his assignment.
As much as he liked Cilla, his priorities were clear—handle this mysterious assignment and get out of town.
At present he was batting zero, no closer to having any idea whose soul he was supposed to reap.
“About Sam…” he prompted.
“I haven’t seen him since he checked out of Ivy House, but according to the latest word around town, he’s staying at the Little Lavender Farm with Adrianne Sharp.”
This Sharp woman couldn’t have been Sam’s assignment if she was alive. His father had stated that Sam had been successful. He frowned and replayed his father’s words. He hadn’t specifically said successful. That had been Alex’s interpretation. He’d said that Sam had completed the assignment.
If the parameters were the same—and there was no reason to believe they weren’t—Sam would have reaped a soul. What, if anything, did it have to do with this Adrianne Sharp? Maybe nothing. But it still didn’t explain why he was hanging around Redemption.
He didn’t believe for one second it was because of the woman. When it came to relationships, Sam indulged but laid down ground rules from the start—there was no future. If they didn’t like it, they left. If they accepted his terms, they were treated well for the duration, which was usually short.
No, if Sam was here, he had to believe it wasn’t for any good reason. Was it possible Sam had expected their father to drop Alex here and had hung around to help? Or maybe he was here to spy for the old man.
“Alex, are you okay?” Cilla was looking at him expectantly.
“I’m good, just thinking. We’re not close, Sam and I. Not anymore.” They had been when they were kids, but as the millennia rolled by, they’d grown distant, each brother carving out his own life.
It was the same with Kieran. He’d watched over his younger brother when they were children. It had been nice to have someone look up to him, to make him feel special. Kieran was currently living in Los Angeles. Other than that and his phone number, he had no idea what his younger brother was up to.
When had things gone so wrong between them all?
“That’s a shame, but I get it. As you’re aware by the scene in the garden, Richard and I aren’t exactly close. We never have been.” She sighed and pushed away her plate. “Probably never will be.”
It was time to get his mind back on the task at hand. His family problems could wait. His assignment couldn’t. Cilla was his biggest clue. His father hadn’t put her in Alex’s path by accident. “You mentioned he’s older.”
“By ten years. I was eight when our mother died. Richard was on his way to college. Our father was not what you’d call a loving parent. Don’t get me wrong. I lived in a nice home with a housekeeper and had everything I needed, but he was always working.”
He could easily picture her as a child, all alone except for the housekeeper.
At least he’d had his brothers. And his father might have distanced himself from his sons once they’d started reaping, but when they were younger he’d been attentive and downright fun at times.
Not something most people would expect from the Grim Reaper.
That had been a side of himself he’d shown only his sons, and then only on rare occasions.
The day they’d started reaping he’d changed, becoming their boss instead of their parent.
It had also been the beginning of the end of their close-knit bonds, each brother going his own way.
“Holidays and summers I was packed off to Ivy House to be with my grandmother, my father’s mother.” Her smile was wistful. “She made everything an adventure.”
Cilla’s love for her grandmother struck him like a blow to the chest. At least she’d had someone who’d cared about her. “And your father?” He was aware the man was dead, but she didn’t know he’d overheard the entire conversation.
She took a sip from her water bottle. “He had a massive heart attack and passed when I was eighteen. It was sudden and unexpected.”
“I’m sorry.” It wasn’t something he’d ever have to face. His father was eternal; he and his brothers were immortal reapers. “You and Richard didn’t get closer after?”
“If anything, we grew further apart. Richard took his role as guardian seriously. But that’s all water under the bridge. Tell me more about you and your family.”
“Sam is older. We have a younger brother, Kieran. All of us are in the family business, which our father rules with an iron fist.”
“What do you do?”
No way could he share the full truth. That would not go over well. “We’re involved in real estate.” He and his brothers had learned long ago that true wealth lay in land and property. They owned huge swaths of it around the world.
“Like construction and fixing up houses?”
The image of his father with a hammer in one hand and his scythe in the other made him grin. He’d pay good money to see that. “No, we’re talking hotels, resorts, high-rises, and shopping plazas.”
“You’re a real estate developer?” Every ounce of color drained from her face. “Alex…why are you really here in Redemption?”