Chapter Six #2
He debated for several seconds. It was more than a little suspicious that Sam was still hanging around town. If he’d completed his assignment, he should be long gone from here.
Screw it! Whatever Sam’s reasons, the situation couldn’t get any worse.
Alex was facing the permanent loss of his powers and eternal imprisonment in Shadowland if he didn’t pull this assignment off.
If there was the slightest possibility his brother could shed some light on the situation, it was worth the risk.
For all their differences, for as far apart as they’d drifted, he refused to believe that his brother wouldn’t have his back if he truly needed him.
The situation had never been more dire. While reaching out for help bruised his pride—Sam hadn’t reached out to him during his assignment from their father—it was time to suck it up and do what needed to be done.
“Thanks.” He took the phone and made the call. It rang and rang and rang.
Cilla frowned. “Odd that there’s no voicemail.”
Alex ended the call and handed back the phone. It made perfect sense to him. His father had cut him off from the one person who might be able to help him. So be it. He’d handle it.
She tucked the phone back into her pocket. “You can try again tomorrow if you’d like. In the meantime, I need some coffee. Can I interest you in some?”
“Sure. I’ll help.” He could use the break.
Their conversation was forcing him to face issues he’d ignored for far too long.
He never talked this openly about family and was certain Cilla wasn’t free with details about her personal life, either, except with her closest friends.
This had been a strange day for them both.
He gathered his garbage while she piled the plates and carried them inside. The kitchen seemed smaller with both of them in it.
Some strands of her hair had come loose from the clip anchoring it to the top of her head.
The fiery locks trailed along the sides of her face, caressing her cheeks.
The shorts she wore were tailored and the shirt was a step above department store brand.
Her arms and legs were firm and tanned. Whatever makeup she’d had on had long vanished.
Her sun-kissed skin gave her a healthy glow that added to her appeal.
There was no denying their attraction. He saw the way she watched him when she thought he wasn’t looking. As much as he wanted her, maintaining distance was smart. She was the gateway to his target.
Or maybe it wasn’t her at all. Maybe Ivy House itself was the reason he’d run into Cilla. People came and went from an inn. Sam had stayed here during his assignment. Perhaps the soul he’d been sent to reap belonged to a guest.
Either way, it was stupid to mess with the innkeeper.
Rather than dwell on the sexual tension gripping him, he concentrated on dumping the debris from his meal. The distraction didn’t help. His fingers itched to stroke the tender nape of her neck, to taste her sweet lips.
This wasn’t like him. Control wasn’t just a word to him; it was the bedrock of his entire life. It seemed to have deserted him since he and Cilla had collided. Maybe more than his bike had been damaged. Maybe his brains had gotten scrambled in the crash.
It was laughable, considering he’d lived for millennia and had slept with more women than he could remember.
Resisting one in particular should be no problem, but Cilla roused sensations within him that he hadn’t experienced in a very long time, if ever.
He not only wanted to take her to bed and spend hours making love to her, he wanted to protect her.
Neither was smart. While the first one wasn’t technically forbidden, the second was.
Reapers didn’t interfere with a human’s destiny.
Whatever was going on between Cilla and her brother wasn’t his business.
Restraint. Control. Those were the two words he lived by. They had served him well over the years, both in business and reaping. He never got personally involved. This was no time to start.
Remember what’s on the line. His life, his entire existence was hanging in the balance. The outcome of this assignment would echo for eternity. It was a sobering thought.
“Coffee won’t take long.” She turned away from the machine and motioned to the cake in the covered dish on the counter. “You want another slice? I’d usually stop after one, but it’s been a two-piece-of-cake kinda day.”
That surprised a laugh from him. “You’re not kidding.
” From the accident to the unexpected ultimatum from his father, discovering he was all but broke and trapped in the small town of Redemption minus most of his powers, and his unwanted attraction to Cilla, it had been a day like no other.
That was saying something, considering how long he’d lived.
She studied the remaining cake, shrugged, and cut it in half, placing two huge hunks on plates and sliding one across the kitchen island.
Holding her fork with a piece speared on the end, she raised it in the air.
“To a better tomorrow.” She slipped it into her mouth and moaned.
“Rosa’s coffee cake ought to be illegal. ”
He shoved a forkful of it into his mouth and chewed to smother a groan. It was her natural sensuality that should be illegal.
Yet there was something about her that called to him beyond a superficial level of the sexual allure. The attraction was off the charts, but he also liked her as a person, wanted to learn everything there was to know about her.
An icy chill skated down his spine. Was that part of the assignment? Surely his father wouldn’t be that cold and unfeeling to get him to care about Cilla only to have him reap her soul.
Until he knew his target, he needed to keep his distance…
for both their sakes. When it was her time to die, whether it was one hour or sixty years from now, there was nothing either of them could do to stop it.
Her fate was to live for however long she’d been given; it was his to reap the souls chosen for him.
Freedom was a myth. Even Death couldn’t walk away from his destiny. While there was a certain amount of free will, death was as inevitable for humans as reaping was for him.
“Mmm, coffee is done.” Cilla licked a crumb off her lower lip and shot him a smile, interrupting his morose thoughts.
He couldn’t help but note the way the shorts she wore cupped her sweet behind, making them as sexy as if they’d barely covered anything at all.
Danger! Danger! The warning flashed in his brain. He’d just finished lecturing himself about maintaining his distance, but being around her was making that impossible. Walk away. He actually tried, but his muscles ignored his directive, and he rounded the island instead.
“Here you go.” Oblivious to the dangerous undercurrents swirling around him, she held out one of the mugs she’d filled. When he continued to do nothing but stare, her smile slowly died. “Alex?”
Taking both mugs, he set them on the counter. Tossing all common sense and caution aside, he cradled her face between his hands. Her skin was as soft as the roses she’d tended in the garden and smelled as sweet.
“Alex?” Her voice was breathless. Rather than pull away, she leaned closer.
He waited a long second to see if she’d change her mind. When she didn’t, he gave into temptation and lowered his head.