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Bunny glanced at him across the black expanse of Morticia’s roof. “Yeah well, it wasn’t my mother’s time to go either, but we both know how that worked out, huh?”
He pressed his lips together, forming a thin line in the four o’clock shadow that perpetually peppered his jawline. “I’m sorry.”
“About Mom, or about scaring me into an accident?” Bunny asked, quirking an eyebrow before tugging the keys out of the ignition. She started for the tailgate of the car without waiting to hear his answer.
“Both,” he said, following her lead. They reached the tailgate at the same time.
Bunny unlocked it and opened it out, flipping back the interior carpet to reveal the spare wheel recess. She broke a nail reaching in to remove the plywood that covered the tire. Pain shot up her arm from her index finger, and she retreated.
“Sonofabitch!”
She lifted her hand to survey the damage. Sure enough, the acrylic manicure had split and chipped away. She cringed. Not only did it hurt like hell, but she’d only just paid for that damn manicure.
“Here.” Death gently moved in, reaching for the tire cover. He lifted it out of place effortlessly, guiding it to the road where it bounced until he settled it with his hands. He glanced up at Bunny until she took the tire, before he leaned back into the car to fish for the jack and tire iron. Bunny was cradling the spare.
“You know how to change tires?” she asked, more than a little impressed. She couldn’t imagine other celestials had much cause to change tires.
“You watch humans for a few hundred centuries, and you learn some things,” he said. He shrugged his shoulders out of his jacket and let it slide down his arms before removing first one side, then the other. His pale biceps bunched and stretched with the action, which was incredibly distracting.
Bunny stared at him as he folded up the coat and set it on the roof of the car, admiring the way he filled out his black t-shirt. She’d privately entertained thoughts about what he might look like under that felt peacoat. Now she didn’t have to leave much to her imagination.
After a moment of silence, she glanced up, only to find that she had been caught gawking. He was watching her watch him, his face showing a hint of amusement as she fought against the blush that threatened to play executioner to his judge and jury. He turned away from her to roll the tire around to the side of the car, and Bunny could have sworn she saw him smirk before his back was to her.
“I know how to tango, too, in case that ever comes in handy.”
Bunny pulled a face as he started to get the jack into place. “That’s ridiculous.”
“This isn’t exactly a walk in the park,” he pointed out.
She hated to admit that he was right, so she didn’t.
“Well, it’s your fault it even happened,” she said, squarely placing the blame on his deliciously broad shoulders. “So it’s only right that you should fix it.”
She was aware that she sounded more and more like a petulant teen with each passing second, and she internally kicked herself, but her curiosity took hold of sense of self control.
“How did you get into my car?”
“Dimensions,” he explained, as though it were simply a matter of common sense.
Bunny balked. “I’m sorry, what?”
He slipped the jack under the car and squatted, using the handle to start lifting the car. Bunny quickly moved away from it, not wanting to put herself in the firing line if the gravel gave way. He was immortal. She was pretty sure she wasn’t.
“We celestials have the ability to travel through alternate dimensions,” he grunted, getting the tire off the ground enough so that it’d be possible to change it. He straightened, standing very close to where she had relocated herself.
“You’re kidding?” she asked blankly.
Death reached for the tire iron. “How else do you think we’re able to collect or distribute so many souls a day?”
“No,” she almost growled. “I mean, you’re kidding that you didn’t even tell me that was a thing in the beginning and you just let me fumble along trying to ensoul women at my Ob-Gyn office or a baby expo disaster!”
No level of shouting would satisfy the nuclear-disaster levels of frustration bubbling away inside of her. Bunny threw her arms into the air for good measure. Her sneakers skidded in the gravel, sliding down the sloping shoulder of the road. As she started to fall, she realized she was about to land on her butt in the dirt.
But she didn’t fall. Death caught her.
His strong arms encircled and supported her until she managed to scramble and get her feet back under herself. And even then, when it should have been okay for him to let go, he supported her still. She felt that same thrill run through her as when she tried to listen for his nonexistent heartbeat, only his time the sensation was intensified by a thousand.
Up this close and in the light of day, she could once again see the lighter flecks of chocolate brown in his eyes, which dipped down to study her lips for a second before they met hers once more.
