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“I’m sorry,” he says with a heavy sigh. “I know humans get hungry at sunrise. I wanted to nourish you.”
“We’ve had many amazing inventions since the 1870s,” I tell him as I open the cupboard. “But none more amazing than Pop-Tarts. Behold, the peak of human ingenuity.” He watches in awe as I make a show of ripping open the foil and plopping the strawberry Pop-Tarts into the toaster. “Easy peasy and we don’t have to blow up my house or make an epic mess.”
He looks like he’s taking mental notes.
“I guess I haven’t quite grasped the fact that you’re from the 1870s,” I say as I take out the coffee. “But I’m starting to now.”
He’s watching me as I put a pot on. I think he’s trying to figure out how everything works.
“Do you remember anything from back then?” I ask as I hit the button.
“I remember everything,” he says.
I begin to clean up and he helps me. God, he moves so fast.
“But it was, what? One hundred and fifty years ago? How could you remember?”
“Time doesn’t work the same way for Reapers as it does for humans,” he says as he clears the counter. I sit back and watch as he moves faster than I ever could.
“How the heck does time work differently for you? Time is time. It’s unchangeable.”
“To humans, maybe,” he says as he grabs a rag and wipes the counter clean. “But to us, a moment in time is malleable. It’s pliable.”
I sit down on the stool at the island and watch him in awe. He’s the most fascinating man I’ve ever met.
“Okay,” I say with a laugh. “Please explain that to me like I’m five years old.”
He looks at me and smiles. The sight of his smile makes my heart skip a beat. A flutter of warmth ripples through me. I’m already wondering how I can tease more smiles out of him.
“A moment in time is like a piece of chewing gum,” he says as he stops cleaning and looks at me with those gorgeous light gray eyes. “It can be stretched out infinitely long or compressed back together. The same piece of gum, the same moment, but completely different depending on how you handle it. Make sense?”
“Not really,” I say with a laugh. The coffeemaker dings. “Maybe it will after my coffee.”
I get up and grab two cups from the counter as he fills the sink with soap and water. He starts scrubbing the pans as I yawn while pouring the cups.
“I’m tired,” I say as my eyes water. “Did you sleep well?”
“I don’t sleep,” he says as I add some milk. I hand him the cup, but he doesn’t take it. “I don’t eat or drink either.”
“That’s a shame,” I say as I grab the warm Pop-Tarts out of the toaster. He watches me as I bite into one. “Then I guess these are both for me.”
He grins as he watches me annihilate one and then the other.
“It’s satisfying enough to watch you eat,” he says with his eyes sparkling.
Hmmm, that’s funny because it’s satisfying to watch him watching me. I could stare at that perfectly rounded chest and those chiseled abs all freaking day.
You’re staring too long, Anna.Waytoo long.
I force my eyes away and spot his scythe leaning on the side of my fridge. The blade is right beside the picture of my niece’s smiling head. It’s a perfect metaphor for us. We both come from different worlds. Literally. I come from the regular world and he comes from the undead world.
There’s going to be a learning curve here, but I hope we can make it work. Somehow.
“So…” I say as I sip on my coffee. “Do you have to collect dead souls today, or can you hang out?”
Well, that’s the weirdest sentence I’ve ever said.
His back tightens as he washes the dishes. “I… have a day off.”
