“I looked down at the reaper's blood on my hands, and I felt very sad.”

“A demonic reaper asked to be my valentine and then killed his crazy ex-girlfriend to save my life. Tomorrow I was starting up antipsychotic meds.”

“Kiss me,” I whispered slowly, a desperate plea, and I stroked my thumb across his bottom lip. My heart pounded, and I wanted him so badly it felt like I’d jump out of my skin.His mouth parted, and his eyes fell to my lips before flickering back up. His hands slid around my hips, and he pulled me against him. “No,” he said, but his body betrayed his pledge.“I order you to kiss me,” I said into his lips. My fingers dipped into his waistband and began to unbuckle his belt and jeans. He took a deep breath and his hands tightened on my hips, but he didn’t stop me.He turned his face into my neck and let out a long, frustrated groan, burning my skin with his breath and sending shivers through me. He nuzzled my hair, drinking in my scent as my fingernails ran softly down the back of his neck. “You can’t do that to me,” he said huskily, his lips brushing my skin.I slipped my hands under his shirt, and I smoothed them over his solid abdomen. “Then kiss me because you want to.”

“He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around the small of my back, tugging me to his chest. I threw my arms around his shoulders, sliding my nails up and down his neck gently. “Stay with me. And with Nathaniel and Lauren. All day. Be happy today.”“That’s it?”He bent down and kissed me richly. “Each time I look at you, I want to see a smile on your beautiful face.”“Will you be looking at me a lot?”“I’m always stealing glances,” he confessed. “You rarely notice.”

“Um, hi," I said, drawling in my uneasiness. "Do you... need the trash can?" I felt like an idiot as soon as I said it.”

“Maeghan is local, Berengar is Liege.""Shotgun on Liege," I said quickly. The reapers all stared at me like I'd grown a third eye. "What?" I asked, not the least bit embarrassed. "Their waffles are world famous. I'm going to Liege if only for their awesome waffles.""I like waffles," Cadan said.I beamed at him. "All right. You'll be on Team Waffles with Will and me."Will just shrugged. He accepted me for who I was and he didn't seem to mind being on Team Waffles. Marcus gave Ava a pathetic look. "Why can't our team have a cool name?”

“As much as I hungered to learn more about my past, I was afraid of learning other things too--mostly about death and despair, and dark corners of the globe. I prayed that those memories wouldn't come back to me, because I felt in my bones that some things were too frightening to remember.”