“He took both of my hands, twisting to face me more fully on the flattened box beneath us, and again the colors in his irises seemed to pulse with my heartbeat.”

“There’s an us?”“As far as I’m concerned…” He leaned forward, his mouth inches from mine, and my pulse spiked. “There’s nothing but us.”

“Tod's eyes widened and his irises swirled in tight twists of blue. "Well, I don't see that I have much of a choice, considering that's part of Reaper Law." "There's a Reaper Law?" "Of course. 'A reaper is Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, Courteous...'" He shrugged. "It gets boring after that. But this situation is clearly covered under the 'helpful' category."I rolled my eyes. "I think that's the Boy Scout law.""They took it from us. But they left out all the good stuff.”

“He was half again my size, but when we embraced, I felt like I was holding him up, and it was all I could do to remain standing. He buried his face in my hair, his body shaking against me with the spasmodic rhythm of unrestrained sobs. It was almost more than I could bear gracefully.”

“I've had it with both of you." He pulled his own bag higher on one shoulder and turned to me. "You let me know when you decide what the hell you want from me. I love you, and I miss you, and I'll be waiting, whenever you're ready. But don't spy on me again. Ever." I nodded miserably as he twisted to face Sabine. "And you! You come find me when you're ready to be my friend, because that's all I have to offer right now. But as badly as I need someone to talk to, I don't need another complication in my life. And as for the two of you!" He stepped away from us, already walking backward toward the school entrance. "Work it out. Or don't work it out. But leave me the hell out of it.”

“Kaylee, this means something to me.” His hands trailed down my arms to cup my elbows, and his gaze held mine. “With anyluck, we’re going to have millions of moments over the course of eternity, and I plan to love every one of them. But we’ll neverhave this moment again, and this is very important to me.” The twists of blue in his eyes coiled so tightly the color was almost gone,lost among pale shades of a need so deep it couldn’t possibly be captured in a kiss, or a touch. “I need to know that this is importantto you, too. I need to know that this isn’t like last time. That you’re not doing this just so you can say you’ve done it. Because that’snot good enough for me. That’s not good enough for us.”

“My pulse whooshed in my ears so fast I could barely hear myself speak. “I only have—”“Two days.” He squeezed my hand. “So what? You can spend them feeling sorry for yourself, or you can let me help make them the best two daysof your life, and my afterlife. So what’s it gonna be?”I stared into his eyes, like I’d never seen him before. And I hadn’t—not like this. But he’d obviously seen me, better than anyone else ever had.“Well?” Tod watched me, his hand still warm in mine.In answer, I leaned forward and kissed him again.”