“What can I say? Your voice works wonders.” Not to mention his hands. And his lips….

And again that ache gripped me, squeezing bitter drops of doubt from my heart. Would he be done with me in a month, once the novelty of kissing a fellow bean sidhe wore off?

“What’s wrong?” He tilted my chin up until my gaze met his, though I couldn’t see him very well in the dark.

I shoved my misgivings aside and leaned with my back against the car. “School’s going to be weird after this. I mean, how am I supposed to care about trig and world history when I just brought my best friend back from the dead, and faced down a grim reaper over my cousin’s poached soul?”

“You’ll care, because if you get grounded for failing economics, there won’t be any more of this…” He leaned into me, and his mouth teased mine until I rose onto my toes, demanding more.

“Mmm…That’s pretty good motivation,” I mumbled against his cheek, when I finally summoned the willpower to pull away.

“With any luck, there will be plenty of this, and no more of that.” He gestured vaguely toward the house. “That was an anomaly, and it’s over.”

A chill shivered through me at the reminder. “What if it’s not?” After all, Marg was still out there somewhere, and Belphegore was no doubt unsatisfied.

But Nash could not be shaken. “It’s over. But we’re just starting, Kaylee. You have no idea how special we are together. How incredible it is that we found each other.” He rubbed my arms, and I knew from the earnest intensity in his voice that his eyes were probably churning. “And we have long lives ahead of us. Time to do anything we want. Be anything we want.”

Time. That was the point, wasn’t it? Nash’s point. My father’s point.

Finally, I got it. My life wasn’t just my own. My mother had died to give it to me.

And no matter what happened next, I was damn well going to earn her sacrifice.