The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy (Hart and Mercy, #1)

by Megan Bannen

“Most people start with hello.” “Hello, Hart-ache,” she sighed. “Hello, Merciless.”

Then again, she wondered which was sadder: losing someone you truly loved, or never loving someone to begin with.

Her shirt was unbuttoned to her sternum, and Hart had to will his eyes away from the resulting cleavage. That is enemy cleavage, he reminded himself.

How does a person go about living beyond getting up, going to work, and sleeping?

When you live in the middle of nowhere, you can see the stars—all of them—without town lights getting in the way. Do you ever look up? I mean really look? I find myself staring at the stars more and more lately, wondering what exactly it is I’m doing here. Here, meaning the universe.

He hung the towel on its peg anyway and looked himself in the eye. There it was, a truth so evident that it may as well have been painted on his forehead in red letters. He was helplessly, boundlessly, stupidly in love with Mercy Birdsall.

Hart ate a ruminative bite of coconut cake. “I’m sorry. That’s a shitty situation.” “It is. Thank you.” “I’m known for my eloquence.”

“That’s it, isn’t it? You could go on and on, and everyone you’ll ever know or love will grow old and die, but you’ll still be here. It’d be like reading a book that doesn’t end. No matter how good the story is, you want it to be over at some point. For everyone else, death is a question of when, not if, but for you, it’s the opposite: if, not when.”

“I think I’m about to do something stupid.” “Okay.” Mercy stood on tiptoes and kissed the corner of his mouth on the exact spot where the frosting had been. She pulled away and watched him as he gawked at her and said nothing, and his silence screamed around her until she couldn’t take it anymore. “Well? Say something.” “I’m still waiting for you to do something stupid.”

He closed his eyes and inhaled the scent of her cold cream as she nestled her head into the real estate of his body she had claimed as hers, as if she didn’t already own everything he was, body and soul.