Page 113 of The Pinkie Pact

I totally choked up at her words. "Thank you. That means a lot to me. And guess what? I'm proud of you too."

"For not OD'ing on painkillers this time?"

"Yep, exactly. And we've done a damn good job of sticking to our pinkie pact."

Crap. I realized Kieran had no clue what we were talking about because neither of us had ever told him.

"What's a pinkie pact?" he asked, clearly confused, making Kara and I both laugh.

Kara straightened to her knees, almost falling over before crawling out of our fort. "You tell him. I need to pee."

And now I was all alone with Kieran in these close quarters. Warmness flooded through me as our eyes met.

"So will you tell me what a pinkie pact is?" he asked quietly, like he was feeling it too. "And then I have something to say to you."

Um, what? Butterflies took off in my belly at that. I tried to take a slow, steadying breath but wasn't sure I succeeded.

"So.... at the beginning of the year, Kara and I made a pact to stick to three drinks every time we went out so we could try to avoid getting into any trouble."

His eyebrows shot up in surprise. "You did?"

"Yeah, and we wore three bracelets that we switched from one arm to the other with each drink."

Chuckling, he said, "I did notice those bracelets and saw you both moving them several times. But I never put two and two together." He shook his head, his eyes lighting up. "That's really clever."

I shrugged because I wasn't so sure.

"And that leads me to what I wanted to say anyway," he went on. "I want to tell you how sorry I am about what happened to you. I'm so sorry you went through that."

Needing to break eye contact, I looked down and played with the tassel on a pillow. A second later, I felt his gentle hand on my chin, raising my gaze to his, and what I saw there blew me away. It was a look of pure love.

Before I even knew what I was doing, I closed the short distance between us and collapsed against him as his arms came tight around me. The tangle of emotions I felt sitting on his lap, my head on his shoulder, was unreal—from unbelievable relief at sharing my story to fiery lust for Kieran who felt fucking incredible.

I could tell he didn't know what to do. His lips started to move against my hair, but then he stopped himself and pulled back a little.

"Just hold me, Kier," I whispered.

Feeling his chest expand with each inhale was somehow so comforting, and something about it was healing, that he'd accepted my past with no judgment, no condemnation. He'd actually been supportive and told me not to downplay it, something I did often. But his argument about comparing was spot-on.

"You're going to make a really good lawyer someday," I said.

His chest rumbled with laughter. "Thank you. I hope so."

"Oh, my God. I know so."

We heard Kara come out of the bathroom, and I scooted away, but she didn't come back into our little fort. Instead, we heard her collapse on my bed, since her bed had been stripped of sheets.

"I'm about to pass out. Don't you dare leave, Kieran," she muttered. "You either, Sky."

Kieran and I shared a look, both of us trying not to laugh. "Where am I supposed to sleep?" I asked him.

He shrugged. "In here?"

It was comfy, at least. "Sure. Why not?" Looking at his sweet face, I was startled to realize that I really wanted him to sleep in here with me too. But was that such a good idea?

"I'll... I'll just sleep on Kara's bed or something," Kieran said, making a move toward the little opening.

"I have a better idea," I said. "But why don't we clean up first and brush our teeth?"

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