Page 53 of The Pinkie Pact

I flashed him a smile, and the smile he gave me back... fuck me. There were no words.

The Look

Kieran

I spotted her right away, and something about the way she looked stopped me in my tracks. She was absolutely the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen.

She always looked beautiful. But tonight, there was something different about her, something that hit me like a lightning strike to my heart. Maybe it was because I was free now, free to admit to myself how much I liked this girl, how much I was attracted to this girl with the crystal blue eyes that held such strength.

As much as I wanted to kiss her, touch her, feel every damn part of her, I wanted toknowher. The last thing I wanted was for her to think she was some kind of rebound from Christina. Because she wasn't. I was over Christina. I had been over Christina for a very long time.

Feeling the way I felt about Sky, I wondered if I'd ever really been into Christina at all... or if I'd just sort of gone along with everything because that's how I thought itshouldbe.

But now I knew that was wrong. I'd been wrong all those years.

When Sky smiled at me from across the room, I could barely breathe. Or move. Or think. Or anything. God, she was truly the most stunning creature in the world. I think I managed to smile back at her. I didn't know. She was just...

Then someone bumped into me. And I also noticed Bear's arms around her. Well, he had his arms around both of them. But still.

I thought back to our conversation about her relationship with Bear. She had been very sure they were friends only. But I'd seen them dancing intimately together and kissing plenty of times, making me so incredibly jealous of Bear. Not that I had any right to be. I had been in a relationship, and Sky could do whatever she wanted.

But I wantedmyarms around her. I wantedmylips on her. I couldn't even imagine what it would feel like to kiss her.

Taking a shaky breath, I realized I was just standing there like a complete idiot. Sky did that to me, made me totally lose my mind, something I was not used to at all.

Bear said something to her, and she turned away. I needed a drink, some kind of liquid courage to even approach her right now. Heading to the bar, I checked out the table where my friends and I usually met. One of my friends actually worked here, so that's why we always scored a hard-to-find table.

A few of them were there, and I gave them a quick nod as I said hey to the bartender. By now, he knew which beer I liked without me even asking and slid one down the bar to me.

"Thanks, man," I said, leaving a tip and leaning back against the bar counter. I turned my attention back to Sky, studying her as I took a sip.

Every second, I thought about her. I couldn'tnotthink about her. She was in my head all day... and all night. God, the dreams I'd had about her. As I remembered, I smiled to myself, I'm sure looking like a total dork. What the hell was wrong with me?

I couldn't help it, though. After hours of her soft body pressing into mine on the couch last night, my mind had gone wild. Sitting there next to her, just holding her hand, had sent me on such a path I'd never even been close to being down.

Her skin had been so silky smooth that I couldn't help imagining what the rest of her would feel like, and I'd wondered how it'd feel to be naked together, kissing, our hot skin touching.

Jesus, Kieran.I needed to stop thinking about it.

The band started up a new song, and Sky said something to Bear and Kara before walking over to me, my heartbeat accelerating with each step that brought her closer.

God, she was gorgeous with that soft smile on her face as she approached. She truly was like something out of a dream from heaven. And then she was in front of me, my heart pounding, my mind jumbled.

"Hey," she said, her smile growing wider.

"Hey," I said, trying to breathe like a normal person as I racked my brain for something more to say.

"How was your day?" she asked, rescuing me. "Any luck finding a place?"

Oh, right. I'd completely forgotten about that. "Actually, yes."

She raised her lovely eyebrows. "Really? That was fast."

"Well, it's nothing too exciting. Just one of my friends whose roommate moved out. So I'm going to stay there for now."

"Oh, good. That's convenient. Does he live in Georgetown?"

I nodded, chugging down some beer, hoping I could relax a bit around her. "He's close to campus. But the best part is there's a reserved parking space under the building."

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