Kiera confirmed what I was thinking by saying, “It’s so we can keep in touch while you’re gone. So you can always get ahold of me, and I can get ahold of you.” She shrugged, and her voice was full of emotion when she spoke again. “So, we can try to stay close…even though we’ll be really far apart.”

So many emotions tumbled over me so fast, I could barely sort through them all—pain, hope, love, desolation, joy. Seeing similar emotions shimmer in Kiera’s eyes made me have to swallow through the discomfort of my throat clenching. I don’t want to be far apart from you. Finally, after what felt like an eternity of struggling, I nodded and told her, “I love it, thank you.”

I kissed her then, softly, sweetly, trying to hold our connection while at the same time, trying to break the agony that sometimes came along with it. And as our mouths moved together, her skin igniting me, her scent making me delirious, the pain did shift…right into desire. Did we have time for me to thank her properly? To show her just what this future connection meant to me?

Pulling back, I stared at her mouth, warm, luscious, inviting, and I contemplated it. I could take her to her room right now, make her feel nothing but bliss for hours…but fuck, I couldn’t. She had responsibilities she needed to take care of, and I had some things to take care of too. Later. Definitely.

I snapped my eyes up to hers. I could see heat in them, like she’d been sharing my contemplation. That made it really hard to commit to taking her to class. Being an adult sucked sometimes.

Throwing on a smile, I decided to say something playful, something that I knew would get us moving in the right direction. Well, the responsible direction at any rate. “Can I sext you on it?” Even though I was joking, just saying it made a bunch of brand-new possibilities float through my brain. Oh yeah. No matter what her answer is, this is definitely happening. Matt was right. I should have gotten a cell phone years ago.

Kiera was appropriately mortified by my question. She didn’t even answer me, just started grabbing her stuff. As I tucked my new Kiera torturing device into my jacket pocket, I heard Anna’s bedroom door open. I opened my mouth to say hi to Anna…but she wasn’t the person who walked out.

Griffin stepped into the hallway, and he was completely fucking naked. Damn it. I saw all of my bassist way too often. Griffin yawned as he stared at me. “Dude, what are you doing here so early?”

Even though his lack of clothes was annoying, his comment amused me. Griffin really hated being woken up before noon. At least he hadn’t woken up swearing this time. “It’s ten thirty, Griffin.”