Crave (Harlequin Teen)

sport.”
    She smiled up at me, and my gut clenched. The way she looked at me…I could see every tiny fleck in her irises, which were dark blue at the moment. Her pupils dilated as she pulled in a sharp breath through her nose and froze. As I watched, her eyes turned to pale silver.
    And then, with our gazes locked together…something just clicked inside me. And I knew.
    Knew she was the only one for me.
    Knew she always had been ever since that kiss in the fourth grade.
    “Savannah…” I had to tell her. Who cared about my parents and the Clann and all their stupid rules? Savannah and I were meant to be. All I needed was for her see it, too, and everything would be okay.
    “Oh, no,” she whispered, her eyes widening. “First Greg, now you.”
    Huh? I blinked a few times in confusion.
    “Twice in one week. It’s almost a record,” she said, though the words sounded more like a sob. She stepped away from me and pressed her fingertips to her temples.
    “Sav…”
    “I’m so sorry. I’m so stupid!” A sob burst out of her, and the sound ripped across my skin. She moved away from my outstretched hand. “No, don’t. Tristan, I…I can’t believe I did it again. I’m an idiot. Whatever you’re thinking or feeling right now, please try to forget it.”
    Forget this feeling? No way.
    “It’s not real,” she continued. “The feelings will go away in time. I think. I hope. Oh, Lord. Just…I’m truly sorry I looked at you. What a way to say thank-you.”
    Okay, maybe the stress of the moment had made her snap, because she wasn’t making much sense. She turned away.
    I grabbed her arms to stop her from leaving. “What are you talking about? You didn’t do anything to me.”
    “Of course I did. I looked at you. Really looked at you. That’s how…what…Greg and those boys last April…” She couldn’t find the right words apparently. But she believed what she was saying.
    “Savannah, look at me.”
    She did but not fully, her gaze stopping somewhere around my mouth.
    “No, really look at me.”
    She shook her head.
    “Okay, listen to me, then. I feel perfectly normal. I’m not going to turn into one of your stalkers just because you looked at me.”
    “All the others did. Ever since I got sick last year.”
    “But not me.”
    “Why would you be different?”
    I started to tell her the truth about the Clann, my family’s power and how it probably made me immune to whatever she was talking about. But I couldn’t; revealing Clann secrets was an unforgivable offense that would jeopardize every single descendant. “Just trust me.”
    “Do you want to kiss me right now?”
    I sucked in a long breath through my nose. If that was an invitation… Except Savannah didn’t look like a girl who wanted to be kissed. She must be trying to build an argument. “What’s your point?”
    “That’s what happens when I screw up and make direct eye contact with a guy. They want to kiss me, grab me, trap me. Own me.”
    I opened my mouth to tell her that was nuts, then looked down at my hands where they gripped her arms, probably hard enough to bruise.
    Muttering a curse under my breath, I let her go. “I won’t become another of your stalkers. I’ve felt this way about you for a long time now. I just didn’t get it until today. But it’s not because of your eyes.”
    Tears glittered in those eyes, which were begging me now. “Prove it.”
    She wanted me to leave her alone. Now, when I finally understood the connection between us. A connection I’d fought for years.
    “For how long?”
    “Until I know for sure you’re not obsessed, that you’re acting of your own free will.”
    “And then?” I stepped closer, not touching her, and dipped my head.
    Her eyes widened, her lips parting in surprise. Her short, quick breaths puffed against my lips. “That won’t happen. When you come to your senses, you won’t still feel like this.”
    “And when I do still—”
    “ If you do,” she corrected in a whisper.
    “Then?”
    “Then…maybe…”
    Maybe. She didn’t want to commit to future possibilities between us. But I could see the longing in her eyes. She wanted to believe this was real. All she needed was proof.
    “Fine.” I pushed the word out between gritted teeth. I might die trying, but I would stay away from her. For a while. But only long enough for her to see that I wasn’t like the others. “But in the meantime, you have to do something for me.”
    “What?”
    “Keep your