Read First Kiss: The Ghost Bird Series: #10 (The Academy Ghost Bird Series) for Free Online Page B

I often saw the fire in his eyes, but now that I was looking at him, I realized the color of his irises was brown, something I often overlooked.
    Then I realized I was staring and dropped my eyes back down to my plate as I picked at my food. “I’ll try most things,” I said.
    “There’s a lot to try,” he said softly. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see he was leaning in, trying to get my attention. I looked up and he caught my eye, holding my gaze. “How was it at Dr. Green’s before we arrived? Did you get a lot done?”
    I was still getting used to them wanting me to look them in the eyes while we talked, but this was a little harder to do. How was I supposed to eat if I was constantly looking up?
    “There’s a lot of gifts,” I said. “I don’t even remember what most of them are.” Not to mention Gabriel helped with buying a lot of them. I was very grateful he did so I wouldn’t run the risk of forgetting anything. I fiddled with my fork. “I still need to think of what to get Mr. Blackbourne for Christmas. I meant to work that out with Dr. Green, but then we got busy with wrapping.”
    “Mr. Blackbourne is the hardest to buy for,” Victor said. He looked down briefly to take a bite of his salad and then looked back at me. “So you finished shopping? What did you get for me?”
    I grinned. “I can’t tell you.” I honestly had a hard time remembering. There were lots of gifts, and a few were for him, and in the chaos of wrapping, I couldn’t remember which one was from me—and technically Luke and Gabriel—and which were from the others. “I almost wish I could have gone shopping alone. That way everyone would be surprised. Kota and Dr. Green, Luke and Gabriel already know what they’re getting from me.”
    Victor lifted an eyebrow. “You’d want to surprise them?”
    I shrugged and then picked at my salad some more. “Just seems to ruin the fun when they know what they’re getting.”
    He was quiet for a long moment, poking his fork at a slice of cucumber. “Do you...want to surprise them?” he asked.
    “Gabriel has the cash I had leftover right now,” I said. “Although I’m not very sure how much is left or if it’s even enough. I mean I have a little more at home from this week, but it’s not a lot.”
    Victor placed his fork down on his plate and then leaned toward me, the fire in his eyes igniting. “Don’t worry about that,” he said. “Wait here for a minute. Let me go grab something from the car.”
    As he slid off his seat, my heart froze in my chest, nervous to be left alone, but as I watched Victor leave, I could see the car from where I was. I turned back toward my plate, taking the opportunity to eat what I could while he was gone. As I chewed, I kept an eye on him as he opened the trunk of the BMW and pulled something out.
    When he returned, he was carrying a small iPad. “There’s no reason why I can’t give you this,” he said, and placed it in front of me, next to my plate. “Turn it on.”
    Is this an early gift? It wasn’t wrapped, and the device looked to be used. It was still very nice, though. I took some napkins from the dispenser and wiped at a section of table in front of myself to make sure it was clean and dry so I could move the tablet closer. I looked at the darkened surface, found the power button and turned it on, curious as to what he wanted me to do.
    The screen lit up, asking for a numerical code to unlock it.
    I looked up at him, and he flashed four digits with his fingers. I entered the code and got beyond the splash screen to the front page. “Now what?” I asked.
    “Use it to shop,” he said.
    I raised an eyebrow, angling the tablet his way. “Victor...”
    “If you’re going to start with Luke and Gabriel, then you might want art supplies for Gabriel, or get them all a game they can play with you.”
    “But I can’t pay in cash,” I said. It was a nice idea. My family had never bought items over the Internet, so it