Free The Dying of the Light (Book 1): End by Jason Kristopher Page B

neck and tanned shoulders, and her hair fell curling down her back in an auburn cascade. I was too flustered to even notice anything else as she and Eaton moved across the room arm in arm.
     
    She and Eaton — Rachel, I thought — had outdone all of the guys by leaps and bounds. We were suitably attired, but the girls had every head in the place turning, male and female alike. They had reminded us that they were more than just soldiers, and I doubted any of us would forget that lesson again.
     
    Kim laughed at a comment from Rachel. I looked away as she turned my way, hoping for help from Gaines, who was so obviously trying not to look at Eaton that it was almost pitiful. He’s not going to be any help.
     
    Somehow we managed to stand at the girls’ arrival, and fumble our way through greetings. I tried to think of something debonair or at least mildly interesting to say, but failed because I couldn’t seem to take my eyes off Kimberly, who, of course, hadn’t noticed and was deep in whispered consultation with Eaton, both sitting across the large table from me.
     
    In desperation, I turned to my left and asked Reynolds — Captain Tom Reynolds, Air Force, 22 nd Special Tactics Squadron out of Tacoma, Washington — if he’d ever been here before. He looked back at me with a smirk as he shook his head.
     
    “No, sir. A friend recommended it. You might ask Captain Bar… uh, Kim, though. I think she was stationed here at one point.” Holding his menu up as though he was having trouble reading it, he nodded in her direction and winked at me as he grinned.
     
    Bastard.
     
    I turned back to Kim, as though I hadn’t been practically drooling over her ten seconds before. “Well, Kim? Have you ever been here?”
     
    Her eyes sparkled as she turned my way and flashed me her thousand-watt smile. Good grief, I thought. I’ll be useless if I can’t get her out of my head. “Just once, sir. Though it feels like a lifetime ago now.”
     
    “Stop calling me sir,” I mumbled. I should’ve given up on it by now, but I couldn’t seem to get them to stop. “How was the food?”
     
    “It was amazing, si… David.” She had made the effort, and I quickly squashed the little voice inside my head that told me how good it was to hear her say my name. “The T-bone was phenomenal, and the crab cakes, and… well, I’m getting even hungrier just thinking about it.” She looked around for a waiter, and I sighed.
     
    I just can’t, I thought. Not now, not with all that’s coming. I have to focus, buckle down, and forget how gorgeous she is.
     
    I sighed again as the waiter arrived. “I’ll have a Jack-and-Coke.” I caught his arm as I noticed the two girls talking quietly across the table. “Make it a double, please,” I muttered to him, and caught his slight grin as he nodded.
     
    “Certainly, sir.”
     
    As it turned out, our fellow squaddie Reynolds was quite the conversationalist and dinner companion. He kept us entertained throughout the meal with funny anecdotes and critiques on the wine and the food, and always made sure that our glasses were full and our palates delighted by the sensations of the food and drink he suggested. He claimed to have been an engineer in his civilian career, though he did like to entertain.
     
    Kim was right, this food is excellent, I thought sometime later as I leaned back. I feel like a turkey ready for Thanksgiving dinner. Oof.
     
    I looked around the table and noted that everyone else also appeared full and in some cases, a bit tipsy. I realized I’d helped go through at least four bottles of wine between the six of us.
     
    “So,” I said, to no one in particular. “What’s next on the schedule?”
     
    A whispered conversation later, the girls presented us with a united front. I glanced at the other guys and confirmed that they were as nervous about this as I was. What did these two have planned now?
     
    “We want to go dancing,” said Kim. Rachel piped up,