Whiskey Sharp: Unraveled. Lauren Dane

coffee. I have decaffeinated.”

      Before she did, she headed into the small bathroom and brushed away the clams and got herself ready for some serious smooching.

      She texted Rachel that she’d gone to Alexsei’s place and would be home in a few hours. Her sister functioned better when she knew what was happening and where people were.

      Rachel texted back an animated gif of a cartoon girl with heart eyes and told her to have fun and use a condom.

      The interior of his old place was a lot like the flavor of the shop. Vintage with clean lines. Very masculine. He’d told her the first time she visited that when he’d had the shop done, he’d just bought more stuff for his town house. But then he and Rada had split and she lived in it now and he’d been couch surfing and house-sitting in the months since.

      For a while she’d wondered if it was because he thought they’d get back together. But by that point she wondered if he just liked being totally unfettered for the first time in years.

      “The food was quite good, but it was very loud in there,” Alexsei said as he came in with two cups of coffee. “Milk and sugar added.” He handed her a mug and settled on the couch.

      She snuggled up next to him. “You even know how I take my coffee.”

      “It is impossible to know you for longer than a week and not have your coffee preferences memorized.”

      Maybe laughed. “You have a point.” She sipped and let herself relax. “I barely even drank coffee before I ended up in Eastern Washington. Then my addiction was born.”

      She realized then that she’d simply climbed onto his couch and into the curve of his body. Without any real thought. She’d been so comfortable and easy with him that it hadn’t been conscious at all.

      He didn’t appear to mind though. In fact he bent to kiss her temple. He liked that spot, she realized as he brushed his mouth over the sensitive skin there.

      “Next movie we can see that new art flick with the subtitles playing at The Grand Illusion,” she said.