Stained Glass by Samms Jaime

Author:Samms, Jaime [Samms, Jaime]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Published: 2012-08-25T22:00:00+00:00

I’D SPENT enough time online to know where to go. Didn’t mean my heart wasn’t pounding a messy, bloody trail out of my chest; that I didn’t work up a good cold sweat by the time I reached for the door handle to The Shackle.

Inside, the bar was not what I expected. Maybe I didn’t know what I had expected. It was just a bar. Sure, there was a lot more leather than normal, and more speculation in the looks I got as I threaded through the other customers to get to the long expanse of polished wood and brass. I took a good hold of the cool metal, pulled up onto a stool, and tried to calm my nerves.

After a few minutes, I managed to get the tender’s attention and order a soda. To my surprise, he just nodded and handed it over without comment. My experience ordering nonalcoholic drinks in bars was usually one involving a fair amount of waiting around while the bartenders served the drunk overtippers, and receiving a look of bemused derision when I finally got the drink. This time, he just nodded, handed it over, and took my money with a smile that twitched as nimbly over his face as his hands did over the soda fountain.

I hadn’t even picked up my drink when a hand landed on my shoulder, and I jumped, almost knocking the glass over.

“You need to relax.”

The crooning voice sent a thrill of intense shivers down my spine.

“I’m relaxed,” I lied, knowing I wasn’t fooling anyone, not even myself.

The strong hand closed in a firm grip. “As a scared rabbit, sure.”

“Please don’t touch me.” I could barely get my voice loud enough to be heard over the music.

Fingers squeezed, but the hand retreated, and I turned to look at the owner of the lilting voice and perfect hands.

“Sofia!”

She smiled a wide, amused smile at me.

“What the hell are you doing here, Laurie?”

“I—um….” I glanced around. “Meeting someone.”

“Who?”

“Just—a guy.”

“A guy.” She settled onto the barstool beside me and picked up my drink, took a sniff, then a sip. “Well, that’s something, at least,” she said, placing it back on the bar in front of me. “Please tell me you’re not here to meet some guy you met on the Internet. Tell me you are not that dumb.”

“I’m not that dumb,” I told her. Tension ran out of my shoulders. “I know. Stupid to even come here. I have no idea what I’m doing. I was ready to leave just now, believe me.”

“You are leaving now, Laurie.” She stood. “Come on.”

“Hey!” I swiveled to glare at her. “I will go when I’m ready. It’d be rude—” Not that I was meeting anyone, but she couldn’t just order me to break a date, whether I had one or not.

“Fuck that. It was rude and dangerous of this guy to invite you here in the first place. Move it.” She pointed at the door, and her voice dropped into that same lower register that had sent a cascade of shivers through me the first time.

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