the change. She slid one drink across the table. Cassia pushed
away her warm cranberry and took the colder, fizzier drink.
She sipped, finding it bitter and dry, but it wasn’t gross like
she’d always thought it would be.
“Were you going to meet someone?” Adalynn asked.
She wrapped slender fingers with perfectly manicured,
unpainted nails around her condensing glass. Her gaze, which
was the color of steel or maybe wet concrete, bit into Cassie,
but there was nothing painful in that bite.
It was more like the erotic scrape of teeth against skin and
Cassia felt a shiver crawl up her spine.
“I was. It was supposed to be a, uh, blind date. Kind of.”
“He stood you up?”
Cassia shrugged. “I guess so.”
Adalynn’s eyes narrowed. Her lashes were so long and thick
that Cassia felt a strange flutter in her stomach just looking at
them. Everything about Adalynn was sweet, tempting
perfection. “His loss. Or was it a her?”
Cassia felt like she’d been caught in a trap she never saw
coming. She felt like she was the prey and Adalynn was the
hunter, cornering her so skillfully that Cassia never saw it
coming.
“You don’t have to look so shocked. I didn’t mean anything
by it.” Adalynn sipped her drink, her lush red lips parting just
a fraction. None of the glossy red came off on the glass. Those
lips were like candy apples, but soft. So soft. “I’m too blunt,”
she said by way of apology. “I’m a photographer. I’ve spent
the last decade travelling the globe. You wouldn’t believe
the
things I’ve seen, so nothing can surprise me now. I like to keep