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TheKeep going

Two things she could smell The war of beer which seemed to be common to every establishment that served it

Her heartrate was norain

Finish it She took another drink of her rum and coke

One thing she could taste She’d already used the rum, so she crushed an ice cube between her teeth and concentrated on the clean, cold taste of the frozen pieces quicklyin her mouth

She heaved one last deep breath, and the ease of doing so proved for theherself in her environment had the power to calm

The bell over the front door jingled and a gust of unusually bitter wind followed, enough to lanced over her shoulder to see who else was co to Murphy’s so late

She almost choked on the ice cube in her mouth

Because theonto a stool about five down froeous Tall Broad shoulders with a trim waist, the quintessential swi around swi His black hair was cut short, and his face in profile was a study in hard angles—the square jaw, the high cheekbones, the furrowed brow She hadn’t seen hiotten—or missed—him

Dark eyes slashed toward her

When her heart kicked up in her chest this tiht hied a smile “Hey”

As he shrugged out of his coat, his gaze ran over her face,to herself before walking out her door, and he nodded once “Hey”

The bartender greeted New Guy and slid a coaster and a menu in front of him “What’ll you have?”

“Whiskey, neat, for now,” the man said as he flipped open the menu