Page 48 of Under the Ink

That was a good question—but not necessarily one she wanted to answer. “Do I get fired if I say I hate your music?”

“What?No—but you’ll break my heart.” As if to emphasize his words, Sage paused, clutching a hand to his chest.

“Don’t tell me. You were in theater in school. You’ve got the drama down.”

“Actually, no. My sister did a few plays, though. What about you?”

“No way.”

“And don’t think I’m letting you off the hook.”

Oh…he actually expected an answer. She knew she could probably wiggle out of it just the same—but something about the way he asked made her want to tell him…to tell him the whole truth. “I hadn’t really listened to you guys before now.”

“Interesting. So what kind of music do you usually listen to?”

This was where she was about to sound very lame—but why did she care? It was the truth. And it wasn’t like she hadn’t already told other people on the tour. “I didn’t really listen to much music other than band stuff until I started working at the coffee shop. And they played a lot of alternative and pop stuff there.”

“Did you like it?”

With a shrug, she said, “I guess. I don’t know.”

“Then you might have liked it, but you didn’t love it. When music speaks to your soul…when you feel like you can’t live without it…that’slove.”

“Spoken like a poet.”

“You think?”

As they turned the corner, Naomi spied the liquor store. It wasn’t huge, but the sign left no question. “There it is.”

“Told ya.”

She barely refrained from rolling her eyes at him. Even though it was nighttime, he would have seen it on this well-lit street. Yet another reason for her to fall in love with this city. What wasn’t to love?

Pulling the door open, Sage stood back, waiting for Naomi to enter. Using that same silly accent from earlier, he said, “After you, madam.”

She couldn’t help but get into the silliness. “Why, thank you, sir.”

Once they entered the store—busier than Naomi had expected but she wasn’t complaining, because she wasn’t buying alcohol in Winchester anymore—Sage looked around. “Where exactly might we find brandy?”

“No idea. I usually just look around till I find it.”

“Oh…she’s reckless. I love it.”

Was he messing with her? Giving him a bit of a side eye, she moved forward. She knew it wouldn’t be in one of the coolers. Sometimes she found it by rum; other times it would be by whiskey. But that was back home. Here in NYC at this little neighborhood store, maybe there was a chance they wouldn’t even carry it.

Walking down an aisle, she looked for familiar labels. Needless to say, she was moving faster than Sage because she was bypassing everything she didn’t want. Turning a corner, she started moving up another aisle—and there she found the familiar blue on the lid. Scanning the entire bottle, she also found it smack in the middle of the label.

But there was a guy standing in the way.

Raising his eyebrows, Sage looked at her and, in response, she shrugged. Obviously, this customer had a lot of perusing to do. But, now that she’d found it, Naomi felt that old craving.

Weird. She hadn’t thought much about it…except the night Andy had forced himself on her. Maybe she was an addict.

Sage gave her a quick backwards nod, indicating that he was going to step away and was inviting her to come with him. Although she felt a little impatient now that she’d found what she wanted, she followed him. Pausing, he stood in the middle of an aisle full of wine. “Maybe you’d prefer a pinot instead.”

“Ha. Fat chance.”

“What’s wrong with wine?”

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