Page 162 of Sin City Lights

One fair eyebrow shot up.“Well, nice to see you too. You sent me cryptic texts about what happened, and then you ghosted me. Not cool.”

She ran a critical assessment up and down, narrowing her pale blue eyes at the sight of Eve’s blue sequined evening dress and elegant hairdo.“Fancy. That’s not one of mine.”

Eve stared right back at her.“I have to leave for work in twenty minutes.”

“Let me in.”

Eve heaved an exasperated sigh.“Fine.”

She opened the door all the way, and Lauren marched right past her, waving a tall, narrow, vertical burlap bag.

“I brought wine.” She headed for the kitchen.

“Can’t have any. I’m going to work.”

“One glass isn’t going to get you drunk.” Lauren fished a corkscrew out of her purse and yanked open an upper cabinet.“I brought a corkscrew. Still don’t have wineglasses?”

A vision flashed across Eve’s mind of Adam, in his black T-shirt, asking a similar question and standing in that exact spot. She looked away, only to have her gaze land on the high countertop, which she hadtried to cover with potted plants and knickknacks.

Irritation washed over her.“No wineglasses. You know I don’t drink except when I go out.”

“Well, I do, and you will drink with me.”

There was no telling her no. Avoiding the red Solo cups, Eve pulled out mugs instead. She shoved the Route 66 one behind all the others.

Lauren eyed the two mugs.“Really? We’re drinking Stag’s Leap out of Viva Las Vegas mugs?”

“It’s either that or pass the bottle back and forth.”

Lauren grunted her displeasure, then popped the cork and poured. She handed Eve a mug, then carried hers to the couch and flopped down on it, patting the space beside her as if Eve were the guest and not the other way around.

Eve perched on the edge, not exactly comfortable sitting in her skin-tight outfit, nor with her friend’s sharp-eyed assessment.

She knew that critical look and what always followed.

“So, let me get this straight,” Lauren began.

There it was.

Eve swallowed back a groan and took a sip of the red wine. It was good, but not even close to the complexity of Caymus.

Why was she comparing it to Caymus? She glowered.

If Lauren noticed, she ignored it.“He is married.”

The knife Adam had implanted in her heart that night, the one she’d been desperately trying to ignore, twisted excruciatingly.

“Yup.”

Lauren didn’t buy Eve’s fake nonchalance. She lifted her mug, regarding Eve over the rim.“And how do you feel about that?”

Are you kidding me right now?

Eve gritted her teeth.“All those therapy sessions have made you a sofa shrink all of a sudden?”

“Whoa.” Lauren tipped her head, pale blue eyes piercing.“A bit testy, are we?”

Eve took a swallow of Cab to suppress another groan. She wasn’t getting out of this, it seemed. “How do youthinkI feel?”

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