@WhiskeyVeins-
“Neat it is, Mr. Shelby,” she murmured, her voice smooth as velvet and just as heavy with unspoken weight as she poured him another glass.
When she set the glass down in front of him, she didn't step back to assume the posture of a timid barmaid. Instead, she rested her forearm lightly against the damp oak of the bar, leaning in just close enough for him to catch the faint scent of crushed lavender beneath the stale reek of tobacco and ale. Her eyes locked onto his, bright, sharp, and utterly devoid of the fear most people carried into his presence.
“I wouldn’t waste the good stuff on you anyway” she said softly, a slow, knowing smile tilting the corner of her lips. “Not because of what’s in your pockets, but because a man who drinks like he’s trying to drown a fire isn’t drinking for the taste.”