Anything Between Us by Sarah Fine
Series: Starving Artists #3
Publication date: July 31st, 2019
Synopsis (according to Goodreads):
Bestselling author Sarah Fine presents a powerful standalone romance sure to thrill new adult readers everywhere.
What if falling in love is the biggest risk of all?
Sasha decided a long time ago that she would only allow herself a single night each year to go out and be wild. The rest of her time is spent at her pottery wheel or taking care of her father, who has early-onset Alzheimer's. She has plenty of reasons to avoid anything more than this: one guy, one night, and no names exchanged. But this year, the long and lean stranger she chooses turns out to be more than she bargained for. He makes her feel alive--when it doesn't seem safe to feel that way at all.
Discharged from the army after a traumatic deployment, Nate returns to his hometown riddled with guilt and unable to envision a future. Everything starts to change during a night out with friends, when a beautiful stranger offers him a no-strings-attached encounter against the wall in the back room of the bar. He knows the deal, but when they run into each other again at the local artists' co-op where his older brother works, he can't help but crave more. She makes him feel alive--but he's still trying to decide if he wants to live at all.
She's not willing. He's not ready. But with an unrelenting attraction that weakens their resolve with every passing minute, Sasha and Nate embark on a friendship. One that makes them both stronger. One that makes them wonder if the future might be brighter than either of them ever imagined--until a devastating turn forces them to decide: Is risking everything for love is worth the pain of losing it long before they're ready?
**WARNING: This is a new adult novel and contains material which is sexual in nature. Content may not be suitable for readers under the age of 18.**
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Chapter One
Nate
I know alcohol is inadvisable after getting new ink, but tonight I'm not in a rule-following mood. As I walk into the bar and look around for my buddies, I feel Sam's initials on my arm; the sharp, hot reminder they're meant to be SLP. Never forget.
He should be here. And I probably shouldn't.
I'm fifteen minutes late, but Brent and Aidan aren't here yet. It kind of pisses me off--I drove all the way out here to Grand Rapids to meet up with them, nearly an hour from the lake shore town where we all grew up. They both moved here while I was gone.
It's approaching midnight and the place is already starting to empty out, so I snag a seat at the bar--facing the door--and raise a finger to get the bartender's attention. He smirks as he saunters over. "Got some ID on you?"
He doesn't look that much older than I am, maybe late twenties, but his cheeks are pocked with acne scars and he's already balding on top. I slide my ID from my wallet and hand it over. His expression smooths out like I knew it would. "Thank you for your service," he says as he hands it back to me. "First one's on me."
I thank him and order a beer, wondering if coming out tonight was a mistake. I don't exactly feel public-facing. But I haven't seen Brent or Aidan since before this last deployment, the last one I'll ever have, as it turns out, and I figured reconnecting with them would be another way to slide into civilian life. That's what the adjustment counselor at the VA said, anyway. He issued the advice like a prescription, right after he asked me if I had access to firearms. He seemed relieved when I said no, which was the truth.
I didn't mention that I got my ten-day handgun purchase permit eight days ago.
The bartender hands over a pint, and I down half of it in one long swallow. "Looks like you needed that pretty badly," he comments.
"You have no idea," I mutter, glancing at the door and wishing my friends would arrive. My body jitters with a restless energy that I need to drown before it ignites. I'd check my phone, but Jen's message from earlier is right there, waiting like a buried IED. And I can't answer her yet. I just can't.
I down the rest of the pint and raise my hand. That's when I see her. Black hair, dark eyes, and a green dress over some very dangerous curves. She's at the other end of the bar, nursing brown liquor in a rocks glass, rolling that thing between her palms as if the heat from her skin could change its shape.
When she sees me watching her, she arches one eyebrow and raises her glass.
My heart picks up a hungry, urgent rhythm as I silently toast with my empty glass. She looks like she's alone there, just her and that drink, but she's made up like she wasn't planning to be. And there's something deep and said in those eyes, despite the playful smile she's aiming at me. Did her date bail on her? Maybe she'd like some company?
About the Author:
SARAH FINE is the author of several books for teens, including Of Metal and Wishes (McElderry/Simon & Schuster) and its sequel, Of Dreams and Rust, the bestselling Guards of the Impostor Queen (McElderry, January 2016).
She is also the co-author (with Walter Jury) of two sci-fi thrillers published by Putnam/Penguin: Scan and its sequel Burn. Her bestselling adult urban fantasy romance series, Servants of Fate, includes Marked, Claimed, and Fated, and was published by 47North in 2015, and her second adult UF series--Reliquary (and its sequels Splinter and Mosaic) was published 2016. When she's not writing, she's psychologizing. Sometimes she does both at the same time. The results are unpredictable.
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