𝙇𝙤𝙪𝙙𝙢𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙝

some smart comment. Suddenly, she was having a very difficult time remembering what the words had been. And so, rather than fumble her words for a few seconds, Tora just kissed him again.

Following the third kiss, Tora lifted her free hand and set her index finger on the side of Gallagher’s chin. She prompted him gently to center himself with her again, and then she returned his affection with a quick kiss to his lips.

There was something she had wanted to say. Another tease, or —

getting even closer. She wanted to, and she was impulsive enough where she might just close that distance entirely. For a few moments longer, however, she just wanted to see what Gallagher would do.

“Well, so long as we’re both in agreement.” And she was right back to a teasing tone, and her attempts to suppress a smirk finally failed completely. In the past few seconds, the shade of red had darkened by a few shades, and it had not been because of the port.

She lingered close, contemplating —

reaction the accuracy of my imagination?”

she tried to contain, and her tone of voice, suggested she was making an attempt to continue playing coy. The look in her eyes, however, was unmistakable. Her lips parted as though to speak, but she remained silent a moment as she collected her words. “Or would it not be more fun to judge by my —

Although her glass was still half full, Gallagher had managed to convince Tora to set the distraction down so she could properly focus on him. “You want to hear my guesses?”

Uncrossing her legs, she set her free hand on the floor between the two of them and leaned forward a few inches. The smirk —

behind a short sip of port.

growing grin, which remained anyways despite her efforts, Tora took a short breath and then answered.

“Well, to expand upon the last thought,” she half cooed, half slurred, “I was putting a lot of thought into picturing the rest of you.”

Following her answer, she again lifted her glass and hid —

By that point in the evening, it would take a substantial amount of biting her lip or hiding behind her glass to maintain a filter. Of course she tried both when the subject returned to her roaming thoughts, but she did not achieve any notable levels of success. Following a sip meant to hide a —

from the glass. As she sipped her port, she took notice of Gallagher’s moving hand. Her free hand soon moved to meet his.

without saying she would be hungover in the morning, and she had already resigned herself to her fate.

With her final glass poured, she lifted it to her lips — but she waited a moment. It was one final subconscious effort to be responsible. Of course, a moment later she was right back to sipping —

It was a good thing the bottle was finally finished off. All of the attempts to pace herself could not cancel out the sheer quantity of alcohol already in her system. Her temples still pounded in a desperate reminder to drink some water — and of course she was still ignoring the warning. It went —

was succeeding in warming her, which was a pleasant feeling. It was almost like the whiskey in that sense, just without the burn she was not fond of. As a result of both the warming effect and probably too much alcohol in her system, the flush on her face had spread as a lighter shade to her neck.

She had some good scar-related stories to tell whenever the opportunity presented itself. For the moment, however, she was again being occupied with more alcohol. To answer his question, Tora lifted her glass and extended it toward Gallagher. “The bottle’s not going to finish itself.”

The port —

between her shoulder blades. Not that he could see that one, yet.

relatively free of. There were two thin but visible scars on her left elbow, and small scars on her chest so faded that Gallagher would have to be much closer to make them out. The worst of the scars on her upper body was on her back, in the form of a four-inch jagged mark planted vertically —

Tora hummed in consideration a few moments. None of Gallagher’s ideas were bad. In fact, she had some similar ideas herself.

“That would give me more to show off,” she mused, shrugging a shoulder. “Right now it’s just some scars, as far as markings go.”

Which, at least above the waist, she was —

would match her existing scheme.

her lap, she tilted her head to the left and pursed her lips. She was mock thinking again. “I just can’t decide where they’d go next. Maybe you can help me decide.”

Of course she had thought about the topic at length. Tora had a short mental list of where the next tattoos would go, and which —

“Oh, the fingers hurt the most for sure — but they were quick.” She gave him a few more moments to look over the tattoos on her hands before she moved to lift her glass again. One small sip later and she had finished off her first glass of port.

“I’ve considered it.” As she lowered her glass to —

intricate lines. Some were straighter, like the ones just beneath either ends of her collarbones, and some curved into crescent shapes, like those on her shoulders and hands. With her shirt off, Tora set her hands on her knees to keep her tattoos open for viewing.

it. Even without the drinks, she was more than happy to reciprocate some showing off. Her shirt came off without a fuss, though her hair was left a little messier for it.

Her tattoos were mirrored on either side. On her shoulders, wrists, back of her hands, and fingers were think, black, —

There were a lot of jokes, teases, and flirts she could have made with the text on his tramp stamp, and they were all very tempting. She had to bite her lip to stop herself from blurring out whichever one first came to mind.

“Well, it’s only fair you get to see mine now.” Tora wasn’t shy about —

|| Just look at her FC

port before setting the glass down beside her. “Very nice,” she cooed, folding her hands on her lap.

“You have more than I do.” Which was not too difficult a feat to pull of. Her tattoos were all relatively small and simple.

Watching the display, Tora whistled as the tattoos were shown off — which was shortly followed by a giddy laugh. She didn’t judge him for the tramp stamp, even if it had been unexpected. Of course, she was also studying more than just his ink.

As he finished up his display, Tora took a sip of her —

can’t see.”

at least part Russian. I didn’t do much digging beyond that.”

There seemed to be more she was about to say, but either through a conscious decision or on a whim she suddenly changed the subject. “Another one of those thoughts you were curious about: I was wondering if you had any tattoos I just —

“Neither of my parents drink — though that’s not saying much of anything. We’re not related.” Slowly, Tora turned the glass in her hands until the spot she had been sipping from came back around. Another sip, a little more this time, was taken before she continued. “They’re both Irish, I know I’m —