Incapable (Love Triumphs 3)

He coughed out a breath.

“Oh God. I said that aloud.” She leaned forward and put her face to her knees.

“I’m pretty good with the aloud stuff.”

She sat hunched into herself while the taxi queued in traffic. The smart thing to do would be to laugh it off, pretend she was having a go at him, fall into easy banter with him like Lauren did. “I don’t think it’s possible for me to be any more too dumb to live.”

“Hey, you’re a big improvement on Sam’s cousin.”

“How?” she wailed, because there was really no way to make this worse.

Damon’s hand touched down on her shoulder and she flinched. He laughed and his breath brushed her cheek. He spoke close to her ear. “You haven’t asked me to use the force.”

11: In the Dark

Damon could smell paint, glue and Dalia’s patchouli perfume masking her body odour. She threw herself at him making him stagger backwards, Georgia’s hand flattening on his back to steady him.

“Thank you, Allah, Jehovah, Buddha, Shakespeare and Hitchcock. I can’t believe you agreed to do this, Damo.”

He laughed and hugged her solid form close. She would’ve had no sleep, no food and been running on adrenaline all day. “You’re sure I’m going to be able to do this?”

She pulled out of his hold, but snatched his jaw and gave his head a shake. “Cat got your tongue?”

He purred, then gave her a playful growl which ended in a throat clear. Cartoon cat would have his tongue but not tonight. “You do know I won’t be able to see anything.” He’d lost the sense of where Georgia was. He’d held her arm from the taxi to the warehouse but she’d moved away after Dalia’s onslaught.

“Last I heard you had a working set of ears. I’ve got cans so you can hear the stage manager and I’ll give you a runner.” She patted his arm. “You’ll be fine.”

He cast an arm out to his side, hoping Georgia might take it, then turned the other way when she didn’t. “Georgia?” She touched the back of his hand with the back of hers and it made him smile. She was so tentative when just about everyone else who knew him well, and a few who didn’t, were overly physical. He wanted that from Georgia too.

“Dalia, this is Georgia. She got sucked in to helping me out tonight.” That was putting it politely. “Georgia, Dalia Abedan, playwright, occasional actor, director, impresario, and all round hellion.”

Hands clasped, greetings were said. He took a moment to imagine what Dalia and Georgia would look like together. Dalia was a shortie and could have almost any colour hair or no hair at all. She’d had multiple facial piercings when she dated Jamie. Georgia was tall and slender, she didn’t seem to wear any jewellery, and from Lauren’s description she wasn’t likely to be flamboyant. He knew she wore jeans and a shirt with buttons, no heels. She’d wanted to wear something else once she’d known this was more than helping him out for the night.

“Director and stage manager’s name is Ed. Your runner is Jace.” Dalia stood on her toes and leaned into him, he dropped his head so she could kiss his cheek. “I love you heaps and I won’t forget this.” She pulled clear. “Wait here, Jace will come get you.” Her voice got softer as she moved away. “If I don’t see you afterwards, I’ll call.”

He turned his head towards Georgia. “She gone?”

“Yes.”

“What colour hair did she have?”

“Jelly bean purple.”

He laughed. “You tied your hair back.” He knew that from leaning close to her in the taxi.

“I didn’t want it to get in the way.”

“What would you have worn, if I hadn’t been a dick and asked you out properly?”

She made a small sound, closed mouthed. She was embarrassed. “I don’t know. I don’t have a lot of date night clothes.”

“Let me give you a tip.”

“Okay.” Said as though she thought the word tip was a pseudonym for electric shock.

“Think of it as phone sex.”

Georgia made a kitten whimper mewl.