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She grinned. “My four knights in shining armor. One big brother is bad enough, but when all of you were around…” She paused for a moment, remembering those days. “Unless it was you guys causing the pain, of course.”
“Hey, we just liked to protect you from getting hurt.”
She tried to imagine Damon being involved in any physical violence. He was way too metrosexual for that. The make-love-not-war type. “I’ll be fine. I’ve lived in New York for a long time, and I’ve learned to take care of myself. I did the self-defense courses as soon as I arrived. I can get a man in a chokehold in ten seconds.”
He gave another chuckle. “I don’t doubt it for a minute. But I’ll still feel better if you call me when you get home. Otherwise I’ll be all edgy and that doesn’t sit well with my cool Californian vibe.”
“You really don’t need to worry.”
“But I will anyway,” he pointed out gruffly.
“I’ll call you later. Promise.” She glanced at her watch. It was almost ten-thirty in New York. Only seven-thirty in Angel Sands.
“Good. You can give me the full-debrief when you do. In the meantime, have a good time.” He paused, then added, “But not too good.”
“I wasn’t planning on it,” she said. Strange how breathy her voice sounded. As though she was flirting.
She wasn’t though, was she?
“I’ll talk to you later.” For some reason he sounded relieved. “And be safe, okay?”
“Sure,” she said softly. “I’ll speak to you soon.”
* * *
“You managed to escape.” Harper looked up from the sofa as soon as Caitie walked through the door. She had a large bowl of popcorn wedged between her legs, and a half-empty glass of wine on the table beside her. Picking up the remote control, she paused the black-and-white movie she was watching, the screen freezing on a close up of Bette Davis.
Caitie dropped down onto the sofa, lifting Harper’s legs and putting them over her own. “What are you watching? Is there more wine?”
“There’s another bottle in the refrigerator,” Harper said, grabbing her glass before Caitie could. “Didn’t you drink on your date? Or is that the problem, you didn’t drink enough?”
“I drank just the right amount.” Caitie grimaced. “I had one and a half glasses, enough to get me through the most boring date ever, but not so much I couldn’t get myself home.”
“He didn’t bring you home?” Harper sat up. “I thought he was better than that.”
“I didn’t let him. The last thing I needed was an awkward conversation on the doorstep. The one where he leans forward and tries to kiss me and I step away. Or even worse, the one where he tells me I’m a lovely girl but there’s no chemistry between us. Which was true, by the way.”
“That you’re lovely?” Harper didn’t look convinced.
Caitie slapped her arm good naturedly. “No! That there was no chemistry. It’s weird, because last year I swear we got along great. Although we’d both drunk a hell of a lot more that night.” She pushed herself off the sofa and walked over to the kitchen, grabbing a wine glass and the fresh bottle from the fridge. Bringing them back to the couch, she poured herself a glass, before she filled Harper’s now-empty glass.
“You know, it’s too late to put the wine goggles on now.”
“I’m drowning my sorrows.” Caitie leaned back on the sofa. “I’m not cut out for this dating thing; I’m clearly not interesting. Even Damon looked relieved when I told him I needed to go home because I have to get up early tomorrow. Seriously, Harper, I should concentrate on work. At least I’m good at that.”
“Stop it. Remember what I said about the ten percent rule? You can’t make any judgment based on one date. You wouldn’t give up everything if you didn’t win a contract at work, would you? You’d dust yourself off and try again. Put it down to the wrong place, wrong time. Learn from it. But don’t tell me you’re no good at dating when you’ve been on precisely one date.”
“I’ve had other dates,” Caitie protested. “It’s not as if this was my first one ever.”
“I know that. We’ve double-dated a few times, after all. But I’m talking about you doing it seriously. Not just because you’re trying to appease me.”
Caitie took a sip of her wine, closing her eyes as the cool liquid ran down her throat. “It doesn’t matter anyway. I’m all out of dates right now.”
“Then try online dating.”
Her eyes flew open. “Seriously? I’m not that brave. It’s hard enough going out with a friend, I can’t put myself out there a
nd meet strangers.”
