Page 20 of Twin Surprise for the Italian Doc
‘I’m not the only one who’s been a bit quiet since we got back. What aren’t you talking about?’
‘Nothing.’ She thought she’d managed a tone light enough to squash any suspicions but it didn’t seem to work. She could feel Kate staring at her back.
‘You never did tell me where you disappeared to for solong during that party.’
Georgia froze.
‘Oh, my God,’ Kate said. ‘Youdidhook up with somebody. And you never told me?’
‘Wasn’t much to tell.’ Georgia’s forced the words out. ‘I’d rather forget about it.’
But Kate didn’t take the hint. ‘It can’t have been Matteo,’ she said, ‘because I saw him and asked if he knew where you were and he said he had no idea.’
Oh, help... Kate must have seenhim shortly after he’d slammed the door and stormed off after making love to her. Had Kate been aware of how angry he’d been? Had Matteo said anything to Luke that might make this whole mess even messier in the near future?
There was no point crossing that bridge until it became unavoidable but that meant that Georgia had to kill this conversation. Now. She glared at her friend.
‘Why would ithave been Matteo?’
‘Oh, I don’t know... Because he was gorgeous maybe? Or because you two seemed to be getting on incredibly well?’
Georgia put considerable effort into a dismissive shrug. ‘I guess some people aren’t okay with casual sex. I don’t think I am any more either. It wasn’t my best idea, was it?’ She reached for the television remote. ‘Let’s see if there’s something worth watching,shall we?’
The silence between them was odd. Georgia hated that she was deceiving Kate but she couldn’t tell her the truth, could she?
If Kate had any inkling how she felt about Matteo, she would try and fix things, wouldn’t she? Like Georgia had been trying to fix things between Kate and Luke by encouraging her to text him?
Kate might think she was doing the right thing by enlisting Luke’sassistance. And then Matteo would find out and it would just make everything messier. Because he wouldn’t want to know.
He wouldn’t want her name to even pass his lips because she had lied to him.
Besides...she wanted to stop thinking about it. To stop the ongoing battle between her head and her heart about whether it could be worth taking the kind of risk that another relationship represented.
To move on from thinking that she’d made a mistake that could never be fixed.
And she wassotired...
Kate finally seemed to pick up the vibe. She sat on the couch beside Georgia and gave her a quick hug.
‘It’s in the past now,’ she said. ‘And, yeah...it wasn’t your best idea but you’ll know not to do it again.’
Wasn’t that the truth?
She’d never have the chance to do it again.
‘Are youokay? Really?’
Georgia nodded, hugging her back. ‘I’m fine.Really.’
‘Want a coffee?’
The wave of nausea the idea of coffee produced was weird. She must be a lot more tired than she’d realised.
‘No.’ Georgia shook her head, closing her eyes and swallowing hard in the hope that her stomach would settle quickly. ‘Let’s just chill out and watch some telly.’
* * *
After an adrenaline-filledday of big-city emergency response, there was nothing better than chilling with an old mate and an icy-cold beer.
