this.”
She came up close and kissed his cheek. Her version of yes we are. He took her arm and held her close, matching his step to hers, around two corners, down one hilly strip of street and they were there. Taylor buzzed the intercom and they heard the door unlock. Inside it was quiet, like they’d walked into a vacuum-sealed space; no traffic noises or random dogs, just the excited hello of the receptionist.
“Good morning. This is my friend, Taylor and I’m—”
“You’re doing Captain Vox.”
Taylor groaned. He felt it through her shoulder where he still rested a hand.
“Ah, Vox is my real voice on a good day.”
“That’s awesome.”
“I’m here to see—” Hell, he had no idea who he was supposed to ask for. Ben gave him rudimentary details and said the studio would look after him. This was one of those super simple jobs he could do half asleep.
“Trent and Georgia will be here in a minute. Can I get you coffee, water? Please take a seat.”
He declined another drink and Taylor backed him into a bench along a wall. She was ready to take off. He’d get a taxi home from here. But she wasn’t getting out that easy. He pulled her down beside him and held her to stop her bolting. “I want you to think seriously about it.”
“I’m not moving in with you.”
“I want a good reason that’s not all pride and prejudice.”
Taylor pulled her hand away. “Who are you?”
“I mean it.”
“Mr Donovan.”
He quit looking at Taylor and faced the new person. “I’m Georgia Fairweather. I’m your engineer. I’ll be looking after the recordings for Pinetti Adland.”
He stood and held a hand out. “Damon.”
A slim, cool hand in his. Georgia Fairweather smelled like freesias. He sneezed.
“Bless you,” she said.
Taylor hugged him. “I’m out.” He heard the door open and a blast of car noises. What was with all the women in his life making him sneeze?
4: Foresight
Damon Donovan was a dish. Georgia shallowed hard when she saw him waiting in reception. Why wasn’t the guy a screen actor? He had the looks to match his lust-inducing voice. The thumbnail photo on his bio was a sad replicate of the real thing. Long legs, impressive shoulder span, deep chest, symmetrical face with a tiny cleft in his chin, as though someone heavy-handed had rested their thumb there too long when he was only half formed. He had one dimple in a slightly crooked smile directed at the dark-haired, heavily tattooed pixie girl he was hanging all over. Was she wife, girlfriend, groupie? Did famous voice actors have groupies?
This was the first time she’d met a famous voice actor. The voiceover artists of her experience were deeply professional people who knew their craft and functioned like any other jobbing actor. Most didn’t make a full-time living out of it. They came, they read copy, they left, they sent an invoice, and waited tables, or taught night school, or drove taxis, while they waited to get paid. They were otherwise anonymous. Not that even the big time talent had the kind of fame that attached itself to screen actors anyway. There were only a handful of people in the industry who were known by their real names and not the characters they voiced, and even then they were coupled together, like Nancy Cartwright and Bart Simpson. And while their bios were richer and deeper, they didn’t include the kind of personal detail the gossip magazines thrived on. No one cared what they ate, wore or who they dated.
What Georgia knew about Damon Donovan, apart from what he sounded like, she’d learned in the half hour she’d had to scan his online Voice Actors Guild profile and the thirty seconds she’d watched him argue with rose tattoo pixie girl.
And then he took her hand and shook it, smiled at her and sneezed, laughing at himself, and what she knew was the sick flick of nervous energy rotating in her guts. He was voice actor royalty. This was her first day, her first assignment for Avocado, she