Page 31 of Swim To Me

A beat of silence takes over, in which I can’t stop staring at him and he can’t stop staring at me and I’m wondering what the hell to say when my sister chirps up on realising we must know each other.

“Do you want to join us?” I whip my head around to face her. “While you wait for your…” She purposefully tails off; her question open ended for my benefit, I’m sure.

“I was supposed to be meeting my youngest brother, Hudson, but he just cancelled on me about five minutes ago, probably out chasing some girl so I was just going to finish my pint and go, but…”

“Stay.”

I don’t realise the word has escaped my mouth until Grey is smiling down at me, his cheeks dimpled.

“Here.” The metal strap of Aurelia’s handbag jingles in my ear as she fidgets. “I’ll sit by Soph, and you and Delilah can have this side of the booth.”

I would like to lean over and throttle her. I know what type of game my sister is playing. But the whole, my hands around her neck thing, would be rather obvious, so instead I try to communicate with her through the widening of my eyes.

She pretends she doesn’t see me.

Within seconds, I find myself enclosed into the leather booth, the exposed brick wall on one side of me and Grey on the other. If I need to get out, I will have to ask him, slide my body against his and—

“It’s my turn to get the next round in and I need another drink,” Sophie mumbles. She’s not exactly slurring, but she’s not far off from it. “Who wants what?”

“I’m fine, thank you, Soph,” I say, still twiddling the glass stem. Grey raises his half pint off the table in gesture, bringing it to his lips. Lips that are plump and kissable looking and— “I’m good, too. Thank you, though.”

“No bother.” Sophie slides out of her side of the booth, slightly uncoordinated and wobbly in her heels.

“I’ll go with her,” Aurelia declares, following suit, linking her arm through Sophie’s, both of them becoming swallowed up by the growing bar crowd.

I take a drink simply for something to occupy my hands with, almost choking on my cocktail when I feel Grey’s thigh press into my knee beneath the table. His skin is searing hot, eating away at the thin material of my chosen outfit.

“You look gorgeous, Delilah.”

I don’t know which flutters more, my heart or my core.

“Thank you.” My lips twitch at the edges. “You don’t look too bad yourself.”

Grey laughs breathily. It’s a testament to how close we’re sitting that I can even hear such a quiet sound in this jam-packed bar.

“You’re a tough nut to crack, Delilah.” Grey tears his gaze away from me, staring out at our pulsing surroundings. “It’s a good job, I’m not a quitter.”

I’m really not sure what to make of that statement, so I pocket it away for later, when I’m alone and can examine and pull it apart until my brain runs on a loop.

A quiet brain? I’ve never had one of those.

“So, what brought you out tonight?”

I can’t fucking tell him the truth, can I? That I was looking for a distraction – any sort of distraction – from him.

“Um, I—”

“We’re back!” Sophie announces. “The bartender gave me a free shot when I told him about Aiden!”

Aurelia shoots me a look, the same one that must be etched on my own face by the way Grey bounces his eyes across both of us Clark sisters and then chuckles into the rim of his beer.

“You must be Aurelia, Delilah’s sister. The resemblance is uncanny.”

“And you must be the swim teacher, Grey.”

Grey flicks his eyes to me, the necklace dangling from his chest glinting in the overhead light. My mouth turns ridiculously dry, even as he stays silent.He knows she knows about him. He knows I’ve talked about him.

He tips his head in my sister’s direction. “It’s nice to meet you.”

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