Page 117 of Swim To Me

When the woman pulls back, I recognise her as an old client of mine, an author I’d worked with right at the beginning of my career, fresh out of university with a pretty printed CV in hand.

“Caroline! Hi!”

“Hi, darling,” she gushes, just as she’d introduced herself all those years ago. “How are you?”

“I’m good,” I answer truthfully. “Are you?”

“I’m splendid! And who’s this—”

I accept the drink Grey gently pushes into my palm, wrapping my hand around his bicep with my other hand. “This is my boyfriend, Grey.”

Grey sticks out his hand. “Nice to meet you.”

Caroline peeks out from behind Grey’s shoulder, grinning at me wildly like a schoolgirl, her eyes wide with excitement.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Grey,” she all but purrs, re-adjusting the pearl choker wrapped around her neck. “What an unusual name you have! It reminds me of something I readsomewhere…” I wait with bated breath for the penny to drop, but Caroline continues talking none the wiser. “Well, it’s lovely to see Delilah bringing someone to these events. Look at her, she’s positively glowing with happiness.”

I swallow down Caroline’s words with a sip of my cocktail, licking the sugar from the rim and vehemently ignoring the way I can feel Grey’s eyes hungrily track the movement. I know she means well, but Caroline’s words only serve to remind me how lonely I’d felt before I met Grey, especially at events like these.

“So, how did you two meet?”

Grey laces his fingers through mine, answering Caroline’s question easily, while I glance around the room for any other familiar faces. A few people stand out to me; mostly colleagues I politely talk to in the office and a few author clients I’ve worked with in the past.

“How’s the novels going, Caroline?” I ask, once I hear an opening in the conversation, taking another mouthful of my cocktail which settles warmly in the pit of my stomach.

“Very good! I’ve just released a novella earlier this year, and I’m hoping to begin writing the first novel in a new series soon, it’s in the mind mapping stages at the moment. Maybe, we could work together on it, if you have an opening in your calendar?”

“I’ll certainly see what I can do.”

“Brilliant!” Caroline’s rings rattle on her fingertips as she waves to somebody else she knows. “I’m just going to say hello to my good friend over there, but it was so lovely to see you Delilah and a pleasure to meet you, Grey. We’ll have to get together for a cup of tea soon.”

I’m enveloped in another very heavily perfumed hug before Caroline flounces away, the train of her evening dress trailing behind her.

“She was really nice…” Grey muses, Adam’s apple bobbing with a gulp. I’m not surprised he thinks that. Grey’s a people’sperson through and through, thriving on meeting people and bouncing from their energy. Me? I need a little bit more time before meeting new people to build my energy levels back up again.

“So… you don’t usually bring other people to these events, huh?”

I shake my head. “Who would I bring?”

“Your sister? A… date?”

“Aurelia wouldn’t come,” I say with a huff of laughter. “Well… maybe for the free bar, but that’s about it, and you know I didn’t date before you.”

A few other people – a mixture of clients and colleagues – come over to Grey and I throughout the evening, making small talk while the drinks between us all dwindle. In the corner, a small band begin their next instrumental song, adding another layer of background sound and inviting some couples to sway along to the beat.

Grey tops our drinks up while I chat to a newer client of mine, the one with the manuscript I was having trouble reading while Grey and I were in our fight and separated. Now we’re back on the right track, I’ve been blowing through her romance novel, already well on our way to the second draft.

I’m extremely aware of Grey’s silence while the author I’m helping and I talk. He doesn’t seem uncomfortable, his body language is nothing but relaxed, but I worry he’s finding it boring and—

“Are you having a nice time?” I ask a couple minutes later when we’re alone again. “I’m sorry I’ve hardly been able to chat to you, things like these are always—”

“You don’t need to explain yourself to me, gorgeous.” Grey clasps my hip, lining our pelvis’ together until there isn’t an inch of space between our bodies. “I’m having a good time. I’m really happy you asked me to come.”

My heels mean I don’t need to reach up quite so far to meet Grey’s lips, but I still have to wrap my hand around the back of his neck, stroking the soft hairs there while I kiss him, savouring the feel of his flesh moving against mine.

Clink! Clink! Clink!

I blink, confused, at the sudden noise, cutting through the hum of the instrumental band, my mind addled with a fog only Grey can stir up inside me. My first thought is that it sounds like a clink of a fork against a glass flute, like at a wedding to symbolise a kiss between the new husband and wife. But that can’t be…

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