Page 32 of Swim To Me

“Likewise,” Aurelia all but purrs. Those eyes of hers, they’re flashing with mischief I recall distinctly from our childhood, when she would run our father ragged before—

Where the fuck did that come from?

I shake myself, shoving my gloss-stained cocktail glass away from me. It’s got to be the alcohol, bringing up old memories.Unwantedmemories.

“So, you, like, teach people how to swim?” Sophie garbles.

“Yep,” Grey answers.

“You look familiar.”

Grey runs a hand through his hair, shrugging, eyes cutting away from Sophie and then back again. “Guess I’ve just got one of those faces?”

“Yeah… ugh, I feel super sick all of sudden.”

“Please don’t vomit on the floor,” I mutter.

Grey laughs again, louder this time. “Those words literally came out of my mouth yesterday when a kid was yacking up the pool water.”

“Notinthe pool water I’m swimming in on Wednesday, I bloody hope.”

“You think you’ll be swimming by Wednesday?” Grey jokes, ignoring my indignant squawk and the whack of my hand on his upper arm. “I know I’m good, but I’m notthatgood, gorgeous. You still need a few more lessons, yet.”

He’s joking with me, and I like it. I really like it. So, I play along too. “And you think I’m going to come back to you on Wednesday, after you’re being so rude to me? Huh?”

“Yeah, you are.”

“You seem extremely confident in your answer, Mr Millen.”

“I don’t like leaving business unfinished, Delilah, and I get the feeling you don’t either.”

I lick my lips, shifting to cross my legs, accidentally tapping the toe of my high heel against the bare strip of Grey’s ankle. As I go to pull away, Grey’s large hand clamps down on my upper thigh. Keeping me there. Tucked into his side.

“Grey—”

He goes to lift his hand from my leg, but I move before he can, resting my hand on top, keeping him there, silently letting him know I don’t mind his touch. Quite the opposite, actually.

“Sorry to interrupt you two…” I turn to find Aurelia standing outside of the booth, an almost green looking, crying Sophie hanging from her arm. “But Soph’s just puked all over the toilet, so I’m going to take her home.”

I hadn’t even heard the girls stand up and slip out of the booth, let known disappear to the toilets, too caught up in the private bubble Grey and I seem to have made for ourselves.

“No worries,” I say, trying to ignore the disappointment fizzing inside of me. I don’t want to go yet. I don’t want to leave Grey, but… “Let me just grab my bag and—”

“You two should stay. Together,” Aurelia suggests. Well, it’s less of a suggestion and more of a telling. “There’s no need for all of us to go home, I’ll send you our location in the taxi and again when I’m back home, okay?”

“I—” I’m torn. Half of me wants to stay in my bubble with Grey, to see if he’ll touch me again, make my heart gallop and my core clench. He’s funny and kind and he smells amazing and I’mfucking attracted to every inch of him. My mind and body move on autopilot, this primal instinct keeping me glued to his side.

But I worry about my little sister too, wanting her to get home safely without a scratch.

“I’ll send you our location straight away,” Aurelia promises, leaning to kiss me on the cheek. “Twenty minutes tops and I’ll be back home.”

“Stick together, please.”

“Pinkie promise.” I thread my pinkie finger through Aurelia’s. Something we’ve been doing ever since we were little kids – our way of communicating, sometimes silently when the time called for it. “Love you.”

“Love you,” I call back, watching Aurelia stride, and Sophie wobble, into the throng of bodies.

Grey squeezes my thigh to grasp my attention. He peers at my right eye, dipping down to stare at my lips and then back up to my eyes again. “She’ll be okay. They’ll both get home safely, don’t worry.”

---