Page 57 of Courting Trouble
Cassie hesitated, suddenly flustered. ‘You look great. Not that I was… looking. Well. Obviously, Iwaslooking. But not in a weird way.’
She trailed off, and Delilah, stunned, watched a blush rise to her cheeks.
God, Delilah thought. She’s nervous. All is not lost.
Delilah dipped her spoon into the pudding and took a bite, letting the syrup coat her tongue. She looked at Cassie, deliberately, and said, ‘So you’ve been looking.’
Cassie opened her mouth, then closed it again.
Delilah smiled, slow and deliberate. ‘I don’t mind.’
Cassie didn’t speak, but her smile said everything.
Delilah went in for another bite and nudged the bowl a little closer to Cassie, her voice low as she said, ‘But if I’m slow on the court tomorrow, I’m blaming you.’
Cassie’s eyes were still on her. ‘That seems fair.’
And maybe it was the sugar, or the pub’s low golden lighting, or the faint brush of Cassie’s knee under the table. But Delilah found herself hoping the night wasn’t over yet.
Fifty-Six
Cassie told herself to breathe.
It was ridiculous, really. She’d held her nerve in tie-breaks with the whole crowd riding on her serve. But Delilah took one bite of pudding and looked at her likethat, and Cassie’s brain left the building.
She had this lightness to her, a way of laughing that made everything feel less serious, even the things that usually tied Cassie in knots. She was sharp, quick, and fun, didn’t take herself seriously, but she looked at Cassie like she wasthe only person in the room who mattered. Every tilt of her head, every teasing smile made Cassie’s pulse jump. It was ridiculous, it was thrilling, and it made Cassie feel like she didn’t know how long she could continue being a functioning participant of this date.
She focused on the dessert, spooning up another mouthful without really tasting it. Her knee brushed Delilah’s, just lightly, but Delilah didn’t move away.
Was it a signal? Should Cassie do it again?
Cassie tried to shift it again, a little more deliberately this time, and ended up knocking the table, and with it, Delilah’s glass. It wobbled perilously before spilling a tiny arc onto the tablecloth.
God, smooth, Cassie.
Cassie mopped it quickly with a napkin. ‘Oh, Christ,’ she muttered.
‘You always this nervous on dates?’ Delilah asked, voice lazy.
There it was again. The word ‘date’ and everything it implied. Cassie realised that she was going to have to admit something very embarrassing.
‘I don’t know. I’m not sure I’ve ever really been on one,’ Cassie told her and then braced herself.
‘What do you mean?’ Delilah asked, not unreasonably.
‘I mean, I haven’t really done thedatepart of it all. When I was young, I didn’t have time because of tennis. And then, with Petra, we didn’t really start like…that. And then after that, I’ve been more casual. If you know what I mean.’
God, this sounded really bad. Cassie had either made herself seem socially stunted or a total sleaze. She didn’t know which was worse.
But Delilah was smiling. ‘This is yourfirstdate?’
Somehow, Cassie hadn’t quite thought of it in those terms. But it was true. At thirty years old, she was on her first date. ‘I guess so.’
‘Lucky me,’ Delilah grinned.
Cassie let her shoulders, currently up near her ears, drop a bit. Delilah had decided to find Cassie’s inexperience charming. It was a lottery win of a result.
They let the silence stretch as they polished off the dessert. Cassie took the last bite, and Delilah made a show of rolling her eyes.
