Page 80 of Courting Trouble

Delilah noticed Ashley spotting them and strode over.

‘There she is,’ she said, squeezing her hand like a stage parent, before ushering her forward into the knot of people she’d been talking to.

‘James, look who I found!?’ Ashley said.

James Rourke, the director of the Tamsin Rowe biopic, was a wiry man with restless hands. ‘Delilah. Thanks so much for coming along. I’m sure you’re busy, but we just thought it would be nice for you to spend some time in the tennis world. For, you know… research.’

He was pretending not to have seenthe video. OK, fine. Delilah would go along with that. She smiled and took a glass of champagne from a passing tray. The stem felt slippery in her hand.

‘Oh, this is my tennis coach, Cassie Thorne,’ Delilah said casually.

She had to explain why a formerly famous player was her date, and it seemed the most sensible thing to say. Now that she was on the other side of her inexperience, it was less dangerous to mention Cassie.

Cassie only nodded and took her own drink.

‘You’ve been in training already?’ James said, super casual.

‘I’ve just been keeping my hand in,’ Delilah said, feeling a slight tremor in her knees.

‘That’s great. We’ve got our own coach for you, but she’s more about training you to move like Tamsin. As you’re, you know, already very experienced.’

‘Great,’ Delilah said, telling her knees to cut the shit.

‘Yeah,’ said Ashley, though what exactly she was saying ‘yeah’ to was hard to say.

Delilah necked her drink and then held up the empty glass. ‘Welp, I’m empty!’ And she walked off, dragging Cassie by the hand.

‘Jesus Christ, am I sweating?’ she asked when they were a safe distance away.

Cassie shook her head. ‘You’re OK. Calm down.’

‘Yeah, I’d love to. Say, do you have any sedatives on you? Anything that will stop me feeling like I’m about to rocket off to the moon?’

‘Just have another glass.’

‘I feel like alcohol isn’t cutting it. I might see if anyone has any heroin.’

Cassie snorted. ‘You handled that director guy fine.’

‘It’s not just him. It’s the room. I’m out of my depth. Everyone here’s either rich or famous or both.’

‘Give it a year, that’ll be you,’ Cassie said.

That stopped Delilah short. ‘You really think so?’

‘Why shouldn’t it be?’ Cassie asked lightly.

Delilah forced herself not to respond to that compliment with a list.

‘God, I wish Whitney were here,’ Delilah muttered. ‘That girl really knows how to piss me off in that specific way that I find really helpful.’

Cassie placed a hand on Delilah’s arm. ‘No one in this room is better than you.’

Delilah felt her goosebumps stand to attention. But she was not forgetting why this room was hard for both of them. ‘Well, you either.’

Cassie smiled sadly. ‘No?’

Delilah looked at the beautiful, sad eyes of Cassie Thorne and, for a brief second, she pictured the words falling out of her mouth, spilling across the noise of the party, unmissable.I want to be yours. I want you to be mine.