The hotel lobby was empty. Kate forced a smile for the concierge behind the desk. Silent, they waited on the elevator. When Kate stabbed at the up arrow a third time, Tilly let out a little sigh. “Kate. It can’t go any faster…”

Kate clenched her jaw, hands tingling with impulsivity. She slipped them into her pockets. As they stepped into the empty elevator, Kate jabbed at the button to the twenty-third floor. Fucking hell. What was the point of having a door-close button if the doors didn’t close the second she punched it?

Leaning against the wall, Kate stared at her feet. Finally, the doors came together. Immediately, the air thickened with tension. In the middle of the elevator, Tilly didn’t dare look her way. The hairs rose on the back of Kate’s neck. So she wasn’t imagining it. She raised her gaze and watched as the digits ticked over and the elevator climbed higher.

“I think about you, Kate.” A beat. “I think about us.”

Her breath caught. She watched in the reflection of the mirrored walls as Tilly glared straight ahead at the line in the elevator doors.

“I was jealous of that woman when she touched your arm at the theatre. When she looked at you the way she did.”

Kate’s eyes slammed shut. How was she supposed to respond to that? When she wanted so badly, just speaking was dangerous. What if some kind of salacious confession escaped her without her permission? Something she’d regret in the light of day? “Just don’t say anything else, Til.”

“I’m sorry,” Tilly whispered. “I can’t help it.”

“Just don’t say any more, okay?”

As twenty-two checked over to twenty-three, the elevator pinged. The doors opened on their floor and Kate shot out.

Tilly fell a few steps behind her, her heels clicking across the tile until they reached the carpeted corridor. Kate slid her key card into the handle. The little red light flashed once, twice. She huffed, tried it again. Red. A third time. You have got to be kidding me…

Kate could feel Tilly’s gaze hot on her face. In a second, Tilly was slinking closer and tapping Kate’s hand away, inserting her own card. As the green light flashed, Tilly pushed down on the handle and held the door open for her.

Kate immediately went to the bedside table between their beds and reached for the remote. A rerun of Dr. Quinn drowned out the silence. There. Good. Blowing air from her cheeks, she took her pyjamas from her bag and headed for the bathroom.

Standing beneath the jet of a hot shower, Kate tried to regulate her breathing. Maybe it wasn’t a shower that she needed. Maybe she needed to go down to the hotel gym. Or the bar. What I need, she thought, is my own fucking room.

She rested her forehead against the steamed glass. Ever since their kiss on the ferry, she hadn’t been able to think of anything else. The little whimper Tilly had breathed into Kate’s mouth, the way she tasted. The memory of Tilly’s lips against hers had driven her crazy all day.