They turned a corner. “When we were young, I was jealous of the way you looked at Rebecca Mason,” Tilly said casually. She sipped at her drink.

Kate had looked at Rebecca Mason a certain way? Maybe. Rebecca had been a year older, and there had been fleeting moments, she supposed. It had been nice to revel in Rebecca’s attention at boarding school where it was every girl for herself. Okay, so she’d had a little crush as a kid. But when she’d reunited with Rebecca to busk, it hadn’t been like that. Not at all. Not even a little bit.

“I’d get so jealous when she’d invite you up to her room to tutor you and you’d jump at it,” Tilly continued. “You were a better guitar player than her anyway—you didn’t need tutoring. Her pretence was pathetic.”

At the note of irritation in Tilly’s voice, Kate bit back a grin. Interesting. Reaching a junction, Kate turned right, but Tilly reached out and tugged her left, the gravel grinding beneath her sneakers. Kate laughed. “Nothing ever happened with Rebecca.”

“But she wanted it to.”

“Maybe.”

“I bumped into Lisa White a few years ago and she said that Rebecca’s a lesbian now.”

“I’m pretty sure she was a lesbian then too.”

Tilly halted, her hand tightening in Kate’s. As Tilly fixed her with a look, Kate grinned.

“You know what I mean.”

A young family rounded the corner. They shared smiles as they passed, pram wheels crunching the gravel. When they rounded the corner, out of sight, Kate pulled Tilly down a shallow dead end. Carefully, she backed her against a brick pillar.

Their eyes locked. “Don’t be jealous,” Kate breathed. “I wasn’t following Rebecca up to the roof to ‘study.’”

Tilly’s green eyes shined with anticipation and Kate’s heart lurched to her throat at the raw vulnerability she found there. The moment swelled. Against hickory brick, Tilly’s hair shined reddish-brown. So beautiful. Low in Kate’s belly, the pool of want seared hotter than ever before and suddenly, it was as though everything they’d shared in the past three months caught up to them in a turbulent rush. This…it was more powerful, more demanding than any moment they’d shared. She ached with an incessant need to be somehow closer to Tilly, to live inside her skin. Gone was the angst of yesterday. The void had been filled with an insatiable hunger that bloomed a pretty little blush on Tilly’s neck. Tilly felt it too.

Heart pounding, she linked her arms around Tilly’s waist, and Tilly stiffened slightly in surprise. “Kate…” she said breathily.

Between them, the icy lemonade cup pressed against Kate’s chest, soaking a tiny patch through her plaid shirt. Kate dropped her forehead to the crook of Tilly’s neck. “We should go back up there…” she husked against her skin. “To the belltower. For old time’s sake.”

Tilly’s body was hot through the thin cotton of her dress. “Why?” She scoffed playfully. Her fingers dug into Kate’s side. “You want to see if, after all these years, I’ll finally let you under my skirt?”