Kate licked her lips. “Me too.”

“I’m going to miss you when you’re gone, when we’ve both moved on from St. Joan’s…”

Would Kate ever move on? She’d been beating herself up for weeks over the fact that seeing Tilly again had unravelled years of hard work she’d put into getting over her. But maybe she’d been lying to herself when she told herself she had moved on from Tilly in the first place.

“I still remember you at seventeen,” Tilly whispered. Her fingers reached out and began to toy with the buttons of Kate’s vest. “I remember you so clearly. You, at the piano, the two of us, practising…”

As Tilly’s knuckles brushed against Kate’s abdomen, the touch only slight, Kate’s muscles clenched, electrified. She could hardly speak for fear of making confessions Tilly surely wouldn’t want to hear. But what was the cost of holding her tongue when in just a few months, she was going to lose Tilly all over again? The thought left her light-headed.

“And I’ve been thinking,” Tilly said softly, “about songs that I might like to have played at the wedding, songs that mean a great deal to me…”

Kate’s head swam. “Songs?”

Tilly sucked on her bottom lip. “I was thinking about Hallelujah.”

Kate’s heartbeat grew sluggish, her chest weighted. No. No, no, no… She pulled her hand from the railing and clasped Tilly’s fingers in hers, stopping their movement. “Don’t use that song, Tilly.”

Tilly looked up, her green eyes hooded. “Why?” she whispered.

As shadows played across Tilly’s face in the moonlight, her long, dark hair fluttering free of its plait, an ache swelled in Kate’s throat. Tilly was so beautiful. So, so beautiful. Impulsively, Kate leaned forward, closed the space between them, and pressed her lips to Tilly’s.

Gently, Kate nipped at her bottom lip, her heart leaping as their lips met, over and over again. It was chaste, innocent, perhaps the gentlest kiss Kate had ever given. Kinder, even, than those they’d shared as teenagers. The pace was sweet agony, setting an ache deep in Kate’s chest as she waited for Tilly to respond. Please, Tilly, please. And then it happened. Tilly’s lips moved firmly against Kate’s. Kate’s head swam at the soft, velvety pull of Tilly’s mouth against her own. Slowly, Tilly’s lips parted. Daring, desperate, Kate’s tongue traced her bottom lip.

With a whimper, Tilly pressed a hand to Kate’s chest and pulled back. “Kate,” she whispered, her voice breaking. “No…we can’t.”

Releasing her gentle hold on Tilly’s hands, she reached up and cradled Tilly’s face in her palms. She pressed her forehead against Tilly’s, let her eyes slip shut. Tilly’s breath came hard against her lips. Heat curled in her gut. Primal, unstoppable attraction.

“I’m sorry,” Kate whispered. She rolled her forehead against Tilly’s, resisted the urge to kiss her brow, her temple. “You’re a pull on my self-control…”

Wide-eyed, Tilly drew back. She shook her head.

“What?” Kate husked, reaching out to link a strand of Tilly’s hair behind her ear. “You don’t believe me?”