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deeper kiss, making a little whimper that Giana tasted on her,

as sweet as the peach candies she used to love as a kid.

She pulled back, tasting the memory. Tasting peaches and

Coralyn. She was out of breath. Wide eyed. She looked like a

woman who had been kissed for the first time. She tasted like

a woman who had been kissed for the first time. If this was

how they kissed and they’d known each other for a while, then

maybe there was hope. There was still passion there, a light

that hadn’t burned out with familiarity. Cold skepticism arced

through Giana. Maybe she’d never believed in love. And then

she’d met this woman. This lovely woman who was so much

younger than her, probably another reason her parents didn’t

approve.

“That felt different,” Giana whispered. She couldn’t explain

what she meant. Maybe she was afraid to.

Some of the pink faded from Coralyn’s cheeks. She ran her

index finger over the beat-up steering wheel, over the faded

spots, tapping out a slow rhythm. “Maybe because you’re

different right now.”

“How did we meet?”

Coralyn did put the car in gear this time and angled out of

the parking spot, into traffic. “I’ll tell you that later. Right now,

we should get you home. I haven’t been there before. We

didn’t want to take chances. You always came to my place. Or

we met somewhere else. You sometimes wore a disguise.”

What the hell? Giana gave her the address that had come

into her mind, hoping it was indeed where she lived, or she’d

look pretty foolish trying to get into someone else’s house.

What was she doing? How could this woman trust her and

love her if she treated her like this? If she was a secret? If she