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Until that spring, when something new introduced itself to her.

“Maybe…” Helena puffed her chest out, attempting to look more confident than Delia knew she was right now. “Maybe we could be figuring this out together. I mean, I’m going to college in a couple of days, you work in New England…”

“It would be impractical to have a serious relationship with three thousand miles between us. I can do some work from home, but being around for meetings and touring with clients is a must in my job.”

“I’ll be busy with the soccer season, anyway. I’ll barely have time to keep up with my classes.”

“Maybe one weekend a month.”

“Maybe. Maybe two…”

“Two?”

“I’ve got some money. I can visit one weekend a month if you promise to visit me back.”

“Oh, sweetie, I’ve got so many airline miles. This trip alone got me a few bonuses. I bet you wouldn’t have to pay a dime.”

“Don’t get my hopes up, okay?”

Delia leaned toward her. “Don’t get mine up either.” Her injured knuckles lifted high enough to brush back the curls from Helena’s ear. A shudder accompanied the tender smile on her unmarred visage, the one that so rarely allowed a genuine grin of girlish wonder to cross her complexion. “How am I to know that I would be enough woman for you? You’ve been quite busy this past year.”

“And you’re the only one I’ve been with since we met in The Dark Hour,” Helena pointed out. Her eye was locked on Delia’s finger as it lowered again. “Didn’t bother me at all.”

“Only because you were getting it multiple times a week.” That finger landed languidly between them, beckoning Helena to entwine hers with Delia’s. “Even two weekends a month without hardly coming up for air will be enough for you, I think.”

Slowly, Helena’s finger inched toward Delia’s. “Have to make it count, won’t we?”

“You’ll have homework to do those weekends.”

“I’ll do it on the plane.”

“Why? To have more time for me?”

“To ensure that you have time for me.”

Helena’s finger wrapped around Delia’s. Touch me. Kill me. That was it. Only one touch, and Delia flung herself at Helena, kissing her hard enough to rock the earth beneath the bed.

She had missed her. No doubt about that.

Chapter 27

The torrential whirlwind of emotions claiming Helena as she landed on her back was unlike anything she had experienced before, and this was someone who had thrown herself into parties, clubs, and “weekend dalliances” that would make some of the worldliest women clutch their pearls. Yet for the first time in her unusual life, she felt a passionate connection to the woman on top of her.

And relief. Utter, complex relief that Delia hadn’t only followed her to Olympia but had asserted herself so graciously.

“Ow.” Delia snatched her hand away when she attempted to brace against the bed. “That’s going to be a thing.”

“I could get on top,” Helena mused with renewed excitement.

“Oh, no. I don’t think so.” Delia surrounded Helena with her stern shoulders and stronger biceps. “This is about asserting myself as your woman. We’ve got to make it clear that if anyone wants to fuck around with you, they have to go through me first. And I mean that in every way you can imagine.”

“You mean like…” Helena almost didn’t speak that woman’s name into infernal existence. “Irene.”

“Even alternate universe Irene who thinks she gets to slap your ass because you once dated. She has to ask me first.”

“Hey! Don’t I get a say in it?”

“I’ve known you for going on five months.”