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The soft strength behind her? Like the tall woman Geeta encountered years ago. The one who held her cushioned against chest, lightly squeezing her arms. Catching her. Holding her. Then disappearing into the crowd.

It could have been yesterday Geeta remembered it so clearly, the contact leaving an indelible impression and lingering as comfort on her skin. And when she stepped back into Nicola, the sensation flooded into place, and it all made sense. She suddenly found herself in a familiar landscape, and the ground settled beneath her feet at last.

She spun round, Nicola’s face a breath away.

“You,” she whispered. Her heart pounded.

Nicola gazed at her, anguish haunting her eyes, not comprehending.

“The first time you saw me?” Geeta whispered. “When was it?”

“I adored you from the start,” Nicola confessed, her head dropping. “I saw you in the college lodge before we met by the river. I couldn’t take my eyes off you. I never experienced anything like it and wanted all of you in that second. I loved your voice. Your cleverness. Generosity. Your warmth. It hit me all at once in a single sensation. Then I tried to pass you, and we touched, just for a moment, and I was hooked.”

Nicola shook her head, hair tumbling around them both. “And I have tried and tried to dismiss this secret inclination. I never experienced such full attraction before, and didn’t know what to do with it. But everything since has only amplified those first feelings and now I’m overwhelmed and can’t recover. Some people leave you changed, and you’re never rid of them. And I don’t ever want to be rid of you. That is the truth of it.”

Was this real? Geeta held her cheek, needing to touch her. Did they mean the same moment?

“That woman?” Geeta murmured. “The married woman who made you realise?” She pursed her lips to hold in what built inside.

“It was you,” Nicola breathed.

Geeta closed her eyes and rested her forehead on Nicola’s.

Before the woman who crackled with tension at the picnic. Who gazed at her with unspoken fury. Before everything, was the first ever contact, which had been more true and accurate than any in the next years. That gentle strength. The reassuring squeeze.

The realisation choked in her throat.

“There you are.”

That's who Nicola had been all along, and it had taken all this time to discover her.

“You’re the one who held me,” Geeta murmured. “I always remembered that feeling.”

The blissfulness of it deepened in her memory, now she placed Nicola there.

She cupped Nicola’s cheek while holding her close. “I am so mad at you,” Geeta whispered.

“I know,” came back warm on her cheeks.

So bloody furious.

“And so in love with you,” she added.

But Nicola squeezed her eyes tight at that.

She kissed her. That infuriating, sexy woman she’d been battling for years. She couldn't fight this another second, and she threw her arms around her shoulders and kissed her and kissed her. On her mouth, her cheeks, over her eyelids, wet with kisses and tears.

“Why didn't you say something?” Geeta said desperately.

Those blues gazed at her. What she’d always assumed cold windows, opened into a person with far more complexity, warmth and heart than she could have imagined years ago.

“I mean lately?”

“Because you were in a different place to me.” And deep sadness lingered in Nicola's eyes. “You’d recently divorced. You were finding yourself again,” she said, voice husky. “I didn’t know if you’d ever be in the same place for me.”

“Dammit, Nicola,” she said, her exasperation tempered with fondness.

She stroked Nicola’s eyebrow, seeing it relax and flickering again with emotion, the defences dropping and the rawness deep. Nicola stood in front of her, a woman in love. And Geeta's heart swelled painfully, like those occasions in bed, where everything was put aside, leaving only them in tune with each other. Glimpses at other times, when Nicola gave her the rose, or took her hand to dance at dusk by the river with music soothing the air.

Geeta held Nicola’s face, seeing what she needed was there for always.

“I am in love with you,” Nicola said, expression honest and hurt. “I’m not getting over you. Ever.”

Quietly, simply, painfully put.

“And I’m in love with you too,” Geeta whispered.

They kissed again, Geeta cradling her face and their lips gentle with each other. Nicola’s arms slipped around her waist as they melted. They kissed and touched so delicately she could float, as if a tap on either’s shoulder would fade them from existence. And Geeta sighed with the luxurious relief that effused her whole body.

“Well, that’s not what I do with my neighbours.”

Geeta froze. That familiar voice came from close by. Feet landing back on earth, she slowly turned to see Emma Richardson, hands on hips, peering over glasses.

“Is that what you do with yours, Olivia?”

Oh god, Olivia.

Geeta shifted her gaze left.

There stood Olivia, arms crossed, performing a gargantuan eye roll.

“And you Kate?”

She shifted left again to find the actress with mouth wide open, hands in the air and ecstatic glee in her eyes.

“Erm...Right.” Geeta looked up at Nicola.

“Right,” Nicola replied.

They drew apart. But Nicola’s hand sought hers when they stood side by side and, despite the situation, comfort filled Geeta and she smiled.

“Well...” Oh god. “We’ve kind of been seeing each other since spring.”

Olivia rolled her eyes again. “Yes, I’ve known for a while.”

“Not from me,” Kate put her hands up in defence.

Olivia swivelled towards Kate. “You went very quiet every time I mentioned Nicola. It wasn’t subtle.”

For someone who wasn’t fond of people, Olivia was frighteningly observant and read them far too quickly.

“Then Millie's obvious suspicions,” Olivia continued. “Nani acting strangely–”

“My mother knows?!”

“Very likely.”

“Actually, that doesn't surprise me,” Nicola added.

Geeta swept round to Nicola and glared at her. “And yet you didn't say anything about that either.”

Nicola smiled and licked her lips. The cat was back.

“Is this our first argument as a couple?” she purred.

“We might as well keep going.” Geeta tutted.

Nicola’s smile curled wider. And the look she gave her? Really, now was not the time.

Geeta tensed her jaw and threw Nicola a glare that clearly said, do not look at me like that in front of people.

And Nicola shrugged in that confident way, as if to say, well we’ve just been snogging for the past few minutes so it’s a bit academic.

Geeta jabbed a pointing finger to indicate, not to start with her.

A whole silent conversation there.

Emma peered at them over her glasses. “See that. Thing of beauty.” She grinned. “That’s a couple who’ll go far.”

***

Holding hands with Nicola, all the way back up Broad Street and St Giles – the most natural thing in the world.

The streets at night were quiet and no-one glanced at them as if anything out of the ordinary. That was another thing Geeta loved about Oxford, a liberal place from its influx of young students every year.

She felt the same, but different. Loving Nicola, being able to let it show, knowing she was loved deeply, and sensing hers grow and grow even this evening.

Because love wasn’t always a steady curve. Sometimes it ignited like a flame from nothing and burst to dizzy heights in a moment. Other times, it grew over years. And sometimes it held back, then sprung up, as if all at once, but had been building a long time. She suspected that was her, and she clutched Nicola’s hand tighter.

She felt more present and stronger with every step they took together.

So what now?

Home.

Geeta realised she used ‘home’ a lot for them, meaning her house for Nicola and so many people.

“Do you mind us coming here more often than yours?” she asked in the kitchen when they arrived back in Iffley. She made them tea.

“No.” Nicola smiled while leaning against the top. “Here’s filled with you. And I’ve not settled in the cottage.”

“Then...” Geeta expected the step to spark fear, but it didn’t. “Do you think we should move in together?”

“I’d like that,” Nicola agreed, with no hint of reserve. “We can take it slowly if you need to.”

Maybe Nicola worried that Geeta wasn’t in the same place as her. And maybe it had been true, but it made sense to Geeta now. They shared so much, why waste time.

“Bring some things over tomorrow, so you don’t have to run back and forth as often?”

Nicola nodded. “I will.”

She drew close to Nicola and reached up to stroke a finger over her brow. The sometimes imperious eyebrows relaxed.

“Do we need to be careful about you being out?” Geeta asked.

Nicola hugged her around the waist and shrugged unconcerned.

“I’m not going to hide it. Although, I do anticipate issues. Hopefully not every day, and hopefully not enough to lose too many clients.”

“Will you tell me about it though. I know you don’t need help often. In fact, I’ve never met someone so self-reliant.” Geeta shook her head, both admiring and despairing of it. “But talk to me, please. Don’t bulldoze through.”

Nicola blinked slowly, but not dismissively. “I will try.”

Geeta’s mobile buzzed on the kitchen top. She peered at it, wondering if it was Olivia. No, it was from her son. Adam sent a succinct message of, ‘Mum!!! WTF???’

“Just a sec,” she said, frowning.

She let go of Nicola and picked up the phone. Oh. There was a photo attached. When she clicked it open, she understood her son’s surprise.

“Erm, we may have an issue,” Geeta said.

Nicola peered over her shoulder, and they stared at a screenshot of a social media post. In the shot, an ecstatic Kate Laurence clapped her hands together. She wore her white tux from the premiere evening. No doubt there were thousands of pictures of her at the event already out there.

But not with Geeta and Nicola kissing in the foreground.

Nicola picked up her own phone and tapped in ‘Nicola Albright KC’ to search various channels for the photo and any mention of her.

“Ah,” she said. “Someone’s recognised me as Kate’s divorce representation.” She flipped the case shut and shrugged with a smile. “I suppose I’ll be coming out tomorrow then.”

Geeta stared at her. “Just like that?”

“Yes.”

“You'll just...come out?”

“There are no other options. It’s already gone national.” A smile curled. “What else would I do?”

One thing, among many, that she loved about Nicola? How she turned and faced things head on.

Nicola wrapped her arms around her waist again, the surety of her presence and touch affirming she was rock solid about this.

“What about you?” Nicola asked. “Are you OK with this? Or...” Nicola’s mouth curled more. That look was back. That not-for-public look. “Should I issue a statement saying that I tripped on my cape and landed lips-first on a beautiful stranger?”

Geeta recognised that velvety purr and exactly where it led. Nicola gazed at her as if she were naked already.

“You...” she murmured.

She rested a finger on Nicola’s chest, the cushioning there heavenly. Their days apart caught up with her now, skin glowing with need as Nicola’s hands stroked over her hips.

“I’m fine.” Geeta smiled. “And speaking of landing lips first...” She ran her finger down Nicola’s front, towards the lips she meant.

“Ooooh,” Nicola sighed.

And Geeta took her hand and led her upstairs.