He would catch himself staring at her sometimes: wondering what it would be like to hold her, kiss her, touch her…then immediately feel guilty for thinking such things. He was still struggling with his feelings for her that one late afternoon in mid-autumn when the two of them finally gave into their mutual desire. An innocent kiss on the hand by a sympathetic Delia quickly led to a kiss on the lips, and another, and another. Then he couldn't fight what he felt any longer.

---

The next morning, Samuel groggily opened his eyes and found himself staring into Delia's face. She lay beside him, sound asleep with a smile on her face.

The shock of seeing her there next to him in his bed quickly brought him to his senses.

Oh my God, what have I done?

Then he remembered.

Kissing her under the tree in the yard, being barely able to make it back to the house before being consumed with lust for her and her body…

Had it really been lust? Perhaps at the time it had been, but as he watched her sleep he realized that there was something else he felt for her other than just lust.

But last night when she had kissed him and pressed her warm, soft body against his, all he could think about was touching her, holding her, making love to her. He remembered how she had trembled with pleasure when he had first slipped his hand inside her sweater.

Then he was overcome by a wave of guilt.

Samuel, you desperate, pathetic, miserable excuse for a man. You let yourself lose control and now see what's happened? You've bedded one of your own students.

Being careful not to wake Delia, he got out of bed. He had to attend to the Pokémon, but he also needed to get away from the whole scene and clear his head.

She was waiting for him at the kitchen table when he returned an hour later.

"Hello, Samuel," Delia said with a smile. "How did you sleep last night?"

She was wearing one of his lab coats and her hair was loose, falling in soft waves about her shoulders. As she leaned forward to hand him a cup of tea, he saw that the top button on the coat she was wearing was undone, revealing that she was wearing nothing underneath. He felt desire rising for her again, but quickly suppressed it. He wasn't going to make the same mistake again.

"Delia, we need to talk about what happened last night," his face was serious.

"All right," she said as her smile faded. The expression on his face worried her.

He took a long sip of his tea while he thought about what he was going to say to her. This wasn't going to be easy for either one of them.

"First, I want to apologize for what happened between us last night. It was inexcusable. I took advantage of you and there's no excuse for what I did. I don't think I'm ever going to be able to forgive myself for what I've done."

"Wait a second, Samuel," she interrupted. "I was the one who came on to you, remember? You didn't seduce me; it was the other way around."

"That's not the point. I let myself lose control and took advantage of you."

"As I recall, what happened between us was a mutual decision."

Maybe that part was true, but it still didn't make it right.

"Delia, I'm your boss, your teacher. You work for me."

"You may be my boss, Samuel, but you're also my friend. You've done so much for me these past few months: you took me in when Will left me, let me cry on your shoulder, taught me so much about Pokémon, encouraged me to conduct my own research, listened to me whenever I had a problem. You're a good man, Samuel. A kind man." She reached across the table and took his hand. "And last night when we were together, you were so wonderful…just like I imagined you would be."

"You…imagined us together?" He was stunned. After all, he wasn't the type of man that women normally fantasized about.

"Yes. For a while I've wondered what it would be like for us to be together. Sometimes when we were working together in the lab, I'd fight the urge to reach out and touch your hand or sit close enough to you that maybe our shoulders or legs would be touching." She was blushing as she spoke.

All this time she had been feeling the same way about him as he had about her, and he had never known it until now.

"I love you, Samuel." She leaned over and kissed him.

"I love you, too, Delia." He kissed her back, and this time he didn't care if he lost control.