“Hey, Steph.” He thrust his hands in the back of his jeans pockets, took a step closer. No telling what she was up to or why she was here, and that necessitated caution and calculation.

“What? No hug? Not even a peck on the cheek?” She opened her arms wide and flung her small body at him. “Oh, but I did miss you, Cash,” she murmured against his chest. “There’s never been anyone quite like you.”

That, he did not want to hear. He untangled her arms from his waist, stepped back. “Be glad there’s only one of me.” He shrugged. “I’m too damn much work. Now your husband, he was a good guy.”

She nodded, her dark eyes bright. “Lewis was kind and gentle and when I lost him, I didn’t know if I could get through it. I was scared and angry and so messed up. And there you were.” Her voice dipped. “You were the burn that made me feel alive again and I’ll never forget that.”

Cash coughed, cleared his throat. Well, he’d like to forget it; that was for damn sure. Visions of Stephanie showing up at his door wearing nothing but three-inch heels and a black raincoat burst through his mind. He squashed the memory, but another popped up, this one involving honey drizzled on his belly and a very ambitious tongue. Nope. Not going there either. He’d hooked up with Stephanie for all the wrong reasons, the biggest one being his need to blot out Tess and the fact that he still cared about her. Hell, he still loved her. That realization had pissed him off as much as it had scared him. Guys like Cash didn’t get scared or if they did, they found a way to snuff out the feeling, usually with reckless behavior—like sex. It wasn’t all on him, though. Stephanie might have been confused and messed up, but she’d come after him like a huntress on a mission and she knew how to hit the bullseye. How about the night he found her in the back seat of his car when he got off work, wearing a see-through dress and no panties? What guy could resist unlimited, uncensored invitations for carnal pleasure with a beautiful woman? He’d taken what she’d offered and for a few weeks, the sex had numbed him, but the morning she slipped in “moving in together” had been the end. Stephanie hadn’t seen it that way and she’d let him know, with colorful language and a trashed apartment.

“Cash? You’ve gone all pale.” She touched his shoulder, gentled her voice. “I’m not going to ask you to run away with me, so relax. I’ve actually grown up and taken responsibility for my actions. That’s why I’m here.”

Okay, what exactly did that mean? He eyed her, waited for an explanation.

“I had a lot of unresolved issues and they affected my life.” She paused, lifted a shoulder. “Bad relationships, bad choices, bad everything. I’m seeing a therapist and she’s helped me understand how important it is to apologize to the people I’ve hurt.”