As he took the stairs to the porch, his hands felt clammy and his heart raced, the way it had all those years ago when he’d been a teenager in the throes of first love. Nothing at all had changed since then. The realization left him staggered. He still loved her as much as he ever had. Despite everything that’d happened, despite all the pain she’d caused him, he still loved her.

“Are you all right, Luke?”

For the second time that day, someone looked at him with concern. Apparently, he was doing a piss-poor job of hiding the fact that seeing her again had rocked his world.

Rather than try to explain his odd behavior, he withdrew the gift from behind his back. “For you.”

Her eyes lit up with surprise and delight. “You brought me something?”

“Don’t get too excited,” he said, suddenly wishing he’d brought her a real gift rather than the dead starfish she unwrapped with reverence.

“Oh, Luke. You remembered.” She ran a finger over the starfish. “I always loved them.”

“Yes, I remembered.” What an understatement! He remembered every damned thing they’d ever talked about, every damned moment that had ever transpired between them. Yes, he remembered.

“It’s beautiful. Where did you find it?”

“I saw it on one of the rocks by the marina at low tide and climbed down to get it.”

“It makes me so sad that such a glorious creature is dead.”

Her sadness gutted him. God, what had he been thinking bringing her, of all people, something dead? “I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking.” He started to reach for the starfish, but she hung on to it.

“Why are you sorry? It’s a very thoughtful gift.”

He wanted to shoot himself for putting that pensive look on her gorgeous face. “I didn’t mean for it to make you sad.”

“The damndest things make me sad these days, but then, I also find joy in things that might not have touched me before, such as a gift from an old friend who remembered how much I love starfish.” She went up on tiptoes and kissed his cheek. “Thank you.”

Luke stood frozen in place. The quick and spontaneous gesture, so typical of the Sydney he’d once known, left him riveted and thankful for the dark shadows on the porch that hid his instant reaction to her touch. It had been a mistake to come here when he wanted her more than his next breath. It was a mistake to restart something that couldn’t go anywhere, something that had the power to crush him all over again.

“I’m sorry,” she said, tuning in to his dismay. “I shouldn’t have done that.

“Don’t apologize. It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have come.”

She stared up at him with those clear blue eyes that had never contained an ounce of guile. “Why?”