Have You Seen Her?

That had to be a violation of some kind, Steven thought and filed it away along with the intent to put a new lock on Je

She nodded. "My Harvey and I would have our spats from time to time. God rest his soul."

'"I'm sorry, ma'am."

Mrs. Kasselbaum shrugged matter-of-factly. "He was ninety-two. We had a May-December marriage, you see." She batted her eyes and Steven bit back a grin. What a cutie-pie she was.

"Well, I really want to apologize to Je

Mrs. Kasselbaum nodded at the biblical reference as Steven suspected she would. "Sensible. My Harvey and I had the same arrangement. Step aside, young man." Steven did and Mrs. Kasselbaum fully emerged from her apartment to knock briskly on Je

The door snapped open and Steven had to grab Mrs. Kasselbaum to keep her from falling through. Je

Mrs. Kasselbaum looked up defiantly. "Will you let this boy apologize?"

Je

Mrs. Kasselbaum straightened her body indignantly. "I'm not a gossip, young woman."

"No, not you," Je

He blew out a pent-up breath. "Je

She turned slowly and in her eyes he saw not anger, but grave disappointment. "As well they shouldn't. And not because of me."

Steven narrowed his eyes. That sounded like a rebuke. "Then why?"

"Steven, how many evenings have you been home this week?"

Now he knew where this was going. "You must already know if you ask the question," he answered tightly.

She just looked at him for a long moment, then limped to sit at her dining-room table where all her folders lay spread out. She patted the table. "Sit. Please."

She'd said please. So he sat.

"This isn't any of my business," she began.

"No, it really isn't."

She smiled and only God knew why that put him at ease. But it did. "I'm going to tell you anyway. You owe me, since you were rude to me today."

"You were rude to me on Friday," he countered. "So we should be even."

She raised a brow. "But you've already accepted my apology for that. Nice try, but no deal. While we were waiting for you to come home, I talked to your boys. Nicky told me you're never home. Matt said you'd offered to take him to a movie festival this weekend, but you got busy and forgot. And tonight, you're late again-and for a family di

She was right, he knew. Still it a

"No," she said softly. "But I am an expert on the fragility of time. It passes, Steven. You can't stop it. You always think you're going to have another day to make things right, to say the things you should have said, to do the things you should have done. But sometimes time and life don't cooperate and another day never comes." She blinked, her eyes dry even though his had filled. "You know this, Steven. You almost lost Nicky last year. So why do you hide from your children? They love you."

Restless, Steven pushed to his feet and paced to the sliding-glass door that led to her balcony. She was right. He'd almost lost Nicky last year. So why did he work so much? Was he hiding from his children? He rubbed the stiff spot on the back of his neck. He'd deal with that after he dealt with this. "I came to apologize, Je

"Accepted."

Steven wheeled around. "Accepted? Just like that?"

Je

"An incompetent idiot."

Je

Steven rolled his shoulders, feeling the weight roll away. He approached, holding out his hand, feeling the grin split his face. "I'm Steven. I'm glad to meet you."

She took his hand and looked up, shyly he thought. "I'm Je

He looked down into her eyes and felt his heart turn over in his chest. Her lips moved but it was a few seconds before the whispered word sank in.

"Steven?"

He realized he still held her hand and hastily let it go. "Um, yeah. A drink would be great."

But she didn't get up. She just sat there staring up at him with those wide violet eyes and full red lips and the fantasy flashed right back. Her naked body in his bed, her black hair spread on his pillow, her violet eyes dazed with passion, her full lips moaning his name.

Her eyes dropped and when she lifted her eyes again he saw not compassion or ire or reproach, but heat. Want. Raw lust. Shuddering, Steven clenched his fists to keep from reaching out and cradling her face in his hands and finding out how soft her lips really were. "What's happening here?" she whispered.

I want you. Steven forced himself not to look lower than her face. Forced himself not to look down to her round breasts gently molded by the soft black sweater or to the tight jeans that showed off every curve. God, I really want you. He cleared his throat and lied. "I don't know."

She wet her lips and Steven's forehead broke out in a cold sweat. He needed to leave. Fast. Before he did something he was sure to regret. "I need to go." His voice was thick and hoarse. "I'll… I'll call you."

She nodded. "Okay," she murmured.

He made it to her front door when he stopped, his hand on the doorknob. He tried to ignore the throbbing of his body. It was no use. It was all he could do to stay where he stood and not go back and grind his mouth against hers until he found some relief from whatever madness wouldn't let him go.

"Your neighbors have keys to your apartment," he rasped out, feeling the words drag against his dry throat "You should change your deadbolt. As soon as possible."

"Okay," she murmured.

Steven chanced a look back and immediately wished that he had not. She sat where he had left her, looking straight ahead at the wall, her expression stricken. Guilty. A thread of her conversation with her neighbor popped into the forefront of his mind, pricking at his tenuous composure. "Who is Seth, Je