A Man Apart by Joan Hohl

elaborately concocted meal, complete with fine wine and candles on the table, I’ll go to a fine restaurant and let an expert prepare it.”
    â€œMy sentiments exactly,” Hannah concurred, grinning back at him, not for a minute realizing that they were in the midst of the kind of deep conversation she had just complained about being missing from her previous relationship. Maybe that was because she never considered she and Justin ever would be in any kind of relationship…other than the physical one they were briefly conducting.
    â€œSo, what do you say we consign whoever-he-was to the dull life he deserves and get on with our own pursuits?” His grin slid into an invitingly sexy smile.
    â€œWhich are?” she asked, suddenly aware ofthem sitting there, naked to the waist, and the thrill of expectation dancing along her exposed spine.
    â€œThe dreaded kitchen duty first.” The sexy smile reverted back to a grin. “Then a shower.” He hesitated. “And I think it’s time I stripped the bed and tossed these sheets into the washer.”
    â€œOkay.” Though she readily agreed, Hannah was disappointed. Drat the man and his sensually teasing ways. “I’ll remake the bed.”
    â€œYou’re on.” Springing from the bed, he scooped up his crumpled jeans and put them on before reaching for the same sweater he’d worn the day before.
    Quickly sliding from the bed, Hannah picked up the robe he had earlier flung aside, and slipped into it, belting it securely, while admiring the back he turned away to gather his clothes.
    Justin Grainger was a magnificent specimen, his broad muscular back, his slender waist, the tightness of his butt, the long muscles of his thighs and calves. She sighed. Hell, she even thought he had handsome feet!
    Pathetic, she chastised herself. Who the devil ever thought of a male’s feet as handsome?
    She did, that’s who, and the realization was pretty damn scary. Hurrying out of the room, Hannah kept telling herself what she was feeling wassimply a strong physical attraction, a very strong physical attraction. Nothing more.
    Working smoothly together as they had the day before, Hannah and Justin had the kitchen clean in less than twenty minutes.
    â€œKnow what?” Justin said to her as she was rinsing out the dish cloth. “I’m hungry.”
    Dropping the cloth into the sink, Hannah turned to him and pointed out the obvious. “We just finished clearing away the breakfast things.”
    â€œYeah, I know,” he agreed, favoring her with that blasted devil smile. “But have you looked at the clock?”
    Naturally, Hannah shot a glance at the wall. The clock read 1:44. Unbelievable. She and Justin had finished breakfast somewhere around nine. For some weird reason, knowing the time made her aware of the hollow feeling inside her. She shifted her gaze back to him.
    â€œYou know what?” She pulled his trick of forging ahead without waiting for a response. “I’m hungry, too.”
    He flashed his most sexy smile. “Good. Let’s grab some lunch.”
    Within ten minutes, again working easily together, they sat down to a meal.
    Where before they had cleaned up the kitchen in compatible silence, this time they chatted away about this and that, nothing earth-shattering, simply kitchen talk.
    From the kitchen they returned to the bedroom to gather the dirty laundry. They had no sooner set foot inside the room when Justin placed a hand on her arm, stopping her in the process of bending to start collecting clothes.
    â€œYou know what?” he asked again, and once more going on without pause, “I think it would be a waste of that invitingly rumpled bed.” He raised that brow and flashed that wicked smile. “Don’t you?”
    Hannah wanted to say no. She really did. But her vocal chords and tongue wouldn’t cooperate, and what came out was a hushed and breathless