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“I’ll leave so you can talk about me.”  And shaking her head, she pulled the door closed behind her and headed to the elevator.
     
    “I hate those women,” she muttered, trying to ignore his presence as she pushed the button that would drop them to the ground floor.  She didn’t know where she was going, but she knew she needed a moment to escape.  While she waited, she struggled to pull her jacket on, but as flustered as she was it seemed to tangle up around her shoulders.
     
    “Here,” Gavin said in a low soothing voice, turning her to face him as he reached around her to right the twisted garment and pull it into its proper position.  He followed the line of the jacket to the collar and grabbed the lapels to draw them around her neck.  Realizing what an intimate gesture his simple act had become, he cleared his throat, dropped his hands, and said lightly, “There.”
     
    Studying him, Hannah worked to try to figure him out. Her marriage had created in her an extreme distrust of all men.  And this one had the short hairs on her neck standing at attention.  But what did it mean?  Was it a warning?  Was it a sign of a romantic spark?  Or was it merely the chill in the air?   She shook her head as though to clear away any confusion and immediately folded her arms across her chest.
     
    One side of his face lifted into a smile.  “I see I have caused you to raise your guard,” Gavin began, almost apologetically.  Almost.  He had to win her over, just long enough to trap her into a commitment.
     
    “Only since you first arrived uninvited,” Hannah said grimly.  A thought suddenly occurred to her and her eyes narrowed.  “How did you find me, Mr. Meyers? How did you know where I worked, my name…anything about me at all?”
     
    He straightened.  She was tough.  She was bright.  She was a more than worthy adversary.  Taking a breath, he shrugged.  “I have a really great detective that I keep on retainer for unforeseen circumstances.”
     
    “And I am such a scenario?”  She questioned.  “How is it you even came across my ad?  You don’t strike me as the kind of man to even read the personals, let alone respond to them.” 
     
    She was challenging him and he loved it.  “Well, Ms. Matthews, I find myself newly divorced…”
     
    “And in need of some companionship?”  Hannah asked in disbelief.  “Come on now.”  She shook her head and scowled.
     
    “My mother is in town, desperate to see me happily married, and when I returned home the other night, she had left the personals on my desk in the study with a plea.”  That much was true at least.  “And I thought that if I could just show her I was willing to try again then she might be content and leave me alone, fly back to Florida.”  That part was a little flimsy.
     
    Her head cocked to the side as she listened to his explanation.  Enough of it rang true to appease her.  He really did want his mother to go back to Florida.  And maybe he really didn’t want anything from her.  Uh, oh.  “Then why respond to my particular ad?  Wouldn’t your mother be suspicious of some woman you move into your home, a woman who comes with children?  Wouldn’t the red flags go up?  Wouldn’t she be screaming ‘gold digger‘?”
     
    Sighing, Gavin continued, “My mother is desperate for grandchildren.  I think even step ones would appease her for the time.  She has a daughter, but she has turned out to be a bit of a disappointment of late.”  He was uncomfortable with the fact that he had revealed more than a grain of truth to this stranger, a stranger that he planned to use and abuse to his liking.
     
    They had been walking aimlessly down the street through the entire discussion and suddenly found themselves in front of Fuel Pizza.  He nodded toward the entrance.  “I’m starving.  What if we finish this discussion over a slice?”  She hesitated.  “Come on.”  He placed a hand on her lower