“All the things I mentioned before…and perhaps a little scary, too.”

“Scary?” Hannah was at once alert, her protective instincts quivering. Was this Mitch Grainger a bully? She couldn’t imagine her independent friend falling for a man who would intimidate her, but then again, Maggie had been about to marry that deceitful jerk Todd.

“Well, maybe not exactly scary,” Maggie said, after giving it some thought. “It’s all so new and sudden, and almost too exciting, too thrilling. You know how love is.”

Whoa, Hannah thought, serious stuff here… Too exciting? Too thrilling? Now she really couldn’t wait to meet the man. “Actually, no,” she admitted, wryly. “I don’t know.”

Maggie blinked in astonishment. “You’re kidding.”

“No, I’m not.”

“You’ve never been in love? What about that guy you dated in college?”

“Oh, I thought I was in love,” Hannah said. “Turned out it was a combination of chemistry and itchy hormones, commonly called lust.” Her tone was dry, her smile self derisive.

“But…since then…?” Maggie persisted.

“Nope.” Hannah swallowed the last of the chocolate; it had gone as cold as her love life…or lack of same. “There were a couple of infatuations, some sexual activity, but not much. There was one brief and I thought promising relationship I never told you about. But it really never got off square one, so to speak.” She shrugged. “Nothing even remotely resembling what you’ve described.”

“Oh, too bad. All this time we’ve known each other, and I never knew, never even guessed…you’ve always been so closemouthed about your personal life.”

Hannah laughed. “That’s because I didn’t have one, at least nothing that warranted discussion.”

“I never imagined…” Maggie sighed, then brightened. “Oh, I can’t wait for you to fall in love someday, experience this excitingly scary champagne-bubbly feeling.”