"What are you doing run ning around naked? Are you some kind of pervert?" she cried at last.
He shrugged with casual nonchalance. "That would depend on your definition of a pervert," he said wisely. "I never thought so. The human body is a beautiful thing. Don't you agree?"
"Oh, no." She stuck out a warning hand, afraid he was going to drop the towel and show her just what he meant right here and now.
Not that she didn't agree with him. The human body-especially the one before her at this moment-was most certainly something to behold. The man must work out with weights and swim a couple of miles a day, she decided.
"No, no, no," she continued quickly. "I do agree that the human body is a beautiful thing, but I've already seen one, thank you."
"Then you know what I mean," he said. His eyes were laughing at her, and that was making her even more fu rious.
She wouldn't allow herself to smile in return.
"Why?" she snapped out, nodding at his condition.
"The usual reason," he returned. "I was taking a shower."
"Oh?" His hair was wet, but she was suspicious.
"You're out of soap," he went on. "I was searching your kitchen-"
"I stock my soap in the hanging rack beside the shower," she told him evenly.
"Oh." For just a second, he was nonplussed. "I didn't look there." His crooked grin asked for forbearance. "Next time I'll know."
"Who says there's going to be a next time?"
He was finally beginning to realize she was really upset. "What are you so angry about?" he asked, truly puzzled. "Just because your neighbors saw me like this?"
"That's only part of it," she snapped.
"Okay. What's the rest?"
She glared at him. She couldn't possibly tell him that his incredibly rugged physique was disturbing her, that it scared her to feel this way about a man she hardly knew, a man she'd hired to live with her. Instead of answering, she gave him her cold look, the one she reserved for employ ees who were about to be fired.
"Get rid of that ridicu lous towel and put some clothes on," she ordered frostily.
Ross didn't like being ordered. His blue eyes flashed re turning fire as he glared for just a moment.
"Fine," he said sharply. "Anything you say."
Turning crisply, he snapped the towel off, letting it fly across the room. He was completely naked as he walked away from her.
"Oh!" she cried, itching to throw something at him. But she didn't look away until he'd disappeared into the bath room.
And then she looked at her apartment. She'd given Ross a free hand in redecorating. She'd assumed he would bring in a few new throw rugs and pictures for the walls, a pot ted plant or two. Instead, he'd completely gutted her apartment. What she saw staggered her. It was moments before she could speak.