Buck Naked Read online

  There was no time for breakfast either, but it wouldn’t have mattered if she had all the time in the world. She hadn’t wanted to bring perishables on the long move up from Florida so the only food in the house was an ancient dusty box of Count Chocula breakfast cereal and a pack of Gatorade gum. Both items looked like they had been left over from the late seventies or early eighties, which was presumably the last time the cabin had been inhabited.

  Sadie fully intended to go by the only grocery store in town—which happened to be a Piggly Wiggly—and do a full shop to stock up later. But for now, she was focused on her first day of work.

  Going to the closet, she pulled out a modest business skirt and jacket combination. It might be overkill for her first day on the job but she wanted to look nice.

  She frowned as she tried on a bra that no longer fit exactly right. Well, maybe Samantha was right and her body was just reacting favorably to her recent divorce from her ex. Maybe it was a—What did you call it? One of those things that happened to your body because of your mind? Oh right—maybe it was a psychosomatic reaction to getting away from Jeff.

  Deep down, she had doubts about that but she refused to let them bother her. After all, she was looking and feeling better—why complain? Better to just try to make a normal life and routine for herself in Cougarville.

  “No drama, no trauma, no craziness. Nothing but smooth sailing from here on out, Sadie,” she said, addressing her image in the mirror as she finished getting dressed.

  Though she didn’t know it, she had never been more wrong in her life.

  Two

  Mathis Blackwell let out an irritated growl as he stomped back to his cabin and dumped the load of firewood he’d been carrying onto the neatly stacked pile on his front porch. Goddamnit—why couldn’t he get the image of his new neighbor out of his head?

  He snorted. Like she was a real neighbor and not just a plant by Keller. The leader of the local Den was getting too fucking big for his britches lately but this was a completely unexpected tactic.

  The cabin next to his land had been vacant for years—since before he’d bought the land, built his own cabin, and moved in. It had been held in trust by some unknown person who didn’t seem likely to ever appear, which was just the way Mathis liked it. The empty cabin and nonexistent neighbor had been one of the main selling points—the reason he’d bought his property in the first place, ten years ago after his mate had died.

  Mathis winced. The thought of Kathleen was still painful, even after all this time. Remembering her was like poking a half-healed wound with a sharp stick. Some might say it was his own fault—that he never allowed the wound to heal. But his kind mated for life and he wasn’t about to forget his wife and his love for her just because she’d been gone for a while.

  Which was one reason he was so pissed off about the show his neighbor had been putting on that morning. Damn it, he didn’t need to be thinking about that when his love had died with Kathleen.

  Unbidden, his mind showed him the scene that was burned into his brain. His new neighbor’s full, lush curves and the long dark hair that fell in a rippling waterfall down to the small of her back . . . her big brown eyes . . . the way she’d been cupping her full breasts, almost like she was offering them . . .

  He shook his head, trying unsuccessfully to push the image away. This was it—the last straw. Keller had been angling for a fight for a long time, trying to find a way to annex Mathis’s land, which bordered the other Alpha’s hunting grounds. But this . . . this was a really low blow.

  Mathis had always stoically ignored the other male’s goading, no matter how Keller needled him. Bucks were patient and slow to anger, unlike the yowling Cats overrunning the town. But damn it, this was too much. Planting a Juvie in the cabin right beside Mathis’s land to antagonize him was going a step too far.

  At first he’d thought he could ignore her. And the two times she’d tried to speak to him, that was exactly what he had done. Just turned his head and kept on walking, even when she called his name.

  Which was probably what had made her decide to put on that little “display” this morning. Just remembering it made his cock throb angrily in his jeans, like a clenched fist.

  Probably wasn’t her idea. Keller probably put her up to it.

  The little Juvie had probably told the other Alpha she was getting nowhere with Mathis, so Keller had told her to step up her game. Hence the little peep show, just at the time when he gathered firewood every morning.

  The timing couldn’t have been worse. It was only days until the full moon and worse, it was early autumn.

  Rutting season.

  Well, it’s not going to work. With angry movements, Mathis stripped off his jacket and stomped to clean his boots before walking into the snug bachelor cabin he’d built with his own hands. I don’t care how gorgeous she is—no fuckin’ Juvie is gonna mess with my head.

  He walked through the living room and kitchen and headed straight for the bathroom with its huge soaking tub and stone walls. The tub in particular came in handy. Nights when he changed were always strenuous—Shifting was painful and hard on the muscles. Come sunrise after he cantered home, he liked to draw a steaming hot bath and soak until he felt like himself again.

  But it wasn’t a bath he was after now. Going to the medicine cabinet, Mathis opened it and took out a brown bottle half filled with gel capsules containing a green and brown powder. He dry swallowed one and then, after considering a moment, took another.

  There—that should take care of business.

  He leaned against the sink and waited for the anti-rut meds to work. Fiona ShadowTree, Cougarville’s resident pharmacist slash medicine woman, made them in her compounding pharmacy over on Main Street. The woman was half Irish, half Cherokee, and all witch, if you believed the rumors.

  Mathis didn’t. Fiona might be a little mysterious at times but she was a damn fine pharmacist—the meds she’d made him had never failed. Not in the ten years since his Kathleen had died had he gone into rut. And he didn’t intend to break his record now.

  Unfortunately, his cock had other ideas. An hour later, it was still hard, distracting him from the work he was trying to do on the latest project in his woodworking studio. It was a custom-built rocking chair and the order was due soon—he had to get it done. But his damn libido kept distracting him.

  Mathis laid down his tools and stared at his crotch, frowning. Fiona’s medicine had never failed him before. In fact, it usually took only about ten minutes to work. What the hell was going on?

  He went back to the medicine chest and looked at the plain brown bottle. Well, these were left over from last season. Maybe they’d lost their effectiveness.

  Only that had never happened before. What if they weren’t going to work this time? Fiona had warned him repeatedly about flouting the will of Lady Moon but Mathis had always ignored her—he didn’t believe in that mystical mumbo jumbo. Sure, a lot of Shifters believed there was a higher power—usually connected to the moon—that watched over them but he’d never seen any evidence of such an entity.

  If there was a Lady Moon, where had she been when his Kathleen got sick? When the doctors couldn’t save her? Where was the miracle he’d begged and prayed for? The moment his mate had died, any faith he’d ever had had died with her.

  And I’m not going to start being superstitious now. Mathis shoved the pills back. It’s that damn Juvie—she’s the reason I’m having this fucking problem.

  He thought of her again—her firm, high breasts and long brown hair. And most of all, the enticing scent that wafted from her cabin to his, calling to him like a genie let out of its bottle, promising to grant his every sexual wish. God, it was fucking indecent the way she paraded around, letting her scent out in public like that. And it was only getting worse—stronger as the full moon got nearer.

  It was enough to drive any male crazy, and it was all Keller’s fault.

  Well, if it didn’t let up, Keller was going to