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  “Come on, dear—don’t be shy,” Fiona urged, beckoning to Sadie again. “We’re all friends here—we want to get a good look at you.”

  “Thank you.” Sadie glanced at Mathis uncertainly and finally came forward.

  Mathis glared back at her, remembering exactly how good a look he’d gotten at her that morning. The memory of her lush naked curves and dark pink nipples made his cock throb again and he had to bite back a muffled curse as it pressed insistently against the denim of his jeans.

  “So where are you from, Sadie?” Fiona asked, her many silver bangles jingling musically as she held out a hand.

  “Tampa originally.” Sadie shook with her. “But I live here now—I opened up an accounting firm just a few doors down from you. Well . . .” She laughed self-deprecatingly. A soft, feminine sound Mathis couldn’t help liking even though he didn’t want to. “I say ‘firm’ but it’s really just me. I’m a CPA.”

  “Is that right?” Fiona nodded thoughtfully. “Well we could use someone like you in this town. I can’t speak for Mathis here, but my own books are in an awful snarl.”

  “Really?” Sadie leaned forward eagerly, her long hair brushing against Mathis’s arm, sending another surge of desire through him. “Because I’m good at untangling snarled books. I used to do all the accounting for my husband’s business. Uh . . .” She stopped, the eager expression leaving her face. “I mean my ex-husband.”

  “You two had a parting of the ways, did you, my dear?” Fiona tsked sympathetically. “A pity. But as Lady Moon wills beginnings, so too, does she will endings.”

  “Um . . . sure.” Sadie was looking uncertain again.

  “And I see that she has willed a beginning here—I’m sure we’re all going to be great friends.” Fiona gave her a warm smile.

  “Well thank you.” Sadie smiled back, just as warmly. When Fiona looked at you that way, it was hard not to respond, Mathis knew. “But I really didn’t mean to interrupt. I should probably get going.”

  “Nonsense, my dear. Why, Mathis here was just consulting me about his special pills.” Fiona tapped the bottle of green-and-brown anti-rut pills with one shapely fingernail. “They usually help him a lot but just now they don’t seem to be working—isn’t that what you were saying, darling?”

  She looked at Mathis who shifted uncomfortably.

  “You said you’d make me a new batch,” he growled. “I think those have lost their, uh, usefulness.”

  “I’ll do my best but I can’t promise anything,” Fiona said. “So tell me, Sadie—you say you’ve just had an ending with your husband—how old are you anyway?”

  It was a question Mathis would never have asked a female—some of them could be so touchy about things like age and weight. But Fiona made it sound perfectly natural.

  Sadie flushed but answered readily enough.

  “I just turned forty. In fact, today is my birthday.”

  “Well, many happy returns, my dear!” Fiona smiled and gave Mathis a meaningful look before turning back to Sadie. “And tell me, when was the last time you and your husband were intimate?”

  “Excuse me?” Sadie’s eyes widened and she darted a sidelong glance at Mathis who was still standing there, feeling like he couldn’t leave for some damn reason. It was just because his business with Fiona wasn’t finished, he told himself. It had nothing to do with the irritating little Juvie and her bewitching scent.

  “I mean when did you last have sexual relations?” Fiona clarified her question.

  Again, it was a question no one else could have asked and gotten away with. But Fiona made it sound so natural—so innocent.

  This time, however, Sadie seemed at a loss for words. She just stood there, her cheeks extremely pink. Almost as pink as they’d been when he had seen her naked that morning, Mathis thought, and then tried unsuccessfully to banish the enticing mental image.

  “Just tell me this, my dear—has it been at least six months since you had relations with a male who claimed you as his own?” Fiona asked.

  “Um . . . yeah. Yes, I guess so.” Sadie’s voice was nearly a whisper.

  “At least six months . . .” Fiona leaned forward, eyeing her with even greater interest. “Well isn’t that something?”

  “I guess it is.” Sadie looked like she had no idea what to say to extricate herself from the awkward conversation.

  Mathis had a flash of pity for her—Fiona was wonderful but when she got going on you, it wasn’t uncommon to feel like you’d been run over by a steamroller. He wished briefly that he was a different kind of male—charming and suave like Keller or funny like Reese Cooper who ran Fox’s Auto Body. Someone like that would have been able to think of something witty to say to break the tension. But Mathis wasn’t like that—or he hadn’t been since Kathleen had died, anyway.

  The memory of his lost mate brought him up short. Why was he having pity for this female when she’d been nothing but a thorn in his side since the moment she moved to Cougarville? He glowered at her again.

  “Well, Sadie, my dear,” Fiona said, apparently willing to keep up the conversation on her own, despite the awkward pause. “Tell me something else. Do you—”

  “I don’t mean to interrupt,” Sadie said quickly. “But I really should be going.”

  Fiona opened her dark eyes wide. “But why, my dear? You just got here.”

  “Well, I . . . I . . .” Sadie seemed at a loss for words. Then she took a deep breath and straightened her shoulders. “I only have an hour for lunch and I want to explore as much of my new town as I can. And meet my new neighbors. Speaking of which . . .” She turned to Mathis and a determined look came over her lovely face. “Before I go, you’re Mathis Blackwell—correct?”

  “Yeah, that’s me.” Mathis heard the growl in his voice and didn’t care if she did too. This little Juvie had been tormenting him from the moment she moved in—and she was still at it. Her scent was making him want her so badly he felt like he was going to crawl right out of his skin and she just stood there like it was no big deal to torment a male that way.

  “Why, Mathis—you never told me you had a new neighbor.” Fiona looked at him accusingly.

  “Yup—I moved in beside him a little while ago.” Sadie nodded. “But we’ve never been, um, formally introduced. Until now, I guess.” She held out a hand. “I just want to say I’m sorry about any . . . misunderstandings. I really am pleased to meet you.”

  Mathis glared at her small hand, keeping his own clenched into fists at his sides. Damn it, he didn’t want to touch her—not even to shake her hand. It would make everything exponentially worse if he did.

  “Mathis, where are your manners?” Fiona scolded. “Take the lady’s hand.”

  When the wise woman turned the full force of her large dark eyes on him Mathis knew he couldn’t refuse. Unwillingly, he extended his own large, hard, work-rough hand and enclosed Sadie’s delicate cool one.

  A surge like a bolt of lightning went through him—an electrical rush of lust so overwhelming he nearly came in his pants like a horny teenager.

  “Oh!” Sadie gasped. Her big brown eyes—doe eyes, he couldn’t help thinking—went wide with shock and she nearly collapsed. In fact, she might have fallen right on the pharmacy floor if Mathis hadn’t reached out and grabbed her upper arm, hauling her to her feet before ripping his hand away from hers.

  “What . . . ?” She looked at him, her face stunned. “What did you—”

  “Gotta go,” he growled, heading for the door.

  “Mathis, darling—don’t forget your special pills,” Fiona called, tapping one shapely fingernail on the high pharmacy counter.

  He shook his head. “Forget it. They don’t work anyway.”

  “I’ll make you a new batch like I promised and bring them over,” she called, but he was already out the door, the bell jingling angrily behind him.

  Four

  Sadie wobbled on her feet, feeling like her knees were made of spaghetti. What the hell just happened