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“Well, as you know, my pheromones are trying to drown you in my scent to keep you close to me.”

“It’s working,” I confessed.

“Which is what I’m after.” He gave me a rakish grin and a quick waggle of his eyebrows.

I grunted, turned away, and headed for the kitchen.

“What was that?” he asked, catching up easily and turning me around to face him.

“You know you’re charming, and you’re messing with my brain.”

“Oh? Am I?”

I scowled at him, and he bent and kissed the side of my neck. My gasp was loud as he straightened and glanced around.

“Lovely kitchen.” He nodded. “You have bowls and plates. That’s novel.”

I couldn’t help staring. “You don’t have bowls or plates?”

He shrugged. “I never eat at my place.”

“What, pray tell, is in your cabinets?”

“Pray tell,” he repeated, leaning in to kiss my nose. “You talk funny.”

I was still staring at him.

“And there’s nothing in my cabinets at—oh, you know what? There is a smell, so I might have left something in there that died.”

“I’ll look through everything tomorrow.”

“Good,” he said after a moment, leaving the kitchen. “C’mon, let’s go, make with the tour.”

I walked him out the door to my small patio and yard, and he looked around, checking everything, and when we went back inside, he locked the sliding glass door, put the wooden dowel in, tested it, then turned to me.

“I do that every night, you know.”

“Good. I’ll do it from now on.”

“Because you’ll be here every night?”

His golden eyes met mine and held. “Won’t I?”

That quickly, I was breathless. “If that’s what you want.” I barely managed to get the words out.

After a moment he said, “Good,” and walked away. I didn’t move, thinking about how different my life would be starting now.

I found him in my bedroom minutes later, taking off his sweater. The broad, muscular chest, carved abdomen, and wide shoulders were a work of art. I nearly swallowed my tongue. I couldn’t have stifled my gasp if I wanted to. He grinned wide.

“Done that show for a lot of people, have you?” I grumbled at him.

“Yes.” He took a step toward me. “Many. They’ve all had similar reactions.”

Because the man was sculpted, solid perfection.

“But… I will only strip for you from now on.”

He walked forward then.