“Perhaps we should have started with a smaller room, like with your bathroom,” Edie commented, searching the room for Lady Daredevil. She found her huddled by the file cabinet, pressed against the wall. She moved closer and squatted, ignoring the screaming pain in her knee, and clucked gently at the cat, outstretching her fingers.

“Can we just stick her in with Lady Cujo?” Magnus asked, coming up behind her.

“Not right away,” Edie told him. “Cats are territorial so they’d fight, and I imagine Lady D here is having to go through enough trauma at the moment.”

“Should we move her, then?”

Edie nodded. “Why don’t you sit here and hold her so she can learn your scent and I can move the litter and the food into your bathroom?”

“Why don’t I move the litter and you comfort the cat?”

She frowned. “Because she’s supposed to learn your scent if she’s going to be your cat. Scent’s very important to a blind cat. I . . .” Her voice died as he began to strip his shirt off. She got to her feet, staring. “Wh-what are you doing?”

“You can wear my scent,” he said, shrugging his button up shirt off and handing it to her. That left him in nothing but a tight-fitting tank top that showed off sculpted muscles.

Oh dear sweet lord. Wasn’t the man supposed to be a video game nerd? How was it that he was built like this? She tried not to stare, even as she clutched the shirt he handed her.

“You need help putting that on?” he teased. “I’d be happy to help you with your clothes.”

“Huh? No, I’m cool.” She shrugged it on over her own shirt, and immediately the scent of his aftershave enveloped her. Oh, damn. He smelled so good.

This was so unfair.

“You look good in my things,” he said with a grin, reaching out and straightening the collar. The action brought him close to her, and she gazed up into his handsome face. His fingers brushed against her neck, and for a moment, she thought he was going to lean in and kiss her. Press his lips to hers and claim her mouth . . .

Nope. He winked and sauntered away, and she watched his tight ass as he left the room.

So, so unfair. Wrapping his shirt around her body, she moved to sit next to Lady Daredevil again. The cat hunched its body and gave a small hiss, and it took Edie a few minutes to calm her down again, then eventually pulled her back into her lap.

By the time Magnus returned to the office, Edie was curled up on the floor with the cat tucked against her front, purring and relaxed. He’d taken longer than she’d thought. “Everything okay?”

“Just setting up things for our newest resident,” he said, and she couldn’t help but watch as he moved forward to take the cat from her. He cradled the fluffy Persian in one arm and offered his free hand to her to help her up from the floor, and Edie was surprised at how easily he hefted her up.

“Thanks,” she murmured, and dusted some of the stray cat hair off her clothes as she followed behind him. Down the stairs and into his room, and when he opened the door, she was surprised (and pleased) to see Lady Cujo curled up on his bed, as if she owned the place. “I see someone’s made herself at home.”

“Yep,” said Magnus as he headed for the adjoining bathroom. “So far, so good. We’ll get this one settled in, too, don’t you worry.”

She followed him into the bathroom, well aware at how intimate the moment felt. Bathrooms were private sorts of rooms, because you knew how organized or clean a man was by the state of his towels and the ring around his bathtub. Magnus, she was happy to see, had a clean, claw-footed tub with a nice fluffy cream-colored towel hanging from a hook nearby. Inspection: passed. Not that she was inspecting him, of course.

There was a thick, shaggy bath rug on the tile floor, and in one corner next to the toilet, he’d set up the cat litter. On the other side, food and water bowls were laid out. Against the opposite wall, Magnus set up several boxes with additional towels for the cat to hang out in.

Magnus sat down on the floor and curled his legs underneath him, still cradling the cat in his arms. Since he looked as if he was settling in, Edie sat down, too, stretching out her bad leg.

They hung out in silence for a bit, watching as Magnus set down the cat and Lady Daredevil explored tentatively. She moved a couple of feet, then returned to Magnus and rubbed her head against his leg, demanding more attention. Edie’s heart gave a little squeeze when he chuckled and picked up the cat, pulling her back into his lap and petting her again. “She’s a little monster for attention, isn’t she?”

“She probably hasn’t had any in a long time,” Edie said softly.

He scratched under the cat’s fuzzy chin. “Don’t say things like that. You’ll break my manly heart.”

“It’s just the reality of shelter cats. Some zoom out the door right away and some never find another home. They’re too old, or not cute enough, or they’re unfriendly when someone shows up to adopt a cat, and it’s a death sentence for them.”

“And so you try to rescue them?” he asked.

“Just because they’re flawed doesn’t mean they don’t deserve love.”

“No one ever debated that,” Magnus said. His fingers rubbed one side of the cat’s whiskers and Lady D closed her eyes, clearly in bliss. “I think I’m pretty good at this cat-owner thing.”

“You definitely seem to have the magic touch,” Edie said, and then blushed at how that sounded.

“Just a matter of giving a lady the right kind of attention,” he murmured, his focus on the cat. “It’s all about making her feel comfortable with you. Once she knows what your intentions are, you can touch her however you want, wherever you want.” He ran a finger along one of the cat’s tufted ears.

“I have a feeling we’re no longer talking about cats,” Edie said dryly.

“Cats, ladies, the same rules apply. Everyone wants love and safety . . . and lots of the right stroking.”

She snorted.

“You’re uncomfortable, aren’t you?” he said, glancing up at Edie as he scratched the cat’s head.

“Oh, please.”

“No, you are. Your cheeks are bright red.”

“It’s because you’re making innuendos while petting a cat.”

“She doesn’t mind,” he said, rubbing Lady D’s head. “She knows it’s harmless talk. You, on the other hand . . .”

“Me what?” Her arms crossed over her chest and with horror, she realized she was still wearing his shirt.

“You’re all flustered.”

“I am not!”

“You are,” he said smugly. Then, in a lower voice, he added, “I like making you flustered, you know.”

Her mouth went dry.

The room got quiet between them, the tension thickening in an almost palpable way. Edie’s body tensed, her pulse pounding, and she clutched at the collar of his shirt, feeling strangely vulnerable.

“I’d like to kiss you again,” Magnus said in a soft voice. “Put my mouth on those pretty, plump lips of yours and kiss you until you’re begging for more.”

Heat scorched her cheeks, and she sucked in a breath. She couldn’t look at him, at those brilliant green eyes that seemed to see what she looked like without her clothing on. All she could do was sit and silently picture him leaning over her, kissing her. Soft, and then hard, his lips brushing against her own. Her thighs clamped together tightly.

“I can’t.”

“But you want to,” Magnus continued in that husky, seductive voice. “Don’t you?”

Her nipples pricked in response and she shivered. “I . . . I can’t kiss you yet, Magnus.”

“Why is that?”

Because Bianca knows men, and she says if I have a shot in hell at keeping you interested, I’ll play hard to get. But she couldn’t tell him that, of course. In fact, she could think of nothing to say to that, nothing that sounded clever, composed, or in control. So she mutely glared at the cat, unwilling to look Magnus in the eye. “I should call Bianca.”

Magnus straightened, the seductive look leaving his face, and her heart pounded in brief disappointment. “Don’t call her. She’s fine.”