to face front, he ran into a brick wall, headfirst. Wham!
He staggered backward, his head reeling. When his vision cleared, he realized the wall hadn’t been a wall at all, but a man.
A naked man.
“What the fu—”
The other guy was still flat on his naked ass, shaking his head like a dog shakes the water off his fur.
“Hey, buddy, you all right?” He reached out a hand to help the man up, and cringed. What kind of pervert ran around in the nude in a small town? Did he have some funky disease that would rub off on contact? Or had he just escaped an awkward tryst with a married woman?
Ed needn’t have worried. The man completely ignored his outstretched hand.
Out of the corner of his eyes, a flash of powdery pink flashed past his ankles. He ripped his gaze from the naked pervert to follow a ball of pink fluff skittering down the sidewalk.
He looked closer and determined the cotton candy was in actual fact a toy poodle dyed an outlandish shade of pink.
The man in front of him leaped to his bare feet and chased after the animated powder puff, shouting, “Woof!”
Ed shook his head. He must be hearing things. Had that man woofed ?
“Sport!” a female voice called out.
“Sport!” yet another feminine entreaty split his eardrums.
The yelling voices preceded the appearance of two women from the end of the street. One was wearing skin-tight biking shorts and a sports bra, and had her fiery red hair caught up in a ponytail. The other…
Holy hell.
His jaw dropped. The collision must have hit him harder than he’d thought. Suddenly, he couldn’t breathe and was seeing things. Gorgeous things.
Her hair was as black as the brand-new Mustang convertible parked in the garage at his apartment building. Her eyes were bright blue, and she had smooth, creamy skin that reminded him of a cup of pale, milky mocha. And boy was there a lot of skin showing. She wore a frothy blue baby-doll nightie. The gown did nothing to cover the lacy black string-bikini panties peeking out with every step as she raced down the street barefoot. And oh, those luscious breasts bobbed unfettered beneath the filmy fabric.
The two jogging beauties slid to a stop in front of him. Apparently, they were real, not just a figment of his imagination.
The redhead spoke first. “Did you see a do—” She didn’t get the chance to finish her sentence when the black-haired beauty jammed her elbow into her gut.
“Man. Did you see a man run by?” demanded the woman in the blue baby-doll nightie.
Interesting . Even without his usual five-mile jog and gallon of coffee, his senses were now on full alert. Standing this close to that short, sheer blue gown was doing crazy things to his gray matter and other parts of his body.
The women looked flustered. But then, one of them had a reason. Hell, she was running around in an outfit that couldn’t be licensed for public consumption in the free world.
He loved seeing her worry her full, ruby mouth, and made it a point to worry it more. “Can you describe this man?” he stalled.
The dark one squirmed. Wow , she even squirmed beautifully. If he wasn’t careful, he’d be making a tent of his jogging shorts.
The redhead jumped into the silence. “He has reddish-brown hair, brown eyes, and a body to die for.” She paused and added, “Oh, and did I mention he was naked?”
Ed let an eyebrow inch upward. “Naked?” he asked the dark-haired one. “Any particular reason a man is running around the town naked?”
The black-haired beauty’s eyes flashed, but she didn’t answer.
“We scared him,” the redhead supplied.
Since she’d asked him if he’d seen a man run by, the dark one hadn’t uttered a word.
He considered it a challenge. “Do you always run around Bayou Miste in your…black string-bikini underwear?” He trailed his gaze down her front to the dark shadow of her underwear, barely visible beneath the filmy skirt of her nightgown.
A blush started in the vicinity of her