She hopped off the stool and disappeared. Pandora got a pan out and was headed to the pantry for the box of mac-n-cheese when her doorbell rang. She opened it and found a tall, sweaty, scruffy stranger with the most piercing black eyes she’d ever seen. He was dressed almost exactly like her. Basketball shorts and a tank top.

Except his looked really, really good on him.

Cole wasn’t one to be swayed by a woman’s looks, but he hadn’t expected Venus on the Half Shell to answer the door. It took an exceptional amount of fortitude not to stare directly at the prodigious cleavage on display. He said a quick prayer of thanks to whatever universal force had convinced the woman before him that her tank top wasn’t a size too small.

He focused on the reason he was here. “I’m sorry to bother you, but I think my daughter’s here.”

Her pretty green eyes narrowed, and she crossed her arms beneath her breasts, turning the cleavage valley into a bona fide fault line. “And you are?”

“Sorry. Cole Van Zant. My daughter’s name is Kaley.” He stuck his hand out.

She stared at it, but didn’t uncross her arms.

He pulled it back, realizing how sweaty he was from his run. “Sorry. So is Kaley here?”

“There’s no one here by that name. I’m Pandora.”

Of course she was. He could imagine her being responsible for unleashing all kinds of trouble into the world with that wild red hair and those amazing—he cleared his throat and wiped his hand on his shorts. “Nice to meet you, Pandora. Any chance you’ve seen a teenage girl in the area?”

A fat orange cat sat by Pandora’s feet. He’d never been a cat person. They always looked at you like you could be dinner. This one was no exception. “What makes you think she’s here?”

He pulled his phone out of his pocket and held it up. “I have a tracking app installed on her phone. She wasn’t home when I got back from my run, so I checked it and it directed me here.”

“Hmph.”

At that moment, a familiar voice reached his ears. “Hey, Pandora, do you need any help with…” Kaley strolled out from the hallway and came to a sudden stop behind Pandora.

He looked at her. Then back at Pandora. “Any reason why you didn’t want to tell me my daughter was here?”

The cat had walked out onto the front porch and was now winding around his legs. He cut his eyes at it, just to make sure it wasn’t doing anything nefarious.

“You said your daughter’s name is Kaley.” Pandora tipped her head back at Kaley. “Her name is Starla.”

“She might have told you that, but her name is definitely Kaley.” Cole frowned and looked at his daughter. “Get your backpack. We’re going home.”

“No.” Kaley crossed her arms like Pandora.

“Kaley. This isn’t your house.” He looked at Pandora. “I’m sorry for this.”

“Seems to me you brought some of it on yourself.”

Most of the tension he’d lost by going for a run was back. He rubbed the stubble on his chin. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Pandora shrugged. “You kicked her out. And you didn’t answer her phone call.”

“I did neither of those things.” Something wet and rough touched his ankle. He jerked back as he glanced down. “Your cat just licked me.”

“You’ll live.” Pandora spoke to Kaley without turning around. “Did he kick you out?”

“He doesn’t even believe in witches.” Kaley put on her best the-world-is-out-to-get-me face. “And I might have dialed the wrong number.”

Cole did his best to ignore the cat as he exhaled a hard sigh. Now his neighbors, however temporary, were going to think his kid was crazy. “Kaley, we talked about this. I don’t care what your mother says, there’s no such thing as witches and you are not one. Now it’s time to go home.”

Pandora twisted to face Kaley, giving Cole a chance to sneak a peek at her very nice backside. Her voice came out in a much more serious tone that, this time, wasn’t aimed at him. “I thought your mother was dead.”

Kaley wrapped a strand of hair around her finger. “Well, she’s kind of dead. I mean, like, I never see her, so…”

Pandora let out a long sigh and came back around to face Cole. She looked up at him through her lashes, her mouth set in a perturbed line. “Seems I was fed a little story. You’re probably completely pro-witch, too, right?”

Cole laughed. “Oh, no, she’s right about that part. The whole witch thing is complete BS.”

Her arms went back to being crossed. “Don’t you think it’s important to support your daughter in whatever lifestyle she chooses to live?”

“I…what? Ow!” The cat had bitten him. Kaley was smirking. Cole had had enough. He wanted to take a shower, not discuss his parenting with a stranger and her carnivorous cat. A smoking-hot stranger, but still. Why were all the hot women he met also loony?

Pandora scooped up the cat. “Pumpkin, you can’t eat the neighbors.” She looked at Cole. “Sorry.”

He nodded tersely, ready to be home. “Kaley. Backpack. Now.”

Kaley rolled her eyes. How they weren’t strained, he had no idea. “So mean,” she muttered. “I swear, I will run away again if—”

“Run away again, and you’re grounded.”

“Dad, you’re being so unfair.”