Is that a really big kitty in Cooley's suburban back yard...or a new way of looking at the world? Miss Nicola Johansen, otherwise known as Cooley, relies on the predictability of her suburban subdivision to keep her feeling safe. When she spies a black panther slinking along her back fence in the wee hours of the morning, her comfortable life is shaken like a maraca. Repeated calls to the cops result in an investigation, and a finger of blame gets pointed at the mysterious man who lives in 2201 down the street. Like the fact his yard is a disgrace wasn't enough reason to suspect that man of nefarious dealings—the animal pens behind his house are the clincher. But what happens when Cooley finds out the mysterious man isn't quite the scofflaw she assumed? What happens when she finds out he's absolutely...magnetic? Originally in "Sum3: The 2006 Zircon Anthology Of Speculative Romance"