“How do you know my name?” And how did he know about Fridays at Faith’s? She stalled, trying to think of a way out of this mess. It was one thing to fantasize about doing a guy this hot, but another to actually do it. Should she apologize nicely, flirt, or maybe offer some kind of financial restitution?

He smiled, a lazy grin that widened as he glanced from her eyes to her mouth, and lingered over her breasts. “I know a lot about you, Hailey. I know you used to live in Abberwick before you moved across town. I know you’re good friends with Faith and your three other pals, the women who hang around Friday nights watching me.”

She flushed at the accusation in his tone. “If you didn’t want to be watched, you should have closed the curtains.” A pitiful defense, but it was all she had.

“Tsk, tsk.” He shook his head. “Never admit to the crime. And especially not to your victim, unless you mean to make things right.”

His voice ended on a husky note, and the predatory gleam in his eyes had her breathing hard. The fact that her nipples immediately knotted into beads and her panties grew damp only worried her further. It didn’t seem normal to be turned on and frightened at the same time.

“Look,” she began in a shaky voice, “I’m sorry if you think I did something you object to. You’re a good-looking man. And if I happened to glance at you a time or two through Faith’s window into your brightly lit, exposed apartment, I apologize.”

He grinned, and her heart raced like she’d run a marathon. God, why couldn’t he be an arrogant jerk with no sense of humor? Her fear faded as if it had never been there, and suddenly her sex drive shot into high gear, shocking the crap out of her.

“Hailey, you have one hell of a fire in those hot, whiskey-brown eyes.”

Sure, but have you ever looked into her eyes? Frigid bitch, resounded in her thoughts, and she wondered how Gage saw her as someone so different from the woman her coworkers saw on a daily basis.

“I think you’ve made a mistake, Mr., ah…” she paused, waiting for him to fill in the blank. When he continued to grin, his hungry gaze wandering over her body, she froze him with the look she regularly gave Eddie at work.

Unlike Eddie, however, Gage didn’t frown or glare back in disgust. His mouth quirked at the corner, and to her bemusement, she had an almost irresistible urge to kiss him there.

“My name’s Gage. And if you want to know my last name, you have to take me to dinner.”

“Take you to dinner?” she repeated blankly.

“Yeah, if you want to stay out of jail for being a Peeping Tom, and if you want to know exactly who you’ve been spying on.”

“I told you, I wasn’t spying—”

“Save it.” He held up a callused hand. “Dinner or jail? Your choice, sweetheart.”

Sweetheart? The annoyance she should have been feeling at the inappropriate pet name was smothered under another wave of lust. On his lips, the endearment sounded like a come-on. One she was all-too-willing to hear all over again.

What the hell am I doing? He’s locked me in his apartment, and now he’s blackmailing me into dinner? That or jail? Is this how he gets all his girlfriends?A glance over his superbly conditioned body made her rethink the notion. And then, to her astonishment, she found herself nodding hesitantly while her mind shrieked at her to say no.

The satisfaction on his face made her shiver. Would he look like that while making love? And why can’t I stop thinking about him naked and in bed?

“Tell you what. I’ll meet you at Kincaid’s on the corner of 8th Street, tomorrow night at six. And don’t be late.”

While she stared at him with her mouth open, her thoughts a muddle of confusion, desire and surprise, he unlocked and opened the door, and gently pulled her out into the hallway.

“Like I said, Hailey. Don’t be late, or I’ll make that police report. Have I mentioned my cousin’s on the force?” He closed the door with a sly grin, and Hailey could only stare in puzzlement.

She’d been caught by the man she ogled every Friday night. Caught and blackmailed into dinner. And she had a vague sense of happiness over the situation.

It was only as she left the complex for the nearest liquor store, where she should have been heading in the first place, that she realized she hadn’t come off as a frigid bitch for once. And she’d spoken clearly and firmly to a man who should have scared the hell out of her, but for some reason didn’t anymore. As if in a dream, she drove to the store, purchased a few bottles of wine and one of brandy, and returned to Faith’s, curious as to Sydney’s take on the matter.

The minute he shut the door in Hailey Jennison’s face, Gage Warren sagged back against it, silently groaning.

For months he’d been dying to meet her, and then she’d moved out of the damned building. By chance, he’d been working on a job a few doors down from her new place when he’d seen her and her redheaded friend entering an older home on The Hill. An inquiry online had shown him she’d purchased the quaint home herself, no other names on the listing but hers.

He’d known she wasn’t married, and after a few carefully placed questions around the complex, he’d learned she wasn’t currently dating either.

“I just forced the woman to dinner,” he said stupidly, realizing what he’d done. “Hot damn.”

He grinned widely and shucked the rest of his clothing, heading for the shower with an urge to suddenly rid himself of the day’s grime. The hard-on he’d been sporting since touching Hailey had only grown, and with some discomfort, he realized he could still smell her on his skin.

She wore some kind of perfume, nothing floral, but a sensual scent that made him think of sultry nights and slick sheets. He groaned and stepped into the shower, turning the water on cold, his dick still throbbing as he envisioned Hailey from top to bottom.

The first time he’d seen her, he’d fallen in instant lust. She had a centerfold’s body—large breasts, a trim waist, long, long legs and a firm, round ass. And her face…high cheekbones, almond-shaped amber eyes and lush lips he’d imagined time and time again wrapped around his cock.

He groaned and began soaping his body, his arousal almost painful. How was it he’d finally found a woman who interested him, and he’d had to force her into a date? The thought might have been depressing had he not caught her watching him. He smiled, aware she’d been one of his admirers from day one. Hell, that’s why he’d strutted around his apartment while being ogled by a bunch of women in the first place.

It didn’t hurt his ego that most of the women across the way were attractive. The redhead he’d seen enter Hailey’s house that day had been interesting, but not nearly as much as Hailey. A woman who looked that good should have been married, or at least attached to someone. But, from all accounts, Hailey shot down any guy stupid enough to ask her out. For that reason, he’d bided his time, encouraged she’d at least liked the look of him.

But after several months of still no contact, he decided to take matters into his own hands. Confronting her had been difficult, his surprising fear of rejection making him wonder just how the woman had gotten to him so hard, so fast. He didn’t really know much more about her than that she didn’t date, and that she was hot as hell. But something he’d seen tonight in her eyes, a shaky wariness, made him think twice, forced him to slow down when all he’d wanted was to shove her up against the wall and fuck her brains out.

He groaned at the image and finally allowed himself some relief. Grabbing his painfully hard shaft, he began pumping. His large fist clenched tight, and he found his rhythm, easily envisioning Hailey’s hand, then her mouth, wrapped around his cock. Her tongue would slide smoothly across the head, licking at the come gathering at his tip.

She’d suck him deep, stroking, unrelenting with those cherry-red lips as she played him with her seductive tongue.

And she’d be naked, her breasts round and soft and white. Her nipples would be stiff, arousal flushing them pink as she fingered herself, as hungry for his cock as she was for climax. He panted heavily, his hand quickening as he envisioned her crying out, her orgasm intense as she sucked him harder, deeper into her mouth, then fondled his sack with her soft hands…

“Shit,” he rasped and shot hard, his orgasm intense. He closed his eyes as he came, ropy jets of come marking the blue tile. Damn, but if she was half as good as his fantasies, he’d never take another woman in his life.

As he rinsed off and toweled dry, he wondered just what it would take to penetrate the icy wall surrounding Hailey. She had a thing for his body, that he knew. But what the hell did he need to do to get her to open up to him?

He grimaced. He knew he was good in the sack. There he could persuade Hailey to give him a chance. But how to get her there? His poor rapport with the opposite sex not withstanding, he knew he came across as the rough type, less than a gentleman for sure.

But hell, he wasn’t like the twins, his older brothers. Both of them could pass for Romeo, held doors for women, and knew every which way to compliment them. He, however, did his best work with his body. His mouth had a tendency to screw up even the easiest of relationships.

Frowning, he threw on a pair of shorts and grabbed a frozen dinner from the freezer.

After nuking it nearly inedible, he wolfed down the cardboard-tasting meatloaf and gritty potatoes and decided to make it an early night. He’d worked his ass off today, nearly finishing the trim work inside their latest project. Derrick would have a hell of a time criticizing the work he’d accomplished.