Protestations arose-until the last of what she'd said finally sank in. "Relocate?" He strangled on the word.

Bra.s.siness returning, she grinned and patted his jaw. "Yup. I quit my job, dumped a guy, and canceled the lease on my apartment. I'm moving into your neck of the woods."

Lucius clutched his heart. He pretended dread, when really all he cared about was that she'd rid herself of his compet.i.tion. She didn't need any old flames-not when he intended to be her new love.

Yeah, she claimed to be uninterested. But he'd change her mind about that. How, he didn't know, but he'd make it happen. He had to.

Because deep down, he knew he'd fallen in love with her from day one. Now he had to work on keeping her around...forever.

Twenty minutes later, Lucius should have been dead asleep. Exhaustion dragged at him, but instead of nodding off, he thought about Bethany sleeping in the bedroom just a few feet away.

Had she skinned off those jeans again, so that she wore only the shirt and s.e.xy panties? Was she thinking about him? His stomach tightened at the thought.

She'd be warm. And soft.

And probably grouchy, but he could live with that. h.e.l.l, after so many fawning women, her grouchiness turned him on.

Frustrated on several levels, he put an arm over his eyes and groaned raggedly. He might be tired, but the old John Henry was wide awake.

A moment later, the bedroom door opened, startling him. He dropped his arm and rose to one elbow to stare at Bethany.

For endless seconds, they watched each other.

Finally, she asked, "What are you groaning about?"

Not bothering to censor his thoughts, he said, "I'm h.o.r.n.y."

Her gaze dipped down his body to where a b.o.n.e.r tented the sheet. She did some serious staring.

He got a little harder.

"Oh," she finally said.

He groaned again. "Your sister must be a s.a.d.i.s.t. She had to know how I'd react to all this."

"This?"

"You. The proximity of you. My thoughts of you. My l.u.s.ting for you."

She touched her mouth with one hand and shook her head. "No, she's not real clued in to guys."

"But you are?"

She laughed, but with hurt, not humor. "No, I'm worse than she is."

"Because some idiot boyfriend did you wrong?"

One shoulder lifted.

"The guy you dumped to come here?"

"He wasn't even really a boyfriend, just someone I dated a few times. He wanted to use me to get to Marci. I was dumb enough to think he was interested in me. Luckily I figured out the truth early on." Her gaze remained south of his face.

"It's not going to do tricks, ya know."

"What's that?"

"My d.i.c.k." Her gaze shot up to meet his. "Sorry to disappoint you, but that's as big as it gets, and without some action from you, not much more is going to happen, no matter how long you stare."

She sucked in a furious, embarra.s.sed breath while turning bright red-hot. "You're..."

"Really turned on. And sort of p.i.s.sed at this jerk who misled you. And a little worried about Hero. But yeah, mostly turned on."

She looked around, probably for something to throw at him.

Lucius took pity on her. "Go back to bed, Bethany. I'll try to suffer in silence."

"Good idea."

What, his suffering? Before she could shut the door, Lucius said, "But Bethany?"

She kept her back to him. "What?"

"I won't ever lie to you. You'll always know exactly what I'm thinking-"

"Which is part of the problem!"

"-and exactly who I'm interested in."

She hesitated, her back rigid, her breathing deep. Then she gave one quick nod and muttered, "Thanks."

"My pleasure, and yours if you ever decide you're interested."

This time, Bethany groaned. She started to walk away, but hesitated. "Lucius?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm far from disappointed."

"Is that right?"

She cleared her throat. "If you were any bigger, well...Never mind." She dashed inside the bedroom and closed the door with a firm click.

A few seconds later, smiling from ear to ear, Lucius settled back down on the couch. He'd only been teasing her about being disappointed. h.e.l.l, he knew he wasn't lacking in that area-but it was cute that she wanted to rea.s.sure him.

He chuckled, and despite his state of unrelieved arousal, fell into a deep sleep that led to erotic dreams. Of Bethany.

Three.

Lucius awoke with a pounding head and a lot of disorientation. His legs were cramped, his right arm numb from hanging over the edge of a cushion, and the silence in the apartment sounded louder than a gun blast.

A squinty-eyed glimpse at the clock showed it to be dinnertime, which maybe explained why his stomach rumbled in demand for nourishment.

Where had Bethany gotten off to?

How was Hero?

Did Marci have any pants on yet?

Funny that the image of a beautiful woman in her panties was his last thought and not his first.

He sat up, listened, but the apartment was definitely empty. To be on the safe side, he stood, stretched, then retrieved his pager and phone from the pockets of his jeans.

Normally he slept in the nude, but given the circ.u.mstances, he'd left on loose shorts, so he clipped both devices to the waistband. SWAT could get a call-out at any time, so he went nowhere, not even on his off days, without the phone, pager, and everything else that might be needed.

His pickup truck had a lockable hardtop tonneau cover on it. In the bed of his truck, he stored several thousand dollars worth of equipment that included anything he might need on a run, from camouflage BDU uniforms to two large bags of tactical and sniper gear, and a variety of ammunitions.

Being the cautious sort, Lucius wanted to make sure he was alone. He snuck toward the bedroom and peeked inside. The neatly made bed proved that Bethany was long gone, and that he'd slept like the dead. How the h.e.l.l had she tiptoed out around him, without him hearing her?

Had she paused to look at him? Had he snored? Had he enticed or repelled her?

He ran a hand over his rumpled hair and laughed. G.o.d, he was worse than a woman with all his fretting. Enough, already.

Still groggy, he made use of the bathroom, then splashed his face and rinsed his mouth. He'd kill for coffee, but the carafe sat cold and empty, and he wanted to find Bethany more than he needed the caffeine kick.

Wearing only the loose drawstring shorts with his phone and pager, he opened the door to head for his apartment-and faltered.

What the h.e.l.l? Even through the closed door, he could hear music and laughter. Were they having a party without him? At his place?

Annoyance rose, until he remembered that Marci, who worked as an aerobics instructor, gave free cla.s.ses to the other tenants once a week.

Usually they gathered in her living room, but since he'd sacked out on her couch, he supposed he should be grateful that they'd chosen his living room instead.

Regardless of Bethany's accusations, he hadn't deliberately rented only to women. At least, not consciously. But he was a sucker for a woman with a hard-luck story, and in his line of work, he saw a lot of women burdened with the s.h.i.ttiest luck imaginable.

Fifty-year-old Esther owned a boutique. Now. But when he'd met her, she'd just left a long-term abusive marriage that ended with a threat deadly enough to warrant SWAT. It had taken almost a year of adjustment before Esther really started to live it up. Then she dyed her graying hair black to match her dark eyes and she started dancing again. The boutique she bought afforded her just enough cash flow to handle Lucius's cheap rent in the less-than-quality neighborhood.

Amanda, with her red hair and rhinestone-studded gla.s.ses, epitomized his vision of a forty-year-old barmaid. He'd met her during a holdup.

Devine was a beautiful brunette dancer in her early thirties who'd been taken hostage by a stalker who claimed to "love" her.

And twenty-three-year-old, ebony-skinned Tyra was a student/waitress who'd been in cla.s.s when an escaped fugitive tried to use the college as a negotiating point.

Through tragic circ.u.mstances, he'd met all the women and learned of their financial, personal, and professional troubles. Naturally, he did what he could.

They all lived on very fixed or limited incomes. They were all without family support. They each worked hard just to stay afloat.

Originally, he'd planned to rent out all six units in the building. But then the women grew on him. He liked their quirky personalities and respected their gumption. Since he enjoyed doing repairs on the old building himself, and because he figured they could use a man around to keep an eye on things, he took up the sixth unit himself.

The arrangement worked.

The ladies paid their rent, sometimes cooked him dinner, and all in all, added joy to his life.

Well, except that they liked to play games with his name, calling him Luscious and making cracks about what type of "rider" he'd be.

From Tyra to Esther, they came on to him in a teasing, hope-to-make-him-blush way. But he just wasn't the blushing sort. He couldn't recall the last time he'd gotten honestly embarra.s.sed about anything. He adored women and their antics. Anything they dished out, he took with glee, and he always gave back as good as he got.

Curious, Lucius stuck his head inside the entry door. With the loud music and physical gyrations of the aerobics, no one noticed him. Women of all ages and wardrobe preferences littered his home. Marci, dressed in a white leotard, faced the rest of them, dancing this way and that while smiling about something. Esther stood up front and center in a flowing caftan, with Amanda and Devine close behind her, wearing colorful sweats. They were all chuckling. Tyra, in shorts and a crop top, was bent double in laughter.

Hero took up half his couch, napping during the confusion.

Where was Bethany?

Marci said, "You see, Bethany?" proving that she was somewhere in the room, just out of sight. "Men aren't all jerks. They do have their uses." The women raucously agreed.

Lucius leaned on the wall and prepared to be educated.

"s.e.x without them is just not the same."

s.e.x?

Esther said, "My favorite part is kisses on the neck." She ran her fingers up the side of her throat with a l.u.s.ty sigh. "What about you, Tyra?"

Lucius blanched. They were talking about their favorite parts of lovemaking? Oh, h.e.l.l. He wasn't at all sure he wanted to hear this.

"Let me tell you, honey," Tyra said, "far as I'm concerned, s.e.x is overrated."

From somewhere on the other side of the room, Bethany said, "Hear, hear."

Lucius forgot about fleeing. Bethany didn't like s.e.x? Why the h.e.l.l not?

"But I enjoy the cuddling," Tyra continued. "Men are just so big and warm."

"And deceiving," Bethany grumbled.

"Not all of them," Marci insisted.

"I like to be swept away." Amanda threw out her arms while navigating a step. "Pa.s.sion, pa.s.sion, pa.s.sion!"

"Pa.s.sion's nice," Marci agreed. She took everyone through a few vigorous steps. "But love is better. You can tell he's in love by the way he looks at you." She paused to shiver. "That's my favorite part. Right before you're actually intimate, and he looks so possessive and hot and in love."