A/N: O.K. so I said I wouldn't update until I received at least three reviews, but I can't help it, not releasing it would make me have nightmares, so here is the second and hopefully better chapter. Thanks for all the advise, ya'll!

Previously: Finally fifteen minutes pass by when her car pulled into a house Erik assumed was her own. It was a beautifully designed stone structure with white window panes and white stone. The overall house reminded him of a project he recently did. It also reminded him of his neighbor's house…

"Oh, bloody hell!"

Chapter Two

It was his neighbor's house! Next door to the mystery woman's house was Erik's two story black slated home. In some sort of a numbed state, he pulled into his driveway and sat there for a while.

The girl from the 4runner gracefully got out of the car which was now blaring Blue and Yellow by the Used. Erik almost had a stroke when he saw her never ending legs clad in black athletic shorts and her feet covered in pink Nikes. She jogged around to the trunk of the car, opened the door, and pulled out some large frames. Once she reached the inside of her house, Erik collapsed onto his steering wheel.

"Bloody hell, bloody hell, and again, bloody hell! What kind of twisted world is this?!" By this time, he was pounding his fist so viciously that his entire car started to shake. Finally, he got the courage to get out of his car and head into his house.

Who did he sell the house to? Erik's brain started to go into over drive as he was greeted by Caesar, his giant, black Great Dain.

"Hello, Caesar," said Erik in a monotone voice.

About 3 years ago Erik felt sorry for the poorly used, next-door lot and decided to build a house to accent its beautiful front lawn. Being in the skyscraper and music hall business he designed it as a side project. He loved the idea of a complete contrast to his own home, hence the white slab vs. his black. Erik sold the design to a relater and he heard a family fell in love with it. What he didn't know was that it was her family.

For the sake of his own life, Erik tried hard to remember the description of the family. He knew the father was a renowned musician, violinist I believe. He also remembered him having a fourteen year old daughter…

She was seventeen now. Erik had become obsessed with a seventeen year old girl. To his defense, she looked much more mature than seventeen years old, even with her dancing. Plus, she was only nine years his junior.

"Who the hell am I kidding, I'm 26! Nine years older! She would probably think I was some crazy, old, hideous man! Plus, I'm pretty sure it's illegal."

Maybe a nice refreshing shower would get his mind off this problem. Erik stomped up the giant stair case, passed the music room, and into his bedroom.

The room matched the rest of the house following its dark design except the additions of blood red. It was accented throughout the room on the curtains, bedspread, pillows, silk sheets, rug, and Caesar's plush, giant cushion. Then he walked into his black and silver bathroom and got into the shower.

Thirty stressful minutes later, Erik exited the bathroom with a towel around his waist flipping his ebony waves out of his face. His porcelain white mask was on his bedside table. He went to pick it up when he saw something out of the corner of his eye.

The window pressed against the right side of his bed gave him a beautiful view of the dark sky and shining moon, but something he failed to notice in the 2 years since he built the house next door was the direct view of his neighbor's bedroom.

By the lime green bedspread and the lavender futon, Erik realized it wasn't the father's room. Dear Lord, he had a perfect view of her bedroom, not to mention her bathroom off to the side.

How was he supposed to survive?! Fantastic! That's just bloody fantastic! He had the stalker trademark of the bedroom view.

Just as he started to curse himself some more, she walked into her room from her bathroom. God just had to punish him; she walked in with only her towel on and her locks dripping down her back. Her back glittered from the water droplets streaming down. What he would give to be water right now. She looked as though she were carved of flawless marble. Yes, God just had to torture Erik with this beauty to haunt and taunt him. Erik couldn't move from the waist up; some things just couldn't be paralyzed in moments like this.

When she walked back into the bathroom to change, Erik got the opportunity to regain his sanity seeing as the blinds to her bathroom were closed. As quickly as humanly possible, he closed his own blinds to avoid temptation a second time. To make sure he didn't take a peek, Erik even went down to his garage to find duck tape to tape the blinds to the wall. It was going to be a long night…

Morning finally came. Erik had been counting down since midnight. It was now 6 a.m. and he still hadn't gotten any sleep. Once he would close his eyes all Erik could see was his neighbor in a towel dripping wet. Through the night he had taken 3 cold showers, did 200 pushups, and watched about 5 different infomercials. When did this hell end?!

Erik grabbed his mask, walked down the steps to the kitchen and made breakfast for Caesar and himself. Food really took his mind off of his problem and after he had finished his meal, he became drowsy. His last conscious thought was 'Why did I think of this last night?' as he fell asleep on the couch.

Ding dong

"Where's my gun!" Erik woke with a start and a sleepy slur of words as his door bell woke him up.

Groggily, Erik yelled, "Just a minute!" as he pulled himself off the couch. Looking over at his oven clock, it read 11:00 a.m. At least he got five hours of sleep.

Finally reaching the door, he turned off his alarm, unlocked the two different locks, and pulled on the handle.

Erik didn't really know who to expect, the only people that usually came over were Nadir or his assistant. He assumed it was the UPS guy or FedEx. Who it really was, however, almost sent him into cardiac arrest.

"Hi! My name's Christine Darly." Oh – My – God! "I just moved in next door about a month ago and we're throwing a block party sort of thing this weekend. I'm here to give you an invitation," she said handing him a white envelope.

It was all he could do to keep his jaw from dropping and his mouth from drooling. She wasn't dressed in anything special, just a T-shirt and shorts, but God was she perfect.

Christine was utterly shocked, even though her presence seemed completely natural. She had her dad to thank for that.

Adonis, clad in only flannel pajama bottoms, was standing a foot away from her! Geez, had she ever seen a more beautiful man?! He towered over her 5' 8" frame standing at about 6' 5" with a body only male models could hope to achieve, and his black hair shagged a little over his eyes and the back of his neck. His eyes were a mesmerizing gold luring her to him. What caught her off guard was the mask covering the left side of his face, it was really mysterious. Who was this guy and why hadn't she seen him?

The girl of his dreams, now known as Christine, was standing in his door way. From this distance, he could see her blazing green eyes in the sun. His heart was in his ears and the sound was throwing him off course. What should he do? Invite her in? Maybe you should put a shirt on, you idiot. After a minute he realized he hadn't said anything and broke the silence.

"Oh, hi, my name is uhh- Erik, Erik Desmond. Nice to meet you." Erik held out his hand for her to shake. She wasn't expecting him to be British. When she clasped his hand, it took all of Christine's control not to gasp at the electricity.

"Diddo." They were still holding hands and the distance between them grew thicker by the second. "Well, can we expect to see you at the party? It's on Saturday at seven, but it's on the card if you forget." Now, you're babbling, Christine.

"Of course. I'll be there on Saturday at seven o'clock sharp." He gave her a nervous smile, reluctantly let go of her hand, and started to slowly back away.

"O.K., see you Saturday." She added mirroring his movements.

"At seven o'clock." He said as he waved.

"Bubye!" she said and turned to go to the next house.

"Bye." Immediately after Erik shut his front door, blackness clouded his vision, and stumbled through his house to find a place to sit. When he took his place at the kitchen table, he sunk his head into his hands and started to talk to Caesar.

"That was too much, too much to handle. I think I just may as well go mad. What is it about her that makes me act like a blubbering idiot? I'm fine with all of the women at the company and any other women I converse with, but when it comes to Christine, the world stops and I seem to fall off! What am I going to do, Caesar?" The dog's only response was tilting his head to the side questioningly. "See, she has me talking to the dog."

Thinking back on their meeting, Erik tried to remember the words involved in the conversation. He recollected agreeing to something on Saturday at seven. Then he looked at the white envelope in his right hand and threw it across the table as if it burned his hand.

"There is no way on God's green earth that I, Erik Desmond, am going to a block party!" Erik's nightmare had come true: he had agreed to accept an invitation to a party. What would he do?! But the thought that Christine would be there caused a strange sensation to develop in his brain. He wished to go to the party. Anything to see Christine was a good excuse. He would go to the party and enjoy it! Or rather, enjoy Christine.

This woman was seriously taking a toll on his personal life, and it had only been less than twenty-four hours! This was going to be a long and interesting summer.

Hope you liked it! R & R!!!!

Christine: Yes, please review! I'm dying to see Erik Adonis Desmond again!!!