Chapter 115: Business and Pleasure
Steph‘s POV
Ranger is red and panting. “Babe.”
“Ranger.”
I’ve never seen him this aroused and it looks a little painful.
Smack!
He grips the door frame harder and clenches his teeth. His muscles are knotted and tense, his face carefully blank. He’s been holding this position for thirty minutes, determined to allow me to explore my kinky fantasies.
Problem is, I don’t have any. I’m making this up as I go. And I like it.
I kiss the small dip between his shoulder blades and watch the goosebumps appear. My body is molded against his, my breasts in his back, my legs just on the inside of his. My fingers slide across his skin to his nipples and I tweak them, rolling them between my fingers, enjoying the hiss that escapes him. His body is all contrast, hard planes of muscle across his chest covered by smooth brown skin, a light dusting of barely curled black strands spread sparsely across. His abs are warm, no, hot and hard and they tense at my touch as I outline each one. Eight. Eight hard abs and some more muscles I can’t identify.
My fingers keep moving, down to the prize, his long thick shaft. The tuft of silky black hair at the base tickles my hands as I slowly slide my fingers up and down, my hands lubricated on each pass by the cum dripping from his slit. My pinkies brush against his balls, dangling underneath in their tight sac. I slide my fingers up and down his shaft and feel him twitch and lengthen in my hand.
“Babe.” His voice sounds strangled.
“Hmm?”
“The Columbians tortured me less.”
I laugh softly. “You said anything.”
“I’ll never make that mistake again.”
I stroke his balls, rolling them around in my hands, and I feel Ranger’s ass clench once, twice, a hiss escaping, his back tensing, his fingernails making small grooves in the door frame. I back away and his body relaxes, only to tense again. I’m watching his ass. He’s waiting.
Smack!
The twitch of his biceps is my only indication that he felt it.
Smack!
Another bicep twitch. Yeah, the riding crop won’t do. Back to basics.
I slowly kiss my way down his spine, my nose inhaling his scent, tongue darting out to lick or suck his skin as I go. I stop when I feel him react in the slightest way, so it’s a slow journey down his back. My fingers trail over his stomach again, outlining his amazing abs with my fingertips. His skin is damp with sweat and salt and I’m enjoying licking and kissing every inch I can reach. I slowly drop to my knees and kiss the dimples right above his ass. His ass tenses and I blow on it as I rub my palm flat against his head. His dick bobs up and down against my hand, almost beating it, and I grin.
“Payback’s a bitch, Babe,” he says through clenched teeth.
I see why people get into this. There’s something about dominating Ranger, even knowing he’s not tied down, that’s making me hot and wet. I kiss each of his butt cheeks then slide my thumb between the crack of his ass. I stop when I think I hear him whimper. Whimper? His muscles are rolling at my touch and I feel powerful. I have Batman at my mercy and he’s whimpering and moaning. I stroke behind his balls while my other hand grips his dick firmly and starts another slow pump, circling his head with each movement. He lets off a breath, hissing in pleasure.
“Your control is amazing.”
“Training.”
“You sure I can’t break you?”
“You’re probably the only person who can.” I rub my thumb over his slit. “Babe. Please.”
“Please what, Ranger?”
“Please,” he moans. “Please suck my dick, Babe.”
“Magic word.”
He groans. Ranger’s control is amazing but he won’t say the magic word. I remove my hand and stand up, reaching for the riding crop. I smack him again, watching his fingers bend against the door frame. I crawl between his legs and stand up in front of him, moving closer as his dick pokes my belly. I kiss him and his mouth takes over, sweeping mine and taking my breath away before I step back and eye him carefully.
I stroke his face, my finger sliding close to his mouth. His eyes are locked on my face, on my eyes, in challenge. His tongue surrounds it and he sucks gently before I tug my finger back. He moans and whimpers as I immediately stroke his dick.
“Please,” he whispers.
“Magic word.”
I get another groan. I kiss my way down his chest, spending lots of time on his already hard and pebbled nipples. My tongue outlines his abs as my fingers trail up and down his spine. I feel a drop then another and look up; Ranger is crying in frustration.
So damn stubborn.
I sink to my knees before him and blow gently, watching the moisture drip from his slit. I look up again; his eyes are dilated and wet.
“One word, Ranger, and your head’ll meet the back of my throat.” I blow on his dick and his head drops back. His toes curl and I decide to up the ante by kissing the insides of his thighs. I have no idea what I’m doing. At this point, I’m just worshiping him, his gorgeous body, his strong will. Even as stubborn as he is right now, I love him. He won’t break.
“You’re beautiful, Ranger,” I murmur softly. “So incredibly sexy.” I lick behind his knees and I see the muscles in his leg flex. “So strong.” Ankles. I hear quick breaths above me and I glance up. He’s looking down at me, naked and on my knees and front of him, and I decide to push him over the edge. “I love you, Carlos. I want to love you. Say it for me.”
I see the moment he breaks.
“Tastykake,” he chokes out. “Fuck! Tastykake, Steph!”
I grin. “Yes, Carlos.” His head hits my tonsils. Ranger groans, a sound that seems ripped from him against his will, and I’m swallowing as much of him as I can, his hands tangled in my hair and his legs shaking.
“Oh god yes, Babe, yes, more . . . More!”
I wrap my hands around the base of his dick and pump everything my mouth can’t hold. I start humming and I hear him hiss again, his breath panting and getting louder.
“Fuuuuuuuuck yes! More Babe! Oh God more!”
My hand slide around to his ass and I open my mouth and start bobbing my head. Ranger grips the door frame again and moans. I lick up and down, a delicious Ranger lollipop, then capture his balls in my mouth, first one then the other. I get both into my mouth and swirl my tongue around them, still pumping his cock.
“Oh god, Babe, suck my cock! Please! Please suck my cock!”
His voice hits a different register at the end of his plea and I smile and glance up at him. His eyes are closed and he appears to be in pain. I blow on the head, then slide my tongue around the head before sliding his dick back in my mouth and wrapping both hands around the base again. This time I suck in long strokes, pumping my hand as a counter and Ranger groans.
“Oh yeah . . .”
A flood of salty liquid hits my mouth and I start swallowing, pumping his shaft faster as he groans. I have no idea how long this orgasm lasts. Five minutes, ten minutes, it seems as if Ranger’s coming for hours. But he finally falls, limp, from my mouth. He slides down the door frame to his knees and pants, his mouth a small O, looking exhausted and sweaty. I’ve never seen Ranger look like this and I feel powerful.
I took down Batman! I made him beg! I made him beg for a Tastykake!
I eye the riding crop. I won’t ditch it yet. Maybe I’m using it wrong.
“Ranger?”
He’s still breathing hard, but he opens one eye. “Paybacks are a bitch, Babe.”
—oOo—
“I think I like BDSM,” I murmur as Ranger slides the sponge over my arms. We’re in the Jacuzzi, trying to recover.
“You like smacking my ass, I know that,” Ranger says, a smile in his voice.
“Stings?”
“A little. You’ll need to kiss it.”
I laugh. We didn’t get any sleep last night. Ranger spanked my bottom until it was red, then took me from behind. The combination of pleasure and pain was exquisite.
I can’t wait to tell Lula she was wrong. She told me to try smacking Ranger with that riding crop. Tank had enjoyed it.
I don’t want to consider that. I don’t want to consider Tank having sex. Tank is like my big brother. I don’t ever want to consider Lula and Tank having sex. Besides, Tank might fall to a riding crop but Ranger likes teasing and orgasm denial. That’s what he said I did to him. Orgasm denial. Very painful and, when I finally let him come, very powerful.
“I can’t believe you got me to beg for a Tastykake,” Ranger mutters.
I laugh. “You said no force on earth could get you to do that. I called your bluff.”
“True.” His fingers slip between my folds and he strokes for a moment. I stretch against him and open my legs wider. His left hand pinches and pulls my nipples while his right hand does wonderful things between my legs. I climax moments later, not realizing how close I already was.
“Thanks,” I murmur against his neck as he smiles.
“My pleasure.” He rubs my clit and I arc back against him. “And yours.” I feel boneless and happy. And sleepy.
Ranger pulls the stopper to the tub and climbs out. He has three red marks across his ass and I gasp. He looks around, notices my face and heads over to the mirror. He smiles the 1000W smile.
“I’m wearing boxers for the next few days.”
“Why?” I didn’t think I hit him that hard.
“If the guys see my ass, I’ll never hear the end of it.”
“I’m sorry.” Ranger’s a beautiful mocha latte and if he has red welts on his ass, I hit too hard.
“Don’t be.” He wraps a towel around his waist and grabs another for me. “Except for the whole begging-for-a-Tastykake part, I loved it.”
“I never thought of you as a submissive, Ranger.”
He smiles. “Only for you. I can play either role but I actually like submissive.”
“Why?”
“My entire life is control and power,” he murmurs, kissing me deeply. “My life is pressure and responsibility. Every so often, I like letting go and allowing myself to be dominated, to hand over power to a partner I can trust. You were a natural. You took control from the beginning.”
“I had no idea what I was doing.”
“Which made your natural talent at it even more gratifying.”
I think about what he said. “You don’t do it often, do you?”
“Hell no.”
I laugh and stand. Ranger stops smiling, his face taking on a hungry look. I stand on the bath rug and wait for him to come back with a towel. He pats my skin dry and opens his towel, pulling me closer to him.
“More interested in it now?”
“Maybe.”
“I’ll get you a manual.”
I close my eyes. “I can’t imagine what dust jacket I’d have to hide that under.”
He laughs. “I’ll buy a Kindle version. No one will ever know.”
“Thanks!”
We get dressed and head downstairs. The Beast is grumbling. He was patient earlier but he demands to be fed now! Ranger quickly whips up two omelets and I add fruit. We sit in the dining room and relax.
“Well, Babe? Am I going to get any info on my company now?”
I slide my gaze over at him. He looks eager to see how the company’s doing. “Sure. I’ll go through each branch and show you where they’re at.”
We finish breakfast and settle in the sunroom. Ranger connects my laptop to the TV and I surf into RangeWorld while he follows along on his.
I start with Atlanta, detailing the problems in each branch, what the XOs did to fix their issues, and give him my opinion of each branch. Ranger’s making notes, following along and nodding.
“This is brilliant work, Babe.” I get the 1000W smile and feel powerful again. “You’ve done a great job, a really great job.”
“Thanks.” I sit back. “I honestly love the job. It’s never the same, I haven’t worn pantyhose yet”—he laughs—”and I’ve had a chance to do something new and different. It’s like . . . It’s like having lots of skips to chase.”
“All mystery, no shooting?”
“Exactly.” Ranger shakes his head. “I had lots of mysteries but my life wasn’t in danger. No one was shooting at me, but you still got to help me.”
“When?”
“Miami. I still need you, Batman. I always will.”
—oOo—
Ranger‘s POV
Steph has no idea how good it feels to hear her tell me that. I love being the man she can count on. I always want to be the man she can count on.
I’m watching Steph’s face, the excitement and eagerness as she describes what she’s done over the past year at each location, and I’m humbled.
I don’t recognize my company.
I didn’t think I would, but she’s done a spectacular job. I finally understand fully why the guys want to keep her in that role. She’s done the job I was supposed to do and done it the way I should have done it.
As she talks about how I helped her in Miami, I realize that my decision to change my role was right. I hate being stuck inside doing paperwork and watching financials, and Steph’s good. I should be more of a “big ideas” CEO and rely on someone else, someone I trust, to dig into the details. Steph loves details. Her tenacity is what’s made her successful.
We finally have the right administrative structure in place. Question is, given what happened in San Antonio, how long can we keep it?
“So what’s next, Babe? What’s your next big idea?”
She tells me about the Charlotte and NYC reviews and the moment she says it, I’m immediately determined to be onsite for the NYC review. I’m not sure how we’ll manage it, but I’m determined to be there. Besides, I want to see Javier again, see how he’s doing and let him know he has my support.
“Javi’s beat Trenton so far this month.”
No fucking way! “Really?”
She nods and navigates to the numbers Ryan’s put up. She’s right. NYC is leading by 0.15%. “It’s a razor thin lead but they’re determined to take the crown before my visit in December. I think they’ll do it. Les helped them get Fashion Week, Jorge is grabbing anything he can, and Mack is killing the street stuff. All in all, if NYC keeps up like this, no one will catch them for years to come!”
She’s laughing and I’m looking at the numbers. The investigations group Les green-lit has more requests than they can handle. The ‘Redecorating’ team is handling requests from all over the tri-state in conjunction with Trenton. The airport-to-airport bodyguard service that was just launched has multiple demands outstanding and consulting contracts are on the rise.
I damn near don’t believe what I’m looking at.
I set the laptop to the side and slip down on the floor next to her. Time to have the difficult discussions.
“Proud of you, Babe.” I kiss her forehead and she slides closer and curls up next to me.
“Thanks, Ranger,” she says quietly. Her fingers lace with mine and I squeeze gently and feel her smile against my chest. We sit quietly, enjoying each other’s company. Her laptop goes into screen saver mode and I watch the time bounce around.
Time. Something I never have enough of and now it’s bouncing around in front of my face, almost mocking me.
I glance down at Steph. She appears to be staring out of the French doors at the inlet outside the door. It’s mid-November and quiet at Bay Head. The tourist crowds are long gone. This is almost a ghost city right now.
We sit quietly for (I check the time) 45 minutes before I decide to push on.
“Got a few things we need to discuss.”
She tenses. “What?”
“Do you intend to stay beyond this year?”
I feel her shiver at that moment. I grab the blanket on the couch and wrap it around her. The heat kicks on and I’m grateful I don’t have to get up to turn it on.
“Babe?”
She looks up at me, a frown on her face. “Do you think the guys still want me?” she asks softly.
I sigh mentally. “Yes, they still want you, Babe.”
“How angry are they?”
I consider a lie and discard it just as fast. “Pretty angry.” She winces. “You did tell them to go fuck themselves, Steph. They’re not going to forget that anytime soon. However, they’re trying to draw a line under it.”
“How do you guys do it?” she asks, wrapping the blanket around us both. “How do you keep a line? You’re friends who own a business together. How do you separate it out?”
I pull her closer to me. “It’s easier for us because we’re all equals in the company. Each of us owns the exact same amount, so no one man is more powerful than the others. Plus, we have our military experience to call on. I might have been the commander and the ranking man there, but I needed a team. Tank, Les and Bobby were my team. I respect each of them and I trusted them to do their jobs. I know that, with the exception of Bobby, we can all do each other’s job, but just because we can doesn’t always mean we should. Bobby’s the medic. I’m no doctor,” I state, in response to the unasked question on her face.
“Right.”
“So when we started the business, it was just like the military. We carved out roles for ourselves and stuck to them. Respect each man’s role and trust each man to do his job.”
“Skills and abilities?” she asks, smiling.
“Exactly. There’s some overlap of our roles, but we try not to step on each other’s toes.”
“Me?”
I sigh. “If we have a personal issue to discuss, we draw a line between the personal and the business. For example, the morning you had your discussion with them, we met as a group. We had an agenda for business and we handled business. After that, the guys handed me my ass.”
She twists around and looks at me in shock. “What?!”
I nod ruefully. “Yeah.” I sigh. “In short, the great job you’ve done over the past few months highlighted the fact I haven’t been doing the job for months, maybe years. The company was falling apart because I wasn’t doing what I needed to. I haven’t been paying attention like I should have.” I pull her closer to me and she straddles my lap, still looking shocked. I kiss her neck and sigh. “The guys tore me a new asshole, told me to get my head on straight and figure out what my role was going to be because they intended to offer you the job permanently.”
I look up. She’s still staring in shock.
“That sounds like business.”
I shake my head, miserable to have to admit this. “No, it was personal because it was related to our relationship, or lack thereof.” I exhale and sit back. “In short, the Trenton deficit?” She nods. “They told me they would never allow that to happen again. I handed you company assets, the cars, men and guns, and never demanded that you get training or do something to stem the losses of the branch. I handed you company assets and then took missions to cover the deficit.”
She stiffens. “Say that again.” I repeat the last sentence and watch her eyes flash.
I didn’t see it coming until too late, but I definitely feel the sting of her hand hitting my face. My face stings, then flames, as I stare at her in shock.
She put some power behind that!
[(Sigh). Here we go again.
Hey! I didn’t know she’d react like that!
Even I saw that one coming, Soldier. Basic tactics.
Well, I thought we were going for open and honest!
Yes, but not stupid!
You’re back on point, Carlos. Clearly, we can’t leave Ric on his own. No sense of tactics. That blow job addled his brains.]
“You bastard!” She stands, fuming, and I’m holding my face in shock. Fuck! My face really stings.
“What?”
“You absolute bastard! You took missions rather than tell me that my accidents were affecting the company like that!?” she screams. Fuck! Good going, Ric. I nod. She shakes her head at me and stomps out of the room, screaming angrily. “All of you are fucking liars and incompetents! BLT won’t say shit and you lie by omission!”
[BLT?
Amusing. We’ll laugh later, once we’ve patched this up. What now, Carlos?
Nothing. We sit here in embarrassment and shame until she calms down.
What?! Why?
Because you just told her that we took dangerous missions because she didn’t have her head on straight. In other words, our gutlessness is all her fault.
Oh. Shit.
Exactly. So sit there and shut up.]
I sigh and pick up my laptop. I surf through RangeWorld, waiting for her to calm down.
She comes back thirty minutes later, her face puffy and eyes bloodshot. She sinks to the floor next to me.
“How’s your face?”
Stinging. Painfully. Ask us about our pride. “Fine.” I look at her. “Again, if you’re going to get mad at people, be mad for the right reasons. Les and Bobby had no idea. They assumed I was taking them because the money was good and I believed in the mission. That’s why I take 75% of them. That’s why I took this last one, but I also took it because the payday was good enough to cover the Trenton deficit, as it was at that point, in one go.”
“Well, that clears Bobby and Les,” she mutters. “Tank?”
I breathe deep. It hurts, surprisingly. I’ll need to check and see if she broke anything.
“I think Tank started guessing the real reason a year or two ago, but he never said anything.” I look at her. “There have been a few missions he brought to my attention that he wanted to take but couldn’t because it would overlap mine.”
“And Tank watches the money,” she says, looking a combination of angry, hurt, remorseful, and embarrassed.
“Right. He saw how the budget instability was playing havoc with Trenton but he understood why. He loves you too. He wanted you alive but . . .” I shrug.
She leans her head on my shoulder. “Sorry.”
“Forgiven.”
[Seriously? We’re forgiven?
Maybe. Maybe not. But the fact that she said sorry means she’s not going to hit us anymore.
That’s good. Hitting us is a very bad idea.
That’s because you lack impulse control.
No, it’s because I’m a highly trained, highly decorated warrior whose first instinct is to strike and kill. Hitting us is a very bad idea because then we have to expend energy into tamping that impulse down and we could possibly scare the target. Her wrist was looking very snappable when she made contact.
Not ‘the target’. The woman, our woman, and you need to work on that anyway.
Remind me again of where we’re going in January? You really want to abandon all training, instincts, and survival skills before we make it back home alive?
We stand corrected, Captain. Thank you for the reminder.
Yes. Sorry. You’re right. Perhaps we should warn her not to hit?
Well, maybe don’t hit us unaware. The riding crop thing was pretty good.]
She pulls the blanket across her legs. The sun is warming this room, but it’s not quite noon. It’s still kinda cold. I strip my t-shirt off and guide her into it. It swamps her and I smile.
“I can’t believe you were taking missions because of me, Ranger.” Her face looks moments away from crying and she’s biting her lip. “Instead of just telling me to train?”
[Be careful, Ric. Answer honestly, but don’t be stupid. You know what, let me handle this.]
“I don’t believe in forcing people to do things they don’t want to do. Adults, anyway. If you wanted to get training, you’d do it because you wanted to, not because I forced you to. I told you the invitation was there. I would help you. The men would help you. You just had to agree.”
“But if I’d known—”
“Then you would have been doing it for the wrong reasons,” I state calmly. “Again, are you doing it because you want to and need to? Or are you doing it because you were forced?”
She chews on her lip. “The tracking chip again?”
“Exactly.”
We’re quiet. I’m thinking I’ll allow Carlos to handle interactions with Steph. He does a better job.
Thank you, sir.
She looks at me. “The military? The men had to follow your orders there.”
I smile. “That’s why my team was legendary. I picked men with skills and excellent reputations. I needed men who could think on their own. If I had to tell you how to do the job, you couldn’t be on my team.”
“Geez.” She snorts. “Ram,” she mutters.
“What?”
“Ram said that. As a commander, you were the best because your orders were clear and concise. He could march for days off your orders.”
[Which is why we liked Ram. Good soldier. Smart man. Sounds as if he might have been helpful.
Don’t be so sure. ‘As a commander’? What was the rest of that statement?
Good point.]
“Exactly. I refused to spoon feed the men. I told them what the target was, Les gave them the plan, and every man coordinated to get the job done. Ram had a reputation for being better than the best and it was true. He couldn’t be rushed but he always got the target. I told him what the target was and left it to him.”
“Who else in RangeMan was on your team? I know Mark was.”
“Armando, Junior, Diego, Chester Deuce—”
“Hal?”
I shake my head. “He was one of the first Trenton hires. We were looking at him to become our bomb expert when we got out of the service. When he resigned his commission, he joined us.”
She shakes her head and puts her head on my shoulder again. I lean back, pull her into my lap and rub her back as she slides her arms around me. We sit on the floor, our breaths in sync, and hold each other. The words don’t need to be said.
“You’re insane.”
“It’s been said.”
That gets a small laugh. “So the guys told you to . . . what, exactly?”
“Get a status with you. Figure out what our relationship was, if we were going to try or if we were just going to be friends.”
“And?”
I take a deep breath. “And I needed to tell you that if you left the company after this year and went back to being a solo bounty hunter, the guys will charge you for any incidents.”
I feel her take a deep breath. “Fuck.”
“Yeah.”
“I calculated that.”
“And?”
“Forty thousand?”
“Conservatively.”
She winces.
“So, I do need to know if you intend to stay.”
She’s quiet. “I want to, but if the guys are never going to forgive me—”
“They’ll forgive you. They’ll never forget.” I lean back and look her in the eyes. “Never.”
“Right.” She bites her lip. “Then I’ll stay.” She grins. “Besides, it’s mine until March anyway.”
I laugh. “Fine, but don’t kick me out of RangeWorld until I leave. I want to get caught up.”
“OK.”
“Something else you need to be aware of. We intend to start a new division. Can’t tell you anything about it until you get a security clearance, so you’ll have to sign paperwork for that.” I shift and reach for my laptop to pull up the regs. “What that means is that the government is about to start a strip search of your history.”
“What?”
I nod and point out the regs. She reads and at the end she’s shaking her head. “I won’t pass that.”
“Les plans to contact some people I know to get you a reviewer from inside the DoD. It won’t make it easier but hopefully we’ll get an answer faster. You, Candace, Ryan and Hec will all have to have one.”
“Ryan will pass,” she mumbles.
“Don’t say that so fast,” I tell her. “Tank and I passed and we have juvie convictions.”
“Military.”
“Which just goes to show. If you know the right people and can explain, you can get through.”
She sighs. “OK, what else do I need to know?”
I tell her about the plans to move the company to C status and she winces.
“You have someone to handle that?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“I hated math. Taxation was hell.”
I grin. “That’s why we have lawyers.”
“Fine.”
“How will my role change?”
“I don’t intend for it to change much. Essentially, everything you do now will stay the same. My role will change. The CCO is a new role and I’m going to lead the Core Team, work with Les on ideas he has and keep an eye on things from my level.”
She’s quiet. I’m thinking of trying to convince her to take a ‘nap’ when she shifts.
“Ranger?”
“Hmm?”
“No more lies.”
[You cannot agree to this statement.
I agree. Lies are a necessary evil. We try to avoid lying to her anyway. That’s about the best we can do.
Perhaps—
Nope. If you promise to never lie, she’ll remember that. The first time you have to lie or evade her questions for legitimate reasons, she’ll throw this back in your face. Evade this question.
(Sigh) Fine.]
I look at her. She’s serious. “I don’t lie to you, Babe.”
“You didn’t tell me the company was in trouble like it was.”
“You weren’t a RangeMan, Steph. Company business wasn’t yours to know.”
“But knowing you were doing missions to cover my incidents?” She crosses her arms. “That was my business. If I’d known, then I could have decided what I was willing to do to help. Maybe I would have accepted the training, but I might have come to work for RangeMan. I might have gotten out of bounty hunting completely. I might have done a lot of things, but you didn’t trust me enough to tell me the truth.” She crosses her arms. “You lied by omission and left me thinking you did those missions just because. You lied to me. You should’ve at least given me an option.”
[I‘m beginning to hate the word ‘option’.
Me too. Do we have a rebuttal to this?
Nope. She hit that square on the head. We were cowards.
We were not—
We were cowards, Captain. Suck it up.
We were not cowards, Carlos. Steph watched her family and friends get attacked and none of that ever convinced her to do anything to get better. She watched our men get attacked and did nothing. She whined the moment she realized taking her job meant getting trained! Remember? Telling her we did missions to cover her incidents? Do we really believe that would have done something different?
We don’t know what she would have done because we never gave her a chance! She always came through for us before. We should have chanced it. She’s right; she should have had a say. We were doing some missions just because of her. She should have known. Ergo, we were gutless. Suck it up, Ric.]
She stands, still frowning. “How am I supposed to trust you, Ranger? You tell me what you think I should know instead of what I need to know all the time.” She exhales loudly and looks at me. “This relationship? No holding back. The ‘need to know’ stuff with the company I understand, but if it’s me and you, or it affects me or you, you need to tell me. Quit hiding things from me. Allow me to make the decision.”
I nod and hold out my hands. She sinks back into my embrace and rests her forehead on mine.
“If it affects me and you, I’ll tell you. I’ll give you all the info I can.” Her eyes flash but I shake my head. “Like I did this past year with the op. I told you what you needed to know to keep yourself safe. That’ll be my standard.”
“Fine. That’s a start.”
—oOo—
Steph‘s POV
This has been an exhausting weekend. I think I’ve felt every emotion I have and I’m tired.
“Bed?”
“Sex?”
“Not even, Batman.” I feel the reverb in his chest. “I’m exhausted.”
“Fine.” Ranger slides from under me, bends over and picks me up. I rest my head against his shoulder and it’s the last thing I remember for hours.
—oOo—
“Babe?”
“Hmm?” The duvet is calling me. It’s warm and heavy, but light at the same time. I don’t want to get out of bed.
“Time to head back to Trenton.”
“Do we have to?” I whine.
“Yup. Tank is leaving tomorrow afternoon.”
“Bobby? Les? Oh, right. They’re going to Les’s parents for Thanksgiving. Is Hec’s contract done?”
“Yup. He’s now $60 million in the hole.” Ranger chuckles and I shake my head and sit up.
“Hec’s brave. How on earth is he going to pay that?”
Ranger explains. Hec’s lawyer got them to extend the term to ten years and since the guys are ‘loaning’ him the money interest free, if he pays for his share faster, it all works out. Still sounds insane to me.
“Lula said the guys were thinking of making me a partner,” I whisper. “You know, before I screwed that up.”
Ranger climbs in the bed and stares at me. “They voted to put you in the partner pipeline.”
I’m quiet. “Even after what happened?”
“They voted to do it before your confrontation.”
“So they’ll take me out.”
“Don’t count them out, Babe,” Ranger says. “Finish this year strong and show them that you’re essential. You apologized, you’ll work on repairing your relationships with them, don’t let that bring you down.”
I stare at him. “The only vote I have is yours.”
Ranger closes his eyes. “Actually, you don’t.” He opens his eyes. “Because of our relationship, I’m precluded from voting for or against you in any decisions involving you.”
My mouth drops. “So I don’t have your support either?”
“You have my support, but the most I can do is influence. I can’t vote.”
“That’s not fair!”
“It is fair, Steph.”
“How?”
He sighs. “If you have a personal stake in the outcome, you can’t vote. You’re biased. Isn’t that why Les can’t review NYC?”
I deflate. “Right.”
“So, as my girlfriend, I can’t vote on anything having to do with you.”
“So I have to bribe Hec?”
“Good luck.”
I laugh. “My partner loves me.”
“Your partner is more uncontrollable than you think,” Ranger grouses.
“You’re just mad he locked you out of the reports for a year.”
“He’ll pay for that, believe me, but pay attention.” Ranger is serious. “Hec locked me, the CEO of the company, out of the system. Hec does what he wants because he believes it’s right, not because it’s fair or because he’s ordered to. Don’t just think you have Hec’s vote, because you won’t. He loves you but you’ll have to convince him too.”
I consider this. Ranger’s right. Hec does what he wants. He’s pretty much an independent force. I pull the duvet tighter around me. “Do we have to leave tonight?” I stop and consider. “No, on second thought, let’s leave tonight.”
“Why?”
“You don’t want to?”
“I want to know what’s behind this about-face.”
I slide out of bed and put on my jeans. They’re tight again. Time to step up the exercise. “You haven’t seen the apartment.”
Ranger’s face blanks. “Is it pink?”
“Let’s go find out.”
—oOo—
“It’s gold.”
Ranger is standing in the middle of our living room, looking around.
“Yes.”
“Interesting.”
“You like?”
“You said navy and white.”
“Ella.” He glances at me. “Ella convinced me not to make too many radical changes. Changing the entire color scheme in here without you was too much, in her opinion.” Ranger relaxes slightly. “She found this paint and we painted the walls the new color. I loved the apartment, but I wanted it to feel warmer, personal, like both of us live here.” I grin. “Ella has a furnishings budget for your apartment?” He nods. “Wait till you see what I have planned next.”
“A shoe rack?”
I groan. “Ok, ok, I get it! I’ll pick up my shoes.”
“Thanks, Babe. Miami?”
“I’m considering it.”
He’s quiet. “This is acceptable. Changes like this I can live with. There’s a budget for the Miami house too.”
He doesn’t say anything else for a while. I recognize the face; it’s the one I usually see on Ram when he’s trying to figure out what’s changed. I rearranged the furniture and mounted the flat screen on the walls. The DVDs are also on shelves on the walls, freeing up floor space. He frowns.
“I hate exposed book and DVD spines. That’s why everything was in the cabinet.”
“Oh.” I make a note to see if I can find something that’ll hide the spines. I just wanted more floor space. I watch as he notes the cashmere throws, the scented candles, and the pictures on the walls. He lips twitch at the sight of my cookie jar.
“Gun?”
“Cookies.” He opens it and finds my RangeMan issue. He lifts it and raises an eyebrow. “Or a gun.”
“Babe.”
I pull the Glock 26 from my back and he nods. “Admit it. Who’d look in a cookie jar for a gun?”
He leans against the wall and laughs. “Babe. Not in the cookie jar.”
“It’s my cookie jar.” I walk over into his embrace. “Besides, you didn’t leave me the combination to the wall safe next to the door.”
He takes my hand and walks me over. “8-10-12-13.”
“Eight, ten, twelve, our birthdays?” I mutter, opening the safe. I stash the gun inside. “Thirteen?”
“Current number of cars I’ve loaned you.”
“I’ve destroyed thirteen cars of your cars?” I’m mortified.
“Nope.” I exhale. “You’ve destroyed ten.”
“Moving on.”
He grins. “It means the combination constantly changes.”
“Did you count Les’s?”
“Nope.”
“So my count could be higher?”
“You want to count all the cars that have fallen victim to your car karma?”
I think. “Nope.” I lock the wall safe and unlock it again to show Ranger I know the combination. He nods and takes my hand. He finishes his tour of the kitchen, dropping a raisin in Rex’s tank (“Yo!” He got a whisker twitch back) and waving the packs of Tastykakes and Cheez Doodles at me. I smile and he shakes his head. He leaves and starts looking through our bedroom, stopping in front of a picture of me, him and Julie from her graduation.
“She looks like you.” I circle his waist and rest my chin on his shoulder blade.
He stares. “She really does look like me, doesn’t she?”
“Yeah. I mean, she has Rachel’s nose and hairline but her mouth and eyes are you. Her skin is you. Her smile is you. She’s beautiful, Ranger.”
He smiles at the picture for a little longer then starts looking around again. Finally, he turns and looks at me. “Are you happy?”
I nod. “Are you?”
He nods. “I like it. Do I have any closet space left?”
“Not much.” He smiles and notes the changes in our bedroom. I went with a bamboo theme in there and in the bathroom and the greens, browns and gold play well with each other. I changed the bedding (but not those sheets!) and the shower curtain and reorganized our cabinets. Finally he checks out the office and smiles. Again, soft purple, almost lavender, and gold. Ella and I visited a The Container Store and purchased the pieces necessary to make a two person office in Ranger’s old office. Now we can both work in there together.
“Looks good, Babe,” he says, squeezing my hand. “Looks right for us.” He turns to me. “But you want to look at a house?”
“Later. Let’s go to bed. We can talk about the house later.”
We shower and change and climb in bed.
“You’re going back to DC in the morning, right?”
“Right.”
“When are you leaving?”
“0330. Coming back tomorrow night.”
“Right.”
I curl up against Ranger and smile.
“Babe?”
“Hmm?”
“We’re not buying a house in the ‘Burg.”
I shiver. “I’m trying to imagine you walking a dog and me making a meatloaf.”
“I’ll make the meatloaf. You walk the dog.”
“That’ll get us kicked out of the Burg. I’m supposed to make the meatloaf and you walk the dog, dump the trash, and buy an American car.”
A soft laugh from Ranger. “Yeah, we’re not Burg. I like German engineering, Italian-Hungarian women, and salads. We better move to Princeton. We’re too liberal for the Burg.”
I laugh. “Agreed,” I reply, snuggling under him. “Goodnight.”
