Steph and the Merry Men

Stephanie looked at herself critically in the full-length mirror. It was all good, but… She still couldn’t believe that she had not only bought this scrap of a dress, but that she was actually planning on wearing it out. With a bunch of guys. And Ranger. Ranger! Christ, what had she been thinking?

That’s the point- she hadn’t been thinking. She had bought this dress to tempt Ranger, but this was playing with fire. She had spent six months trying to get over the fact that he didn’t want a relationship with her- one that she could live with- and she still had momentary lapses of reason about it. She wanted him that bad, dammit. She had to remind herself that tonight wasn’t about Ranger.

The dress was a slinky red silk sheath, cut in all the right places to showcase her newly toned curves. Six months of hard training with the RangeMan crew had certainly defined her muscles and given her a new confidence in her looks. That, actually, was the problem. For the first time in her life, she looked in the mirror and didn’t worry about what other people thought. She knew she looked hot. She just wasn’t sure that she wanted to attract that much attention to herself while hanging out with a bunch of over-protective ex-Army guys. Someone- not the ex-Army guys- could end up seriously hurt.

A quick look at the bedroom alarm clock told her that she didn’t have time to change, though. Tank and the guys would be waiting down in the garage for her already. So she took one last look, grabbed her purse, and clicked down the hall on her red, four-inch FMPs to the elevator. A quick ride down, and she exited to a chorus of cat calls. She struck a pose, turning to display the wares, until it died down.

"Damn, Bombshell!" Lester called out, a wide, hungry smile on his face. Tank merely smiled, his eyes roving up and down her body. Bobby gallantly opened the door of the Bronco for her.

Steph felt her face blush a little. She wasn’t used to this much attention. Boosting herself up into the truck (not the easiest of feats in the shoes), she tried to situate herself in the back seat without flashing anybody. It didn’t work.

Ranger’s voice growled from behind her. "Nice thigh-highs, babe."

Fuck, she thought. But it came out of her mouth unbidden.

"Maybe later," Ranger said in a suggestive voice. "I’ve got business to take care of first."

Relief- and, contradictorily, annoyance- flooded Steph. "You aren’t going out with us then?"

Ranger shook his head. "Sorry, babe. Change of plans."

"Your loss," she chimed out. Yep, that sounded mature.

He gave her a look, staring at her as the rest of the guys piled in and they headed out. He stood there until she lost sight of him. Sighing, she turned her attention back to the guys. She had become very comfortable around them and close over her six months of training. She was now, having successfully completed the program and passed the "final exam" Ranger had devised, a real RangeMan employee. Tonight was her celebration. "So, where are you taking me? Please tell me some where nicer than Shorty’s."

"And what’s wrong with Shorty’s?" Tank demanded.

"I don’t know if the stains are gravy or blood. Should I start there?" Steph rolled her eyes. This was now an old argument with Tank. It seemed he really liked the place. She still thought Pino’s had better pizza. "You said this would be fun. What are we doing?"

Bobby practically danced in his seat. "Well, we had trouble deciding, because you’re the first girl we’ve ever trained. Somehow, we didn’t think our usual celebration was appropriate."

"And what is that?" Steph asked.

There was a playful twinkle in Bobby’s eyes. "We didn’t think that a night at a strip bar was your kind of night."

Steph reigned in a grin. "You never know. You didn’t ask."

Lester’s grin got bigger and he sat back in his seat with a thud. "I told you, Bobby. Bombshell’s a different kind of girl."

Bobby shook his head, a difficult to describe look on his face. She thought it was quickly fading shock, with a little lust mixed in. "Uh, well, we thought maybe dancing might be better."

A low, throaty chuckle came out of her. She did so enjoy making these guys a little uncomfortable around her and surprising them. "Dancing’s good, too." Actually, she had never really enjoyed dancing that much, always worried what she looked like flailing around out there. Her natural clumsiness had made dancing difficult; but a great deal of that clumsiness had been beaten out of her during Tank’s self-defense instruction. And she felt better about her appearance. Dancing wasn’t so scary anymore. She decided to needle them some more. "I didn’t think any of you guys danced, though. Hard to do while you’re surveilling the surroundings all the time."

"You can’t do it all the time. Gotta have some fun." Tank looked at her the in the rearview mirror. "You just have to pick your place carefully. This one is safe, so we can all relax."

"You mean you might even drink?" Steph asked, her eyebrow quirked up. She had been working on that skill, too.

Lester laughed. "Yeah. Wanna join us?"

"Beer is always good." Steph nodded. Maybe all this physical fitness she had acquired might help her handle her liquor better. "Margaritas are better."

"You can have the margaritas. I’m sticking to beer." Bobby’s voice was firm.

Lester explained the comment. "He had a bad margarita experience once, and he’s never recovered."

Interest piqued- Steph was comfortable around the guys, a result of working closely with them, but she still didn’t know much about them- she asked, "What happened?"

Tank chortled. "Bobby doesn’t like to talk about it."

Now she really wanted to know. "C’mon, what happened? Had to be pretty bad, if you’ve sworn them off. Margaritas are great- like a Slurpee with alcohol."

Bobby simply shook his head and wouldn’t answer, so Steph concentrated on Tank. "Explain it, Tank! Don’t leave me hanging like that! You KNOW how curious I am!"

Bobby shot Tank a look, which he chose to ignore. "Ask him real nice, after a few beers, and maybe he’ll show you."

Show her? Steph decided maybe she didn’t really want to know. "Uh, yeah, I’ll remember that," she muttered. Bobby became the object of some abuse for the rest of the ride, which Steph half-listened to while she looked out the window to try and figure out where they were headed. She was a little surprised to find them pulling in to the Liberty Ballroom.

She waited until the guys had all gotten out, then allowed them to help her down without breaking her neck or a heel. "Uh, guys, have you ever been here before?" She certainly didn’t want to remember how she had almost died the last time she was here.

"Nope. Heard it was a fun place." Bobby held his arm out for her.

Should she fill them in before they entered? She decided it might be more fun to wait.

It definitely was worth waiting. It took about twenty minutes for Tank to figure it out; Bobby was a lot quicker. As they stood around a high, small table, sipping drinks, Bobby leaned down and whispered in her ear. "You’ve been here before?"

Steph nodded. "Yeah." She kept it brief. If he wanted more information about it, he was going to have to ask.

"Uh, for a case?"

Yes, she had him. She knew exactly where his mind was going. She could almost see the gears turning. "Sort of." She left the implication hang, deciding that now would be a good time to dance. Grabbing Lester’s arm, she pulled him towards the dance floor. "Time to dance!"

She kept Lester out for a good three songs. He was a great dancer, and she really enjoyed herself. He stepped in to teach her some moves when it was obvious she was not quite used to dancing. It meant that she had his hands on her a lot and he was very close to her body. She was becoming very aware of him, and those damn Hungarian hormones were mamboing. It had been a while for her, since breaking up with Morelli and swearing off physical contact with Ranger.

Steph decided that she needed a drink then and some distance from a male body. She nodded her head toward the bar, pointed, and Lester nodded. He leaned over to ear, speaking loudly so that she would hear him over the music, "I’ll be out here."

He moved off, and Steph hoped he’d have luck finding another partner. Amending that, as she observed a tall, blond man headed in Lester’s direction, she thought a female partner. She was pretty sure that Lester didn’t swing that way.

Apparently, either female partners weren’t to be had, or Tank and Bobby decided to drink. "No dancing, gentlemen?" she asked, picking up her margarita glass, which was slippery from condensation. She rubbed its coolness across her brow, enjoying the sensation.

"I didn’t realize-" Tank started, but paused at Steph’s wide grin. "You knew, didn’t you?"

Steph took another mouthful of her drink. "Yeah. I thought everybody knew. This place is listed in the Trenton Rainbow Pages Book."

Frowning, Tank looked at her a little coldly. "You could have said something."

"I’m selfish. I thought this might be interesting until you guys figured it out, and this way I can enjoy myself without getting hit on left and right." Steph lifted her hair off her shoulders, trying to cool herself down. Dancing could be a bit of exercise. "Plus, this way I have three guys paying attention to me all night." She finished with a smile. "Wanna dance?"

There was a struggle on Tank’s face between anger and eagerness. He’d been watching Lester and Steph, and he was looking forward to dancing with her out there. As usual, she seemed completely unaware of just how sexy she looked. He grabbed her hand and started towards the floor. "You bet!"

Worried a little that Tank’s tremendous height would make dancing a little awkward, she let him lead. This was a fast song, with a strong beat, and he came up behind her and circled her waist, pulling her closer. They began to bump and grind in time with the music. Steph had never really danced like this in public before; she tried to keep thinking "We’re just dancing!" but it felt like sex with their clothes on. Not that she wasn’t enjoying this, but bad thoughts kept crossing her mind.

She was glad that the next song was slower, and she turned around to face Tank.

Tank wasn’t ready for her. He misstepped and landed on her toes. He apologized profusely, looking quite embarrassed. "Don’t worry about it, Tank. It didn’t hurt that much, and it was my fault for just wheeling around like that." Steph limped a little, and decided that they both needed a break.

Returning to the table yet again, Steph found Bobby staring open-mouthed over in the direction of the door. A quick glance showed her nothing that interested, and she reached over to gently shut Bobby’s mouth. "You’ll catch flies," she gently admonished.

"What’s got you, man?" Tank asked, keeping an eye out for the waitress and motioning her over when he finally caught sight of her.

Bobby shook his head. "Does your cousin Vinnie have a sister?" he asked Steph.

"No, thank God. Why do you ask?"

"Oh."

Bobby didn’t day anything else, and Steph nudged him with her elbow. "Why, Bobby?"

"I think Vinnie’s here, and he just hit on me."

Tank laughed, spraying beer over himself and the table. "What?"

"Yeah, I’m pretty sure that was Vinnie." Bobby was almost talking to himself.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Steph demanded.

Lester turned up just then, grinning with a petite blond woman on his arm. "You guys see Vinnie?"

Bobby slammed his head down on the table. "I’m gonna kill him."

"What?" Lester demanded.

Steph took her drink from the waitress who had suddenly appeared. Sipping it, she chirped, "Vinnie hit on him!"

The look on Lester’s face could only be described as disbelief missed with disgust and repulsion. "You’re kidding! He must have thought you wouldn’t recognize him, the pervert."

"Why wouldn’t he recognize him?" Tank questioned.

Lester laughed. "He’s in a fucking dress!"

The petite woman at Lester’s side crossed her arms and tapped her foot, speaking up for the first time. "And what’s the problem with a guy in a dress?"

Lester looked at the woman as if she were slow, and stated, "He’s a guy. In a dress." He paused momentarily, then decided to try and contextualize it. "The guy’s a pervert."

Steph prepared to hear a PC rant, but was surprised by the blonde’s response. "So I’m a pervert, now? You didn’t mind five minutes ago!"

Lester’s jaw dropped, and the blond walked off in a fine huff.

Tank and Stephanie laughed out loud, just dissolving into a fit. It took a few minutes, but Steph finally calmed herself, wiping tears from her eyes. Lester still looked puzzled, so Steph leaned over to give him a clue. She whispered in his ear, "That wasn’t a woman, Lester."

She almost lost it again at his facial expression when the words finally clicked in his brain. "Oh, man!" was his only response. He looked disturbed.

Steph was really enjoying the comedy show tonight until she saw a familiar face milling about in the crowd. Grabbing Lester’s hand, she yanked him out towards the dancing nervously. "C’mon, let’s dance. It’ll make you feel better."

Lester danced with her, but it wasn’t with the same energy as before. He was bummed. Trying to keep tabs on that familiar face, Steph was having a hard time concentrating on dancing, too. But she did not want to go back to that table or any other place where she was cornered and stationary. "Lester, you don’t seem very happy. It’s hurting my feelings."

"Sorry, Steph. I just really liked her- I mean, him." Lester shook his head. "I couldn’t tell! Talk about being aware of your surroundings…" His voice trailed off.

"Look for the Adam’s apple next time. Or if ‘she’ has a scarf or choker hiding where the Adam’s apple should be." Steph gave Lester a quick peck on the cheek, trying to cheer him up. "You didn’t grow up in a big city, did you?"

"Uh, no. How could you tell?" Lester seemed puzzled.

"Well, your how old? Thirty-ish?"

"Thirty-three. So?" Lester was frowning.

"You didn’t have many glam rockers in that small town, did you?" Steph smiled.

"Glam whatters?"

"Small town boy." Steph shook her head. "People who looked like Poison? Britney Fox? Cinderella?" At his blank stare, she tried to come up with some other reference for him. "Headbanger’s Ball with Ricky Rachtman?"

Lester still looked puzzled. "Guys who had long hair and make up and wore scarves and spandex onstage?" Steph gave up. "What music did you listen to growing up?"

"Country."

Oh, that explained it. She decided to drop it. Good thing, too, because just then there was a tap on her shoulder. When she turned around, she came face to face with Joe Morelli. "Oh, hi," she managed to say without stuttering.

Morelli looked at Lester. "Mind if I cut in?" He framed it as a question, but it obviously wasn’t. Lester looked at Steph, who shook her head No.

"Lady doesn’t want to." Lester looked vaguely intimidating, sweeping Steph off to another area of the dance floor.

"Thanks, Lester," Steph said, truly grateful and appreciative.

"I thought you broke up with the cop." Lester stated flatly.

"I did." Steph leaned her forehead against Lester.

"Does he know that you did?" After a few minutes of silence, Lester spoke up again. "If you and the cop are broken up, why aren’t you with Ranger?"

Steph stilled, stopping mid-dance and throwing Lester off balance. He stumbled into her as she turned around and headed back for the table. "I need a drink." A few moments later, Lester followed her.

The first words out of Stephanie’s mouth when she reached the table were, "Okay, so who’s doing shots with me?" Tank looked at her with concern, and Bobby simply said, "I will."

"Two it is." Her eyes found the waitress, who made her way over and took the order.

"Bombshell, you don’t usually drink that much. Are you sure you want to start shots?" Tank asked her.

"Yes." Steph was emphatic.

Lester was stubborn. "You didn’t answer my question."

Tank’s head swiveled to face Lester. "What question?"

Lester continued to look at Steph, who was feeling more and more desperate to avoid the question. "I asked Steph why, if she and Morelli are broken up for good, she isn’t with Ranger."

They were interrupted by the waitress, who brought out four shots, a bowl of limes, and salt. "The bar’s getting busy, so I got you a double. It might take me a bit to get back to you."

Steph thanked her, and immediately licked her hand, sprinkling salt. Then, licking it again, she downed the tequila shot and popped in a slice of lime. It burned on the way down and the lime made her cringe. It had been a very long time since she’d drunk like this. Tank, Steph observed, looked pissed at Lester. She decided to answer the question and avoid any conflict within the group tonight. That shot must have started to work already. "Ranger just wants sex. He doesn’t want a relationship. If I’m with him, I want more than sex."

All three men reached out at once and downed a shot, not pausing for salt or citrus. Tank stood up and, heading for the bar, called over his shoulder, "I’ll just get a whole damn bottle."

Steph looked a little bewildered. "What’s wrong, guys? Did I shock you?"

"Steph, what gave you that idea?" Bobby asked.

"Which idea?"

"That Ranger just wants to sleep with you?"

"Because he told me so." Steph looked around and found the melting remains of her margarita.

"What exactly did he tell you? And when did he tell you this?" Tank asked, overhearing the last statement as he returned with a full tequila bottle and immediately began pouring another round of shots.

"Right after he slept with me, he told me that that’s all it could ever be." Steph’s eyes watered a little at the memory. It had really hurt then, and it still hurt now. "That his lifestyle doesn’t lend itself to relationships. That was right before he told me to go back to Morelli." Her hand snaked out and another shot went down.

Lester’s eyebrows shot so far up that they almost disappeared under his hair. "He sent you back to Morelli?"

Steph shook her head emphatically. Given the amount of tequila she was ingesting, it was quite an effort. "And I don’t want Joe. I want Ranger. But Ranger doesn’t want me." The tears started flowing.

"Shit, Bombshell," Tank mumbled, coming over and gathering her in his arms. "That man is the dumbest mother-fucker in the world."

"You don’t have to say that to make me feel better, Tank," Steph stifled her sobs.

Bobby cursed under his breath. "It’s the truth, Steph. I can’t believe Ranger did that to you."

Lester just looked incredulous. "Have you told him this? Ranger, I mean."

Steph narrowed her eyes. "You know Ranger when he’s made up his mind. No discussion possible." She struggled to sit up, reaching to pour herself another shot. "So, I’m a free woman. Sex-starved, but free." Down went the shot.

Lester’s look changed at her comments. "So, you don’t want just sex?"

Steph was at the talkative stage of her drunkenness. "Not with Ranger. But that doesn’t mean casual sex is a bad thing. No, no, no. It just doesn’t work with him."

Bobby was looking interested in the conversation again, too. "So just sex with someone else is okay?"

"’pends on the someone," Steph slurred a little. "Morelli, now, he wants more than just sex and I don’t. So he’s out. Which sucks, ‘cause he’s pretty good at it. So what about you guys?" Even drunk, Steph felt the change in atmosphere at the table. And then she realized just who she was mouthing off to, and her current state of drunken hormones.

Bobby stammered. "W-w-what, exactly, are you asking?"

Lester looked at her with hot eyes. "Yeah, Steph, what exactly do you mean?"

"Um," thoughts began to clear in Stephanie’s mind, as she realized what that had sounded like.

Tank’s shot had stopped halfway to his mouth at her words. Looking at her, he threw it back fast and slammed the shot glass down with a loud bang. "I think it’s time we went home. We’ve all had a little too much to drink."

Lester and Bobby looked at him, then at Steph. She watched all of them, wondering what was going through their minds. She tried to refocus them. "We’re celebrating my graduation, and I’m not done drinking."

No one spoke. "Guys?" she asked in a timid voice.

Tank shrugged, Lester sat back, and Bobby took Steph’s hand. "We can’t leave ‘til I get my turn to dance, anyway. C’mon, Steph."

Bobby was an even better dancer than Lester. All of Ranger’s men were well-built; Bobby was no exception. Fast, pumping music had their bodies brushing against the other; Steph was acutely aware of Bobby’s reactions to her. When the music turned slow, he pressed her close to him and whispered in her ear. "We’ve never really worked with a woman before. I can see that there are some advantages to it."

Pulling back a little, Steph corrected him. "You’ve worked with me for a while. The advantages never occur to you before?" She was a little surprised at herself.

Bobby smiled. "I believe that we all had some incorrect information regarding your, uh, love life."

"Oh," Steph understood from the tone. "You all thought Ranger would kill you if you hit on me."

Bobby didn’t look the least bit embarrassed. "Pretty much. But this little conversation tonight puts a different spin on things." He turned her around and pulled her back tight to his chest.

"How so?" Steph had to turn her head to see him. He leaned down to answer her and ended up with his mouth covering hers. She was shocked for a moment, before she responded to his probing tongue. His hands around her waist tightened as their tongues battled it out, and he released a moan as she sucked his tongue into her mouth. Both of them were a little breathless as they pulled away from the kiss just as the song came to an end.

Steph wasn’t sure what to do after that. She’s entertained some pretty erotic thoughts about all the Merryman at some point in the past six months, which was perfectly natural considering her enforced celibacy and close contact with them. But she’d never done anything about them, because Ranger was always a lurking presence. But if Bobby wasn’t bothered anymore…

Of course, this could be awkward later. She had to work with these guys in situations where trust mattered. And if she slept with one of them, how would the others react? Bobby seemed to sense her unease, because he led her back to the table, careful to keep touching to the minimum.

Steph wasn’t sure if Tank and Lester had seen what had happened on the dance floor, and she felt a little flustered. She was royally screwing this job up, and she had just gotten out of training! She genuinely liked these guys, and did not want to mess that up. Lester handed her a glass of water; the tequila bottle was across the table from her, under Tank’s protection. "Here, drink this."

Okay, not alcohol. A subtle hint, she supposed that she had drunk too much and was getting out of hand. She drank it greedily, realizing as the cool liquid flowed into her mouth just how hot and thirsty she was from all the exertion. Finished, she put it on the table. "Thanks, Les."

Tank cleared his throat. "Bombshell, are you really in love with Ranger?"

Steph froze for a minute. "I need more alcohol before I answer that. No, you need more alcohol before I answer that, so that you can’t remember- or repeat- my answer."

Bobby looked a little pissed. "You think we’d tell him what you told us tonight?"

Steph salted her hand and licked, threw back a shot, and sucked another lime slice dry. "You’re his friends."

Lester snorted. "And you’re not our friend?"

She shrugged. "Well, I’d like to think so, but you’ve all known him longer and better than me."

Tank shook his head, downing a shot of his own, sans salt and lime. "We like you better. You’re funnier, honest, and better looking." He sat back and crossed his arms over his chest. He looked a bit intimidating. "So you can trust us. Are you really in love with Ranger?"

Steph sniffed as tears began to well up. "Y-y-yes. But he’s not in love with me."

Bobby smiled. "Don’t be too sure. He can real closed mouthed about some things."

"Well, if he doesn’t tell me, how do I know?" Steph questioned, scrubbing at her eyes with a cocktail napkin and smearing her black eyeliner a little bit.

"I got an idea," Lester spoke up. "It works every time. I can testify as male that this will work."

Steph looked at him. His dramatic pause took too long. He reached out for a shot, downed it and slammed the glass down on the table. "Make him jealous."

Steph almost burst into tears at Lester. "Make him jealous? That’s your big plan? How the hell can I do that?"

"Let him see you with a guy and the gears will start turning." Bobby leaned back for a moment, thinking over the idea. "Or guys, which will work better in this case. The more guys the better."

"I don’t want him to think that I’m a slut, Bobby!"

Tank actually grinned and joined in. "No, not too many. But three would work."

Lester and Bobby joined in grinning at her. The light bulb flicked on, and she shook her head. "Oh, no. This will be very bad. And if he’s not interested, why would he be jealous?"

"Trust me, he’s interested," Tank emphatically stated. He poured another round of shots and laid them out in front of the team. "The key is to get him more actively interested- which is to give him some competition. If he sees you with a few guys that are obviously only casual flings, he’ll start to wonder why you don’t just sleep with him, since he made it clear that it could only be casual."

"So are you guys volunteering?" Steph asked uneasily. The more they talked- and drank- the better this idea seemed to be. But Steph knew that it might not seem like such a good idea once she sobered up tomorrow.

The three men grinned. Bobby spoke for the group. "Oh, I think we’re all in."

Steph sighed. She wasn’t sure it would work, but these guys knew Ranger better than her. And they really were all pretty hot. How terrible would it be to sort-of date them? Especially since they were doing it to help her out, not because they wanted to date her. Right? She decided to clarify it now. "Uh, you guys don’t have any ulterior motives here, do you?"

Tank snorted. "We’re doing it to help you out. And its not a terribly difficult thing to pretend to date you!"

Steph let out a breath. "So it will just be pretend for all of us?"

Lester gave her a wolf grin, while Bobby leered at her. "Well, there could be certain fringe benefits to the arrangement. But that’s your choice."

Steph considered for a minute. "Entirely up to me? And if I chose to…confer said benefits, there are no strings attached?"

"None," the men echoed. She saw an upside to this, especially if it took a while for Ranger to fall victim to their plan.

"Even if only one individual benefited from this with me?" Steph was curious.

The guys looked at each other and did the ESP thing. "Doesn’t bother any of us," Bobby spoke for the group.

"Okay, I think I’m liking this plan." Steph had another drink.

"Good thing, Bombshell. Guess who just walked in?" Tank’s eyes fixed on the door.

Lester took her hand and pulled her up. "C’mon, Tank and I got lonely back here while you were dancing with Bobby. We want to dance with you."

They were gone from the table before Ranger arrived. One hand being pulled by Lester, the second held by Tank, she was out on the dance floor, her body flanked on either side by a man. Both men were close to her; she could feel them moving against her. Tank held a hand loosely on one hip, Lester on her other. Tank’s other hand entwined itself in her curly hair, sending chills up and down her spine. Lester cupped her face with his other hand, fingers curling around her cheekbone and running his thumb over her lower lip and giving her goose bumps. She was a mess of nerve endings and rampant hormones.

She closed her eyes, enjoying the feel of Tank and Lester, when two other hands reached out and touched her. Her eyes fluttered open, and Bobby smiled back at her. A quick glance proved that all three men were dancing with her, their eyes dark and their faces arranged in seductive smiles. She thought for a moment, and cast a quick glance back at the table.

Ranger sat alone, a beer bottle in one hand, staring at their little circle. His eyes were dark and dangerous, and Steph looked away before he could catch her. Judging from the frown on Ranger’s face, she knew that she could trust the Merrymen’s instincts. Ranger’s hand tightened around the long neck of the beer bottle as he watched his employees enjoying the beat of the music.

The plan already seemed to be working.

Chapter Two

Steph woke up the next morning to an incredible pounding in her head. She searched the fuzzy edges of memory for just how many tequila shots she had downed, and lost count after- she thought really hard- nine. Or was it ten? Thinking just that little bit made her tired all over again, and she turned over, shoving the pillow over her head to block some of the sunlight streaming in through the window and hopefully deaden the pounding in her head. The longer she waited for it to subside, the louder it got. She finally decided that some aspirin and a shower would do her more good than lying here, and slowly got herself up to a standing position.

She observed, as she stumbled towards the bathroom, that she had somehow managed to get out of her dress last night, but her lingerie and thigh highs were still with her. Good. Then she probably hadn’t embarrassed herself. There had been a lot of alcohol, and close dancing, and good-looking, friendly men, though. She wouldn’t be sure that she hadn’t embarrassed herself until she asked someone- if anyone other than Ranger could remember enough of the evening to fill her in.

As she headed toward her bathroom, the pounding got louder, and she realized that it wasn’t just in her head. There was someone- someone persistent- at her door. Grumbling, she angled herself over and practically ripped the door off its hinges to see what lunatic was out there.

Les’ jaw gaped when he looked her over, but his hand stopping making all that damn racket. "What?" she snarled. "I have bed head, so what?"

Lester snapped his jaw shut, and held up a McDonald’s bag. "Thought you could use some grease and caffeine."

Steph’s eyes lit up and she snatched the bag out of his hands. He had her cure- large Coke and fries. How did he know? Bless him. "Thanks, Les. This is just what I need." She crammed some fries in her mouth, and licked the salt and grease noisily from her fingers. Les continued to stare at her.

"Was there something else?" she asked pointedly, continuing to eat and lick her fingers.

Les nodded, then cleared his throat and answered. "We got control room duty in an hour, and I just wanted to make sure that you were up." He didn’t move away, so Steph waited for him to continue, placing one hand expectantly on her hip. Her hands brushed against lace and bare skin, reminding her that she was still in her undies. So, there WAS a reason for Lester to stare.

Somehow, Les’ stare didn’t bother her. He was assessing her, she knew, but she also knew it was a look of pure admiration and nothing else. That’s what had been decided last night. None of the boys was really interested in her, but they were perfectly willing to hang out and fool around a little. So she had made a conscious decision to enjoy the attention. Upon quick reflection, the plan that she had thought she might regret agreeing to last night still seemed like a good idea. And she was sure that she wasn’t still drunk. So she gave Les a few more minutes to get an eyeful, and then turned around to let him get a full view. Then she leaned over and gave him a peck on the cheek. "Free show’s over, Les. I’m going to get dressed."

Lester licked his lips and, as the door began to close behind her, she playfully called out, "Unless you want to help?"

Lester was through the door and had it closed behind them in less than a minute. Steph hadn’t expected him to follow, but didn’t mind so much. She was actually pretty comfortable around him in her underwear; she knew she looked good. "So, you really want to help?"

Lester colored slightly. "Oh, yeah."

Downing her Coke, Steph pursed her lips and squinted at him. "I don’t know. Usually I get a nice meal first, or a movie. A Coke and fries is nice, but not a meal."

Lester swallowed hard. "Steph, about last night…"

Steph narrowed her eyes at him. "You aren’t going to renege on our plan now, are you?"

"No…" Les paused. "But I wanted to give you the option to."

"What?" she screeched.

"Well, Bobby and Tank and I were talking this morning, and we really had a lot to drink last night. We wanted to let you know that if you want to drop the plan, our feelings wouldn’t be hurt. Honestly. We really do like you, and we don’t want to make you uncomfortable-"

Steph snorted as she stopped by her bed to roll down and remove her thigh-highs. "Then you’re doing a pretty piss poor job of it. I mean, if you guys want to back out now, I’m not offended. Go ahead. But don’t act like I didn’t know what I was getting myself into." She reached around to unhook her bra when she felt Lester very close behind her, stopping her.

"Are you sure, Steph, that you don’t want to back out of it?" His voice was low, and throaty, and held none of its usual humor, creating a soft breeze on her neck and giving her goose bumps.

She paused momentarily, and considered. Then she leaned back into him, her head finding his shoulder to lean against. "No, I don’t want to back out of it. Do you?"

Les shook his head. "No, Bombshell. None of us really want to; we honestly just wanted to give you an out, if you needed it, without any recriminations." His hands found their way around her waist in a loose loop, pulling her more firmly into his hard body. She shivered a bit with the sensation of his soft t-shirt against her mostly bare back.

Lester responded to her shiver with a soft, trailing kiss down her neck by the jawline. She moaned a bit when he hit the hollow at the base of her neck. "Les," she panted. "I thought I’d at least get a date before the sex."

Lester looked at her open eyes with lust in his own. "Then don’t answer the door in last night’s lingerie." He held her eyes for a few minutes, then placed one last kiss and moved away from her. She felt the loss of his body warmth immediately and crossed her arms against her body to replace some of it. "So, how’s Pino’s sound after our shift?"

Steph flashed him a smile. She was interested in this casual sex arrangement, and her sex-starved body berated her for cutting this thing with Les off so suddenly, but Pino’s was the reason for the smile. "Sounds great."

Lester flashed her a huge, beaming smile. "Great. I get the first date." He practically danced to the door. "See you in the control room in-" he glanced at his watch- "forty minutes." He blew her a kiss and shut the door behind him. She headed directly toward the shower, trying to look a little less hung-over for her shift than she truly felt.

Les and Steph’s shift had been uneventful. There were no major cases ongoing at the moment, at least none that she had been told about, and no major catastrophes. Not a single car had blown up, nor a dead body found. She and Les had spent the eight hours trading their knowledge of curses in Spanish and Italian. Both had become fairly proficient by the end, and quite inventive.

Once the easy shit, piss, fuck, and damn had been taken care of, and "motherfucker" mastered, they had moved on to more complicated insults. Steph could now spout off about a half-dozen"Yo’ momma" lines without thinking much about it and screwing it up. She continued to practice, under her breath, on the way to her apartment. She had a little under an hour to get ready before she and Les were supposed to leave for Pino’s, and it was going to be a race to see if she could make herself beautiful in time. She wanted to dress it up, because she was going out on a date, and because she wanted to wear something Lester wasn’t used to seeing.

She was so intent on her wardrobe, running through her possibilities in her mind as she walked, that she didn’t see Ranger slouched by her door until he straightened himself and scared the crap out of her. New bounty hunting skills aside, she was relaxed in the safety of RangeMan offices, and didn’t keep up her guard while in what she considered a "safe" zone.

Ranger shook his head. "Babe, you need to be more aware of your-

Still trying to slow her racing heart, Steph finished for him- "Surroundings. Got it, Boss."

Ranger’s brow furrowed at the "boss" comment. "I was wondering if you wanted to have dinner upstairs tonight."

Steph shook her head, regretfully, but secretly smiling inside. "Sorry, I already have plans."

Ranger’s brow furrowed further, threatening to draw in his entire face. "Plans?"

"Uh, yeah," Steph stammered. "Lester asked me to go to Pino’s. We’re meeting in an hour." She glanced at her watch. "Actually, fifty minutes. "

Ranger pushed off the wall, brushing a kiss against her soft hair on the top of her head. "Maybe another time," he said quietly. Then he walked away, slipping into the elevator and disappearing.

Steph drew in a shaky breath. Alone with Ranger, in Ranger’s apartment, was a bad idea. She had no illusions that, in her present hormonal state, she could hold out for more than fifteen minutes before she ended up in bed with him. And then tomorrow, she would feel like shit. She much preferred dinner with Les, and was really glad, now, that he had asked her. She let herself into her apartment, and went about the business of showering, shaving, applying makeup, and choosing an outfit.

She decided to go for casual with a hint of slut. So, short demin skirt, electric blue baby doll tank top under a soft, black cardigan, and four inch black FMPs. Light make-up except for dark, smudged kohl lines around her eyes. Long, dangling silver earrings finished the look. Her hair was its usual untamed self, and she didn’t have the time or patience to do more than throw some gel in under the hairdryer.

Les knocked on her door precisely when he stated he would. Opening it, she was rewarded with a sight that would make harder females than her melt. Lester had on a dark brown, almost black, leather biker jacket, an unbuttoned, tight cream henley that emphasized the caramel of his skin, snug jeans that showed off his ass, and black CAT boots. He also wore a braided leather choker and matching bracelet, which were tight enough to show off the surrounding muscle groups. She licked her lips.

"Ready?" Lester inquired, her reaction to him not going unnoticed.

"Yeah, just let me grab my purse!" She called. She paused a moment, wondering where she was going to put her new Glock gun. She had neglected to consider that when choosing an outfit. Lester picked up on her dilemma and, and marching over, reached his arms around her to shove the gun into the small of her back, his fingers dipping below her waist band and pausing unnecessarily there. He removed his hands and covered the bulge up with the cardigan.

Passing out the door past Les, Steph smiled. "Let’s go."

Chapter Three

Steph and Lester had a very nice date. As usual, the food was bad for you and tasted excellent. Unusual, but equally good, Steph didn’t run into a single person she knew that she felt the need to talk to- and no one who would run to start rumors about who she was out with tonight. And the companionship was more than enjoyable. Lester was the most talkative of Ranger’s men, and he had a million stories about the early misadventures of Ranger and the Merry Men. It was nice to know that even Ranger wasn’t always perfect, that once upon a time he hadn’t been able to keep that fiery Cuban temper under control. Apparently, bar fights used to be a specialty. Steph was a little amazed. She shook her head. "These stories just don’t sound like Ranger."

Lester shrugged. "He’s changed a lot since then."

"Why?" Steph questioned, sipping her one- and only- beer of the evening.

"Lots of stuff," Lester shrugged again. "He doesn’t talk about it, but I can guess a few things."

Steph contemplated asking for more information versus letting it be. She knew that Ranger would be upset if he found out she and Lester were talking about his personal life; but she also knew that she was curious, and unsatisfied curiosity could drive her mad. "What things?"

A very long look, and a sigh, and Lester leaned back in his chair. "I know one thing for sure, and I will only tell you if you promise he won’t find out I’m the one that told you."

Ooh, Steph reflected, this must be good. "I swear."

Lester eyed her again. "If he finds out it came from me- I’m going to make you get up every morning at five to run," he threatened.

Steph rolled her eyes at him. "I can keep my sources secret."

"Ranger’s divorce and custody battle were- bitter, to say the least," Lester started. " His temper and his behavior- and the police reports- were used against him. His ex got full custody, and he got supervised visitation. He said he felt like a criminal, that he wasn’t allowed to be alone with his own kid. The visits didn’t last long; he’d rather talk to her on the phone than sit with a court appointed observer. But I think that the experience made him take a good, long look at his lifestyle, and he decided that it wasn’t how he wanted to live. It wasn’t instantaneous or anything, but it was a year or so later that he started Range Man."

Steph considered for a minute. "Does he ever see his daughter now?"

Les grinned. "Yeah. She’s a great kid. Gonna give him a heart attack when she’s a teenager, though. She’s got the Manoso good looks and then some."

Steph couldn’t imagine a feminine-looking Ranger, but along with that beauty, she wondered if the girl had her father’s temper. "She act like him, too?"

Les laughed out loud. "Hell, yeah. There’s gonna be fireworks there one day, and I’m not sure Ranger’s going to end up winning."

Wryly, Steph muttered, "He always wins."

Les’ mood immediately changed, as he picked up on her underlying meaning. He leaned over and took Steph’s hand. "Hey, don’t get discouraged already! The plan hasn’t even been in effect for twenty-four hours. He’ll come around."

Steph sighed, long and deep. "You guys say so, but I’m still not so sure."

"Trust me," Lester said, leaning in to brush a friendly kiss across her cheek just as his cell phone went off. Seeing Ranger’s number, he shot her a grimace and flipped it open immediately. "Boss."

Steph didn’t hear the entire conversation, but the bits and pieces she heard told her that their date was just about over. She waved the waitress over and asked for the check just as Lester hung up. He told the waitress to forget it- they weren’t leaving.

"If that was Ranger, and he knows we’re both off tonight, it must be an emergency. What do you mean, we’re not leaving?" Steph kept her voice level.

"He called because he knew we were both here, and he just pulled a skip that frequents the place." Lester took a draw of his own beer. "He wants us to hang around and see if the guy shows up."

Steph pursed her lips. So, Ranger had remembered where they were going to dinner. Interesting. But now there was business at hand. "So, who’s the guy? What’s he look like? And how will we do the take down?"

Lester’s eyes narrowed as he looked over the bar. "Actually, he’s already here. Third from the left at the bar, smoking a little cigar. "

Steph got up and moved to Lester’s side of the table, leaning into him as she sat down, as if she was moving just to get a little closer to her well-built date. She nonchalantly dared a quick look, covering her action by flipping her hair back over her shoulder with a head twist. "He’s not so scary looking," she whispered to Les.

"Yeah, but he’s a crazy mother fucker." Pulling out his phone, he dialed Ranger back. "Yeah, boss. Your boy’s here already. How do we want to do this?"

After a series of short answers- yes, no, your call, okay- Lester hung back up. "He wants us to wait for him."

"Is this guy really that dangerous?" Steph asked, a little annoyed that their date was being interrupted- by Ranger.

Les paused a minute, and she knew that there was more to it than that. "Les? What is it?"

Les was looking at her stonily, muscles in his jaw tight. "Picking this guy up is a personal favor to Ranger and me."

Steph was confused. Personal favor? For Lester AND Ranger? "What the hell does that mean?"

Les ran his hands through his hair. "Alright, I’ll tell you. But don’t bring it up again. That jack-off is my cousin. And Ranger’s."

Understanding- and astonishment- flooded her. "You and Ranger are cousins?"

"By marriage, not blood. His uncle married my aunt. That-" Lester jerked his thumb towards the bar, "is their second son."

Steph was surprised by the venom in Lester’s voice. "You don’t like him much, huh?"

Lester gave her a LOOK. It was, she thought, strikingly similar to Ranger’s best stare down. "What did he do?"

"Aside from break his mother’s heart? Repeatedly? Every time he gets caught, he convinces her that he’ll change. And then he goes and does it again." Lester cursed under his breath in Spanish, much more creatively and in depth than Steph could manage to translate. He ducked his face down into Steph’s curls as his cousin glanced around the room. "If he sees us coming, it’ll get ugly. If he sees me before Ranger gets here, he’ll take off."

"Well, I guess that I’ll go distract him, then." Steph reached for her purse to freshen her make-up.

"Uh," Lester stuttered. "That’s not a good idea, on so many levels."

Steph’s eyes narrowed. "And what exactly does that mean?"

Another sigh from Lester. "Do you want an extensive list, or the short answer?"

Steph slugged him in the arm. "What is that supposed to mean?"

Suddenly Ranger was at the table with them, his back to the bar. Probably the one time in his life that he didn’t sit facing the entrance. Steph supposed it was more important that his cousin didn’t see him coming. "It means that he’s dangerous, and we don’t want you at any additional risk."

Ranger had surprised Lester with his out-of-thin-air appearance. "Yeah." Lester looked like he was glad that Ranger had gotten there then. "So, how do you want to do this, Ric?"

"You think Tia would be pissed if we broke something on him?" Ranger asked in a low voice. He sounded like he would enjoy breaking something on his cousin.

Lester snorted. "I’m leaving the state when she finds out."

"Yeah. Bad idea." Ranger thought for a minute.

Steph sat there, bored and puzzled. "He’s a runt. You two are huge. Just go kick his ass."

Both men looked at her apprehensively. "What?" she asked.

Ranger nervously loosened and retired the leather thong holding his ponytail. "He’s not exactly a skip. This is a favor for Tia. We don’t have the paperwork yet."

Steph frowned. "So, then you can’t legally manhandle yet."

Lester nodded. "Yeah. But if we wait for the paperwork, he may be gone again."

"Okay. So then tell me why I can’t pull a distraction." Steph demanded.

"Uh," Lester stuttered again. Ranger sat impassively, looking over her left shoulder. He shook his head, almost imperceptibly, at Lester, who immediately shut up.

Steph began touching up her makeup. "If you can’t tell me why, I’m going over there. I’ll have him out in ten minutes."

A muscle in Ranger’s jaw twitched. "No," he stated evenly. "Lester is going to take you home. I’ll take care of this myself."

Steph gave him the Burg eye roll. "What aren’t you two telling me?’ Then a thought occurred to her. "Is he gay?"

Lester laughed out loud at that. Ranger frowned at him, and he quieted. Ranger spoke in measured, clipped tones, completely emotionless. "He’s sick, and he should have been locked up and the key thrown away years ago. He just happens to be very, very lucky. We don’t want him near you."

Steph could tell that there was still more behind this, but she could also tell that she wasn’t going to be told the rest, at least not right now. She was sure that she could get it out of Lester later, though. "Fine. Plan B. I walk past him, fake trip into him, and stun gun him. Everybody will think that he hit his head when he goes down, and no one will question me being a clutz here. So they’ll call an ambulance, and you can let the police pick him up." She looked at each of them individually for a full minute. "Obviously, the bond is not what you’re interested in here, so it doesn’t matter who takes him in."

Lester let out a breath he hadn’t realized he had been holding. "Bombshell, I knew there was a reason I loved ya!"

Ranger definitely did not look pleased at Lester’s comment, but he nodded. "Sounds like a good plan. Are you sure you can do that without anyone seeing the gun?"

Steph nodded her head, and in the time she took to do that, her stun gun was at Lester’s neck, the cold metal making him jump. "Yes." Ranger actually cracked the beginning of a real smile at the sight of Lester’s face.

"Okay." Both men, to the casual eye, didn’t seem to have done more than shift in their seats as the woman with them got up to use the restroom. A close observer would have noticed that they surreptitiously had loosened buttons and jackets and that their hands suddenly rested near gun-shaped bulges under their jackets. Steph simply ignored them, trusting them implicitly.

Intent on her prey, she dodged with ease a waitress who suddenly crossed her path. The skip turned at that second and looked full on at her, a hungry smile crossing his face. His eyes paused on her when she slowed and smiled back at him, then continued a sweep of the room. His eyes hit the table behind her. Recognition lit up in his eyes, and he scrambled to gather his things and get away. She simply sped up her walk, turning a stage fall into close to the real thing. She got him in the shoulder with the stun gun, before he got his jacket on. He went down, and she began her flustered apologies in front of the suddenly milling crowd.

A half-hour later, Ranger and Lester’s cousin was once again in police custody, Ranger was on his way to talk to Tia, and Steph was enjoying some awesome chocolate cheese cake while Lester watched, enthralled. She licked every last trace of cake off the fork before laying it down across the empty plate. She had watched Lester as he had watched her; judging from the dark look in his eyes, she had his attention. She smiled, and asked, "Ready to go?"

Throwing money down, Lester rose and pulled out her chair for her. She took his offered arm, and snuggled in close as they made their way back to the Bronco. Once in the truck, Steph settled back and tried to relax. Most of the date was over and she was wondering just what were Lester’s ideas for the rest of the evening. Earlier, contemplating how the date might end, she hoped that they could take up where they had left off this morning. She wasn’t nearly as sure now that she wanted that to happen. But first, before anything else happened or she made any other decisions, she had a plan of her own to enact.

As Lester started the truck and pulled into traffic, Steph leaned over and looked up at him through her eyelashes, eyes hooded. She knew that if she was going to be able to pull this off, and get the information she wanted, that she was going to have to do so before they got back to the RangeMan building. So she put her hand on his thigh, letting the loud music blasting from the radio wash over them as she slowly moved her hand up until she was caressing his crotch.

Lester had been watching her out of the corner of his eye during her hand’s travels, and took a deep breath when she hit home. "Steph-" he said in a warning breath, as she undid her seatbelt and then his pants.

"You don’t like this, Les?" she asked in a dead sexy, gravely voice.

Lester took a very deep breath, and moved her hand off him. "I really don’t want to run off the road, and I can’t concentrate if you’re doing that." He stared straight ahead, knuckles tight on the wheel.

Steph felt her mouth curl up in a smile, and she snaked her hand out again, causing Les to try and shift away from her in his seat. She didn’t let him get away, and soon he was panting heavily. She felt him very near to release, amazed that he hadn’t had to pull the car over yet, and suddenly withdrew to her own seat and buckled herself in.

Les swore in Spanish, and Steph chuckled. "I’ll finish that when we get home, Les, if you’ll answer one question for me."

"You are a cruel bitch when you want something," Lester stated, frustration evident in his voice.

"Yes," Steph agreed. "But if you’ll answer my question, I’ll more than make it up to you." She turned to face him, licking her lips. "I promise." She was a girl from the burg, and she knew how to get her way. Lester didn’t really stand a chance.

Lester stopped at a red light and adjusted himself and his clothing as best he could. Looking at her, he sighed. "What question?"

"What weren’t you and Ranger telling me about your cousin? Why couldn’t I distract him?"

"We were afraid that he might recognize you," Lester ground out behind gritted teeth. "The whole family knows who you are, from stories Ric and I and the other guys have told. They’ve seen the newspaper articles."

Shock registered on her face. "Why did you guys talk about me to your family?" She was still amazed that Ranger, who had never hinted at more family than a distant daughter in Miami and an elderly grandmother, had never mentioned that he and Lester were related. The fact that she had been brought up to that family was simply unbelievable.

"You gotta admit, you have some pretty funny adventures, if you’re not you but an observer to the situation." Lester looked out the corner of his eye again, trying to judge if she was going to explode over that comment. "Plus, well- I told you that Ranger was interested. He talks about you a lot. Slimeball was at a party or two where he heard us, and he seemed a little too interested, if you know what I mean."

"Keep talking, Santos. Fill in the blanks for me." Steph followed so far, but she still didn’t see the answer.

"Ranger and Slimeball have had run-ins in the past over women. Slimeball-"

Steph interrupted. "Does Slimeball have a name?"

"Alec. Alec has gone after women Ranger was interested in before, just to see if he could get them. And he wasn’t very nice to them when he was through." Lester gripped the steering wheel tight enough to show white around his knuckles. "That would be why he was in jail."

"Oh," Steph began to get the picture. "So, Alec is a threat to me, another crazy that I didn’t even know who was after me." She leaned her head back on the seat, staring sightlessly at the roof. She’d really thought that training and working for RangeMan would reduce the number of crazies after her, not increase the list.

"No-" Les began, then stopped himself. "Let’s just say, neither Ranger nor I would be willing to chance a distraction."

Steph looked out the window. "Okay. I suppose that’s enough of an explanation." In reality, as well trained as she now was, she still didn’t want to contemplate just what the details were of this vague threat to her safety. She stayed quiet until they had parked in the office’s garage. They sat in the parked car for five minutes before she realized they were there.

Lester grabbed her hand and kissed the palm. "I realize that work intruding on our date kind of killed the mood, but do you think we could go up to your place?" His voice was hopeful, like a kid asking Santa for the one present he hoped to get but was sure that he wouldn’t.

Steph hesitantly smiled at him. "Sure."

Chapter Five

Steph walked to the elevator, Lester’s arm wrapped heavily around her shoulders. They didn’t talk much, but her mind was racing. Along with her body.

In all honesty, Steph thought Lester was very hot, funny, and caring. But knowing that he was related to Ranger, even if it wasn’t by blood, had put something of a damper on her desire, incident in the car non-withstanding. The car was purely motivated by the need to get information out of these close-mouthed Cubans. Steph imaged what a dinner with a group of Ranger’s relatives would be like, if they were all as non-talkative as him

That much silence might kill her.

When they arrived at her door, Lester removed his arm while she unlocked it and opened the door to him. "Coming?" she queried.

"Hopefully," he whispered at her throatily.

She felt a shiver start at the base of her spine and radiate upwards. Oh, boy, this was more difficult than she had thought it would be. The flirting and joking and talking about a casual sex arrangement had been much easier last night with alcohol involved. Now, she was scared spitless at the idea of finishing what she had started in the car.

Lester seemed to have sensed her reservations. "Steph?"

She bit her lip. "Uh, Lester-"

"You want me to leave, don’t you?" Lester sighed. "It’s cause I told you we are cousins, isn’t it?"

"Uh, yeah, partially." Steph pulled her hair back off her face and up off of her neck, clamping her hands down on her head. "Won’t he be really mad if I hook up with his cousin?"

"As opposed to Bobby or Tank?" Lester asked. At her nod, "He might be really mad at me, but not you. And," wolf grin crossing his face," I’m willing to chance the anger."

Steph looked at Lester’s eyes. There were fairly easy to read, for her, having worked with him so much, but these were deeper waters than they usually waded in. "Why?"

"I thought we’d been over this," Lester spoke like a frustrated teacher. "You’re hot. I’m horny. Wait, we’re both hot AND horny. And neither of us is in a relationship. So, we can do whatever we want with each other, no emotional entanglements. Which part don’t you get?"

"Maybe more alcohol would help." Steph got up to go to her kitchen, but Lester’s hand on her arm stopped her.

"No alcohol, Bomber. Either you want this, or you don’t. I don’t want to talk you into anything you can’t handle. If this is too much- the physical stuff- we won’t do anything. We can just sit and talk, or I can leave." Lester waited patiently for her answer.

"Want to watch a movie?" she asked tensely.

Lester smiled back at her, a little disappointment evident. "Sure," he said, making himself comfortable on the sofa. Steph let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding before putting in the movie. "What movie?" he asked, patting the seat next to him.

"Ghostbusters!"

"Why would I ever think it would be something else?" Lester shook his head a little. It seemed like she watched this movie at least once a week.

Steph settled in next to him, leaning against his shoulder. She felt very safe and comfortable here, just like with Ranger but without the disturbing sexual undercurrents. But Lester really did seem okay with her deciding against the casual sex. The more she thought about it, the less attention she paid to the movie and the more she studied Lester’s face. He must have noticed her stares, because he turned to look at her full on, ignoring the movie. "What?" he asked.

"You really aren’t mad at me? Especially after…um, the car?" Steph waited anxiously for a response.

Lester drew her into a tight bear hug, her head resting on his chest. "Bomber-" He started, but stopped himself. Staring again, he said, "Steph- I can’t say I wasn’t looking forward to a night in your bed. But that’s not a big deal, when it’s obvious that you’re bothered by something. You weren’t going to enjoy yourself."

"But-" Steph was trying to put her thoughts into a well-worded, non-embarrassing question. "How can you just turn the hormones off?" Her voice held a little awe in it.

Lester laughed, and took one of her hands and held it against his crotch for a moment before moving it away. "The hormones are hardly turned off. But I can control myself. Mind over matter."

Steph just shook her head. "My problem is that I have absolutely NO control over my hormones."

Lester chuckled. "You do, too. I’m on your sofa, not in your bed. That’s some control."

"No," Steph blew out an exasperated breath. "That’s because you decided you weren’t going to end up in my bed. If you hadn’t have said something, we’d be doing the horizontal mambo right now. No doubt in my mind."

Lester shook his head regretfully. "If I’d realized that, I might not have been such a gentleman."

A rough punch against his shoulder garnered Steph an out-right laugh. "Pig."

"I could help you with that self-control issue." Lester whispered into her ear. "Kind of a behavior modification program. It could be fun."

Steph felt the whisper in her belly. Ranger’s cousin or not, that voice in her ear- husky and barely a whisper- made her begin to question her decision. She moved towards him, "And what exactly does this program entail?"

"Lots and lots of making out, but nothing else." Lester sounded like a junior high kid. "No touching below the waist or beneath the clothes."

"Huh?" Steph asked in a puzzled voice.

"You just have to enjoy the act without thinking beyond it. Enjoy it for what it is- not for what it could be." Lester’s voice had turned silky, and his mouth caressed her neck with gentle, small kisses.

"That’s all we’ll do?" Steph panted, already reacting to Lester’s mouth.

"You’d be surprised, but sometimes this is enough." Lester stopped speaking, but Steph could tell that he had left something off that he had originally meant to say.

She pushed him away from her. "What else?"

He looked at her seriously. "Okay, just remember that you asked for this. Your past lovers haven’t treated you very well, have they?"

Suddenly nervous again, Steph tried to escape Lester and the sofa. He followed her, even as she entered her bedroom. "What are you doing?" she asked him roughly.

"Not letting you run away from me because I honestly answered your question." Lester crossed his arms and leaned against the doorjamb, effectively blocking her into the room.

She crossed her arms as well and narrowed her eyes. "Explain what you meant, then."

"Sex isn’t always the big finish, if you’re any good at it. Obviously, the men you’ve been with didn’t show you that." Lester looked her over.

Steph’s body relaxed as she considered his words. Her partners had been good, she thought, but when she really thought about it, remembering details, the act was for them and their pleasure, and not hers. Ranger had paid a great deal of attention to her needs, but he hadn’t given her much choice about it, just pushed his way into her bedroom and her. That had tainted the act itself.

So what would it be like, if it was just about her? And then she realized- that’s pretty much what this deal with the Merry Men had guaranteed her. It was about what she wanted, when she wanted it- and that was all. She stalked over to Lester- a seductive stalk, not an angry one. "So show me," she breathed in his ear before pulling him down into a forceful kiss.

Chapter Four

Steph had fallen asleep next to Lester in her bed. Unlike Joe or Ranger, Lester was still in her bed this morning and had no desire to immediately leave it. And he hadn’t even gotten past first base. He held her in his arms, and gently played with her hair, trying to tempt her to stay in bed with him. She was trying to extract herself to get ready for a workout in the gym, while Lester kept insisting that she didn’t have to leave the bed for a workout.

Steph eventually came to a compromise with him; he’d let her up, and even go with her to the company gym, if she’d ditch her usual baggy t-shirt for a sports bra. "Okay, you non-sex fiend," she stated in a threatening voice. "Get out of here now and get changed, or we won’t have time for anything before I have to report for the Watkins surveillance job!" Lester was up and dressed in his clothes from last night in a minute, and she was right behind him all the way to the door. "Go change, and I’ll meet you at the gym," she ordered Lester as she turned from shutting her door and walked right into Ranger. "Morning," she stated in a shaky voice.

Ranger was looking at her in a thoughtful, Ranger way. That meant that he could be considering shipping her off to a third world country and she’d never be able to tell from his face. "Steph," he answered. She noted that he did not use "Babe." Probably had to do with the fact the he had seen Lester leaving her room in the same clothes he had on last night, shoes in hand, and a dark bite mark on her neck that she couldn’t have hidden if she’d tried.

She paused for a moment, waiting to see if Ranger wanted something. He stared at her wordlessly for a few minutes before he opened his mouth. "I’m your partner on surveillance today. We think something might go down, and I’d rather you weren’t there by yourself."

She nodded, her stomach uneasy. She wasn’t sure if it was because she thought that not wanting her by herself was another way of saying she still sucked as a bounty hunter or because she was positive that Ranger’s ESP had malfunctioned and told him she had slept with Lester. "Okay. Meet you in the garage at nine."

Ranger nodded in agreement and headed to the elevator. Steph let him take the lift, waiting for the car to come back down so that she wouldn’t have to stand close to Ranger in a small, solitary space. Lester met her in the gym, as agreed.

They weren’t the only ones in the gym; Bobby and Tank, free at this time of day, were also working out. As she entered, the other two men called out their greetings to her. "Hey, guys!" she called back as she made her way over to the treadmill and switched it on.

Tank stepped onto the treadmill next to her. "Hey, Bombshell, how’d your date go?"

"What’d ya hear?" she asked, not stopping the quick pace she’d set on the machine.

Tank smiled broadly at her. "Ranger was in a pissy mood this morning when he couldn’t get a hold of Santos."

That piqued her interest. "Really?"

"Oh, yeah." Tank chuckled. "He asked the guys in the control room if Santos had made it back to the building last night, and cursed a great deal in Spanish when they told him that Santos had spent the night in your apartment."

Steph bit her lip. "But that’s good, right? For the plan?"

"He sounds jealous, doesn’t he?" Tank increased the incline of his machine, making talking harder. "So when do I get my chance to take you out?"

Steph continued at her steady pace and thought about it. The plan seemed to be working. "How about Thursday?"

Chapter Six

Ranger had met Steph at the garage, as planned. He barely nodded a greeting to her before they jumped into his truck and took off. He didn’t get any more talkative as the night drug on, and the atmosphere in the car was tense, at least to Stephanie. Ranger sat in the driver’s seat, slung across it like some jungle cat watching its pray, while she gazed out a huge pair of binoculars towards the empty skip’s house. They had been sitting here for almost four hours, in near silence, without catching sight of anyone.

Steph did not deal well with silence; she was chatty. If she couldn’t talk to someone else, then her mind held its own conversation. And the thoughts in her head were not good. The guys had gotten her thinking about Ranger again, and the mess that was their relationship. She had managed to put the whole matter out of her head for most of the past six months; she lived in the land of denial and avoidance, and it usually worked for her. But close physical proximity to Ranger, coupled with the consequences of her graduation party, made denial more and more difficult. And whenever she thought about Ranger, that particular train of thought always went back to the night they had spent together, and the image of a naked Ranger that was burned into her mind. So she was desperately- and unsuccessfully- trying to distract herself from Ranger’s warm body just inches away from her.

This was the first time that she had been alone with Ranger for more than a few minutes since she and the boys had launched Operation "Make Ranger Jealous." She doubted Ranger would actually bring up the events of the past day and a half, even though he hadn’t seemed very happy at the Ballroom, or outside of her door this morning after Lester had spent the night. At her "party," he had sat and watched her and the guys, in various combinations, dance for over two hours. He never asked her to dance, and the boys were careful never to leave her un-partnered. She had had a blast, as long as she forgot that Ranger was sitting there staring at her. Then this morning, Ranger had only spoken a few words to her but his eyes were busy taking in all the details of her appearance. His eyes had lingered over the passion mark on her neck, and had followed her down the hall on her way to the gym. She had felt his eyes staring at her until the gym door had closed behind her.

But stares- dirty, dangerous, I want to strangle someone stares- were the only reaction her and the boys’ plan had garnered so far. She could tell that something was bothering Ranger, though, because he of the steel nerves snapped at her in the next minute. "Could you quit twitching so much? And put the damn binoculars down, no one’s been in there for hours."

She responded quickly, surprised at his tone. Ranger had never quite- yelled- at her before. Yes, he had been displeased with her, annoyed, angry- but he never raised his voice. She put the goggles away, and sat back in her seat, arms crossed, and continued to stare out the window at the empty house. She didn’t trust her temper with a response just now.

"This was a waste," Ranger spat out, disgust evident in his voice.

"Yeah, I enjoyed the intellectual stimulation of silence, too," Steph mumbled.

Ranger spared her a hard look. "If you don’t like silence, then talk."

"Uh-" Steph was caught off-guard. Ranger wanted to talk?

"Thanks for helping last night with my cousin." Ranger’s voice didn’t hold any emotion, but at least this was a start. "Sorry it interrupted your evening."

"Not a problem. I’m sure that my ineptitude over the years had interrupted your nights more than once." Steph was a little embarrassed, when she thought about it. All those times she had called Ranger for help, and she had never really asked what –if- she was interrupting. At first, she wasn’t sure that she wanted to know what she had taken him away from; he had frightened her just a little bit. Now, after years of experience with Mr. Monosyllabic answers, she wasn’t afraid of him so much as she hadn’t thought he’d want to share. But she must have inconvenienced him some; last night could be considered hardly the beginning of paying him back for all his help.

"Never a date." Ranger left that hanging, baiting her for some more information.

Steph knew he was trying to get information out of her, but she didn’t want to play games. She owed Ranger an honest answer- if he asked- both personally and professionally. Especially since she was dating his entire "A" team- not that he knew that yet. "If you have something you want to know, Ranger" she said lowly, "you can just ask me."

Ranger nodded his head at her, but didn’t ask anything. Steph let the silence take the car over again, waiting to see if Ranger was going to actually speak up.

He didn’t. But he looked liked he wanted to do so, quite badly. So Steph decided to nudge him. "So how come you never told me Lester was your cousin?"

Shrugging, Ranger said, "Never came up, wasn’t that important. Why? Is it important now?" He set his level gaze at her.

"Just an interesting fact." She met his gaze, willing herself not to blush or show discomfort. Apparently she was successful, because Ranger felt the need to talk more instead of just reading her mind.

"Here’s another interesting fact. Lester didn’t make it back to his place last night. He was a bit hard to find this morning." Ranger’s voice was completely and carefully neutral. That emptiness in his voice made her suspect that Ranger was more bothered than her wanted her to know. But she wanted to nudge him into articulating his jealousy. Ranger’s reluctance to discuss emotions was one of the reasons that had led to this plan in the first place, and she wanted a full- not partial-victory.

So she decided to employ a Ranger technique- evasion. "I don’t think it’s any of your business what I do when I’m not working." She had deliberately not answered Ranger’s implied question- did she have sex with Lester last night?

"If it might compromise your working relationship with my team, I think I have some right to know." His voice was a little testier, but the emotion in it was still banked.

Yeah, right, Stephanie thought to herself. Lester had been right about this plan. Ranger wanted to know who she was having sex with, if it wasn’t him. "I didn’t sleep with Lester." She continued looking out the window at the house the entire time they talked, but she could see Ranger’s reflection in the window glass. Her answer had surprised him, somehow, because his one eyebrow was raised now.

"He didn’t spend the night in your apartment?" There was disbelief in his voice.

"Again- not any of your business- but, yes, Lester spent the night. And no, I did not sleep with him." Steph sat up suddenly, a blur out the corner of her eyes and a light now on in the house telling her that their skip was back. "Ranger-"

"Saw it, too, Babe." The nickname was back. They both drew their guns and quietly shut the car doors behind them. Conversation ended, they went into work mode. Steph took the back door, Ranger the front, and their skip was cuffed and in the back of the Bronco within twenty minutes. Thirty minutes more, and, body receipt in hand, they were back at RangeMan and taking the elevator up to the fifth floor offices.

"So Lester slept over, but you didn’t sleep with him?" Ranger asked out of the blue, as the elevator doors closed on them.

Steph kept her mental smile small; she didn’t want to jinx the plan with arrogance. "If you really want to know, yes, that’s what happened."

His hand rested on the back of her neck, kneading her suddenly tense muscles, before his fingers slid down and pressed hard against the hickey Lester had left on her. "Good. Anything else I should know about?"

His hand on her sent fire along her veins. But that "Good"- egotistical, possessive, annoyingly male- made her see red. Like she wasn’t allowed other guys, even though she wasn’t with him. "You don’t need any of the details." Implying that something had gone on, but not elaborating. Take that, Ranger, she mentally thought.

Suddenly he was behind her, his body hard against hers, his voice low in her ears. "There were details?"

Then the elevator doors opened, and Stephanie escaped. She threw him a small, tight smile and a finger wave, hurrying for the control room and the presence of other people to protect her from any further curiosity on Ranger’s part. Ranger, a little stunned, forgot to get off the elevator, allowing her to escape.

"What details?" he asked the empty elevator.

Chapter Seven

The next few days were busy at RangeMan. There were several bigger cases ending at just about the same time, and Steph hardly had time to think about the plan, much less worry about it. So when Thursday arrived, she had actually almost forgotten her date with Tank. What reminded her were the flowers that arrived at the front reception desk about three o’clock that afternoon. It was a bouquet of purple caspia, bright pink and purple Gerber daisies, and baby’s breath, with a plain white card tucked in. The card made her smile; in Tank’s even scrawl, it said: "Hope you got these right in front of Ranger. Pick you up tonight at seven, and I promise it won’t be Shorty’s."

She hadn’t actually gotten the flowers with Ranger around, but she did run into him on her way back down to her apartment after her shift, the bouquet in hand. He did the raised eyebrow thing again, studying the flowers. "Nice flowers. Lester do something wrong that he need to apologize for?"

Drawing in a deep breath heavy with the scent of the flowers, Steph smiled. "These aren’t from Lester."

Ranger’s eyebrow went up further, if possible. "Really?"

Again, the elevator doors opened at an opportune moment and Steph took advantage, stepping out on the fourth floor. "Really," she called out over her shoulder.

She unlocked her door, feeling happy inside. Not only had she gotten one up on Ranger again- which was an usual enough occurrence- but she had also gotten flowers. Aside from school dances, she could count the times she had gotten flowers from a guy on one hand. Lester might be right about the guys she had been with before, on more than just a physical level.

The daisies looked cheery in the center of her small dining table. She kept catching the color of them out of the corner of her eye as she ambled about the place, getting ready and straightening up. Never the world’s best housekeeper, the past few busy days had only added to the clutter. Clothes that had been carelessly tossed at the end of the day were gathered into a laundry basket and shoved, basket and all, into her closet. Dishes were stowed into the dishwasher, and everything quickly wiped down. She even changed the sheets, just in case.

Not knowing where they were going made wardrobe choices difficult. Steph decided to settle on a khaki cargo skirt that fell a little above her knee, and a cream stretchy three-quarter length tee. Underneath, a lacy cream bra and matching boy panties. Sexy underwear, whether the guy saw it or not, always made her feel more powerful. A pair of semi-conservative (for her) three-inch heels were positioned next to her front door; she was padding around the apartment barefoot, waiting for toenail polish to dry. She left her hair down, partially out of laziness and partially to hide the not-quite faded hickey on her neck. Not that Tank would be jealous or anything, but it did make her feel a little bit self-conscious. All right, a little bit slutty.

She was looking at the mark, playing with the position of her hair in the mirror, when there was a knock at her door. Expecting Tank, she didn’t even look through the peephole before opening the door. "Hey, Tank, where are we-" she said, before realizing it was Ranger at her door.

"Expecting someone?" Ranger asked. He was dressed casually, more casually than Steph was used to seeing him. A soft, maroon cashmere sweater showed the outline of every muscle on his torso; fitted but loose, faded blue jeans showed off his assets to the hilt. She had to quickly check for drool, he looked so good.

"Uh, yeah. I had plans tonight-" Steph began.

"Again?" Ranger leaned against her doorframe. "Is Tank the guy who sent you the flowers?"

Steph smiled at Ranger sweetly. "As I said before, what I’m doing when I’m not at work isn’t really your business."

"Once upon a time, it might have been," Ranger said, more to himself than to her. He pushed off the doorframe and brushed a kiss across her forehead. "Let me know when you have a spot on the dance card." Then he walked off down the hall, leaving Steph with her mouth hanging open.

Her shock was cut short by Tank’s appearance down the end of the hall from his own apartment door. Tank waved at her when she saw her standing there, looking out into the hall, and made his way down. He pulled her into a crushing hug of hello. "Hey, Steph!" he greeted her when he let go.

"Hey, Tank," she responded, still a little out of sorts from her Ranger encounter, moving out of his way so that he could come in.

Tank picked up on her mood immediately. "What’s the matter, Steph?"

"Oh, just Ranger stopping by." She shook herself mentally. "Where are we going tonight?"

"What did he stop by for?" Tank asked almost giddily.

"He didn’t say." Steph was still thinking about his words.

"Well, what did he say before he left?" Tank asked impatiently.

Steph grinned a little. "He told me to let him know when I had an open spot on my dance card."

Tank grinned back. "And you thought that the plan might not work! Did he even see the flowers?"

"The flowers are beautiful. I love them!" Steph smiled at Tank broadly.

"Glad you like them." Tank smiled evilly. "And did Ranger?"

Steph laughed. "No, I don’t think he was happy. He’s had a bad few days."

"He ask about Lester?" Tank settled down on her sofa and slouched back.

"What about Lester?" she asked innocently.

Tank laughed at her act, and switched the topic. "So, how about a home cooked meal tonight, Steph?"

It was Steph’s turn to laugh. "You aren’t thinking I’m gonna cook for you, are you? You may end up in the hospital with food poisoning."

Tank shook his head at her. "Never domesticate the Bombshell. I meant, how would you like me to cook dinner for you?"

"What kind of dinner are we talking?" Steph paused at her door to slip her shoes on. "And does it come with desert?"

"Of course! I am offended that you would think otherwise." Tank stood up, took Steph’s arm, and pulled her out the door and down the hall. "It’s a Boston crème pie."

Her mouth watering, Steph was easily led to Tank’s door. Once open, wonderful smells poured out. "Oh, Tank, that smells great! What’s for dinner itself?"

Tank pulled the door shit behind them. "Seafood Alfredo, fresh foccacia, and bruschetta."

"You really know the way to a girl’s heart, Tank." He led her to a set table that held a matching bouquet to the one presently residing on her own. Sitting down, she examined the table more closely. Herbed olive oil for dipping the bread, a bowl of olives, a bottle of red wine already open to breath, and real fabric napkins. "Wow."

Tank left her at the table and entered the kitchen. "It’ll just be a few minutes. I started cooking before I stopped by to get you."

It was less than ten minutes, and Steph was feasting on the best Alfredo she’d ever had. Taking another forkful, she complimented the chef honestly. "This is just wonderful! Where did you learn to cook like this?"

Grinning, Tank sipped his wine. "My parents owned a restaurant when I was growing up. I worked there from the time I was ten until I left for college. I’d rather cook than clean, so I made sure I got good at it."

Steph seized on the chance to learn more about the usually reserved Tank. Although Tank joked easily at work, he rarely shared personal information. Must be one of the reasons that he got along so well with Ranger. "So where was this restaurant?"

"Trenton."

An idea flashed in Steph’s brain. "Your parents own Shorty’s!"

"Yeah," Tank chuckled.

"Well, that explains your fondness for it, and why you guys feel so safe hanging out there. But I can’t believe that you never told me it was your parents’ place!" Steph was incredulous.

He shrugged. "I don’t advertise it."

Another forkful. Thinking back over her past adventures in the bounty hunter lifestyle, she was beginning to think that secretiveness wasn’t so bad. She nodded. "I can understand that. So where did you go to college?"

"Same as Ranger." Tank waited to see if Steph knew the name of the college.

"Were you at Rutgers at the same time as Ranger?" Steph was curious now. More fill-in-the-blanks about Ranger’s past.

"Our time overlapped. I graduated a year before he left to join the Army." Tank had already finished his dinner, while Steph was still working on hers.

"What was your major?" Steph asked through a mouthful of noodles.

"Dual majors. Psychology and History." Tank sipped more wine. "I concentrated my classes on military history and post-traumatic stress syndrome. I was always intrigued by the interplay between mental health and the demands of a soldier’s job."

"Why?" Again, through a mouthful of noodles. Steph was almost done now, too.

"My father’s and grandfather’s stories about their military service. They are very gentle, very religious men- and yet, the things they did while in the army, how they managed to live with it and seem normal…"

"Where did they serve?" Steph sat back, spearing the last shrimp off her plate and popping it into her mouth.

"The Pacific Theatre in WWII, Vietnam." Tank topped of his glass and hers with the wine. "I come from a long line of soldiers."

"My dad was in the Army. He never wanted to talk about it much." Steph sipped her wine delicately, keeping in mind her tolerance level. "Having lived through some of the crazy things that have happened to me since I took up bounty hunting, I’m kind of glad he didn’t. I have enough of my own nightmares."

Tank nodded. "That’s what I was interested in. That’s really why I initially joined the Rangers."

"Just curiosity?" Steph shook her head. "And people say I’m too curious."

"Just one of the motivations." Tank gestured at her plate. "You done?"

"Yeah," Steph handed him the plate. "It was really good. So good that I can’t believe I’m gonna say this-"

"You are not turning down my desert, now, are you?" Tank did a credible hurt expression.

"God, no! Just…" Steph thought of a good way to put it, "delaying a bit. Let me make some room."

"Okay," Tank was mollified. "I’ll clean up. You go ‘make room’ out on the sofa."

Picking up her wineglass, Steph made her way out to the sofa and arranged herself comfortably. She leaned her head back, and was asleep before she even realized it. She figured it out when the sofa dipping under Tank’s weight woke her up. "Oh, I’m sorry, Tank, I didn’t mean to fall asleep!"

"It’s okay, Steph. It’s been a long week." Tank settled next to her and put his head back, too. "I’m not offended. Though now that I’m in the room, if you could keep your eyes open-"

She smiled at him. "I think I can manage. What were your plans for the rest of the evening?"

Tank shrugged. "I was kind of open. Didn’t plan much beyond dinner and desert."

What had Steph done when she used to date? Aside from drunken frat parties, she really couldn’t remember anything in particular. Had it really been that long since a real date, before Dickie, back in college? Any date with Morelli had ended in sex, quite frankly, and she and Ranger never went out anywhere not related to work. "Sadly enough, I don’t even remember what I used to do on dates, aside from dinner and drinks."

Tank quirked one corner of his lips up. "Must not have been very memorable dates then."

Steph sighed. This was the second time someone had said something to that effect to her in the past week, and she found it rather depressing that both men were right. "No, they weren’t. How pathetic am I?"

His hand snaked over and enclosed hers. "That was a long time ago. I think-" he paused and looked her directly in the eyes. "Do you really want to know what I think?"

Steph nodded. "Yeah. I’m beginning to think that I need an outsiders’ view to my life."

"Okay," Tank kept her hand in his. "I think that you aren’t the same person you were then, and now that your perspective has changed, you’re beginning to see things you would not otherwise have noticed."

This made sense. Tank was very observant; she wondered what else he had noticed? "Such as?"

"You promise not to hit me, Bombshell?" Tank waited for her answer before continuing. Once she had nodded, he went on. "Okay. I think that you lived life under Burg standards for thirty years or so, the whole time chaffing under the expectations, and now that you’ve broken out, you can’t believe that it’s taken you so long. And you blame yourself, and put yourself down, for it to have taken so long. Plus, you never really looked at what else was out there in the world, so now-"

"I don’t know what I want, just what I don’t want," Steph finished for him.

"You have been doing some serious thinking," Tank commented in approval.

"I guess I have." Steph let silence build. It was a comfortable silence, one that she didn’t feel needed to be filled up with chatter. Neither, apparently, did Tank. "The real problem is that of the few things I’ve figured out that I want, none seems to be achievable."

"May be you just need help figuring out a plan. Why don’t you tell me about what you want? I’m good at plans." Tank shifted so that she was leaning against his chest. He was a very large man, but he no longer scared her. She pondered for a minute as to why, and she came up with the fact that she had gotten to know him outside of time spent body guarding her, when he was supposed to be scary.

"Well, we already came up with a plan for getting Ranger. Although I’m still not convinced it will work, it’s the best plan I have right now." Steph shifted so that she was able to sit up and kick off her shoes. Curling her legs up under her, she repositioned herself into a comfortable position leaning against Tank again. "And I want to be better at my job, which we’ve been working on for a while."

"What else?"

Steph sipped her wine again, and thought. It took a few minutes. "I’d like to set my own rules, and not be afraid of what everyone else has to say about them."

"Well, you’re halfway there. You certainly set your own rules." Tank took her hand again, running his thumb over the palm of her hand. "Not being afraid of what others say is a bit more difficult, because you can’t do anything about other people. You have to work on how you choose to react to what people do or say. You have to learn to believe in yourself, increase your self-esteem."

Steph snorted derisively. "And how the hell can I do that? It seems to me like I can’t do anything right-"

"Stop that," Tank ordered.

"Stop what?" Steph demanded.

"That. Putting yourself down." Tank turned so that he was sitting facing her, with his back to the arm. "Why do you think that you can’t do anything right? Where’s the proof?"

"We can start with the fact that I’m thirty-two, divorced once and no re-marriage prospects. I’m a bounty hunter because I couldn’t find any other job to support myself; and I work for RangeMan because, for some reason, Ranger feels sorry for me. I can’t cook. I’ve managed to blow up so many cars that I can’t get my own insurance anymore. And I’m the object of I don’t know how many pools, none of them normal or pleasant." Steph cringed. "Do I need to go on?"

"Did you listen to yourself?" Tank asked. "That list did not include anything but other people’s impressions and misstatements of fact."

"I guess I didn’t notice that."

"So," Tank continued to press her, keeping eye contact the whole time. "Let’s go through that list. First, Ranger did not hire you out of pity. You do a good job. Better now, with training."

"Is that why my skips always managed to cover me in mud or food or Vaseline before I could bring them in?" Steph played with the hem of her shirt nervously.

"How many years you serve in the army? How many forms of martial arts have you studied? How many years were you a cop?" Tank fired questions at her.

"Duh, none," Steph answered, her voice dripping with contempt for herself. "That’s the point. I do a job for which I am horrible unqualified."

"No." Tank said forcefully. "You do very well for your training, which you’ve chosen to expand upon now. Given the lack of training you started with, it’s amazing what you’ve accomplished. You brought in Joe Morelli as your first skip. Ranger didn’t even want that case."

That statement caught Steph’s attention. "Ranger didn’t want it?"

Tank shook his head. "Nope. He thought it would be too difficult, with way too much cop involvement."

Steph considered that a moment. She had taken a case Ranger didn’t want, and had gotten her man. Sort of. "You know, I worked with Morelli to solve the case. I wouldn’t have had a chance in hell to get him if he didn’t cooperate."

"Bombshell, I was at the station turning in a skip when you drove that truck in. Morelli wanted to kill you! I don’t think he went in too cooperatively." Tank laughed. That had been a sight to see, a story he had to repeat to Ranger three or four times before Ranger would believe it. "Besides, you use what you have and what you know. Lacking a background in physical force, you usually use what you know about people and human nature. And when in doubt, you stunned or sprayed them. You did-do- a good job. If you didn’t, Ranger wouldn’t have hired you. Even interested in you, he’s not going to pay you out of pity. The man doesn’t have THAT much money."

"He has enough to keep giving me cars," Steph muttered.

"Tax write-offs. Didn’t cost him a thing, in the end. My guess is, he wanted to see how you well would do with one less problem in your way. I think he’s had his eye on you as employee material for a while, longer than as girlfriend material. You need to examine things more closely, try not to draw biased conclusions." Tank shifted, his leg was beginning to fall asleep. "But back to your list. Why does it matter that your divorced and thirty-two? To you, not to the Burg."

"There has to be something wrong with me, then." Steph thought the answer should be obvious.

"What’s wrong with you? How is the divorce your fault?" Tank reached for the wine bottle he had brought out and refilled his glass. Steph declined a refill. "I don’t know anything about the situation, so fill me in."

"I found the Dick- my ex, Dickie Orr- and Joyce Bernhardt doing it on my dining room table even before our one-year anniversary." Steph took a sip, avoiding Tank’s eyes.

"And how the hell were you responsible for that?" Tank dragged her eyes back to his.

"Again. There must have been something wrong with me, that he felt the need to sleep with someone else. Well, the many someone elses. Joyce wasn’t the only one." Steph took another sip, which turned into a gulp.

"Did you refuse to sleep with your husband?"

Frowning, Steph answered in a puzzled voice. "No."

"Were you uh…resistant to trying new things with him?"

Her face beginning to blaze in embarrassment, she shook her head. "Uh, if I understand what you mean, no. He never asked me to do- anything like that."

"Then it was his fault, not yours." Tank noted the redness of her face. "I didn’t mean to embarrass you."

"I know, you’re trying to help. I just embarrass easily." Steph took another gulp of wine. Alcohol might make this conversation go easier. "Even if I concede that his cheating was the reason for the divorce- and therefore it was his fault, not mine- what did I do to make him cheat on me? That’s still my fault."

Tank let out a huge sigh. "You’re still doing it. He made the decision to cheat; you didn’t push him to it. You can’t control other people’s choices."

"But he must have had a reason! Maybe I just wasn’t pretty enough or thin enough-" Her voice had begun to take on a whining tone.

"Bullshit." Tank was becoming frustrated. "Haven’t enough men found you attractive since the Dick for you to realize that that wasn’t it?"

Steph didn’t answer. Her face burned redder, and she reached on her own to fill her glass. Tank, however, snatched the wine out of her hands. "Okay, here’s problem one. You have trouble discussing things unless you use a crutch, like alcohol. Because if you drink and say something embarrassing, you can blame it on the alcohol. So- no more alcohol tonight." And he got up, gathered their glasses and the wine bottle, and took it all out to the kitchen counter. He came back in with two glasses of water and sat back down in the same position, his back to the sofa arm and facing her.

"Fine. I’ll embarrass myself sober. But if you bring this up in front of other people, I swear I’ll shoot you." Steph crossed her arms and sat Indian style across the sofa from Tank. "I’ve only been with a couple of guys since Dickie, and none of them have made me really feel that attractive."

Tank schooled his face. "How long have you been divorced?"

"Seven years or so," Steph shrugged. "A while."

"And by couple, you mean two? Or more like, less than ten?" Tank couldn’t believe this beautiful woman had been left so alone and lonely.

"Two." Steph hung her head a little. This was really embarrassing, more embarrassing than telling the guys that Ranger didn’t want her. This was admitting that pretty much no one had wanted her. That was bad enough to admit to herself, let alone a really good looking guy who was dating her out of pity for her situation. She wanted to bang her head into the wall until she passed out.

"Only two?" Tank couldn’t keep the disbelief out of his voice.

"Geez, don’t play the shock up to make me feel better."

"I am shocked." Tank shook his head a little, wondering where this girl had been hanging out that he hadn’t run in to her before Ranger did, sometime during her dry spell. He would have been after her in a heartbeat. "I can’t believe that men left you alone. I certainly wouldn’t have."

A shy smile played at the corners of Stephanie’s lips. "That’s sweet, Tank. But I’d rather have honesty than false flattery."

"And you need to learn to take a compliment, Steph." Tank was looking at her hard, as if searching for an answer in her face. "You are beautiful, inside and out. Any man that doesn’t see that is a fool."

Steph couldn’t meet his eyes. "I still don’t believe that."

Tank made a quick decision, hoping that he wouldn’t regret it. Leaning in, he pulled Steph to him in a crushing, tongue-swapping kiss. She seemed to be into it as much as he was when he pulled away. "Then let me convince you," he said.

Steph didn’t speak, but she nodded in agreement.

Restricted Chapter Eight-A

SMUT- Skip ahead if you will be offended….

Tank earnestly set out to convince her, shoving his momentary misgivings aside. They might only be friends, she might be in love with his stupid, assinine best friend, but Stephanie Plum was one hot woman. And she had just consented to be his for the night. He could hardly believe his good luck.

He placed a gentle kiss on her and leaned back slightly from Stephanie’s slight form, his eyes hooded as he looked into hers. She was slightly breathless, her eyes were partially closed, and her chest rose and fell quickly, drawing attention to her pert, well-formed breasts.

It was Tank’s turn to draw in a slow breath. How to sufficiently seduce this woman and convince her of how attractive she is? He considered it for a moment, his eyes examining her much more closely and slowly than they ever had while she was his co-worker. He was a man, but he wasn’t dead- and not dumb enough to get sued for sexual harassment. He had looked Stephanie over before, surreptitiously, but never with such open admiration and desire- even when she was dressed for a distraction.

Judging from another sharp intake of breath from her, he assumed she had picked up on his examination. She leaned in boldly, brushing her lips against his in a rough pass-over kiss, entwining her arms around his neck. Tank helped her continue moving, leaning back slightly and pulling Stephanie up into his lap, her legs straddling his massive ones and causing her khaki skirt to bunch up high on her thighs. His hands settled on her hips and his eyes never left hers; they were pools of shining blue, pupils black and large in the low light. "Are you sure?" he asked, his voice rumbling lower than usual in his chest. He half-expected her to change her mind, but hoped that she wouldn’t.

Steph nodded her head affirmatively. "Yes, I’m sure, Tank." She leaned in to kiss him, gently worrying his lower lip with tiny, gentle bites. He enjoyed the sensation for a few moments before drawing away and stilling her, his hand cupping her face.

"This is supposed to be about you, Steph." He brushed a gentle kiss against her full lips again. "Relax." He ran his hands up her back and kneaded gently at her neck and shoulders. The slight pressure on her upper body drove her pelvis down on him; she shivered slightly, captivating him more. "You’re all tense."

"I’m a little nervous," she admitted in a small voice.

"Don’t be," Tank ordered. He continued to smooth out the knots in her neck, sliding his fingers up into the base of her scalp. She leaned into his touch and closed her eyes, which he took as a positive sign. "What can I do to make you less nervous?" he asked.

She sighed, biting her lip and opening one eye. "Turn out the lights?" she asked in an unsteady voice.

Tank shook his head. "No, Steph. I want to see you. Let’s leave the lights on."

Another sigh. "Okay." She was relaxing some, the ministrations of his hands having the desired effect. He turned her head slightly, his fingers still entangled in her hair making it easier to direct her. His tongue snaked out and he ran it down the outer shell of her ear, retracing his path once before blowing gently on it.

She gasped as his warm breath enveloped her delicate ear.

"Did you like that?" he whispered, as he did it again, this time ending the path with a quick nip at her ear lobe that made her arch her back. "I guess so," he answered his own question, turning her head to take up the activity on the other side. As he traced down, he saw a faded bruise on her neck, and followed the path of her ear a bit further, down to the mark. Once there, he applied extra pressure to it. The attention to the mark half-hidden beneath her hair garnered another gasp from her; it was still sensitive in its partially-healed state. He sucked gently on the mark, darkening it again before leaving go after a half-serious bite.

Again, Stephanie jumped. Tank had barely begun, and she was already drawn as tight as a bow-string. She was so wired and sensitive right now that he felt it would prove a distraction for her, wouldn’t allow her to fully enjoy her experience. And he really wanted her to enjoy this. He decided that he needed to do something about that. Leaning down to catch her in another fierce kiss, he slid the hem of her skirt up slightly higher, resting his hands at the juncture of her thighs and torso. Rubbing his thumbs in small, insistent circles on the sensitive skin of her inner thighs, he got her to open her legs a bit more, taking the opportunity to slip beneath the lacey edges of her now visible panties.

She turned away from his kiss, resting her forehead against his chest to draw in a shaky breath as his fingers found their target. Pressing against her swollen nub, he rubbed steadily in small, firm circles. Stephanie bucked her hips against him, and he rubbed faster. Her breath caught in her throat, and he increased the pressure. He felt her body straining against him, her breath coming faster as he drew her closer to the edge. He leaned in to whisper in her ear again, the tone of his voice as much as the words exciting her even more. "Come for me, Steph. I want to see you come. I want to hear you come."

Slipping a finger inside her slickness, then another, Tank was quickly rewarded with a half-gasped moan and then her walls clenched tightly around his digits, her whole body stiffening. He continued slow motions against her, letting her come down from her orgasm before pulling her firmly against him. He let her rest a few minutes before speaking. "Ready for more, yet, Bombshell?"

A small smile played around the corners of her mouth. "Oh, yeah," she answered in a sexy tone.

Wrapping one arm around her shoulders and the other under her knees, Tank swiftly stood up and carried her to his bedroom. Steph amazed at how relaxed and comfortable she was with Tank, considered how good she already felt, and the fact they were both still fully clothed, on the way towards the bedroom. This was a singular experience for her; the knowledge that all that lay between the two of them was mutual physical attraction, good sex, and a solid friendship was somewhat liberating. She had never really been one for fuck-buddies, as in her experience one or both of them usually ended up more involved than planned, but she knew that Tank would never do that while Ranger was still anywhere in the picture. Steph also wasn’t worried about what the next morning was going to be like, as she would have been with Ranger, nor worried about who else her partner might have been with lately, like with Morelli. All she was concerned with was enjoying Tank’s considerable skills and losing some clothing.

Sensing some serious thoughts circling around, Tank paused at the doorway to the bedroom and put Steph back on the floor, letting her body slide down his front with delicious, electric friction. He turned and partially pinned her against the closed door, one arm encircling her waist and the other casually leaning against the door, next to her head. "Steph?" he questioned again.

She closed her eyes and licked her lips, afraid that he might be changing his mind. If he did, she was in such a state that she might attack him anyway. "Tank?" she asked.

He kissed her ferociously again, and she responded in kind, wrapping one leg around his waist and rubbing herself against him. "Just checking…" he mumbled, thrusting right back at her. She felt how affected he was, and any questions she might have entertained that this was a pity-fuck were gone. He wanted her, and wanted her badly. And not because he was some psycho, or couldn’t stand to lose, or simply needed to possess her, or any other unfathomable mental dysfunction. He simply found her attractive, as the physical evidence proved.

Tank stilled himself after a long few minutes, and at the loss of motion, she groaned. "Tank!" she gasped, her voice on the edges of angry. "Don’t stop!" she ordered.

Smiling, Tank slipped down to his knees, repositioning her leg over his shoulder. Looking up at her, the anger- and hunger- in her eyes made her even more attractive. Pulling her panties to the side, he kissed her mound briefly before parting her nether lips with his fingers and dragging his tongue slowly across her crevice. Her answer was lost in a shuddering moan as he continued passing his tongue roughly over her lips. He could tell that she was close again, and he wanted to see that sweet look on her face once more before he joined her. He continued with his slow torture, pulling her other leg up and over his shoulders as well. It was not long before her thighs tightened around him and she came again, her juices coating his face and hand. She tasted heavenly, sweet with a hint of a stronger spice. He could stay here and worship her for hours, but his own need, pulsing and twitching, drove him to rise and continue their path to his bed.

Laying Stephanie gently down in the center of the bed and kneeling at her feet, Tank began to slide her skirt down her shapely legs. Stephanie kept eye contact the entire time, quite a feat for her, he was sure. Once her skirt was removed, and those sheer, lacy boy pants totally exposed, his mouth went dry. Lingerie of any kind did it for him, but especially those virginal white ones.

She noted his reaction, and raised herself on her elbows to get a better look at him. She was not generally talkative during love-making (usually, with Joe or that once with Ranger, she could barely catch her breath, much less talk), but something about Tank’s honesty with her earlier and the way he truly seemed to enjoy her body made her want to share the moment with her partner. Reaching down to the bottom of her stretchy top, she slowly pulled it up and off, arching her back and causing her breasts to jut out. Falling back on her elbows, she smiled crookedly at Tank’s reaction to her striptease and asked, "So, see something you like, Tank?"

He grinned hungrily back at her, answering her as he swooped down on her, covering her body with his own before she realized what was going on. "Oh, yeah, Bombshell. There’s a lot about you that I like," he intoned before he began kissing her. His hands kneaded her breasts through her bra; her hands, curious, began to explore Tank’s muscular body, only to be frustrated by the fact he was still dressed. She found her way to buttons and buckles and zippers and tugged ineffectively.

Tank stilled her hands, and rose off her. She watched with close attention as he quickly peeled off his button down and then a t-shirt to expose dark chocolate skin over rippling muscles. She involuntarily licked her lips, tasting herself from Tank’s kiss and garnering a sly half-smile from him as he removed his remaining article of clothing- his pants. His erection, large and rock hard, sprang forth and made her eyes widen slightly in apprehension as they dropped to groin level. Tank caught the change and chuckled. "It’ll fit, Bombshell, I promise."

"Damn ESP," she muttered, looking up at Tank.

Tank lay down next to her, running his fingers lightly over her shoulders, down her arm, and finally resting on the healthy curve of her hip. His mouth followed the same path up and down her body, returning to and ending with a playful bite in the hollow of throat. This time, she groaned and arched, but languidly, without the hypersensitivity of earlier. She was calmed down enough to enjoy a long evening, now.

Stephanie returned his caress, licking and sucking her way down his body and stopping in the vicinity of his erection. "No, Steph," he tried to pull her back up, but she wriggled out of his grip and he was not going to be able to move her without bruising her.

She shot him a wicked smile, creeping down his body and crouching between his knees. "Why not?"

"This is about-" Tank started, but she cut him off.

"About me enjoying myself." Steph placed one hand at the base of his penis, stroking him gently up and down. "And I won’t be able to enjoy myself if it’s only for me. I’m not comfortable with feeling that selfish." She dipped her head down and took his engorged head into her mouth, rolling her tongue around it as her other hand cupped his balls.

He groaned appreciatively. She was quite talented at that, changing pressure and direction randomly, periodically taking more of him into her mouth. He allowed this to go on until the point that he wasn’t sure he could hold it together anymore. Stopping her bobbing motions with a hand, he stilled her. "Bombshell, you need to stop that unless you want to take a break for a while."

Steph somehow managed to grin wickedly with her mouth full, then let him slip out to answer. "I guess I can stop." She crawled her way back up his body, pausing at a few places along the way. When she stopped too long at a nipple, teasing and biting, he forcefully tugged at her long curls. She took the hint.

As she made her way up the final stretch, Tank flipped them both over, adroitly settling himself between her legs, a tree-trunk like arm on either side of her body. "Are you ready?" he whispered in her ear, covering her mouth with his own to swallow her gasp as he entered her, pausing as she tensed at the size of him.

Allowing her a few moments to stretch to accommodate his girth, Tank switched from deep kisses to light brushes of his lips against her ear and throat, drawing shaky breaths from Steph. Distracting her yet again with a large hand palming the globe of her breast and twisting her nipple between his calloused fingers, Tank continued to push deeper within her. There was no resistance, just a delightful pressure surrounding him, driving him to want to go deeper. He was careful to go slowly, mindful of the clues of Steph’s motions and body, but she didn’t seem discomforted by his largeness. So careful was he that he wasn’t prepared for the moment he was fully sheathed, buried as deep as he could go and his head resting against her cervix.

Catching his own breath, he rested his forehead on the pillow above Steph’s shoulder a moment before he began slowly moving, long, deliberate thrusts that quickly drove Steph near the edge again and kept her there. She tried to speed up his movements, bucked her hips, but he simply held her still by circling her hips with his huge hands and holding her there. "Calm down, Bomber. It’s early, yet."

"Ta-a-a-ank!" she wailed.

He chuckled, enjoying her response, until a tightening of her channel- purposeful and accompanied by her own throaty laugh- made him gasp. "Move faster!" she whispered in his ear, biting down on his ear lobe and causing him to thrust more deeply into her. "That’s right!’ she goaded him on.

Her tone of voice, the roughness of her play, pushed him near the edge of his control. His thrusts became more forceful, her answering cries of pleasure louder, and they both rode out a crest of pleasure together, collapsing in a trembling, tangled heap. Tank rested an arm across his eyes, blocking out the light he had insisted they leave on. "Thank you, Stephanie."

Turning on her side, tiredness evident on her face, Steph smiled a crooked grin. "Shouldn’t I be thanking you?"

Tank looked deeply in to her eyes, trying to make her feel the weight of his words. "No, Bombshell. I’m the one benefiting here. Thank you for a wonderful evening."

"And some great sex?" she playfully quipped from her resting spot on his chest. .

"Really great," Tank stated, playing with tendrils of her tangled curls. He really liked her hair- it was one of her best features, another thing that was great about her that she didn’t consider so. Steph’s breathing evened out and slowed as she drifted off to sleep, wrapped up in his arms. Tank considered the evening’s events within the larger picture. Ranger was going to be pissed when he found out- it was inevitable in a building wired with an internal surveillance system- but Tank wasn’t that worried. Ranger needed to be confronted with some hard facts and forced to make some decisions; he was Ranger’s best friend and saw it as part of his duty to help with that. This wasn’t the first time Tank had acted as a lightening rod for Ranger. It probably wouldn’t be the last. And, quite frankly, this time it had been a very pleasant duty.

Closing his eyes and simply enjoying the soft warmth of the woman next to him, Tank drifted off

Chapter Eight

Steph woke up naked and entangled in unfamiliar sheets, with a warm presence at her back. She was unusually clear-minded for the early morning. Very early morning, she amended after looking at the clock. Last night had been- wonderful. The long talk with Tank- followed by an even longer round of "convincing"- had started her thinking in a more positive way. After all, if she wasn’t as desirable as Tank had tried to convince her that she was, why would he have even bothered? Sex with her was too complicated for it to have been a pity fuck, so he must have wanted it. So had Lester. And, it seemed, so did Bobby.

The thought made her feel a little happier inside than she had in a while. She snuggled back against Tank, who wrapped an arm around her. "Good morning," he whispered in her ear. His breath tickled her ear, so she ended up giggling a good morning back. Looking at the clock, Tank let out a sigh. "Damn, Bombshell. You tired me out so much that I’m gonna be late for my shift."

Steph looked back at him and twisted around to give him a peck on the cheek. "Sorry, Tank."

"It’s okay. I’m not late yet. But I will have to get up and run, I’m afraid." Tank hugged her tight. "That’s no reflection on you, now, Bombshell."

"Got it, Tank. I’ll keep thinking positive." Steph felt a rush of colder air as Tank got out of bed. She turned to watch him. He was a well-built man. Not as well-built as Ranger, of course, but still a fine specimen. "Although, if I feel the need for more convincing?"

Tank leaned back