I have no idea where this is going, but this idea came to me and since I’ve had so much trouble writing lately, I thought I should try it and see if it would help me find my writing mojo for my other stuff.
 
 
Gasp, A Real Date
Chapter 1
 
 
Well I don't want to see you waiting
I've already gone too far away
I still can't keep the day from ending
No more messed up reasons for me to stay
 
Well this is not for real
Afraid to feel
I just hit the floor
Don't ask for more
I'm wasting my time
I'm wasting my time
You can't stop the feeling
And there's no reason
Let's make the call
And take it all again
Woah again
 
Months went by with us pretending
When did our light turn from green to red
I took a chance and left you standing
Lost the will to do this once again

Wasting My Time - Default

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I’m freezing… and that means I’m cranky too. What on earth possessed me agree to this job? I gave myself a mental eye roll. I know exactly what possessed me…well not a what, but a who. Ricardo Carlos Manoso, a.k.a Ranger. What woman would be stupid enough to turn him down?

He came at me with his 200-watt smile and asked if I wanted to go away for a few days on a job in upstate New York. Surveillance, he said. I may not be typical burg material, but I’m no fool either. Besides, it sounded easy enough.

But, then I didn’t find out until we left that we were not going to be alone. Tank and Lester were going to follow in a second Bronco. To top it off, he told me after we are well on our way, that we would be stopping over night (which I knew) and sleeping in the back of the Broncos. “Harder to track,” was all he said when I looked at him like he was nuts. This was not the scenario I pictured when he asked me about the job.

All right, I’ll admit, I’m not really sure what I pictured…beyond mind numbing sex and a doomsday orgasm.

Oh, who am I kidding? Ever since the night he came to me to collect on his deal, first kissing me senseless and then telling me all he wanted were my eyes from dusk til dawn for a surveillance job, with Tank no less, he’s backed off. Way off. In the past three weeks, if I’ve managed to see him, there have been no touches and no kisses.

My other man of passion, Joseph Morelli, has taken off for parts unknown… again. After the ultimatum was given, and spit back in his face I might add, he left on assignment and hadn’t been back since.

It was late spring, and while the days were nice, the nights still got cold. All that pretty much left me where I am right now. Cold, hungry, incredibly uncomfortable, and trying to sleep in the back of a Bronco, wrapped in a sleeping bag.

Hmmmm, I think I should have asked more questions before agreeing to this. I didn’t even know the name of the skip or what he was supposed to have done. At least Ranger had brought me a pillow. Well, there was only one that I had noticed, in either truck, and it was handed to me before I went to sleep, so I guess it was brought just for me. Aren’t I the lucky girl?

“Lucky about what, Babe?” Shit. Guess I said that last part out loud. It had been decided that one person per truck would stay up. We’d rotate so that two people were awake at all times so then everyone got some sleep. Ranger, of course, stayed in the truck with me.

“Nothing,” I mumbled into my pillow. For the first time, I noticed that the pillow smelled like Ranger. Inhaling deeply, my suspicions were confirmed. Oh yeah, there was no doubt this pillow was Ranger’s. Ohmygod! Burying my face in it again, I hugged it close and rocked a little. Then I thought about the past three weeks…and started to punch it.

“You ok back there?” I could hear the smile in his voice. It made me punch harder.

“I’m,” punch, “fine,” punch.

“Sounds like your beating up the pillow, Babe.”

“Yeah, well, it deserves it,” I said under my breath.

“And why is that?” Figures his damn bat hearing was working.

“Just needed a fluff,” I offered as brightly as I could manage. Finally settling down, it was only a matter of seconds before I was breathing deep and hugging the pillow again.

Several silent minutes ticked by. I about jumped out of my skin when Ranger spoke. “You sure you ok, Babe? You’re rocking the truck.”

Shit. Guess I was hugging and rocking. “Just cold, Ranger. Sorry. I’ll stop.”

The sound of the driver’s side door opening put me on alert. Great, now he doesn’t even want to be in the truck with me. He could have at least turned on the heater before he left. I could hear him moving around in the grass and then low voices. We had pulled off into a park and found a secluded area to park the trucks. I was going to ask how we were going to avoid being caught in the park after it closed, but didn’t bother since I was sure Ranger had this whole thing planned down to smallest detail.

The back door of the Bronco swung open and I quickly sat up, my heart thumping in my chest. “Ranger?” I knew I sounded panicked.

“Yeah, Babe.”

I flopped back down, flooded with relief. “Damn it, Ranger. Quit sneaking up on me like that.”

The only response I received was the backend of the truck dipping as Ranger climbed in. I rolled to my side, facing away from him, and curled into a ball. Not knowing what he had planned, I thought this was my best course of action.

My ears strained to listen so I could figure out what he was doing. All I could hear was the rustle of fabric, and I felt the truck rock as he moved around.

“Babe, unzip your sleeping bag.”

What? “What?”

“Unzip your bag.”

“Uh…”

Giving a heavy sigh, he didn’t wait for me to move. Quick as that, he was over me, and unzipped my bag. “But Ranger, I’m cold,” I protested. Cool air washed over me when he flipped off my covering. I was just about to have a fit when a soft blanket was laid over top of me. Grabbing the end, I tucked my knees up and tried to keep what body heat I had. A second, heavier covering was put on top of the blanket. When I heard the sound of a zipper, I realized it must have been another sleeping bag.

It didn’t take long for me to figure out that Ranger and I were zipped in together, one sleeping bag on the bottom and another on top. Although, he was busy still moving around and it seemed like he was crawling over the front seat.

Finally, when I thought he’d never settle down, he slipped back down into our double sleeping bag and started to tuck the blanket in around me. “That should help, Babe.”

“Ranger, the blanket is warm?”

“Yeah, it’s Lester’s electric camping blanket. You plug it into the car.”

Now I felt like a big jerk. I had the pillow and the electric blanket. “Ranger, I…”

“Steph, it’s not a big deal. He wasn’t using it anyway. He offered it, I didn’t ask for it.”

I still felt bad.

“Although, he did offer to come tuck you in.”

Ok, maybe not that bad. But still…“Want your pillow? And what about one person per truck staying awake?”

“Tell you what, Babe,” he said. His voice had become louder…because he moved closer. “How about we share?” And with that, he was spooning me from behind, his head resting directly behind mine, on the pillow. There were a few shuffles from both of us until we were comfortable, but the basics of him wrapped around me, had not changed. “Both Lester and Tank are up, but I don’t want one of them in here. Now go to sleep.”

Between the sleeping bags, electric blanket and Ranger, I was snug as a bug in no time.

As I started to drift off, I felt him kiss the back of my head. “Goodnight, Steph.”

********************************************

God, I love when I have these dreams...and there had been so many of them lately.

Heat enveloped me… and it wasn’t just from the outside. A large, work roughened hand gently skimmed my side, feeling its way down my shoulders, dipping into the curve of my waist, then up and over my hip. On it’s return trip, it made it’s way under my t-shirt, and warm skin met warm skin. Then I felt soft, moist lips working my neck, kissing, licking and nipping. Oh yeah, the heat was coming from inside and out. “Ranger,” I breathed.

I was rolled onto my back as both hands started to work my t-shirt up. A hard, muscled thigh slid its way in-between my legs, nudging them apart, until it was intimately pressed up against the hottest place on my body. Moaning, I arched my back as those lips placed wet, open-mouthed kisses along my jaw, over my chin and back up the other side until they reached my ear. A wet tongue traced my ear until it gently probed its center, causing me to shiver.

My hips seemed to have a mind of their own as they started to move in rhythm against the hardness between my legs. I gasped as nimble fingers started to massage my breast and pinch my nipples. It all felt so good I couldn’t help but moan. At the sound, a hot and hungry mouth came crashing down on mine, taking all that it wanted.

The kiss was broken suddenly and I whimpered.

“Babe, open your eyes.”

Wait. What? There’s no talking in these dreams.

“Babe.”

Oh shit. I stopped all my movements as my eyes flew open. Ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod. This wasn’t a dream. The hard body and warm chocolate brown eyes of Ranger were perched directly above me.

Chapter 2

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Deciding I needed to just get over my embarrassment of waking up to…to…oh god. I groaned as the awful scene replayed in my head.

Once my eyes had opened, they got as big as saucers. Ranger’s look of passion quickly turned to one of confusion, then frustration, and then nothing. He had simply rolled off of me, onto his back, and we both lay there trying to catch our breath.

Neither of us said a thing as he dressed (he had been sleeping in his boxers) and exited the back of the truck. That was 30 minutes ago. Now, I really had to pee.

I crawled to the back window and looked out. I didn’t see any of the guys but I’m sure they weren’t far. Now was my chance. Popping open the back door, I sighed with relief when no one approached me. Gently closing the door until I heard it click, I looked around and tried to figure out where I could go to the bathroom.

“Hey, Bombshell.” I think I jumped a mile.

“Lester,” I said, clutching my at my heart, “don’t do that.” He just chuckled so I thought I might as well ask. “So, uh…where…I mean…” Conversational geniuses of the world, watch out.

He pointed and said, “Out there, but don’t go too far.” Dropping his arm, he smiled big. “Don’t worry, I won’t watch.”

I flipped him the bird as I headed in the direction he had pointed. A question formed in my mind so I stopped and turned back. Just as I opened my mouth, he said “Nope. None. Sorry.” He didn’t look sorry at all. Great, the drip-dry method. “Watch out for poison ivy too. Although I’d be more than happy to volunteer with the calamine lotion if it comes to that.”

I did what any mature woman would do. I flipped him off again and continued on my way to find natures potty.

Once I had finished up my business I must have turned myself around a bit, because I was uncertain which way to go to get back. I stumbled around for a while, but when I came to the first fallen branch that was big enough for me to sit on, I did just that. Hey, nature girl I am not, but I knew enough that they’d find me more easily if I stay put.

Busying myself with watching some worker ants carry around bits of leaves on the ground next to me, I was startled when I heard male voices echo through the woods. For a brief second I panicked until I recognized the low timber of Tank’s voice. Then I heard Ranger’s, and he didn’t sound happy. I was about to say something when it occurred to me that they were probably out doing the same thing I had just done. How embarrassing would that be? “Don’t mind me, go on about your business but take me with you when you leave.”

I rolled my eyes. Like I hadn’t embarrassed myself enough lately. I’d just wait until they were done and follow them out. They’d never even know. Ok, even I didn’t believe that. Just when I realized my brilliant plan was less than brilliant, I began to make out parts of what they were saying.

“…shit man, I don’t know.” No, I wasn’t wrong. Ranger did not sound happy. “I can tell you I’ve just about had it. You wanna know what she did this morning?”

I froze in place. He wouldn’t dare.

“I woke up and she was fucking practically on top of me! And oh god… she was moaning, god damn moaning, Tank!” He would dare and he had the nerve to sound tortured. Dropping my head in my hands, I sat there stunned at what I was hearing. “What the hell was I supposed to do? Jesus, I’m only human.” He must have started pacing because I heard the rustle of leaves and twigs being crunched.

“Christ, Tank. I…I…get going and then…then…” The noises stopped. “She always looks so scared. That night with DeChooch, I thought finally…shit.”

“She teasing you, man?” Mental note: kill Tank.

“Fuck, I don’t know.” Pacing sounds again. “I don’t know up from down when it has to do with her.”

That did it. I wasn’t going to take any more of this. I jumped to my feet and headed in the direction of their voices. Just as I had suspected, by the time I broke through to the small clearing, their guns were out and aimed right at me.

Gasp, A Real Date

Chapter 3

Tank was kneeling on the ground, aimed low, and Ranger was standing, gun eye level.

“Jesus Christ, Stephanie!” shouted Tank. “We could have shot you!”

Ignoring Tank, I marched up to Ranger as he put his gun behind his back. At least he wasn’t going to shoot me…right away.

I stopped directly in front of him, feet spread and one hand fisted on my hip. The other hand had its index finger pointed in the middle of his chest. In a very calm, and what I hoped to be, menacing voice, I set the record straight.

“Up from down? Let me tell you about up from down.” I poked him in the chest. “You were the one who came into the truck last night and cuddled up with me. You were the one who put the two sleeping bags together.” When I poked at him again, I think he might have flinched. “And, might I add, if we go back a month or two, you were the one who proposed a deal about the DeCooch thing.” Poke. “So don’t stand there all righteous saying that I,” poke, “drive you,” poke, “crazy, mister. You’re the one who always leaves me hanging.”

Placing both my hands flat on his chest, I pushed him backward and, much to my surprise, he stumbled back. Spinning on my heels, I strode up to Tank. “Now,” I narrowed my eyes, “why don’t you rethink that teasing theory.”

Taking a few steps away from both of them, I took in their shocked faces. “Which way to the truck?” Nothing…no response. I closed my eyes, let out a breath, and went slowly this time. “Which...way…to…the …truck?”

When I opened my eyes, the shocked expressions were still there, but they were both pointing in the general direction behind me. Good enough. Quickly turning, I stomped off. And, what do you know? In about two minutes, I hit the secluded road where we had pulled off for the night.

“Lester,” I barked. He brought his head out from behind one of the trucks where he had been digging around. Taking one look at my face, he was backing away. “Take me home.”

“Whoa, now wait a minute, Steph…”

He stopped abruptly when I reached him and my hand fisted in his t-shirt. “Take me the fuck home, now.” His eyes went really, really wide, but then seemed to focus on something over my shoulder. I didn’t need to turn around to know what that something was.

It took only a second before he nodded. “Ok, ok,” he said as he tore my hand from his shirt. “Get in, we’ll go.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lester pulled to a stop at the back of my building. He had been smart enough to be quiet and not ask questions on the ride home. I think the steam coming from my ears was probably a good indicator I wasn’t in the mood to talk. That and the fact I told him to shut up when the first word flew out of his mouth. Either way, he took the hint.

The second we hit the parking lot, my door was open and I was half way out. “Thanks, Lester.”

“Steph, I think…” I shut the door and walked away without looking back.

I leaned against the door as it clicked shut behind me. Dropping my pocketbook on the floor, I realized I had forgotten my overnight bag in the other Bronco. Mentally shrugging at the loss, I pushed off the door and headed straight to the freezer. The loss of an overnight bag I could deal with. The important piece, my pocketbook, was home safe and sound with me. I would be ok.

Quickly changing from the shorts and t-shirt I wore for the trip, into ratty shorts and a t-shirt for laying around the house, I plopped on the couch, flicked on the TV and VCR, then picked up with Ghostbusters right where I had left off yesterday. Ninety minutes and a quart of ice cream later…I still didn’t feel any better.

I stretched out on the couch and let my mind wander. All of the events in the past few hours buzzed through my head. I couldn’t make any sense of it. Me? The tease? He was the one who always backed off, not me. But then he said something to Tank about me looking scared. What did that mean? Was I scared? Groaning, I rolled over and buried my head against the back of the sofa. Finally deciding it was better to focus on something good, I drifted off to sleep remembering what it had felt like to wake up with Ranger’s hands and lips all over me.

Sometime later I woke up with the feeling of my legs burning. Oh Christ, my sofa is on fire. In a move that could only be called lightening fast, I sprang up and stumbled backward into a chair. Well, at least I though it was going to be a chair. It turned out to be someone’s lap. I yelped and sprang to my feet again and landed back on the sofa. Blinking wildly, I recognized the person in the chair. Then I realized I was sitting on a piece of flaming furniture, so I jumped up again but backed away toward my bedroom.

My eyes focused on the couch and I was confused when I didn’t see any flames. What the…?

“Babe, want to tell me why you’re jumping around?”

“The…the…sofa…fffire,” I stuttered as I pointed at the offending item.

“The sofa isn’t on fire, Babe.”

“But…but it…my legs…” God, the backs of my legs were burning up and I wanted to scratch. Just as I reaching down to try and give myself some relief, Ranger’s voice stopped me cold.

“Don’t.” He said it so forcefully I listened.

Before I had enough wits about me to do anything, Ranger was in front of me. Grabbing me by the shoulders, he spun me around so he could see the backs of my legs. “Lester was right.” Huh?

“What? Right about what?”

“Have you showered yet?”

“What? Ranger, you’re not making any sense. What are you…”

“Babe, it looks like you came in contact with some poison ivy or oak. Do you remember seeing any out in the woods?”

My eyes went big. “I did what? Did I see any? Ranger, I’m a city girl, how the hell do I know what poison ivy looks like?” Ranger grabbed my hand as I had absentmindedly started to lean down to scratch.

“When you got out of the truck, Lester said the back of your legs looked red. You need to wash off. Go take a luke warm shower,” he said as he spun me and pushed me toward the bathroom. “And don’t scratch until you are clean. If any of the oil from the plant is still on your skin, you’ll spread it.”

This, I realized quickly, was not the time for debate. Running for the bathroom, I stripped as fast as I could and leaped under the spray of the shower. I had to admit it did feel good.

I jumped slightly when I heard a knock and then the squeak of the door as it was opened. “Babe, be sure to use soap on the backs of your legs.” The click of the door told me it was closed again, I just didn’t know if Ranger was inside or outside the bathroom.

“Ranger?” I said softly.

“Yeah, Babe?” Why am I surprised? I should have known better. “Done?”

“Yeah,” I mumbled as I turned off the water. Then I remembered why I was mad at him…I'm a tease. “But, I’m fine. You can go off and do whatever it is you do.”

He let out a big sigh. “Stephanie…”

“Ranger, please.” I knew I didn’t sound nice, but I didn’t care. Why spend time with if I am such a tease? The door clicked close again and I peeked out from around the shower curtain. The coast was clear.

As I was wrapping my hair and body in towels, I realized that I was going to have to call my mother and ask her what to do about poison ivy…or oak…whatever. “Shit.”

“Babe?”

Christ. Why would I think he would actually leave just because I asked him to? Maybe he didn’t get the hint the first time. “Ranger, go away.” There, no missing it that time.

Silenced followed and, trying to ignore the backs of my legs, I brushed my teeth. Figuring I had given him enough time, I swung open the door…to find him standing right there…in his t-shirt and briefs. I had to check myself for drool.

Gasp, A Real Date.

Chapter 4

I slowly closed my eyes and took a deep breath. When I opened them again, I was shocked to see the hurt that shown on his face. He was hurt? No one called him a tease…wait…well, maybe I did…sort of.

“I brought some medicine to treat your legs.” Crap. Here he is being nice and I tell him to take a hike. “You sat on my lap before you cleaned up. There could be oil from the plant on my pants. The sofa will have to be cleaned too.” Only me. Closing my eyes again, I started to shake my head. “I’ve called the guys, they’ll come over and take care of it. Don’t worry.”

With my eyes still closed, I leaned down to start scratching my calf. My eyes flew open when Ranger’s hand stopped me. As if I had been scalded, I jerked my hand free of his. That’s when I noticed the look in his eyes turned angry.

I quickly moved past him and toward my bedroom. Over my shoulder I said, “I’ll be fine. Thank you for everything,” and shut the door.

The minute I was tucked away in my bedroom, I regretted every word I had just said. I wasn’t fine. I was about to go out of my mind with the burning and itching on the back of my legs. Not being able to help myself, I started to scratch and quickly realized that I was breaking open blisters. Ewwwww.

Walking over to my dresser, I tried to see the backs of my legs in the mirror. A knock on my door caused me to stop my very unsuccessful attempt to see what was causing me so much discomfort.

“What?” Oh man, I did not sound pleasant.

“Bombshell, it’s Bobby.” He didn’t wait for me to answer. He was in the door with it closed behind him, before I took a step.

“Bobby, look…”

Bringing both his hands up, palms out, he said, “I’m just here to treat you. Ranger said you wouldn’t let him do it.” Like the genius I am, I stood there with my mouth hanging open, dressed in a towel, not sure what to say. “Just come lie face down on the bed. Please.”

This was getting ridiculous. Here were people trying to help me and I wouldn’t let them. Just then my mind went back to the itching. “Ok. Thanks, Bobby.” I scurried over to the bed and did as he asked.

I sucked in a breath at the first cool dab of whatever liquid he was putting on my leg. It felt so good I couldn’t wait for him to get it all over the stupid rash.

“Hold still, Steph. I’ll get it all covered.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s ok.” A few beats of silence passed. “So, want to tell me what happened?”

I groaned into my pillow. “No.”

“Come on, Steph.” Bobby had stopped applying the lotion. Crap.

“Ok, ok.” He began to dab again. Jerk. “Ranger thinks I’m a tease.”

“What?” He sounded sincerely surprised …and he stopped putting the stuff on me again.

“Bobby,” I whined.

“Oops. Sorry, Steph.” Dab, dab. “Now tell me why you think, Ranger thinks, you’re a tease.”

“I heard him. When I was out in the woods doing…”

“Uh huh.”

“Well, I overheard him spouting off to Tank about how I was on top of him this morning when he woke up… and how I was moaning…I was sleeping!! And, and how when he starts to, uh, do things, he sees how scared I look. Then Tank asked him if I was teasing!!” At this point, I knew I had to be close to yelling. “Then he says ‘I don’t know up from down when it involves her’,” I lowered my voice in my best Ranger imitation. Propping myself up on my elbows, I turned to look at Bobby when I heard him chuckle.

He must have sensed me looking at him, cause he lifted his head and looked right at me, but then quickly looked away. “Uh, Steph…your, umm…towel.”

Looking down, I saw that my towel and come undone and Bobby had a good view of my chest. “Geez, Bobby. It’s just a breast. I’m sure you’ve seen at least one before” I kidded as I tucked my towel closed.

His deep laughed filled the room. “Yes, I have. But I don’t think the boss would like that I’ve seen yours. But, I must say, that if I had to comment…”

“Don’t!” This time when his laughter filled the room, mine joined in. “You done?” I finally managed.

“Yeah,” he said with his back to me as I worked myself off the bed.

“The thing is Bobby,” I was much more calm now after our shared laugh, “he’s the one who is always backing away from me.” After slipping my pajamas over my head, I walked over and put a hand on Bobby’s arm. “He’s the one who always pulls away.”

Bobby looked down at me and tucked a stray curl behind my ear. “Does he scare you, Steph?”

“Shit, Bobby,” I said as I sat on the bed, only to jump up when I thought maybe I shouldn’t have done that.

“It’s ok. It’s probably dry by now.” Placing a large hand on my shoulder, he guided me back down on the edge of the bed, and then sat next to me.

Giving a weak smile, I continued. “Sometimes he does,” I whispered.

“He’d never hurt you, Steph.”

My eyes flew up to meet his. “I know that! I do…really. It’s just that,” I stood and started to pace. This really needed to be talked out and well, Bobby volunteered. He’d do in place of Mary Lou…for right now. “I don’t know that much about him…and…and, he’s always sneaking up on me. Then, when he does try to make a move, I guess get scared cause I’m not ready for it. I’m either asleep or my mind is someplace else.” I spun and pointed a finger at Bobby. “And, he’s the one who made the DeChooch deal. Which was fine, but when he comes to collect, he breaks in. I had just finished freeing my friends from hell, that crazy woman’s face still in my head, and he fucking breaks in!” Ok, I think I was yelling for sure this time. That’s when I thought maybe Ranger might still be in the living room.

I clamped a hand over my mouth and turned to look at the door, expecting him to burst through any minute.

“He’s not here, Steph.” Letting my hand drop, my shoulders slumped. I didn't know if I was glad or disappointed.

Sitting on the bed again, I finished. “He doesn’t know up from down? Shit, I never know if he’s coming or going.” I snorted. “Guess that makes us even…and maybe incompatible.” The last part I said so softly, I don’t even know if he heard it.

“You have some good points. You two need to sit down at talk.”

“Ha! Talk? Bobby, he never says more than two words.”

“He does. You know he does. You’re getting his image confused with who he really is.”

“Bobby that would mean I had to know who he really is to begin with.” Shaking my head, I said, “I’ve never had that information.”

Standing, I voiced my decision. “No, it’s time to move on. I’ve washed my hands, romantically, of Joe Morelli; it’s time I do the same with Ranger. It’s going nowhere, and I’m tired of putting energy into nowhere. I hope we can still work together but…”

“Bombshell, I think…”

“Thanks for everything, Bobby. You’ve been a good friend.” Striding to the door, I opened it cautiously, and noticing the coast was clear, I confidently stepped into the living room.

“My sofa is gone,” I said, stunned.

“It’s being cleaned. This one is a replacement.” The replacement looked like heaven, all soft and fluffy. I was going around to sit on it, when I remembered the back of my legs. Letting out a defeated sigh, I stared at the new sofa for a few seconds. Then I turned and marched toward the kitchen to dig up something to eat.

“Bobby, thanks again,” I offered as he followed me to the front of the apartment.

“Sure thing, Bombshell. Here’s a pill. Take it before you go to bed. It’s an antihistamine and it’ll make you drowsy, but also help with the itching and inflammation.” Nodding, I put the pill in the pocket of my sleep shirt. He kissed me gently on the forehead saying he’d check in tomorrow, and then left.

I turned into the kitchen and stopped dead in my tracks. There was a note, and a bag from Pino’s, on the table.

Babe,

Thought you might be hungry.

R

Sitting myself down in one of the kitchen chairs, I put my head in my hands and started to cry.

Gasp, A Real Date

Chapter 5

It had been two weeks since the poison oak incident and my legs were just about healed. True to his word, Bobby checked in…every day. Somehow we always ended up talking about my feelings for Ranger. It always seemed to come to the same conclusion: Did he scare me? Yes. Why? Because he always kept me off balance and I didn’t know how to respond to him when he did that.

Finally, after having the same conversation several days in a row, I told him not to come over any more if he was going to grill me about Ranger. That had shut him up enough for me to start asking questions about his life. Surprisingly, he opened up more than I thought he would.

Actually, I became pretty good friends will all the guys. Sometimes, Tank and Lester would follow Bobby in, Pino’s in hand, and we’d sit and watch a movie or a game. It was nice and I enjoyed the company, but…and I hated to admit it, the one person I wanted to show up, never did. I had called him once for back up, but one of the guys showed. Trying not to take personally, I called a couple more times after that, but soon gave up when Ranger wouldn't show.

He had been “in the wind” since I saw him standing outside my bathroom in his underwear, and that sight had been fueling my dreams ever since. It had been a brief encounter, but damn if my brain hadn’t memorized every hard muscle, every curve and…ahem, every bulge. Jesus.

The last time I had called, five days ago, Tank answered my plea for help, and after he left me at the station, I made a beeline for home and cried all night. I was being shunned…but then hadn’t I asked for it?

During his visit last night, Bobby proclaimed me cured and then threw me off guard with a question I didn’t want to answer.

“Bombshell?”

“Yeah,” I replied as I dug around in the fridge looking for the last bottle of beer. Bobby had just put the last treatment of calamine lotion on me and now we were in the kitchen. With the guys visiting regularly, my refrigerator always had food in it. Who knows how it got there…I certainly wasn’t about to question it, although, my mother’s leftovers didn’t seem to stretch as far anymore. Hmmmm…

“What if Ranger called you and asked you out?”

“Huh?” So I couldn’t hear him with my head in the back of the refrigerator.

“Steph…Steph,” he said loudly enough to truly get my attention. Bringing my head out and up, I turned to face him.

“What?”

“What if Ranger called and asked you out on a date?” I blinked.

“I…I…”

“Like a normal guy, Steph. You know, what if he asked you out to dinner or a movie or something?”

I stood there stunned, unable to wrap my mind around the question, so self-preservation kicked in. “Bobby, stop it. What did I tell you before? No more Ranger talk.”

“But, Steph…”

“Look, it’s obvious…very obvious I might add, that he’s not interested.” He opened his mouth to say something, but I held my hand up to stop him. “For whatever the reason might be…whether it’s because he thinks I’m a tease or whatever…the fact remains that he’s been avoiding me since the trip to upstate New York. I told you then, I was done wasting energy on relationships that are going nowhere.” I sat down across the table from him and twisted the cap off the bottle. “Hell, I even called him a few times after that and he never called back.” Shrugging, I took a swig of beer. “I thought we were at least friends. But, I made myself pretty clear, and so has he.”

There must be a God in heaven and I’m pretty sure it’s a woman, because my phone chose that exact moment to ring. Bobby started to say something but I help my hand up again to silence him. My machine kicked in and I could hear Mary Lou, she was crying about something Lenny did. She probably asked him how she looked in some outfit and he probably replied “fine.” Men, they’ll never get it.

I stood and walked over to Bobby. Putting a hand on his shoulder, I said “Thank for everything, Bobby. You’ve really been a great friend. I appreciate everything you and the others have done for me. I hope you all still come over to watch movies with me.” I smiled down at him. “But right now a friend is calling me for help and support,” I let my smile fade, “and I’m going to give it to her.”

Once Bobby had heard she was on her way over, he high tailed it out of there saying he’d see me in a couple of days. I rolled my eyes and called him a coward. He just laughed and said “Damn straight.”

Mary Lou and I talked for hours, first about Lenny, then about Ranger. I told her what Bobby had asked me earlier.

"Steph," she started, "what if he did ask you out all normal like?" She sniffled and wiped at her nose.

I rolled my eyes. "I'd think aliens took the real Ranger and had him in a pod somewhere." We both chuckled, but from her look, I could tell she wasn't letting go of this.

Sighing about the inevitable, I said, "I don't think he can, Mare. I mean…it's just not his style."

"But what if he changed his style? What if…if he didn't keep you off balance? Didn't come at you from out of nowhere?"

What if? "I don't want to get my hopes up, Mare…"

"Steph," she put a hand on my shoulder, "it's me." She was right, it was her, my best friend for more years than I can remember, someone who knew me better than I knew myself. There wasn't anyone else on this planet I could trust with my hopes and fears like I could trust Mary Lou.

Blinking back the tears that threatened, I met her stare. "I'd say yes in a heartbeat." I managed a small laugh. She just smiled one of those "I knew you had it bad and aren't as tough as you'd like everyone to think" smiles.

Then she said something that really got me thinking. "Steph, did you ever think he's as much at a loss as you are?" Huh? "Maybe he doesn't know how to approach you." Furrowing my brow, I looked at her like she was nuts. "Think about it, Steph," she continued, "I bet he's never had to really work at getting a woman's attention before."

Whoa…Batman clueless? Nah…well maybe…Nah, too hard to believe.

Three hours, a box of Kleenex, and many tears later, Mary Lou left my apartment much happier than when she arrived. I'd have to say I felt better too. But it was well past midnight and I could hardly keep my eyes open. Quickly stripping down to a pair of undies, I threw a t-shirt over my head and crawled into bed. The minute my head hit the pillow…the phone rang.

Oh, for crying out… “Hello?” I tried not to sound too bitchy in case it was Mary Lou, she might have had a relapse. There was nothing but silence on the other end of the line. I tried again. “Hello? Mary Lou?”

“Babe?”

Gasp, A Real Date

Chapter 6

My heart stopped. It was Ranger and I had no clue what to say.

“Uh…Ranger?”

“Yeah, Babe. Did I wake you?” I was just about to stutter something stupid, I’m sure, when I heard Tank in the background.

“Man, I told you it was too late to call tonight.” Then Lester’s voice followed.

“You’ve got her on the phone now, just asker her. Jesus, Ranger…” That’s all I heard before he covered the mouthpiece. I could hear mumbled voices, Ranger’s being the loudest since he was closest to the phone, but couldn’t make out what they were saying.

Holding the receiver away from my head, I looked at it and blinked a few times. This was like in the 7^th grade when Tommy Flanagan called. He wanted me to meet him at the playground, but I could hear his friends in the background, giving advice and egging him on.

“Babe?” Ranger’s voice sounded through the receiver.

Quickly bringing the phone back to my ear I said something quite elegant, “Uh, yeah?”

“Sorry about that.” Did Ranger just tell me he was sorry? “ I was wondering,” there were more whispers in the background. Ranger covered the phone again and this time he was loud enough for me to make out “Shut up.”

It was only a second before he was back talking to me. “I was wondering if you’d like to have dinner with me tomorrow night?” If I hadn’t been so stunned, I probably would have noticed the large exhale he blew out after asking me the question.

I must have been silent for too long.

“Babe? You still there?”

“She hung up on you?” That was Lester.

“Yeah, I’m here Ranger…and …uh, yeah, sure. What's the job?”

“It’s not for a job.”

“I told you she’d think that.” Wasn’t Tank already on my list of people to kill?

“Oh,” I said in genuine surprise. I honestly hadn’t considered any other reason.

“If you’re busy or something…”

“No,” I said quickly. There was nothing but silence. Then I realized what he must have been thinking. “I mean, no, I’m not busy. What should I wear?”

“Casual. Pick you up at 7.”

“Don’t you dare!” Good Lord, that was Bobby. He was there too?

I heard Ranger say, “Right.” But it was like he was far away…like he was putting the phone down…to hang up.

“So, 7 ok?” It took me a second to realize he was talking to me again.

“Yeah.”

“Great. Goodnight, Steph.” My eyes went wide. I waited for the dial tone, but it never came. Oh, he was waiting for me.

“G’night, Ranger.”

Gasp, A Real Date

Chapter 7

The next day, there was a knock at my door at 6:59:42. All I could think was, who the hell was knocking on my door now? Knowing my luck it would be Morelli showing up 30 seconds before my date with Ranger.

I was all dressed and ready, had been for 30 minutes. He had said casual so I chose a denim skirt, short of course, and a light v-neck sweater, in baby blue, with a matching pair of FMP’s. My hair was up in one of those clip things with enough curly strands left out to frame my face.

Stomping to the door, I opened it without looking, ready to blast whoever was stupid enough to knock and get in my way when I was about to go out with Ranger.

The only problem was, when I opened the door, I was rendered speechless. Standing there was Ranger, dressed in dark gray slacks and a black form hugging silk tee…holding a single pink rose.

“Hi,” he said, his voice rumbling deep from within.

“Hi,” I breathed. Actually, I don’t think I really said the word. It came out more as “Hhh”.

His eyes were dark and he was scanning me from head to toe. Having seen that look before, I braced myself. This is where he usually gets me off balance.

Much to my surprise, his eyes finally locked with mine and he held out the rose. “I brought this for you.” My eyebrows hit my hairline.

“Th...Thanks.” He looked unsure…dare I say, nervous? I studied him for a second before breaking into a huge grin. Sure, this was different, but it was also kinda fun.

Reaching for the rose, I started slightly when his hand gripped mine. My eyes flew up to meet his and it looked as if he were holding himself back. Interesting. Very slowly, without breaking eye contact, he raised my hand to his mouth and gave me a light kiss on the back of it. My hormones stood at attention.

Leaving his lips linger just a second more than what was comfortable, he eventually freed my hand. “You look beautiful.” Heat rushed to my face. He smiled.

“Ready?” he rumbled. After I nodded, we were on our way.

Riding along in the Mercedes, Ranger went into his zone and I watched out the window as we drove to the new Italian place on the other side of town.

I couldn’t help but feel a little awkward; after all, this was something new for us. Usually, there was no courting involved; we went straight for the lust or, at least we tried. Sighing mentally, I gave into the fact that I probably needed to take some responsibility for the way things had been developing between us.

Having a sudden burst of boldness, I turned, tilted my head, and looked at Ranger, studying his profile. He really was very handsome…at every angle, and I’ve seen him in every one of them. Well, almost all of them. There are a few I haven’t had the chance to try out yet, but maybe tonight…

“You’re staring.”

A broad smile spread across my face. “Yes, I am.” Tilting my head to the other side, I continued to stare. He didn’t say anything else, but when I looked at the steering wheel, he seemed to be holding on pretty tight. Interesting.

Finally, we pulled into the parking lot. Going for the door handle, I was suddenly stopped when Ranger said, “Wait.” He came around to my side of the car, opened my door, and held out a hand to help me out. Thinking that he should be rewarded for such fine manners, I let my skirt ride high as I stepped out. Glancing at him, I saw that his eyes were glued to my legs.

But before I could even let a smile form on my lips, I was pulled to the side and forced back against the car, crowded by none other than…

Guess old habits die-hard.

“Babe, I don’t think…” His cell phone rang. I blinked twice and swallowed.

Ranger had had his hands on either side of me, pinning me to the car. Pushing off, he backed up a step and answered his phone. His eyes never left me, but I saw them change from dark, serious and lustful, to soft, warm and inviting.

The call was brief and all Ranger said right before he hung up was, “Right.”

Slipping the phone back into his pocket, he extended his hand. “Come on, Babe. Time I feed you.” Before taking his hand, I slid my eyes to the left, then the right and then back to him. He chuckled lightly and made a “come here” gesture with his hand. I knew he was trying to distract me with food, but something was up. Then again, nothing about tonight was being done in “Ranger” fashion, so maybe my instincts were just off.

The restaurant was comfortable and cozy. The booths were u shaped with high backs, all in all, very private. Dinner was…well…normal. We ate and talked. Ok, Ok. I ate and talked; he nibbled and was mostly silent. When he did contribute, however, he told me a few things about his daughter in Miami. So what if it was only what she looked like, but it meant the world to me that he had shared. Also, I couldn’t help but hope that if he’d share that, he’d share more eventually too.

The waiter came and cleared our dinner plates away, asking if we’d like dessert. I felt as giddy as a schoolgirl when he brought over the tray and started to explain the different offerings. Once I made my choice, the waiter asked Ranger for his. Ranger must have just shaken his head because I didn’t hear him say anything, but the tray disappeared. I about climbed out of the booth watching the tray makes it way to the back of the restaurant.

When I finally got myself situated again, I looked at Ranger. He wore an amused expression, but that only lasted seconds after I asked my question.

“No dessert for you tonight?” His eyes went immediately dark and his wolf smile appeared. I knew he was going to pounce, so I pushed myself as far back against the booth as I could, but just as he went to move… his phone rang.

This conversation was even shorter than the last one. Again, all he said was, “Right” and his look immediately changed. He had closed his eyes when he opened the phone and listened, but once he hung up, his eyes met mine, and he gave me a 200-watt smile. Interesting.

Being as suave and sophisticated as I am, I leaned over until my head was sticking out in the aisle. First I looked left, and then I looked right. Not really sure what I was looking for, I righted myself and was about to start asking some questions when my death by chocolate cake was served. So at that point…well, you know…priorities.

With dinner finished, we were back in the car and on the highway in no time. “Where are we headed,” I asked, feeling more relaxed than I though was possible when spending quality time with Batman.

“Home.” I turned to look at him, confusion written on my face. He smiled in return. “I asked you to dinner, Babe. We had dinner.”

“Oh.”

“Don’t worry,” he said, his voice dropped to a deep rumble, “I’m not done with you yet.”

Gasp, A Real Date

Chapter 8

Oh boy. He’s not done with me yet?

“Oh.” Eloquent as always.

When we reached my building, he turned off the car and shifted in his seat to face me. Guess that means we’re not getting out of the car.

“We need to talk,” he said calmly, but I could swear he was leering at me. “About what happened in the woods.”

Ok, this was not a conversation I wanted to have. Reaching for the door handle, I stopped when Ranger placed a hand on my shoulder. “I don’t think you’re a tease, Stephanie.”

I sat back in my seat as his hand left my shoulder. Mirroring his pose, I got myself settled in for the long haul. He wanted to do this here, fine by me. “That’s not what you told Tank,” I threw at him.

“I never told Tank you were a tease. Besides, that was a private conversation,” he lobbed back.

Narrowing my eye, I gave him a piercing stare. “Well, at least I got to hear what you honestly think.”

Immediately his look turned blank. “I’ve never lied to you.”

“Honesty by omission doesn’t count.” There, take that.

The look on his face changed again, but this time I couldn’t read it. I moved back in my seat as he leaned toward me. Stopping only inches from me, I could feel his warm breath as he spoke. “That goes for you, too.” Damn. We weren’t supposed to be talking about how I don’t share my feelings. Well, shit.

His gaze caught mine and we held our positions for what seemed like eternity. Finally he backed off and resituated himself in the drivers seat. The silence that loomed in the car was awkward and uncomfortable. He just sat there and stared at me. I know he was waiting for me to say something, but I wasn’t going there…not if he wasn’t.

Seconds ticked by, he studied me, and I studied my hands in my lap. Did I mention I was never good at the waiting game? “So,” I started, unsure how to ask my question. Taking a deep breath, I summoned my courage and looked him in the eye. “Why do you always…you know…back off?” Somewhere during that question, my courage took for the hills and I ended up speaking to my hands.

I was startled when a hand touched my chin. Gently bringing my face up, I met warm, brown, concerned looking Latino eyes only a breath away from mine. His hand came up to trace along my chin and jaw. I think I started to shake.

Slowly, he closed his eyes and backed away, ending up in his seat again, but facing forward this time. “Because, you always look like that.” I opened my mouth to say something when he continued on. Well hell, if he’s going to talk, I’m going to listen. “Do I scare you, Stephanie?” He said it so low I wondered for a second if I imagined it. When I noticed him looking at me expectantly, I realized I hadn’t, he really had asked.

Again, I opened my mouth to say something, but the words wouldn’t come. In the end, it didn’t really matter because at that precise moment, the Mercedes was hit from behind. The car was pushed forward into Mr. Klumpsky’s Caddy and we were jostled around inside. Well, I was jostled. By the time I got myself together enough to look around, Ranger had exited the car, gun in hand.

The squeal of tires pulled my attention to the large pick up that was backing away down the road at a frightening speed. I tried to open my door, but couldn’t. Turning to look behind me again, I noticed that the back window was busted out. Hmm, I thought everything outside sounded louder. Seeing that the driver’s side door was open, I started to crawl my way over to get out.

“Stay,” yelled Ranger. “Get down.” Okaaaay.

After several very long minutes, I heard Ranger’s voice again. He sounded much calmer this time. “Come on, Babe.” I looked up to see an outstretched hand. My shaky hand took his and he pulled me from the car, wrapping me in his arms. “Shhh,” he whispered as his hand started to stroke my hair. “You ok?” Nodding into his chest, I asked, “Was that for you or me?” I felt the laugh before I heard it. Pulling away, I looked up into a very amused face…that immediately turned dark.

“Shit,” he said as his hand reached out and wiped something from my forehead. When he lowered his hand I saw blood. My hand flew up to where his had just been. Same thing, I came away with blood on my fingers. Feeling around some more, it occurred to me that I must have hit my head inside the car.

“Steph’s hurt.” Looking up, I saw Ranger already on his phone. “Now…get anything…ok.” With that he flipped the phone shut and took me by the hand. “Let’s get you upstairs.”

After settling me in on the sofa, which was still the new one (I doubted I’d ever see my old one again), Ranger went into the kitchen. I was listening to him rattle around in there when the front door opened and Tank and Bobby walked in.

“Hey Bombshell, you always have this much fun on your dates?”

Narrowing my eyes, I said, “I think you’re on my list of things to do,” I paused for effect, hoping he’d get the wrong idea. He did. His smile proved it. “Under kill.” Tank’s grin spread wide across his whole face.

“Then it looks all we need to do is go out on a date.” Ranger chose that moment to come out of the kitchen, glass of water in hand. Right as he passed by Tank, he sucker punched him in the stomach. Tank made some sort of fake exhaling sound, grabbed his midsection and doubled over, making a production of it. Drama queen.

Ranger ignored him, made his way over to me, handed me the glass of water, then winked. Like the love struck puppy I was, I gave him a goofy smile for his efforts.

“Steph,” Bobby said softly. He was kneeling in front of me and gently took my head in both his hands. For the next few minutes he checked me over, asked me questions and inspected the cut on my head. He cleaned it up and told me I’d live.

Bobby and Tank went into the kitchen as Ranger came and sat next to me on the couch. “You all right?”

I nodded. “Are you?” It was pretty obvious he was, but asking seemed like the right thing to do.

He smiled warmly and nodded back. “The guy who hit us goes by the name of Slug on the street. Tony Michaels is his real name. So to answer your question, he was after me. Not sure how he knew where I was, but Tank’s working on that.”

“Oh.”

Ranger chuckled. “Just in case, Bobby’s going to stay here tonight. Michaels shouldn’t know anything about you so I doubt he’ll come back, but I don’t want to take any chances.” Reading my mind, he continued on. “I don’t think it would be a good idea for me to stay.”

“Why?” I asked in a hushed tone so the guys wouldn’t hear.

His hand came to my face and rubbed against my cheek, a soft smiled played on his lips. “Will you go out with me again?”

Gasp, A Real Date

Chapter 9

"A picnic?" I was afraid I hadn’t heard him correctly.

"Yeah, Babe. A Rangeman picnic on Memorial Day."

"Well…uh…" I wasn’t sure if I was being invited because I worked with Ranger and the guys or if he was asking me out. "Is it for all Rangeman employees?"

A deep chuckle sounded through the phone. "Yeah, but I was hoping I could take you."

"Oh." Silence from the other end. Guess he was waiting for me. I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to that. "Yeah, I’d love to," and I meant it.

It was a perfect day to go to the shore. The weather had been unusually warm lately and today was no exception. It had occurred to me while I was digging my bathing suit out from the back of the closet, that I was probably faced with staring at a whole bunch of drool worthy men all day. I wasn’t sure if my hormones would be able to stand up to the pressure.

A thought, no… a vision, came into my head at that moment that had me frozen in mid dig, eyes glazed over I'm sure, and my mouth hanging open.

Ranger in a Speedo.

Holy Christ. I sank to the floor as my knees gave out. Squeezing my eyes tight, I tried not to concentrate on the throbbing that started between my legs. Sitting there helpless, the scene played before me: Ranger walking up the beach, water dripping and rolling down those muscles, with nothing but a small, thin piece of stretchy fabric covering his package.

Gulping air, I shook my head trying to clear the picture from my brain. True to form, my hormones wouldn't let it go. As a matter of fact, it only got worse. Suddenly, pictured in front of me were Ranger, Tank, Lester and Bobby…all coming up the beach, all of them wet and each wearing a barely there Speedo, muscles shining… rippling…Oh. My. God.

Flopping back so I was lying flat on the floor, I threw an arm over my eyes. I was about to self-combust now. I'll never survive the day. Hey, maybe I had time to take care it myself…

"Babe?" came the deep rumbling chuckle from the doorway.

I didn't move. "Ranger." The man saw me handcuffed to a shower rod and knows that I'll pee in the woods. So what if he found me on the floor thinking nasty thoughts? I had no dignity left.

"Babe." He had come very close to me and I jerked a little when he spoke. "You ok?" I could feel his breath on my face.

Rolling my arm away from my eyes, I instantly knew I had made a mistake. Ranger’s warm chocolate brown eyes drew me in. My mouth went dry as he knelt next to me, concern written all over his face.

"I…" I had to clear my throat to continue. "I’m fine," I whispered, actually it was more breathless than a whisper.

My reward was a 200-watt smile. "Good. You ready?" he asked as he stood and I scrambled up from the floor.

"Yeah, I just need to…" Stopping mid-sentence, I studied Ranger. Before me wasn’t the man in black, but…but…a normal guy. A drool worthy one, but still…he had on cargo shorts and a white, yes, a white t-shirt. Nothing was skin tight, or too baggy…it was just…just normal, although the white t-shirt sure made his skin look more golden brown than usual. "…to, umm, put my suit in my bag."

Not that I was going to wear it. No way was my pasty white Hungarian body going to be put up against those bronze gods. No thank you.

"You’re not wearing it?"

"No. I’ll change if I decide to go for a swim." Trying to sound casual, I grabbed my 2-piece and stuck it in my bag. That puppy wasn’t going to see the light of day, but he didn’t need to know that. Turning, I went into the living room, setting my bag on the sofa, and then made my way into the kitchen to grab a bottled water.

When I came back into the living room, Ranger was standing next to the sofa staring at my bag. Oh, he better not even think of going there. No man goes into a woman’s bag…well, a husband…maybe. That’s if he has special dispensation…and notarized documents.

He must have sensed I was in the room because he immediately looked at me.

"Wouldn’t it be easier if you wore your suit?"

"Oh," I started, as I waved my hand in the air, trying to indicate he was worrying about nothing, "it’s not a big deal." Walking to the other side of the couch, I reached for my bag only to have Ranger reach out and grab it. My eyes flew up to meet his.

"Babe," he said as he held onto one side of the bag. Slowly, without letting go, he circled around the sofa to end up standing directly in front of me. His hand came up to cup my face, his thumb gently caressing my cheek. "You’re beautiful. You have nothing to be ashamed of. You’ll be the prettiest, sexiest woman there."

Still trying to play this off as though he were making a big deal out of nothing, I snorted and opened my mouth to say something when he cut me off.

"Don’t…don’t make yourself less than you are." I blinked.

"Ranger, it’s not a big deal. If I want to swim, I’ll change and put it on."

"You never planned on that suit coming out of your bag." Opening my mouth, I was going to protest. Tell him he was wrong. But he wasn’t. Damn him. Closing the gap between us, he stepped closer until his body skimmed mine. The hand that was holding my face moved around to tangle in my hair. Before I knew what was happening, his soft, warm lips were gently touching mine. "You’re gorgeous, Stephanie. And I dare any man to disagree." His tongue swept out to trace the seam of my lips. Whispering, he made his request. "Put it on under your clothes, please, Babe." Releasing his hold on me, he backed away and waited.

"Ok, Ranger," I said, still a bit stunned. Blinking a few times, my mind cleared and I realized what I had just agreed to. Narrowing my eyes, I laid the ground rules. "Fine, but the t-shirt never comes off."

He gave me a serious nod, but slowly, so very slowly, a wolf grin appeared. My eyes went wide as my mind raced, trying to figure out exactly what he was thinking. Scurrying into the bathroom I had to wonder why I felt that, even though I had just told him what was never going to happen, I had somehow given him permission for something else.

Gasp, A Real Date

Chapter 10

All right, so even though he managed to get me into my suit, I was having a great time so far, and all we had done is drive along in the car. The great thing about it, was that is was a soft-top wrangler, and he had taken the top off. What a way to drive to the beach! It didn’t take me more than a few minutes to realize that my hair needed to put up. Into my trusty pocketbook I went. Sure enough, I found not only one, but two scrunchies, and several ponytail holders. Once that problem was straightened out, I had a ball.

We pulled into a spot right next to the boat ramp. We hopped out, gathered our things from the back seat, and then made our way out to where the guys were.

Just as I had suspected, there were Bobby, Tank and Lester, all shirtless and looking totally edible in their swim trunks. There was some other guy with them; I had never seen him before. He had to work for Ranger because his body was just as deliciously sculpted as the others and from where I stood he looked very cute. I’m sure Ranger had other criteria for hiring employees, but I wasn’t really interested in that at the moment.

Bobby was the first to notice us. “Hey, Bombshell.” A wide grin graced his handsome face. I smiled in return because I didn’t trust myself to do much else. All four guys started to jog over to us from the volleyball area and I was pretty sure that if I did anything but smile, it would be to jump one of them. Somehow I think that might dampen the holiday mood.

“Hey, Steph,” Tank said as he fell into step besides me. “Glad you could make it.” His smile was sincere and I realized I had some good friends here.

The guy I didn’t know came up on my other side. Now, being able to get a really good look at him, I realized that I wasn’t wrong; he was as drop dead gorgeous as the rest of them.

“Hi, I’m James,” he said as he relieved me of the bags I was carrying. Oh, I liked him already.

I flashed him a grateful smile. “Hi, I’m Stephanie.”

His smile brightened. “Yeah, the Bombshell Bounty Hunter. I haven’t worked with you yet. Boss says I’m not ready.” My eyebrows hit my hairline.

“Oh?” By now we had reached the spot the guys had staked out on the beach. I immediately noticed other pocketbooks and sighed with relief that I wasn’t the only woman. Looking around, I tried figure out where they were at, but I didn't see any women near by.

James broke into my rambling thoughts. “Yeah, he said I needed to know some things about explosives and cars before I could work with you.” I hadn’t really been looking at James while we were talking, but his last words had me putting him in my sight. The other baboons started chuckling and James’ happy look turned to one of panic.

For the first time I noticed that James was young, much younger than the others. Having a sudden pang of mercy for his young soul, I turned to “Boss”. Now him, I could rip a new one.

It seemed like a good plan at the time, but the minute I laid eyes on Ranger, I was struck dumb. He was just pulling off his t-shirt and then slipped out of his shorts. Finally, he stood there in swim trunks. Not Speedos like I had envisioned, but still, it was the least clothing I had ever seen him in. Good Lord. My knees went weak.

He looked at me, one eyebrow raised in question, the other guys lining up next to him. Great, just what my senses needed, a wall of muscle…mostly naked muscle at that.

Just as I was about to wipe the drool from my chin, a movement from behind the guys caught my eye. Three women were approaching, and my gut told me they were the ones who owned the pocketbooks. Also, they each carried a bucket of water and it was obvious they were trying to sneak up.

If any of the 5 men in front of me noticed my shift in attention, they didn't say anything. They all stood there with smirks firmly in place. Laugh at me, will you? Ha! You'll get yours.

Doing my best to keep my facial expression as slacked jawed as it was when they first lined up, I stood there and waited.

The second the cold water hit their backs all hell broke loose. The women screamed and took off running with Bobby, Tank and Lester in hot pursuit. Ranger and James looked after them and laughed.

Me, I was practically rolling on the ground I was laughing so hard. It's not often…hell, ever, that I've seen these guys less than aware. And the look of surprise and shock on their faces…priceless!

"Need to be," I had to pause to catch my breath from laughing, "more aware," laugh, "of your," laugh, "surroundings," bigger laugh, "Babe." By the time I was done, I was curled in a ball in the sand, my sides aching.

"Babe?" Uh oh….he was close, very close. I felt a few drops of cold water on my arm.

Refusing to get out of my huddled position, I replied, "Yeah?" Maybe I should have held back the giggle that escaped.

"Why didn't you tell us they were back there?" I could feel his breath on my ear…and hear the smile in his voice. This time I did try to hold in the laughs, but only succeed in shaking. Shrugging was the only way I could reply.

His answer to my shrug was to lift me off the ground and carry me. My eyes flew open, I knew this couldn't be good. "Ranger?" No giggles this time. "Wh...what are you doing?"

The sly smile that spread across his face made me shiver, but the heat that shown in his eyes made me sweat.

I could hear the sound of the waves hitting the shore get louder and louder. Oh crap. Ranger waded into the water until it was just about waist high…about an inch below my butt.

"You should always look out for your partner," he paused, "Stephanie."

"Partner?" I squeaked. His look immediately turned soft and he gave me a small smile…then threw me in the ocean.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sitting stretched out on one of the beach towels, I watched as the guys played the girls in a game of volleyball. After being thrown in the ocean by Ranger, I begged off on the game saying I need to dry off a bit first. Honestly, the volleyball experience never appealed too much to me…smacked of exercise.

It had been interesting, and difficult, to watch Ranger's face as I came out of the water. I was, of course, dripping from head to toe, my light yellow t-shirt clinging to me. He had stood back, water only up to his ankles, as I walked toward him. His eyes racked me from top to bottom when I was mostly out of the water, but only once. After that, he held my gaze with his.

With all the courage I could muster, I walked until I was directly in front of him, never breaking eye contact. "Partner?" I repeated, but with a more serious tone. He nodded once and his look turned into that predatory one he uses when he's ready to pounce.

Bobby yelled from up the beach. "Ranger." It had sounded like a normal tone from Bobby, but Ranger's face immediately went blank. I could have swore I heard him say "Right" under his breath as he let out a sigh and grabbed my hand, leading me back to the group.

I knew it! Stumbling along behind him, I put all the pieces together. The times his phone rang on our last date and he said "Right", it was Bobby on the other end. That must have meant he had been watching us. I knew it! My mind twirled the information around and it hit me that the calls always seemed to be timed right when Ranger would…well, be Ranger. Ohhh, this could be fun information to work with.

Once back with the group, I learned a bunch about the women who would dare to throw water on 5 large ex-army men. They were each "attached" to one of the guys, and knew I was coming. Even heard about some of my more colorful adventures. They also knew that if anyone could distract the guys long enough for them to sneak up, it would be me. I wasn't sure if that was a compliment or not, but I took it as one.

Lester, and his girlfriend Tracie, had been together for 6 months. They had met through a friend of a friend, and she was a tiny little thing. But, even in my brief time with them, I knew she was a force to be reckoned with. I watched her stand down both Lester and Tank.

The story goes that they met through a friend at a chance encounter at a restaurant. Lester got her email address and then eventually asked her out, but in a group setting. That's how she met the guys and their girlfriends, Rachael and Nancie. He insisted that the first few dates be in a group. Hoping that once she got to know him better, his size wouldn't intimidate her. I really wanted to ask her if the size of something else intimidated her, but thought I should probably hold off on that one.

Tank told the story of how he and Nancie had met two years earlier. Seems Tank was instructing a local community group on self-defense, and Nancie kicked his ass. More precisely, she kicked him in the balls, a move he talked about, but didn't demonstrate…until Nancie decided it needed to be done…without any warning. He said any woman who had enough balls of her own to do that to a large guy like him, he had to get to know. He also mentioned that I reminded him a lot of Nancie. That, I did take as a compliment.

Bobby and Rachael were new as a couple, only a couple of months together. She was from the south and they seemed to be totally infatuated with each other. They couldn't keep their hands to themselves. Last time Tank and Lester caught them necking behind one of the beach umbrellas, they carried Bobby to the water and threw him in.

I was jerked back to the present when a volleyball went sailing over my head. James was next to me so he popped up, got it, and threw it back. Ranger had wandered off somewhere, said he needed to make a call. I didn't mind because that gave me time to grill James.

"So, where's your girlfriend?" I said with an innocent grin. Turns out I didn't need to pry information out of him it just flowed. Ahhhh, the young and foolish. James was 23, fresh out of the army. His girlfriend, Lori, couldn't make it today, but I did learn that she was a bit older than he was. It wasn't until later that I cornered Nancie and she spilled the beans. Lori was in her 40's and the two of them together just made sense. She said it might not sound like it, but once you saw them together, you knew they were destin for great love.

Ranger came back over and sat on the other side of me. It was funny, but the minute Ranger sat down, James decided to go help the girl's team. No that it looked like they needed help, in my opinion anyway.

"Having a good day, Babe?" Ranger asked from behind mirrored sunglasses.

I brought my knees up and put my arms around them, watching as I wiggled my toes in the sand. "Yes I am, Ranger."

"Good." I could sense he was watching me now, so I turned to look at him, sporting a soft smile. My hair was piled on top of my head in a mass of curls and Ranger reached out and tucked a few stray strands behind my ear. "Want to go for a swim?"

Just for the record, I have not flippin’ clue as to what the Jersey shore looks like so I’ve probably taken some creative license here…forgive me.

Gasp, A Real Date

Chapter 11

Ranger stood, grabbed my hand, and pulled me up. It all happened kind of fast and I stumbled forward a bit, falling into his embrace. By the wolf grin on his face, I think he might have planned for that to happen. We stayed like that for several seconds while he held my eyes with his. Finally, breaking whatever spell we were under, he said, “Come on.”

“Uh…Ranger, I don’t want…”

“I won’t throw you in this time.” Even though I was trailing behind, I knew he was smiling. I could hear it in his voice. Somehow, that little promise didn’t make me feel better.

Reaching the edge of the water, he stopped suddenly and looked at me. “You can swim, right?”

I replied trying not to show any hint of amusement. “Isn’t that something you should have thought of before you threw me in earlier?” For the briefest of seconds, a look passed over Ranger’s face that I couldn’t really identify. If pushed, I’d probably say it was guilt, but nah, couldn’t be.

A teasing smile then appeared on his face as he leaned in toward me. “I could have saved you, Babe. I’m real good at administering mouth to mouth.” With that said, he slowly brought up his hand and slipped it behind my head. His eyes focused on my mouth.

Maybe it was because of the lame line, or maybe because I was feeling more comfortable around him, I didn’t tense up. I knew he was going to kiss me and I had no real reaction to it …at least not until his lips touched mine. Then my hormones got in on the act.

It was a soft, sweet kiss, all lips with short little pecks, but its effect on me couldn’t have gone unnoticed…by either of us. Giving one last lingering peck, he slowly pulled away. He was about to say something when we heard one of the guys, I wasn’t sure who, and couldn’t have cared less, said “Ranger.”

With his eyes still locked with mine, he said “Right.” There was no way the guys could have heard it, and I had a feeling that whatever super secret communication code they had going with the “Ranger” “Right” thing, he was going to ignore it this time. And that was fine by me…or my hormones, I should say. “Trust me?”

Very slowly I let a smile creep onto my face. All I did was give him one quick nod.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He figured out I could swim when I dove in and started away from him. Ranger caught up quickly and came to a stop in front of me to halt my progress. We both treaded water for a few seconds as he pointed over to some rocks that jutted out from shore. Following his lead we made it there in no time.

Turns out there were two sets of rocks that jutted out and it created a private little cove. It surprised me that it was empty, but then, we are talking about Ranger…and things always work out for Ranger.

He climbed the rocks a couple of feet and then helped me up until we came to a small ledge where we could sit. I had ditched my shorts after he threw me in the water, but as I stated back in my apartment, I wasn’t losing the t-shirt. So, here I was, again, with a wet t-shirt plastered to my body. But at least it was more than just the bathing suit I had underneath.

There wasn’t a ton of room on this ledge, so when he pulled me down to sit next to him, our feet dangling, we were hip to hip, shoulder to shoulder.

“Babe?” he said softly.

“Yeah,” I whispered while looking down and watching my feet kick back and forth.

“I don’t mean to scare you.” I looked at him with my eyebrows raised. He sighed. “Ok, maybe that’s not the complete truth. But, your eyes get so big and so blue…” he stopped and I felt his shoulder slightly slump.

For the first time ever, I decided that keeping my mouth shut might be my best option. I really had no idea how to respond to that. We both knew he liked to keep me off balance, but now I knew that he didn’t know how to handle the scared that came along with it. Several long minutes ticked by and we both sat there quietly, thinking our own thoughts.

“Ranger?”

“Hmm?”

Here goes nothing. “You haven’t scared me this week.” He gave a sarcastic sort of snort laugh combination, but that was it. More silent time ticked by until he finally moved down off the ledge. Once firmly footed on the rocks below, he held out his hand to me and gave me a 200-watt smile. I couldn’t help but smile back as I reached out and took it.

He got in the water first, it was about waist high, and he helped me down until I was standing directly in front of him. Placing his hands on my hips, and catching my gaze with his, he started to walk backwards, taking me with him.

When the water was chest high, he stopped. There were no dark eyes, no wolf grin, no throwing me off by coming out of nowhere…and no butterflies. I was starting to think that maybe I missed those butterflies.

But my hormones didn't let me down. All coherent thought left me when his mouth met mine. This time the kiss was more serious, a bit more aggressive. His tongue darted out and licked along the seam of my lips, seeking entrance. I gave in easily, opening my mouth and meeting his effort stroke for stroke.

His hands, which had been idle on my waist, started to work their way up, through the water and under my t-shirt. Slightly arching my back, I pressed into him, bringing my hands up to the back of his neck.

Now, while all this felt wonderful and my hormones were enjoying the experience, my brain kept complaining that something was missing. My hormones didn’t want to hear it. I started to run my hand over his shoulders and down his arms as he deepened the kiss and tired to pull me closer. Because it seemed like the thing to do at the time, I brought my legs up and wrapped them around his waist.

Trying to keep my brain from sabotaging my hormones, coupled with concentrating on what my hands were doing, I almost missed the fact the he had untied the bottom of my bikini top. As his hands inched slowly upward, while also coming around front, my brain kicked into overdrive.

Breaking the kiss, I pulled back. He watched me closely as I blinked a few times and tried to figure out what the heck is going on. It doesn’t feel …right?

He held me there, wrapped around him, for several beats. When he finally opened his mouth to say something, a voice shouted out from behind us.

It was James. “Boss, you better come on back.”

 Gasp, A Real Date

Chapter 12

There wasn’t much I could do. I sat there in the sand, utterly stunned, and watched helplessly as the tow truck took away the smashed up Wrangler.

James had called Ranger back, because when someone tried to back their boat onto the boat ramp, they missed. What they ended up doing was pushing the Wrangler forward off the 6-foot drop, right into the sand. That in itself wouldn’t have been too bad, but for the Jeep to drop off the end, it had to go through the railing first.

From what I could figure out from Lester and Tracie, between bouts of laughter, the guy driving the minivan just kept pushing and pushing. They think his lack of attention was due to the three screaming kids and wife he had in the van with him. By the time he had figured out what was going on, it was too late. The Jeep was a goner.

As the truck pulled away I noticed that Al had showed up and was speaking with Ranger. Well, Ranger was talking…Al was laughing. I let out a heavy sigh and brought my knees up and put my head down. Someone came over and sat next to me, but I didn’t have the guts to look up and see who it was.

“It’s ok, hon,” came the southern drawl. There really was no other thing for me to do except snort, so I did.

“He really likes you, you know.”

Keeping my head down, I turned my head to peek over the arm I had wrapped around my legs. “Rachael, Ranger and I are just friends.” By this time it was getting to be dark, but I could still make out the smirk on her face.

“Uh huh, only friends.” I don’t think she believed me.

“Look Rachael, it’s complicated, but I’m pretty sure the last thing Ranger wants to do is get seriously mixed up with someone like me. Hell,” I waved my hand toward the now empty space where the Jeep had been parked, “he can’t get one of cars within 10 feet of me without having something happen to it.”

“I told you before Babe, cars can be replaced.” Of course, I should have known.

I let my head fall back onto my knees and repositioned my hands around my legs. There was shuffling next to me and I had the feeling that Rachael and Ranger switched places.

“Babe?” He was so close I could feel him warm breath against my ear. “It was an accident. It had nothing to do with you.”

He sounded serious, but I had to look to make sure. When I lifted my head, I met a set of very soft, caring brown eyes. “Thank you,” I said just as seriously. He smiled and stood, grabbing my hand and taking me with him.

“You’ve got nothing to thank me for…yet.” Oh boy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ranger dragged me back over to where everyone had gathered around a fire. Everyone was paired off, except James. I felt kind of bad for him, so before Ranger could get us settled in one spot, I veered off and plopped down next to James.

“Does anyone call you Jimmy?” It was time to pick on him.

“No. It’s always been James.”

“Oh. Well, I’m going to call you Jimmy.” He looked shocked for a moment before his eyebrows gathered in a serious expression. His eyes flicked over to Ranger, but I didn’t need to look. I knew Ranger would be smiling, so would the other guys.

“Sorry, nothing I can do,” came Ranger’s deep rumble.

“Well, uh… Stephanie, I don’t…”

“Yes, Jimmy?” I said, cutting him off, a huge grin plastered on my face. He tried once more to find someone to jump in and help him. When he realized there was none coming, he just shook his head.

“Well, crap.”

Tank let out a loud chuckle. “Well, my man. You’ve just been truly initiated.” Bobby threw a marshmallow at him and several more followed. Ducking out of the way, I found myself leaning back against Ranger and his arms immediately came around to hold me.

I snuggled in, half sitting, half laying, against his strong chest and let out a sigh. Some small talked followed and Bobby and Rachael wandered off somewhere. Tank was sure it was back to one of the Bronco’s, but no one would take his bet. Not because anyone was afraid of betting on their whereabouts’, but because everyone was just too relaxed and comfy.

“Babe…Stephanie.” I must have drifted off, because Ranger was whispering close to my ear and gently shaking me. “Time to take you home.”

Sitting up, I blinked a few times to find that the only ones left were Lester and Tracie. Ranger gathered our things, and then took my hand to help me up. We said our goodnight’s, with Lester promising to take care of the clean up.

It was a short ride back to my place in the replacement car Al had brought. In no time we were standing at my front door.

“I had a great time today, Ranger. Thanks for inviting me.”

He brought a hand up and trailed a finger softly down my face to my neck. “Anytime, Babe.” We both stood there, silent. Geez, no awkward moment here.

“Well,” I stared, my gaze drifting toward the floor. I was going to say that I should probably go inside, but the hand that Ranger had resting on my shoulder, came up under my chin and lifted my head.

For only the second time today, I saw the familiar fire in his eyes. Putting his other arm around my waist, he pulled me close to him and started to bring his head down…and his phone rang.

He must have clenched his teeth because I noticed his jaw working as he stepped back and flipped open his phone.

Without giving it too much thought, I snatched the phone away from him. If I had thought about it, I might have kept my mouth shut long enough to find out what was being said, but instead, I started talking.

“Goodnight, Bobby,” I stated calmly, then flipped the phone shut. Ranger stared at me with a blank face, blinked a few times, and then flashed me a smile that had my legs shaking.

Moving quickly, he brought one hand up behind my head and the other snaked around my back. Hauling me up against him, he wasted no time in kissing me senseless.

A moan escaped from the back of my throat and that turned out to be a mistake. At the sound, Ranger broke the kiss and took two purposeful steps backwards, letting his arms rest at his side.

His expression was blank, but I could tell he was holding back. “Goodnight, Steph.” He smiled, but with effort. “I’ll call you tomorrow.” Then he was gone. Well hell.

I trudged into my apartment feeling, believe it or not, not confused. As a matter of fact, I knew what I had to do. I had to get Ranger back to the way he was. In that instant I knew I needed the butterflies back. I needed Ranger to come at me from nowhere, to keep me off balance, yet I also had to show him that it wouldn’t scare me. Because now, I knew for sure, it wouldn’t scare me.

The “Ranger, normal guy next door” had to go. I want Batman.

Wasting no time, I got myself and Rex settled in for the night. The only problem was, I couldn’t sleep. Tossing and turning for what felt like hours, I finally gave in to the Ben and Jerry’s calling my name from the freezer. I climbed out of bed and made my way into the kitchen. About half way through the container I decided I might want to leave some for tomorrow. As I was rinsing my spoon, a thought struck me.

I couldn’t sleep because I was waiting for Ranger to break in. It had been some time since he’d done it. Now that we were friends…friendly…whatever, I expected him to go back to doing that. Only, he had changed his behavior for me and that meant no breaking in.

Feeling somewhat depressed, I popped a grape in the cage for Rex and plodded back to my bedroom. Had I been aware of my surroundings, or at least keen enough to look out the window as I passed, I would have noticed a black Mercedes in the parking lot.

Gasp, A Real Date

Chapter 13

I woke in the morning feeling disappointed. Ranger never broke in. After my midnight snack, I climbed back into bed and continued to toss and turn, finally drifting off to a restless sleep at who knows when.

I noticed the light streaming in through the bedroom window. I rolled and my back and threw an arm over my eyes. My brain was trying to figure out a way to get Ranger back to the way he was. He said he’d call me today and I was hoping it was to ask me out again. But what I was really hoping for was that he’d just break in and make his move.

Rolling off the bed, I shuffled into the bathroom and got started on my morning ritual. Just as I was stepping out of the shower, the phone started to ring. Quickly wrapping myself up, I scurried out to the living room to answer it. After all, it could be Ranger.

“Hullo?”

“Hey, Bombshell.”

“Hi, Tank,” I sighed.

“Nice to talk to you too.”

“Sorry, I was…thought you were…never mind. What’s up?”

A deep rumbled laugh came from the other end of the phone. “Sorry to disappoint you Stephanie, but I don’t know where Ranger is at the moment. From what I can tell, he didn’t come home last night.”

“Why not?”

He laughed again. “Bombshell you’re priceless. You didn’t happen see a black Mercedes in your parking lot last night, did you?”

“What? He was here?”

“I have a distraction job, if you’re interested.” Oh no. He wasn’t getting off that easy.

“Tank,” I whined.

“Look Steph.” He sounded a bit exasperated. “Whatever is going on between you and Ranger is between you and Ranger.”

“Right. Since when? And that’s why his phone rings every time…” Ok, maybe I didn’t want to finish that sentence.

“The job is tomorrow night. You in.” Oh boy, he sounded serious. I think I pissed off Tank.

Letting out a sigh of defeat, I decided right now I shouldn’t push my luck. “Yes, I’m in.”

“Good. I’m sure Ranger will fill you in when he sees you.” I gave a disgusted snort. “Don’t worry Steph, he’ll see you.”

A knock sounded at my door. “Tank, I have to run. Someone’s at the door. Later.”

As much as Ranger tells me I need to be aware, and as much as I roll my eyes at it, he has a point. Racing to the door, I swung it open to find the man himself standing there. The minute he saw me his eyes went dark. It finally occurred to me that I was standing in the doorway wearing only a towel.

“Babe?” Oh god, his voice was low and sexy. Maybe this was my chance.

I put on the sultriest smile I had. “Come on in, Ranger.” His jaw tightened, but he nodded once.

As he walked past me, I made sure I was close enough so that he’d brush up against me…and he did. And it seemed to have the effect I was going for. Once the door was closed, I found myself backed up against it by one very large, very hot looking Cuban with fire in his eyes. Oh yeah.

No word were spoken, none were needed. Locking my eyes with his, he lowered his head until our lips softly touched. I felt him inhale a shaky breath, then he pounced. His lips and tongue were demanding, and I give them everything they wanted. Of course, I put a few of my own demands into it as well.

As he attached my mouth, I felt his hands grab my shoulders. Never breaking the kiss, he turned us around and started walking me backwards…toward my bedroom. Oh my god. I think my impromptu plan may have worked.

When we reached the bedroom doorway, his hands moved around my waist and he pulled me in tight, deepening the kiss. My knees felt like Jell-O and I think my legs started to shake. This was all good.

Just as I thought he was going to move on into the bedroom, he broke the kiss. We were both breathing heavy and staring into each other’s eyes. Then, without warning, he turned me and pushed me forward into the room. My hopes were dashed when he didn’t follow.

“Get dressed, Babe. I need to tell you about the job and ask you something.” I whirled around just as he shut the door. Which would have been fine if he hadn’t stayed on the other side of it. DAMN.

The whole time I was dressing I tried to figure out how to let him know that I wasn’t scared anymore and that I wanted him back the way he was. My attempt with the towel might have been too much. But hell, I didn’t want subtle any more.

I finished dressing, tied my Keds, and decided that maybe I needed to hear what he had to ask me. I stepped into the living room to find it empty.

For a second I thought he left, but I heard low talking coming from the kitchen.

“…a fucking towel. What was I supposed to do?” He sounded incredulous.

Great, I wonder who he’s getting dating advice from this time. It sure ain’t Dr. Ruth. With my luck, it’s still Bobby. I think I needed to cut off this phone call as soon as possible.

Sauntering into the kitchen, I headed straight for the refrigerator. The minute he sensed my presence, which was before I was actually in the kitchen, his voice changed.

“Yes. Good.” Then he hung up. Batman at his conversational best.

“Babe, about the job…” Super, he was going to start with work. Grabbing a water out of the fridge I sat myself in the chair opposite him and listened to him rattle on about the skip I needed to get out of the bar. My mind started to wander. After all, I’d done the distraction thing before. I couldn’t keep my eyes from focusing on his mouth and my mind from remembering the scorching kiss we had just shared.

“You haven’t listened to a thing I’ve said, have you?” Busted.

“Nope.” Why lie?

A very seductive smile curved his sensuous lips. “Babe, do you want to go out tonight? I was thinking we’d see a movie.” Or how about we just hop into bed now? I waited a few seconds, but he never said that. Instead he sat there looking at me with concern etched on his face.

Oh shit, guess I should answer. “Sure, Ranger. That sounds great.” His features eased into a look of relief. Did he honestly think I’d say no? It hit me that maybe what Mary Lou had said, had been true. This is all new for him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He picked me up in the BMW around six o’clock. The movie didn’t start until eight, but he said he’d feed me first. I was surprised, though, when we pulled into Pino’s.

“Ranger?”

He smiled. “Pizza and a movie, Babe.”

He exited the car and came to my side to open the door. Once I was out, he grabbed my hand and steered us toward the door. Of course, we got the end booth, but we did sit on the same side…with our backs against the wall.

Dinner was…normal. God, how I’ve come to hate that word, in relation to Ranger anyway. He even had some pizza. It was only half a slice in between bites of his salad, but still. We did some small talk and I asked about the Wrangler. He said Al should have it fixed by the end of the week. Every so often a cop or two would come over and talk to us for a little while and no one seemed to blink an eye at the fact we were obviously on a date. Well, at least I thought it was obvious.

At the movie, we sat in the back, of course, which was fine by me. No one else needed to witness my attempts at driving Ranger crazy. The problem was, it didn’t seem to be working. I’d put my hand on his knee and start to move it upward; he’d push it back down. I’d take his hand and place it on my knee and start to move it upward’ he’d take it back down. Frustrated, I finally leaned over and began to nibble on his ear.

Now he took the bait. We made out in the back of the movie theatre for the last half of the movie…but that was it. Jesus, I felt like I was in high school. He pulled back when people started to stand as the credits rolled. Without saying a word, we waited until everyone else left, then he stood, taking my hand, and let us out of the theatre.

We had parked two blocks away and it was a nice spring night for a stroll, so I didn’t mind…about the walk anyway. I minded big time about the lack of action. Hand in hand we casually walked along the quiet street. I had a feeling that if I didn’t make some sort of move soon, I’d be back at my place…alone.

About three steps from us, there was a storefront with a receded entrance. I got an idea. The minute we walked by I fisted my hands in the front of his t-shirt and pulled him into the dark recesses of the doorway. His immediate reaction was to jerk back, but he caught himself as I tugged harder, and eventually he let me drag him with me.

I didn’t give him time to talk, just pulled him down until I could kiss him. He seemed to figure out what I wanted because there was hesitation for him to get into the kiss. When I felt like he wasn’t going to pull away, I let my hands skim his hard chest, making their way around to his back.

In the back of my mind I was picking up a fait, shrill, beeping sound. It reminded me of the kind of noise that comes from truck when they back up. When I heard the ugly scraping noise of metal hitting metal, I froze. It obviously came from two cars getting together in an unfriendly way. Somewhere, deep down, I had the feeling I knew who one of the cars belonged to…and he was staring at me right now.

“I’m afraid to look,” he teased as a smile spread across his face. I just closed my eyes and put my head back against the glass door.

“You look…but don’t tell me.” He chuckled and moved away.

“Three for three, Babe.”

“Fuck.”

Gasp, A Real Date

Chapter 14

The cops left. The tow truck left. Tank and Lester finally left after dropping off the Mercedes and making fun of me for a solid 15 minutes. I was sitting on the curb waiting for Ranger to finish up talking with the guy who was driving the garbage truck that had backed into his car. Finally, a pair of black boots came into my downcast view.

The first thing I noticed when I looked up was Ranger’s out stretched hand. I took it and he pulled me to my feet. “Let’s get you home, Babe.” He started for his car, but I hesitated.

“Ranger, I don’t think I should get in your car.”

“Babe,” he said as he pulled me close. “None of this is your fault. I want you to really believe that.” Lowering his head, he placed a soft kiss on my lips. “Come on.” He started again for the car, but had to tug several time to get me to follow.

We managed to make it to my place in relative safety. We stood at my front door, but the mood was kind of shot.

“Ranger, I…”

“Shh, Babe.” Leaning in he gave me a kiss that could only be called…neutral. I was really getting tired of neutral. When he pulled back, I saw the banked passion in his eyes. How could I get him to let it loose again?

He didn’t give me a chance to figure it out. A few quick kisses later, he was gone. Stomping into my apartment I slammed the door and headed for the shower. I was angry and needed to cool off. Showers seemed to calm me down.

I was wrinkled as a prune when I finally stepped out of the shower. After towel drying my hair, and lotioning up, I felt a little more under control…but just a little. The frustration was there and wouldn’t let go of me. As many times as I turned it over in my head, I couldn’t figure out a way to get Ranger back to the way he used to be.

Drowning my sorrows in Ben and Jerry’s hadn’t helped either, so I decided to just go to bed. The only problem was that I had the same anxious feeling as the night before. I was waiting for Batman to break in. Lying there, I’d strain to hear any noise that might tell me my midnight visitor was letting himself in. Then I’d turn to my other side and wait some more. It was starting to get ridiculous and I could feel when the frustration reached a boiling point.

Rolling over again, I faced my nightstand. On impulse I reached over and grabbed the first thing my hand came into contact with and threw it across the room. When it landed with a soft thud, I realized I had pitched a box of Kleenex. Not the effect I was going for. I needed a big noise, something that would shatter. My mind turned that over for a few seconds, but when it reached the part about having to clean it up, I decided what I had thrown was fine.

Letting out a small sigh, I heaved myself out of bed to retrieve the box that had landed by the window. On my way over, something Tank said popped into my head. “You didn’t happen see a black Mercedes in your parking lot last night, did you?”

I immediately looked out the window… and what do you know, a black Mercedes. Not wasting any time, I threw on some shorts and headed out.

The minute I stepped outside the engine turned over.

“DON’T you dare! You stay right there.” I yelled as loud as I could while pointing my finger at the car. Coming at it from the side, I couldn’t tell who was behind that wheel, but really, what are the odds?

Moving a few steps closer, I continued with my tirade.

“I don’t know what you think you’re doing, but out here is NOT where you should be.” I fisted my hands and placed them on my hips. Oh…I was just getting started. “As a matter of fact, I don’t know what is up with this ‘guy next door’ crap, but I never asked for it.” Some dogs started to bark and I figured I had better lower my voice. I went right up to the driver’s side window, but it wasn’t rolled down. Feeling sort of brave, I rapped on the window. Nothing.

Fine.

“Ok, look.” I said in a controlled whisper that I was sure was loud enough for him to hear. “Everything you’ve done for me this past week has been nice, but…but…Damn it,” I was yelling again, “I want the butterflies back!”

Throwing my hand up in the air, I let them fall back, slap against my thighs and then started to pace. “So I’ll admit I was scared, but I never asked you to change. NEVER! All I ever wanted,” I stopped and looked at the still closed window. “All I ever wanted was to get to know you better. That would have worked just as well to help me be less scared, and I’d still have my butterflies! But noooooo, you had to go asking those baboons you got working for you, for advice.”

“Let me tell you something,” one hand went on my hip, the other pointed a finger at the car, “we were doing just fine. Maybe a little frustrated, but we would have got there. Now…now I feel like we’ve gone backwards!”

Narrowing my eyes, I gave my final instructions. “I’m going to go back upstairs and Batman better get his lock pick out and make an appearance or Wonder Woman is going to kick his ass!”

Nothing happened for the few seconds I waited, and I wanted my little tantrum to have an effect, so I didn’t wait too long before turning on my heels and going back up to my apartment.

Sitting on the sofa, I was determined that I wasn’t going to go look out the window. He’d come…right?

Hours ticked by… well, really only about 5 minutes, and I couldn’t stand it any more. Racing to the window, my heart fell to my stomach and shattered into little pieces.

The black Mercedes was gone.

Gasp, A Real Date

Chapter 15

It was morning and my eyes were crusted over from falling asleep crying. After seeing the parking lot void of any expensive black cars, I threw myself on my bed and sobbed. At one point, hope dared to rear it’s ugly head when I thought that maybe it wasn’t really him. Maybe I had been yelling at some stranger. But practicality took over and reasoned that it probably was Ranger and I did yell at him.

Rolling over, I glanced at my clock and learned that it wasn’t really morning, but late afternoon. I was surprised that my phone hadn’t woken me up, but quickly remembered that I turned the ringer off.

Shuffling off to the bathroom, I did my business and then went to play the messages I’m sure would be there.

Most were either from my mother or Mary Lou. There was one from Tank saying they’d be picking me up for the job at 6:00. I did the math and figured that gave me a couple of hours to get ready. My heart felt like it seized up when I thought about the fact that I’d most likely see Ranger.

The pain I felt was incredible, and as hard as it was, I pushed thoughts of him from my mind. For the next 30 minutes I busied myself with feeding myself, then Rex. I headed for the shower, desperate to keep my mind thinking of anything else but Ranger.

By the time Tank let himself into my apartment, I was mentally exhausted.

“Bombshell?”

“I’ll be right out Tank,” I answered from my bedroom. Putting the final touches to my outfit, I grabbed the handbag I’d be using off the bed and headed into the living room.

What little nerves I was feeling, quieted once it was apparent that Ranger had not come with the guys.

“Hey, Lester, Bobby,” I said as I tried to act cool and collected.

“Boss, fill you in?”

All I could do was shake my head at Lester’s question. Crying right now was not an option.

“You ok, Steph?” Figures Bobby would pick up on it. Wasn’t he the reason this whole thing started? Him and his stupid “what if he asked you out?” crap.

Putting on a brave face, I smiled sweetly. “Yeah, I’m fine.” And the Oscar goes to….

“Have you seen Ranger?”

My bottom lip quivered, so I quickly turned away and headed into the kitchen. Talking over my shoulder, I said, “No, I haven’t. Not since last night.” That was the truth…as far as it went anyway. They didn’t need to know the rest.

Tank’s voice sounded from the other room. “He didn’t come home again last night. Thought maybe he was here.” It was evident from the smile in his voice, he was teasing, but to me the words hurt more than a kick to the gut.

“Uh uh,” was the only thing I could mutter without totally losing it.

One of my shaky hands reached for a glass so it looked like I was doing something besides standing in the kitchen trying to hold myself together.

“Really?” Tank was standing directly behind me now so I went ahead and filled the glass with tap water.

“Wasn’t here.” Ok, if I stick to two word sentences, I might just make it through this.

“Lester, call James and tell him Ranger’s been MIA since 18:00…” his voiced faded as he went into the other room.

Bobby came into the kitchen next and proceeded to fill me in on the job. If he noticed something was wrong, he didn’t say anything. After about 15 minutes, we were loaded into the Bronco and on our way.

The bar the loser skip hung out in was pretty normal. As a matter of fact, he looked pretty normal too. Then I read his sheet. This time he had been arrested for beating up his girlfriend at a local restaurant and decided he didn’t need to show for his court date. Swell.

The second I walked in I spotted him at the bar. As I approached I caught myself thinking that he wasn’t bad looking…and clean. This was a change. He may have been a thug, but he was a middle class thug.

It only took several subtle glances in his direction before he was seated next to me. Just when I got to the part where I tried to convince him to come outside with me, I got the feeling someone was standing behind me.

The skips look turned from interested to nervous in a few seconds flat. He excused himself and got away from me as fast as he could. Livid, I spun on the bar stool to rip a new one to whoever was behind me. I froze when it turned out to be Ranger.

“Babe.”

“I’m working,” I said as I turned back toward the bar.

His hand landed on my shoulder. “I need to take you home now.”

“Ranger, I told you, I’m…” I stopped because he was tugging me off the barstool. “Ok, ok….geez, I’m coming,” I said to his back.

When we reached the Mercedes, he opened the door. “Get in.” I hesitated. Can you blame me? “Please Stephanie, get in.” If I had had time for more than one drink in the bar, I might have thought I hallucinated the pleading tone to his voice. But I was sober and he was pleading.

As we pulled away, I said the first thing that came into my mind. “What about the skip?”

“They’ll get him. He’ll come out eventually.”

“Oh.” The rest of the ride was made in complete silence.

When we were inside my apartment I wasn’t sure what to do or say, but Ranger solved that little problem for me. “Get changed into something comfortable and pack a bag with enough clothes for a couple of nights.”

“But, I…”

“Please.” His face was emotionless, but that pleading tone was back. I headed to my bedroom to do as he asked.

When finished, I opened my door to walk out and ran directly into Ranger’s chest. His hands came up to steady me, but he didn’t let go. Instead, he pulled me close and gave me a bone-melting kiss.

“Ready?”

“Yeah,” I responded breathlessly, looking into his soft brown eyes. There was a familiar heat in his eyes and I felt my insides flutter as he began to lower his head again and…and his phone rang.

Slipping his hand into his pocket, he hauled out the phone. But before he could flip it open, I grabbed it and threw it across the room. It hit the wall with a loud cracking noise and when it dropped to the floor, pieces splintered in every direction.

“That’s the sound I was going for,” I said triumphantly.

“Babe?”

“Ranger, I get the feeling you’re trying to prove a point here. Your goons don’t need to interrupt us.”

“They’ll be hurt you referred to them as goons.”

“They’ll be lucky if I don’t hurt them.”

A wolf grin appeared, but he backed away. “Let’s go.”

We piled into the Bronco and drove for several hours and I ended up dozing off. The car came to a stop and I jerked awake. Sitting up, I could see that we were in a heavily wooded area, or at least it looked that way in the dark.

“Ranger?”

“Just a second, Babe.” He exited the front seat and went around back. I watched as he laid out a couple of sleeping bags and it finally occurred to me what he was doing. When he was done, he got in, shut the back door and motioned for me to climb over the seat.

Once in the back, he settled us in exactly like we had been a few short weeks ago. We lay there quietly listening to the sound of crickets.

His voice in my ear broke my concentration. “I’m not going to date you anymore, Stephanie.” My heart sank. He brought me out here to break it off…whatever “it” was.

“I think this is where things started to go really wrong. Maybe we can start over and try again. Besides,” he nuzzled my neck, “dating you seems to be hazardous to the health of my cars.”

Oh my god. I think I’ve got my Batman back. “Thank god,” was all I said. I was so excited it took a minute for my brain to register the car comment. But the minute it did, I playfully elbowed him in the stomach. “It wasn’t my fault.”

“I know, Babe.” All of a sudden he rolled me onto my back and completely covered my body with his. “If I remember correctly, and per your instructions last night, I need to make my move and bring back some butterflies.” I nodded slowly.

A totally wicked, lustful smile crossed his face and passion burned in his yes. I jumped as one of his hands made it inside my t-shirt and laid flat against my stomach. “Seems to me like your stomach is full of them.” I nodded slowly again as my eyes went wide.

The minute he noticed, he looked as though he was going to lose control. My stomach did a flip. “Just wait, Babe. I’m going to show you how we can use all those nerves to our advantage.”

Oh boy!

THE END