Preemptive Strike

By haleigh.l and Lintu68.

For those of you familiar with Lintu68's amazing writing, you might recognize the smut throughout this story as her talent.

Linda – thanks for all your help for everything from working out the plot to the dialogue and especially for the smut. This story just wouldn't be the same without your contribution. I enjoyed working with you, and I hope we can do it again.

No major spoilers for any of the books

Rated M for language and smut – warnings for both abound!

As usual, we own none of these characters, and are only amusing ourselves. All will be returned, though they may be a bit sore and flustered.

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Stephanie found herself pushed up against a brick wall, the rough surface pressing into her back, creating a stark contrast to the hot male body pressing into her front. Ranger's face was an inch from hers, their lips almost touching, his midnight black eyes boring holes into her.

"What's going on with you and Joe?" he asked and pressed himself more firmly against her. His thigh slid in between hers and before she could stop herself she ground against him, trying to ease the need building inside of her.

"What? We're fine," she lied. She and Joe had the mother of all fights the night before. She was pretty sure she and Joe were done. But she wasn't about to let Ranger in on that fact. The grapevine would do that for her soon enough.

"You happy?" he asked, brushing a soft kiss to her lips before trailing soft kisses along her jaw line to her throat. Against her will, Steph found herself tilting her head back, offering her throat for him to kiss. Catching herself she cursed her Hungarian hormones and tried to remember the question.

"Yep." She answered, just a bit too breathlessly.

Ranger's lips and teeth were still busy working on her neck. His fingers sneaked their way in under her shirt and brushed across her pebbled nipples, causing small shivers to run down her spine. He ground his thigh against her hot center, making her gasp at the sensation. He used the opportunity to kiss her full on the mouth. The kiss was hard and demanding, his tongue plunging deep inside her mouth. The kiss caught her off guard but before she had time to react, he pulled back, leaving her panting and desperately wanting more. He smirked at her puffy lips and lust-darkened eyes. "Liar," he whispered, and walked away.

Steph stared after him as she tried to catch her breath. Bastard. He was applying pressure again. It was the same as the first time he had started applying pressure, when they had been chasing De Chooch. It had started with kisses and innuendo, increasing to epic proportions when she and Joe broke up, and then exploding into one magical night of ecstasy. And then….well, then nothing. The fuse had burned out, and they had gone back to being friends.

"That's it!" she mumbled to herself, still standing in the alley behind Vinnie's. She just needed to burn out the fuse.

She knew if, or rather when, she and Joe broke up for good, and she told Ranger, that he would keep upping the pressure, slow and steady, until her heart was so far gone that she wouldn't survive another morning after.

But if she were in control…if she 'burned out the fuse,' so to speak, before Ranger could increase the pressure…

Somewhere in the back of her mind, the sane Stephanie was trying to be heard, jumping up and down, waving her arms, screaming that this was a terrible, terrible idea. But the stupid Stephanie was sure about this, and drown out the sane one.

A preemptive strike. That's what was called for here. For the sake of their friendship, of course. She would just have to jump him. Then they could go back to being friends.

She slowly walked back into the Bond's office, hoping to get some help from the girls.

"So…" she trailed off, not at all sure how to broach this subject. Finally, she just decided to blurt it out. "How exactly do you go about seducing a man?"

Lula and Connie both stopped what they were doing and stared at her.

"Girl, you gonna seduce Batman?"

"No!" Lair, liar pants on fire. Well, maybe not. This was Ranger she was talking about. There wouldn't need to be much seducing. She'd just need to show up. Right? God, she hoped so. Her powers of seduction had always been questionable.

"No," she continued. "I just need to, uh, do something to get Joe's attention. It's, um, a special occasion, so, uh, I need to really wow him. Ya know?"

"Uh huh," Lula said.

Both women looked highly skeptical, but Steph kept going. No way was she telling the truth on this one.

"So…what should I do?"

"That's easy, girl. Just show up with a coat on with nothing underneath. Then when you open the coat…"

"Yeah, guys like that," Connie said.

"I don't know," Steph said. She wasn't sure she was really a naked-under-the-trench-coat kind of girl. She was wonder-woman on the inside. And that definitely seemed like a Catwoman thing to do.

"I'd bet Batman would like that better. You should save that for Batman. Supercop wouldn't appreciate it."

They were talking about nakedness here…Joe would appreciate that plenty.

"Yeah," Connie said, "Ranger's very stealth. He would like that. Course you could always wear lingerie under the coat if you're nervous running around naked."

Steph had to be honest with herself here, she would be very nervous running around naked. The lingerie under the coat, that she could get on board with.

"Yeah, maybe I'll try that," she said. "You think Joe would like that?"

"Uh huh," they both replied, giving her that look.

"Joe," Lula said, making little air quotes, "would like that just fine."

Steph sighed. She was going to have to get better at lying if she was going to pull of this plan.

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Two hours later, Steph was back in her apartment. She was sitting on the couch, starting at the Victoria's Secret bag on the coffee table in front of her. She gingerly reached out and poked the bag.

See, it didn't bite. She took a breath and poked it again and nearly jumped out of her skin

when the bag fell over, spilling out black lace with little blue satin accents.

She was still staring at it when she heard her locks tumble. Frantically, she scooped up the offending lace and shoved it under the couch cushion, sitting back up just as Ranger stepped into the room.

"Babe, looking a little crazy."

"Well, maybe you should knock for once. It's polite, you know?"

"Never been accused of being polite."

Steph snorted and tried to discreetly move onto the cushion hiding the lingerie. She was 90 percent sure that Ranger did not have x-ray vision, but just in case, she'd block it with her body.

"So what's up?"

"Got a job for you, tomorrow night."

"Distraction?"

"No, surveillance. I'm short a guy this week, so I was wondering if you could fill in."

"Sure, what time, and who with?"

"10-2, with me."

She tried to smile and nod, and prayed his ESP didn't pick up on her frantic thoughts. Surveillance with Ranger. Shit! There was no way she'd make it through a four hour shift in the close confines of an SUV with the amount of tension between them.

She was going to have to step up her plan. She was going to have to seduce him tonight. That was the only way they could work together tomorrow.

She swallowed hard. "Do you have to work tonight?"

"Yeah, but only till ten or so."

She nodded.

"Why?" he asked, frowning slightly.

"Oh no reason. Just making friendly conversation. You know, when two people talk and say mundane things…"

"Babe."

She stopped rambling. He walked over to the coffee table, set the Victoria's Secret bag back upright, and picked up a tiny pair of black lace panties.

She sat, frozen, while he studied the garment, before lifting his gaze to her eyes. Her face was on fire. It had to be four different shades of red. Ranger's mouth slid into a wolf grin. He shoved the panties into his pocket.

"Later, Babe." He winked and walked out the door before she even realized what had happened.

When she came to her senses she jumped up and ran to the window, but his truck was long gone. She grabbed her phone out of her purse and punched in speed dial 1.

He answered on the first ring. "Need something, babe?"

"You can't just walk out of here with my underwear!"

"Little late to stop me."

"I may need those."

"I can take you shopping for new ones. I'm good in a dressing room."

Steph felt a hot flash all the way through her body at his words and the husky tone of his voice. Images instantly filled her mind and she blinked hard to clear them. This was the damn pressure. She had to put a stop to it. So, as cruel as it was, she played the only card she had.

"I'm pretty sure Joe wouldn't appreciate another man buying me lingerie."

"I know I wouldn't." And he hung up.

Steph sat back down on the couch, staring at her phone. Speaking of Joe…she should probably call him.

She'd hate to have misunderstood Joe last night, and have him still thinking they were together. But then again, 'if you walk about of this house, we're done' didn't usually leave a lot of room for interpretation. Especially seeing as how she had responded to the statement by giving him a particularly rude hand gesture and slamming the door behind her.

She sighed and pressed speed dial 2. She felt more than a little awkward calling her hopefully ex-boyfriend to double check they were broken up. So she could seduce another man. Awkward.

"Morelli," he answered.

"Hey Joe, it's me."

"Hey Cupcake. Didn't expect to hear from you till Wednesday. You usually pout at least that long."

Deep breath. Deep breath. Concentrate on the task at hand. "Well, Joe, that's kind of why I was calling. I wanted to make sure we were both on the same page about what was going on with us."

"Yeah. I proposed, you said no. Pretty sure we're in a very long off-stage, Cupcake."

"A forever long off-stage?"

"Unless you decide to grow up. Or get a new job."

Yeah, pretty sure neither of those things was going to happen any time soon.

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She pulled into the RangeMan parking garage and turned off the car. She planned on getting out, she really did, just as soon as she caught her breath. And got her heart rate back under control.

She had on her fall jacket. It was as close to a trench coat as she had. Underneath was the new lingerie, sans matching panties. Ranger already had those. Convenient, actually. She had bought the set with a hypothetical seduction in mind. If she had known then that it would be tonight, she would have gone for something a little more covering. One of those long, floor-length nightgowns with long sleeves and a high neck. You know, the ones Amish girls wear.

Her phone rang. Crap.

"Hello."

Tank's big voice boomed out. "Hey Bombshell, everything all right?"

"Yeah, yeah. I just needed to talk to Ranger about something. Is he upstairs?"

"Yeah, want me to call up there?"

"No, no," she said, probably a little to quickly if Tank's chuckle was any indication. "I have a key, I'm going to go on up."

Tank hung up and Steph took another deep breath. She pulled her jacket a little tighter around herself, and climbed out of the car. She made it to the elevator before she started shaking. She made it to the 7th floor foyer before the little sane Stephanie voice in the back of her head was so loud she couldn't think.

She stood there in front of Ranger's door. Go in, chicken out…go in, chicken out…She was still debating when Ranger opened the door.

Preemptive strike…here goes nothing.

She took a deep breath and a step closer to him. He raised an eyebrow in question.

Placing one hand on his chest, she firmly pushed him inside the apartment and out of the view of the cameras. It might have been too late to chicken out, but like hell she was going to give all of RangeMan a free show in the process. Luckily Ranger let her push him inside without problem.

"Babe?"

"I came to retrieve my underwear." More like present him with the rest of it.

"Really?"

"Yes," Steph said, undoing her jacket, showing Ranger what she was wearing, or rather not wearing, underneath.

She shook the jacket off of her shoulders and smiled when Ranger drew a sharp breath at the sight of her lacy bra, thigh-high stockings and garter belt. The black FMPs only enhanced the illusion of her having legs up to here and the obvious lack of panties made the picture incredibly erotic.

"The outfit is not quite the same without them," she said. "I need them back."

For the first time ever, Steph saw Ranger speechless. He was actually doing a fairly good impression of a goldfish, and she had to stifle a giggle at the absurdity of the situation.

Taking another breath for courage, Steph stepped up to Ranger. Fisting her hands in the front of his shirt, she gave him a none too gentle shove up against the wall. Pressing him against it with her body, she kissed him with everything she had.

She caught him completely off guard and it took him a few moments to pull himself together enough to kiss her back. At the first touch of his tongue to hers, she felt the all too familiar stirrings of lust low in her belly. Kissing Ranger felt so right, and his soft lips were amazing. Deepening the kiss, Steph fisted her hands in his long hair. The silky strands felt wonderfully soft in her hands, and on a whim, she pulled hard, forcing his head backwards, presenting his throat to her. She leaned in and kissed his Adams apple. Egged on by the groan that escaped his lips, she continued her assault of his throat. Moving down to where his neck met his shoulder, she sucked hard, marking him.

Ranger's hands came up to her hips, his fingers digging into her skin almost painfully. He pulled her flush with his body and she felt his hard length pressing into her stomach. Her nipples were painfully hard and strained against the thin lace of her bra and her lack of panties made the wetness on the top of her inner thighs all the more noticeable.

Grabbing the hem of his t-skirt, Steph pulled it over Ranger's head. The small pause apparently got Ranger thinking again and he questioned her, slightly out of breath.

"You sure about this?"

"I thought this was what you wanted."

"Oh yeah, but I don't think…"

"We're going to do this, and it's going to be good."

Steph kissed him again, and within seconds Ranger had apparently gotten over his doubts because he was kissing her back with fierce passion. She ran her hands over his smooth warm chest, reveling in the feeling of his hard muscles under her fingers. For once Steph was completely in control and the feeling was incredibly empowering, completely overshadowing her earlier fears. She took a step back from him and smiled when his eyes roamed over her body. Turning her back to him, she looked over her shoulder and gave Ranger a seductive smile. She sashayed into the bedroom and like a good puppy, Ranger followed her. Maybe this seducing thing wasn't so hard after all.

She pushed him down on the bed and stood in front of him. As she reached behind her back and undid the bra clasp, she heard Ranger swallow audibly. She threw the bra on the floor and moved to straddle Ranger where he lay propped up on his elbows in the middle of the bed.

She felt him long and hard through his pants and rubbed herself against him, trying to get some release. Trailing soft kisses down his mocha colored chest, to the hard ridges of his abs she felt the need to feel him inside of her grow with every second. Running her fingers along the line of dark hair that trailed down from his belly button, she heard him groan. His hips lifted from the bed of their own demand, and his hands were fisted in the sheets.

Deciding that was enough foreplay, Steph tugged at Ranger's pants and he helped her take them off. Straddling him again, she slowly lowered herself onto him, her body trembling as she stretched to accommodate him. Grabbing her hips, Ranger thrust himself all the way into her and she could almost feel her body vibrating from the consuming need.

Ranger grabbed her and flipped them over while managing to stay buried deep inside of her. He set a fast, hard pace and Stephanie matched it effortlessly, just as eager as him. Every time he filled her to the hilt, she felt jolts of pleasure course through her body. When he bent down and sucked one of her hard nipples into his mouth, she felt the orgasm start to build. His one hand was kneading her breast, his mouth busy on her other nipple and her own hands were buried in his hair, trying to pull his mouth even closer.

She wrapped her legs around his waist, pulling him deeper inside of her with every stroke, making them both groan with the immense pleasure. Ranger reached down and roughly pinched her clit, and immediately the climax hit her, hard and fast. She barely had time to catch her breath before Ranger bit down on her nipple and sent her into another violent climax. As the waves crashed over her, the passion piercing her body, she felt Ranger empty himself inside of her.

Eventually they both came down again and lay panting on the bed. Feeling sleep overtake her, Steph realized she needed to leave immediately or she'd actually have to talk to him tomorrow. Definitely not part of the plan.

Pushing him to roll off of her, she got out of bed and stepped into the FMPs on the floor.

"Well this was fun," she said and walked out to the hall in search of her jacket.

"Babe?" Ranger was standing in the hall, pants back on. He looked…confused. Not a look she saw him often. He was holding her bra in his hand, offering it to her.

"Keep it," she said with a sultry smile. "It matches the panties you have in your pocket."

Pulling her jacket snuggly around her, she turned and walked out of his apartment and took the elevator down to her car. Well, that fuse was definitely burned out.

Ranger stood still, staring at the closed elevator doors. He had no idea what just happened. He just knew that he felt like he had been hit by a bus. The sex had been great...it was Stephanie…but… Shaking his head he turned and walked back to the bedroom. Suddenly he noticed the bra he was holding and looked at it. He realized that she was currently driving home almost completely naked under that coat and suddenly his pants fit a lot snugger. Christ, that woman was going to be the death of him.

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