The primary characters in the story are not mine, they belong to author Janet Evanovich. There are some secondary characters in this story that do belong to me.

This is an AU story set within the Plum Universe originally and partially published under GoVordo. Per many fan requests to see it completed, this is a Christmas present for those girls. It will be posted a few chapters at a time as I have time to load it on the site. This a long saga, the size of a novel. That's why it was not easy to go back to.

A/N - The story begins the day that Stephanie loses her job at E.E. Martin. Due to the circumstances in which the primary characters meet, they are not the Professor Higgins and Eliza Doolittle of the first JE book. Ranger is the cocky streetwise bounty hunter with ambition and Stephanie is still trying her best to get ahead and maintain her independence. The premise of the story is based on a real TV show, and a new character is the glue that binds the complicated dynamic between Ranger and Stephanie. The saga is long, full of drama, humorous, dark, and sexy. With that said, I hope you enjoy the story.

Spoilers - Mainly taken from One for the Money. It is not the same story, just hitting the best parts of that great original and adding a couple highlights from later books.

Rated M - Adult Content

I do not have a beta and all errors will be mine alone.

Brace for Babe

Chapter 1

Gigolos and Jerks

Here I am sitting in my Miata with the contents of my desk and office in a box on the seat next to me. I'm thinking, what the hell just happened? I got up and did my usual morning routine and drove to work and walked into chaos. Two hours of grueling interrogation by the FBI and then 'BOOM', company is closed and Stephanie Plum is out of a job!

Accused of money laundering, E.E. Martin had been raided by the FBI. Apparently, E.E. Martin III had been in bed with the Mafia for years. He'd been increasingly careless in his business and palm-greasing practices, finally catching the FBI's attention and triggering the massive raid this morning.

I liked my job as a lingerie buyer at E.E. Martin. We had our niche, our competition just didn't happen to be Victoria Secret and we sold more granny panties than thongs. I was just beginning to get back on my feet again after my farce of a marriage to Dickie Orr and I was feeling good about myself. I wasn't heartbroken after coming home to find 'the Dick' bumping uglies with that skank Joyce Barnhardt on my new dining room table, I was pissed. After I settled the score and made sure he wouldn't have a bright political future, I got my job at E.E. Martin and moved from Trenton to Newark to be closer to work.

My luck just really stinks sometimes. I looked around the parking lot to see if there were any of my friends left hanging around. None, and I was too wound up to go home. I had my hand on the steering wheel thinking; is it going to be confession and mass in a church or confession in a bar? I'm thinking Hail Marys' aren't going to do it for me today and it's been so long since I've been, I'll be saying them until I'm forty. So, I put the car in gear and headed to the nearest watering hole.

There was a nice neighborhood bar a few blocks from work that some of us had been to before. I drove there, walked in, and bellied up to the bar. I was adjusting my skirt when the bartender came over and smiled at me. "What will it be, doll?"

I sighed. "Definitely a double something."

"That bad, huh?"

"Yep, just lost my job."

A strikingly handsome well-built, well dressed guy with spiked very light blond hair, and maybe in his mid to late thirties took the stool next to me. He asked, "Did I overhear you say that you lost your job?"

I got a really good whiff of his expensive cologne. Nice. "Yes."

He motioned to the bartender. "Give the lady a drink on me. What's your name pretty woman?"

The bartender asked if bourbon was okay and I nodded. "I'm Stephanie."

He held out his hand and smiled. "Brace Fulton"

I shook his hand. "That's an unusual name and thanks for the drink."

"I adopted it several years ago when I started my career."

"Really? What career are you in?"

He grinned. "You could say hospitality. I started out as an escort." I choked on my shot and now my nose was burning and I was gasping for breath and he was patting me on the back.

"You okay?"

"Yep. Just wasn't expecting that. You said that you started out being a…well a…"

He smiled. "A gigolo."

I swallowed. "Right. Mind if I ask what you get promoted to from there? I mean what...where do you...what's up from...shit...I didn't mean…well crap." I blushed all the way to my toes.

He burst out laughing. "I get what you're asking. You are so damn cute. I have my own escort business now with both male and female escorts."

"Okay. So you're like a pimp?"

He smiled and put his arm around my chair. "Yes and definitely no. The men and women that work for me are more like independent contractors. We have a contract, I provide the rules and the clients, and they are paid a healthy percentage of the job and everyone is happy."

Hmm. "Like what rules?" This was kind of naughty and interesting stuff. I was getting my horizons broadened for sure.

"I run a clean business and I expect my escorts to be clean, well-groomed and dressed. They take care of themselves, no drug addicts, no alcoholics, they are expected to protect themselves and the clients and they are regularly screened for STDs. My clients are screened as well for the same and we get references before we accept them. They can be anyone in the community and I protect their privacy."

"Wow. I'm kind of speechless," I muttered.

"Stephanie, you're an attractive woman. You have a great body and a good personality. You would make a lot of money as an escort." I rolled my eyes and made a raspberry sound with my mouth making him laugh.

"Mr. Brace, I have no real expertise in that area. I've been with three guys in my entire life and none of it was much to write home to a girlfriend about. The only thing I learned that would benefit me in your business would be how to fake an orgasm really well." Then I blushed a little. Shit. I couldn't believe I'd told the guy that.

He barked a laugh and held up his drink. "Here's to selfish dicks. That's why me and my people are making the big bucks."

That caused me to choke again. After I was finished sputtering and coughing, I said, "My ex's name was Dickie."

He grinned. "Well, there you go. Most of my guys do this because they love women and they love giving women pleasure. They know how to give a woman more than just an orgasm. They give them a whole experience, making them feel good about themselves and their sexuality. I would love to show you how a man who knows what he's doing can make your body feel." He handed me a business card as I gulped and felt my face flushing again. "On the house, pretty lady, and I love that blush. It's adorable."

Ohhh…boy!

He smiled at me and kissed me on the cheek. "I need to use the facilities. I'll be right back." Holy cow! I can't believe I'm sitting here talking to a gigolo...er...a gigolo boss. A dark shadow behind me suddenly blocked the dim light coming into the bar from the windows and I turned as a broad man with a bodybuilder frame, Hispanic from the looks of him, long dark hair in a ponytail, dark olive skin, and just jaw dropping handsome sat down on the stool next to me. The hair stood up on the back of my neck and a good amount of goosebumps began to pop on my arms. I said, "Um...that seat's...taken."

He smirked at me. "Not anymore, babe. Your date has had a change in schedule."

My what? "You think I… We were going to…" I was rendered speechless first by Brace and now this guy, which is hard to do for me. I turned hearing a scuffle behind me. A really huge dark man the size of a tank was pulling Brace toward the door in handcuffs. Brace snapped at him, "Hey G.I. Joe, I promised the lady over at the bar another drink. At least reach in my pocket, grab my wallet, and leave a couple bills on the bar. Would you do that for me?"

The big man actually nodded and did it and the muscled Latino guy sitting next to me snickered, rose from the stool, and sauntered over to take the money from them. Adding a wicked grin to the saunter back, he sat back down and scooted closer. I sat frozen, watching as he folded the bills and actually had the nerve to reach out and stuff them into the left cup of my push-up bra. My mouth dropped and I turned hearing my name. Brace was being tugged out the door. He winked at me and said, "Give me a call Stephanie. It was nice to meet you."

The hot Latino guy was leaning on the bar with a sneer on his smug face. Finding my voice, I snapped at the jerk. "How dare you touch my person!"

"I'm confused. Wasn't that what you paid him to do?"

"Absolutely not! I have never and will never pay to...do it."

He held up his hands. "Sorry, babe. I get it. You're one of his girls. Top of the line escorts I hear."

I then watched as he reached behind him, grabbed his wallet, and pulled out two twenties and folded them. Again, I sat there stunned like a stupid deer while he stuffed one under each of my headlights, even grazing a nipple as he removed his hand from the second cup.

No he didn't!

Still leaning on the bar, he gazed at my breasts and shrugged. "They're not that substantial. Twenty per tit for a feel should be generous."

This guy was rude and full of himself and I was now seeing red as in rhino red. "You really just insulted me and felt me up? That has to be the most brazen and offensive move I have ever seen, jerk." I pointed to the door. "Why did that guy take Brace out of here in handcuffs?"

He looked me slowly up and down. "He failed to show for a court date and he's going to jail. You'll be needing to hook up with a new pimp. At least for a while." Before I could think about what I was doing, I growled and my hand came up to make contact with his cheek. He snatched it quickly with the hand he was leaning on, making barely a movement. Bringing it to his lips, he licked my knuckles and then let it go. A zing suddenly rippled through me, leaving a heated trail all the way to my girly bits and I wiggled on my stool. The feeling leaving me even more shocked.

My eyes flashed and I shook my finger in his face. "You are a rude, arrogant…" I looked his profile up and down. "Street thug! You don't know anything about me! I am not a prostitute and that man was just talking to me! He was nice. More than I can say for you!"

He looked in my eyes and then down at my angry, heaving chest underneath my lacy camisole. Was that a smolder I saw in his dark eyes? I felt a new flush spreading, and involuntarily pulled my suit jacket close around me. "Nice. I like your eyes, the blush, and your play at being innocent." His head tilted and his eyes moved to my ass which was most likely hanging over each side of the stool and then lower. "And your other ass-ets. You got some long shapely legs that would wrap around my hips nicely. How much for a night, babe?"

I shivered a little. Ooh, boy. I was way past freaking rhino now. I slipped from the stool, placing one heel on the floor and brought my knee up to smash him in his arrogant testicles when he reached out his hand and grabbed my knee and yanked me to him, pulling my leg around his hip. He ran his other hand down my back stopping over my ample ass and pressed me tighter against him. Then he placed his cheek against mine and inhaled deeply like he was sniffing a fresh kill and whispered, "See. Told you. I like feisty women in my bed. I could make you beg for me to make you come while you run your fingernails down my back. We're talking total ruination, babe..."

The hair stood up all over my body and the heat of my anger combined with his smell, words, and the close proximity spread from my head straight down my traitorous body. First to my nipples and then to my doodah and exploded in my nether parts like a supernova. A stellar explosion of heat and energy from this man's hands and body and my panties couldn't be wetter than if I'd been sprayed with a garden hose. Come to think of it, somebody hit me with a firehose. Please.

My mouth wouldn't work and before I raised my hand to either try to slap him again, push him away, or shout at him, he released me. He simply nodded with that smug grin still on his face and said, "Babe."

The arrogant man turned and headed to the door.

Then it hit me. He'd been just playing with me. Batting me around like prey. I gulped and watched his tight, taut ass in those camo pants and that tight t-shirt walk away and felt another gush in my mid-section. I looked down in the general vicinity of my doodah and threw up my hands. "What was that, you traitor? You're weak, you're desperate, and pathetic. Seriously, you want that asshole?!"

"Doll...? Doll!"

"What?" I turned to the voice.

The bartender looked down to where I was speaking and then up into my face and snickered. "I think you need one on the house." Then he set another double bourbon on the bar and pushed it towards me.