Chapter One
Some days it seemed like there was nothing to life but a long, endless pile of paperwork. It was his least favorite part of the job. Most of the time, running a security firm like Rangeman took a certain finesse. Dealing with clients who expected the world for the high fees and exclusivity. Keeping his men in line and out of trouble. Managing one catastrophic crisis after another. But other times, it was just paperwork.
Too bad Steph wasn't around. He'd have blown this off in a heartbeat if she was in his apartment. Even if it was just to hang out. Watch a movie or a game on that giant flat screen television in his den that he never used. A glass of wine or a beer. Maybe make out.
Maybe more.
Ranger almost smiled. More would have been likely, given recent events.
He'd been chasing Stephanie Plum for a while now. It never bothered him that she was so hard to catch. In fact in some ways, it made it more fun. She was the curious type. Had almost no self control. And she wanted him. Bad. He felt it every time he kissed her. She would eventually pull away, or remind him that he was poaching, but there'd always be a moment or two when she melted into him, surrendering to his touch with the readiness of a woman who wanted so much more.
He wasn't sure why Steph caught his attention the way she did. It might have had something to do with the way she filled a little black dress, or the way she looked without it. Though, he'd known a lot of women, many of whom looked good in a little black dress, and they'd never burrowed under his skin like she had.
Too bad she was in Hawaii with that idiot boyfriend of hers.
Joe Morelli. How that guy had managed to keep her all this time was a mystery. If their relationship had been healthy, it would have been easy to let him have her. Well. Maybe not easy. But it would have been some consolation if she was happy. Trouble was, their relationship was a little self destructive. Steph and Morelli broke up so often that sometimes it was hard to keep track. And like all destructive cycles, they inevitably got back together, making her pull away even more.
It was frustrating as hell sometimes.
He fought the urge for a few minutes, but eventually temptation won out and he called up her GPS signal on his den computer. Her plane had landed an hour ago. He knew that because he'd tracked the flight until it was on the ground. Wanted to make sure she was safe. Her marker popped up on his system and he almost smiled. There she was. The bane of his existence. The girl that was both a pain in the ass and worth the trouble all at the same time.
His phone rang. That wasn't unusual this late. Rangeman was a 24/7 business, and the most urgent problems usually happened at night. With any luck it would be Tank telling him something was on fire. Anything to get him out of this fucking paperwork. He pulled his cell out of his pocket and looked at the image on his screen.
Steph.
Even better.
No clue why she would be calling him from Hawaii, though. She'd chosen Morelli. Again. Morelli was a good cop, but he wasn't the most understanding of guys. Especially when it came to sharing Stephanie. That made it unlikely this was a social call.
He answered the phone, unable to keep the surprise out of his voice. "Babe."
She didn't answer right away. Lost in thought, he imagined. It was kind of endearing. Steph was brave and sexy, but she could be a little flighty. Might have seen something shiny. He looked at her GPS signal again. She wasn't at the airport anymore. Wasn't at her hotel either. In fact, her signal seemed to be sitting in front of a five star resort. Strange. Even for her.
"Babe? Is something up or are you just checking in? The hotel you're sitting in front of isn't the one you're supposed to have reservations for."
"How did you know where I was sitting?"
He couldn't help the pull at the corner of his mouth. Usually, his life was dark. High stress. High stakes. But Steph had this surprising way of cutting through it all. It was one of the reasons he loved her. "Babe, you still have my GPS unit in your bag. They call it a Global Positioning System for a reason."
"You're tracking my bag?"
"You didn't know?"
It couldn't really have surprised her. Rangeman tracked her all the time. She might not always know where the GPS was, or what it looked like, but she carried them around with her often enough that she had to realize it would always be there.
Sure, tracking both her bag and her car was probably overkill. At least, it would have been for anyone else. But Steph had this bizarre talent for finding trouble when she wasn't looking for it. And given the fact that she had a dangerous job she wasn't particularly good at meant she was looking for trouble more often than not.
Keeping her on his radar screen was one of the few things he could do to make sure she didn't die young. Steph was smart and tenacious, but she was also stubborn. Not a particularly good listener. Had a penchant for stupid, harebrained ideas. And she was a lightning rod for freak accidents. While a lot of times her inexplicable luck made these harebrained schemes pay off for her, there were a lot of times when she would have died if he hadn't been able to find her. He always admired her resilience and her perseverance. It just scared the hell out of him when he didn't know where she was.
She'd been quiet for a while. Hard not to wonder what she was thinking. If she'd been in front of him it would have been easy to read her thoughts. Not everyone could do it, but he'd memorized her face well enough to be able to catch the smallest twitches of emotion there. Of course, if she had been in front of him, he might not have been reading her face at all. He'd be too busy stripping her down so that he could lay her across his bed and make her scream in that breathless way that made his blood hot. He smiled. "So, did you want something from me? Because I'm limited in what I can help you with from here."
He heard her swallow and smiled again. Right on target.
"Actually," she said, trying to sound unaffected. "I called because you'll never guess who I just saw walking through the airport. Tootie Ruguzzi. The Rug's wife."
That got his attention. Simon Ruguzzi was a mob hitman that had skipped bail a few years back. One of the high stakes bonds that made Vinnie wet himself when his bondee went Failure To Appear. Steph had been helping him track Ruguzzi. She might not be the best bounty hunter, but she had a talent for finding people who didn't want to be found. Not that it had helped in this case. The Rug and his wife hadn't left a trace behind. Like maybe they'd ended up in a shallow grave somewhere in the Pine Barrens. "You actually see The Rug?"
"No. Just Tootie, but I followed her out to the curb and saw her get onto a shuttle for the Honu Ku'ono Resort Hotel. I think its likely The Rug was inside. Problem is, I can't get in to search for him on my own. And even if I could, I'm all the way in Honolulu."
"And you're not authorized for extradition."
"Exactly."
Sounded reasonable. Though, it wasn't lost on him that she could have just as easily called Vinnie. He was her cousin, after all, and the owner of the bail bonds office that had issued the bond in the first place. And while Vinnie was a disgusting little ferret of a human being, it wouldn't have caused as many problems for her given the fact she was there with her boyfriend. Things might get uncomfortable with both her boyfriend and the guy she's been screwing being on the same island.
"What about Morelli?" he asked. "How's he feel about me crashing your romantic vacation?"
This time, the silence was loaded. He could practically hear her worrying a hole into her bottom lip from the other end of the line. Not sure if she was breathing either. A few very specific things slid into place. "Babe?"
"He couldn't get away from work. He sort of stayed behind."
And there it was. The real reason she'd called him instead of Vinnie. Stephanie Plum had found herself on a romantic Hawaiian vacation all alone, and when the choice came down to calling in either her sexually degenerate cousin or her former special forces mentor, she picked the one she'd been sleeping with.
Ranger felt the grin lift his mouth and knew there was a lot of triumph in it. "So Morelli made you go to Oahu all by yourself and now you want me to come join you?"
"It's not like that. This is business."
"Of course it is," he said, switching to his Bluetooth so that his hands were free. He had a couple associates in Honolulu. Stephanie was probably safe enough by herself, but Ranger hadn't gotten this far in life on probably. He sent a quick text. "If any other woman had made this call, I would have assumed she was making up the sighting to get me on the island. But with you, it's not the least bit surprising you could take a vacation and stumble across the trail of a high bond FTA we assumed was dead. I suppose it's better to be lucky than good any day."
He knew the dig would rub her the wrong way. No doubt she was making that adorable face she always made when he'd said something to annoy her. Truth was, she wasn't as bad at the job as she seemed to think. Sure, she could be a little Calamity Jane at times. And she didn't have a lot of fighting experience. Pretty much refused to use the gun he'd given her. But she did have quite a few skills that made her an effective bounty hunter. And she was scrappy. She might have been more successful if she partnered with someone other than Lula, but Lula was the one she always called, and as much as he wished otherwise, Steph seemed to be comfortable with that.
She made an exasperated noise on the other line. Cute. "So are you coming or what?"
"Babe, I'd have been on the next plane just hearing Morelli skipped out."
"There's more," she said while Ranger looked over his reply from Noah. "Turns out the resort they're staying at is doing this special retreat thing. Married couples only."
"This just gets better and better."
"Could you be serious please?"
"Babe, if I get any more serious there could be consequences." He tried not to think about that too much. Nothing good ever came from dwelling on possibility. Any more than it came from dwelling on the past.
He sent Noah Steph's coordinates and picture. Noah and his partner Rico had worked for him before, the last time he'd chased a skip to Hawaii. They were good guys. Creative. Dependable. They'd watch out for her until he could get there.
He checked out when the next flight left Newark for Honolulu. Shit. Not until 5am. At least he'd be able to grab a few hours of sleep, knowing Noah and Rico were on the job.
"All the flights for tonight have left already, but I could be on a plane first thing in the morning. Go to your hotel tonight, then check out tomorrow and meet me at the airport. I'll take care of everything else."
"I'm going to regret this, aren't I?"
He couldn't help but smile. "Maybe, but it'll be worth it."