Starting Over With Seven Chapter 1

"About that proposal Cupcake..."

"Hold it right there," I said, sticking my hand out to the chest of the proposer, also known as Joe Morelli, a Trenton cop and the man with whom I have an on-again-off-again relationship. "Didn't you just hear me? I don't want to get married now! I don't think I can handle that!"

"Who said it would be now, Steph?" he asked, stopping the work he was starting on my pants, and looking at me.

"Well, judging by what you just said..." I let that hang in the air for a minute and gauged his reaction. I was totally confused.

He blew out a sigh. "I knew you would take it like that."

"Like what?"

"Like that, Stephanie! Seriously!"

I could tell he was getting frustrated, but hell, so was I. I narrowed my eyes at him. "You weren't serious then?"

"Look, Cupcake, we've been though this. I really just can't get married right now. It's just about impossible to have this job and be married, too. You know that. Besides- didn't you just say that you don't want to get married now? What's the big deal? You know we'll end up together someday."

"You're the big deal, Morelli. You come waltzing in my life throwing around promises that you can't and won't keep. I'm over it!" I yelled at him. "I'm sorry, Joe, but I just need to get out of here."

With that, I grabbed my jacket and hustled out the front door, conveniently forgetting that I had no car to drive myself home. Great, just great.

I could hear Morelli calling my name from his house but I kept walking. The temptation to put my hands over my ears and sing la, la, la, la, la was strong, but I resisted.

I wasn't too far from my apartment, and I could use the exercise. While I walked home I thought about what had happened back at Morelli's. True, I didn't want to get married right now. I had traveled down that road before and it just seemed to lead straight into...well, we won't go there.

From Morelli, my thoughts turned to Ranger, my sort-of partner and maybe a little more. Hmm...well I better not go there right now either. Wouldn't want to overload my brain.

Thank God for Dillon's master key. I waved him off with the promise of a pizza and beer night in the near future. Stomping in the kitchen, I glared balefully at my blinking answering machine. Blink. Blink. Blink.

The first message was from my mother, of course. "Stephanie? Stephanie? I was calling to see how you were feeling and if you wanted to have dinner with us tomorrow night. We're having pot-roast and mashed potatoes." A pause. "And we're also having cream puffs for dessert. Bring your boyfriend with you." Click.

I rolled my eyes. I honestly loved my mother, but sometimes she could just be too much. The second message was from Ranger. "Call me. I have a business proposition for you." Intriguing. Also, must more appealing than my mother.

My last message was from Connie. She wanted me to call her about "an interesting case" she had. The barely contained glee in her voice made me a little suspicious. Usually I had to go to the office to get my cases, and now they were calling me. Either I was getting to be an exceptional bounty hunter (snort) or this was a really weird case that no one else was taking. I was voting for the latter.

I walked in the living room and flopped on the couch, deciding to watch tv from lack of anything better to do. Bob and Rex were still at Morelli's. I had sort of forgotten about them when I left, but what the heck. Bob can eat Morelli's toilet paper instead of mine. Serves him right.

Aw, hell. I realized when I woke up the next morning that I was still on my couch with the sun streaming through my living room window and the tv blaring. I was mid-stretch and mid-grumble when I heard a soft sound at my front door.

"Yo."

"Yo yourself," I replied, sitting up on the couch. Damn, if Ranger didn't look good. He was wearing his usual tight black t-shirt and black cargo pants tucked into his boots. His newly shortened hair shone in the light from my window.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Huh?" I was too busy staring at his perfect body to pay attention to what he was saying.

His eyes crinkled and his voice had a ripple of laughter in it. "Your arm, Babe."

Duh. "Oh...yeah. It's not too bad. Is that why you're here?"

"Nope. I came to talk business. You get my message?"

I nodded. "Yeah. I fell asleep before I could call you back, though. I had an eventful night."

His face remained expressionless, but I could see the concern in his eyes. "Yeah, I heard about you and Morelli. You okay?"

I rolled my eyes. Gossip in the Burg flew faster than the speed of light. That also meant that my mother knew. Shit.

"That's the weird thing," I told him. "I'm not upset for some reason." There was a comfortable pause while we both considered the implications.

After a few beats, Ranger broke the silence. "Have you talked to Connie yet?"

"How did you know that I'm supposed to talk to Connie?" I remembered my cryptic message from last night, getting a little worried about this supposedly "interesting" case now. Also, I was starting to wonder why Ranger was in such a good mood.

"The case Connie has for you is gonna be something that we need to work on together. And besides, you should enjoy it," he replied with a glimmer of amusement in his eyes. "Go see Connie. Then we'll talk."

I huffed out a sigh. My mind was whirling a million miles an hour as I got up and headed to the kitchen to scrounge up something to eat for breakfast.

"I was planning on going by the office this morning," I called over my shoulder to him.

"Good," he replied, as he walked in the kitchen.

I straightened up from the empty refrigerator (of course) when I heard him behind me, turning around to find myself staring at his sculpted chest. Hmm. As nice as his chest was, I would rather look at something else that belonged to him.

Unh! Mental head slap. What is the matter with me these days? I have an excess of Hungarian hormones. Way too many.

I raised my eyes from his chest to his face and looked at him square in the eyes. He took my face in is hands and kissed me. Yowza. It started off sweet and tender but soon became hot and heavy. My hands hung limply by my sides in shock.

When Ranger removed his mouth from mine, his eyes were dilated and he was breathing a little heavier than usual. I was downright panting. Maybe having too many hormones isn't so bad. They can always be put to good use, right?

He smiled. "See you at the office, Babe."

And then he was gone. Poof! That's why he's Batman and I'm…nevermind.

Since the day started without me, I blasted through my shower at top speed. After the hair and make-up thing, I dressed in my usual jeans and t-shirt, slapping on a brown belt to make myself feel dressy.

I waltzed out the door of my apartment and down to the parking lot. I briefly stopped and gave Big Blue a piercing glare with my death ray, but alas. No dice.

Stand back world, I thought to myself. I am Stephanie Plum, woman in charge, equipped with deadly death rays that may or may not be functional. Slipping on my sunglasses, I turned up the radio and motored out of the lot.

"Shee-it girlfriend. Why you in such a good mood? I thought you'd be downright pissy today cause of your fight with Morelli and all last night."

This comment came from Lula, the 200 plus pound file clerk that also worked for Vinnie. Lula likes to ride shotgun with me on some of my FTAs, too. Today she was in zebra print spandex shorts that were two sizes too small and a hot pink top. Yikes.

Connie nodded and briefly looked up from painting her fingernails blood red. "I agree."

Dumping the box of Tasty Pastry doughnuts I brought on Connie's desk, I gave an exaggerated Jersey eye roll. "Good morning to you guys, too."

"So? Is it true?" Lula asked. "We wanna hear the scoop, girl."

"Yes, it's true. We fought, I left. Same old crap," I said. They started at me with raised eyebrows, silently demanding more information.

"I'm starting over," I stated, looking at them. "I decided that I can't deal with Morelli anymore. He's always putting his job before me and he's not very supportive of what I do, so I'm going to make a clean start. What do you guys think?"

Lula gave an enthusiastic nod. "Good idea. Cause I know just the man that you can start over with. And he's about to walk right through that door."

We all swiveled our heads around to the door to watch Ranger enter the office. He gave us all a nod and turned to Connie. "You give it to her yet?"

"I could ask the same thing of you," I heard Lula mutter.

What? My eyes bugged out of my head in shock, and I thanked my lucky stars that Ranger didn't seem to have heard Lula's comment.

Connie shook her head, grinning. "Nope. I was just about to."

"Give me what?" I asked suspiciously.

Now Lula was grinning, too. "Yeah, give it to her Connie."

Ranger picked up a file off Connie's desk and handed it to me, and everyone watched as I opened it.

"This here's gonna be good," Lula said.

I opened the thin file and looked inside. Skimming over the physical description of the FTA, I looked at the skip's name. When I did, I busted out laughing. The file said, "Bond posted by Vincent Plum Bail Bonds for Vincent Plum, charged with public indecency and solicitation of a prostitute in downtown Trenton."

I was going after my cousin Vinnie, and oh man, this was gonna be good.