I own nothing.
She hated him. He could feel it. Florida was a beautiful place to be in the spring and Stephanie had the glass doors of the luxury condo on the beach open and was staring vacantly at the ocean. Ranger had brought Stephanie to Florida thinking she needed time away. He'd thought a bonus of that time away would be a chance to know each other better so that she'd be confident that he was the one man who would do everything in his power to never let her down. He wanted her to move on and he needed her to move on with him.
Ranger lifted the water bottle to his lips and took a slow drink of the cold water before turning and heading for the gym. He was filled with frustrated energy and if he couldn't work it off in the way he wanted, he'd burn it off weight lifting. He adjusted the disks and waved Tank over to spot for him. As always he marveled at how he could count on Tank to be in the gym any time of the day or night he felt like he needed a workout.
Ranger had never liked being second best and he'd never done it for any other woman. He cared about Stephanie, cared enough to hang on hoping that one day Morelli would do what Ranger knew he would do and Stephanie's path would be clear. Not that Morelli wasn't a good guy. Morelli and Stephanie just had something off between them. If they hadn't, they'd have committed long ago and Stephanie wouldn't be showing up for random workouts in Ranger's bed. Had he made a mistake? Had he hung back too much? It was certainly starting to look like he had. Morelli was firmly out of the picture now and Ranger had viewed that as progress. If only the bastard hadn't gotten himself killed so soon after the breakup. Ranger could have competed with Morelli in the flesh if he'd wanted to do so, he always could have but dead Morelli…..memories had a way of erasing flaws.
Ranger finished his workout and stepped into the shower. As the water poured over his body, he organized his plan of action. He'd order dinner - something special - that horribly unhealthy stuff she liked. They would sit down and he would talk more honestly and openly than he ever had. He'd tell her his hopes for his own future and for them together. It was all or nothing and by the end of tonight he hoped they'd be farther ahead than they were now. Plan set, he dressed quickly.
Ranger ran up the stairs two at a time to the room where he'd left Stephanie. As soon as he stepped in and felt the cool salt breeze on his face his senses told him that something had gone horribly wrong. Stephanie was no longer there and if his Stephanie sense wasn't failing him, she was no longer in the house. He headed for the open door and stepped outside. Nothing seemed to be disturbed. He stepped back into the room just as a small sheet of paper the size of a slip from a fortune cookie danced through the air on the slight breeze. Ranger snatched the slip deftly from the air and felt his stomach fall as he read the neatly printed words.
"Those who plot the destruction of others often perish in the attempt."
Ranger pulled his cell phone from his pocket and hit speed dial to connect with Tank. He had a good idea who had taken his Babe and if they thought he was just going to lie down and take it, they truly didn't know him.