These are not my characters. They belong to the author Janet Evanovich and thank you for letting us borrow them and run with our fantasies.
This story is my version of the movie 91/2 Weeks. Also, I watched the movie Magic Mike last weekend and it gave me the idea for the first chapter. This is a fun and sexy story with not so much whiplash. I figured I would give you guys a break. It does have an HEA ending. Hang with it.
Set between JE's books 7 and 8 after the deal is made and prior to the deed.
Zetharin gets credit for helping to bounce ideas for this one.
Mandyh is my regular beta and was not available for this one so I got some help from a friend that likes to edit my stories for fun.
Special thanks to alix33 who is also a beta for all her help. You are a lifesaver!
NOTE-This story is NOT canon. The personalities of the characters are a little different.
Warning-Some chapters may cause fire in bloomers. Have fire extinguisher handy.
12 ½ Weeks
Chapter 1
It has been a few weeks since the whole DeChooch nightmare ended. That old mobster had half the people that I know wrapped up in that whole contraband cigarette mess. My old high school stoner friends, Dougie and Mooner, and even my Grandma Mazur were all involved. When I found out he was shooting little old ladies, I got worried and had finally asked for help from Ranger. He shocked me by asking a price for his help. He wanted to make a deal and it was one night with me from dusk until dawn and for some reason he had not come to collect, yet. I just couldn't decide if that was a good or bad thing.
I am not overly experienced but I'm no prude either and the thought of a night involving anything Ranger induced is enough to set any warm blooded woman's panties on fire. He was six feet of hard muscle and sinew and the color of a light to medium mocha latte, long dark brown hair, molten milk chocolate eyes, long eyelashes, slim nose, chiseled jaw, cleft chin, full lips with smirk, and hard toned ass. In other words, women either lost their vocabulary around him or swooned. He just happened to be one of my best friends and my bounty hunter mentor. My friend Connie, who worked for my perverted cousin Vinnie the bondsman, had set me up with him for some much needed training early on in my bounty hunter career and from there we developed a very trusting and yet strange friendship.
Ranger had been keeping his distance the last few weeks and my on again/off again vice cop boyfriend, Joe Morelli had been putting some pressure on me. We kind of adopted a big red dog named Bob that ate everything including the furniture and he was now living with Joe. We were like parents that couldn't get along and right now we were off again and the equivalent of being separated. He was a hot Italian with one of Trenton's best ass-ets literally and yet we just couldn't seem to make each other happy. We just wanted different things and the arguments were exhausting. He wanted a 'Burg' wife and kids and I didn't. It just wasn't my dream. When we were kids my sister Valerie would play Barbie and Ken get married and live in their perfect dream house and I was the one jumping off the roof of the garage trying to fly because I wanted to be Wonder Woman.
When the alarm went off today I wanted to pull the cover over my head and just sleep all day. I had been in a full on moping mode for the last few days. I hadn't found a skip (fugitive) since last Friday and not even sugar and fried foods were helping my mood and it wasn't that time of the month.
Regardless, I still had to make like an adult and attempt to work. Rent would be due soon. I showered, fed my hamster Rex and stopped for doughnuts and coffee on the way to the bonds office.
Connie's new issues of Cosmo and Playgirl had come in and she and Lula were perusing the pages almost upside down to get every angle and word out of the magazines. I walked in and just sat on the couch drinking my coffee and sighed looking out the door. They both looked over at me with concern. Lula looked at the box of doughnuts and then at me and spoke up first, "Connie, let me have that Playgirl for a minute."
Lula walked over to me and sat down and opened the pages to the centerfold and flashed it in my face and I rolled my eyes. "Mmm..mmm..mmm..nothin'. Connie, this is bad. Girlfriend didn't bat an eye. We need to do somethin' and fast. I think she's depressed. How longs it been since you seen one of these, white girl?" She was pointing to the middle of the centerfold page.
"A few weeks."
"You need some excitement. We need to have some fun."
Connie said, "I got an idea. In the entertainment section of the paper yesterday there was an advertisement for an all male revue show in Atlantic City. We should have a girls night out and go see that."
"Like them Chippendale dudes? Strippin' to they..wearin' them little bitty..oh mercy, and we can touch em' and put little dollars bills in them little..hand me my fan, Connie, 'cause I'm a sweatin' now. I'm in."
"I can't..I'm not..no way I'm watching..forget about it!"
Okay, so we are on our way to Atlantic City and I'm sitting in the backseat next to Grandma Mazur. That would be because Lula can't keep her mouth shut. We stopped for lunch at my parents' house a couple days ago and Lula mentioned our trip to my Grandma and no way was she going to be kept from seeing a troupe of dancing packages that she was free to grope as long as she had enough dollar bills. So I had to take her to the bank while she cashed her social security check and wait while they gave her half of it in bands of crisp one dollar bills. The purse she was carrying was the size of a suitcase and she was dragging it and smiling like a butchers dog. Oh Jeez.
We got to Atlantic City early and had some dinner at a place on the boardwalk and then headed to the Revel Hotel where the show was taking place. The showroom was large and we were early enough to be seated at a table at the front of the room near the stage. I didn't have a good feeling about that.
The waiter came and we ordered a round of drinks. Ever since we walked into the hotel my gut feeling that I call my spidey-sense had been going off and I couldn't figure out why. The weird thing was that I didn't really feel like we were in danger and it got stronger when we were seated and the waiter came over to take our drink order. Although I was looking at his leather encased package that was presently in my face, I was sure I knew his face from somewhere too. Looking around at the other staff like the bartender gave me the same feeling. Not one of these guys was less than an eight on a scale from one to ten in the looks or body department.
We chatted for about fifteen minutes and then the lights went down and the music started. Out came a group of hot guys dressed like the old disco group the 'Village People' and they commenced to gyrate and pop and strip their way down to these itty bitty little g-strings and flopped their goodies in our faces. Especially the faces of the women sitting near the front of the stage and in our faces for sure because Grandma and Lula had half the table covered in stacks of dollar bills. My Grandma was wild eyed and smiling with her bony little hands groping and grabbing like crazy and she almost lost her dentures one time when she tried to sink her teeth into one of those bare butt cheeks when the dancer turned around. Dollar bills were flying out of the girls' hands. Me, not so much. I was actually glad when that first set was over.
About two minutes later a new song began that got my interest because it reminded me of that movie from a long time ago called 9 ½ Weeks, playing Joe Cocker's version of 'You can leave your hat on'. I saw four figures come out on stage and then the spotlight shined on them and I spewed my rum and coke through my nose and all the way across the table. It was Ranger and his men, Tank, Lester and Bobby. They were dressed in the Chippendale type costume with black tux with tails, bow ties and hats. Ranger's hair was down and covered half his face, but I would know just his silhouette anywhere. The sight had definitely registered with Connie and Lula. They were frozen in their chairs, mouths gaping open and were in a state of shock. I was worried Lula wasn't breathing. Heck, I just realized I hadn't taken a breath.
They had not seen us because their heads were down, hands together in front of them and then they started to dance together and they were in sync and good. Lula was beginning to turn blue so I reached over and slapped her on the back and she took a big breath and started to point and stutter. The jackets came off first and they threw them aside and then they did a little side step and turn number and off came the shirts with the collar and cuffs left on and bare chests. The women in the place erupted in screams at those four bare chests because not one of them had less than an eight pack.
Then like a delayed reaction Connie let out a blood curdling scream and I heard "R..R..Ra..Shit!" Lula was fanning herself and had picked up everyones drinks on the table and downed them and Grandma Mazur just had bug eyes. After Connie's scream, I noticed Ranger looked up a few seconds and he locked eyes with me just for one of those seconds. Something flashed in those eyes and then he surprised me with a wicked half grin. Uh oh...
The guys went down in a half split and when they came up again the pants were ripped away and the shoes kicked off and now I was fanning myself. They were in black satin thongs and they were leaving the stage and Ranger was moving my way sporting that wicked grin. Oh boy! He grabbed my chair and turned it to the side and straddled me while rubbing his...Omigod! What a package..how did he get that..in that little...? He gently nipped at the shell of my ear and whispered, "See something you like, Babe?" Then he moved back to look me in the eyes and smirked.
I grabbed one of Grandma's dollar bills and went to stick it under the white cuff around his wrist and he grabbed my hand and slowly moved it down the front of his silk thong and held it there. I closed my eyes because I really wanted to grab on, but instead I blushed all the way to my toes and pulled my hand away. He whispered in my ear again, "Takedown tonight. Be careful. Wait for my call after the show."
"Ranger, where is your weapon?" He gave me a wolf grin.
"You just touched my secret weapon a minute ago, Babe." Then he stood up and moved on to another table. Holy hot flash!
Tank was standing in front of Lula and she was stuffing dollar bills into the front of his thong. Oh my word! That thongs seams were stressed to its limits and how did he even fit all that in there? Lula was stuffing one bill right after another in there and giggling with a good grip on him so he couldn't get away and when I glanced over at Grandma she was staring at Tank's package with drool running down one side of her mouth. She hadn't said a word since they came out on stage and I wasn't sure if it had registered that it had been Ranger who came over or not. Glancing at her again, I wondered if this was too much for her.
Oh crap! Here comes Lester. He is Rangeman's equivalent of the class clown and a huge flirt and he had eyes locked on me and a big 'shit eating' grin on his face. I was biting my fist as he wiggled his impressive package in front of me and said, "Well fancy seeing you here, beautiful." Then he turned around and gave me a butt view and grabbed my hand in his and moved it to give the band of his thong a snap and winked at me. Finally, he moved to Connie. I looked down at my hand. I had teeth marks in my fist.
The group danced their way back to the stage and the guys ended the number with their backs to us and hats over their taut butts and when they turned the hats sailed out into the audience. One landed on our table. The women in the place were going crazy and those thongs they were wearing were full of cash. The guys bowed and left the stage. Wow..Ranger can really dance. My imagination went crazy wondering where else Ranger Manoso excelled.
As soon as the the guys left the stage, Connie, Lula and Grandma turned to me. Connie was the first to speak, "Girl, I would have paid triple for these tickets to see that. We just saw Ranger almost naked. I can check that one off my bucket list."
"Did you see that fine specimen of a black man. Girlfriends, momma's in love. I want to take him home and..."
"What's a bucket list?" We all turned to Grandma. Then the music started again and another group of dancers moved out onto the floor. After more gyrating and packages jiggled in our faces, the show was over and Grandma and Lula's stacks of cash were pretty much gone. More than one dancer had walked away from Grandma rubbing his backside.
I told them that Ranger had mentioned to me that they had a takedown in the club after the show. Connie was disappointed that this wasn't a regular sideline for the Rangemen. I think in her mind she was already trying to figure out how she could afford tickets for every show until the review moved on. We had another drink and then went out into the casino for a while to play slots and a little blackjack. A couple hours later my phone rang. It was the Batman theme ringtone. "Lo?"
"Yo, Babe."
"Did you get your man?"
"Woman. Where are you?"
"Oh. Casino. Blackjack table."
"Be there in five." He disconnected. I looked at my phone. That guy has terrible phone manners.
In about exactly five minutes probably with his watch synced and on the dot, I felt the back of my neck tingle and turned. Ranger and the guys were standing behind me with arms crossed grinning. Thank goodness I'd had a couple hours to get the butterflies out of my stomach and calm down after seeing that show and was ready for him. I would later remember that thought and eat those words, literally. "Nice seeing your guys tonight. I mean you guys," I smirked at them.
Lester wrapped his arm around my neck and waggled his eyebrows at me. "Enjoy it did you, gorgeous? I do private shows too, you know." Ranger smacked him in the back of the head and Lester let go of me. Ranger put his arm around my waist and whispered in my ear. "You look nice tonight." Then he brushed his lips across my cheek.
"Thank you. So did..do you. Where is your skip?" He grinned slightly.
"The rest of the guys took her and went back to Trenton."
"Right. A couple of the waiters and one of the one bartender was yours." He nodded.
"I thought since we're here in Atlantic City that we might hang out for a little while and you can ride back with me. The guys can stay with the rest of the women."
"Which poor schmuck gets to be Grandma's date?"
Ranger walked over and whispered to Santos and took Grandma's little hand and put it in his. Lester turned a half glare and half stricken face to me and I laughed.
The three women were excited and animated with hands waving and bodies wiggling while talking to Tank, Bobby and Lester about the show. Seeing the Merry Men just shy of their birthday suits had been a special event for sure. No doubt they would be talking about it for days, even months. Lula had driven her Firebird. I told her that I was going to be riding back with Ranger and she gave me a nod and winked and put her arm through Tanks. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Connie scoot closer to Bobby as Ranger took my hand and led me through the casino and out the hotel door.
TBC
I'm becoming a review hound. Make me happy girls...Keeps me tip tapping away.
