Originally, I wasn't going to do a new Valentine's Day story (since I already have one), but I was reading a story where someone wanted to run far away from the day and the line that Stephanie grumbles below popped into my head. Of course, I loved it (in fact, I giggled for a good minute) and decided that it needed to be in a story. Stephanie was totally on board (because hey, being the master of Babe stories, who doesn't love some good Cuban lovin') and the title popped into my head and I new it had to be written. So here it is! I wrote it in about an hour, so any mistakes are mine. And to those who are reading my other story, don't worry, this didn''t affect the next chapter at all (it's pretty much written!). All I have to do is fine tune it, make sure it's exactly what I want (because I'm a perfectionist) and then I'll post.

Sorry this was so long, maybe I should stop drinking coffee in the morning...

Not mine. Happy Valentine's day to all! Even if you don't have a partner, there is always someone out there who loves you.

It was everywhere I looked. For some reason, I could escape it.

Red.

"Hey there, white girl." Lula said when I entered the bonds office. The whole place was covered with red hearts and pink streamers. Even Lula was red from head to toe.

"Bah." I said, plopping down the box of donuts.

"Still no date for the big day?" Lula asked, taking one of the red sprinkled donuts. "Me and Tankie have some big plans."

My eyes slid to Connie. "I don't have anything going on. Not me, no way."

"Sure you do!" Lula exclaimed. "You and that new man of yours are going to paint the town red."

Connie glared at Lula. "Thanks."

That was when Lula noticed my face. "Oh shit."

Ah, Valentine's Day is once again upon us. And I for one can't wait till it's over. This will be the first year since high school that I wouldn't have a date.

And it was making me a little cranky.

Lula retreated to her corner and thankfully shut up. Connie looked sympathetic. "I can ask if he has a free friend."

"No." I said, crossing my arms like scissors in front of my body. "I don't want a pity date."

"But it's Valentine's day!" Lula said. She got to act all perky because she had a date.

"More like VD day…" I grumbled. Connie snorted into her coffee.

"Maybe you just need to get laid. I don't think sugar is taking the edge off anymore."

I sighed. I knew when I was acting like a big jerk. "Sorry," I said. "I just want today to be over."

"I get it. But I still think you should get laid. I know a few discreet hookers…"

"No." I said firmly.

"Okay," she pulled out a card anyway. "Just in case." She winked at me.

Good grief.

For all of you who know my back story, you're probably wondering where Joe is. My on again off again louse of an ex, decided to dump me three months ago. We weren't really having sex… or seeing each other… and he made an ultimatum. Either we have sex right then or he was going to Terry.

Needless to say, I kicked his sorry, Italian ass out. Minus one ball. I gave him a piece of my mind that is still being talked about in the Burg.

Thankfully, most of the people are on my side. I'm the wounded party.

As for Ranger? My mentor, friend and lover is currently in the wind. Perfect. Just when I could use some hot, stringless sex. Stupid Cuban Sex God.

So here I am, dateless and sexless.

Sigh.

"You've got any skips for me?" I asked Connie, hoping for a distraction.

"Nope, sorry. Everyone is staying out of jail for the holiday."

Jeez. Even my usual criminals have plans.

I took another donut and was on my merry way.

When the skips get slow, Tank is more than willing to let me come in and run searches. It's boring work, but at least it keeps me in my apartment and out of my parent's house. Lord knows what Grandma's doing today. My mother will probably have to iron the whole house. Tank smiled at me when I got off the elevator.

"Thanks for coming in." He said. "If you have plans, I can call a contract worker and…"

"Don't worry about it. I can handle the load. You have fun with Lula tonight."

Tank's face got serious. "No plans with Morelli?"

"Ugh." I rolled my eyes. "Not going down that street again."

"Explain."

"I wasn't keeping 'the boys' happy, so he gave me an ultimatum." I grinned wickedly. "I don't think he liked my response."

Tank grinned now. "The boys?"

"His penis."

He made a face. "Okay. I didn't need to know that."

"That's my gift to you." I started walking to my cubicle.

"Gee, thanks."

I smiled and continued to the little cubicle I usually worked at. It was in the middle of the room with a great view of Ranger's office.

I think he did that on purpose.

My smile faded when I saw my cubicle. "What the…?"

Inside, it was stuffed to the brim with red roses. My heart and bad mood melted away.

I blinked back some tears. I couldn't believe it. I found the card sitting on top of a case of chocolate TastyKakes and ripped it open.

Would you be our Valentine? The card read. Every one of the Rangemen signed it.

"The TastyKakes were my idea." Lester said from behind me.

I turned and there stood all of my favorite Rangemen. Tank was running a skeleton crew and I knew the rest of the guys would be picking up the later shifts. I bit my lip to keep it from trembling.

"Shit." Hal said. "We made her cry. The boss is going to kill us."

I shook my head. "Happy tears. You guys didn't have to do this!"

Bobby shrugged. "We knew you didn't have a date, so we figured we could be your dates."

I hugged each and every one of them (Lester sneaked two). "Did you guys have plans? Because I was going to pick up the slack and earn some extra money."

"We're having a nice, intimate dinner for seven in the conference room. Attendance is mandatory."

"But…"

"Don't worry about the work." Lester said. "We've already called someone in."

"You don't have real dates?" I found that hard to believe, considering each one of them was very sexy.

"Beautiful, there's nowhere else we'd rather be."

I was flying on cloud nine after one very lovely dinner with my six sexy Rangemen. Bobby, Lester and Cal cooked a wonderful meal. My favorite; fettuccini alfredo with sausage. And Hal, Woody and of course my husband Manny helped with dessert. Well, they pulled a tiramisu from a Rossini's box. But A for effort. It is, after all, my favorite.

The feeling lasted until I got back to my apartment. Alone.

The guys had loaded all of the flowers into an SUV and brought them over. Now my apartment looked like a flower shop.

I went into the kitchen and looked for the TastyKake box. I'll take a few and find a good anti-valentine's day movie on.

Of course there was nothing, so I popped in Ghostbusters. Nothing like the classics. So I changed into some comfortable sweats and pushed play.

Bill Murray and the gang were ready to zap another ghost when there was a knock on my door.

It was Ranger, holding a single white rose.

"I don't know what to say." I said when I opened the door.

"How about, would you please come in?" He grinned at me.

I stepped aside and let him in.

"I thought you were in the wind."

He nodded. "Just got back." He looked at my living room. "Who sent you all of these?"

"The guys. We had a dinner date."

He raised an eyebrow. "Really."

"Yeah, it was nice and romantic. Me and my six closest Rangemen."

He grinned now. "I'm feeling sorely inadequate."

"Please, there's no more room. It's starting to look like someone died."

He handed me the rose. "Happy Valentine's Day, Babe."

"Thank you." I took the flower and found a vase.

"I don't see any yellow."

"So?"

"No Morelli this year?"

"Morelli is off my radar. For good."

He nodded and continued to look around. "Do you know what red roses symbolize?"

"No." I turned off the movie. "What?"

"Romance and passion. They symbolize love in its most basic form."

I looked at the rose in my hand. "What about white roses?"

He turned around and smiled at me. "Purity and innocence." He stepped closer to me. "They also symbolize new beginnings.

"I want a new beginning with you, Stephanie. I love you and I'm tired of not getting what I want. So if you'll have me, I'd…"

He never got to finish that sentence because my lips were blocking his way. "I love you too." I sighed, when we came up for air. "And I would love nothing more than to be yours."

Ranger's smile almost broke his face. "It's so good to hear you say that."

"I guess there's just one more thing to do."

Ranger cricked an eyebrow.

"Take me to bed now."

He laughed, scooped me up and raced to the bedroom. We took no time in stripping each other of our clothes and Ranger slid on top of me, kissing every inch of skin he could reach. I moaned and reached for him until he settled comfortably between my legs. He stopped licking my neck and groaned loudly when I grabbed his throbbing member.

"Jesus, Steph. Fuck." His hips moved with my hand.

When he was close to orgasm, he moved my hand away and shoved right into me. My back bowed and I screeched.

He waited until I was ready and then began his slow thrusts. Oh, I love the slow thrusts. I smiled satisfactorily and leaned up to capture his lips. He changed the angle his hips were moving and I gasped. Ranger used that to his advantage and shoved his tongue into my mouth.

I began to tighten around him and my mouth became 'O' shaped as I approached orgasm. Ranger sped up and began to assault my clit. I shivered and pushed my hips into his, holding them there as I orgasmed. A few thrusts later, Ranger was joining me in pleasure as I felt him release inside of me. He growled my name and began to kiss me passionately.

We were still for a while and then Ranger rolled onto his side, keeping us joined. He smiled sexily at me and I felt my lower muscles spasm around him. His grin widened.

"I think your body loves me too."

I blushed. "Shut up." I sighed. "Just when I thought today was going to be a crappy day, you show up and make it better."

"How much better?" He asked, gently thrusting.

"A thousand."

He kissed my neck. "Only a thousand? I'm insulted."

He found my sensitive clit and I gasped. "A million trillion."

I could feel him smile. "Much better. And just for that…" He rolled onto his back.

"You're going to let me drive?" I did a mental happy dance.

His eyes turned black with heat and I could feel him swelling inside of me. "Don't get too excited. I'm doing this more for me. I love watching you drive."

"I don't care as long as I get to ride you like Zorro."

He laughed once and grabbed my hips. "Well, have at it."

"Best. Valentine's. Day. Ever!"

"Oh I'm sure I can think of something for next year."

I may not be able to escape the color red, but I did learn one thing.

Black is definitely the new red.

The end.