I came across a quote one day while looking for something, and although I've heard it before, this time it stuck with me and I had the ending of this story written a few minutes later. Anything familiar belongs to Janet. The mistakes are mine.
"I'll admit it. I've always wondered what a real date with you would be like, Ranger, but this exceeds what would normally be considered a date."
"Nothing is too good or too much for you, Babe," Ranger told me, as he buckled his seatbelt.
We weren't sitting in Ranger's Porsche ready to pull out of my lot. No we are currently on a freakin' plane headed to ... I haven't a friggin' clue. Ranger and I have been sort of testing the relationship waters for a few weeks now, having lunch together at work and sometimes supper on seven at the end of the day. Plus a few intense make out sessions that I'd put the brakes on a few minutes in.
It isn't that I didn't want to sleep with Ranger, because my body has been shrieking at me to pounce on him already, but I couldn't let that be all we have together. It's been my experience that once you sleep with a guy, the relationship becomes primarily about sex. After the disaster that had been my life with Joe, I now know I need to be in a relationship that is equally as satisfying outside the bedroom, but I didn't know how to tell Ranger that without sounding stupid or clingy.
Ranger, being the mind reader he is, seemed to sense my inner struggle and asked me out on an actual date ... which is what led to my being buckled in beside him. I should have known Ranger was being sneaky again when he told me to dress comfortably, but bring something dressy to change into.
I thought those instructions were a little odd, but my brain was honestly thinking that Ranger was going to make me hit the gun range at Rangeman before dinner. No way was I thinking that he'd fly me somewhere for what was supposed to be a dinner date. And if Ranger said to wear comfortable clothes, I have to assume we're not going to a restaurant close by.
I'd gone from Rangeman immediately to the mall for something to wear when Ranger pretty much told me we were finally going to happen. And after an exhaustive search, I'd found something I felt good in and also thought Ranger wouldn't mind seeing me in. It was a sleeveless, fitted, lace dress that was short and flared out a little at the waist. When I caught myself in the dressing room wanting to twirl in it like a little girl, I decided this was the dress for my first planned Ranger-date.
I'd added some sky-high heels, also in black to match my dress, and a small clutch to carry my essentials. I did manage to sneak in an extra bag, though, just in case my hair and makeup needed a touch up when we arrived wherever Ranger and I were being flown to.
That reminded me.
"Where are we going?" I asked Ranger, when the plane had finally taken off.
We're leaving early in the day for just dinner, so I was even more curious as to where we'll end up.
"You don't want to wait and be surprised, Babe?"
"I'm already shocked, Ranger. I thought we'd be going to Rossini's tonight, so if surprising me was your goal, consider it achieved."
"We're headed to Bruges, Belgium," Ranger told me.
Clearly, I must have misunderstood him. Maybe what Ranger really said was that we were having a lot of booze tonight.
"You're kidding me, right? We're really flying to Boston or another city with a Rangeman building nearby, not leaving the country?"
"I'm not kidding at all, Babe. That's why I have your passport with me."
"I would ask how you got your hands on it," I told Ranger, "but I know that's a stupid question."
"You've expressed your love for chocolate numerous times, Steph, so I'm taking you to the source. Paris was too obvious."
I gave Ranger a look of disbelief. "Only you would say something like that," I told him.
"It's true. When you tell Mary Lou that I flew you somewhere for dinner, what city is she going to guess first?"
I sighed. Damn it. He's right ... again. If Ranger wasn't so hot - and couldn't charm the panties right off me - he'd be extremely irritating.
"What makes you think I'm going to tell Mary Lou anything about our date?" I asked Ranger.
"After me, Mary Lou is your best friend, Babe. And trust me, you're going to want to share all the details of this trip. I've reserved a room for two nights, with the option of staying a day or two longer so you can see more than just the inside of a restaurant, but I'm not expecting anything from you in return. If you want to take things slow, I'll be alright with just holding you at night. I had Ella add some clothes for you to my bag so you won't have to worry about being without clothes ... unless you want to be."
I was sure well before this 'date' that I am totally in love with Ranger, but I'm even more so now. I mean, how many men would spend this amount of time and money on a woman who may not sleep with him at the end of the night? In my mind, unless he actually loves the woman wholeheartedly, a guy wouldn't expend the expense or the energy to make elaborate plans like this one. And that knowledge suddenly made a few things very clear to me.
In the hours it took to land in Belgium - and in between discussing work, Julie, and how the guys will react to us disappearing - I realized just how thoroughly Ranger has incorporated himself into my life. Aside from Mary Lou, the one person I would have called to tell about this kind of surprise, is in fact Ranger. Since he's the one who set it up, and is here with me to enjoy it, I'm not going to waste the opportunity to admit, tell, and show Ranger exactly how I feel about him.
Traveling as Ranger's guest automatically made things go smoothly when we stepped off the plane. There was no cavity search, my underwear wasn't manhandled or molested, and no one had to threaten me with handcuffs to get my temper back under control, so I was riding a happy high before we'd even left the airstrip.
"We can drop our things off and then check out the area, Babe," Ranger told me, on our way to the hotel, "if you're up to it."
"Are you kidding?" I said to him. "I want to see everything!"
"Let's get started then."
We got signed in and I explored the hotel room while Ranger put our bags in the bedroom. Then Ranger and I were off. I fulfilled every high school fantasy I'd had about walking hand in hand with the hottest guy on the planet in front of everyone, and not caring about anything except him. Ranger and I got in a slight workout as we strolled along the cobblestone streets, and we took a boat ride through the canals all before dinner. I didn't think this day could get any better, but I was looking forward to seeing if the night would surpass it.
The buildings were beautiful, the stores a shopaholics dream, and I would've completely shocked the sweater set off my mother by being so impressed with a church's architecture to actually walk into the place. I didn't immediately burst into flames, and Ranger didn't drag me out of it, so I took my time wandering around. I tried really hard not to picture Ranger and I standing at this particular altar years from now, saying vows beneath centuries-old stained glass. Apparently, the romance of this place was getting to me. That may have been Ranger's plan all along. If it was, boy is it working.
When we went back to the hotel to get ready for dinner, I was really tempted to tell Ranger we could just order in, but I did want him to see the dress since it took two hours for me to find it. It fit as well as I remembered, and the shoes combined with it made my legs look pretty damn good. I'm convinced Bruges is a city with a few magical qualities to it, not only do I feel like a woman Ranger could love, my hair actually behaved itself so I didn't need to torture it with a curling iron and tons of hairspray. I left the bathroom and met Ranger in the bedroom, and he seemed to appreciate my body's cooperation as much as I did.
"I'm a very lucky man, Babe," Ranger told me.
"Because you have the resources to arrange a trip like this?"
"No. I'm lucky that I'm able to take 'a trip like this' with you."
I smiled. "You won't be saying that at the restaurant," I told Ranger. "I'm giving you a heads up, I plan on enjoying everything while I'm here, so I'm eating something other than rabbit food tonight."
"I wasn't expecting you to have only salad, Steph. You can eat whatever you'd like."
Ranger had chosen a restaurant that was only a few minutes away from our hotel, and I used those minutes to seriously considering moving here. So far, the people here have been incredibly patient and also nice, the food we've had was delicious, and I couldn't have been more impressed with Ranger and this city.
"You really are amazing, you know that?" I told Ranger, as we entered the restaurant.
"I'm not, Babe," Ranger said, dropping a heavily-muscled arm around my shoulders and pulling me into his body, "but I'm glad you think I am."
I don't just think it, I know it.
The stone building the restaurant was in is obviously an old one, but it's been so well maintained, I actually felt like I had one foot in medieval times and the other foot in the twenty-first century. We were quickly shown to a secluded little corner of the dining room, and Ranger insisted on pulling out my chair for me. I sat down and tried to memorize every inch of the restaurant. The walls were dark-stained hardwood. The majority of the lighting was made up of softly lit chandeliers dangling from the vaulted ceilings. And the tables were linen-covered with small candles circling what I bet are freshly-cut flower centerpieces supplied by one of the florist shops we passed this afternoon.
Even though I normally hate when people order for me, I let Ranger since I was afraid I'd end up with something worse than salad if I tried doing it myself. I used the minute or two as Ranger consulted with the waiter to ogle Ranger in his seduction clothes. I'm sure he wouldn't refer to them as that, but I definitely did. Ranger had on charcoal gray dress pants - which hugged each muscle and bulge nicely - and a long-sleeved, white button down shirt that Ella must have spent an hour ironing to ensure it didn't get a single wrinkle on the plane ride over. It's clear to me and my hormones that Ranger looks lethal in both his Rangeman uniform and date-wear.
I decided it was time to stop pretending that this is a typical dinner date, and waited for the waiter to leave so I could share with Ranger what I've learned in a very short amount of time.
"Grandma Mazur said something to me after I first introduced Dickie to my family," I said to Ranger, easing my way into this conversation. "I didn't fully grasp what Grandma was telling me at the time, and I sure as hell hadn't listened, but I'm going to take her advice now."
"What did your grandmother say to you, Babe?" Ranger asked me.
"She said, 'never love anyone who treats you like you're ordinary'."
"That was Oscar Wilde, Steph, not Edna Mazur."
"Still ... every guy who has told me he loves me, said it as an afterthought, to get me into bed, or to keep me from leaving him."
"I don't remember saying it for any of those reasons, Babe."
"I know you haven't. Out of the blue one day, you just told me that you're a man who loves me. It did shut me up because I wasn't expecting it, but that's all. And you've pushed me away, not begged me to stay with you."
"I am sorry for not explaining my intentions better. It's one of only a handful of regrets I have."
"It's okay, Ranger. My head was still screwed up back then, and you declaring you wanted more than a night with me would have had me running scared."
"And now?"
"And now ... my head's on straight and I love you because you've never treated me like I'm ordinary."
"That's because you're not, Babe. You're stubborn, beautiful, and you're frustrating as hell sometimes, but you are very far from ordinary."
"So are you, Ranger. And if I go by Oscar and Grandma's words, it's okay for me to love you back."
"You needed a reason?"
"Nope," I said, standing up and coming around the table, not caring about causing a scene or wrinkling my new dress by plopping down on Ranger's lap. "I already had the best one. You."
And then I laid one hell of an extraordinary kiss on the man who, in truth, really did ruin me for anyone other than him.