**A/N…Hi everyone. Writing seems to be going pretty well, it's just the time I have to do it is limited with all the kiddos home for the summer. Good news, though, I've written two and a half chapters on Taken, but I needed a little break to think out a few bits so I wrote this little piece as a brain break. (Plus my smut writing felt pretty rusty, figured I'd give it some practice.) And, yes, I know it's ninety degrees outside, but I've had a winter story in my mind since I found the wonderful quote that is highlighted within the story…it belongs to JD Robb from her book Naked in Death.
Hope you enjoy this little tale, and maybe it'll cool everyone off a little. Or maybe not, there is a little smut warning and some language in this one. Also I don't own Ranger or Stephanie, they belong to JE, I'm just playing with them for fun. And, please, share your thoughts on this one, I'd appreciate it. I hope to be back soon with some updates on Taken or perhaps another one-shot.**
One Cold Night…
He stood in front of his living room window watching the number of snowflakes floating down from the heavens triple before his eyes. The first snowfall of the year was going to be a good one, at least nine inches were forecasted to fall overnight on top of the six already on the ground. Luckily, though, he had nowhere to go.
The wind howled against the roof of his seven floor building and the snow shifted, hitting the window in front of his face. Gusts of forty miles an hour were never good, but combined with all this snow it caused an emergency blizzard warning for the entire city. That's probably why the streets were empty. No one wanted to drive around in this mess. The masses were at home, curled up in front of their fires, sipping warm drinks, and enjoying time with their loved ones. At least that's what he imagined people did in this weather.
Not him, though. He was home, but he never curled up, unless he was in her bed. He owned an electric fireplace, but he never turned it on. He never had company to share it with. And the only warm drink that he allowed himself to enjoy was a single cup of black coffee, once a week, unless he was sharing breakfast with her. She wasn't sharing anything with him anymore, not her bed or her breakfast. He didn't like to think about how long it had been since she'd been in his apartment.
It had been a long time, too long.
He touched his chest, where his heart ached for what it was missing. Yes, he missed her. He missed her more than he could have ever imagined missing anyone. He wanted her too. Not just to visit, or sleep with once while, or to work with…No, he really wanted her. He wanted to share these cold nights with her. Hell, he wanted to come home to her every day for the rest of his life. He needed her, so much. He was empty inside without her.
He wished he could go back in time. He would do everything with her differently given the chance, but he couldn't. He couldn't fix all the things he had messed up. After the way she had finally told him to stay away from her, to stay out of her life, to stop tracking her, well, he knew he had lost her for good. He had always told her he'd respect her decision to choose between him and the other man, but he lied. He didn't respect it. He wanted to change her mind. He wanted to drive over to his rival's house and snatch her out of the other man's arms and never let her go again. But he couldn't. It's not what she wanted him to do.
Ranger reached into his pocket, deciding to check her tracking device like the obsessed man that he was, but as soon as his hand touched the cell phone, the thing shook and let off a loud buzz. Ranger extracted the phone and looked down at it hopefully. Was there a chance that as he stood here thinking of her, she had been thinking of him too? No, of course not.
He frowned at the screen, there was only one reason he'd call and it wasn't good. "Yo," Ranger answered, knowing it would piss off the other man.
"Manoso," Detective Morelli answered.
"Morelli."
"Is she with you?"
Ranger's frown deepened. "I assume you mean Stephanie?"
"Unless you're fucking someone else's girlfriend…" the cop bitched back.
Ranger's frowned turned into a scowl. He wasn't fucking anyone, including Stephanie. At least he hadn't for a while now. Too long. But that wasn't what was annoying him, it was the way the cop was talking about her, like she was some sort of whore. Morelli didn't deserve her and Ranger had no idea why he thought that asshole was the better option once upon a time. "Not at the moment," he answered slowly, refusing to panic. Not yet anyway. Panicking never solved anything, especially if Stephanie was involved in a crisis. "You've checked with her mother?"
"Her mother called me," Morelli complained. "I'm working late, you know how it is. Helen thinks Steph's dead somewhere since it's six thirty-nine and she hasn't shown up for her cake yet."
Forty minutes late for cake was more to worry about than Morelli was letting on and they both knew it. Stephanie always made a point of being to her parent's house by six, to avoid her mother's panic attacks. Besides, this was cake they were talking about. She's never late when cake's involved. "Did you check the bonds office?"
"Closed early for the weather." Well, shit. Ranger shoved his feet into his shoes and grabbed his keys as he headed out to the elevator. He needed to get downstairs. "Plus, Lula showed up for dinner after picking Edna up from a viewing. She said Stephanie was going to meet her there, but she never showed up. They called me after Frank took his cab out and there was no sign of her between her place and theirs."
"Why wasn't Lula with her? Was she working alone in this weather?" he asked more to himself than to Morelli. "You know which skip she's tracking?"
"No idea. I haven't spoken to her for a few weeks," Morelli answered, then tried to backpedal it. "I've been working late. I didn't see her today. She didn't say anything to me…last time I talked to her."
Ranger didn't have time to wonder about that development. Morelli and Stephanie's relationship was too hard to follow, so he stopped trying years ago. Morelli was in and out of her life so often it was like he was stuck in her revolving door. Even if they were apart now, he'd be back in her life before Ranger could even get his foot inside her apartment. So why bother?
Ranger had made it clear to her, that if she wanted him she knew where to find him. She hadn't shown up on his doorstep and he didn't expect her to. She knew he didn't deserve her either. She had made that painfully clear when she tossed his gifts back in his face. "When, exactly, did you speak with her?"
Morelli didn't immediately answer, but finally sighed and said, "She left me a voicemail a couple days ago." So Morelli really had no idea what crazy she was chasing this week? Keeping an eye on her was the only thing the two of them had ever agreed upon. They'd called a truce of sorts, agreeing that whoever she was with would take care of her. But now that Morelli defaulted on that agreement, all bets were off. "This doesn't mean you can make a run at her. She's still mine, Manoso."
Bullshit. If she was Morelli's they'd have spoken in the last two weeks, he'd know where she was and who she was looking for, and he sure as hell wouldn't have lost her in a snow storm. All that added up to one thing, it was time to kick that revolving door in, then nail it shut. "Just remember, Morelli, finders keepers…" he said before disconnecting the phone call.
Ranger shoved the phone into his pocket as he walked into his company's control room. He owned a security firm that contained all the latest technology. He had the means to find her, and he would. "Get me all of Steph's trackers," he told his guy, Hal, who was watching the monitors.
The oh-shit look on Hal's face echoed his own thoughts. They both knew she was out in this mess and she was in trouble. "Uh, Boss, her car is off the grid."
"Why the hell wasn't I informed of that?"
Hal just shook his head. "I don't know. The device didn't alert me."
"Her handbag? The watch? Her phone?" Ranger yelled. "Find her."
It was an order, not a question. "Yes, sir."
Ranger paced the floor behind Hal's chair, double checking that he hadn't missed a call from her. He hadn't. Why wouldn't she call if she needed help? Because she asked you to stay out of her life, asshole, he thought.
"The pen tracker is at Quakerbridge Mall, stationary," Hal said.
Ranger shook his head. How did she lose so many pens? "Take that one off her list."
"Already done," Hal answered. "We got her watch in her apartment, but the key fob is moving. Slowly. If that's her, she's only about nine blocks up Haywood."
Ranger leaned over, got a location, and took off. He grabbed his leather jacket out of his office and snagged a set of keys for one of the fleet trucks, they all had four wheel drive. "Stephanie?" Tank asked as Ranger strode by.
"Yep."
"Boss?" Santos called from behind him. Ranger turned, but kept walking. Lester tossed him a black bundle. Ranger snagged it out of the air, then looked down at a pair of gloves tucked inside a stocking cap. "It's cold outside."
"Thanks," he called as he ran off toward the stairwell. She was probably fine. She was always fine. He just had to remind himself of that, the entire eight blocks.
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Stephanie was contemplating the state of her life as she trudged through the knee high drifts of snow. As the snow slid inside her boot and melted against her already wet socks, she knew that she had to make some changes, now. Or at least as soon as her feet were dry.
She looked up at the street sign and couldn't believe it had only been three blocks. It felt like she had been walking for miles…not three stinking blocks. That meant, she still had ten blocks to walk. Ten blocks, that was more than three times what she'd just done. Oh, Lord, she prayed for the strength to keep going. She didn't want to be found frozen to the sidewalk tomorrow.
She wasn't even sure why she'd gone out in this weather to start with. It'd been a dumb idea. Everyone else was smart enough to stay home, which was why she figured she'd find her latest skip at home too. She knew it was a bad idea, but she did it anyway.
But why? Because she was told not to? Because she needed to prove that she could? Both maybe? She wasn't sure. She certainly hated when anyone told her what to do. She certainly had the need to prove her independence and self-sufficiency to her naysayers, but it looked like everyone was right and she had failed yet again. Not just because she hadn't brought her skip in, but because she never even got to his apartment building.
Everything had been going fine. She'd been a few car lengths behind a snowplow. It was slippery, but there weren't any large drifts in her way. She was almost to her turnoff when the plow kicked up some kind of metal pipe, which shot up into the air, along with the freshly scraped up ice, and flew directly at her. Before she could even react, the pipe went straight through her windshield, spear-style, missing her head by inches. Of course, she turned her wheel in reaction and completely lost control of the car in the ice.
The car skidded sideways on the freshly plowed ice and didn't stop sliding until it hit a ten-foot-tall snow pile on the opposite corner. Of course the POS didn't stop when it hit the snow. Somehow the front tires started to climb the steep slope, until the car finally tipped onto its side, burying the driver's side door, and trapping her within. The POS was completely stuck so she had to crawl out the passenger side door (not the easiest thing to do in a small Toyota), then she had to slide down the snow hill (which soaked her jeans in a very unpleasant way).
Once she was safely on the sidewalk, she fished her phone out of her handbag to call the police department, but her phone was completely dead. So there she was, stuck. No car, no phone, and nowhere to go to use a phone, because the entire city had closed down for the storm.
She couldn't even blame this one on bad luck, it was bad decision-making, pure and simple. She wouldn't have lost control of her car if she'd gotten the new snow tires like her dad had suggested, but she couldn't afford new tires. It was December and she had Christmas shopping to do. And she would have been able to call for help if she'd gotten the new phone charger at the mall instead of the cute suede boots. And the suede boots wouldn't have gotten ruined by the snow if she'd just stayed home in the first place.
That was why she started contemplating her life-style, why she always made the wrong choices, and, most importantly, how she could fix things. She was going to change, she swore it, but first she had to get out of the storm.
She figured she had two options, she could turn around and walk home or she could keep going to try to find help. She doubted she could make the eight mile walk home in this wind. She'd no doubt freeze to death before she got there. She was definitely closer to downtown than she was to her apartment. The problem was that downtown wasn't offering a lot of options at the moment. A voice in the back of her mind kept reminding her that there was one building that would still be open for business, despite this weather.
On the up side, if she could make it to that building it would offer her warmth, a phone call, dry pants and shoes, and probably a new vehicle. On the downside he'd see her looking like a failure again. She tried to shut up her inner voice, but his building really did seem like her best option. She'd allowed her pride to stop her from choosing her best option before and it never turned out well. This time she wasn't going to choose wrong. So she started walking up the block, toward Haywood.
It wasn't an easy decision. She constantly had to remind herself that Rangeman wasn't just her best option, it was her only option. Besides, no matter what he thought of her disasters he never said a word, he never judged, and, like it or not, he'd rescue her. And, like it or not, she needed him, not only to rescue her again, but to comfort her, care for her, to just be there for her like he always was. Or like he had been until she had destroyed things with him.
She shivered in her ruined boots, light coat, and holey stretch gloves as her contemplation continued. Why was she such a disaster? Why couldn't she make a decent decision to save her life? Why the hell couldn't she grow up?
She really should be able to budget her cash so she could afford a car that didn't die in a snowstorm. She should be able to afford more than the two-for-three dollar stretchy gloves for God's sake. She should, also, be at home, warm and dry, with the man she wanted to spend her life with, but she couldn't even bring herself to tell him that she loved him. In fact, she was so scared of both his rejection and making a commitment that she'd ran away from him. Repeatedly.
She was an idiot.
A frozen idiot. It was really cold, too cold. So why couldn't she feel the snow anymore?
Maybe her mind was starting to freeze too, because all his words and the things he'd offered her over the years came rushing back, flooding her mind…she couldn't seem to think of anything but him.
Oh, God, she was going to freeze to death.
She just kept seeing him and everything they shared over the last five years, right up until two weeks ago…when she'd ruined things. He'd offered her a safer job, almost a partnership, and she turned it down because she didn't want to be beholden to a man ever again. He offered to give her a truck to use in this weather, but she had refused because she was stubborn. He offered to loan her cash to buy the new tires and she had told him that she didn't want his money or anything else. Hell, when she'd caught one of his guys trying to trade her bad tires for new ones she yelled at him. She told him to stay out of her life. And, damn it, he didn't listen. He knew her phone battery was bad so he left her a new cell phone, which pissed her off even more. So she'd given it back without a second thought. She even told him to stop tracking her, watching her, protecting her…and apparently he had listened or he'd be here by now.
She couldn't stand his interfering. He had a way of making her feel like he was too good for her, like she was an incompetent child he was stuck babysitting. At least that's what she had tried to tell herself, but the reality was that she was making up excuses to be angry with him. It was all because she didn't want to have feelings for him, especially ones that were unrequited. But she did have feelings for him. She loved him.
The problem was that he couldn't love her back, he'd told her that. "Because I love you", his words echoed through her mind. She never paid attention to those words, because they were always followed up with a disclaimer like "in my own way". He certainly didn't mean them like she wanted him to. He probably loved her more like a favorite pet or an ache in his knee that reminded him that he was alive.
She was sure that's why he tried to give her things, to compensate for his lack of feelings. He was financially stable, he could give her things easily, like the job at his company, or a phone that worked, or a safe truck…because he had dozens of them. She wasn't really angry about the things he'd given her; she was angry because all she really wanted was him. She wanted him, not the stuff.
So what did she do? Did she tell him that she wanted a relationship with him? Did she explain that she loved him, not his possessions? No, she threw everything they had away because of her own pride.
That's why she needed to make it to his building. She needed to tell him the truth once and for all. She swore on all that was holy, if she made it to his building alive she'd say those three little words to him. They needed to be said, even if it was only once. He deserved to hear them and she deserved the chance to be honest, without being scared of her feelings.
This was her first step to becoming a new woman. One she could be proud of. One Ranger would be proud to call his. She felt good. She was finally prepared to make all the changes she needed to. Starting with this first step, she was on a new path in life.
Unfortunately, that first step was slippery and her feet flew out from under her. She hit the ground with a thud. Now she was truly wet, everywhere.
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"Stephanie," he called, running through the snow to the spot where he'd seen her fall.
The eight blocks had taken more than fifteen minutes to navigate. He was going slow, looking for her, not sure where he'd find her. Then, just went he spotted her blue coat he saw her disappear behind a snowbank and not reemerge. His heart leapt up into his throat. He couldn't breathe around it.
"Stephanie!"
She didn't answer, but he saw her lying on her back in the snow, staring up at the street light. He knelt beside her, then pushed her wet, curly hair off her face. She was a mess, but a beautiful mess. "Stephanie," he whispered to her. "Babe."
Her eyes shifted from the street lamp to his face. "Ranger?"
"Can you move? Are you hurt?" he asked, not wanting to move her if she'd hurt her back.
"Only my pride, again," she sighed.
"I can live with that." He smiled at her before sliding an arm behind her knees and the other under her back. He lifted her into his arms and made the walk back to his truck. With the wind and the snow blowing directly into his face the walk was a lot more difficult than it should have been. He finally yanked the passenger door open and slipped her inside the truck.
"You found me," she said after he was seated behind the wheel.
"Morelli called," he told her. "Your family was looking for you."
She nodded. "I'm glad you didn't stop tracking me."
"I don't take orders well."
She finally cracked a little smile. "Good. You should definitely ignore anything else I said last week too."
He fought his own smile. "It's already forgotten," he promised.
Her shivering was out of control. She was cold and way too wet for even the warm air vents in the truck to help. He needed to get her home.
"Can we go to RangeMan?" she asked before he could even ask where she wanted to go.
"We can do anything you want to do," he promised as he turned the vehicle back toward his apartment.
"I love you, Ranger," she sighed, then she fell asleep.
He drove way too fast for the conditions, but he didn't know what else to do. What if she was hypothermic or something? He could barely make it back to his building in this mess, he knew he couldn't make it all the way to the hospital. The roads were so drifted and covered in ice they'd be stuck in his building once they got there.
He drove as carefully as he could, making the trip in only a few minutes. He pulled into the parking garage and stopped in front of the elevators. He was out of the truck and had her in his arms in a matter of seconds. He took her into the heated elevator and held her against his chest, willing her to wake up.
"Babe," he said. "Can you hear me?"
"Mmm," she answered with chattering teeth. "Yes, but this dream is too nice to wake up from."
"You're not dreaming," he told her. "You're freezing, but I'm going to warm you up."
Her lips lifted into just the slightest smile. "You're good at getting me warmed up."
He pressed his lips to her cold, red forehead and he smiled. "Ditto, babe."
He unlocked his apartment and took her inside, straight to the bathroom. He was in no way an expert in medical care, but he knew a few basics. He also knew how to survive the elements, granted most of those leaned toward desert heat…not blizzard cold, but he could manage.
He put her down on his bathroom counter and steadied her. "You alright?" She nodded. "Good. I'm going to take your clothes off."
He started with her gloves, the holey things were destroyed so he tossed them into his trashcan. Then he unzipped her coat. It was more of a fall jacket, than a nice warm coat. He made a mental note to buy her a warm coat. One that was wind and rain resistant and protected her in sub-zero temperatures. Under the coat she was wearing jeans and a tee shirt. No wonder she was so cold. Next he removed to her boots, ones that weren't meant to be worn in the snow. They were soaked through, as were her socks. He smiled as he tugged off the mismatched, printed socks. Only his babe would wear two different socks. "Can you stand?"
She nodded again. "Yeah, I can get my pants off too."
"You're ruining all my fun," he teased. She smiled back. "Do you need privacy for a minute?"
"Please," she said.
He left her in the bathroom. Then he scooped all the pillows and blankets off the bed and carried them into the living room where he dumped them on the floor in front of the fire place. He turned the flames and heat on, wishing that it was a real fire not electric, but at least it threw off a lot of warmth. Then he went into the kitchen and popped one of the hot chocolate cups into his Keurig, just one of the things he kept on hand for her.
Only after the pillows and blankets were arranged did he take his own wet clothing off. He hung the coat on the barstool and kicked off his shoes and socks, leaving them on the floor next to the stool. Then he walked back into his bedroom, where he pulled his tee shirt over his head. She stepped out of the bathroom in her robe just as he was unbuttoning his cargo pants. "Can I borrow some clothes?" she asked.
He nodded toward the dressing room, allowing her to precede him inside. "Help yourself," he offered.
He unzipped his pants and slid them down his legs as he watched her out the corner of his eye. She was watching him, and she didn't complain that he was standing only a few feet away, completely naked. He picked up a pair of sweat pants and pulled them on, once he was covered she pulled the tie on the robe and pushed it back, revealing her own nakedness.
She may as well have dropped a garbage truck on him. The air whooshed out of his lungs as he studied every curve of her body. It had been too long since he'd seen her this way. Even longer since he was able to take her into his arms like that. He was the one that swallowed hard as he watched one of his tee shirts slowly slip down over her torso, covering everything but her arms and legs. Then he noticed her red, chapped hands and feet. He glanced back at her face, her teeth chattered and her body shivered slightly.
That spurred him back into action. He pulled another pair of sweatpants off the pile and held them open for her to step into. The smooth skin on her legs slid against his hands as she stepped into them, then he pulled them up over her perfect backside. He moved away again, grabbing a pair of socks and a hoodie, both were too big for her, but they were warm. He dropped to his knees before her, like he was worshipping a goddess. He supposed he was, his Goddess. So he lifted her foot and brought it to his lips. He pressed a warm kiss to the top of her foot before slipping it into one of the socks. Then he did the same to the other.
Finally, he held out the hoodie for her to slip into. Once he was satisfied that she was covered enough to warm her up, he lifted her into his arms and carried her out to the living room. "I can walk," she told him.
"Your feet look sore."
She nodded, "They are."
"We'll get them warmed up," he promised as he settled her on the makeshift bed he'd made in front of the fire. Then he covered her and disappeared into the kitchen, only to return with a steaming cup. "Hot chocolate."
She lifted her eyebrow at him, "You have hot chocolate?"
"I'm always prepared," he answered as he sat down next to her, then handed the mug over.
"You'll stay here with me?"
He leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers. "As long as you'll let me."
She took a drink of her hot chocolate and nodded. "About that, Ranger…"
He felt his heart stop beating. Was she really going to push him away again? He couldn't let her, he couldn't. Not yet.
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"Ranger, are you alright?" she asked, wondering why he had suddenly gone so still.
"Babe," he said taking the mug, then setting it aside. His hands captured hers, enclosed them really. Then he brought them to his lips and blew warm air into the cocoon his hands had made. "Let me warm you first."
"Ranger…"
"No," he insisted. "You're too cold to go anywhere just yet."
"Oh, I…"
"And the storm, it's too dangerous to try to drive in. You need to stay the night. I can't let you go outside in this," he pushed on.
She smiled at him. He thought she was trying to escape. "But my mother will be worried," she said. He nodded. "And Daddy will try driving around to look for me." He nodded again. "And if they find my wrecked car they'll all think I'm dead." He nodded again. "And, Lula, you know how suspicious she is of us." Again, he nodded. "And, Grandma, she'll tell all her friends that we're together if she finds out I was here all night."
"Let her," he said, then the next thing she knew she was in his lap and his lips were crashing down on hers. It started as overpowering and hard, but in seconds turned warm and liquid. His lips softened, coxing hers to respond, which in all honesty didn't need any coxing. She wanted to kiss him, so she did. When he finally settled her back onto the pillows he pulled away to look down at her. "Don't go."
"I really shouldn't stay," she insisted.
"I won't let you go."
"Tonight?" she asked, wondering how far he'd take this.
He shook his head. "No, ever. I won't let you go again."
"Ranger…"
"I love you, Stephanie."
She stared at him, waiting for him to drop some qualifier on the end or to make a joke about it, but he didn't. "How do you love me?"
"The only way I know how," he said before kissing her again. She wrapped her arms around him, holding him close.
"Tell me," she whispered against his lips.
"I don't know how," he answered. "I'm consumed with you. I want you more than anything I've ever set my eyes on. I need to be with you. I can't stop thinking about you. I physically hurt when you walk away." She just stared at him. He'd never spoken like this before. "Don't walk away again." She nodded, because her words were gone. "Stephanie, I don't know what this is. I don't know if this is how love is supposed to feel. Maybe it's all wrong. Maybe I'm too messed up to do it right, but I can't shut it off. I tried."
I love you, in my own way…his previous words echoed through her mind. Is that what he'd meant? That he didn't know if it was real and healthy? Good God. "Ranger…"
"No," he said forcefully. "You're not leaving here tonight. If all I have is tonight then I'm taking it."
His lips were back on hers. His fingers pulled at the zipper on her hoodie, then settled on the slowly warming skin on her bare stomach before inching upward. She thought she knew where that hand was headed, but he proved her wrong again. He settled it over her heart, his fingers tapping in time with the beating. She followed suit and placed her hand on his bare chest, just over his heart. "Ranger…"
"Not until you're warm," he insisted. "Not until you're warm." Then his lips were trailing over her jaw and down a line on her neck. He nuzzled there, blowing his warm breath against her skin. She shivered, and this time it had little to do with the chill in her bones. "You're covered in goosebumps," he murmured.
"You give me goosebumps when you touch me that way."
He smiled as he tugged her tee shirt up, exposing her torso to the warmth flowing from the fire place. His fingers stroked from her neck down to the waistband of the sweats, directly down the natural line that formed between her breasts. Then moved back up to the left of that line. She wanted to arch into his touch and press her breast into his hand, but he didn't cup it. He just brushed his thumb across the underside, then lifted it to his mouth.
He didn't suckle or kiss like she desperately needed, but just placed his open mouth against her and blew hot air across her skin. Oh, God, she was going to die. She dug her fingers into his hair as he continued doing this, over and over until her skin was hot and damp, her nipples were harder than ever, and she was shivering in delight.
Finally, his thumb moved over the bud, slowly rolling it between his fingers. She was going to die. Just when she couldn't take anymore he placed his mouth over the tip and then he did it again. He blew that hot, damp air across her body. She cried out from under him, her body shivering from the contact.
He nuzzled her breast as he hands moved up and down her thighs, warming her skin with the friction. She was practically trembling now and it had nothing to do with the cold. "Ranger," she pleaded. "I need more."
She felt his smile against her skin just before his tongue lashed the peak, again and again until she was whimpering, begging, needing him to do more. But he held off, starting over on the other breast until she was shaking beneath him.
"Not yet. Not done warming you," he told her.
"Please," she begged.
He shook his head no. "I don't like the idea of you shivering, unless I cause it." Oh, my…
Then the sweat pants were stripped off her legs, the socks pulled from her feet, and his mouth was blowing that warm air against her ankle while his fingers rubbed and massaged her feet until the coldness was gone from her skin. Then his lips trailed up her calf to her knees. His fingers tickled the skin behind her knees before rubbing up and down her calf until she was warming everywhere.
She was sure she was going to spontaneously combust when his lips worked a line up her inner thigh. Her legs fell apart to accommodate his wide shoulders and her fingers once again stroked through his smooth hair. Just when she thought he was going to touch that warm mouth to the Promised Land he surprised her by flipping her to her stomach. His hands cupped her cheeks, squeezing them over and over until she was wiggling and lifting her hips up toward him, trying to get him to move on to the needy spot beneath. Of course he didn't give her what she wanted. Instead he placed his lips on the right cheek, doing that blowing thing again, then moved to the other side and repeated the action.
"Ranger, please…" she cried out as he spread her cheeks apart.
Then he lifted her hips off the ground and his mouth covered her core, his tongue stroked just the right spot. It didn't take more than a minute or two before she was trembling in release. He didn't give her a chance to come down from it though, suddenly he was pushing inside her from behind. So thick, so hard, he pushed in and the over-filled feeling made her cry out. He was slow and gentle, opening her an inch at a time until he was fully inside her. Then he just rocked, slowly, pressing himself into just the right spot. Her body was burning, she needed more. She needed it faster, harder, deeper. She needed him to fully possess her. "More, more, more…" It was all she could manage to say.
"Say you're staying," he growled in her ear.
She was momentarily bewildered by his words, but she wasn't going to argue. She hadn't planned on going anywhere anyway. "I'm staying."
"You're not going to leave me," he growled again.
"No."
"Never?" he whispered in her ear.
"I'm not leaving."
"Tell me what you said in the car earlier," he commanded, moving inside her so slowly she knew she whimpered again.
Her mind was a fuzz, what had she said to him earlier? She'd been so out of it. She really wasn't sure if she'd said it before, but she needed to say it now. "I love you, Carlos," she moaned and he rewarded her with a deep, hard thrust. "I love you. I love you. I love you." Each sentence was punctuated by his body slamming into hers. She didn't need to say it again, he was giving her what she wanted now. It was like he'd lost all control of his body. He was riding the same pleasure she was, but she kept saying it anyhow. "I love you. I love you. I love you."
As he gripped her hips and ground himself inside her as deeply as he could go, he returned her words. "I love you, Babe. I love you. I love you so fucking much."
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Ranger was smiling on the inside, hell, there may have been a smile on the outside too. He pressed his lips against her warm forehead and decided that there was definitely a smile on the outside. She was snuggled up against him. Her head on his chest, her arm and leg thrown over the top of him like she wanted to make sure he didn't escape and it amused him. He wasn't going anywhere this time. And neither was she.
"You're happy?" she asked, touching the corner of his upturned lips.
"You make me happy."
She snuggled closer and kissed his chest. "Me too."
"I'm glad you decided to stay," he told her.
She leaned up for a kiss, so he obliged her. "Listen, Ranger, I was trying to tell you this earlier, but you wouldn't let me finish a sentence," she said quickly.
He wanted to bury his head under the pillows like a little boy so he wouldn't have to hear what she was going to say, but he was a man, not a boy. So he took a deep breath and nodded. "Do it," he commanded. She needed to say it before he tried to shut her words off like he had before.
"I did some thinking." Crap. That was never a good start to anything. "First, I want to apologize for the last couple weeks. I'm sorry I said what I did. I don't want you to stay out of my life."
"You don't?"
She shook her head no as she rolled over to face him. "No. I'd very much like you in my life." He felt his body start to relax. He hadn't even realized how much he had been hoping she'd say that. "I think I was wrong to turn down your offer to work here too. I think I'd like to learn from you."
Shit. Did that mean she just wanted a business relationship? Or whatever the hell you could call what they had going on for the last couple years, partners with benefits? While he wanted to work with her, he needed more than that now. "Good. You'll be good for RangeMan," he agreed cautiously.
"Ranger," she said again. He nodded. "I know you said you're not a relationship kind of guy, but I need a relationship. I can't just feel what I feel for you and not be with you."
He had her flipped over in an instant. He was looking down into her eyes, watching for the truth in her eyes. "Morelli?"
"Isn't the man I love," she answered immediately, without thought.
"Your family?"
"Will love how well you'll take care of me," she answered again.
"The burg gossips?"
"Fuck 'em."
He grinned. "Your job?"
"Better be more than running searches."
"Your apartment?"
She looked around his place, then back at him. "That depends…"
He stared down at her. This was his move, his opening, his chance to take her away from that revolving door forever. "Move in with me?"
She smiled back at him. "You want to live with me?"
"Yes."
"I don't know if I'll ever want to get married though," she warned.
"I don't think I want more kids," he warned.
"I can live with that."
He smiled down at her. "I don't need a piece of paper. Just promise me you won't run, you won't stray, and you won't leave me."
She leaned up and kissed him. "I promise not to run. And I'd never stray…one Ranger is all I'll ever need."
"Damn skippy," he answered, mocking her friend Lula's voice.
Her eyes widened. "I should probably call them," she said. "They'll think I'm dead."
He rolled off of her and walked over to his drying coat, then brought his phone back to her. "Passcode is 1012."
She laughed at him as she took the phone. "You, the security expert, used a birthdate?"
"It's better than 1234, babe."
She rolled her eyes as she unlocked his phone and dialed her mom. "Mom, it's Steph." Stephanie took his hand and squeezed it. "It's Ranger's phone. He fished me out of the snow and brought me back to his place." She grinned at whatever was said. "I know, Mom. I'm snowed in, but I'll stop by tomorrow. I promise." She squeezed his hand again before answering her mom. "I know. Yep. Night, Mom."
Ranger laid back down on the blanket, but didn't bother covering up. She seemed to like the view, why obscure it? "My mom says to thank you for finding me," she said. "And we're going to dinner Sunday night, both of us."
"Family dinner?" he moaned.
She nodded. "Yes, you're going to tell her that we're moving in together."
"Shit," he sighed. "You better make this worth my while, babe." She laughed as she kicked aside the blanket and crawled over the top of him for a kiss. "I think it's going to take a lot of convincing."
"Good thing we have nowhere to go," she smiled. "This snow may not let up for days."
He smiled in return. This was going to be good.