AN: This was my first fan fiction, and I have decided after a couple of years and writing courses, that I need to clean it up. I'm glad so many of you like this story, and I hope you'll enjoy it even more, now that I've shined it up a bit.
Lula sat gaping at me with a piece of fried chicken frozen halfway on it's journey to her mouth. Quite frankly I was happy that she had swallowed the previous bite before I'd spoken, because I could see clear to her tonsils.
"Can you please repeat that?" Connie asked, her nail file frozen mid stroke. She was looking at me like I was speaking jibberish. I did kind of blurt out my announcement but I was sure it was in English; still, just in case it came out a little garbled, I repeated myself.
Connie and Lula both reached for the pastry box on Connie's desk and seemed surprised that there were no doughnuts in it. My eyes slid to my cousin Vinnie. Vinnie looked just this side of passing out. I think it occurred to him that he couldn't yell at me anymore. There was a rumble of some not so distant thunder, and they started to look nervous. Like maybe what I just told them was a huge lie and that maybe God was about to strike me down for it. You could feel a charge in the air, and it was kind of freaking me out. Connie, unplugged her computer from the wall, just in case, so it didn't get fried.
"Maybe I should go get some more doughnuts so you can uhh process this," I said.
I turned to run back to the black 911 Turbo parked on the street. As I reached for the door there was a blinding flash of light, a loud bang and a shit load of sparks. We all blinked in disbelief. I took a step back from the door, a little afraid of touching the metal door handle. I swear I wasn't lying before.
"Did that actually just happen?" Vinnie asked.
"Yes it did," I said.
"That shit's a sign," Lula said.
"Yeah," Connie said, "It's a sign that you can't bring doughnuts into Batman's car."
"Bummer," Vinnie, Lula and I said.
My cell phone vibrated in my pocket and I pulled it out knowing it would be Ranger.
"Yo," I said.
"Babe, you're off the grid," Ranger said. There was no way of knowing what his emotions were regarding this particular development. I mean it did happen with alarming frequency.
"I'm not surprised; your car was just hit by lightening," I said, and picked at a cuticle, wondering if this would get a reaction from the man in black.
There was a beat of silence as he digested that his low profile sports car and NOT the bonds office that was hit by lightening. I mean forget about the fact that the bonds office is taller; Vinnie is in here.
"Were you in it?" he asked eventually. Probably it was the only thing he could think of to say.
"No."
"Does it still work?" Excellent question.
"I don't know, and I don't know if you want me to try it. If it's any consolation it's not on fire," I said.
We left the "Yet" unsaid. My track record wasn't so great. It'd probably blow up if I tried to start it.
"Did you tell them?" he asked, changing the subject entirely. His voice had gone all warm, and I could hear the smile in it. I couldn't help grinning back. Smoking car aside, it had been a pretty fantastic day so far.
"Yep."
"And?"
"Your car was hit by lightening," I said.
"I'll be there in ten minutes," he said laughing.
He hung up and I tossed my phone into my messenger bag.
"He coming to pick you up?" Lula asked. She put the partially finished bucket of chicken down on the desk and made a noise that was somewhere between a burp and a hiccup, and probably meant she was headed for some serious indigestion.
"Are you going to finish that?" Connie asked.
Lula shook her head, "I'm not hungry." In truth she looked a little green and I glanced towards the bathroom door, making sure there was a clear shot between where she was sitting and the toilet.
Vinnie had been snapped out of his trance, as he and Connie now diverted their attention from me to Lula. Connie looked worried. Vinnie looked like he was thinking about going out to purchase lottery tickets. My announcement, was so far the least improbable thing to happen in the last ten minutes. Lula's declaration that she wasn't hungry, being the most. As far as I could tell, Lula was never not hungry. She could be suffering from the stomach flu, and would start self medicating with a carefully balanced diet of grease, cheese, and sugar.
Connie reached over and put a hand on her forehead.
"No fever," she said and looked back at me, "I think you broke Lula; next thing you know she's gonna join a convent. Would you please elaborate? You can't just come in here dressed in Rangeman black, ask for new skips and then say, 'oh by the way I married Ranger.' I need more details."
"You know how we went to Las Vegas to go after Dupuis?" I asked they all nodded, "Well we caught him, Tank and the guys brought him back, and Ranger and I stayed behind to see a magic show."
"Ooooh that explains it. The magic guy hypnotized Ranger," Lula said with dawning comprehension, colour returning, "So like how long is Batman under his evil spell?" She reached for a piece of chicken; all better now.
"Jeeze! Is it that crazy that he might love me?"
"No we know you love each other," she waved me off with her chicken, "Damn girl we known that for years. Just you guys don't know that. So I gotta ask 'what the hell happened to get your heads outta your asses?' And magic makes the most sense." Connie nodded her agreement, and frankly Vinnie looked a little relieved. There was a perfectly fucked up explanation for what had happened and balance was restored to their universe.
I glared at them all.
"We weren't hypnotized," I growled, "We were walking down the strip and Elvis made Ranger take a flyer…"
"Brave Elvis." Connie commented.
"Agreed; but I guess Elvis gave Ranger the idea because the next thing I knew we were standing in front of a minister saying 'I do'"
"Then?" Connie said.
"Then we went back to the hotel room to make it legal." And we made it legal again and again and again. I felt a goofy smile creep over my face. Ranger didn't need Vegas for magic. Ranger was magic. Connie and Lula started fanning themselves at the thought.
"I thought you got hives when you talked about marriage?" Lula finally asked.
"Apparently not if you sneak it up on me," I said with a shrug.
"Thought you said, he said, he didn't do relationships?" Connie said.
"Things change," Ranger said directly behind me. We all jumped. Normally I can sense Ranger but I think the electricity in the air must have messed with my Range-dar. He dropped a kiss on the back of my neck and gave my ponytail a playful tug. "Anything new for me?" He asked Connie. Same old. Same old. He was acting like nothing had happened but he was sporting a cat ate the canary evil grin.
Connie cut her eyes to his left hand where he was wearing a simple platinum band. Connie's eyes widened, at the confirmation that Ranger and I were indeed hitched, and she slowly shook her head. Either she was answering Ranger's question or she was shaking her head in disbelief. Either way it pissed me off, just a little bit. These were two of my best friends, as if they didn't believe me!
I gave her a look and stomped my foot causing Ranger's grin to widen. As if to further cement his confirmation, Ranger turned to me and kissed me hello properly, and then tucked a curl behind my ear. His hand lingered to caress my cheek, as he ignored everyone else in the room.
"Are you sure you don't want me to go with you?" he asked.
"I'm sure," I said, "I don't want to have to stun gun you guys again."
Ranger cocked an eyebrow like he was thinking about saying something and then thought better of it. "Do you have a plan, or should I take you back to Rangeman so you can pick out a new car to be your next victim?" There was no censure in his voice, only mild teasing. I say mild because with my track record, it was entirely likely that whatever I did pick would likely be toast before the end of the week. I didn't know whether I wanted to smile at his comment or cringe, I opted for a resigned sigh.
"I'll give the cars a reprieve for now. Take me back to my apartment; the Buick is still there and still indestructible. I'll shower, do what I need to do, and meet you at my parents place for dinner?"
"Let's roll."
Marriage hadn't made him especially loquacious. He put his arm around my waist resting his hand possessively on my hip and led me out of the building to the waiting Cayenne.
I hadn't exactly planned to tell Connie, Lula and Vinnie that Ranger and I decided to be a Vegas cliche; There were other people who needed to hear it first. The problem was, I'd just spent a couple of nights with Ranger, and this morning, before he went to work, he'd decided I needed to fully appreciate what it was like to wake up next to him every morning. I wasn't going to be seeing my parents until that night, and I couldn't just go over, early because they weren't going to be home for most of the day.
I needed to drop some capture papers off at the office, and there was absolutely no way I was going to be able to keep Connie and Lula from badgering me for details. I considered lying to them, but I wasn't comfortable with it, and avoiding the bonds office, would only piss them off. Ranger's solution had been to give me a toe curling kiss, put me in the Turbo, and said to test the waters by telling them.
I said I'd think about it.
They knew something was up the minute I stepped out of Ranger's car, and walked into the Bonds Office wearing a necklace that had been a gift from Ranger, at the start of the trip. Forget the wedding rings, the necklace was basically a billboard that advertised I'd chosen Ranger over Morelli.
I tried to be all cool and pretend I didn't notice their desperation to know what was going on, and took a doughnut from the box on Connie's desk, flashing my rings. "Got any new files for me?" I asked. Connie had slammed her coffee cup down on her desk, and snatched my left hand.
"What the fuck is that?"
"Oh those?" I said, glancing at my rings, "Ranger and I got married in Vegas." That's when Lula had stopped mid chicken wing, and Vinnie had come out of his office, looking like he would have been less surprised if someone had walked into his office and slapped him with a sandwich. At that point I swore them all to secrecy.
Ranger's grandmother, the drunk couple in line behind us at the quickie wedding place, and the Minister that married us, knew we were married and that was it. I had no doubt that by the end of the day, everyone would know what had happened, but I needed to tell Joe first; I didn't want him to hear it second hand. I only hoped that I would get to him before Connie and Lula's secrecy tolerance finally gave out and they started calling everyone they knew. I suspected that I had about 40 minutes before my mother started calling me.
I was going home to shower and change and then I was going to go to Joe's house to tell him about Vegas. I didn't think it would be a good idea to show up on his doorstep dressed like Rangeman Barbie, only to tell him that I was married to someone he considered a thug who was a few fries short of a happy meal. Someone whose name was strategically embroidered on my breast.
It would be the equivalent of saying, "Welcome to Dumpsville. Population: You."
We rode silently to my utilitarian apartment building. Ranger was in his zone and I was trying to channel his zen like calm while trying to figure out what the hell I was going to say to Morelli. Truth is, I didn't have a clue. I was still reeling from what happened in Vegas.
Let me go back a bit.
It all started a couple of months ago when Joe and I had a fight. To be honest I couldn't even tell you what it was about. It might have been how tight he had Bob's collar or it could have been about the colour of the sky, who knows? The fight itself wasn't important. It was part of our pattern, things would get serious and it became time to sabotage the relationship. At first it didn't feel like it was any different than the fifty other times we'd done it, but on the drive home, I realized that I was just done. I didn't want to play this game anymore, and I decided that this time, it was permanent. With that realization came a feeling of a sort of sad relief that it was finally over. I was certain that once we had a chance to cool off, we could discuss it like adults and he would see that we were better friends than lovers.
Then three days ago I stormed into my apartment after yet another fight with him. We hadn't really said more than a few words to each other since the fight, but things between us seemed to becoming less frosty. Then I brought in my latest FTA and he happened to be standing there when I walked in, looking less than glamourous. He couldn't help himself, and before I knew it, we were yelling at each other in the parking lot of TPD and I ended up telling him do some anatomically improbable things with his anatomy, and drove off flipping him the bird as I pulled out of the lot.
I was still simmering when I stomped into my apartment. "Shit! Fuck! Fuck! Fucking Shit!" I felt that a string of curses was the best way to get things off my chest. I'd apologize to God and my mother later after I'd had a shower. I didn't feel all that much better yet and was about to try swearing in Italian and sneezed instead.
"You're cookie jar is empty; anything you want to tell me about?" I only just managed to not jump out of my skin. Ranger was leaning against my counter waiting for me to be home. I hadn't seen him since the night after I broke up with Morelli. I'd been watching television, when he came in with a bottle of nice wine, dinner, and a box of condoms. He'd walked into my bedroom and dropped them in my nightstand drawer, then fed me. I'd teased him about the presumptuousness of the box, and he told me that he was going away for what could be a while and he wanted to make that night count.
If anything could have made me believe it was really over with Morelli it was that night. Ranger and I had slept together periodically before but there was something about that night that was different, special. Usually, when he just disappeared after a night together, but the next morning, he woke me up to kiss me goodbye, and promised me, he would be back. Then the wind took him away for two months. It had taken me a full day to recover from that night. Not because I was depressed either, Ranger made a promise to be back, so I had complete faith that he would be. No, I actually needed to physically recover. After he left, I went back to bed and woke up 24 hours later, hungry, stiff, thinking, 'Joe who?' and wondering if we really did use up the whole box of condoms.
When I saw him standing there in my kitchen, his skin a little darker from the sun, his hair a little longer, and what looked like a new scar on his right forearm, I was so happy to see him, that I'd completely forgotten about my argument with Joe.
"I don't have a gun anymore." I said and blew out a sigh. So it wasn't quite the traditional meeting of lovers. That was okay; we weren't traditional. In fairness I would have rushed into his arms and kissed him but I wasn't exactly what you would call attractive or even clean at the moment.
He stared at me, waiting for me to continue. Thinking about smiling.
"I was trying to bring down a skip and I ran out of bullets, " I said, earning a raised eyebrow in response. "Okay so I didn't have any bullets in my gun but I think it's a big step up for me that I was even carrying it!" His lips twitched, "He was too far away to hit him with my purse or my stungun so I threw my gun at him."
"And?"
"It hit him in the head and stunned him enough that Lula was able to flatten him with a body slam and I got the cuffs on him while he was trying to suck air back into his lungs."
"The part about not having a gun?"
"Did I mention this happened at a construction site?"
He said nothing. Given my current appearance the only other obvious choices were bakery or mill.
"It landed in a wheelbarrow of wet cement."
He gave a sort of smile and then ran some water in the sink and wet a paper towel. He wiped some of the plaster dust off of my face and kissed me hello without actually touching the rest of my body. The effect on me was the same as if he had plastered himself to me. Uhh no pun intended.
"Someone needs to take a dust buster to you Babe," he said when he broke the kiss. I sighed. I knew. The skip had decided to use a shopvac's blower function as a weapon. The canister had been full of drywall dust.
"Are you volunteering?" That got me the full 200 watts. He found a jug of white vinegar under the sink poured some into a bowl and handed the jug to me.
"Not this time. The vinegar will help get all of the dust off of you; I'll take care of your floor. Go take a shower. Then I want to buy you lunch and discuss a job I need you for."
I didn't want food yet. I smiled in what I hoped was a suggestive manner, which is pretty hard to pull off when you looked like a powdered doughnut "Can't we start with dessert?"
"No." He said, his eyes dilated fully black, "Because once I get you into bed you aren't leaving it for at least a day and this job is time sensitive, so we're on a schedule. When it's over, all bets are off."
He kissed me again, and this time it was a promise of very good things to come. When he broke the kiss, I beamed at him, and then practically sprinted to the shower. I wanted to get this done as quickly as possible.
The shower took longer than I thought it would, because once I washed the plaster off, I developed a weird film on my skin. The vinegar got rid of the residue, but then I smelled like French fries and it took half a bottle of strawberry scented body before I no longer smelled like fast food. I got out and found jeans, a t-shirt, a fresh bra and underwear already laid out for me on the bed. I shrugged at this control freakery, because it saved me from having to ask him what to wear. Probably he was going to use up his entire daily word quota while talking to me over lunch, and didn't want to have to waste words on trivial matters like wardrobe. I looked closer at the jeans. They were True Religion, the T-shirt was some designer I had never heard of before, the slim black belt was Gucci and the underwear was LaPerla. They weren't mine and they certainly weren't in my budget. I was too broke to even breathe the air that this budget belonged to.
At this point I had two choices; I could argue with Ranger for buying me expensive clothes while I was only wearing a towel, which could lead to some fun times in bed, and me wearing the clothes anyway or trust him, put on the clothes he wanted me to wear, eat lunch and then go to bed when we were done whatever job, and didn't need to rush. My stomach growled making the decision for me. I needed energy to keep up with Ranger in the sack so I had to eat.
I put on the top, it was a light weight high thread count cotton and extremely comfortable. It almost reminded me of Ranger's sheets. The jeans were soft and supple and hugged my ass perfectly. Okay so everything fit like a glove and I loved it all. I found some black ballet flats to go with it, and walked out of the bedroom.
I found Ranger in the kitchen, heating up a couple of plates of food in the microwave. We really were on a tight schedule, if Ranger had food dropped off because I was taking so long in the shower. Ranger knew that mealtimes were not times for discussion in the Plum family. You sat down, you ate and you didn't waste time talking and risk letting your food get cold. Not being a man of many words anyway, this suited Ranger just fine. When we were finished he cleared the two plates and put them in the dishwasher, and dropped a bit of leftover salad into my hamster Rex's cage. Gotta love a man who thinks of your pets.
"Feel like going to Vegas?" He asked, leaning up against the counter while I grabbed us two fresh bottles of water from the fridge.
"I thought you couldn't go to Vegas because of some weapons violation?"
"It's been cleared up," he said with a minute shrug. I looked over his shoulder out the window. It was gross outside, the sky was grey and soupy looking and according to the radio this morning, we were supposed to get a whole bunch of bad weather. The idea of a couple of days in the desert sounded good to me; especially if I was going to be sharing a bed and room service with Ranger.
"I'm always up for Vegas," I said. "What am I doing?"
"I need bait to help bring in someone who needs to be off of the streets yesterday. Our friend has a favourite blackjack table. He usually camps at the table for about a day, picks up a girl, and then he disappears off of the face of the earth, for months at a time."
"And the girl?"
"Turns up a couple of days later with significant memory loss, a shit load of roofies in her system and a brand new STD."
"Yikes," I cringed.
"The Feds don't have the time to devote to this, considering his long cooling off period, so they've asked us to look into it. We have a bead on him, and the casino would very much like us to take him down discretely. That's where you come in."
"You want me to put myself in his way and get him out of the casino."
"I do," he said, "We'll have eyes on you the whole time." I knew he would so I had no problem with it. Knowing Ranger though we wouldn't be having any fun in Vegas so I had a condition.
"I don't want money for this. I'll do this If you take me to a magic show AND Cirque Du Soleil while we are there."
He tossed an envelope onto the counter. I opened it up to find two tickets to see Chriss Angel's Believe with Cirque Du Soleil. There were days where I really did believe Ranger had ESP.
"That's cheating; it's one show."
"I'm a busy man; it's efficient," he reasoned and folded his arms across his chest.
"Let me pack."
"Ella has already taken care of it," he said.
I wasn't really surprised by that revelation, as there really wasn't any question as to whether or not I'd say yes to this, and we both knew it. I stood up and emptied most of the contents of my purse into my cookie jar. Stun gun, brass knuckles, cuffs, maglight, pepper spray and nail file; can't take any of that stuff on a plane. My purse was much lighter when I hitched it onto my shoulder. I turned around and Ranger was standing right there with a full 200 watt smile on his face.
'I love you," he said and then he kissed me before I could respond to this completely unexpected declaration. His hand slid up the back of my shirt, gently pulling me closer to his body. Things were starting to get really interesting, as in he'd put me on the counter and was standing between my legs and there was some serious groping going on. I had his shirt untucked and my hands at his belt when suddenly he pulled away with his gun in hand. I jumped off the counter and reached for my cookie jar. This got a small smile. He relaxed as quickly as he had gone into action and put his gun back in the waistband of his jeans. I realized why when Joe walked in.
"What are you doing here?" Joe demanded while looking at Ranger.
Ranger said nothing; he wouldn't talk to Joe if he was yelling. Ranger only responded to angry Joe if angry Joe threw a punch and then all bets were off. Joe turned to me, "What the Hell Stephanie? Is this why you have been avoiding my calls? We've been broken up for an hour and you are all ready to just hop into bed with him?"
I did the mother of all eye rolls. Ranger cocked an eyebrow at me and probably wondering if he was poaching. He didn't appear to be concerned either way; I flashed him a small smile before turning back to Joe.
"No, he just got back into town and he wants my help with a take down. And for the record we have been broken up for two months, not an hour." I neglected to tell Morelli about the night Ranger left and the send off I gave him because I actually did just fall into bed with Ranger. I refused to feel guilty about it though.
"No! I won't allow it!" Joe shouted. I wasn't sure if he was referring to being broken up or me going anywhere with Ranger. There was really only one thing I could say to that anyway.
"You can't tell me what to do!" I narrowly avoided stomping my foot and shouting "You're not the boss of me!"
"Where is this takedown?" he snapped.
"Out of town," I hedged and gave Ranger a sideways look. I wasn't sure how much information he wanted to share.
"What the fuck? Are you talking like him now too?"
"Las Vegas," Ranger said, correctly interpreting my evasiveness.
"Why her?" Joe asked.
"I need a woman for this job; she's a skilled bounty hunter and she has worked well with my team in the past."
Hold the phone! Ranger thinks I am a skilled bounty hunter?!
"You have a very high capture rate Babe."
"She's lucky," Joe said dismissively, "Did you see what happened at that job site today?"
"Yeah I did. I didn't say she was graceful but she gets the job done," Ranger said.
Hey! I nudged him in the ribs with my elbow. He almost smirked and then he checked his watch, "We have to leave in five minutes; I'll be downstairs when you are ready." He kissed me briefly, but thoroughly, deliberately baiting Joe and made for the door.
"You need to hire more women so you don't have to keep asking her," Morelli snapped, "She probably costs your company a fortune."
Ranger turned and shrugged before walking backwards out the door. I glared at Morelli and picked up my purse.
"You aren't going," He said again. I brushed passed him and put my hand on the door knob to follow Ranger. "I said you aren't going! He's dangerous." Morelli yelled and grabbed my arm firmly above the elbow halting my exit, and dragged me away from the door
"Hey! Ow that hurts Joe. Let me go." I tried to pull my arm free and just like that Ranger was back in the room standing between Joe and I. He grabbed Joe by the wrist in a tight grip, and I saw a muscle tick in his jaw but his voice was calm when he spoke.
"You might want to rethink touching her while you are angry." He said.
Morelli dropped my arm andRanger released him. Joe rubbed his wrist and I was betting he was going to have some bruising there. Well screw him! My arm was going to be bruised. I rubbed my bicep a bit.
"I didn't mean to hurt her, I've never hurt her before, and I'd never do anything to her, and you know it." Joe glared at Ranger.
"There are many different kinds of hurt Morelli," Ranger said. He lifted the sleeve of my t-shirt and examined me to make sure I was fine. I could have told him that I was okay but he would have looked anyways. He always has to check for himself to see that I am in one piece. This didn't go unnoticed by Joe who glowered at us.
"I'm going," I said firmly, "We don't want to miss our flight." I for the door again; this time Ranger kept himself between Joe and I.
"Try not to blow up any casinos," Joe called to my back, "I like Vegas." I flipped him the bird over my shoulder in response.
"Lock up when you leave." Ranger said.
RSRSRSRS
"This is easy Beautiful; all you have to do is go flirt with the man and get him to take you home." Lester Santos said. It wasn't my first time as bait but I had jitters anyway.
"What if he puts something in my drink?" I asked.
"I'll be watching your drink, I'll tell you if he does." Bobby said, "No worries."
"I'll be nearby the whole time, in case you get into trouble," Ranger said directly behind me. I resisted the urge to lean into him. "Get him out of the casino and we will do the rest."
He glanced around the room at Lester, Bobby and Tank and they cleared out of the suite. He stuck his hand inside my top leaving a cool metal disk inside my bra. He brushed his thumb over my nipple and I bit back a moan. "Tracking device." he said. He then found a space for my wire in the other cup of my bra, again becoming distracted by my breasts, and I was all for saying, 'Fuck the bust. Let's stay in here forever.' I might have said that out loud because he chuckled and then switched on my mic. He rearranged my top again while I collected myself. I was wearing a low cut spangly black tank top and a pair of very tight, black, skinny jeans. When I leaned forward you got a glimpse of the black lace bra I was wearing and when I bent down my matching thong showed. In short, I was super classy.
Ranger slipped a chain around my throat and did up the clasp. His fingers grazed the nape of my neck and my whole body reacted. He promised to get me into bed and keep me there but we had yet to come into any kind of proximity to one since he made that particular vow, and I was beside myself. His little caresses and mild groping weren't exactly helping things.
"Back up tracking device and panic button," He explained as he stroked the cool metal pendant, at the hollow of my throat. I couldn't see what it was around my neck, and I wanted to go look in the mirror. Ranger had other ideas, because he snagged me around the middle, and tugged me back to him, my back to his front. He nuzzled behind my ear and grasped the lobe between his teeth and tugged gently. I tilted my head to give him better access to my neck, I felt his phone vibrate and he released me to answer it.
"Yo." Then proceeded to do some delicious multitasking, kissing me stupid, while he listened to whoever was on the phone. With one last gentle nip to my lip, he hung up without saying another word. He put his phone in his jacket pocket, "Showtime." he said.
He led me into the corridor outside of our suite and pressed the call button for the elevator. When it got there he kissed me and put me in it and then stepped back out.
"Go get em Tiger," he said. I grinned and blew him a kiss as the doors closed.
The plan was pretty straightforward; I was to play the penny slot machines for a few minutes and then he would come down in another elevator. Once I saw him I would go to the Black Jack table where our target, Francois Depuis, would be playing cards. I would offer myself up to him on a platter and away we would go. I waited for the elevator to take me to the floor of the Bellagio casino and caught my reflection in the elevator door and burst out laughing. My pendant was a small silver Batman emblem; Ranger had given me a Batsignal. I was still smiling as I stepped out of the elevator.
I'd fed about $20 into the slot machine before I finally saw Ranger exit the elevator and he didn't look happy about whatever it was that had delayed him. He saw me and some of the tension left his face and he gave me an encouraging almost smile. Thus fortified I made a show of being disgusted with the machine and walked over to the Blackjack table. I brushed my breasts against Depuis' back as I took my seat.
"Oh sorry!" I said when he turned to look at me.
His gaze ran up and down my body for a second. He leant back in his seat to check out my posterior. Subtle.
"Nice ass Blue Eyes; too bad your tits are too small." He said and went back to his cards. Shit! Now what do I do?
I heard snickering through the small earwig I had in my left ear. Shut up Les.
"Improvise," Rangers disconnected voice said in my ear. Following orders, I reached into my purse and pulled out a bottle of over the counter eye drops and squirted some into Dupuis' drink. I figured it was only fair what with the roofies and all.
20 minutes and a few lucky hands of blackjack on my part later, Dupuis took off like a shot for the little boys room. I waited outside of the mens room door until I was sure he was probably on the toilet. I pulled my semi legal, bought on the internet, BEA badge out of my purse just in case anyone else was in there with Dupuis. I opened the door and slipped in and showed my badge to a guy at the sink. I indicated that I wanted to know if there was anyone else in there with him and he pointed to the centre stall. He hurried out of the bathroom, leaving me with, the only other person in the bathroom and had to be Dupuis. I pulled the stun gun Ranger had given me back in the suite out, of my purse, grabbed a towel from the counter, dropped it down on the floor and knelt down on the towel in front of the stall. I don't care if we were in the Bellagio, men are gross and there was no way my bare knees were touching that floor. I prayed that I wasn't going to zap an unsuspecting victim and tagged him in the ankle. He farted and went inert. Okay, I got him incapacitated. Now what?
I went into the adjoining stall and climbed up onto the toilet and peaked over the wall. It was Dupuis… Thank God. I hoisted myself overtop of the stall; not an easy feat in ridiculously tight skinny jeans and heels. I may have cursed a couple of times but I finally made it into the stall with him.
"Are you alright Little Girl?" Tank asked with barely controlled laughter in his voice. My cursing had been a little inventive. I put some flexi cuffs on Dupuis and unlocked the stall door.
"Yeah I'm good. We're in the mens room and I could use a hand," I said and went to wash my hands. Moments later Bobby, Ranger, Tank and Lester came in with weapons drawn. They stared in horror at Dupuis on the toilet. His pants were still around his ankles and his head was resting on the roll of toilet paper.
"You guys can take it from here right?" I asked sweetly and sashayed past them.
"That's just cold," Tank said as he motioned for Lester and Bobby to haul Dupuis to his feet and fix his pants.
"Babe," Ranger said. He was smiling as he held the door for me and we walked out of the mens room together. A few minutes later, we were back in the suite, where Ranger was removed the electronics from my person.
"So now what?" I asked breathlessly after Ranger had removed the mic and tracking device and mic from my bra. Is it my fault that he had to feel around for the tracking device for a while? Nooope. Did I complain that he may have taken longer than necessary to find said device? No again.
"Now," he whispered in my ear, "The guys take Dupuis back on the next flight home, where they turn him in to TPD for questioning in regards to another case."
"But what about the show? You bought me tickets to a show and I..." he put his index finger on my lips and I instantly shut up.
"The guys take the next flight home. Your show isn't until later tonight, so we'll leave tomorrow. Get changed into something nice and I'll buy you dinner before we go." He kissed me softly and stepped back. I probably could have been persuaded to miss the show, or skip dinner or…"I'd love to Babe but I have some work to do and I have a meeting with hotel security in a few minutes. Don't worry, I'll get you into bed before the end of the night and you won't be disappointed." He gave me a look that warmed me all the way to the tip of my toes. Yup tonight was going to be goood.
I slipped into the bedroom and found the suitcase that Ella had packed. She'd filled the bag with black clothes for any occasion. Since I was working for Rangeman on this takedown, it had to be all black all the time. Even the underwear was black. I sighed. I was tempted to tell Ranger that I was going to run down to the hotel lobby so I could go shopping for something with a little colour when I caught a glimpse of white at the bottom of the bag.
It turned out to be a simple, white cocktail dress. Thankfully I didn't need to do anything about my makeup because with my luck I would get some on the dress during the application process. I shucked all of my clothes, including my black underwear and pulled on the dress. I looked in the bag and found a pair of silver heeled sandals to go with it and changed my shoes.
I fluffed up my hair and then took appraisal of myself in the mirror.
The dress was almost indecently short and lightly skimmed my body. It was a good thing I wasn't wearing any underwear or you would have been able to see panty lines through the light weight silk. I turned around to check out my ass.
"Oh my god!" I squeaked.
The dress was a very low backless. Another inch and my ass would be hanging out. I ran over to the desk and grabbed the chair. I dragged it and put it sideways in front of the mirror. I sat down and used my compact to see just how full the moon was when I sat down.
Miraculously the dress seemed to stay in place. I stood up again and smoothed the fabric, wondering at Ella's ability to make me look sexy with simple looking clothes. The lack of fabric, should have made the dress look slutty, but it didn't. It suggested more than it showed, and I was willing to bet it would meet Ranger's definition, of 'something nice.'
I heard the door open and turned as Ranger walked into the room. He stilled immediately and didn't say anything.
"Do you like it?" I asked nervously.
His voice dropped an octave, "Babe."
I took it to mean yes. His stare had me rooted to the spot until he motioned for me to twirl in front of him. He still didn't comment about the dress, but the look he was giving me had my heart racing. "You're still wearing the necklace." he noted and I blushed. I was feeling oddly nervous, under his stare. He strolled towards me and put his hand on my bare back and I had to work hard at remembering to breathe.
"I like my own personal Bat signal. It means I know you'll always be there when I need you," I said in a small voice.
He smiled warmly at me and drew me closer, his teeth tugged at the lobe of my left ear and it was good thing he was holding me up, because my knees had given out. "I'll always be there; necklace, or no necklace," He whispered.
"D-did you want it back?" I asked nervously.
"Keep it," he said and chastely kissed my temple, "Come on, we're going to be late for our reservation."
After dinner and the show, Ranger and I walked down the strip enjoying the lights of Las Vegas from street level. Ranger had his arm draped possessively around my shoulders and was holding me close as we walked down the busy strip. It was nice. It was peaceful even, if you ignored the various men shouting at us, trying to pass us cards advertising casinos and strippers. We were standing outside the Venetian, when Elvis stepped out in front of us and basically forced Ranger to take his flyer. Ranger looked at the flyer and sort of half nodded at Elvis and we walked on.
Ranger handed the paper to me and said, "Well you are wearing a white dress." I looked down at a flyer for a quickie wedding chapel.
I laughed, wishing, to my surprise, that it wasn't a joke,"Too bad we don't have any rings."
I hoped that I'd sounded flippant and that I'd managed to keep the regret out of my voice. We walked a little longer and went into the Venetian because I wanted to see the canal boats. Ranger excused himself for a few minutes, probably to go find the little Bat's room. He was gone a long time and I was just starting to wonder where he had gotten to when I felt him standing behind me. I leaned against him and he wrapped one arm around my waist and reached into his pocket with his free hand.
He held an open box up in front of my face. It wasn't just any box; it was Cartier ring box with a gorgeous table cut diamond ring inside. For the second time that night, it was a good thing he was holding me up because my knees went weak. Not from fear, more from shock that Ranger had, in the last 48 hours, told me he loved me and was now holding an engagement ring in front of my face.
"Now you have a white dress and a ring. Need anything else?"
There were, in fact, three rings; his wedding band, my wedding band (a slimmer version of his) and the engagement ring. We found the quickie wedding chapel from the flyer, and went inside to look at ceremony options. We chose not to get married by Elvis, opting for a simple ceremony, and then we sat in the pews as we watched three couples get married ahead of us. The wait did nothing to add to my nerves, or take the shine of the spontaneity of the situation. Instead, it just made it so that I was bubbling with excitement, when we said our vows. I was smiling so hard that my cheeks hurt, as Ranger said his vows, and when we kissed, he held me tighter than he'd done in a long time.
Our wedding night had been spectacular, and we'd missed our flight the next morning, deciding that room service, lack of interruption, and a massive bed, were the perfect way to continue our celebration from the night before. Ranger booked us on a red eye for that night, and we very nearly missed that flight as well.
I had only one regret about the whole thing and it was Joe. There was no easing him into this. No dating, followed by an engagement and then a wedding. Just a BAM! Stephanie and Ranger are married. Yes Joe had been an ass; yes he and I were through but he didn't deserve to find out about it through the Burg grapevine and I knew that as soon as we told anyone it would go through the Burg like wildfire. He would find out today and I was sure it wasn't going to go over well. I just wanted to get to him first.
We pulled into a parking space in front of my apartment building. How Ranger always managed to get a spot right near the door, I'll never know. I was about to get out of the car, when I spotted Morelli's jeep in the lot and thunked my head on the dash a few times. Ranger grabbed my pony tail to stop my attempts at self concussion.
"Want me to wait here?" he asked. I shook my head no; I really didn't want a repeat of Hawaii.
I reluctantly got out of the SUV and stepped directly into a stream of greyish water that seemed to be flowing from the dumpster and my shoulders slumped. Perfect. As I was walking towards the building Ranger called out, "Hey Manoso!" I turned at the sound of his voice and grinned when I realized what he had called me, "Looks good on you Babe." He was smiling his zillion watt smile and I forgot to care about the rain and the stream of I don't wanna know that was rapidly becoming a lake. My own smile lasted until I made it into the building where I discovered the elevator was out of order and someone was working on it. I was wet from the rain and I was tired.
I grumbled as I took the stairs to the second floor, my sneakers squelching as I took each step. They were probably trash after that puddle. I stood outside my door contemplating this and trying to delay the inevitable. Destroyed shoes, and soggy clothing, notwithstanding, I was really happy and the last thing I wanted was have this argument. What I really wanted was to go on a real honeymoon with Ranger. I knew what he was like in a tropical location and I wanted a repeat performance; this time as a real married couple instead of just pretending. Just a week of me and Ranger and a beach. I sighed and then fished out my keys.
I opened the door and heard the sound of dog nails scratching against tile, in a bid for traction, and I braced for impact as Joe's dog Bob came hurtling towards me. After the initial impact I crouched and gave the wiggly yellow wookie a big hug. "How's my boy?" I asked him and scratched his ears, looking for his owner. I saw the duffle on the floor. Joe was expecting to spend the night.
"Bob missed you," Joe said warmly and took a step towards me before his eyes rested on my chest, "Nice outfit." he added sarcastically. The friendliness in his voice immediately dissipating.
"I was working and this is my uniform. I told you I was going to start working full time for him. He pays better than Vinnie and I use half of his security staff for my bigger cases anyways. They might as well get some credit for it," I said, trying to keep my cool.
"Is Ranger insured?" Here's the thing about Joe, he's a good guy; he really is. He's just under a lot of pressure and it has a tendency to turn him into a bit of a dick. This often leads to massive fights where I'm just as big an asshole as he is and then we have a few tense encounters where we make up by drinking beer and watching TV before eventually falling back into bed together. He probably was thinking that by being here he had done his part to say he was sorry for being a jerk.
"Don't be like that," I said heavily as I tossed my keys and bag onto the counter.
"Whatever," je said with a scowl, "How was Vegas? Blow anything up?"
"No," I said primly, "As a matter of fact things didn't go exactly to plan but I improvised and we got our guy with no damage to the Bellagio. I even remained perfectly clean."
"I saw Santos yesterday, and I dropped by last night to apologize. Where were you?"
"Ranger and I stayed so he could take me to dinner and a magic show. It was the deal we made for my assistance." Joe didn't have anything to say to that. He stalked to my fridge and grabbed two beers, and held one out to me. He took a second to do some deep breathing, trying to rein in his own temper. The implications of me staying behind with Ranger were pretty clear, or so he thought. There was no question that I'd slept with Ranger, and he was trying his damnedest not to fly off the handle. I'd done nothing wrong, and nothing would be served by being a jealous bastard. He turned to face me, and held out a conciliatory beer.
"Listen Cupcake, before you left I got a little out of line. I wanted to say that I am sorry and..." He stopped. I had taken it with my left hand without thinking and my rings had clinked on the bottle. Joe wrenched the bottle out of my grasp and grabbed my wrist so he could look at the rings. "What the fuck Stephanie? You pretended to get married?! Again?! That man looks for any excuse he can to stick his tongue down your throat." He might have been right about that last part. Ranger certainly liked to kiss me and he did say that he was an opportunist. He did take any chance he could get. Not that I had ever seriously complained.
"I suppose like last time, as part of your cover you just had to share a room? I suppose he told you that the room was bugged so you had to maintain your cover in there as well? Tell me, how many times has he used that excuse to get into your pants? I've heard all about how he is always the one to put on your wire. And all of those trips to the alley. Do you really have no clue what he's doing?"
I am pretty sure Joe could have kept mining that vein for some time but the vein in his forehead was starting to look a little, well, intense. I had to stop him before he had a stroke. Also I was getting mad. I mean I'm not helpless and sixteen and Ranger wasn't taking advantage of me. Unlike someone else in this room who did just and then wrote about it on the bathroom wall.
"Oh just shut up and stop waving your hands around. Seriously. You are spilling beer all over my kitchen!" I snapped, "Ranger didn't trick me in to doing anything. We didn't pretend to do anything. My job was to play Black Jack in a slutty outfit and try to get some guy to follow me out of the casino. That was it."
"And I'm sure he had nothing to do with wiring you for the job." his voice was dripping with sarcasm.
"Have you ever had a woman rig your wire? Why should it be different for me?" and that's when the penny dropped and Morelli actually processed what I had said earlier. I knew he hadn't been listening to me.
"The rings are real?" He asked, suddenly quiet and very still. Not like a deflated regretful quiet but a dangerous, I kind of wish that Ranger had come up with me, kind of quiet. Then again if he had, well there would probably be a huge fight and blood is a bitch to get out of carpet. I didn't really think Joe would hurt me, but he had been drinking and historically, the Morelli temper, combined with booze was not exactly the recipe for rational, nonviolent behaviour. Smart Stephanie was saying, Diffuse the situation; let him down gently so he doesn't trash your kitchen.
"He wouldn't give me fakes," I said, because apparently Stupid Stephanie was in control of my mouth.
Morelli glared at me, "I meant, you really got married? Were you drunk?" He demanded slowly through gritted teeth.
"Yes we did. No, I wasn't drunk. Why do you think I have no brain or free will when it comes to Ranger? Do you think he hypnotizes me or something so that I am incapable of making any kind of rational decision?"
"Maybe because you do everything he has ever asked of you even if it's completely insane. Like I don't know, getting married in Vegas after one fucking date!"
"Joe, it's not like he's a stranger. He's probably the best friend I have ever had, and I didn't intentionally decide to fall in love with him. In fact we both thought it was a bad idea for a long time, and he kept telling me to fix things with you. I tried damn hard to do it too, because it would have been a hell of a lot easier to love one man and not two, but you can't just stop loving someone, because you want to. I'm sorry Joe, I really am, because I do love you, but the difference is…" my voice trailed off, what I was about to say, sounded awful. Whether it was the truth or not.
"Is what Cupcake? The difference is what? I've asked you to marry me half a dozen times and you won't even answer me. Tell me what the difference is!"
"I need him." I said quietly, "You kept asking me to give him up and I couldn't do that. I'm not sure I would know who I was without him. He doesn't want me to be anything that I'm not, and he just wants me to be happy doing whatever I want to do.
"And I what? Clipped your wings?" Joe scoffed.
"Yes! You wanted me to be something I'm not, and I tried to change for you, but I'm not cut out to be the Burg housewife with two kids and a dog. I know you realize that now, and I know you've been trying to change what you want, but you shouldn't have to. We're good friends Joe, we really are, and I like talking to you at the end of the day, and watching hockey with you, but we both know I could never be your wife."
"And you can be his?"
"Yes," I said. When Ranger asked me I had no doubt. I didn't even have to say yes. He knew it was right too. We'd danced around each other for so long, each of us coming up with excuses for why we couldn't be together. Each of us just needed to take the step that would knock down the walls we had built up. I took that step when we left Joe in my apartment, clearly choosing him over Joe. He took that step by getting the rings. Joe's expression turned from anger and disbelief to one of sadness as he realized the truth of that simple word.
"I don't know if I can accept just being your friend Cupcake," Joe said sadly. He called Bob over and snapped his leash onto his collar. Bob, for once looked subdued, sensing now wasn't exactly the time to be his goofy self. Joe kissed me roughly on the forehead and walked out of the apartment without saying goodbye. I locked the door behind him and walked into the kitchen and took a sip of the half empty beer and then picked up some paper towels and started cleaning up the beer Joe had spilled on the floor. I managed to get it all mopped up before I started to cry. I didn't regret marrying Ranger but that didn't mean I wasn't going to miss Joe.
RSRSRSRSRSRSRS
Morelli came out to the parking lot and walked over to the black Porsche Cayenne parked next to his jeep. Part of him wanted to bash the headlights in; instead he put Bob and the duffle into his Jeep and walked around to the passenger side of the Porsche and knocked on the window. The door clicked as it unlocked and Joe climbed in.
"You said you would let her come to you," Ranger said tossing his phone into the centre console after disconnecting. Hector was out of touch, Tank had just told him he'd been gone for about a week. He it was said business; with Hector that usually meant a body count.
"You weren't supposed to marry her," Joe shot back. Ranger did the whole no response response, "Are you going to stay married?"
"That's the plan," Ranger said.
"Why?"Joe asked, "Because of this shit?" Ranger stared impassively at the building. Morelli wasn't sure he was going to answer.
"No, we're going to stay married, because I need her. I love her." Ranger said after almost two minutes of silence. That was it. His only explanation!? Joe took a breath, and clenched his fist, resisting the urge to punch the dash, or Ranger.
"I thought we made an agreement when I called you? You were supposed to convince her to live in an apartment on Haywood. You were supposed to convince her to take a desk job. Instead you turned her into bait and then you wined her and dined her and married her."
"She didn't hesitate."
"What?!"
"She didn't hesitate; she didn't need to think it over for weeks. I told her I loved her, I asked, she said yes, we got married all in under two hours. She wasn't right for you Morelli."
"And she's right for you? With your crazy life? You trying to get her killed?" Joe asked without thinking. He was angry and having a hard time not cold cocking Ranger. What's he trying to do? Pour salt on the wound? Ranger didn't dignify the questions with so much as a twitch of a facial feature let alone a verbal response. They both knew he was too good to do anything without seriously weighing the consequences.
Not that Morelli knew about it, but even the DeChooch deal had been carefully thought out. It made her re-examine her relationship with Morelli and made her carefully think about what she wanted. Ranger was nothing if not patient. He was content to poach and steal moments where he could while she chose between the Burg and the kind of life he could offer her. He loved her, he needed her in his life but he wanted to make sure she fully understood what it meant before he offered it to her. He was certain after Orin tried to set fire to her, that she'd run, and he wouldn't have blamed her if she had. She'd done the opposite, and run towards him. That was when he decided to put the wheels in motion, to get into a position where he could start a life with her.
"Fine," Joe said, after staring out the window for a few minutes, waiting for a response from Ranger that wouldn't come, "I'll let you know what's going on with the investigation. Have you heard anything?"
"No. We've only been back for a couple of hours, but I have my men on it." Yeah but his best man had disappeared. Not the news he'd needed today. Hector's contacts were better than his.
"I've had to call in the Feds. Does she know about it yet?"
"No."
Ranger's terse answers were infuriating. He also hated that the whole time they had been talking Ranger had yet to make eye contact. The man was constantly on high alert. Joe was betting that he slept fully clothed and armed at all times. He bet they had sex while he had one hand on his gun. The thought of them together made Joe nauseous and he pushed the thought away to focus on the matter at hand.
"What are you going to do now?" Joe asked.
"Probably I'm going to go make sure that idiot isn't headed for Stephanie's apartment," Ranger replied and got out of the car.
Joe swore and called it in. A kid in baggy jeans who was obviously carrying and definitely didn't look like he belonged in this neighbourhood, had just ducked into the building behind an elevator repair man who was on his way out.
Ranger silently followed the punk into the building and watched him get into the elevator. He took the stairs two at a time and made it to the second floor before the elevator did. He watched the kid make his way to her apartment and saw him pull out a tool to pick the lock. Ranger pulled out his glock and casually leaned beside the door frame.
"You don't want to do that," he said casually. The punk stopped what he was doing and looked up at the black clad mercenary and paled. He reached for the weapon at his hip and in a flash Ranger him disarmed and pinned up against the wall.
"Not a good idea to go after my wife," he said conversationally. He was surprised at how naturally he words came his lips. He'd wanted her ever since she walked into the diner. Knew he'd wanted more than just sex with her when she called him while cuffed to her shower. Knew that he'd make her his when she called to ask him if he was okay when he was FTA. He may have wanted her to choose what she wanted but he wasn't beyond applying pressure. Morelli never really stood a chance now that he thought about it. All these years and Morelli thought that Stephanie needed to get Ranger out of her system when really it was the opposite. His blank face was firmly in place while these thoughts were passing through his head and the silence was causing the punk to become more and more intimidated. Making him talk would be easy.
A slow smile spread over Ranger's face as the image of a completely different woman popped into his head. She would whole heartedly approve of the mind games he was inadvertently playing because he was distracted by thoughts of Stephanie. He frowned she would have approved. Past tense Manoso. Past tense. As always, that particular realization was like a punch to the gut and he fought the breathlessness associated with her loss. The only way he'd been able to cope with her loss, and eventually come to terms with it, was Stephanie. Still there were moments, like this one, where a memory of her would push passed the carefully erected walls he kept all thoughts of her locked behind, and he felt like it would have been easier to lose his right arm, than her.
Ranger dragged the kid to the stairwell by the scruff of his neck more roughly than he might have otherwise because the combined thoughts of the threat against his wife and the thoughts of her had him in a state of barely controlled rage. He wasn't about to lose someone else that he loved if he could help it. Once he got to the stairwell he ordered himself to get a grip. He wasn't about to lose it in front of Morelli.
"Who ordered the hit?" He asked quietly, his voice devoid of anything, his eyes deadly serious.
"Nobody. I was just going for her TV," The punk said. He was young, very young.
Ranger slammed him up against the wall again and gently reminded the kid that he had a weapon, by brushing the barrel of his gun along the kid's jaw.
"Try again." His voice was still level.
"It's an initiation. The Slayers…" The kid's voice came out as a squeak.
"They're all dead," Morelli said arriving on the scene. He looked at Ranger, "The cavalries' coming."
"Don't need them," Ranger said, "The Slayers?"
"Change of management. They want her. The bitch is supposed to pay for what happened." Ranger accidentally punched him in the face.
"I didn't see that," Morelli said. He appeared to be fascinated by the exit sign above the door.
"He must have slipped," Ranger grinned and the punk swallowed hard.
"I hate when that happens," Morelli said, genially. They had always been able to work together where Stephanie was concerned. Mostly. Morelli looked at the punk who was now sporting a broken nose. "Talk to me. Who is calling the shots?"
"Someone from Cali," he said. He was taking the hit well; they had to give him that. He wasn't crying and he hadn't pissed himself.
"Has he got a name?" Morelli asked.
"You a fucking cop?" Ranger slipped again. He'd better talk soon, Morelli thought, or he's gonna need plastic surgery to fix what'll be left of his nose.
"Name," He commanded again while Ranger stood silently threatening the banger who was now sufficiently terrified. Maybe because Ranger's finger had curled around the trigger and his gun was pointed at the idiot's knee. More worryingly for the punk was that Morelli seemed to have selective blindness. Probably deafness too. Stephanie was involved and he might be pissed at her but he loved her and he was willing to let as many senses as necessary take a holiday if it got them the information faster.
"Big D."
Fuck! They both thought though neither one showed any change in expression.
"Do you know who I am?" Ranger asked. The kid nodded, "Make sure Big D knows who I am and what she is to me. Make sure he knows he doesn't want to mess with me."
Ranger released the kid who almost fell down the stairs trying to get away as fast as he could. Morelli and Ranger left the stairwell and walked toward Steph's apartment.
"Want to tell me why you let him go?" Morelli asked as Ranger stowed his gun.
"I have a reputation."
"Think that will deter them?"
"If they're smart." They walked back to her apartment and Joe pulled out his phone to call off the backup.
"I was a bit harsh with her," Morelli said and looked towards Stephanie's apartment, "I didn't mean to be. The being married thing threw me a bit."
"You touch her again?"
"No. I wouldn't have hurt her the first time either. Man give me a break; I'm not my father."
"Would you have taken that chance if it had been me that had grabbed her like that?"
"I guess not."
The problem was that Morelli knew there was no way Ranger would ever handle Stephanie roughly. He used other means of persuasion. If their roles had been reversed Steph wouldn't have gone to Vegas and they both knew it. All Ranger would have said was 'Babe, Please.' And she would have stayed. Her willingness to do anything for him should have been Morelli's first clue that she'd choose Ranger in the end and he wondered how he had missed it.
Morelli winced when he heard Stephanie crying through the door and a muscle worked in Ranger's jaw. He waited for Joe to turn away to talk to dispatch, before he picked the lock and removed the safety chain. When Joe turned around he was already inside. Fuck how did he do that?