The bell chimed when I walked into the building of my new workplace. I was working as the assistant filer at my aunt's cousin's bail bonds office. Technically I was the ONLY filer who actually filed anything because their filer was Lula, my aunt's best friend. She only did any filing when she had the motivation. Which was almost never.

My name is Melanie Plum. I was adopted by Valerie Plum-Kloughn and her husband Albert. I kept only the name Plum because high school is hell. Luckily, high school is now behind me and I am ready to start working. Val and Al tried to get me to go to college and I certainly could have gotten plenty of scholarships, but I didn't want to go to college. I was ready to stop with the tests and homework. I had also moved in with Aunt Steph's because she understands me. I love my parents but they are very smothering and I need my space.

I got started filing away skips that Stephanie, my aunt, had brought in with the help of Ranger and Lula. Lula and Stephanie were like Shaggy and Scooby. Ranger however, was Batman. And boy, he was hot…even if he was Lula and Steph's age. He also had a private security firm called Rangeman. Since Rangeman took up a lot of his time, he gave up bounty hunting, although he would help Steph whenever she or Lula got themselves in a pickle. They were currently talking about the skip Steph was hunting down this week when the door opened. My back was to the door but I turned after I realized the conversation had stopped.

There before me stood a man. I drew in a breath. He was tall and had curly dirty blonde hair. He looked about my age, 21, and was decked out in RangeMan gear. Black shirt, black cargo pants, black boots, even his sunglasses frame was black. He walked toward Connie's desk and said something. Luckily, Connie, Lula, and Steph, weren't idiots like me because they actually heard and responded to him. He removed his sunglasses and hung them on his shirt. I was staring, and unfortunately he noticed. He glanced at me and looked me over. My eyes widened and I quickly turned back around to my filing, but not before he shot me a knee-weakening grin.

My face was beet-red and I went back to filing. Or at least I was pretending to file. I could feel his eyes on my back every so often, so I put all the files into the same drawer so that I could go back later and fix it rather easily. After a few minutes, I heard him walk out the door and I collapsed into a chair. I then felt three pairs of eyes on me.

"What?" I asked. They all shared knowing looks.

"You got the hots for him," Lula said, "You wanna hit that, All, Night, Long." She said. Connie and Steph nodded in agreement with smirks on their faces.

"I haven't even met him yet! I have been in the same room with him for a few minutes, that's all," I said, a blush creeping its way across my face again. Lula hummed in response and I went to straightening out the drawer I had completely screwed up. A few minutes later Steph and Lula went out on a lead to catching Sammy Downey and it was just me and Connie.

"So, what's his name?" I asked, quietly as I walked to her desk to get a few more files. She smiled at me.

"His name is Damien," she said, "but he like his uncle prefers to go by a different name. Ryder." She pointed to the seat next to her, "It's time for you to take a break. Here is the lowdown. Ryder works for Ranger and has become RangeMan's new resident bounty hunter."

"So, he's going to be around here?" I squeaked out.

"Yep," she said, grinning wickedly, "And judging by the way he kept looking at you, he wants you too, as Lula so nicely put it, All, Night, Long." I took a deep breath.

"I don't see how. I look terrible today," It was true. I hadn't showered because I was up late the night before, marathon-ing Bones on Netflix. My hair was up in a messy bun, I wasn't wearing make-up, I had opted for my glasses rather than arguing with my contacts, and I was wearing paint-splattered jeans with a hoodie. It was a RangeMan hoodie that had "Ranger" on the back from when I had stayed for a week at the business office. I had been a target of a skip that liked stalking young women. Ranger was like…an overprotective brother to me, as was Steph's on/off boyfriend Morelli.

"You never look terrible," Connie said. "You always look beautiful." I rolled my eyes.

"Okay, Aunt Connie, whatever you say," I said. "I'm going to get some lunch, you want anything?"

"Turkey Club from Giovichinni's." She replied. I got us lunch and spent the rest of the day filing and daydreaming about Ryder.