Chapter two
I felt my knees go limp and would have fallen had Ranger not had a grip around my waist and the refrigerator was at by back. I just stared at him while the wheels were turning inside my head. I knew that I most definitely didn't want a repeat performance of our last encounter. I don't think that my heart can stand being a one night stand again. I also didn't want to be told that he didn't "do relationship" or that his lifestyle didn't "lend itself to relationships", or that he "loved me in his own way" or…….
"I smell rubber burning Babe," Ranger replied with that knowing smile as he ESPed me. So, distraction I decided was the best route. "Is this business or pleasure?" I replied coyly batting my eyelids. "Definitely playing with fire," he mumbled to himself. "How about if I said it was a little of both?" Ranger said pulling his shutters back down. "Hmm…,"I said playing with him a little bit, "Of course, Ranger I would love to go to dinner, provided there is more than twigs and bark…Do I get dessert?" I saw his shutters go back up and his eyes turn molten chocolate as he leaned into me and whispered seductively, "As much desert as you want, Babe". Oh Boy.
After kissing me senseless again, Ranger left to do whatever Batman does when he's not saving me. I looked into the parking lot to see that my car had returned. I took the elevator downstairs and decided that I needed to go to the bonds office and get Lula to go shopping…I had a very hot date.
Lula was all up for shopping, although I didn't tell her why exactly I was going shopping. She quickly figured it out, "Oooh you got a date with Batman. I saw you guys go off together and Supercop was actin all like he was mad and gave you that moon face when you walked off. But, Batman he's waaaay better." She started to fan herself. I hedged because I didn't exactly want to tell her it was a real date so I focused on the business part. "Well, it's actually business with dinner." I tried to reply nonchalantly. I really didn't want Lulu to make a big deal about this and blab it all over town. "Business, yeah monkey business," she replied with a smirk. Ok, well if anyone would really know about monkey business, it would be Lula. She was a former prostitute until one of my crazies decided to use her to try to scare me. It worked.
By the time that we got back to the bonds office, it really was too late to pick up any skips. So, I went home to get a nap and get ready for my date. The instant that I walked into my apartment, I knew…somebody had been here. The little hairs on the back of my neck stood up. I reached into my purse and found the bottle of hairspray and pulled it out. Fat lot of good it would probably do, but what's a girl to do, no pepper spray and no gun. I hate guns and rarely carry mine, I kept it stashed in the cookie jar like Rockford.
As I eased into the apartment, I could tell that some things on my desk had been rearranged, but other than that….nothing. I did the usual security check and found that nothing was missing and nothing was destroyed. This felt more like the time Dickie (my creep ex-husband) broke in and was looking for my Aunt Tootsies clock. He wanted said clock because it had the key to 40 million dollars of drug money inside it. I flipped out my cell phone and called Ranger.
"Yo", Ranger answered on the second ring.
"Have you been back to my apartment?" I asked hesitantly. He waited a heartbeat, "Babe, you know if I had been in your apartment, you wouldn't know that I had been there. Is there anything destroyed, missing from your apartment or written on your walls?" I chewed on my lips nervously, and replied, "Nothing, it's just that some things on my desk have been moved and …I don't know, it just feels like somebody has been in here." He waited a moment before saying, "Do you want me to come and check it out?" "No, …..no that won't be necessary, people break into my apartment all the time. I'll just put in the metal bolt thingy in the floor before I lay down for my nap," I replied after deciding that I was not realllly that worried. "Put your gun on your nightstand, and I will see you at 6:30, Babe," he said after being reassured that I would use the bolt thingy that he had had installed during my fiasco with Dehooch.
I sat down and consumed three of the five doughnuts that I bought at the Dunkin Donut in the mall and decided that if I wanted to fit in the dress I bought, I better leave the other two for later. I might need them to keep from throwing myself at Ranger. My jelly donut hormones might come out. Then I set my alarm for 4:30 and stretched out into my thinking position. I wasn't laying there long before I had no more thoughts of moved items on my desk. Instead, I was in the land of denial. Denial that I somehow hoped that this deal with Ranger consisted of more than doing the horizontal tango…however, the horizontal tango with Ranger was perfect and needed to be repeated and repeated often. But, alas, I still had the "Burg" upbringing that made feel that I had to have some type of relationship in order to even consider the horizontal tango. Crappy Burg upbinging.
The trouble with Ranger is that I feel a connection with him. I feel that we have "something". I just can't seem to read his thoughts on this matter as clearly as he reads mine. And then there was Joe. Where exactly was our relationship? In the toilet, I figured. However, I needed to have this time, this moment to explore where exactly that this "something" with Ranger was going. Yes, I loved him, but could we actually have something more? I didn't know and now my eyes were starting to close. I had no more thoughts until I was summons from dream land by my alarm clock.
Suddenly, very excited and nervous about my date, I jumped into the shower. I shaved all of the important parts. Maybe I should have not shaved so that I wouldn't be tempted to sleep with Ranger. But….I couldn't bring myself to not WANT to sleep with Ranger. It was probably best to not think about that right now. I finished my shower and began trying to tame my hair. I flipped over and dried the underneath side of my hair for volume, flipped and started using a round brush to dry my hair the rest of the way. I was very pleased with the results. My hair cascaded down my back is soft waves of chestnut hair.
I then went to the mirror and did some make-up magic and was just placing the last stroke of mascara when there was a soft knock on my door. Man of mystery didn't just let himself in??? Well that was definitely a change. I hurriedly slipped on my robe and went to the door, checking the peephole for Ranger.