It's a new day, it's a new dawn, it's a new year.
Thank you Margaret and Cindy for deeming this good to go. I hope it's not too sappy, as any of you who have read my stuff before know, I think Steph and Ranger should be together forever :).
Chapter Two — Romancing the Stone
For the second time in one day, the mechanism tumbled in my lock and someone opened my door. I was hoping it was Ranger; I certainly didn't want to see Joe now.
"Babe? Are you ok?"
"Ranger, I can't catch my breath," I hyperventilated.
"You need to get some carbon dioxide into your lungs. I want you to breathe slowly and just through one nostril. One breath every five seconds. Ok? Count with me," he said, putting my hand over one nostril and counting with me to five.
Finally my breathing slowed down and I collapsed into his arms.
"Ranger, thank you. I thought I was going to die. I couldn't get my breathing back to normal."
"It's ok Babe. How are you feeling now? Lightheaded?"
"Yeah, a little dizzy."
"I'm going to stay with you. I don't want to leave you alone."
I washed my face and got ready for bed. I knew Ranger would honor my wishes, but I also knew from past experience that he'd want to sleep in my bed. He just wasn't a couch kind of guy.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Ranger asked as I came out of the bathroom.
I shook my head no and grabbed a pillow. I held it tight to my body and I could feel myself tensing up again. Maybe getting it off my chest would be a good idea.
"Yes," I said finally. "After you left I called Mary Lou, and Lenny told me the same thing you did, so I called Joe."
Ranger didn't say anything, but let me continue.
"He was all out of breath like he'd been, well, you know, like he'd been…and he was denying it. God damn him. He told me he was chasing down criminals. I told him I knew and I probably told him to fuck himself or something like that and then I slammed the phone down. I don't remember anything else. I couldn't breathe and then you were here."
"Babe you called me."
"You said to call you if I needed you."
"I'm glad you called," he said softly, tucking a curl behind my ear. "Let's get some sleep. We can talk about this again in the morning if you want."
I slept pretty well considering the events right before bedtime and I woke up knowing I wasn't alone. For a minute I thought it was Joe, but then everything came back to me and I let myself lean into the warm body behind me. I felt arms come around me and hold me tight.
"Babe. How are you?"
"Good morning Ranger. I think I'm ok. Thank you for being there for me."
"You needed me. Do you have any plans for today?" he asked, turning me towards him and lifting a curl out of my face.
"Not really. Vinnie closed the office until after New Year's so he and Lucielle could go on a cruise. And unless you have some searches for me to run for Rangeman, I've got an empty plate."
"Would you like to go to the mall to look for a dress and shoes for New Year's Eve?"
"Are you offering to go with me?" I asked slightly suspicious of Ranger's intentions.
"I'll make you a deal. I'll take you to the mall if you'll go to the movies with me afterwards. I really want to see the new Quentin Tarentino film and I don't necessarily feel like going by myself."
"Django?"
"Yeah Babe. It opens today."
Well I liked Jamie Foxx, so sure, why not?
"OK, you have a deal."
"Why don't you shower and get ready and I'll take you out to breakfast first."
"No gym this morning?"
"I'll go for a run while you're in the shower."
"Knew you couldn't stay away. Do you want a key so you can get back in?"
"Babe."
"Oops, sorry. I forgot. You have a way with locks."
I got up to take a shower and deal with my less than obedient hair. Once I had it under control, I added a couple of coats of mascara and I was ready to go. I had just put my makeup bag away when I heard my locks tumble. Ranger was back.
He looked so handsome. His well-cut hair was hanging damply over his forehead and he had beads of sweat covering his very muscular chest when he took off his T-shirt.
"Shower Babe. I'll be ten minutes."
And I was pretty sure I could set a timer to those ten minutes.
"Can I use some of this gel?" I heard him ask from the bathroom once the water stopped running.
"Of course Ranger. Feel free to use anything I have in there."
"I found an extra toothbrush," he called again. "I hope you don't mind that I opened it. We can pick you up another at the mall later."
"It's ok Ranger. My dentist gave me about six the last time I was in for a cleaning. I bet I have a few more somewhere."
"I just threw on these clothes when you called last night, so I don't think anything is dirty," he said coming out of my bathroom in just a towel and grabbing the clothes he left on the chair last night.
Ranger isn't shy about his body and I'd seen it all before on a number of occasions, so I was a little taken aback when he went into my bedroom with his clothes to change.
"Babe, are you ready?" He had used the hair gel that I use as an anti-frizz thing to give him a kind of 'messed up' look. God he was edible.
"Ranger, you look hot," I said. "What are you trying to do to me?"
"I'm not trying to do anything. Let's go get some breakfast."
We took the stairs down to the parking lot and got into his turbo. It was exactly where he'd parked it the first time last night, right in front of my back door.
"I'll never be able to figure out how you do this," I said taking a seat on the passenger side. "Do you just wish away all other vehicles?"
"I guess I'm just lucky," he said smiling.
"The diner?" he asked as I bucked my seatbelt.
"Yeah, the diner would be fine," I answered, less than enthusiastic.
"Babe? Something you're not telling me?"
"Well Joe usually goes to the diner for breakfast, and I guess I'd rather not bump into him right now."
"How about we go to the Crystal Diner in Lawrenceville then? We'll be right by the mall."
"I don't think I've ever been there, sure let's go."
The waitress seemed to know Ranger. She smiled a smile of recognition at him as we walked in and gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek.
"Babe, this is my cousin Stella Manoso. Stella, this is Stephanie Plum. Stella is a second-year medical student at Temple University. She works here part-time. The food is good here."
Stella took us to a table in the back, poured us some coffee and left us with a couple of menus. She didn't seem overly anxious to find out who I was or what I was doing with her cousin. Maybe Celia filled her in too.
I ordered blueberry pancakes and Ranger ordered a spinach and mushroom egg white omelet.
"Babe, any idea what kind of dress you want to get for New Years?" he asked me while we were waiting for our food.
That kind of took me back for a second; did Ranger really care about these things? "No, but I have to peruse the sale racks. I used up all my extra money on Christmas presents. Valerie's girls' needed things."
"Don't worry about it, just find something you like. I'll put it on my credit card."
"I can't let you do that Ranger. You're taking me out, I should at least buy my own clothes."
"Well what if you think about it as an advance on your next Rangeman job. I'll have a number of searches for you to do next week. Rodriguez is going on vacation."
"Well, as long as I can pay you back."
Our food arrived and it all looked fabulous. I took one bite of my perfectly stacked pancakes that seemed to have an extra amount of blueberries in each one and I let out a little moan.
"God Ranger, these are fabulous."
I couldn't help but notice Ranger look a little uncomfortable at my outburst. I'd been told before that the sounds I'd made while I was enjoying my food sounded slightly orgasmic. Well if the food was orgasmic, wouldn't that make sense? Jeez people.
It looked like Ranger enjoyed his breakfast too, although he didn't touch even one of the French fries that came with it. And they looked too good to just leave there.
"Are you going to eat these Ranger?" I asked, eyeing one of the half-inch by three-inch potato spears that were deep-fried to golden perfection.
"You can have them Babe," he said scooting his plate over to me.
I didn't want to look like a little piggy in front of Ranger, so I just took one to see if they tasted as good as they looked. God, they did. Ok, so I'd have a couple more and I'd be fine. Unfortunately, the next thing I knew his plate was empty. Guessed I ate them all.
Ranger was watching me intently, but he didn't say anything.
"Ready Babe?" he asked after there was nothing left on either plate.
"Thank you Ranger, that was a wonderful breakfast. Yes, I'm ready."
He paid the bill and I noticed he'd left a huge tip. On our way out we said goodbye to Stella and he promised we'd be back. He put an arm around me protectively as we walked down the steps and over to the turbo. It felt nice and comforting and I leaned into him.
He stopped, tucked a curl behind my ear and he kissed me.
"Mmm. French fries."
"God, I probably have breath mints somewhere," I said taking my purse off my shoulder to dig for them.
"It's ok Babe, I like the taste of French fries on you." And he bent down and kissed me again. Oh God.
At least we were in a public place, so I knew this wouldn't go any further than just a few kisses. And although it felt really good, I wasn't ready for anything more from Ranger right now anyway.
Once we got into the car and had buckled up, Ranger asked again about a dress.
"Babe, I think we should go to Lord &Taylor's first. They carry BCBG Max Azria and I think their cuts would look good on you."
"Been shopping for women lately?" I asked as his knowledge of women's clothing threw me a little.
"You think I don't read the supplement sections that come in my Sunday Times?"
I didn't even know he got the Times, let alone read it. I'd never seen one strewn out in his apartment.
"I'm on a budget Ranger, how about we go to Forever 21?"
"I told you I have my credit card and Lord & Taylor also has a large selection of shoes. I read that they're having a sale on women's shoes now."
How could I not check out a shoe sale? "OK Ranger, you got me on the shoes."
Ranger found parking right in front of Lord & Taylor and he helped me out of the car like I was a movie star. A motion not unnoticed by passerbys who stopped to gawk. Of course he was unphased by the attention and after he fobbed his car locked, took me by the elbow and ushered me into the store. I wasn't used to this kind of treatment, but I have to say, I liked it.
"Babe, let's look at dresses first," he said, when I stopped at one of the shoe displays to see what shoes were on sale. "I think you'd like to get shoes to go with your dress and not the other way around."
I really had no idea where the cocktail dresses were in Lord & Taylor, as I said, I shop Macy's sale racks and Forever 21. But Ranger seemed to know and led me to the dress department.
"Babe, what size are you? You look like you're maybe a six?"
"Pretty good guess, Ranger. Depending on the cut, I'm either a four, a six or an eight."
"Babe, look at this dress," he said lifting a BCBG Max Azria dress off the rack for me to look at.
It was stunning. It was flirty, feminine, sexy and black. "That's beautiful."
He found a few others, a champagne-colored one with sequins, which looked like it hugged every curve. A short lacy ruffled thing and a red gathered number. All were stunning and all were expensive.
"Why don't you try these on? If you want to show me, I'm a good judge of how things look on you. If you don't want to show me you don't have to. I'll be right here."
I tried them all on. First by myself and then I decided to give Ranger's taste a try, since I couldn't make up my mind. True to his word he was waiting right at the entrance to the dressing room.
I came out first in the black flirty dress.
"Babe, you look beautiful, but I think you need a smaller size," he said, examining the dress on me.
"Let me show you the champagne one next. It fits much tighter."
"Ok, I'll find you a size four in this black dress while you change."
I went through all the dresses and Ranger added his comments. We seemed to like the same two the best — the black flirty dress and the tight champagne one.
"Why don't you get both of them Babe? I think the champagne dress is perfect for New Year's, but the other is more practical and you can wear it to any affair."
"Ranger, I don't go to too many affairs, and these dresses are expensive."
"Why won't you let me spend my money on you?"
"We're not even going out Ranger. I'll feel like you're trying to buy me."
"Babe, you just accepted my offer of a date for New Year's Eve; I took you out for breakfast this morning and we're going to the movies later. I think that counts as going out."
As much as I wanted to, I couldn't disagree with his logic and I let him buy me the dresses.
Finding shoes turned out to be so much easier. There were a pair of Jimmy Choo strappy sandals on the sale rack that had been marked down a number of times as they were the last pair left. They were my size and at $79 they were totally affordable. Plus they worked with both dresses, so I used my close-to-the-limit credit card to pay for them. Ranger did tell me he had work for me next week, so I was counting on that to be able to pay my bills.
As we walked back to Ranger's Porsche, he carried my bags in one hand and led me by the elbow with his other. Such the perfect gentleman.
"I have the app on my phone, let me check the times and theatres where Django is playing. If there's nothing playing now, we may want to have dinner first."
"It's playing at the AMC Hamilton on Sloane, there's a 4:55, a 6:05 and a 7:20, so I'm assuming it's playing in two theatres there. If we go to the 7:20, we can grab an early dinner before the movie. Have you been to either Malaga's or Tessara's?"
"Um, no."
"Tassara's is Italian and Malaga's is Spanish. Any preference?"
"I've never had Spanish food. Latin food yes, but never Spanish. Will I like it?"
"You'll love it Babe. I'll call Ramiro and Angela, the owners. They'll set us up with a table so we won't have to wait."
And he did just that. Twenty minutes and a couple of sentences in Spanish later we were seated at a table for two in the back of a quaint little place.
"Ranger look, it says they have Flamenco Dancing here on the first and third Wednesday of each month," I said, reading from the menu. "Does that mean someone entertains you or does that mean the audience dances?"
"It's both. Julia Lopez has been performing here for a while. She's fabulous but she also invites the audience on stage to participate if they want. We can come back when she's here if you'd like to see her."
I just looked at him quizzically. He was speaking as though we'd be doing this more often.
"Babe I told you. I care about you more than I've let on. I really would like to take you places and show you things. Dios, I don't think you know what you do to me." He took my hand in his and brought it to his lips, looking at me intently as he did so. It made my heart go pitter-patter.
"You want to go out with me?" I asked since he seemed to be beating around the bush.
He smiled. It was his 200-watter. God he was handsome. "Yeah, Babe, I do." He paused and then changed the subject. "I recommend their Paella de la Valencia or their Camarones en Salsa de Vino, both are spectacular."
"Paella is that rice thing with chicken and sausage and seafood, isn't it?" I asked, so I didn't have to think about what he just told me. "I think I'd like that."
"One order is big enough for us to share. Would you like some wine with dinner?"
I nodded. Guessed I was going to be wined and dined.
"Red sangria, Babe?"
I nodded again. The waiter appeared and Ranger ordered in Spanish.
I have to say dinner was fabulous. Ranger was attentive and the food couldn't have been better. Ranger used his iPhone to pre-order us tickets for the movie and we had nothing else to do, but enjoy dinner and each other.
And Ranger seriously wanted to know about me. My likes, my dislikes, my sister, Mary Lou and anything else I was willing to share. He told me about his conversation with Julie yesterday and how she wanted to come north for a couple of weeks during the summer to get to know him better.
"Dessert Babe? I understand their flan is as good as it gets."
"Ok, I'll try their flan. Can I get their Spanish coffee too?"
"Have you ever had Spanish coffee Babe? It's very strong."
"That's ok, I like espresso."
Next time I'll pass on the Spanish coffee. Ranger was right; it was strong. Plus it had some alcohol in it; maybe it was Tia Maria? We spoke a little more over dessert and he kept taking my hand. He was either holding it or kissing it and he made me feel, this is going to sound cliché, but seriously he made me feel special.
"Babe, we need to leave if we want to get good seats," he said looking at his watch and calling our waiter over.
He paid the bill, and once again, I noticed he'd left a huge tip.
We drove to the movie theatre and as only Ranger luck would have it, we found a spot right outside. I mean, right outside. There were only a handful of people in the theatre so we had our choice of seats and sat dead center halfway up the stadium seating. Perfect seats.
About ten minutes into the movie trivia that was on screen I saw two people that I knew walk into the theater. Fuck. It was Joe and Terri. God damn him. He never took me anywhere, but he certainly went out of his way to take Terri to the movies. A couple of towns out of his way to be exact.
Ranger saw them too. "Babe are you ok? Do you want to stay?"
I felt the hurt sting again as the tears welled up in my eyes and I shook my head. No I didn't want to be in the same theatre as the two of them. It was just too much of a slap in the face.
It was ok with Ranger; I guessed he didn't need to see the movie that badly. We discretely got up and walked out before the movie began. Joe and Terri never saw us.
As we drove back to Trenton I was a little upset, but the further we got from them, the less upset I was feeling. Ranger took my hand and brought it to his lips once more.
"Babe, it's a beautiful night; there's not a cloud in the sky. Have you ever been up to the roof at Rangeman? The cold night air is cleansing and the view is spectacular."
I could use a little cleansing and I knew I wouldn't be cold if Ranger was with me, so I followed him up to seven and then up a staircase left of the elevator to the roof.
"God it's beautiful up here," I said once he'd opened the door for me. And it was. We could see all the lights of the city done up in their Christmas magic. Ranger took my hand and we went over to the north side of the building.
"Babe, look, we can even see Manhattan." He was behind me with his arms around me and he was pointing to the new World Trade Center that was being built. The spire was in place and it could be seen clearly because of all the lights around it. It was beautiful.
"That's a far cry from the old ugly towers," I said. "It's beautiful."
"You're beautiful Babe," he said, tuning me around to face him. "And thank you for letting me spend today with you." He bent down and kissed me. God it was a perfect kiss.
"Are you trying to seduce me Ranger," I asked once we broke apart.
"No Babe, I'm trying to romance you."