Everybody and everything familiar belongs to Janet. The mistakes are mine.

Chapter 2

Steph turned around before she'd made it all the way to her bedroom. She came back down the hall and faced me.

"You know, now that I think about it, maybe we need to do something before our date."

"Like?"

"No one knows about us yet, right?"

"No. I came straight here from the station. If Tank had hair, he'd likely be pulling it out now."

"I really feel for that guy sometimes. First he gets stuck watching me, and then he had to endure a semi-engagement to Lula, now he's got you bailing on him."

"He'll survive. Now ... what are you planning that you think is more important than having dinner with me?"

"Jeez. We've only been a couple for ten minutes, and you're already playing the 'neglected boyfriend' card?"

"No. I'm just curious what's going on in that curly haired-head of yours."

"I think I 'owe' Joe a phone call. I also think making it before he hears that we're together will be more ... considerate."

"Would you be calling to sardonically thank him for getting us together? Or are you going to completely bitch him out?"

"What do you think?" She asked.

That works for me. She took my hand and tugged me towards the couch. She paused before we reached it so she could track down her cell.

"You sure you want to talk to him?" I asked her, after she'd located it in her bag, which she'd abandoned in her foyer when she first saw me in her apartment.

She came back to sit against me on her beat-up couch. "Oh, yeah. He deserves it for using me to try to hurt you."

"As much as I'd like to blame Morelli for being an asshole, Babe, I'm the one who stayed away from you when I shouldn't have."

A little bit of revenge seeped out of her. "Yeah, and I'm the idiot who let you."

We both created the distance between us ... too stubborn, scared, or stupid, to end it once and for all. I don't believe in this shit usually, but it does seem like fate stepped in when neither of us stepped up. The triangle we had been trapped in has been disassembled by the prick who used to head it. In the past, Steph and I couldn't be together due to the cop, yet here we are, finally something more than just a wish, because of Morelli's big fucking mouth.

"You still want to call him?" I asked her.

"Yes. Maybe I should thank him for being a dickhead, but not before he gets it for trying to control my life yet again."

She put her cell on speaker and hit the number I'll be deleting once she's through here.

"Hi, Joe," she said, when he picked up on the second ring.

I can easily picture the smirk that split his face when he saw it was Stephanie calling him. She kept her tone even and her emotions contained so she wouldn't give away her reason for calling.

"Hey, Cupcake. I had a feeling I'd be hearing from you."

Of course he did. It would never occur to him that she'd be too busy making love to me tonight to even think about him, which she will be doing - and continue to do every night - from this one on if I don't fuck things up.

"There's someone who wants to say 'Hi' to you ... hold on."

"Morelli," I said flatly.

"Manoso?"

His voice was anything but flat. It was laced with confusion and more than a little anger. Guess his 'cop brain' kicked in and he realized that his spite-plan backfired on him. He never allowed himself to believe that if I did go after Stephanie with the intention of keeping her, he'd lose her forever. He shot himself not only in the foot this time, but in the groin as well, because his dick will never be coming near her again without me removing it.

"Yeah, it's Ranger," Steph told him. "He showed up at my apartment and we had a very interesting conversation. I'd ask if you want to know what it was about, but since you caused it, I'm sure you already guessed the topic."

"Cupcake ..."

She cut him off. "Don't even think about 'Cupcaking' me. Did you or did you not purposely try to tick Ranger off by telling him I'm seeing someone?"

"You did have a date for tonight, am I wrong?" He asked.

"As usual, you're dead wrong. You need a new source for Burg information. Your mom didn't get all the facts. My mother assumed I'd be on a date tonight. I, on the other hand, never agreed to one. If you were so interested in my plans, you should've talked to me instead of Ranger about them."

"Speaking of him ..."

"He's still here," she told him.

"And I'm never leaving," I added.

I could hear his teeth grind together. He didn't say anything for a few seconds.

"So ... I get shit dumped on me and Manoso comes out of this smelling like a fucking rose?" He asked.

"It's about time you finally get at least one thing straight," I told him. "And watch your mouth."

"Stop it," Steph told us. "We're not doing this anymore. Joe, we're broken up ... so what I do and who I see isn't any of your business. You lost the right to discuss my personal life with anyone when you stopped being part of it."

"I know."

"Do you?" She asked him.

He sighed. "I guess not. When I saw Manoso at the station five minutes after my mother called ..."

"You just couldn't help yourself?" She supplied.

Silence. He knows he did it solely to start something, either between him and I or himself and Stephanie. If he can't have her in the physical sense, he's going to try to remain in her life another way.

"He figured he'd use me to get you to speak to him again," I explained to her. "He knew I'd tell you what he said, and you in turn would speak to him."

"I guess your plan worked then," she said to Joe.

"Not the way I wanted it to if he's still with you."

Here's where I want no misunderstandings. "I am with Stephanie now, so if you approach her for anything other than to say you received a police report, you'll be seeing me five minutes later. And I'll warn you now ... if that happens, I won't be as nice as I was earlier."

Steph cut her eyes to me. "You were nice?"

I shrugged. "Depends on your definition of the word."

"Steph," Joe broke in, "think this through. He doesn't want a relationship, a family, or to be tied down, you've always said that."

"That's where I was wrong. He does want to be with me, despite all the annoyances he's had to wade through to convince me that we can do a relationship if it's with each other."

"Now I'm firmly entrenched in one," I informed him. "It would've happened eventually, but you accelerated the timing of it."

Steph's eyes held mine as she spoke. "Joe ...?"

"Yeah?" He asked, wariness lacing his tone.

"Thank you for being such a dick," she told him before disconnecting.

Her apartment was suddenly as silent as Morelli had been.

"You had to thank him?" I asked her, after a few beats as I pulled her close.

"No, but it'll twist the knife more to know that he played a part in bringing us together while cutting himself completely out of the picture."

She has a point. I dragged her onto my lap, curled my hand along the nape of her head, and fitted my mouth tightly to hers. She sighed against it and wound her arms around my neck, kissing me back just as hard.

My body wanted in on the action, but Steph drew her head back. "You're already restaurant-ready," she said, "but I still need to change."

Looks like my dick will have to wait at least an hour or two to lay claim to what's always been mine ... just not officially until today.

"You look beautiful, Babe."

She gave me a not-so-beautiful snort. "Nooo, I look like I've been chasing after someone who tried really hard not to be found today. And then I spent an hour arguing with two hard-headed men, one of them I really just wanted to hug, while the other I'd have liked to strangle. I need more mascara, a dress, and some sexy shoes."

The dress and heels sound good ... easier access without pants and four-inch stilettos will put her even with my dick when she's pressed up to me. That thought is what made me let her go when she went to move.

"So you're up for dinner now?" I asked.

"Sorta. What would you say to having a later dinner so we can stop by my parents' house first?" She asked me.

"We haven't even managed to get our first date officially started, and you're ready to take me home to meet your parents?"

"Very funny. You know my family more than anyone really wants to. So ... how about seeing them tonight?"

"No."

Not only do I view 'family dinners' as a society-accepted form of torture, I don't want to give up any time I could have alone with Stephanie.

"Let me ask that again," she said. "Would you like to help me make my mom pay for trying to hook me up with a guy who isn't you?"

As I've said to my men numerous times, obtaining the correct answer - or information you're after - is all in how you phrase your questions.

"Yes."

She smiled. "Thank you. It'll be fun to grill her on her 'date' for once. Then we can finally have ours wherever you want afterwards."

She leaned in and I met her halfway. The kiss was even better than our last one, and it was over long before I wanted it to be.

"Okay, now I'll get busy changing. I'll be right back."

I waited three seconds before I followed her into the bedroom. I stretched out on her bed, arms behind my head on the pillow, boots crossed. I watched her get ready to knock Helen off her high horse and into all the shit she's spewed.

Steph was about to walk into the bathroom with her chosen outfit when my voice stopped her.

"I've seen you naked many times, Babe. You don't have to leave the room on my account."

"You would enjoy a striptease, wouldn't you?"

"If you're offering."

"I'm not." And she shut the bathroom door between us.

I know I should be patient with her, but taking things slow has never been an option for me where she's concerned. I spent the thirteen minutes it took her to get ready, picturing what we'll be doing in this bed, or mine, when we get back from our date. I'll go as slow as she needs me to, but there's no way in hell she's sleeping alone tonight.

When she stepped out of the bathroom, my immediate thought was fuck patience. The only skin she'd left showing are her arms and three-quarters of her legs, but the way the high-necked, sleeveless, black dress conformed to her breasts and hips made it sexier than I think she'd intended.

"I'm all set," she told me.

"You didn't need to change, but now I'm glad you insisted on it," I said, standing up.

"Why?" She asked.

I would say she honestly doesn't know how incredible she looks ... with her hair up off her neck and her lips now a very tempting red color, but I'm close enough to her to see a teasing glint in her eyes.

"Now I'll be thinking of how I'm going to peel this dress off of you instead of listening to your mother explain why she's been playing God with your life again."

"She does have an unhealthy God complex, doesn't she?" She reached out and stroked my jaw. "And you have an unhealthy need to get me naked."

"Trust me when I say that my needs are extremely healthy, Babe."

I turned my head and pressed a kiss into her palm. Her lips parted when I made contact and I knew we'd have to get out of her bedroom or she'll be spread out under me in less than a second if she continued to look at me like that.

"We'd better leave soon if you want to catch your mother in the middle of dinner," I told her, even though leaving is the last thing either of us want to do at the moment.

"Yeah, I'm betting this meal won't be a long one."

I followed her out and waited patiently in her foyer while she grabbed her bag and dug her keys out of it. I took them away from her and locked her door before escorting her out to my Cayenne. Her body was vibrating with energy during the five minute drive from her apartment to the Burg.

"You okay?" I asked her, as I pulled up to the curb in front of her parents' place and saw an unfamiliar white sedan parked behind her father's Buick.

"Yes. I just got mad all over again."

"Channel that anger into a productive discussion so she'll know never to fuck with your life again."

"That's the goal. Let's see if I can actually accomplish it. Then maybe we'll be able to celebrate a victory afterwards."

If Steph can't convince Helen to back off, I'll have a word with the woman myself when Stephanie isn't there to have to hear it. I protect what's mine and I won't tolerate other men being dangled in front of her.

I slid out from behind the wheel and walked around to the passenger's side. She never sits still long enough for me to get her door for her, but I still make an attempt every time. I stayed close to her as we walked up the sidewalk to the small front porch. Steph didn't bother knocking. She laced her fingers through mine and we stepped into the Plum residence together. Everyone was sitting at the dining room table. Dinner had been served, but looked to be untouched.

Edna's sporting a mischievous smile on her face. Frank appeared clueless as to why a total stranger is sitting at his table right beside a noticeably vacant seat. And Helen had a tall glass of 'ice tea', that I'd guess is 90 proof, forming a ring of condensation on a coaster beside her half-empty wine glass. She's clearly upset but is trying to hide it behind what Steph calls her 'Burg bullshit'.

Then my attention was focused solely on Steph's supposed date. I'd put him in his early forties. His thin and anemic-looking hair had been carefully combed in an attempt to disguise a receding hairline, and his middle-age spread has already hit peak spread. If he came from old money, Connie could be interested in him, but Stephanie would kill this idiot inside an hour.

How her own mother believed this guy could satisfy her daughter is a mystery. Stephanie needs someone who will support her completely, challenge her daily, and love her well into the night, every night. This fucker wouldn't even be able to keep Edna entertained, never mind a woman like Steph. The fact that he showed up here tonight willing to try, didn't please me at all. My arm automatically went around my woman, a clear warning to everyone in the room that she's taken, and if they decide to encroach, they will be taken out.

"Hi, everyone," Steph said, covering the hand I had resting on her hip with one of her own. "Got room for one more?" She pointed at the guy who suddenly looked ready to piss himself. "Oh wait, I see my date's seat has already been filled. Guess I'll have to go find food elsewhere."

"You're late. You know dinner is always at six," Helen said to her. She gave me a dismissive glance. "It was nice of you to drop her off."

"I'm not dropping Stephanie off. When I go, she's coming with me. She had something to say to you before we head out."

Edna winked at me, already guessing what's about to be said. As much as she frightens me, I can't not appreciate her. Not only does she make Helen's life hell, Edna's the one who has always been there for Stephanie, so her all eccentricities and inappropriate remarks can be tolerated ... from a distance.

"You're leaving?" Helen asked her daughter. "I thought ...?"

"You thought what?" She said back. "That you'd trick me into a date with ...?"

"Eliot Beeker," her almost dead 'date' supplied.

"Eliot," she finished. "Nice to meet you, by the way. I'm Stephanie. This is my angry, bodyguard boyfriend, Ranger. And if any of this is making you uncomfortable ... now would be the time to leave."

The chair tipped over in his haste to get out of the line of fire. Another reason he wouldn't be a match for my Babe. If Stephanie needs backup, nothing would make me move from her side. Grandma Mazur looked almost as disappointed in his quick retreat as I was.

"This is just starting to get good," Edna said to the table. "Why would anyone take off now like their tail feathers caught fire?"

"We aren't going to be far behind him," Steph told her. "Ranger and I have plans."

Helen took another healthy swallow of 'tea', seeming put out by that information, but will pull out her own tongue before she'd admit that her matchmaking attempt and abandoned dinner are disasters.

"You two can stay," she finally said, "so we can discuss this 'boyfriend' business. I made a nice beef stew and there is chocolate cake for dessert."

"No way. There isn't enough cake in the world to get me to stay longer than it takes to tell you that I won't be coming over for anymore dinners. Starting tonight and ending ... well, I don't see it ending because I don't believe you'll promise never to pull something like this again and actually mean it."

"You can eat at Rangeman anytime, day or night, Babe. Ella will be happy to accommodate you."

"What's going on?" Frank asked more confused than ever, so much so ... the chunk of beef and stewed potato he'd stabbed when we walked in was still on the fork hovering above his plate.

"Mom tried to set me up with someone right after I purposely told her not to even think about pimping me out again," Steph explained.

"I was wondering why the yahoo was here."

"Apparently, his name's Eliot. And that's more than I ever want to know about him."

"Good. I didn't like him. Not only is he a mouth-breather who works for the IRS, he asked if we had mineral water. What the hell is wrong with good old-fashioned tap water? It hasn't killed us yet."

"Do you like Ranger?" She asked her dad.

I was kidding about her taking me home to 'meet the family', but that seems to be exactly what she's done.

Frank looked over at me and shrugged. "I don't mind him hanging around. He's better than the Italian Stallion. Ranger doesn't talk during dinner and he never touches my chair, remote, or food."

I'd have more respect for him, as a father and as a man, if he would've mentioned how I didn't touch his daughter and then tell the whole fucking city exactly how I did. Or if he noticed that I treat Stephanie like the intelligent, beautiful, caring person she is versus the Burg trophy Morelli tries to keep possession of. I don't want to upset Steph any further today by challenging her father's half-assed interest in her, so that will have to wait at until at least our second date.

"Ranger's definitely sticking around. And I can promise you that he'll never touch your stuff if we're ever here again," Stephanie said to him.

"What are you saying, Stephanie?" Helen asked.

"Oh for criminy sakes, Helen, yank your head outta your patooty," Edna told her. "Stephanie is telling you that her and hotcakes here are an item. And she's mad as the dickens at you."

"Well said, Grandma. Joe already knows, and now you do, too. Ranger and I are together. And not only will I never forgive you if you do something to try to come between us, my guy will retaliate ... so I don't recommend you screw with my love life again."

"Stephanie ..."

"Save it, Mom. You got your wish. I'm in a serious relationship with a highly-trained, professional man who has a steady and good-paying job and doesn't live far from the Burg. He may not be your ideal, but he's mine. And lucky for me, he has a saint working for him who loves to cook as much as I love to eat, so I don't need any of your 'leftovers' ... whether that be meatloaf or the meatheads you keep trying to give me to. Now if you'll excuse us, we have someplace to be."

She curled an arm around my waist as we exited the house. "You never disappoint, Babe."

"As long as I never disappoint you, I'm good."

"I'm not worried about that happening. You ready to relax and enjoy the rest of our evening?"

"Yup. I want you to wine me, dine me, then do me."

I can never say no to anything she asks of me.