Wow! Thanks so much for all of the reviews you guys have left. I'm blown away! I really, honestly, truly was going to leave this one as a one shot- especially since I have 2 other stories that are works in progress. I don't want it to be said that I'm one of those authors with great ideas everywhere, but no follow through or completion (Yes, I promise to finish those stories! ) That said, since so many of you asked I am continuing with chapter 2. I do have to warn you, that the books listed below I totally made up. This is fanfiction after all, so take the writing with a grain of salt. I'm totally making this stuff up, and Lord knows I'm no expert on the subject. If we get further into this story, I guess it will mean a lot of research on my part! Oh Goody!

So without further ado, here's chapter 2. These are not my characters. Again, I'm just taking them out for a test drive. All creative liberties towards characters belongs to Ms. Janet E.

I found myself traveling on Lincoln road towards Hamilton and my thoughts were all a mess. Truth be told, I was a mess. I was hot. I was bothered. I was hot and bothered. Oh hell, who am I kidding? My verbal banter with Ranger had me wound up tighter than a two day clock. Why did he have to be so damn confusing? I mean, we have a great sex life, right? We meet up. We hook up. Both of us are satisfied, right? What if Ranger isn't satisfied? Is that what makes him hold back from me? Does he want someone who is more adventurous in the bedroom? Is that what he was alluding to? The better question is am I willing to be more adventurous? I'm not usually one to admit when I'm in over my head, but in this one area, I'm at a loss.

I realized that I had been sitting at a red light for far too long when the blaring of a horn caught my attention. I looked in the rear view mirror, waved my apologies, and motored through the intersection. My thoughts were still a jumbled mess as I passed Waverly's Bookstore on Main street. I thought about pulling into the parking spot in front of the store but decided against it. I mean, my life was basically an open book-no pun intended. As soon as I went in and bought a copy of the book, my mom would get a phone call from someone telling her that I was buying porn from the local bookstore. What would the Burg think? I realized that my internal diva was flipping me off and for once I decided to listen to her. I do mean, I'm an adult, right? And who says just because I read the books means I have to do anything kinky. I'm just expanding my literary horizons, right? Yea, that's the ticket.

I circled the block and told myself that if the parking spot was still open when I made it back to the store, then fate must want me to stop. I took my time turning the corner in my less than new Honda CR-V and once I rolled past Waverly's again, not only was the original spot open but a second spot had opened up as well. I rolled my eyes as my internal diva said 'I told you so'.

I made my way inside and perused through several sections. I picked up a couple of crossword and word find books, figuring I could use them to keep myself busy when I was on the occasional stake out with Rangeman or when I was stalking FTA's. Plus it gave me a cover reason for being here. I wandered through the store and found it pretty deserted, thank God, and eventually found the Fifty Shades series on an end cap near the bestsellers section. There were about 10 copies of each book left, so I guess what Connie and Lula said was true after all. If this book is as popular as they said, half of the Burg is probably sitting at home reading it- not that you'd get any of them to admit it. I picked out one of each book- quickly deciding to buy the whole set and save myself the embarrassment of having to come back if I liked them. I mean, I probably wouldn't like them. Probably, I'd have trouble making it through the first paragraph. But why leave things to chance, right?

On my way up to the counter, I passed another section devoted to books about sex. As I wrapped my mind around the fact that sex books were being sold a few miles from my mothers' home, it became apparent to me that my mother had obviously not been in this particular bookstore. I knew this because had she stepped foot in this store, I would have already heard how the entire Burg should boycott the store for selling 'inappropriate filth'. I blamed my mom's prim and proper attitude towards sex for my nievatity towards the subject. I'd often wondered just how Valerie and I came along, since she refused to talk about anything that remotely related to sex. "The Talk" that all kids have with their parents was never had with me, and as far as I know Valerie was never subjected to it either. What I knew about sex was learned at school, from Mary Lou, in Joe Morelli's garage, and through experience. And my experience was limited at best. Sure I was 30 years old and had been married, and had been intimate with Joe and Ranger. But 'The Dick' was more about his pleasure than mine. And he was too busy out banging everyone else to worry very much over whether he was hitting my g-spot or not. Joe was a great lover, but stuck to the average ways that he had always depended on that were tried and proven to make me fall apart in his arms. His stamina was impressive. His creativity was not. And then there was Ranger. I've already said that neither of us ever pushed for more than the other seemed willing to allow. And that felt safe. And comfortable. But the truth was, I found myself often wondering what he would do if I did push for more. Would I lose him? What was there to gain? Through in my overactive Hungarian/Italian libido, and I was a hot mess.

I felt sure that Ranger was far more experienced than I would ever be. I was also sure that Ranger had seen, and probably done, his fair share of "creative experimentation", and truthfully, I doubted my ability to impress him. But still, a little knowledge couldn't hurt things, right? I mean, no one had to know about my adventures into the sexual unknowns except me. And most thirty year olds should know more than I did sexually speaking, right? Right! I was just closing the gap between me and the rest of humanity. Call it leveling the playing field if you will.

I picked out a few more books- finding one that promised to show me at least 21 sexual positions to drive my man wild, another that promised hotter, better sex in three weeks, and an especially promising one titled Your Guide to Kink: What you Wanted to Know but Were Afraid to Ask. I leafed through the book and saw that it seemed relatively well written, was simple, and had photos. Oh my! Photos! What more could I ask for? I quickly shut the book, shuffled the order- putting the crosswords on top- and made my way to the checkout counter.

A pimply faced boy who looked to be all of seventeen was standing behind the counter with earbuds in his ears. I could hear the blaring music from where I stood across the counter, and it was obvious that customer service was not high on his list of priorities. All the better for me! Pimple Face rang up my purchases without a second glance, gave me my total, and never even make eye contact. My books were put in a paper bag with handles- thank you again God; no see through bags- and I made my way back to my car.

I motored on towards Rangeman and thought about my to-do list for the day. I knew that I had several searches to run at Rangeman. I'd have a quick lunch there and work til 5. I didn't have any pressing FTA's for the afternoon or evening, and Ranger hadn't mentioned wanting to get together this evening, so I could easily get some reading time in tonight. Which one would I start with? Hmmm…maybe I could even get some reading in on my lunch break. That is, if I could sneak in a few minutes away from the Merry Men.

After pulling into the underground garage and parking, I found the first book –Fifty Shades of Grey- and put it into my messenger bag to take into Rangeman with me. I put the remaining books in the backseat, tossed a jacket over them, and locked up my car. I made my way to the elevator and up to my cubicle to begin searches for the day.

The morning passed relatively quickly, and around noon I decided to take my lunch break. I swiped a sandwich from the break room, along with a bag of baked Doritos, and a bottle of water. I said hello's to all of the guys and made my way back to my desk to eat my lunch in peace. This wasn't unusual for me, since a lot of the guys were in and out all throughout the day. I'd occasionally eat in the break room, or up on seven if Ranger was around, but today seemed to be an especially quiet day in the office. Hopefully I'd get a little reading in and no one would be the wiser.

I set a search to run, figuring it would take a few minutes to complete, and settled in to eat. I opened up to page 1 and began to read. I blame what happened next on the fact that I was totally absorbed in the book. Probably it had nothing to do with the fact that I'd skipped around in the book, purposely trying to find the interesting sexual parts of the book, while dog earring the pages for later. And Probably it had nothing to do with the fact that after reading those, I backtracked and went back to read about NDA's, disclosure, subs, and contracts. Yea, it probably had nothing to do with that at all. What the heck is a sub? And an NDA? What in the world? At any rate, you can certainly blame it on whatever you will, but the fact remains that I was so totally absorbed in my reading material that I didn't realize that Ranger was behind me until it was too late. He'd obviously been there a while, as evidenced by the completed search that had finished printing that he was now holding.

"Earth to Babe."

I jumped, spilling my chips all over my desk and throwing the book down on my desk in a sure sign of guilt.

"Oh! Ummm…hi! Ranger! What's up?"

"Babe."

"Did you need something, Ranger? You almost gave me a heart attack. I didn't realize you were in this morning."

"Morning, Steph? It's 1:30, Babe. You've been staring at that book and nibbling on that same chip for almost an hour. I've passed by your desk three times and said hi to you twice. Must be pretty interesting reading material." This was said with a look that made Ranger look like he was thinking about laughing.

"You're just all chuckles aren't you big guy?" I said, jokingly swatting him on the ass. I have you know I was taking my lunch break. And you're interrupting. Besides, I've got to get back to work anyway. Was there something particular you needed, Boss?"

Ranger bent down so that he was level with me as I sat in my desk chair. He reached for the book, which had conveniently landed on my desk with my last read page dog eared, as he tucked a curl behind my ear. He turned the book towards him, skimmed the page for a few moments, smiled a devil smile, and then turned the book back over- print side down. He leaned in to give me a sweet, slow, delicious kiss. I wasn't sure whether I was turned on or scared to death. There seemed to be more to the kiss than I'd ever experienced previously with Ranger. There was heat there, in spades. But there was an undercurrent there as well. A promise of something dangerous and erotic as hell. Maybe it was the promise of something-more? What I wasn't sure. As he pulled away he nipped hard on my bottom lip, sending a sting of pain and pleasure through me to my core. I inhaled sharply- not from pain but from surprise.

Ranger pulled back from the kiss and looked long and hard at me. "Babe, do you have plans tonight?"

"Well, no. Not really. Why do you ask?"

"Would you like to have dinner with me? In my apartment? Say around 6? You can come on up after you finish here at work."

"Sure. Sounds great." I've never been one to turn down Ella's cooking. Plus dinner with Ranger often lead to sleeping with Ranger. And God knows this book had me all flustered.

"Sounds good Babe. I'll see you then."

Ranger turned to leave my cubicle and began to walk down the hallway. I quickly turned the book over to read the section that Ranger had read and found amusing. I groaned inwardly as I realized what page the book was turned to. Could he have found a more awkward chapter to have read? There, in black and white, I found the words I'd been reading.

"When did you start your period, Anastasia?" he asks out of the blue, gazing down at me.
"Er…yesterday," I mumble in my highly aroused state.
"Good." He releases me and turns me around.
"Hold on to the sink," he orders, and drags my hips back again, like he did in the playroom, so I'm bending down.
He reaches between my legs and pulls on the blue string- what?!- and gently takes my tampon out and tosses it into the nearby toilet. Holy fuck. Sweet mother of all…Jeez. And then he's inside me…ah! Skin against skin…

Jeez is right! Could I be any more embarrassed? I quickly tried to throw away the remains of my lunch and before I could stash the book back in my bag I heard Ranger clear his throat. As I looked up he spoke.

"Oh, and Babe…"

"Yea Ranger?"

"Bring the book with you tonight."

Eeep!

(Quote above in italics is not mine. It is taken directly from Fifty Shades of Grey: Book One. Location 8919 of 107428 in Kindle edition. Rights belong to EL James.)