There Ain't no Love Like Ranger Love

I apologize for the glitches Fanfic is having. The story keeps disappearing and I keep reloading it. Not sure when the problem will actually be fixed.

Chapter 3

Stephanie knocked softly on Yashi's door before opening it and stepping inside. He looked up from the newspaper he was reading and gave her one of his dimple infused smiles.

"Have a seat, Stephanie," he said, motioning to the chair in front of his desk.

Steph settled into the chair and looked around the room. Yashi had already done some cleaning and rearranging and there were two black thirty gallon trash bags filled to the brim, sitting in one corner.

"Sheesh," she said, glancing at the trash bags. "Guess he had more junk in here than I realized."

"I can't even begin to tell you," Yashi said with a grin. Those trash bags mostly hold racing forms, betting slips, adult magazines and junk mail that he opened, but didn't bother to throw away. He was quite the pack rat."

"Some people would just call him a rat," Steph informed him.

"Was he really that bad to work for?" Yashi inquired.

"Not when he wasn't around," she replied with a short laugh.

Yashi gave a small laugh too and shook his head. "Well, hopefully, weeks, months and years from now, no one will be referring to me as a rat. Not that I worry about what people think of me, but I'd never want my employees to be miserable."

Steph nodded. "Good to know. You said you've owned other businesses. Were they bonds offices?"

"No, no, not even close," Yashi answered. "I've owned two investment firms and a consulting agency for new business start-ups. I recently sold all three. I have an MBA and a law degree from Harvard and hold a CFA designation."

"CFA?"

"Chartered Financial Analyst," he said.

"Impressive. So, what made you buy this crazy bonds office, if you don't mind me asking."

Yashi leaned back in his comfortable, brown leather chair and laced his fingers behind his head. "Well, it's kind of a weird story, but I recently turned 34 and was feeling like I needed to make some kind of change. I just didn't know what I wanted to do. I'd already made more money than I ever dreamed possible and was tired of the dog-eat-dog world of investment." He paused and dropped his hands from behind his head to take a sip of his coffee, then continued.

"One night, a couple of friends were at my house, and we were playing poker. I told them I wanted out of the financial rat race, but that I was at a loss as to what I wanted to pursue. One of them grabbed a section of the newspaper that listed businesses for sale and dared me to throw a dart at the paper and buy whatever business the dart landed on. I was amused and intrigued by the prospect of jumping into a new challenge blindly, so I agreed. I told him as long as it wasn't related to Wall Street and as long as I was qualified for the type of business, I was game."

"And your dart landed on Vinnie's bond business," Stephanie finished for him.

"Indeed," Yashi said with a smile. "I don't want you to get the wrong impression though. Even though this started out as a bit of a lark, I intend to take the business seriously. Failure has never been an option for me and I don't intend to fail at this."

Stephanie smiled. "I don't think anyone would ever think of you as a slacker, Yashi." She glanced at the open newspaper on the desk in front of him. "You're reading the stock market page," she observed. "Are you missing the investment business already?"

"No, not at all. However, I do have a lot of my own personal money tied up in investments, so I still need to keep an eye on everything."

"Right. That makes sense." Stephanie eyed him curiously.

"What?" Yashi asked, aware of her scrutiny.

Steph shook her head. "Sorry, it's nothing. I was just thinking about how easily you talk about your life. Very different from ... some people."

Yashi's mind thought back to earlier in the day when he'd seen her coming around the corner of the building with the man dressed in black. "You don't have to answer this, but are you dating the man I saw you with this morning?"

"No. He's just ..." She hesitated. Saying that Ranger was just a friend seemed to undervalue her feelings for him, but she really didn't want to try to explain their relationship. "He's just ... we're ... he's my best friend," she finally told him. "Well, my best male friend. My other best friend is a woman named Mary Lou. She and I grew up together and are still friends."

"Well, that's surprising," Yashi admitted. "The two of you sent out a vibe that signaled more than friendship, but since it's none of my business, I'll accept your answer. Does he come around the office very often to see you?"

"He doesn't come here to see me, at all. His name is Carlos Manoso, but he goes by Ranger. He owns a security company called RangeMan and ... "

"Oh!" Yashi said. "Sorry, to interrupt, but I know about him. Vincent told me that RangeMan picks up the dangerous, high bond skips."

"Right. He stopped by this morning to see if Connie had any files for him, but of course she didn't know if you intended to keep using RangeMan's services."

Yashi leaned forward and rested his crossed arms on his desk. "Vincent told me that RangeMan is the best around, so if Carlos ... uh, Ranger, wishes to continue the arrangement, I'd consider that good news. I was planning to call him this afternoon. His company installed the security system in my home. I've never met anyone from the company though. The system was already installed when I moved in and I just had the account put into my name and continue to pay the bill."

"It's true, they really are the best around," Steph told him, "and I can't speak for Ranger, but my best guess would be that if the terms are the same as they were with Vinnie, then Ranger would likely still be interested in bagging your high bond skips. He'll be stopping by later to talk to you."

"Sounds good," Yashi acknowledged. "I'm not sure if I'll be in the office or not, so I'll probably just call him when I have a few minutes to talk." He paused, but Stephanie could tell that he had something else to say, so she remained quiet.

"Stephanie, do you have any skips to pick up today?"

"Yes, Connie gave me three new skips this morning. If I still have my job, I'll be going after one of them when we wrap up this interview."

Yashi's eyes widened a bit. "Good grief, I'm sorry! I guess I should have made it clear up front. I just assumed that when I told you how impressed I was with your capture rate, you'd understand that I wanted to keep you on. My bad," he said with an adorable dimpled smile.

"I gave Connie and Lula both raises, but since you work on a percentage basis, I'll devise another way to give you an increase in compensation. Perhaps a bonus for every ten captures or something similar."

"Thank you," Stephanie said with a sigh of relief. In that case, yes, I'll be heading out to pick up a skip in few minutes."

"Good," Yashi said with an affirmative nod. "Would you consider it too much of an inconvenience if I rode along with you on this first capture? I'm dying to see just what it is you do and what your usual procedure is. I mean, I read the procedure as it's written in the training manuals, but I'd love to see you work a capture from beginning to end."

Steph's heart thudded in her chest at the thought of riding in close quarters with Yashi for the next couple of hours. Nothing like having the boss scrutinize each and every move. On the other hand, he was funny and smart and good company, not to mention, freaking gorgeous. "Sure, that'd be fine, but you probably don't want to go out wearing that nice suit and white shirt. Things tend to get a little messy sometimes." Most of the time, she thought to herself.

"I'll leave my jacket behind since it's pretty hot out. I'm not worried about the white shirt. I have a lot of them and I can always send it to the cleaners."

He stood and removed his suit jacket, then hung it on the coat rack in the back corner of the office. He removed his cufflinks and tossed them on his desk, then rolled up his sleeves. "Ready," he said with a grin.

He was delighted that Stephanie was going to allow him to accompany her this morning. She was a beautiful woman and seemed very nice. He was looking forward to getting to know her a bit better in addition to watching her work.

They stopped at Connie's desk on their way out. Stephanie grabbed the three files and stuffed them into her bag, and Yashi let Connie know what his plans were. Connie avoided Stephanie's eyes, but had a bit of a problem hiding her grin. Damn, she wished she could go with them.

Yashie handed Connie a business card and said, "My cell phone number is at the bottom of the card in case you need to reach me."

"Thanks." Connie took the card and slid it into her Rolodex. "You two be careful," she offered up as they walked out the door.

Out on the sidewalk, Yashi paused and pulled his keys from his pocket. "May I have the pleasure of being your chauffeur for today's field trip?"

Stephanie wasn't all that anxious to subject Yahsi to her 2001 Ford Taurus, so she readily agreed. She just hoped no one got covered in garbage during the take down.

"Which way?" Yahsi asked after they were seated comfortably in the silver Mercedes. He started the car, turned on the air conditioning, and waited patiently while Stephanie checked to make sure she had her pepper spray and cuffs. After that, she checked her stun gun to confirm it had a full charge.

She pulled the file she needed from her bag and flipped it open. "We're picking up Denise Hocker, so we need to take Hamilton Avenue to Oak Lawn. We'll see if she's home. If not, we'll head on over to Lonny's Diner. That's where she works. We may be able to catch her on her way out, after her shift is over."

"Got it," Yashi said, pulling out onto Hamilton. "I happen to know where Oak Lawn is. What is she wanted for?"

Stephanie figured Vinnie must have written the bonds for the three skips she had, otherwise, Yashi would already know the details. "She was arrested for following women at the mall and tackling them, then cutting the straps on their shoes and sandals with a pair of scissors."

Yashi barked out a laugh and glanced at Stephanie before quickly turning his eyes back to the road. "You're kidding."

"I kid you not. The last time she was arrested it was for stabbing holes in a three thousand dollar Tempur-Pedic mattress at Stanley's Furniture Store over off Main Street. Sounds like she needs to get a hobby," Steph told him with a small laugh.

"Sounds like she needs mental health treatment and to be kept away from sharp objects," Yashi countered her assessment.

"Can't argue with that," Steph said, as he turned right onto Maple Street, then make a quick left onto Oak Lawn.

She pointed to a small, one story, white aluminum sided house on the right. "She lives right there, but there's no car in the driveway. We can knock anyway to see if someone answers. Her son, Foster, sometimes stays with her. I've picked him up twice in the past for going FTA on shoplifting charges.

Yashi pulled over to the side of the road in front of the white house and parked. Before he could get around to Steph's side to open the door for her, she'd already exited the car and was standing on the sidewalk.

They walked to the front door and Stephanie knocked, but there was no answer. After waiting a bit she knocked again, louder this time.

A few seconds later, Foster flung open the door. He looked like he'd been sleeping and was not happy at being disturbed. He looked at Steph, gave a cursory glance at Yashi, then shifted his gaze back to Steph. "What the hell do you want, BBH? I'm not FTA."

Stephanie knew that by BBH he meant Bombshell Bounty Hunter, but she wasn't anxious for Yashi to know what he was referring to so she quickly got down to business. "I'm looking for your mother. She's FTA and I need to take her in to reschedule."

Foster looked surprised, his eyebrows shooting up under the greasy, shaggy dark hair that hung down on his forehead. "My mom? She didn't tell me she was in trouble again. What'd she do now?"

Stephanie related the current charge against his mother and asked if he knew where she was.

"As far as I know, she's at work. At the diner," he added. "Just leave her the fuck alone, she can't afford to lose her job," he said, his voice angry.

"Hey, watch your language in front of a lady," Yashi demanded, speaking up for the first time since Foster opened the door.

"Fuck you," Foster said, directing his words to Yashi.

Stephanie quickly stepped between them before the situation had a chance to escalate. She glanced at Yashi over her shoulder. "It's okay. It goes with the territory. If you ride with me to pick up any other skips, you'll see and hear much worse."

Foster gave her a cheesy grin. "Manoso know his woman is hooking up with someone else?"

Stephanie rolled her eyes and ignored the question. "I can try to avoid picking her up inside the diner if you let me know what time she gets off work."

Foster shrugged. "Usually two o'clock, after the lunch crowd clears out, but sometimes they ask her to stay later. Since she needs the money, she usually stays."

Stephanie nodded. "You working, Foster?"

Foster knew she was implying that he should have a job so he could help his mother out. It was amazing how many people felt that way, just because he was 29 years old. Sheesh. "None of your business, bitch," he said before slamming the door in her face.

Yashi and Steph walked back to the Mercedes, climbed inside and buckled their seat belts. Yashi started the car and turned the air on again. "Feels like it's going to hit close to ninety again today," he grumbled.

"Yeah, I'm sick of this sticky heat," Steph agreed. She leaned forward so that the flow of cold air from the passenger side air vents was blowing directly into her face.

Yahsi studied her for a moment and a small smile formed on his lips as he watched her cooling her face. Her eyes were closed and her face was relaxed in spite of the fact that a creepy looking guy just got up in her face and gave her a hard time. "I hate the way he spoke to you, Stephanie. I wanted to punch his face in."

Steph opened her eyes and glanced at him, then smiled. "Yashi, it's okay, really. I'm not sure what the women on Wall Street are like, but I've been known to use some colorful language myself. Like I said earlier, it's part of the job."

Something about what she said made Yashi smile. The thought of a string of swear words flowing from her beautiful mouth was amusing to him. He was having a hard time imagining it.

She turned back to the air vents and closed her eyes again allowing Yashi to spend a few more seconds studying her profile. Stephnanie Plum was definitely someone he wanted to get to know and spend time with.

"So, the diner next?" he asked, switching his focus back to the skip.

Steph opened her eyes again and glanced at her watch. "Nah, it's too early. I try to avoid doing apprehensions inside public buildings and Denise doesn't get off work until two at the earliest. We need to kill some time."

"I'm getting a bit hungry. May I buy you an early lunch?" Yahsi asked her.

The mention of lunch reminded her of Ranger's strange phone calls. Once again, she wondered if he was okay. She'd have to call him later and let him know she'd be there for dinner instead of lunch. "Sure," she told Yashi. "That sounds good."

"Hungry for anything in particular?" he asked her.

Stephanie shrugged. "Nah, any place will do, as long as the main thing on the menu isn't vegetables."

Yashi grinned at that. "Not a fan, huh?"

"Not even a little. I'm a pizza and meatball subs kind of girl."

"Love them both," he told her. "So, who has the best meatball subs and pizza?"

"Pino's has the best meatball subs and their pizza is great too. Shorty's has the best pizza, but it's kind of a dive. It's the kind of place I'd never go to if I were alone."

Yashi pulled away from the curb. "Lucky you're not alone. Where is it located?"

Steph told him the location and pulled her cell phone out of her bag. What do you like on your pizza? I can call ahead and it'll be ready shortly after we get there."

"I like everything, but anchovies," he told her. "However, get whatever you like because other than the anchovies, I'm not picky."

Steph opened her phone and hit the contact number for Shorty's. She ordered a small pizza with everything but anchovies and a small pizza with just pepperoni. Yashi smiled when he heard her place the two orders. Apparently, she wanted to make sure they both got what they liked.

It was still a bit early in the day, so Shorty's wasn't crowded like the way it gets when lunch is in full swing. They slid into an empty booth in the back and ordered two Cokes when the waitress arrived at their table.

The waitress recognized Stephanie and slid her eyes over to Yashi. "Doesn't look like your average RangeMan," she commented as she walked away.

"What was that about?" Yashi asked when the waitress was out of earshot.

"The only time I come in here is when I'm with Ranger or one of his men. Sometimes a whole group of us come in after work on a Friday night to have a few beers and pizza.

"Most of them are really big guys with muscles upon muscles and dressed completely in black. They also wear guns and knives, so I imagine you're a bit more refined looking than the type of guy she usually associates me with."

The waitress was back with their Cokes before Yashi could reply. "Pizzas will be out in two or three minutes," she told them.

Yashi look around the room. "I'm glad to know you don't come here alone. This place looks rough."

"I'm sorry," Stephanie told him. "I probably should have picked Pino's. I guess this really isn't your kind of place."

"Oh, I've hung out in worse," he told her. Especially during my college days. My friends and I used to hang out at a place called Rollers, but most everyone referred to it The Stab & Shoot. Rough place, but there's some kind of strange appeal to these kinds of places. Well, for some of us, I guess," he admitted with a smirk. "Maybe it's the same type of appeal horror movies hold for people. You never know when something dark and unexpected might happen. I'm just happy to know you're with security people when you come in here."

Steph opened her mouth to reply, but was cut off by familiar voices coming from behind her.

"Beautiful?"

"Bomber?"