Chapter 3

RPOV

When I got back to Rangeman after dropping Steph off at her apartment I felt on edge and to be honest wasn't in a good mood, the last week had been hell, what with trying to find Hal and having to be with Steph all week had really thrown me in a loop. I knew she was in an on phase with Morelli, was that what was annoying me? Or was it the way the whole week had passed me by? I'd played nice guy with Steph, helping out at the deli, but my motives were selfish, I enjoyed being with her and had to reign in my emotions. Had she done the same, probably, she wasn't the type of woman to play around and when she was with Morelli she played it cool with me. Leaving her apartment after kissing her and then saying those dam stupid words offering her the use of my shower or bed had been stupid, but what can I say, I'm an opportunist. I'd spent every evening after leaving her in the care of Morelli keeping up to date with Rangeman business so now I needed to get back into the routine of meeting clients and keeping my men at the top of their game. I decided that I needed to do something and the gym was the place to release the way I was feeling. I changed on seven and went down to find very few men there, Santos was there finishing up his daily routine so I nodded to him and indicated toward the mats.

"That case finished with Ranger?"
"Yes, thankfully, it was getting to be a real pain trying to solve it"
"Well at least you got to spend time with Beautiful"
"Maybe"
"What's that meant to mean?"
"She's back with Morelli, so I had to play the good guy"
"Not like you Ranger"

I'd warmed up, stretching out my muscles and was now more than ready to take Santos on, he really didn't sense the mood I was in until after 30 minutes he declined to keep going and limped away from the mats.

"Ranger you've got too much pent up energy inside of you, what the hell's got you like this?"

"Nothing, I haven't been able to really limber up before now"
"Yeah right"

What did he mean by that? Or was Santos more astute at knowing me than I gave him credit for? Once showered and changed I headed in to see Tank in his office, I needed to catch up with him with any day-to-day events.

"Ranger, you finished with that case?"
"Yes"

"Good, there are plenty of meetings with clients you can pick up now"

"Anything else?"

"Yeah, we've got intel on that FBI perp, he's supposed to be at a charity event on Friday"

"He's been hard to find so we need to make the most of it, how do you suggest we do it?"
"Well it's probably one for Little Girl. He likes the women"

"How well guarded will he be?"
"He usually has at least four with him so us taking him by force won't work"

"Okay I'll call Steph and set it up, just make sure the Intel on him is good"

I returned to my office and then went about contacting clients to set up meetings getting absorbed in the routine of work.

The next morning I woke early and realized that I wouldn't be picking Steph up this morning, how the hell had she managed to weasel her way into my life, I'd always promised myself that getting too close to a woman wasn't part of my life plan. I wasn't the sort of guy who would be good for a woman, I had too many demons in my head to make a relationship work, I'd done too many things that I really wasn't always proud of in order to serve my country and keep the government happy and secure. Apart from that I still had at least one more mission before I decided if I wanted to continue, maybe Steph being with Morelli would be a reason to keep it on. I actually missed her and that left me with a disconcerted feeling, I didn't like that she could have so much power over me but I'd always told her she held all the power. Seeing as she was in my head I called her mobile number, was I annoyed that it went to voicemail? Maybe, because I was disappointed not to hear her voice, her laugh or to tease her just a little bit. With a full day of meetings I dressed in a suit to take on the image of CEO, impress the clients and continue to make Rangeman the best security company in the area, yes that was my role and my life now, for Rangeman to be successful. All of my meetings were off site, first off was the family who lived in a very large mansion who decided they needed better coverage and then an exclusive outlet store for womens clothes on the outskirts of Princeton. I couldn't help but notice some of the outfits they were selling as I toured the place and couldn't resist a beautiful gown in midnight blue thinking how well it would suit Steph especially if she was going to do the distraction on Friday. I asked the owner to box it up along with flat shoes and a bag that went with it and then arranged for it to be delivered to Rangeman the next day. As I switched my phone back on there was a message from Steph acknowledging my call, dam how was it we kept missing each other? I'd try and catch up with her tomorrow for now I had work to do.

The following day went by so quickly but as I looked at my watch I decided that I'd had enough I wanted to catch up with Steph, how strange was that? I'd spent longer away from her before and never had the urge to see her. I pulled up her trackers on my laptop surprised when they indicated that they were in two different places. Her car was parked at her apartment but the one in her bag showed her to be in Point Pleasant. Was she there with Morelli, maybe they'd decided to go away together, so no way was I going to call her and interrupt. Maybe prolonging my contract with the government was the way to go or I could always spend more time down in Miami, Julie would appreciate that and then at least I wouldn't have this growing feeling inside of me, feeling? Maybe I was now becoming jealous of Morelli and the time he had with Steph, was that it? Did I only want her because she was with someone else? Maybe if I went down to Miami I could hit the clubs, but I didn't want to spend any time scratching that itch unless it was with my Babe.