Disclaimer: The characters are property of Janet Evanovich and I am not making any money from this story. The story line is mine.
Warning: Angst
Finding Yesterday 03By, Elissahara30
August 2004
I had never been with someone who romanced me. It was always the same with Joe and I, pizza, beer, a game on TV and sex. No candles, no soft music, no flowers and long flowing pros containing declarations of love. Just nothing.
I think the closest I had ever come to a real romantic dinner was the night Dickie had proposed to me. We went to a small Italian restaurant that had cloth napkins on the table and an old bottle containing a candle in the middle and flowers. The restaurant had an old charm feel, and once the wine was served and our dinner had progressed Dickie got down on one knee and proposed and I had said yes. But even then I never really felt swept off my feet.
Then there was Ranger.
The day was hot, my skin sticky with sweat and my hair had long since expired into a riot of limp frizzy curls. My body exhausted and battered as I had chased after a skip who thought jumping fences was fun. Jumping fences rated right up there with root canals, I avoided it at all costs. My FTA had made it over the fence and as I started to shimmy up, the links on the poll had come undone and down I went right of the dumpster to the local mini mart. And after that unfortunate event, I had picked up a peculiar smell, onion rings with a hint of cheese cake wafted over me at odd intervals. I tried to drive home with the windows down, but somehow that made the smell all the worse.
Once I had limped into my apartment I was struck by two things right away, one my apartment was littered with candles and two there was a place stetting for two on my dinning room table. Ranger had come out of the kitchen smiling dressed in dark slacks and a cream colored dress shirt with the top two buttons undone showing his dark mocha latte skin. He walked over to me, took off my jacket and walked me to my bathroom, "I have a dress for you to wear hanging on the back of your bathroom door." And with that he shut the door on me. Did I just walk into an alternate reality? Was that really Ranger on the other side of the door? What the hell was going on?
Not wasting time on questions I stripped myself out of my soiled clothing and jumped into the shower valiantly scrubbing the grime off my skin. As I got out and dried off I inspected the dress on the back of my bathroom door and drooled over the soft silky black fabric. I had never felt material so soft in my life; I swear it was like cream against my skin. As I started to apply my make up and do my hair I noticed a new bottle of Dolce Vita and I couldn't help but smile as I put a little dab at the base of my throat and behind my knees.
I exited the bathroom and quickly made a dash to my room to find a pair of shoes to go with my glorious new dress. One can not just wear anything with a dress this sinfully sexy, I needed my FMPs and not just any pair, but the pair that made my legs look so good a man wanted them wrapped around his body.
I exited my bedroom and heard the soft music playing and I closed my eyes letting the music wash over me. Strong arms circled my waist and I leaned back into Ranger's strong embrace and breathed in his scent, all warm and male smothered in Bulgari. It made me sigh with pleasure.
"What's the occasion," I ask softly really not wanting to break the mood that had come over us.
Ranger's breath brushed my ear as he said, "It's my birthday."
My eyes came open as I turned into his arms to face him, "I didn't get you a birthday present."
He smiled a slow sexy smile at me that made me warm in all the right places, "Spending it with you is present enough for me." Then his lips brushed mine in a slow drugging kiss, and I melted further into his embrace.
"Okay," I breathed as we pulled apart and I felt his smile on my lips. He took my hand and led me into the dinning room and I was amazed that he went to all this trouble and it was his birthday.
He pulled out my chair and I brushed past him as I sat down and he went off into the kitchen to bring back a covered plate and then another one for himself. Once he was seated across from me did I dare uncover my plate and what I saw made my mouth water. It was sausage and linguini covered in a thick alfraido sauce and I looked over at Ranger's plate that had lemon chicken with steamed vegetables and I couldn't help the sigh that escaped my lips, couldn't the man just live on the edge just once when it came to food.
I ate my dinner and moaned with each savory bite and I desperately wanted to know who had cooked the food. Because whoever it was a genius, Ranger had poured me a glass of wine and I took a sip and my mouth exploded with the flavors it contained. I had never had wine this good
After our meal Ranger escorted me to my living room where we proceeded to dance and not once did I feel silly. It felt sweet and natural, like home. I rested my head on Rangers shoulder as he held me tight, "I have a present for you Babe." He said.
I pulled back and looked into his dark eyes, "Why are you giving me a present when it's your birthday?"
He touched my face so tenderly and his eyes grew wistful as he gazed at me, "Indulge me please."
He took my hand and sat me down on the couch and he left the room briefly and when he came back he stood in the entrance way and just watched me. I'm not sure what emotions he was feeling at the moment; all that was going through me was the brushes of butterflies' whasping through my stomach as I watched him. He seemed to shake his head and then sat down next to me and took my hand in his, "I trust you with my life and my heart," he said carefully, as he looked at our entwined hands, "I love you Stephanie."
Oh, my god! I thought in my head, was he going to as me to marry him! I waited for the panic to swarm over me and strange enough it was missing. I looked at Ranger and waited for him to continue, but instead he handed me a long box, thin box. I took it from him and opened the little card that was attached, it read: "To Catwoman; From her Batman." I opened up the box and inside was a key on a golden necklace and I looked at Ranger in confusion.
Ranger took the necklace out of the box and looked at me seriously, "This key," he paused, "is the key to all my secrets." He moved my hair back away from my neck and put the necklace on me, "And someday you'll be able to unlock them."
For the longest time I was speechless, not quite understanding what he was saying to me, and I wanted to ask him precisely that, what do you mean? But it hit me, he trusted me with his life, he trusted me with his heart and now he has given me a key to his secrets letting me know that he trusts me with those as well.
SRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSR
Present Day – France
We had been on the move for a week, covering our trail and making sure that we hadn't tipped Kruger off. I felt restless and edgy. We still didn't know enough about Kruger's organization to get a foot in the door and I was beginning to feel desperate. The longer we waited the more I feared the worst.
DM was sitting at the rickety table tapping away at the keys on the laptop there, "Jesus Jersey sit your ass down, you're giving me a headache."
"I'm missing something DM, I know it," I pulled out my necklace and started sliding the key along the chain as I continued to pace, "I just can't help that I'm missing something obvious here."
DM stopped typing and looked over at me, "I've been in this game a hell of a lot longer than you," he said. "And we're getting the intel as fast as we can with what resources we have, and I don't want to pull others into this until we have more."
"I KNOW," I ground out in frustration as I turned and kicked a table letting the key flop against my chest. I turned to DM planting my hands on my hips as he surveyed me with cool detachment, "I'm going out for a walk."
"Don't get lost, I don't want to have to go rescue your ass," DM shot at me as I started for the door.
"Screw you," I shot back and I distinctly heard him say, "If only," as I slammed the door behind me. We were holed on an old vineyard, the vines since rotted and the land let to go fallow. The ground smelt bitter as I kicked up dust, the sharp tang of cloves reached my nose and I suppressed a sneeze.
I missed home. The smog, the loud voices and the louder horns in gridlock and the plethora of Italian gestures. I missed the Burg and pineapple upside down cake, but most of all I missed the people of Trenton, my friends and family. I hugged myself as the loneliness ticked at my insides and I looked up at the dusky sky, the blue melting into purple as the sun started to set. The air didn't even have the same bite to it as it did at home, and I sighed for what seemed like the millionth time since I had left.
I looked down the lane before me and picked up the key again in my hand, and smiled sadly as I remembered Ranger giving it to me. It might not have been a ring, but it felt so much more important to me than any ring ever could. "The key to all my secrets," I whispered to myself and I fingered the key.
The epiphany hit me dead center in the brain as I felt the writing on the key, I pulled off the necklace and looked at the key in my hand. And in the dying light of the day I read Banko de La France, Paris France. I continued walking back to the villa and looked at the key in my hand. Had Ranger meant that he literally gave me the key to all his secrets?
I walked back into the common room that I shared with DM and looked at him, "I need you to tap into the Bank of France and check into this box number. I want to know who's name is on that box." I handed DM my key.
"And would you like me to transfer some Euro's to an account while I'm at it," he said to me, his voice heavy with sarcasm.
I flipped him off as he chuckled at me, and then everything grew quiet as he started working at the computer. DM was a lot of things, but a pleasant person wasn't top most on his list. He took perverse pleasure in pissing me off on a daily basis and if I wasn't learning from him, I would have run away from him a long time ago. DM was five foot eleven and lean muscled. His skin was light, his head shaved and his eyes a cool blue. When he smiled it could set you on fire, and a lifetime ago I might have found him good looking. The day I walked away from Trenton, New Jersey my hormones quit functioning and I've been hard pressed to remember what it was like to desire a man completely.
"Well, well, well, you're in luck Jersey." DM said from the table, I turned and looked at him feeling a sudden excitement build in my gut.
"What did you find?" I asked as I sat down across from him.
DM crossed his arms and gave me a smug smile, "That key belongs to a safe box in The Bank of France all right," DM checked the data on the screen, "It seems the box was opened by a Adam West to be accessed only by a woman named Julie Newmare."
I sat back in confusion for a long time trying to figure out what it meant when it hit me and a slow smile spread across my face, Oh, Ranger only you. "I guess we go back to Paris."
TBC . . .
A/N: This chapter is a bit rough and I apologize ahead of time. I think it's the after Christmas brain fade. Please review it make me smile and I want to avoid anymore work time tears. Bonus points to those who guess who Adam and Julie are.
