Any recognizable characters are the sole property of their respective owners. No infringement is intended. This plot, however, is all mine.

SPOV

My first week at Rangeman had been pretty stressful. Aside from adjusting to a new environment and coworkers, I was expending a lot of energy avoiding my new boss. My boss, who had a perfect ass and was kind of an ass. He wasn't paying me much attention either, so I guess we'd settled into a little bubble of denial. Just because I couldn't get the image of him looming over me out of my head and could still feel him kissing me a week later, didn't mean that I couldn't do my job.

It had taken the full week to reconcile the personnel files with all the faces I saw around the office. Nearly everyone was friendly and respectful, so I guess the boss wasn't into telling everyone about his conquests. I was glad of that. While the guys that worked here were all what would be considered eye candy, after the consequences of my one night with Ranger and the new work policy, I wasn't going to let myself view them as any more than good-looking friends. The only time that was difficult was when I had to do my mandatory gym time. Seeing all those muscly men flexing and sweating was way more of a job perk than I had anticipated. My hour in there had seemed like it was going to be an awfully long one until the first time I stepped through the door and been greeted with that sight. I'd probably even be willing to do more than the required time.

In an effort to show how dedicated I was to my new job, I spent the weekend turning the MLS listings inside out looking for available real estate in the cities Tank had asked for. By Monday morning I was armed with at least ten options for each area and was feeling pretty smug as I knew without a doubt that Tank would be pleased with what I had come up with. Each real estate listing had nearly all the specifications that he'd said were necessary and what was missing could easily be added. Surprisingly, the search engines I had used didn't have 'gun range' in the list of amenities available in the buildings that were for sale.

I parked in the garage and made my way straight to Tank's office, only to see him buckling a gun belt around his waist and shrugging into a flak jacket.

"Oh! I'm catching you at a bad time. I'll come back later."

He shoved some cuffs in his pocket, "No Steph, I'll be gone all day. What did you need?"

"I have those real estate listings you asked for." I said holding up the binder in my hand.

"Can you give them to Ranger? He was asking me about them yesterday." He holstered another gun at his ankle and made towards the door.

"Oh…uh, yeah I can do that. He's not going with you…wherever you're going?"

"No, he's got meetings today. I have a few skips to pick up. Your cousin actually sent them over."

"Vinnie?" I asked with a shudder.

He laughed at my reaction. "Yeah, have a good day."

"You too, be safe." I said eying his weapons. He waved his hand dismissively at me and took off.

I took a deep breath and stiffened my spine.

No more avoiding! You work for the man for fuck's sake.

I marched the two doors to Ranger's office and knocked on the open door. He was typing away on the computer and flicked his eyes in my direction and away again. Before my ego could really plummet, he finished whatever he was typing quickly and gave me his full attention.

"Ms. Plum."

Maybe it was better when he wasn't staring at me like that.

"Hi, good morning. Tank asked me to give these to you." I handed him the folder and turned to leave.

"What is this?" His voice considerably softer than last week.

"The real estate listings in Boston, Miami and Houston." He flipped the cover open and stood up.

"Have a seat…please?" He gestured to the small conference table on the other side of the room.

Framing it like a request seemed like it was difficult for him. I had noticed that this place was very militaristic in its administration. Not disrespectful, just a very hierarchal structure.

"I have some things I need to…" I trailed off watching him stride towards me.

"Have a seat Ms. Plum." He said a bit more forcefully.

"Sure, okay." He pulled my chair out for me and sat down next to me. I watched as he silently leafed through the pages. I felt foolish. I had spent a significant amount of time hole punching each paper and sliding each one into a little plastic sleeve this weekend. It seemed more juvenile and ridiculous the more I thought about it. I might as well have starred and made little hearts on my favorite pictures with a little, pink, glittery, gel pen. This company, I had come to find out, was more than just a security firm. The bulk of the staff had been in some form of special-forces in the Army, Marine Corps or Navy. The ones that weren't had some specific skill that they were hired for.

"These are all good buildings to start with. What specifications did Tank give you?" He finished his sentence and turned to face me. Close up like this he was kind of dazzling and it took me a minute to really hear his question.

"Um, no more than $10 million, 25,000-30,000 square feet. Multiple floors. Mixed zoning for residences and office space and a basement for holding cells…we don't actually "hold" people down there do we?" Whenever I thought about it, it made my skin crawl.

"Sometimes." He shrugged, but didn't elaborate. He went back to studying the binder. I couldn't help but observe him. He wasn't being the asshole he had been on my first day, but he wasn't being the sexy, smooth talker that I was immediately drawn to, of the night before that. It made me wonder which one was the real him.

He smelled like he had just stepped out of the shower and I found my eyes drawn to the way his t-shirt spanned his biceps and the play of muscle in his arm when he flipped a page. When I looked past his arm, I realized that his shirt was equally as tight on his abs. You could very nearly make out the definition of each bump of muscle. My eyes continued their perusal and slid south, I couldn't help but notice the bulge against the crotch of his cargo pants. Realizing the inappropriateness of my ogling, regardless of the fact that said bulge has been in my hand, mouth and inside me, I looked up at his face, mortified. He had a slight smile tipping the corner of his full lips and I couldn't tear my gaze away from him, my cheeks feeling like they were on fire. His dark eyes sharpened as he must have seen the direction of my thoughts, but quickly softened.

"I'm sorry about the other day." He said quietly. "I reacted badly to seeing you here and made some ridiculous assumptions about you intentions here. Do you think we can start again?"

"You mean like…" I waved my hand between us.

"No, no. I mean professionally. You've already done some really good work here, and it's only been a week. Tank has been raving about you every day." He rolled his eyes. "The only thing is, I haven't seen your firearms qualification. Everybody has to do it once every six months and be licensed to carry."

"Seriously? Tank never said that! I despise guns. I get the shivers seeing you guys walking around with them on. I don't need a gun, I do office work!" No need to worry about blushing any more, I could actually feel the blood run out of my face as I thought about having to hold and shoot a gun.

"You'll be fine. One of us could take you downstairs today, but yes, all employees are supposed to qualify."

"Okay." I uttered shakily, freaking out internally. "Sure, who should I ask?"

He thought about it for a second, "Do you have anything pressing that needs to be done right now?" He looked at his watch. "I have two hours before my first meeting with some potential investors for this." He tapped the binder still open on the table. "I could take you down there and show you how to get started."

"I guess now is as good a time as any. I mean, if I really have to do it."

"Yes, you do." He said simply. He stood and gestured for me to proceed him out of the office. I was apprehensive the entire way to the basement. I didn't want to have to hold a tiny death machine. Knowing me I would flail and shoot myself in some irreplaceable part. I liked nearly all of my parts.

I jumped as the heavy range door slammed behind us. "Relax. First, I'm going to demonstrate the stance that is probably best for you. It's called a modified isosceles stance, it can help minimize recoil after firing a round. Feet shoulder width apart, right foot slightly ahead of the left. Lean forward on the balls of your feet, shoulders forward of the hips, hips forward of the knees. You want to look like a boxer." He arranged himself the way he was instructing me. "Turn your torso a little sideways, both arms will be braced straight behind the gun." He held his arms out. "Okay, show me."

I tried to copy his positioning, but felt moronic. He walked behind me and moved in close, making my heart pick up double time. He placed his hands at my waist and turned my upper body slightly sideways, while keeping my hips square and forward. He gently kicked my feet further apart and touched my shoulders. "Keep these down and back." He murmured close to my ear. If he felt me shiver when he did that, he didn't remark on it. He moved in closer behind me and lifted my arms up, smoothing his fingertips down the sensitive undersides of my elbows. Encouraging me to keep them straight.

You'd think, after all the places he's touched me that this wouldn't be titillating, but holy moly was I getting turned on.

It was kind of sad actually, the man so badly didn't want a repeat of our night that he enacted a policy forbidding employee romances the very day I started. I didn't want to react physically to someone who had no further interest in me. No matter how gorgeous he was or how good he smelled, or, jeez, how amazing it felt when he basically had me wrapped in his arms, showing me how to keep my arms steady. He moved in the last bit of space between us and I had a flashback to Sunday night so intense that I might have whimpered.

"You have to relax. If you tense up like this before you shoot you're going to miss your target for sure." Yeah, easier said than done. He just said all that in the same 'sex' voice he used that night.

"Alright." He said stepping back. "I'm going to give you a few different guns to try. I've found that the bigger the gun the less the felt recall, so let's do that first." He crossed to a cabinet and unlocked it pulling out a few cases and boxes. He walked me through loading and unloading the first gun and then dry firing it so I could get the feel of the trigger. I was actually okay until he made me stand in the cubicle and drew the target closer.

"Here." He held his hand out and deposited the bullets in mine.

"Oh god."

"You'll be fine."

"I'm going to shoot myself in the foot!"

"No you won't. I'm right here. Do you think I'm going to let you get hurt?"

"You tried to fire me a week ago." I grumbled. He just stared at me. "Fine. No, I don't think you'd let me get hurt."

"Okay, load it and show me that stance." I complied, again he made some adjustments and I became resigned to the fact that every time he touched me I was going to shiver or have to bite back a moan, or some other approving noise. He backed away. "Go ahead and shoot at the target."

I took a deep breath and tried to pick a spot to shoot at. I squeezed the trigger and couldn't help but close my eyes at the massive bang that erupted from the small cannon I was holding. The recoil took my arms up far higher than I had thought it would and I grimaced at the unblemished target only thirty feet away.

"It helps if you keep your eyes open, Curly." I could hear the grin in his voice and it took me a second to realize he'd called me Curly. I whipped around and he just maneuvered me back to face my new nemesis. "I'll stay right here this time." I don't quite know what help he thought having his big hands on my waist was going to be, but it was only serving to get me flustered. Just not enough to complain about it. The bastard was definitely doing it on purpose, I could feel every inch of him snugged up behind me, every single inch. "Don't try to fight the recoil. It's going to happen no matter what. Try to relax." He whispered in my ear. My eyes started sliding shut of their own volition. "No, keep those eyes open." He wrapped his hands around mine on the butt of the gun and pressed his cheek to mine over my shoulder. "Go ahead." My treacherous body relaxed back into his and I squeezed the trigger.

"I hit the paper! Holy shit! I hit it!" I uttered in disbelief. It wasn't on the silhouette, but I was close.

I felt him smile against the side of my face, "Yes you did. Do some more and then you're on your own." He moved away after I emptied the clip and I was left feeling disturbingly bereft at the absence of his warmth behind me. He had me practice with four different guns, so I could pick the one that felt the best. In the end I was left with a very sore arm, a blister on my trigger finger, I reeked of cordite, but I was now a much more confident owner of a Glock.

"Give Lester Santos your info and he'll process your license to carry. Until then, keep that in your desk in a locked drawer. You can take it home with you, if you want once the paperwork goes through, but you don't have to carry it all the time like everyone else. I want you to practice once a week until you're comfortable with it."

"Okay." He nodded and turned to leave. "Ranger, wait." I moved in front of him. "Thank-you, for your help. I'm sure anyone of the staff could've done that for me, so I appreciate you taking the time to teach me."

He looked a little flummoxed for a second. "Well I just wanted you to be safe. Being around guns and being nervous is dangerous for everyone in the vicinity."

"Still, thank-you."

"You're welcome."

Again he turned to leave, but I stopped him with a hand on his forearm. "What changed your mind about me? Last Monday you were ready to kick me out of the building."

"Honestly?" He looked surprised I'd asked.

"Yes."

"Well, besides a more thorough background check, I've been watching you around the office and Tank has been your personal cheerleader. The day I came back here…" He cut himself off and looked at his watch. "I have to get to that meeting." He looked up at my skeptical face. "I really do. Can I catch up with you later?"

"Yeah, I'll be leaving for lunch with a friend, but I'll be back by 1:00." A look flashed across his face too quickly for me to define.

He nodded and turned away again, this time letting the door shut behind him. I walked back to the cubicle I'd used and pushed the button to bring my paper target closer. Regardless of my intense dislike of guns, I was pretty proud of what I'd managed to do. One of my shots had even gone through the heart area. I thought about that for a second and got queasy. I really, really hoped I never had to actually use the glock. Ever.

The rest of the day passed quickly. I met my best friend since forever, Mary-Lou and her little boy, Jack, at a deli around the corner from the office. She was well aware of the Ranger situation, so I filled her in on our shooting lesson.

"So, let me get this straight." She whispered over her two year olds head. "He was all pressed up against you, for like ten minutes, and he didn't touch you anywhere fun?"

I blew out a breath. "No, but he probably could've shown me how to do it without laying a hand on me at all. It was kind of inappropriate for work. We were alone, but I wasn't going to tell him to back off. I think he knew he was getting me…" I trailed off looking at the baby on her lap. "…you know, 'happy'."

"Of course he did. You get all lit up like a candle when you're in a 'happy' mood. He'd have to be blind not to see it. Especially given that he's already made you 'happy' twice before."

"Three." I corrected her absently

"And you left after that?"

"We've talked about this already. I have to get back to work." I shoved the last of my sandwich in my mouth and dropped a kiss on both of their heads. "I'll call you later. Love you." I called out as I walked out the door.

I hiked back to the office and got settled into work. The next time I looked up it was nearly quitting time and the bossman still hadn't shown up. I just could not get a good handle on my opinion of him. First impression was that he was ridiculously sexy and was magic in bed, second impression was that he was an asshole. Then today he'd been so nice to me, I mean, yeah, he'd probably touched me a little too much, but holy cow, I'd enjoyed it. And now it seemed he was back to avoiding me. He had my head spinning and that wasn't a feeling I enjoyed a whole lot. I nonchalantly strolled past his office on my way out, but it was dark and unoccupied.

After dinner and a biweekly interrogation of my love life at my parent's house, I finally made it through the door of my peaceful little apartment. The only noise coming from the squeaky wheel Rex's cage. He stopped his frantic motions and peered up at me.

"You're the only reliable man I know, Rex." He twitched his whiskers at me and went back to galloping away. I grabbed a few grapes from the bowl on the table and dropped them into his food bowl. He screeched to a halt and scurried to retrieve them. He shoved all four into his pouches and retreated to his soup can to enjoy his bounty.

Being the show was over, I showered off the lingering smell of gunpowder and changed into shorts and a tank-top and plunked myself down in front of the TV. Two hours later I was jolted awake by quiet knocking on my door. I sat there, slightly disoriented, heart hammering, before the knock came again. I jumped up and looked through the peep-hole and grimaced when I saw who it was.

I shoved my hands into my hair, which had sadly turned into a Bride of Frankenstein style bouffant. Realizing the futility of my efforts I blew out a breath and opened the door.

"Hi." I said awkwardly, feeling exposed in my warm weather pajamas. He looked me up and down slowly before walking right past me and into the living room. "Please come in." I muttered sarcastically. "So, uh, what are you doing here Ranger?"

AN: this is kind of an awkward place to end it, but I need to tell the rest from his POV. He won't be a jackass much longer, well, not much of one anyway.

Hope you liked. Let me know what you thought.

Love,

EA