Disclaimer: Everything you recognize belongs to Janet Evanovich!
Authors Note: So glad to be writing again! I love the reviews and plotting how this story is gonna turn! Feel free to give me ideas, I may use them! This one is a little shorter, but I couldn't help but post! The more reviews the more writing I will do!
Previously: "But Les we need to keep an eye on him, he has lost his top. I was really scared today."
Acts of Valor
LPOV
That dirty rotten scumbag, I'm gonna kill him with my bare hands. I'm gonna rip him to shreds and feed him to the Jersey Devil myself. I was gonna roll him in gasoline and then light him on fire and listen to him scream. I was gonna . . .
"Les, whats wrong?" that gorgeous voice snapped me and my beast out of our inner mantra to kill Morelli.
"I hate that you were scared today Beautiful, you don't deserve to be scared by someone you loved, and someone you trusted." I was fuming inside, I was ready to kill him, but at the same time all I wanted to do was comfort Stephanie. "Waddaya say we get you out of the tub and I'll throw together some lunch Baby?" I had never called her baby before, but it just felt so right with her here in my house. Right where I wanted her to stay, well maybe with a slight change of bedrooms! It had taken me quite some time to get this house rebuilt just the way I wanted it, well 6 years approximately and I had been in love with Stephanie for at least half that time. Before I knew it, I had been picturing what my Beautiful might want in this house, and I had taken that into consideration when I had remodeled.
I miuse have been stuck in my own little fantasy for too long because when I snapped out of it, Stephanie was pushing me off the side of the tub so that she could get out. I gave her a crooked smile and offered to help, the ast thing i expected her to do was to tell me to grab the towel, holy hell I think I might have just creamed myself. Had I been wearing jeans I would have busted my zipper. Not now dude, calm down, go away. I need to do this the right way. I quickly stood and grabbed her two towels off the warmer, oh how I loved that she had been exploring. I adverted my eyes to the floor, and held out the first towel to wrap her body in. and as she turned in the towel I wrapped it around her slender perfect frame. The second I held out to her for her hair, I then turned my back and walked out to the bedroom. I sat on the edge of the bed, and fiddled with the edge of my basketball shorts. I couldn't help it, I was so nervous with her here, I wanted her to like it so much I wanted her to stay here, with me. I wanted her in my bed, in my shower, and in my life.
I was still sitting there, messing with the bottom edge of my shorts when Stephanie emerged from the bathroom, her hair wrapped in a towel and the towel wrapped around her small, lithe body, I grew hard all over again. Go that body had played a part in so many of my dreams. God Damnit Santos get your shit together. You're no longer a horny teenager. But damn don't I feel like it! I needed my head in the game, especially if I was gonna get Beautiful to along with my plan.
As she came to stand between my legs I grabbed her hands in mine, I needed her to listen to me, and I needed her to take me seriously. I looked up into her eyes, hoping that the concern and need to protect were evident in my facial expression. "Beautiful, we need to do something about Morelli, I don't trust him. I don't want him anywhere near you."
"I understand Les" she shocked the hell out of me by saying. I'm sure you could see it on my face. She just scoffed at me and laughed out loud "By the look on your face Les, you're surprised I agreed?"
"Well yeah normally you would fight and run away to Denial Land for something like this!" I countered.
I could see the brief look of hurt cross her face "Lester I was scared today. Something in Joe has snapped, I don't trust him, I don't want to be around him. I want my trackers and panic button, just in case he manages to get me alone. I .." She started to look at the floor, I pulled one hand free so that I could grab her chin gently and make her look at me. "IneedtrainingLes" She blurted out. Well knock me over with a feather. "But, I don't wanna do it at Rangeman. I don't want to take up company time and resources. I refuse to let your company bleed money for me again, and I absolutely refuse to let you train me on company time. The only way I will train or use Rangeman resources is if I come back to work. Full time, on probation until I get up to Rangewoman standards." As she said this, her whole posture changed, I could see it in her eyes. She had this spark and confidence I had never seen before. I wanted to see more of this take charge woman. I must have taken to long to respond to her because I felt her start to deflate and pull back into herself.
"Oh baby I have never been so happy to hear those words from you, especially right now. Let me talk to the guys and see what we can do about your Rangewoman Standards" I had to laugh out loud at this. "But for now, let's get you dressed and fed, I can hear the beast gurgling!" She dropped her head and her whole body flushed in embarrassment.
I quirked a small smile at her and stood up to go get her a late lunch started.
I always felt comfortable in my kitchen, I was no chef by any means, but I love cooking. It always relaxes me, I get in a zone and by the time I have prepped, cooked and cleaned I am totally relaxed, and I get to eat my efforts. Which are pretty tasty if I do say so myself. I grew up with 4 older sisters, who all spent a lot of their time growing up learning to cook from Mama, so it only felt natural when I wandered in there to learn too. I grew up like a normal boy with plenty of friends and cousins, all of whom gave me plenty of grief for learning to cook with all my sisters. They never complained through high school or even now though, I cooked to good for them to worry about pissing me off.
I was bent over in front of the fridge surveying the prospects for lunch, when I felt tiny fingers ghost under my shirt and start tickling my sides. I couldn't help it I squealed and whipped around, grabbing Steph's hands and pinning them over her head and her against the pantry door. I looked down at her glowing face, her eyes bright with mischief and I couldn't help my self. I bent down and pressed my lips to hers, feeling the soft curve of her lower lip against my harder one, moving my lips against hers I felt her press into me and start kissing me back. I lifted her up by that fantastic ass and set her on the island counter. As I stood between her legs gripping her thighs her feet snaked around my waist and brought me even closer, her tiny hand fisted in my short spikes. As the need to breathe pressed in on me, I pulled away and pressed my forehead to hers. We were both breathing hard, I reached one hand up to rest on her cheek. I pulled back and looked at her, she was flushed and breathless from out kiss. She had put her long curly hair into a simple French braid, barely there makeup, her lips were red and slightly puffy from our kiss. I had never seen her look so beautiful before. So I told her so.
She just giggled and hid her face in my chest. "What are we doing Les, what is this?" she questioned timidly. I was slightly alarmed at this question but calmed down when I realized that this was just her figuring out what had transpired between us.
"This, Beautiful, is me showing how I feel about you. How I have always felt about you." I pressed my forehead to hers again and just breathed in her scent. She smelled like the cherry vanilla bubble bath that she had been in when I found her. I loved that smell on her. It's why I bought it in the first place. When I snapped out of my Beautiful induced haze, she was humming contentedly in my arms. I used both hands to make her look at me this time, "What do you want this to be Beautiful?" She never would have guessed but I was so scared and vulnerable right now. Right now she held the power to rip my heart to shreds with a few words. Instead she almost made it explode with joy.
"I know it's soon, but I want this. I may have just got things figured out but I don't want to wait another moment Lester, I want an us."
