Things revealed

Moving down stairs, I smelled a wonder aroma drift through. Pasta. I hurried down the rest of the steps and followed my nose to the kitchen. The scene there made my heart beat a little faster, okay imagine this - Adonis making pasta for you, in red silk boxers and nothing else, bare chested. I know. I'm a lucky woman.

I pulled out a chair and sat down next to the island in the kitchen. Carlos looked up and grinned at me, I think he can mind read. Or maybe he has a tracker on my thoughts – is that possible? If he did I'm pretty sure he'd be insane by now. My thoughts move faster than the speed of light.

"Carlos, I've been doing a bit of thinking and … well I've decided to quit bounty hunting" he froze.

"Babe? I thought you liked your job?" he questioned, then continued "Babe… you are a bit of a enigma to me…, the things I know about you are the same things that everyone else does, just the general knowledge. You call me mysterious, but really – you are the mystery. And you're really good at keeping secrets."

"What do you mean Carlos, what secrets?" I asked, playing innocent to what I knew he was referring to.

"You know exactly what I mean, babe"

"I do like my job, but I realised I've only been doing it to rebel against my mother. It's past time I grew up. I'm constantly in danger and you are constantly bleeding time, money and resources to save me." I put my hand up signalling him to let me finish. "I want to do something I actually enjoy. I um want to open a restaurant" he burst out laughing at that.

"Babe, you can't cook, the last time you tried you somehow managed to blow up the microwave..." he was laughing too hard to finish that sentence. He was on the floor with tears in his eyes from laughing too hard.

"Um Carlos, I lied about that, I can actually cook. In fact I'm a professional chef" He stopped laughing and looked up from where he was sitting on the floor with a shocked expression on his face.

I continued "I only cook for people I like and well I was with Joe then. If he tried my cooking, I'd probably be married popping out babies by now."

"Babe. You are really great at distraction, but that's not what I'm referring to." his face was now carefully blank.

"What exactly are you referring to here Carlos?" I queried.

"Here's a hint – New York." His voice was carefully neutral.

"It's a wonderful place, what about it?" I knew I was yanking his chain, but I couldn't help it. Old habits die hard.

"I just had a call from an old friend of mine about Michelle Ramos, I think you know her quite well, Stephanie" his voice had a dangerous quality to it now.

Time to weave a tale. Here it goes. "Can sit somewhere more comfortable?" he nodded and we moved to the living room. I sat on the couch facing the window and he took the recliner. I started my story.

"You guys know the basics about me, Joe took my virginity, and I ran him over, got married to Dickie and well, divorced him. Things happened in the middle that no one knows about… After the encounter with Joe, I ran away. I didn't have much money, but I was a smart kid. I can hack into almost anything. I made a few investments using another identity I'd made up. Every cent I'd earned was legal, except for the identity. I was sixteen, but I could dress to make myself look like I was 21. I moved to New York. The city was big enough to hide me, I didn't want to go back home." I stopped, looking out the window, remembering.

"All the while, I carefully added things here and there to my actual identity, so people wouldn't think I dropped off the face of the earth. I opened a restaurant, Michelle Diner, it's quite famous. Then I made the mistake of falling in love. He didn't love me, he loved my money. I'd told him everything about me. He knew everything." I had tears running down my face now; thank god I didn't put on mascara after my shower.

"I think he was involved in some gang. I don't know for sure. I think he got tired of trying to get me to trust him and …" Carlos stood up and pulled me into his lap. I went on "… he came home with a gun one day. He wanted me to transfer all my money into his account. I don't remember what happened next, but I somehow got hold of the gun and I, I shot him in the head."

"I called the police and they ruled it out as self-defence. I sold out the restaurant and moved back to Trenton. My mother pushed me to marry Dickie and you know how that ended. After that fiasco, I moved back to New York. This time I started a private dining. I'd be reserved for months. Cooking kept me sane. I did that for a couple of years and I got sick of cooking for other people, so I moved back. As Stephanie Plum I was broke, so well when I saw the ad for bounty hunting at Vinnie's I took the Job. This way I thought I would make real friends, people who actually cared about me, and I was right." I looked up to see his reaction. Please buy it.

"You are an amazing storyteller, try again." He stated.

How will Ranger react? Please review good or bad.

Wow, all you guys need is a bit of encouragement to review. Remember the circle of life – keep me happy and I'll keep them happy.

Btw, this chapter is about 1000 words, to compensate for the last one.

Private Dining – I wasn't sure how to phrase this, it's when you're really rich and you pay a chef a lot of money to eat amazing food and your family/date are the only people there.

Ps - Sorry about the cliffe.