Chapter Three

You can stir up your own emotions today by imagining what people aren't telling you. Your fears are magnified if they say little or nothing, yet it could be your own shyness that makes others act similarly. Instead of showing your curiosity by asking a lot of questions, take a risk and share a bit about your own personal history. Your self-disclosure can be just the catalyst necessary to get the conversation moving again.

My horoscope had the right idea. After my uneventful day yesterday and the missed communication attempt with Ranger, I should take it slow, talk casually and than gradually work towards my oh so dread question. By the way, yes; I did depend on my horoscope quite often. Sue me!

I jumped up from my spot on Ranger's couch, the old one that is...not the bright one he hated and made me get rid of...and peeked in on him. He had slept the rest of yesterday which had left me angry. When he wasn't sleeping, he was on the phone. With their boss out of commission, the Rangeman employees tried their best to keep it all secure and locked down. Of course, they verified everything with him before they ever DID anything though. I was fed up with it. That phone needed to go.

I tip toed towards the bed, hovered over him for a minute to watch his sleeping face and then reached out slowly for the phone lying by the pills.

"Cheater."

I yelped and spun around to see Ranger smirking at me. In a few seconds, the phone was in his hands. I sighed in defeat. "Stop being so stubborn!"

"Babe, using the phone won't over exert me."

Yeah well...it'll make me nuts! "Whatever." I smiled slowly and tried to be seductive while I slid in beside him. "It's morning now. What do you want for breakfast?"

He wasn't answering. Probably because his eyes were focused on my legs. "Where'd you get the outfit from?"

"Oh this?" I feigned nonchalance, waving my hands. "Just something I had lying in my closet." HA! Yeah, right. The only thing I had lying in my closet was flannel shirts, Tees and jeans. There was no way a shiny, tight, dark red dress like this would be caught in my closet. This was a result of Lula's ideas. After her and Connie silenced, she had taken me shopping. In her mind, short dresses were the epitome of what men vied for. Or, at least, that was what Tank liked.

And, from the look on Ranger's face, I suspected he liked it as well. "Where'd you sleep last night?" He sounded breathless.

"On the couch."

"You're staying here?"

"Until you get better."

He looked like he wanted to rip my clothes off and I liked it. Too bad he couldn't. I saw his left arm twitch. Or maybe he could...I swiftly got to my feet to distance myself. I didn't want him to do that...yet. More so because I didn't want him to hurt himself with the extra effort since I knew I wouldn't be able to stop him if he started.

"You could sleep in the bed if you want."

RIGHT. If I did that, I know where it'd end up. Not only was I concerned for his health but I didn't want to do...that until I asked him the 'question' that I had recently named The Big Q.

"Pass." I smiled at his almost non existent frown. HAH. Serves him right. Now he knew how I felt being blown off..."So," I started, leaning down to expose my not so concealed cleavage that was popping out of this dress. Man, was it small. "What did you want for breakfast, again?"

"Breast." He answered almost automatically, eyes on my chest. He instantly caught himself, shook his head and said, "Whatever you want to fix." Then he paused and stared at me for a beat, obviously remembering something. "When did you learn how to cook?"

I didn't. But that didn't mean I couldn't learn. "I took lessons."

"When?"

"A long time ago."

He didn't look like he believed me. I didn't blame him. I had convinced Ella to leave the caretaking to me which means; I'd have to feed him, provide clothes, dress...him...I paused and furrowed my eyebrows. Holy shit, I'd have to dress him? And BATHE HIM, right? Because bathing came before dressing!

"You look afraid."

I bit my lip. Not afraid no...but nervous. Very nervous. I had only saw Ranger's fully naked once before and that was when we had a one night stand. Wait, I didn't tell you about that yet, did I? Yeah well, it was a long time ago. Ages. Centuries. When I was staying in his house because of other complications. It had been initiated over payback but I knew that it was bound to happen sooner or later. Ranger was irresistible. Simple as that.

And his body was just as amazing. Which was why I was nervous. I'd have to...touch...him. I felt my heartbeat speed up. Oh man...I might explode into flames.

"So how about I just let Ella cook!" I didn't think I could fix anything with my hands shaking. Besides, I had lied. I had taken no cooking classes. He raised one eyebrow. "I'll be right back!"

Then I scurried out of there with my tail between my legs.

0o0o0o0o

I peered at the 'breakfast' Ella had cooked up after I tracked her down and asked her. She was a nice woman but I suspected she hated me. I couldn't really blame her...I did bug her nonstop.

Either way, the food lying on the plate infront of me could NOT be considered food. Coffee with no cream, sliced fruit and berries, lox, cream cheese, and sliced bagels. What was he supposed to do with this? Yeah, that was the thing about Ranger...no taste in food.

I was a few feet away from his bedroom when the doorbell rang.

I froze and whirled around. First things first: He had a doorbell! And second; who the hell visited him? I sat the plate down and went to answer it, thinking it was Ella.

It wasn't Ella.

It was Lula.

My eyes bugged out. "What are you doing here!"

"I came to give moral support." She eyed me. "Wearing the dress huh?"

"How did you-" I stopped abruptly and hit my head with the hell of my hand. Tank. Tank gave her directions. "Look Lula, you can't-"

"Whoa! This is where Batman lives!" She managed to push me out of the way, march into the living room and search around. "It's all Fung Fay"

"What!"

"You know...Fung Fay. Nice, comfortable-"

"You mean Feng shui?"

"Same thing."

I rolled my eyes and grabbed her arm. "You have to go." She opened her mouth to protest and I interrupted. "If Ranger catches you here, you're dead."

Lula snorted. "He can't kill me. He can't even walk."

"He has guns."

The woman seemed to consider that but shrugged it off. "He wouldn't kill his best friend's fiance, would he?"

"Yes! He-" I stopped, furrowed my eyebrows and glanced at her. "Fiance? You guys are engaged?" I didn't add in the word: AGAIN? Their last 'engagement' had been the downfall to their relationship. Probably because Tank hadn't REALLY proposed and Lula had imagined the whole thing in her mind. But, now that they were back together, I thought she'd want to take it slow.

Apparently not.

"He asked me." She showed off her finger and that's when I saw it. My eyes widened. HOLY SHIT. That was a real ring! "Lets go tell Ranger the news."

"NO!" I exclaimed loudly, jumping her path. "Lets not! Lets get you out of here. Tank should be downstairs. Go hang with him."

"He had to go somewhere." Lula frowned. "You know, he's like the new boss since the real boss is MIA."

"MIA means Missing in Action."

"Really?"

I groaned and then jumped when Ranger called my name. I made a signal to Lula that meant: SHUT UP and poked my head into his room, smiling too forcibly. "Yeah?"

"Is somewhere else out there?"

"NO! Of course not." I laughed dumbly. "Who would be out here?"

"It sounded like Lula."

I bit my lip and watched his eyebrows raised slightly. He could see past my lies. "Lula's with Tank!" I blurted out dumbly.

"Tank's handling a client."

DAMN IT. I glanced up at the ceiling. "Whoa, what's that!" When he glanced up, I ducked out and sprinted back to-I halted when I got back to the living room. Where the hell was Lula? I backtracked to the kitchen and spotted her feeding Rex celery.

"This kitchen is great. If only he had real food around."

Although I wanted to agree, I didn't. Instead, I motioned her towards me. "OUT!" I whispered angrily.

"You're real jumpy you know that?" She pushed past me and spotted the door leading to his room. "That where he is?" She had suddenly started whispering. Guess she wasn't as bold as she appeared.

I shook my head violently but it was an empty lie. Where else could he be?

Lula wiggled her eyebrows. "Is he naked?"

"NO!"

"Well, why not? Does he at least have his shirt off?" She didn't wait for me to answer. "And did you ask The Big Q yet?"

"No because you're here." I spat out through clenched teeth.

"I just wanted to help."

"You can help by getting out." I didn't wait for her to reply or comply. I just swiped the plate off of the desk and waltzed back into his room. Ranger looked damn near dead. He was still staring at the ceiling and from the way his mouth moved, I suspected he was counting the cracks and crevasses. I felt for him. Lying in bed was boring.

He glanced at me when I set the plate on the desk. "Yummy." I thought he was being sarcastic until I saw that he wasn't looking at the food but at my butt. Before I knew it, he had grabbed me with his left arm and swung me onto his lap. I sat dazed for a minute. "A birdie told me you were done with Morelli." I heard him say into my ear. A birdie? Tank birdie?

I didn't dwell on who the birdie was because his cast arm held me in place, his left hand was running up my dress and he was trailing kisses down my neck. I was all ready to melt and rip hs clothes off when the door opened and in stepped Lula.

DAMN LULA.

"Hey, is-Oh." She grinned. "I'm interrupting something aren't I?" Then she winked at me and slid out.

I slowly turned to smile sheepishly at Ranger who was staring at me. "Why is she here?"

I blinked and panicked because there was no reasonable explanation for that. I pointed at the ceiling again. "LOOK!" And even though he didn't look, I jumped up and ran out.

DAMN LULA.