Disclaimer: See Earlier Chapters

Author's Note: Okay be warned people! Morelli is a bit out of character in this story. Just letting you know so I don't make any Cupcake's angry. IFFgirl! Once again, much thanks. You have helped me a lot and I will definitely put some information on why Steph doesn't have distraction clothes. Haha, I think you might like it. I know I do. Okay sorry I just flipped out because this HUGE spider was crawling on my webcam cord. Totally freaked me out. Haha! Okay so back to business. This chapter should be pretty long. I am hoping it is. I am going to shoot for the moon as usual, but I will do my best and that is all I can guarantee. I am surprised by the response I am getting from your reviews, but it's a good surprise. I want to thank you all! Well I guess I will get to writing!

Where We Left Off:

When the shopping spree was over I had figured up in my head that I had spent around 7,000 dollars in ball gowns I found on half price and dresses for a night out, shoes, day clothes, sexy bathing suits, and barely there lingerie. That was probably the part Ranger liked most about our trip and he kept trying to follow me into the dressing room. I had never laughed at him so hard. When we were ready to leave he waited with all of my stuff and made me go get the SUV so he wouldn't have to carry all of that girly things across the parking lot. If it were Joe, I probably would have been offended but I just laughed and shook my head. Heaven forbid we hurt his male ego.

Chapter 4

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As I clambered up into the fully loaded SUV Ranger grabbed my hand and threaded his fingers through mine. Giving him a sweet smile, I noticed an unrecognizable look spread across his face. I narrowed my eyes in a suspicious way and he sighed.

"Ranger, what's wrong?," I asked in a cautious tone.

"Babe, we need to talk about a few things," he said in a tone that said 'Are you sure about this?'

"And what would these things entail?," I asked, now a lot more curious than before.

"Morelli."

"What about him?," I asked, my smile now long gone and my facial expressed a bit stressed.

"Well I want to know if you are sure about what you are going to do. I know you two aren't on the best page right now, but I need to know where you two stand so I can know where we stand," he said, keeping his voice calm but his eyes showing a bit of curiosity, and what looked like a hint of worry. Since when did Ranger worry?

"As far as I am concerned Joe and I are over. I don't know if I ever even want to speak to him again," I said in a matter of fact tone.

"Babe, I know you too well for that. If I am going to be around you for months at a time I don't want to have any worries about any rubber with Morelli's name written on the tire burning in your brain," he said, still holding a tight, unrecognizable tone.

"If you want, I will talk to him and finalize it but I am telling you Ranger, Joe and I are over."

"I would like for you to make sure you want this decision for the right reasons and not just because you and Morelli had a fight."

"Fair enough. When we get back to the apartment I will call him and meet him at Pino's to have a talk, in public, where everyone can see and he can't do anything to me okay?," I asked sweetly. He smiled and nodded, squeezing my hand gently before going into his quiet and comfortable driving mode back to Rangeman.

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I stepped out of the SUV and all of the bags were unloaded and taken up to Ranger's apartment. I kissed Ranger on the cheek and pulled out my cell, dialing Joe's number, dreading this emotional conversation. I had loved Joe at one time but we could never make it work. He had showed his ass for the last time as far as our relationship was concerned. I had to inform him not to pursue me any longer. I couldn't handle it and if I wanted a snow ball's chance in hell at Ranger then I couldn't deal with the stress of Joe anymore.

"Morelli."

"Joe we need to talk. Can you meet me at Pino's in 30 minutes?," I asked, my voice trying to sound casual.

"Yeah, I'll be there," he said and disconnected. Great. Now he was picking up the Ranger phone manners.

Twenty five minutes later I was at Pino's. I stepped through the front door to find Joe already in our usual booth with beer and pizza on the table. I slid in across from him and gave him a tight smile.

"Joe we need to talk," was all I could get out and a spark of something I couldn't recognize registered in his eyes.

"Okay, spill it Cupcake."

"I really need you to stop calling me that. I knew this was going to happen but I wasn't sure when. I know that we had something, but I can't do it anymore. I have come to realize that we can't make it work. As long as I am working for Ranger or friends with him, then you will never be able to trust me. Also, I love you, but I love Ranger too. He doesn't try to change me. He knows I'm not a Burg girl, and he lets me fly. You try to fit me to what my parents and your parents want. It's just something that I can't deal with anymore. I still want to be friends with you but no more kisses, no more sleeping at your place, and no more Cupcake," I said releasing my breath finally.

"And you realized this in two days?," he asked, his smiled disappearing and anger starting to bubble in his eyes.

"I've known this for quite some time, but you know me. I am the Queen of Denial," I said trying to make light of the situation but even my own laugh sounded forced.

"Well Stephanie, I don't think I can be friends with you. I can't see you with Manoso and I want you to know he is just using you for sex and distraction."

Ouch. That one hurt. I didn't think Ranger was using me for sex. I had to admit, the night we spent together was amazing but if were in fact using me for sex then it would have happened more often. As for distraction work, it was true that I helped him with those jobs and I was about to embark on another job. I wasn't sure if I should tell Joe that but what could it hurt now?

"Joe, think what you want," said with a sigh "But I think you will have time to get used to this because Ranger and I will be in Hawaii on a job for the next month or longer," I said with a shrug and stood.

"It's over Joe, I just hope we can be friends in the end."

With that I walked out of Pino's and out of Joe's life, at least as a romantic interest. No longer would I jump between the two men in my life. Where Ranger and I would end up, I wasn't sure, but if he was ready, then I was willing and able...

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The drive back to Rangeman was a blur. I had tears in my eyes, knowing that Joe and I were really over. I pulled into the garage and Tank cleared me to head up to Ranger's apartment. I stepped through the door to find Ranger laying on the couch, his hands behind his head and a bemused smile in place. I wiped the tears from my eyes and tried to give him the sweetest smile I owned but I was almost positive that it was watery.

"Babe, explain." Man of few words.

"Morelli and I are over for good. End of story. Hold me?," I asked with a bit of pain in my voice. He nodded and I walked to the couch that he occupied. He pulled me lovingly into his arms. I laid my head on his sculptured chest and snuggled into his arms.

"I missed you," I said in a muffled voice against his black t-shirt.

"And I you," he said nuzzling his face into my hair. He always did that.

"So Joe and I are over. What now?," I asked, not knowing what else to say.

"Well we have a meeting on what is going to go down with Luciano in about four hours and I have a question," he said into my hair.

"And what's that Batman?," I asked, smiling.

"Why is it you don't have any distraction clothes?"

That one was a doozy. I had forgotten about that. I should have known he would ask.

"Well when you were out of country for about a month or so I had a little bit of a fight with Morelli over distraction jobs that I do for you. I had a spot in my closet for all of those clothes. He had stayed with me the night before, and after the argument I came home to find he had set them on fire in my shower. I didn't have the funds to replace them and I ddin't dare tell you. I didn't want you to shoot him," I explained in an exhausted voice as if I was repeation the story for the millionth time.

"Babe," he said with a laugh, although it was a controlled Ranger laugh. I swatted him playfully.

"It's not funny. I loved those clothes, but I like the ones I have now a lot more," I said sweetly raising up and looking him in the eyes, waggling my eyes brows a bit.

"We have four hours Babe. Want to try on some of the lingerie for me?," he asked with a dark look in his eyes. Laughing, I shook my head.

"What I had in mind doesn't involve trying clothes on," I said with a lustful grin. Damn do I ever think before I speak? Uh, no!

He growled low in his throat and picked me up, carrying me to the bedroom. I wrapped my legs around his waist on the way and he crushed his lips to mine in a bone melting kiss. I moaned incoherently into his lips and I felt him grin against my own. He laid me on the bed, removing my shirt slowly, almost painfully slow. I was writhing underneath him, wanting to be naked and him as well. I whimpered and he gave me the full 200 watt smile, but all I could see was lust, with a mix of love inbetween. Was it love? Whatever it was, it felt good. It felt right.

As we were progressing through our little ritual, his phone rang once again. I growled and quickly removed it from his belt before he could get to it. I flipped it open and saw that it was Tank yet again. I hit the send button and took a deep breath before saying anything.

"Tank, you are making me VERY angry and I would like for you to leave Ranger alone for twenty minutes. That's all I'm asking for," I said in a low, controlled voice, but you could hear the hysteria underneath a bit if you paid close attention. I could almost hear him smiling through the phone.

"Steph, this is important, I need to talk to Ranger." I sighed and handed the phone over. I was planning on how to kill Tank when Ranger took the phone.

"This better be good or your ass is mine."...garbled talking on the other end... "Yeah. I know."... more talking... "I'll be down in a minute."

He looked to me with a pained expression. "It's important. One of our best customers house was broken into and the whole place is trashed. I have to go take care of this but we will continue this later," he said with a grin, his eyes smoldering for a moment before the mask came down over his face. Batman mode. He kissed me goodbye and adjusted his clothing, leaving me on the bed, halfclothed and starved for attention. Rolling off the bed, I headed into the bathroom, setting a towel on the counter and stepping into the warm inviting spray of the shower.

My head lolling back, thoughts began racing through my head. I had almost had sex with Ranger yet again. This couldn't be actually happening. I'm in his shower, in his apartment, yet again. Knowing that I just broke up with Joe, it made me wonder if this was the route I was willing, or even ready to take. Would he be willing to open up to a relationship and let me into his life. I wasn't sure if I was ready to take that leap, but only time could tell. Letting myself relax for a moment, I let the hot water drown out all my thoughts.

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Emerging from the shower I did my usual ritual. Hair, lots of make up. Burg-girl all the way. At least on appearance. Deciding it was time to head down to the control room and rejoin the human race, I chose the appropriate Rangeman black apparel and stepped out of the apartment.

Upon reaching the control room I found all of the merrmen including Ranger watching the monitors and passing a few manly jokes between them. I cleared my throat and smiled when I received a few cat calls from some of the new boys.

"Yeah yeah, black looks good on me, I don't want to hear it," grinning as the words escaped from my lips.

"Babe, it looks like we need to leave early. You ready to fly?," Ranger asked cautiously.

"Ready when you are but why are we leaving early?"

"They had to move our flight up a couple of days. Bad weather will be moving in and we don't want our flight to get delayed or canceled. We leave in four hours," he said with a nod.

"Well I better get packing, I'll be back in a little bit. Do you need me to pack your stuff?," I asked sweetly.

"No, Ella took care of it earlier. Everything but your stuff is waiting in the Escalade."

"Oh, okay. I'll be back soon then," I said and headed right back upstairs. I figured since we would be getting on the plane and I wouldn't have time to change before we went to the resort, I would need to change now. As I reached the apartment, I began stripping off the black uniform and picked a white sun dress with a small pink flower pattern and white sandals, and began my packing adventure.

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Author's Note: Okay so there is Chapter 4 people. Sorry it isn't longer but I am ready to get to 5. Thanks IFFGIRL!!!! You are SUCH a HUGE help to me and I can't wait to see your review. I hope you all liked it and give me some reviews so I can write more soon. Thanks a million!
LEX