The next chapter!! Please review and tell me thoughts, opinions, critiques!!

Language, Sex and Adult themes apply.

Mi amor (my love) Querida (Dear)Mi cariña (My darling/sweetheart)Si (Yes)Dios (God)Amante (Lover)

I own nothing, all characters belong to Janet Evanovich... aka superwoman...

4

SPOV

Ranger...Carlos, seated me on the bed with a quick kiss and went in search of my duffle bag. Finding it I watched him unceremoniously dump all my jeans and t-shirts into it.

"Where's all your other clothes Babe?" He asked standing there, hands on hips.

"That's it" I sighed. He had been angry about the no furniture and no food and no make-up things...well not angry just upset...I wonder if this will upset him too. I watched his face and some kind of emotion flickered across it, I just couldn't read it. I think I heard the Carlos equivalent of a sigh before he slowly walked over to me. He sat down next to me, looped an arm around my waist and proceeded to cup my face in one hand gently making me face him. Then he kissed the living daylights out of me. I was breathing erratically when we finally broke for air but he still held me close, placing kisses along my jaw.

"What happened to them?" He coaxed softly. At this moment he could ask anything of me and I'd say yes.

"Shouldn't give me that kind of information Babe" Damn ESP, or did I say it out loud?

"Out loud, answer the question please" The kisses began to trail down my neck.

"Carlos, if you want me to be able to form even a near coherent thought you need to stop doing that for a minute" I really didn't want him to stop, but if he wanted me to think he was going to have to stop turning me into mush. His lips paused, a fraction of an inch away from my ear.

"Speak" His lips grazed my lobe and I restrained a moan.

"Most of them got destroyed bounty hunting and being kidnapped and attacked. I just haven't been able to replace them." I finally answered.

"Thank you Babe" He smiled his almost smile at me and brushed his lips across mine. Standing up he picked up the duffle that he had left on the floor and moved to my lingerie draw. He picked out several sets and placed them in the bag before moving to the bathroom. A few minutes later he came back into the bedroom and sat next to me.

"What's in the safe Babe?" Huh? Why didn't he just break in? I mean it's not like he couldn't and he was curious.

"Trying to respect your privacy" He replied. Wow, I really do love this man.

"Love you too Babe. Are you going to tell me?" I nodded slowly, considering.

"The combination is the date we met." I started, giving him permission to open it. He walked back into the wardrobe. "It's just got weapons and ammo and..." My piece of paper and my medal! I jumped up and skidded into the wardrobe to find both in his hands. I snatched them off him, holding them close to my chest.

"Babe?" He sounded hurt...but what if he laughed at me or thought it was a ridiculous idea?

"Promise you won't laugh, and I'll show you" I spoke quietly, my voice was shaky.

"Of course I won't laugh about something that is obviously so important to you Steph" He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close to his chest. "But I won't be able to read it in here; can we go back out to some light?" he requested. That seemed fair...I nodded and he lifted me into his arms and carried me back to the bed.

"I can walk you know" I smiled at him cheekily. He seated me back on the bed and kissed me before sitting next to me.

"I know. I just like having you close to me" He answered in full seriousness. I smiled and nestled into him.

"I like being close to you" I murmured before handing him the piece of paper and accompanying medal...not that I really cared about the medal...I really just wanted the piece of paper. I stood up and walked into the bathroom to splash my face with cool water to calm myself down. He's not gonna laugh Steph, it's not stupid. I stood back up after drying my face and found Carlos leaning in the doorway.

"Babe" He whispered. That was it. I stood there staring at him. When he didn't say anything after a few long minutes I started to feel the tears well up. I turned my back on him, seeing as there was no way I could storm out of the room with him blocking the exit.

"I shouldn't have shown you" I muttered wrapping my arms across my chest. Suddenly I felt two warm arms wrap around my waist and pull me into a warm sculpted body.

"No Babe, please, I want you to share everything with me. Dios I am just so proud of you mi amor. I can't believe you accomplished something so remarkable while working two full time jobs. Eres tan increíble Steph." He spoke softly, reassuringly into my ear. (You're so amazing Steph)

I melted into his chest. He turned me around so that I was facing him. Carlos brushed away the few tears that had fallen with his lips and then placed a chaste kiss on my lips.

"Would you explain it to me properly? And the medal?" He pleaded.

"Of course" He smiled at me, a real 200 watt smile before practically dragging me back into the bedroom. He sat down on the bed and pulled me down into his lap. Someone's eager.

"Babe" I smiled. Picking up the piece of paper first I stared at it for a moment. He probably wanted a full explanation, starting at the beginning as to why I went back to college when I pretty much flunked out the first time around. I thought about it all for a few minutes. Carlos was tugging on one of my curls...crap, my hair must be a complete mess; I hadn't even thought to look...lack of habit. I was just about to answer when his phone rang. I sighed...he owns his own company and he's just returned from God knows where. He picked it up and hit the talk button. I tried to get off of his lap. He was probably going to have to go to work...take down, break in, hostage situation... Instead of releasing me, his arm tightened around my waist, holding me closer to him.

"Talk" Hmmm at least I got a yo when he answered my calls. I felt him bury his face in my hair. I couldn't hear the other side of the conversation but I did feel Carlos tense.

"You wanted to fucking know what? Tank told you what!" Wow, Carlos was angry. I stilled and waited. His arm had become a death grip around my waist, not painful but it was a little uncomfortable.

"Meet me in the gym 6 am...what freaking day is it today?" He demanded of the other person.

"Saturday...well early Sunday morning" I whispered, afraid if I talked too loud, his anger might be redirected at me. I felt him place a gentle kiss on the side of me neck and his grip loosened on me. His thumb started caressing my hip. He wasn't angry at me.

"Monday after next. Tell Tank to meet me there at 6 am also. Steph and I are offline until further notice. If anyone calls me and someone's not dead they're going to wish they were!" He hung up his phone and turned it off. I sat still, wondering if angry Carlos was still in the building.

"Steph" He murmured. His voice was soft and warm. Not angry and harsh like it had been moments before. "Babe, God I'm so sorry. Did I hurt you? I shouldn't have lost my temper. I'm sorry" His hands were running gently along the sides of my body, his lips on my neck. Checking me over, reassuring himself and me that I was ok.

"I'm fine. You didn't hurt me" I whispered thoughtfully. I was actually kind of excited that we were apparently taking a week off.

"Steph, I never get angry at you. Frustrated maybe, scared out of my wits yes but I would never raise a hand to you or physically hurt you. I don't want you to ever be afraid of me. I was holding you so tightly because I was afraid you would run away when you heard me reprimanding Lester. My men don't take a slap on the wrist seriously. They need their heads bitten off so that they learn not to do it again. I can't show them weakness because then I lose authority." I nodded, I completely understood. I'm sure I was his weakness; the men were always teasing him about me, or just teasing me.

"You're not my weakness Steph, you're my everything." Carlos implored. "And now that you're mine, they are going to watch what they say" He stated. I'm his. That sounds a tad bit possessive.

"Does that make you mine?" I wondered very quietly.

"I've always been yours. I love you Steph, I want a long term relationship with you and I don't share. So yes, you belong to me and I belong to you, exclusively." A small smile graced my lips. He really did want me, this, us.

"Good" I simply returned. It was good, very good...kind of made me want to do a happy dance.

"Tell me about your quest for knowledge" Carlos reminded. I sighed, I hoped he had forgotten.

"Well, you were gone, I had just called it quits with Morelli, the day I had spent started with me rolling around in garbage twice and ended with a knife to the stomach and twenty two stitches" I felt his breathing stop. His hand slipped under my tank top and traced the scar.

"Babe, I could have lost you, I don't ever want to lose you" He was speaking so quietly I was pretty sure it wasn't intended for me to hear.

"So I decided to take control of my life. I didn't want to be a screw up anymore. I wanted to get better at my jobs, so I went to a college and told them what I wanted to do, told them the experience I had and all about my previous education, both in a school type facility and with Rangeman and Vinnie and we worked it out. I enrolled in a Bachelor in Criminal Justice so I could learn more about the law and I also took a short interviewing and interrogating course to be better at intimidating and baiting my skips and a foreign language course majoring in Spanish so I could work easier with the guys at Rangeman and understand you better. I didn't tell anyone...I haven't told anyone else but you. I graduated today...yesterday, alone, by myself. Tank kept getting really mad at me for sneaking off all the time, so did Lester and Bobby but I just wanted to do something for myself and by myself for once; to prove that I really could do something that I put my mind to. I graduated top of every class and received Valedictorian, that's the medal. They made me give a speech and everything." I finished and just sat there quietly letting Carlos take in all the information.

"You completed three Bachelors in ten months?" He asked, astounded. That would have been astounding.

"No, one Bachelor and two certificates. For the Bachelor I had already fulfilled a lot of the requisites from working and training and the information wasn't really anything new, except for terrorism. That was a great class. And all the information was online; I just attended some night classes. They gave me all my assignments at the start so I completed them as quickly as I could and simply focused on studying for finals. They let me sit them once all my credits were complete." I explained. It really had been a lot easier than I thought it would have been. "The short courses were intense but I kept up"

"Estoy tan orgullosa de ti." He whispered in my ear. (I'm so proud of you).

"Gracias. Esto significa el mundo para mí oírle decir eso." I responded. (Thank you. It means the world to me to hear you say that)

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