Ranger and I crawled out of bed at one o'clock, having spent the remainder of the morning alternating between napping and having sex. I made us some turkey sandwiches for lunch, and we were watching a football game on television when my phone rang. It was my mother.

"I'm making pot roast and pineapple upside-down cake for dinner," she said. "Should I set you a place?"

"Absolutely," I told her, peeking over at Ranger, who shook his head. Know-it-all.

"I was thinking of inviting Jimmy Tortelli for dinner as well," my mother said. "He's single, and he's doing very well managing the automotive store."

I groaned and cuddled into Ranger's chest. "Mom, don't invite Jimmy to dinner. I don't need set up. I'm actually seeing someone."

There was a pause on the other end of the phone. "What? When? Why didn't you saying something this morning after church? Who is he? Bring him to dinner tonight!" I slapped myself in the forehead while my mother went on with her questions.

"Mom, save your questions for later," I told her, feeling Ranger chuckle. "And he can't come, he's busy. I'll see you at six." I hung up before she could start up her questions again.

I looked up at Ranger, who was trying to keep the smile off his face. "You do realize you'll have to face them from time to time, right? You can't always be working or have an emergency come up to get out of it. There are only so many break-ins and sick employees that can get you out of dinner."

Ranger kissed my forehead. "There's always at least one country in need of a coup," he replied.

I got to my parents' house at five minutes to six. Ranger had left a little after two, saying he needed to get showered, changed, and back into the office, as he still had work waiting for him after being gone so much in the last few weeks. I walked in to find my mother and grandmother getting the table ready, and my father walking to the table to take his spot. I helped bring out the rest of the food, and we all sat down to start eating.

"Now will you tell us about this man you're suddenly dating?" my mother asked, looking at me expectantly.

"It's Ranger. We decided to start seeing each other exclusively yesterday," I said, taking a bite of my pot roast.

"Ooo, he's hot. Well done, Stephanie," Grandma Mazur said, clapping her hands together. "And I bet he's rich too. He drives all those expensive cars."

My mother looked stunned. "I didn't realize you had that kind of a relationship with him. He has a good job, and he makes you happy. That's all that matters, right?" she said, her tone becoming slightly panicked as she took a big swig of her wine.

I was a bit surprised by this. My mother was always complaining about my job and its dangers. I guess it's different if it's a man doing the job.

"He does. He's a good man, and we love each other. We're not rushing into anything, though. We've both been divorced, and want to make sure things will work out long-term before even considering marriage." I gave my mother a significant look, since I knew that was likely to be one of her questions.

"But I don't want to call him Ranger," my mother said, pouring herself more wine. "It just sounds wrong to say 'This is my daughter Stephanie, and her boyfriend, Ranger.' What should I call him instead?"

"Just call him Carlos," I replied.

"He isn't Italian," my father piped in. I hadn't realized he'd been listening to the conversation. "But he looks more terrifying than any mobster ever could."

"His family is Cuban. And yes, he's terrifying if you don't know him. Occupational hazard." I didn't mention that even when you knew him as intimately as I did, he was still kind of scary.

"I bet he's good under the covers," Grandma said, winking at me. "Have you found out yet?"

I shoveled mashed potatoes in my mouth as quickly as I could to avoid the question. Thankfully, my mother didn't want to know this information any more than I wanted to give an answer.

"Is his family around here?" she asked, giving Grandma a disapproving glare.

"I know his parents and one of his grandmothers live in Newark, which is where he grew up. He has another grandmother and his daughter in Miami. He has one brother and four sisters, but I don't know if they are still in Jersey."

"I forgot he had a daughter," my mother said, looking thoughtfully. "She was the little girl that was kidnapped, right? The one you helped get back and then Carlos was shot in your apartment confronting the man?"

I nodded. "Yes, Julie. She's almost twelve now. She lives with her mom and step-father."

"Does she visit often?"

I shook my head. "I don't know that she's ever come up here to visit. Ranger hasn't been very involved in her life. He was young and in the Army when she was born. He let her step-father adopt her when she was little, but Ranger still pays support and visits when he's invited. He has a good relationship with the whole family."

"Does he want more children?" she asked, making me roll my eyes.

"Mom, we've been a couple for about twenty-four hours. Let's hold off on the children discussion for while."

Later, after I got home with a bag of leftovers, I thought more about Julie and Ranger. I hadn't heard Ranger mention Julie again since right after he was shot. I had asked how Julie was doing, and Ranger had replied she had been doing well getting readjusted after the kidnapping, but that had been the extent. I didn't know how often he saw her, or if their relationship had changed since he saved her life. Julie had been worried about him after he was shot. I'd been amazed at her strength when she attacked Scrog and shot him after he'd shot Ranger. She'd also insisted on riding in the ambulance with him to the hospital. I felt bad thinking about the fact that she and I had been held captive together and she had likely saved Ranger's life, but that I hadn't asked about her again. I resolved to change that the next time we were together.

I went to the bond's office the next morning, intending to get started on the four open FTAs I had, and to get the death certificate for Melissa Elliott. The after effects of Ranger sex had still been plastered on my face, because as soon as I walked in, Connie and Lula broke into equal grins.

"Someone got some this weekend," Lula said. "Was that your payment for the moving services?"

Connie gave me a significant look, silently asking if my decision was final. I nodded.

"Ranger and I are dating," I announced, which earned me a round of applause and cheers.

"I don't know how you manage to get all of these hot men, but for some reason they like you. At least this one isn't a cop," Lula said.

Connie rolled her eyes at the backhanded compliment.

I had Connie run some checks on my four open FTAs and told her about Melissa Elliott dying. She found out that the guy who cut off his neighbor's foot was no longer employed; presumably his boss thought he would get violent again, so he should be at home. His name was Joseph York, he was twenty-nine and the size of a linebacker. Louise Griffith had stolen her brother's car after he failed to repay her the five-hundred dollars he had borrowed twenty years ago. She lived with their mother one block away from my parents. The drunk and disorderly FTAs were actually a married couple named Taylor and Sunshine Coromon. They had been celebrating their first wedding anniversary at the local park and had too much to drink. A police officer had caught them having sex on a picnic table and when they refused to stop rutting like animals and put their clothes back on, he'd arrested them.

"Let's go get York first and get him out of the way. Hopefully the others won't be too hard," I told Lula.

"No way. I ain't going over to some lunatic's house who cuts off his neighbor's foot. I like my feet and I need both of them on account of I have too many shoes to wear on just one foot," she told me, settling into the couch with a copy of Fifty Shades of Grey.

I waved goodbye and walked out to my car. York lived on Martin Street, which branched off of Stark. Not my favorite part of town. I was about a block away from York's house when my phone rang. It was Ranger.

"What's up?" I asked as I turned onto Stark Street.

"I have another security system I need your input on. Where are you?"

"I'm on Stark Street. I need to pick up an FTA on Martin."

"Who is it?"

"Joseph York. Cut off his neighbor's foot with an axe after a disagreement."

"Is Lula with you?"

"No, she didn't want to come. She said she has too many shoes to be minus a foot."

"I've tangled with Joe York in the past. I'll meet you there and help you get him to the police station."

I disconnected and turned onto Martin Street, finding York's house about halfway down the block. It was a dilapidated ranch, with peeling yellow paint and a scary-looking dog chained up out front. It began barking and pulling at the chain as soon as I got out of the car. I had my stun gun, pepper spray and cuffs in my pockets. I locked the Camry and walked up to the yard, giving the dog a wide berth. I knocked on the front door and waited, hoping the dog didn't break the chain and eat me. After a minute, the door opened, revealing a man the size of Tank. He was wearing a wife-beater tank top and blue boxers. I repressed a shudder as I spoke.

"Joe York?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm Stephanie Plum, from your bail bond's company. You missed your court date, and I need to take you in to get rescheduled."

York stepped outside, towering over me. He looked at me like I was lunch, licking his lips.

"I don't mind going in with a sexy little bounty hunter like you," he said, walking towards me. I immediately began stepping backwards, hoping I didn't fall over something. "But I think you'll have to convince me, if you know what I mean."

"Not going to happen," I said, reaching in my back pocket for my stun gun. "You need to get dressed and we'll get in the car."

York was too quick for me, grabbing my arm which in turn caused me to knock the stun gun out of my pocket and onto the ground. York kicked the stun gun towards his dog, which started trying to eat it. I tried to fight him off, but York's strength was too much for me. He pulled me up against his body and started grinding against me. Nausea rolled over me at the feeling of his erection against my stomach, along with the knowledge that I would get raped if I didn't get away very soon. I was pulled too closely to his body to be able to kick him in the balls, so I bit him on the arm as I tried to push away.

"You bitch!" he screamed, pulling back enough to strike me while still holding tight to me with his other hand. He was about to hit me again when a shot rang out, hitting York in the shoulder. I fell to the ground and scrambled away. I looked over and saw Ranger with his gun drawn, running towards us from his car. York was yelling and clutching his shoulder.

"Get on the ground, hands behind your back," Ranger ordered, his gun still trained on York. York charged at Ranger, and Ranger fired again, hitting York in the knee. York fell to the ground, screaming. Ranger straddled York and cuffed him behind his back.

"Are you okay?" he asked, looking over at me. I was shaking slightly and my left cheekbone was killing me.

I nodded. "I think so. Just sore from where he hit me."

Ranger called 911, and gave me a hand up. He looked at my cheek. "I don't think anything's broken, but you're going to have a nasty bruise tomorrow."

I nodded and Ranger pulled me into him. I did some deep breathing, taking in Ranger's scent. I found it hard to settle my nerves though, when I could feel the anger coming off of him. We heard the sirens in the distance, and the police and an ambulance arrived about a minute later, followed by a Rangeman vehicle. York was restrained on a gurney and loaded into the back of the ambulance while police officers took my and Ranger's statements. I declined a trip to the hospital, but accepted an ice pack from a paramedic. One of the police officers gave me a body receipt for York, and Ranger and I were free to head back to our cars.

"Do you still want me to look at that system today?" I asked, readjusting the ice pack while we walked.

Ranger shook his head. "No, I called the client while you were being examined by the paramedic and rescheduled for tomorrow. Do you want me to take you home? I can have one of my men follow in your car."

I considered my options for a moment. I still had the Coromons and Griffith to pick up. They weren't charged with violent crimes, so I thought I was safe.

"Thanks, but I have three more FTAs. One grand theft auto and a married couple charged with drunk and disorderly. I doubt they'll be too hard to pick up," I told Ranger, palming my keys.

"I'll help you. I have some time open since we aren't doing the system walkthrough today. Give Woody your car keys and he can drop it off for you. We'll take the Cayenne and pick up the rest of your people."

Normally, I'd be mildly offended at Ranger's presumptuousness, but today I was thankful. I was still keyed up after the attack. The knowledge that I would have been raped if Ranger hadn't known where I was going and been on his way sent a chill through me. I handed Woody my car keys, thanked him and climbed into the Cayenne next to Ranger. I gave him Louise Griffith's address, which was off of Broad Street. When we arrived at Louise's house, I went up to the door while Ranger idled in the car. I knocked on her door, and a woman in a very tight white dress answered. She was around forty and around my height with brown hair and green eyes. She was pretty, if you could look past the fact that her dress was so sheer you could tell she wasn't wearing a bra or panties and that she preferred a Brazilian bikini wax.

I gave her the line of missing her court date and needing to reschedule. She looked out at the car, seeing Ranger in the driver's seat. I grimaced as I saw her nipples get hard.

"I'll go in, but only if that sexy man comes up to handcuff me," she said, biting on her bottom lip. I rolled my eyes. This was another situation I'd have to deal with when in a relationship with Ranger. I'd never met a woman who didn't drool over Ranger. We'd even arrested a lesbian once who said she'd bat for the other team if Ranger would have her. I looked over at Ranger and motioned for him to come to the door. He turned off the car and walked up to us, and I noticed his gaze didn't go lower than Louise's face.

"Louise says she will go in, but wants you to be the one to handcuff her," I told him.

Louise pushed her arms out in front of her which moved her boobs up and out for better viewing. "Hey there, sexy," she said, her voice taking on a deep, sultry tone that had no doubt lured many men into her bed.

Ranger rolled his eyes as he put the cuffs on her. My bad habit seemed to be rubbing off on him.

"Wouldn't you like to come inside and have a little fun with these first?" she asked, holding up her wrists. She turned to look at me. "You can wait in the car, honey."

Ranger and I both grabbed an arm and escorted Louise into the back of the Cayenne. I went up to shut her front door and returned to the car to find her talking to Ranger, who was steadfastly ignoring her.

"How about after I get out later today? I can cancel my plans for tonight so we could have all night long," she said, trying to catch Ranger's eye in the rearview mirror. I buckled my seat belt and we backed out of the drive and headed to the police station.

She continued to make suggestions, to which Ranger made no comment. After five minutes, she started to get irritated.

"Does he not know how to talk?" she asked me.

"He doesn't talk much," I replied. "Especially when he's not interested in the topic of conversation."

Louise huffed. "What man isn't interested in sex?

"It's isn't that, it's the fact that he's not interested in sex with you."

"You don't know that."

"I do."

"Don't."

I looked over at Ranger, who looked like he was fighting off a smile.

"She's right," he finally told Louise.

Louise leaned forward as much as she could in the seatbelt. "Why not, honey? You got a girlfriend at home who wouldn't understand?"

"Yes, but that's not the only reason."

"I think you should know I don't have a gag reflex, so I can —,"

"I do have a gag reflex, and you're testing it," I told her. "So shut up."

We pulled into the police station and unloaded Louise a minute later. I went inside to get my body receipt and headed out to the car, thankful Ranger hadn't decided I wasn't worth the wait and abandoned me.

"I bet you're now wishing you hadn't offered to help me," I told him.

"I was hoping you'd shoot her. I would have done it, but I've already shot someone today. It might have looked bad."

Our next stop was the Coromons' house. We knocked on the door, but no one answered. I tried the knob and found it unlocked, so Ranger and I walked in. We could hear noise coming from a room in the back of the house, so Ranger and I walked down the hall and towards the source. We turned and walked into a bedroom to find a man and a woman in the doggy –style position, facing away from us. Not the best view. We backed out of the room and stood a few feet down the hall.

"Taylor and Sunshine Coromon?" I yelled. "We're bond enforcement. You missed your court date and you need to get rescheduled. We need you to get dressed and come with us."

"Give us five more minutes," a man's voice said, and we heard their moaning start up again.

"What the hell?" I asked, throwing my hands in the air. "Did someone put an aphrodisiac in the water today? First York humps me, then Louise Griffith tries to seduce you, and now we have to walk in on these two. I'm done for the day. I'm shooting the next horny person I have to deal with today."

Ranger guided me down the hall towards the front door. "I hope I'm an exception to that rule."

I rolled my eyes.

We stood silently near the front door, listening for the big finale. Ten minutes later, Sunshine and Taylor were in the back of the Cayenne, and we were pulling into the police station once more. They thanked us for letting them finish as we walked them to the check-in desk. The officer sitting there chuckled as he read the report.

"Must be in the air today," he said as he filled out our body receipts. "That chick you brought in earlier has been trying to get a date by doing her best Basic Instinct move every time a man walks past the holding cell."

I wrinkled my nose as I took the paperwork and we left the station. Connie called Ranger's cell phone as we drove, saying she had an FTA for him, so we stopped in at the office so Ranger could pick up his file and I could turn in my body receipts.

"What happened to you?" Lula asked. She was sitting at Connie's desk and they were sharing a bucket of chicken. I snatched a piece of chicken and informed them of my run-in with York and about Ranger helping me bring in the other three FTAs.

"Damn," Connie said as she wrote out my checks. "It's a good thing Ranger was on his way. You could be the one in the hospital otherwise." I shuddered at the thought.

"Is there anything else?" I asked Connie. "If not, I'm going to call it a day."

Connie shook her head. "Just this one for Ranger. John Lee. Human trafficking and possession of a controlled substance. He's a million-dollar bond, but word has it he's skipped to Seattle to his brother's house."

Ranger took the file and read it quickly. He nodded to Connie and grabbed my hand, pulling me towards the door. "See ya tomorrow," I told Connie and Lula, who smiled and waggled their eyebrows.

Ranger drove me home and idled out front. "I need to get back to the office, but I want to see you tonight. How about dinner and spending the night at my place?"

I considered that for a moment. Ella's cooking was amazing, and Ranger's sheets were infinitely softer than mine. "Sounds good. I'll be over around six."

Ranger watched me for a minute. "Are you sure you're okay? You had a close call today."

I nodded. "Yeah, I'm good. Thanks for saving my bacon. Again."

He kissed me lightly on the lips, then on my cheek where York had hit me. "Later, babe."

I went inside the house and plopped down on the couch, groaning when my back hit the hard, unexplainable ridge that was between each of the cushions. I sat up swearing, trying to figure out the emotions I was experiencing. I couldn't quite name the feeling, but it was something like disappointment. Did I think that just because I was dating Ranger than I'd suddenly be able to take down FTAs better, as though his skills would transfer to me just because I was his girlfriend? I went into the kitchen and found a bag of frozen french fries to put on my face. I went upstairs and started packing an overnight bag to take the Ranger's. I made sure to pack my whole make-up case, as I'd need it to cover up the bruise I'd find in the morning. Once the fries started to soften, I put them back in the freezer and headed upstairs to take a shower, trying to wash off the feeling of York's hands on me. I took a nap and woke up at a quarter to six. I went downstairs, gave Rex some food and told him I'd be back in the morning. I made sure the house was locked up and set the alarm as I went outside.

I got in my car and found the keys under the floor mat. I made it to Rangeman at exactly six, fobbing my way into the underground garage, onto the seventh floor and into Ranger's apartment. I threw my keys in the tray by the door, kicked off my shoes and put them along with my overnight bag in Ranger's dressing room. I went to the kitchen and poured myself a glass of wine and took it to the living room, where I settled on the couch and turned on a re-run of Sex and the City. Charlotte York was informing her friends of her intentions to convert to Judaism when Ranger walked in and informed me Ella had just brought dinner up.

While we ate a chicken and rice stew, I started thinking about my conversation with my mother the night before about Julie. I'd promised myself I would ask about her the next time I talked to Ranger.

"How's Julie doing?" I asked. "I always mean to ask about her." Okay, that was a lie, but he didn't know that.

"She's well."

I rolled my eyes and I stared at Ranger expectantly. I was well aware he didn't do small talk, but as his girlfriend, I was holding him to a higher standard. He looked up at me, setting down his spoon.

"What?"

"That's it? 'She's well?'"

"What did you expect me to say?"

"I've been wondering if things were different between you after the kidnapping. Do you see her more often? I'm curious. It's a part of your life you don't really talk about," I told him.

Ranger took a sip of wine. "Since the kidnapping, she's started calling me, which is something we'd never done before. I usually talk to her once a month. I hear about her friends, her school, the latest nonsense her younger siblings have gotten up to, and she tells me I need to make you my girlfriend. I used to only see her two or three times a year, but now I see her every couple of months."

I smiled. "She's a pretty great kid, and clearly very smart, since she kept telling you that you should make me your girlfriend."

Ranger smiled. "Yeah, I'd told her you had a boyfriend already, but she told me she thought I could take him. She remembered Morelli from when she was here and said he looked like a little runt."

I started laughing. ''She has guts. I think she was braver than me through the whole thing, and she went through more of it. That night at my old apartment really changed things. You and Julie now talk more, and that was the night I realized I was in love with you."

Ranger looked surprised. "Really? That night?"

I nodded. "I think I had been in love with you for a while, but that was when I first realized it. The knowledge that you could have been killed…" I trailed off, shuddering slightly. I'd never spoken to Ranger much about what happened with Scrog, and I definitely hadn't told him about realizing I was in love with him.

Ranger looked like he was going to say something, but decided against it. Instead, he stood up and started clearing the table, taking the dishes to the kitchen. I followed suit and we rinsed our dishes and put them in the dishwasher. At a couple of different points, I felt like Ranger wanted to say something, but changed his mind again. Once we had turned off the kitchen light, we went into the living room and settled down on the couch. Ranger wrapped an arm around me, pulling me into him. He kissed the top of my head before pulling back to look at me.

"Do you want to know when I realized I was in love with you?" he asked.

"Is the Pope Catholic?" I asked, causing Ranger to roll his eyes.

"I realized it after the first night we spent together. I had thought that after we slept together, I'd be able to better focus and move on from the sexual tension and attraction that was there between us. But that night after you'd gone to sleep, I laid there watching you and was amazed at how my view on your position in my life had changed so suddenly. I knew I'd do anything for you, and that if you ever married Morelli it would be more painful that any physical injury. When I was driving home from your apartment that next morning, I knew I was in love with you."

I nearly fainted as Ranger spoke from simply holding my breath. That night had been an entire year before I had realized I was in love with him.

"Wow," was all I could manage at that moment. I felt like crying, so I took a few seconds to breathe deep and pull myself together before speaking again.

"I can't believe you've opened up so much to me. It's wonderful, though I have to tell you I'm shocked. You always qualified your love with in my own way, so I never quite knew what that meant. You told me later your love didn't come with a ring, so I assumed it had meant you loved in me in a way that I couldn't understand."

Ranger snorted. "I don't know how to tell you this, but men are idiots and sometimes I lie. I thought you wanted the Burg life with a little house and children and a husband who was home in time for dinner at exactly six o'clock each night. I figured you could have that with Morelli, and while I knew it would hurt me if you did marry him, your happiness was more important."

I couldn't stop the tears that came after that pronouncement. I started sobbing into Ranger's chest, clutching his shirt to my face. I felt him wrap his arms around me tighter. In that moment, I felt like a horrible person, knowing that he had been considering my feelings much more than I had been considering his in the past. After a minute or two, I pulled it together and let go of Ranger's shirt. I looked up at him, and he shook his head like he couldn't believe what he had just witnessed.

"What?!" I asked.

"You're unbelievable. You have cars destroyed on a regular basis, you've been held at gunpoint, kidnapped, set on fire, locked in a coffin, nearly raped, been bombed, and had your apartment broken into more times than any other place on the planet, yet you cry at stuff like this, and Mama Macaroni's funeral."

I glared at Ranger and punched him in the chest. "You're an asshole. You're lucky I love you, otherwise I'd kick you."

Ranger smiled and kissed me. "I'm a lucky man then."

He made to kiss me again, but I stopped him. "You do know that you've never actually told me you loved me without telling me it was in your own way before, right?"

Ranger raised an eyebrow. "I haven't?"

I shook my head.

He ran his fingers through my hair, brushing some of it back away from my face. His eyes met mine, and the moment felt incredibly intimate and romantic.

"I love you, Stephanie Plum, in every possible way."