AN: Standard Disclaimer.
So we are reaching 100 reviews! YAY! Keep 'em coming ladies! I'm enjoying writing this story and plan to finish writing it sometime this weekend or early next week. I will post chapter as I finish them. Keep the reviews coming and let me know any ideas that you have.
Thanks to Beautifulbabeforever for helping me with some ideas for the story. Melissa you are amazing!
1 month later.
I had just finished packing up all my stuff for the mission. In many ways this mission is different than my normal ones. I have to go in as a couple with someone who I have yet to meet, our aliases say we are married and we are looking to buy a baby. We are a very wealthy couple and own a few nightclubs; I'm the very sophisticated woman who has it all.
I bought a new wardrobe for this assignment that matches what is supposed to be my new personality. Mostly designer suits and pumps, we are to gather as much information as we can and plant bugs anywhere they allow us to go. We have a briefing in D.C. tomorrow morning and I'm being picked up by helicopter in three hours at Rangeman.
Ranger and I haven't talked much since he showed up at my house and we discussed Alexis, he's been busy and after two weeks of being down, I went back to work. We have run into each other but have rarely spoken to each other. Alexis is almost always with him and I'm not sure how he deals with it. I hope when I return that we can sit down and talk, being in the same town and us not speaking is bothering me more than I feel it should.
I love him more than I say and have tried to get over it since he is with Alexis, I know Alexis is trying to steal from him but it still doesn't feel right. I finished packing up all my bags and load them into my car which I'm going to leave at Rangeman. I made the necessary phone calls to my dad and Aaron letting them both know that I was leaving. They both told me to stay safe and call when I could.
Once everything was loaded and the house was locked up, I got in my SUV and headed to Rangeman. I would be arriving there about thirty minutes before my helicopter should get there so I could talk to the guys. I would miss them I had gotten even closer to them since I had been back. Two days ago Cal decided to go back to his Rangeman apartment so that he could pull some monitor duty.
It was lonely that house but I got visitors frequently which helped. I had gotten use to always having someone there since I moved here. I pulled into the garage at Rangeman, getting out and walking to the elevators. I rode up to the fifth floor and found the guys sitting in the break room eating and talking about Ranger leaving.
"Hey guys. Where's Ranger going?" I asked them.
"Mission." Was Tank's reply.
"I see. When does he leave?" I'm curious to a fault.
"About thirty minutes." Tank said.
"Helicopter?" I questioned.
"Yep, same one that's picking you up." I nodded and sat down beside Tank taking a drink of his water.
"Go Ahead Bombshell; of course you can have a drink." I smiled up at him and he chuckled.
"How long are you going to be gone, Beautiful?" Lester asked.
"I'm not sure." He nodded.
"Where's Ranger?" I asked them.
"He was in his office." Bobby replied.
I got up and walked to Ranger's office, knocking on his door before pushing it open. He was looking at his computer and typing. I sat down across from him and waited for him to look at me.
"Babe."
Hey Ranger, I got some bugs from my personal stash to plant at Alexis's desk if you want me too." He nodded.
"Do you know which cubicle is her?"
"Yep, I brought enough you can put some in your apartment and even in the car she drives. I have the program disc with me so you can listen to them from anywhere you have access to a computer." He nodded.
"Alexis is gone if you want to go ahead and put them at her desk."
I got up and left his office going to her cubicle and planting the bugs. I had one on her phone, one on her desk, and another on her computer. Hector was monitoring everything she pulled up on her computer so it shouldn't be long until Ranger catches her in the act.
I finished up and looked at the clock; I had ten minutes until the helicopter was scheduled to land. I went back down to the garage and began unloading my bags. Lester came down to help me once everything was unloaded we went up to the rooftop where we could hear it approaching.
As soon as the Helicopter landed I threw my bags in figuring if I needed anything else I'd get it there. Ranger threw a couple bags on and hopped on after me. The helicopter took off and headed towards D.C., it didn't take long to get there and the pilots unloaded our bags. There was a White SUV there waiting for us, we both climbed in and off we went. I wondered where Ranger was headed but didn't have time to be concerned about it as we had pulled up at the Boss's office.
I got out as did Ranger, I raised my eyebrow at him and he just shrugged. We walked in and I headed directly to the office my briefings occurred in and sat down in front of the desk. Boss wasn't there yet but I noticed Ranger sat down next to me. I began to wonder if we were partnered together, wouldn't that be interesting. I know maybe I should have figured it out sooner but I hadn't thought about it.
Boss walked in within five minutes of us sitting down. He nodded at us, his normal greeting, and we both nodded back.
"If you haven't figured it out, you two will be partnered together. It's best this way since you already familiar with each other." He handed each of us a packet, "In the packet is your aliases and everything you will need. You will be going to Marseille, France; I know you both speak French so that should be fine. You will be staying in a suite at Sofitel Marseille Vieux-Port, you will do normal tourist things, we believe they will have someone following and will likely bug your room. They are nervous about getting caught so you are to keep up appearances at all times."
We both nodded. "Any and all information you could need about your aliases are in the packets be sure to review them thoroughly. You leave tomorrow morning, you are booked at the normal hotel here and need to get your sleep. This mission will likely take three to six months. Any questions?" We both shook our heads and he stood up dismissing us.
We left and were dropped off at the hotel in D.C. We checked in and found that Boss, had put us in the same room. We walked up to the room and Ranger unlocked it, opening the door for me. We both stepped in and I set my luggage down before going to the mini fridge and grabbing a bottle of water.
I set down on the small couch and looked at the room we were in. It was nothing large, a rather bland hotel room, a queen size bed, a couch and a small bathroom. The colors were creams with a tan bedspread covering the bed. All I could think was this is going to be interesting. Ranger set down beside me and looked like he was about to say something when his phone rang, he stepped away and took the call.
I flipped on the TV and flipped through channels to see if there was anything to hold my attention, there wasn't. I grabbed my packet out of my purse and opened it looking at the documents. My alias was Stephanie Moreno, I was married to Carlos Moreno, and we had no children because I didn't want to lose my body. We owned two Nightclubs in Miami I was a sophisticated woman who was stuck up. Carlos was a man who enjoyed golf, and boating. We were your stuck up rich couple.
I heard Ranger's phone snap shut and felt him sit beside me, "Alexis has been caught."
"Ah, caught in the act?" I asked.
"Yeah, she was transferring money out of both my business and personal accounts and scheduling a trip to the Cayman's, one way."
"I'm guessing the guys caught her."
"Yeah, they have her held in a holding cell in the basement until I decide what to do."
"What are you planning to do?" I questioned.
"Not sure, I can get her for embezzlement apparently since I'm gone she thought she wouldn't get caught. She took 500, 000 dollars out of the Rangeman account and 250,000 out of my personal account."
"Have they questioned her?"
"Tank was on his way down to question her."
"Are you okay?" I asked him.
"I'm fine I've been trying to come up with a way to break free of her." I nodded.
"Well, I'm going to try and catch a couple of hours of sleep since we head out early." He nodded and I pulled off my pants and bra, laying down in a tank and panties.
I set the alarm on my phone to wake me up at 5 am that would give me two hours to get ready to go. I was asleep within minutes of lying down.
Ranger's POV.
I wasn't surprised to find out Steph was my partner, I figured it out as soon as we both loaded the same helicopter. I'm not sure how she didn't figure it out but I could use it to my advantage to have her alone, for the most part, for the next few months. I wonder how hard it will be to get her to love me again.
I can see in her eyes she still loves me but is using anger to keep from getting close to me again. I hope I can win her heart over again. I was glad we got the proof on Alexis I wasn't surprised that she pulled this stunt as soon as I left. Probably, thinking she wouldn't get caught.
The call from Tank had me glad I had done all I could to keep her from getting away with it. I knew he would call me as soon as he had finished questioning her. I planned to tell him to have her arrested and charged, he had Lester making the calls to get her off all my accounts and changing all my passwords and PIN numbers.
After Steph lay down I went through the packet with all of our new information. I couldn't help but wonder how she would do playing my wife for months. I knew she would play the part as it's her job but would she continue to push me away, would it help me break down her walls.
My phone rang while these thoughts went through my head.
"Yo." I answered.
"She admitted to everything Ranger."
"Call Morelli and have her arrested. I want every charge he can thing of on her. You have my Power of Attorney and can handle everything."
You got it, Man. How's Steph?"
"She's sleeping right now." I told him.
"Alright, well I'll call Morelli and I'll keep you updated. Take care of our girl." He disconnected.
I lay down in the bed with Steph to catch a few hours of sleep before we had to leave.
Steph's POV
I woke up to my watch beeping and crawled out of the bed when I realized at some point Ranger had joined me. I went straight to the bathroom and into the shower. After I was washed and shaved, I put on a pair of white shorts, that many might say were way to short, a blue tank top that matched my eyes, and matching blue and white plaid cork screw wedges. I blow dried and straightened my hair before putting on light makeup. I looked myself over in the mirror and I looked hot.
The only downfall was I didn't know where I was going to put my gun. We would be flying via private plane so I could carry my weapons. I finally decided I would just carry at the small of my back and wear a lightweight white jacket over my tank top to cover it. I put my knife in its sheath and strapped it to me also.
When I walked out of the bathroom Ranger was just getting out of the bed. He walked straight into the bathroom. I put my extra weapons into my bags and made sure everything was put back in my suitcases. A few minutes later Ranger emerged from the bathroom wearing khaki chinos, a white button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his biceps, a diamond stud in each ear and his hair was loose.
My panties were ruined on site I smiled at him before taking my bags and setting them by the door. He checked his bags and strapped his weapons on. He came over to me and slid a ring on my finger. I looked down at the most exquisite ring I had ever seen.
It was white gold with blue diamond's placed in an invisible princess cut setting. White princess cut diamonds are set directly below them in a two row setting. It had a matching band that was blue diamonds in two row setting. Ranger was wearing a matching band with blue diamond's inset in it.
I raised an eyebrow at him and he looked away sheepishly and shrugged. I was shocked by how he was acting and he was being even quieter than usual.
"Ready?" He asked. I nodded and out we went to check out of the hotel.
We drove to a private hangar where our bags were loaded and we were loaded onto a black luxury plane. Everything in the plane was done in black leather and black marble. We set down and strapped ourselves in.
"What's up Ranger, you are being quieter than usual. Is something wrong?"
"No, I would like to talk to you though once we can take the seat belts off and get comfortable." I nodded knowing we would be talking soon enough.
Once we were in the air we both took off our seat belts, I got up and grabbed us a both a bottle of water and then sat back down beside him.
"I missed you." Was the first thing out of his mouth, I raised my eyebrow at him to continue.
"I looked for you and couldn't find you, I was going crazy. I missed you."
"You missed my entertainment factor?"
"Babe, No! I missed you, who you are. You, I never should have told you that and I didn't mean it the way you took it. When I told you that I marked you as entertainment it came out wrong as have most of things I've ever said to you. Really, I meant you were funny, you make me laugh, one of the few people who can."
I thought about that, "Ranger, why are you telling me all this now?" What can I say I'm curious.
"Because we are going to be partnered together and I think I should tell you how I feel."
"Ranger."
"Babe, Please. I need to tell you these things." He said please what I could do, I just nodded.
"Steph, Babe, I love you in my own way which is in every way possible, I know I told you that my life doesn't lend itself to relationships and it doesn't but neither does yours. Alexis was just filling my time and I used her to try to keep my mind off you. I know that's wrong but busying myself with work wasn't working so I used her as a distraction. Then when you came back I didn't know what to do. I was mad because you left and I missed you and when you returned it seemed like I didn't matter to you." He was looking away and I could tell he was feeling vulnerable about putting his feeling out in the open.
"Ranger, I do love you, but love isn't always enough and we tend to hurt each other. When I came back I was angry seeing you with someone after you told me you didn't do relationships. It hurt, I did miss you but I did what I did for me and me only. I'm happy with the decision I made and you're right my life doesn't lend itself to relationships but if I choose to have one I will with someone who understands what my life is and what that means."
He nodded and set back in his seat without a word to finish the flight.
