The Men of Rangeman
M rating
Thank you once again Margaret for reading ahead as my Beta. :) I much appreciate :) And thank you too for pushing me to write about some things we all wanted those answers to :)
This takes place in current time. Books 1 through 19 may be referenced. The people you recognize belong to JE :)
Chapter 7
Ranger's POV
We were leaving for Florida in the morning. Things hadn't quite turned out the way I wanted and to make matters worse, Steph and I'd be sharing my apartment for a few weeks. I hadn't lied to her when I told her it was a two-bedroom, two-bath place, it was. Although I had been hoping we'd only need to use half of it. I guessed my opportunist mentality was showing itself again. I had to learn to turn that off, especially when dealing with Stephanie Plum. She had a way of altering even the best-laid plans.
For once I wasn't sure what to do; I couldn't force myself into her heart. I knew that. I also knew the connection between us was still there. I could feel it. And I could honestly tell when she was nearby and by the way I rarely seemed to surprise her with my presence, I think she could sense me too. That had to account for something besides in-tune biorhythms.
I wanted to talk to her but knowing Stephanie, if she saw my name on her caller ID she'd send the call to voicemail. I could go over there on the pretense of giving her the IDs I'd set up for her, but that really wasn't necessary. We would only need to use them if we had to go out of the country.
I decided on another tact. I walked over to the control room where Hal was on duty. I checked the screen that monitors our fleet and the few other people we like to keep tabs on. On a slow night Hector color-coded some of the blips that represented vehicles. Stephanie's was magenta. I saw by the co-ordinates on the map overlay that her car was in her parking lot and her personal tracker showed she was in her apartment.
I left and went down to my car.
It was after nine and both the florist and Tasty Pastry were closed, but I knew of an all-night bodega that sold flowers and made fresh tres leche cakes. I figured with Stephanie's love of sweets that she would like it. And I really needed to come baring gifts if I wanted my apology to be taken seriously. I picked up a half-dozen long-stemmed red roses, and before I went to the register where the cake sat under a domed lid, I hit the junk food aisle and picked up a box of Tastykake butterscotch krimpets. Something had to be to her liking.
I paid for my purchases and then headed back to Trenton. Her car was still in the parking lot and lights were on in her apartment. I let myself in the back door and took the stairs. The part of me that likes to take her by surprise wasn't working tonight so I rang her bell. I saw her eye come to the peephole after a few seconds. My heart was in my mouth. Was she going to acknowledge me and invite me in, or was she going to ignore me? Dios, I haven't been this uncomfortable since I was in high school and asked Savannah Delgado to the senior prom.
Suddenly I heard the chain unclasp and the locks turn. Thank God.
"No hocus pocus on my locks tonight?"
I nodded no. "I needed to see you Babe. Can I come in?"
She opened the door wider and let me enter.
"I brought you some presents. This is a homemade tres leches cake," I said handing her the small cake box wrapped with string. "I have some Tastykakes in the bag in case you don't like it and these are for you too," I said handing her the flowers that were beginning to open in the warm room.
"Why?"
"I wasn't sure you would see me."
"Why?" she asked again.
"Last night didn't seem to go over too well. Do you have a vase?" I asked taking the flowers back from her and walking into her kitchen to give myself a chance to think about what I wanted to say.
"Above the sink," she murmured.
I turned to look at her and she was removing the string from the white pastry box.
"Oh Ranger, this smells fabulous," she said inhaling deeply and letting out a small moan. "Can you get a couple of plates and forks too?"
After I put the flowers in water and placed them on the counter next to Rex, I took two plates from the dish drainer. They looked dry. I didn't see any napkins, so I pulled a few paper towels from the roll and opened a drawer at random looking for forks. If I brought the cake, I'd better damned well be willing to taste it.
I took everything into the living room and placed them down on her coffee table. Then I went back for a knife to cut the cake.
"You know what we need with this Ranger," she said still eyeing the cake intently.
I really didn't know what would go well with tres leches besides Cuban coffee, and I was about to say that and offer to try to make it with what she had on hand when she blurted out, "a glass of milk."
"Ok Babe, coming right up," I said and went to her refrigerator to take out milk and get a glass. I opened the door and looked around. Grapes, baby carrots, Maxwellhouse coffee and a few hastily re-closed Chinese food containers. No milk.
"I'll be right back," I said, grabbing the fob for my Porsche from the counter where I dropped it. I'd have to pay a visit to a store.
The truth was, I'd do most anything for her right now. I found an open deli a few blocks away and I picked up not only a quart of milk but some Café Bustelo and Sugar in the Raw in case I could convince her to try some Cuban coffee.
I'd have to use the espresso maker I saw in her closet while I was looking for the vase, but I guessed it would work.
I knew we were going to be in Miami for the next few weeks or I would have done a little grocery shopping for her too. For now milk, Café Bustelo and Sugar in the Raw would have to do.
When I got back to her apartment, Stephanie was sitting on the floor of her living room with an open suitcase and piles of clothes all around her.
"I'm not sure what to take Ranger. Will you need me to do any distractions?"
"I'll help you pack later. Would you like to try some Cuban coffee or is a glass of milk all you want?"
"Were you really going to make coffee?"
"Only the best for you Babe."
"Ok, then I'll try some too. What about distractions?" she asked again as I reached up for her espresso maker that was on the top shelf.
"There aren't any planned. Why don't you relax while I make coffee and we can talk in a few minutes?"
She nodded that she was amenable, got up from the floor and sat on the couch to watch me while I worked. Five minutes later the coffee was ready. I had found espresso cups on the top shelf next to her espresso maker and I'd taken two down, washed and dried them. I poured a small amount into each and sat them down on the coffee table in front of her. I went back to the kitchen and brought in the container of milk and a glass in case Steph wanted that instead.
I looked at her to judge if she was uncomfortable with all I was doing. She seemed ok, so I cut two pieces of the tres leches and put one on each plate. I handed her a fork and sat down next to her.
"Thank you Ranger," she said looking over at me.
"Take a bite before you thank me Babe."
She cut a small corner, then brought it to her mouth.
"Oh my God Ranger, this is so good." And then she moaned.
Unfortunately I was sitting right next to her and the moan most definitely had an effect on me. To cover up, I took a bite of the piece of cake in front of me, then put the plate down on my lap.
"Ranger," she said eyeing me in surprise, "you ate cake?"
"Mmm, Babe," I mumbled. "Yeah this isgood, but not as good as my mother's."
"Your mom makes this?"
"When we get back from Florida, I'll bring you to Newark for a taste of hers."
"You really want me to meet your mother?"
"Well if you don't want to meet her I can just ask her to make it for you."
"Uh, no, I want to meet her."
I really felt a change of subject was in order. Not that I didn't want to introduce Stephanie to my family. I did…but I wasn't sure I was ready for the shit that would come along with it.
"Babe, try the coffee."
She tentatively brought the small cup to her mouth and took a sip.
"Ranger, this is soooo good. I can't believe you made this."
"Nothing to it," I said, really glad it was something she liked. I was prepared for anything.
She devoured the rest of her cake while I watched her. The main reason for me coming over tonight was to talk to her, but I wanted her happy first.
"Babe, I think we need to air some shit between us."
"It's ok Ranger, I'm good," she said, obviously in denial as to what I'd put her through.
"Yeah, but I'm not. I said a lot of things to you that I've no excuses for. They were the same automatic responses I've said to every woman since Rachel."
She looked at me like she was going to bolt, then realized this was her apartment. I could tell she was processing a few things in her head and I really hoped she wouldn't clam up or worse, send me on my way.
I guessed she finally made peace with the fact that I wanted to talk.
"Ok Batman, what's up?"
"First I want to apologize for last night. I'm sorry if I hurt you in any way. That was not my intention. I just wanted you to have a nice night."
"It's ok. I guess I read too much into things. I let myself get sucked into your force field again and I know what happens after that."
"Babe, I've been trying to tell you that I want to be with you…"
"Yeah I know but I'll have to leave your bed eventually, you don't…"
"Babe," I said, pulling her close and just holding her. If she couldn't hear my words, maybe my actions would show her.
"Some wise man who's been watching my back for the last twelve years recently said to me, 'What are you running from Manoso?'" I tried again, this time sharing a conversation I'd had with Tank not that long ago. "He made me think. And I can't rationalize it away anymore."
"It Ranger?"
"You Babe. Listen we can talk about this further in Florida, but I wanted to clear the air before we left. There are some things I've said to you that make me want to kick myself. I feel like I have to get them off my chest for you to believe I really want to be with you."
She nodded, but didn't say anything, so I continued.
"Number one. My lifestyle doesn't lend it self to relationships. That was some bullshit line I concocted as a self-defense mechanism. Not necessarily for you, but since it seemed to work, I kept saying it. It may have been true when I was running off on missions every few months, but my missions are over."
Stephanie was sitting quietly, so I just went on.
"Number two. You're a line item in my budget under entertainment. In all honesty my accountant asked me to delineate the large expenditures that came out of my pocket every time I pulled in my men to help you out. He told me I needed to account for it if I was going to write it off against the business. I told him to just forget it, I didn't need to write it off, but he insisted it had to go somewhere. He suggested entertainment. It wasn't right that I threw that in your face, but I thought you'd see the humor in it. When you didn't, I changed my tact and told you I loved you, but of course, asshole that I was, I had to discredit it by saying something stupid. I remember adding 'in my own way' to that. I can't fucking believe I said that to you."
Steph was still looking at me. I could tell I'd hit a chord with that last confession, but she didn't cut me off to beat the shit out of me, so I continued.
"Number three. I think this one you just mentioned. You'll have to leave my bed eventually. We can plug that one right in with my lifestyle doesn't lend itself to relationships. It was a bullshit excuse to avoid entanglements. Again, it worked before, but obviously it hurt you. Shall I go on?"
Steph shook her head no.
"I hope you can find a way to accept my sincere apology. I am so sorry; I never meant to harm you in any way. I love you Babe."
I noticed her eyes starting to well up. Shit. Now I did it. I made her cry.
She sniffled, then looked at me. "Don't let it happen again."
Cal's POV
I bumped into Lester in the break room. He was looking a little tired, a little pissed off and a little confused.
"Hey man, what's up?" I asked.
"Sorry. I just spent the last couple of hours with Stephanie. I promised we'd watch the rodent, but she was having a meltdown over the fact that she couldn't get an appointment to have her legs waxed before leaving for Miami.
"Shit man, after all she's been through this week is that all that's bothering her?"
"Uh, yeah. What do you mean is that all? Miami is all about beaches and shorts and baring your legs. I can see why she'd be so upset."
"Well I happen to be a master waxer."
"Bullshit. What did you ever wax? Your car?"
"No seriously. I think I told you I worked as a bouncer at The Teeze. That strip club off Stark."
"Yeah. You said that, so?"
"Well I got to know the girls real well and Angelique, one of the Spanish girls, took a liking to me."
"So you fucked her, does that make you a master waxer?"
"We never had sex at all, but she had to wax off all her hair and had a hard time doing it herself. Since we were friends she asked me."
"Oh bullshit."
"No seriously man, she taught me how to wax her."
"You waxed her? Like total body wax?"
"Everything."
"Brazili…?"
"Everything. Then the other girls started commenting on how little she was irritated and how great her skin looked after a full body waxing. Somehow, the word got around that I was the one who waxed her. Next thing I knew I had seven girls in need of my services. So, as I said; I'm a master waxer."
"Stephanie's not going to let you wax her, besides, where would you get the wax?"
"Angelique still works there. I'd just need to text her and we could use their back room. There were no bad feelings when I left, Harry wouldn't mind."
"Well you're going to have to tell your story to Steph. If she says ok, we can bring her over to the club before hours."
"We?"
"Shit man, you think I'm going to let you have all the fun. Seven totally hairless chicks. God my dick is doing a dance now."
"Ok, I'll call her, do you have her number handy?"
Les took his phone out of his pocket and pulled up her number, he hit send and gave me the ringing phone.
"Lester, what's the matter?" she said in lieu of hello.
"Hi Steph, this is Cal. I'm with Lester and he just gave me his phone. Listen, I may have a solution to your problem," I told her, going into the details then explaining that if she wasn't comfortable with me doing the waxing, I was sure Angelique would be more than happy to do it for her.
"Your serious aren't you Cal?"
"No bullshit. I have a lot of experience. I waxed at least two girls a week for over a year. They were so happy, they started tipping me."
"Bikini's too?"
"No I have to say I never had to finesse that area. All off."
"What if I didn't want it all off?"
"I've done eyebrows so I know how to keep a nice line."
"Ok, um but I'd really like Angelique to wax me. Don't be upset, I'm just not comfortable with you seeing all my, um…parts."
"That's ok, that's why I brought her up. But if it's done right, you don't see anything."
"That's not possible if you're…um…taking it all off."
"Well with a total body waxing it's not possible, but with a bikini wax it is. I thought you just wanted legs?"
"No, bikini too. Cal, I don't know if this is such a good idea after all."
"I'm sure Angelique will help you out. Give me five minutes to text her and then Santos and I can pick you up."
"Ok."
I handed Lester back his phone after hanging up. He was grinning from ear to ear. Guessed the idea of meeting a bunch of strippers was turning him on. I just shook my head and took out my own phone. I texted Angelique and she texted me right back.
'Happy to help out. I'm here. I'll turn the wax on.'
