Disclaimer: They aren't mine, they are the brainchildren of Janet Evanovich. I'm enjoying playing with them; I wish I was as talented as her. Enjoy.

Distance

"It was a kiss. I've been thinking about kissing you since I woke up with you in my bed this morning. My restraint is strong, but you compromise that will," Ranger said.

"You need to try harder to restrain yourself."

"Why?" He asked.

"Because you'll end up breaking my heart again," I said looking away.

"I've never meant to hurt you."

"I know Ranger. You've always been honest that relationships aren't a part of your lifestyle. I can't do casual sex. It's not conducive to my lifestyle."

"I live an unconventional life. You know that, I don't have office hours. I leave without warning for weeks and months at a time. My clandestine service work has created enemies."

"I know the routine Ranger," I interrupted. "You're carrying three guns and knife, your love doesn't come with a ring but a condom might be handy, marriage and kids are stupid, is there anything else I've forgotten?"

Ranger never responded. He remained stoic. It was too much to hope he would respond.

"So…" I said not really sure what to say.

"Shit. Do you remember everything I say?"

"No. Not everything. But the reasons we can't be together are hard to forget."

Ranger nodded his understanding.

"I should go. Obviously we won't settle this tonight," Ranger said standing and putting the chair back into place.

"Are you going to Miami tomorrow?" I asked.

"No I can't leave town with this Blades matter to deal with. I called the office there and told them to deal with it themselves."

"Okay. I'll be in the office tomorrow to finish the searches I started today. Can you have someone bring my car?" I asked.

"No problem your car will be here in the morning."

"Thanks."

Ranger moved forward trapping me against the wall with his body. He placed one hand on my hip and the other on the wall behind my neck. Dipping his head into my line of vision he looked into my eyes for a minute. Then he leaned forward and I could feel the heat of his breath on throat.

He placed a kiss on the shell of my and then touched it with is tongue and kissed the spot again. I felt a shiver run though my body. Ranger took that as invitation and lowered his mouth onto mine. This kiss was different than the one earlier. It was sweet, tender, loving. He sucked my bottom lip between his and suckled it for a moment before releasing me.

"One question, how did you know what I said that night?"

"Hector."

Ranger grinned. "You never disappoint, Babe."

Then he was gone.

I stood there leaning on the wall where he left me. I was a still a little dazed that I'd stood up to Ranger. Score one for Stephanie. Wait! What did he mean we weren't going to settle this tonight? Ugh! Score five for Ranger.

The sound of my cell phone ringing pulled me from my thoughts. I locked the door, and set the alarm. Then I rushed into the living room to find my phone. I looked at the caller ID, Lester.

"Hello." I asked out of breath.

"I just passed Ranger on the street. Is he just leaving your place?"

"Yes."

"Is that why you're panting?"

"No." I was speaking in one word sentences again. I've got to socialize with the girls more. Or I might lose my ability to converse with real people.

"Are you hungry?"

"Yes." Huh, maybe all you need is one word at a time.

"I'm on my way and I have a box of Polvorones con Canela, and Pastelitos."

"I'll be waiting."

Leave it to Lester to come home with a box of Cuban pastries. I wonder if he knew I was craving Cuban tonight. I went into the bathroom and washed my face and pulled my hair into a loose bun. I dropped the dress in the hamper and pulled on sweats and a t-shirt. I'd just finished changing when I heard the knock on the door. Checking the monitor in the hallway I saw Lester standing in the doorway holding a bakery box.

"What's the password?"

"Password? Why does she keep asking me about the password?" Lester muttered.

"Do you know the password?"

"Goonies never say die!" Lester yelled through the door.

"That is the password for today. The management reserves the right to change the password at any time for security purposes or my amusement."

"Beautiful, sometimes I think you just like yanking my chain," Lester said shaking his head and walking to the couch. "So come tell Lester all about it."

Lester and I sat together on the couch eating cookies and pie talking about what had happened tonight with Ranger. By the time I done was recounting what happened Les was grinning from ear to ear.

"I'm proud of you Steph. Very few people stand up to Ranger. He's probably at home pacing the floor wondering how he's screwed up so badly."

"Maybe, I don't know, Ranger is pretty contolled most of the time. Tell me what happened on Stark tonight? Did you get any new information?" I asked.

"Yeah. It's kind of weird. My contact is Fuchsia she's a working girl, and she knows everything that goes on in that area of town. Fuchsia said that this gang the Blades just started showing up on Stark about a month ago. At first it was just some older guys that were renting slum apartments up and down Stark. They weren't living there though. Just signing the lease and paying the rent. Fuchsia said after a couple weeks teenagers and young adults started showing up on Stark dealing drugs. They were sleeping in the apartments."

"Do you think those kids are runaways too?" I asked.

"It's possible. More than likely they are gang members from other cities that were moved here under orders of a high up in the organization. I'm going to talk to Ranger and Tank first thing in the morning. We need to find out about those apartments. I think it's the best place to start maybe we can get some names that will help us determine who we are up against." Lester said.

"Let me know how I can help." I said.

"I will beautiful. I'm going to get some sleep; it's been a long day. Come lock the door and set the alarm."

"Okay."

I put the bakery box on the counter, and the dishes in the sink. Turned out the lights, and went to the bedroom. The clock said it was just after one. I was asleep the second my head hit the pillow.

I woke up in a haze. There was an annoying noise in the distance. I blinked my eyes and looked at the bedside clock, four in the morning. Where was that noise coming from? I stumbled out of bed, toward the sound. It was coming from outside. My cell phone rang. I went back to retrieve it from the kitchen counter. The caller ID said Rangeman.

"Hello?"

"Miss. Plum, this is Rocky at Rangeman. There's been a report that police have been dispatched to your complex. Are you okay?"

"Yes. I'm fine."

"Miss. Plum I need to ask you for the code." Rocky asked.

"Eliza Doolittle."

"Thank you, Miss. Plum."

As soon as I hung up the phone it rang again. This time it was Ranger.

"Hello. I'm fine, I was asleep the disaster wasn't mine. I don't know what's happening."

"Stay inside. Where's Lester. I don't know; he may not be awake yet. I'll call him and call you back." Ranger said sounding surprisingly awake. Of course he's Batman he probably never really sleeps.

I hung up the phone and called Lester. He answered on the third ring.

"Hello." Lester sounded stressed.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Stay inside. Someone's vandalized my truck. They set off the alarm, the neighbors called the cops."

"I'll make the coffee. Call if you need me," I said. "I'll let Ranger know."

"Yo."

"Yo yourself."

"Someone tagged Lester's truck. He's outside with the cops now."

"Be there in ten."

I walked into the kitchen and started the coffee. I looked through the kitchen was something to make for breakfast. While I was sure that I would go back to bed when this was over I knew Les and Ranger were up for the day. I decided on omelets, fruit, and toast. Mostly the toast was for me. Ranger wouldn't touch white bread. Lester would eat one slice without butter or jelly. I was slicing the fruit when someone knocked on the door. I looked at the security monitor in the hallway. It was a man in black I'd never seen before.

"Yes?" I called through the front door without opening it.

"Ranger said I'm supposed to take care of you." The mystery Merry Man said.

"I don't think we've met. Who are you?"

"I'm with Rangeman. I'm new. They call me Loco."

"Do you have your Rangeman ID? Slide it under the door."

"I forgot it, I'm new, can you open the door I don't want to get in trouble."

"Just stand guard outside, I'll call Ranger."

I went to the bathroom and washed my hands, then back into the kitchen to get my phone when someone knocked on the door again. I looked at the monitor it was Tank. Huh? I wonder what happened to the new guy.

"Tank?"

"It's me Little Girl."

I reached in my purse and pulled my gun. I clicked off the safety, and held the gun down to my side. Slowly I opened the door leveling my gun at Tank. When I could see his face and I was sure it was really him I clicked the safety back on and lowered the gun.

"What happened to that new guy, Loco?"

"What new guy?"

"Some guy came to the door, he said Ranger sent him. He told me the guys call him Loco. I didn't remember hearing about a new guy. I asked for his Rangeman ID he claimed he'd forgotten it. I told him to stand at the door until I called Ranger."

"Shit." Tank said rubbing his head. He does that a lot, maybe that's why he's bald.

"Stay inside, lock the door don't open it for anyone. Keep your gun on you." Tank called running back out into the parking lot.

"Where's Ranger? Should I call him?" I yelled back.

"He's downstairs with Les. Get inside, lock the door."

Ten minutes later Tank was back. There was no sign of anyone pretending to be a Merry Man. Currently Tank was backing up the footage on my doorway camera. He had also called Hector who was trying to clean up the footage so we could get a better look at Loco. I was standing at the small island in my kitchen slicing fruit.

"Coffee?" I asked.

"I'll get it, thanks."

I went back to slicing fruit. Tank was sipping coffee and waiting quietly for the guys to finish talking to the police.

"So you learned to cook?" he asked.

"Well I'm learning. I guess it's about time," replied looking through the refrigerator for some things to fill the omelets with. I finally settled on vegetables and cheese. Tank watched as I chopped up onion, and sliced peppers, mushrooms and cheese.

I was just finishing up the last omelet with Lester and Ranger walked into the condo. He and Tank did some complicated handshake man hug thing. Ranger came into the kitchen. When he saw the food sitting on the counter the look on his face was somewhere between curious and shocked.

"Did you cook this?" Ranger asked.

"Yes. I made veggie omelets with Swiss cheese. There's also fruit, and I'm having toast."

"I'm having toast too." Lester said.

I rolled my eyes. "One slice of dry toast, it's not like you're gorging yourself on a whole loaf."

"You're having strawberry jelly aren't you?" Lester asked reaching around me to snag a slice of apple.

"It's Saturday. I always has something sweet on Saturday morning before yoga."

"You know I am going to enjoy torturing you tomorrow right? Last night you ate sweets from Havana Bakery and now the jelly. I don't want any whining when we go out to Union Trail tomorrow."

"Ugh! I hate you!" I whined at Les.

"I said no whining."

"Let's eat before it gets cold," I said. "Who said I'm going to Union Trail with you? I don't have a death wish."

"We'll see," Lester said around a bite of toast. "So Tank said someone pretending to be Rangeman knocked on your door a little bit ago."

"Some guy dress in black knocked on my door. He said he was from Rangeman, but I didn't know him. He said he was new that his name was Loco. When I asked for ID he said he'd forgotten it. I didn't open the door. I was about to call Ranger when Tank arrived. You think he's from the gang? Was defacing the truck was just a distraction so they could harm me?"

"Looks like it." Lester said giving my hand a squeeze.

Tank was rubbing his head, and blowing out a long breath. Ranger was calm; he seemed to be completely under control. He and Tank were having one of those mysterious ESP conversations. After a couple minutes Tank stood up and left; patting me on the shoulder on the way as he passed.

"Les are we going to be able to stay home?"

"Probably not."

"That figures, the first man to ask me out on a date in years and I have to cancel." I said under my breath. Lester must have heard me because he leaned over and gave me a kiss on the temple.

"We've talked about this Stephanie; no matter how many precautions you take there may not always be a way to avoid a threat. This case is special because you are associated with Ranger, and me. We both have a pretty strong reputation on Stark."

"So what do we do now?"

"We go and Pack a bag for a few days. We're moving to Rangeman."