TITLE: AFTER TEN(redone)
AUTHOR:dasame
DISCLAIMER: just borrowing, not making any money, hope you enjoy.
Chapter Ten
My name is Stephanie Plum and I'm currently on a beach in paradise. After some trouble with a gang called the Slayers, I'd ended up in the hospital. Uupon release, Ranger had whisked me off to my current paradise. Ranger, knowing that I didn't handle it well when I wasn't out working, had been providing me with distraction in the form of my parents and my friends, Lula and Connie.
I love them all but even this place was starting to feel too small after they'd been here a week. The Villa was huge, but it never seemed that we had time alone, we being Ranger and I. Wwe'd shared the 'love' word and were trying to explore where it might lead to. My Hungarian hormones had woken up and were cheering for sex. Pproblem was that Ranger had decided that we shouldwould wait until I was sure I wanted the whole package. Who would have thought Ranger wanted a relationship and I was the one having trouble committing?.
It seemed as if every time we were alone, something interrupted us. Iif it wasn't a phone ringing, then it was one of my many guests. Don't get me wrong, I love my family and friends, but they could drive me crazy at times.
The reason I was on the beach alone was that Ranger was driving my parent s to the airport. Valerie and her family were currently staying on another island and would be starting their visit tomorrow. Sally Sweet, due mid week he would only be staying a day and a half because he had commitments he couldn't get out of.
Ranger smiled as he stepped from the SUV and watched Stephanie. She was stretched out on the beach which had become her favorite place since she'd been here.
He knew she would go out lay down and use it as a place to think and work through whatever was bothering her.
Stephanie was in peaceful contemplation listening. It was quiet except for the waves, maybe a bird call here or there. She had decided to stay behind when Ranger drove her parents to the Airport this morning. She always hated good-byes and that had been a good excuse to stay behind. This was the first time since the Slayer incident that she had been by herself, well other then Ranger's guys strategically placed around the villa.
She needed to think, and she couldn't do that with everyone, fussing over her. The Doctor said that she was healing well and at her last therapy session Liz had given her a book. She remembered her words. 'Call it a journal, logbook, or diary whatever you call it I want you to you it. I'll give you a question to answer in it every week. Rremember there is no wrong answer and you'll be the only one reading it unless you ask me to or you show it to someone else.' Liz wanted her to think about but not to over analyze her answers.
She sat and watched the waves crash into the beach for a few more minutes before standing time for a walk along the beach. Then she felt it that tingle that let her know that Ranger was near.
She looked up toward the Villa and smiled when she saw Ranger walking toward her. Steph held out her hand.
"Walk with me?"
Ranger smiled he had come to look forward to their walks when they could get away.
As nice as it was here, even with the distraction Ranger was offering with all the company. Now that she was feeling better she wanted to get back to work. Ranger, the Doctor, and Liz were all against this, they said it was too early.
They all seemed to believe that she still needed rest and relaxation. And some time to regroup. OK, she agreed she did need to think. So here she was walking on the beach thinking. Having Ranger with her was a nice perk. Liz had asked her the first question for her book.
"Where do you see yourself next year? How about in five years?" good question, but she couldn't answer it.
Stephanie had always lived day to day. Wwhen things had got tough she would just go to denial land. It was a nice place. Oh, maybe at one time she had planned her future, maybe back in college, or when she had been married to the Dickie. But lately no, definitely not lately, lately the most planning for the future she had done was trying to survive her latest stalker.
Saying that her life had been chaotic the last two years would be an understatement. The last two years had been a whirl wind of exploding cars, dead bodies, psychos, and stalkers.
The two men in her life had added to the confusion. Vice Cop Joe Morelli and I had been circling since sheI was six, and in the last two years theywe had been on again and off again many timesmore times than I could count. They'd We'd had their our talk and broken itnow we were off permanently.
Then there was Ranger, AKA Ricardo Carlos Manoso. Hhe was my mentor, my friend, and for a fabulous night, my lover. He was a man of mystery, and his kisses made me melt. We'd had a talk on the plane here and Ranger had let me know that he wanted more. In the last couple of weeks since the Slayers the walls around Ranger had been coming down and he said he wanted me in his life.
That brought me back to that darn question Liz had asked. Was I was afraid of the future and of what it might hold? Hell yes, I was afraid. But why? The man of myher dreams wanted meher and had hinted that there was definitely a ring in their future. So the future be should be looking rosy, right?. Why was Ishe holding back instead of jumping right in. That was the question.
She pulled her hand from Rangers walked to the surf and kneeled down. Swirling the sand and water with her hand it was warm. She loved the feel of it. The air here was clean and salty, the sky blue with fluffy white clouds. And wondered for a minute if maybe she could convince Ranger to let them just stay here and never return to reality.
The man in questions ESP was working and he said only one word.
"Babe."
Yeah she would miss the sky when she went home you don't get that shade of blue in Trenton, too much smog.