Disclaimer: If you recognize the character as a J.E. character, they are hers. The original characters are mine and I take full credit for them. They are part of my imagination.

Spoiler Alert: I could use anything from the 18 books that are out.

Special thanks to Deanna - AKA RampsAngl for helping me to remember my two trips to Seattle and tweaking my facts so they are more accurate. I appreciate all the assistance and suggestions you gave me on these chapters that take place in Seattle.

I would like to thank all of you who have reviewed. I try to respond to every review, but there have been some guest reviews as well as those who have PMing turned off. I want to let you know that I read all the reviews and appreciate all of them.

Chapter 10: A Day Of Exploring

Stephanie's POV:

I was falling and there was nothing to stop me. The only thing in my vision was a pair of hazel eyes full of anger. I knew the anger was directed at me but wasn't sure what I had done to cause it. I jerked awake before the fall was complete and I sat up in bed. I put my head in my hands and my phone rang. I reached over to the nightstand to get my phone and connected the call. I was still half asleep but managed a, "Yo?"

Ranger chuckled, "Did I wake you Babe?"

"No, not at all. I'm always up at…" I turned to check the time and my eyes opened wide, "Shit! Is that the time?"

"Yeah, it's nearly 10 a.m. your time."

"You'll never believe that this is the first time I've slept in since we've been here will you?"

I could hear the smile in his voice, "I'd believe anything you told me Babe. How's the vacation going? You ready to come home yet?"

"We're having a great time. We went hiking on Mount Rainier, Whale Watching, we went to the Locks and watched the Salmon swimming upstream, and yesterday we went to Snoqualmie Falls to see a waterfall."

"I heard you had some excitement at the Falls Babe. Are you doing okay?"

"Yeah. I was scared to death on the way down though. It was a really long way down."

"You were lucky. You could have been seriously hurt."

"Is that why you're calling?"

"Partly to check that you're okay and also to tell you there was another request for information. I pulled some strings and got the search squashed and a warning for the searcher to cease and desist. Do you have any idea who might be investigating you and Hector?"

"I think so. We met a very nice young man and he's been spending a lot of time with us. His older brother is an ass and I'd bet anything he's the one doing the asking."

"Do you have a name for me Babe?"

"The brother's name is Thorton Connor Rand. Everyone calls him Rand. I know he carries weapons."

"How do you know that?"

"I saw a couple guns when we fell into the falls."

I could just see Ranger's eyebrow going up when he said, "We?"

I shrugged even though he couldn't see me, "I freaked when I felt myself falling and grabbed onto the only thing I could. It happened to be Rand's belt. He fell with me. Once we were in the water I kept hold of the belt and he ended up doing most of the work to get us out of the water."

Ranger chuckled, "Only you Babe. You'll call me if you need anything won't you?"

"You know I will."

"Alright. I'll make sure this guy stops looking and I'll see you when you get back. Enjoy your time out there Babe."

I smiled, "Thanks Ranger. Tell the guys I miss them."

"We miss you too Babe."

With that he hung up. I sighed, that was the closest to a goodbye as I'd ever gotten. I placed the phone back on the nightstand and headed for the shower. Once I was dressed in white shorts, navy blue t-shirt and my sandals, I walked out into the sitting room expecting to see Hector and Casey. They weren't there but I could hear the shower in Hector's room going so I sat down and waited for them to join me. It was nearly 11 a.m. when Casey and Hector entered the sitting room. They were both sporting wide smiles and I knew from the look in their eyes that things had progressed by leaps and bounds since last evening.

"Well, look who finally decided to surface."

Hector chuckled, "You hungry?"

I smiled, "Starving!"

"Let's go eat."

"Okay. How do you guys feel about walking around and checking out the shops and stuff?"

Hector nodded, "Okay." He turned to Casey, "You?"

Casey nodded, "That's fine with me."

We decided we would try the hotel's own restaurant, Six Seven. We headed down and were seated. The waiter handed us our menus and left us to look over the selections while he went and got us our coffee. By the time he returned, we were ready to order. I chose the Seattle's Favorite Mac & Cheese Au gratin with cheddar crumbs and reggiano. Both Hector and Casey chose the Fish & Chips which was beer-battered Alaskan cod with fries, classic tarter and lemon, served with a cup of artesian soup, nori sesame rice and a tangle of organic greens. When our food came, the guys tried my mac and cheese and shared their dishes with me. I moaned with my first bite of the ooey goodness.

Once we finished our meal we headed out. As we were walking I noticed there were large decorated, cast iron pigs in various places. There was one decked out like Elvis and I struck a pose while Hector took my picture. There were others, some painted with flowers, some made to look like famous people. There was one dressed up as Liberace, another as an alien, and still another all decked out in SWAT black. My eyes widened and I looked at Hector. He grinned knowing exactly what I was thinking. I sat on the back of the pig and lay so my head was beside the pig and gave Hector my most sultry look. He snapped away as I changed my poses slightly. Finally we moved on. While we were walking I saw a Macy's sign and dragged Hector and Casey inside. I found the perfect dress. It was a beautiful blue. I went in and tried it on and knew I was going to get it. It fit like a dream. And it was practical because I'd be able to wear it for distractions back home. Of course, now that I had a dress I had to find the perfect shoes to match. They were the most delicate sandals in the same color as the dress. They had a 5" heel and were the perfect FM shoes I'd ever seen with straps that crisscrossed my foot.

Once we left Macy's we went into Nordstrom's. There I found three gorgeous outfits and two more pairs of shoes. Next we made our way into Rainier Square and my eyes lit up as I saw the Victoria Secrets store. I was inside before either of the guys could say a word. I found several sets of underwear and a couple of nightie's…if you could call them that. In no time we were back out on the street. We continued walking and when we came to Pike's Place Market I suggested we go in and look around. Casey's eyes twinkled as he told us we would enjoy watching the fish fly. I gave him a puzzled look but he said no more.

We walked into the Market and there was an area where fresh fish were sold. As we stood there looking around someone asked for a certain type of fish. Suddenly there was a fish flying through the air from one man to another. The fish was wrapped in paper and then once again it went flying through the air to the customer. Casey laughed at the stunned look on our faces. Hector's stunned look was more that he'd crouched as soon as the fish went flying and remained still. My mouth was open wide and I was staring. We stood there watching the fish throwing for a while. Someone asked for a monk fish and the guy threw it right at me. It looked pretty creepy and a lady next to me screamed. Just before it reached me it moved back to the man who'd thrown it. There was a string attached to the thing. The man laughed and asked if he scared me. I gave him a wry look and told him he'd have to do better if he wanted to scare me. He raised an eyebrow and I rolled my eyes. We moved on shortly after that.

We walked around looking at the different merchandise being sold. As we were nearing a picnic type table, I saw a man sitting on the table with one foot resting on the seat and the other foot on the ground. There was a large dog with him and as I glanced down at the dog, my eyes caught sight of something hanging down the side of his leg past the shorts line. My eyes rolled and I nudged Hector. He turned to me and I motioned to the man. It took him only seconds to see what I was indicating.

He shook his head, "Only you Stephanie."

Casey frowned, "What?"

I nodded my head toward the other man and said, "His shorts are too short."

Casey looked and started chuckling. "Are you embarrassed or impressed?"

I gave him a look and replied, "I'm a Jersey girl. It would take more than that to embarrass or impress me. I've seen more than my share of men's ding a lings and he has nothing to be proud of let me tell you."

Casey looked at me like he couldn't believe what I had just said and then he turned to Hector, "She's kidding right?"

Hector shook his head. Casey's eyes opened wide, "You have to explain that one."

I shrugged, "I'm a Bounty Hunter back home and some of my skips have been exhibitionists. Not to mention the crazies that have tried to use their nether regions to issue threats. Plus I've had relationships with two alpha males who would impress anyone. A little thing like he has is nothing."

"A Bounty Hunter? You go after bad guys?"

Hector smiled, "She has 100% capture rate."

Casey whistled and shook his head. He had a sudden thought that made his eyes gleam. Hector asked, "What you thinking?"

Casey looked at both of us and grinned, "I'm thinking if Rand tries to take you on he's going to bite off more than he can chew."

Hector laughed. "You don't know half. Your brother goes after Stephanie, he have to deal with all us."

Casey's eyes widened, "I might enjoy this. I'd like to see big brother come up against something he can't control."

We continued walking and shopping. When we finally returned to the hotel, we decided to eat at the hotel restaurant. We ordered Jumbo Dungeness Crab and Shrimp Cake with crab lemongrass sauce and tomato jam, King Crab Risotto with fava beans, candied cherry tomatoes, meyer lemon, micro basil and artichoke emulsion, the Smoked Salmon and Asparagus with baby frisee, aioli, shaved manchego, soft boiled egg, crisp prosciutto and pharoahs lemon vinegar, as well as the Lobster Mac & Cheese loaded with lobster and a 6 cheeses sauce for our appetizers. We shared the dishes and each of them were delicious. For our main course, I ordered the Pan Roasted Halibut with chipoline onions, asparagus lardons, artichokes and cherry heirloom tarragon salad. Hector ordered the Apricot Glazed Duroc Pork Shank with celery root mash, english peas, caramelized apples, butter braised cabbage and apricot pecan sauce. Casey ordered the Sauteed King Salmon with sea salt, roasted lemon and castelvetrano olives. All the food was delicious.

When we finished, I sat back and said, "It's a good thing we've done so much walking or I'd be two sizes bigger by now. Hector and Casey laughed. Casey replied, "You always get the small portion so that helps."

I asked, "Do you think we could take in a Mariners game?"

Casey nodded, "I think they are playing tomorrow. We could take in their afternoon game and in the morning we could take in the Museum Of Flight."

Hector nodded, his eyes were dancing, "Sounds good."

We headed up to our suite and turned in for the night.

Menu was googled. Any mistakes are mine. Chicago had the decorated cows and Seattle had the cast iron pigs. The ones I mentioned are ones I remember from the trip. (It's been 10 years and my memory might be off on the one in SWAT black). Although there is a Rainier Square Mall, I don't think there is a Victoria Secrets there, but Stephanie needed to complete her ensemble so I took poetic license. The incident when they are walking and run into the guy on the picnic table is a true incident that happened to me as I was walking through the market with my best friend and her cousin. If you're ever in Seattle, I highly recommend going to Pike's Place Market and watching them throw the fish. Its awesome! There are a few more chapters that will take place in Seattle. Don't worry though, they will get back to Trenton eventually.