Yay! I got it out! Thank goodness. I was having some trouble, but for you dear fans, I pushed through it. I hope you enjoy!

Not mine. The only thing I can take credit for is the mistakes. Oh and Natalie and Nina. They're completely mine.

"No? What do you mean no?" I asked Joe. "Come on, it'll only be for a few days."

"I'm not helping you or your team."

"You wouldn't be helping me." I said, pacing through the family room. I could feel Ranger's eyes tracking my movements.

And it was making it hard to think.

So I consistently looked away. I helped. Sort of.

"It's more along the lines of you helping ATF." I continued.

"No. Nina will kill me."

"Aww, you're worried about your girlfriend?" I said, sneering.

"I don't appreciate that petulant tone."

Natalie and Lester were at it again. We've been here for two days and they've already done the whole middle school cooties thing.

I'm afraid they've moved on to the high school version. Now she's trying to get me to have Joe come down and flirt mercilessly with her. Just to make him jealous.

I hope they have sex soon. All this is making me nuts.

"Tell Natalie to find one of those hot farmers and make him jealous that way. What, are we in high school?"

"That's what I said!"

"You know how much I want to stick it to one of Ranger's men, especially Lester, but I just can't right now."

"I'll give you fifty dollars to do it."

"That'll barely cover my gas for a week."

"Well if you won't do it for me, do it for Ranger."

"Jesus no. I'd rather lick a flag pole during winter than do anything for Ranger."

"Well you tell him that because he won't believe me. Hold on. I'll put you on speaker." I pulled the phone away from my ear and hit 'speaker'.

"Jesus, Cupcake don't put me on speaker. I don't want to talk to that crazy man."

"Aw, I miss you too sweetheart." Ranger said.

Joe paused. I laughed behind my hand.

"Hey Ranger. How are things?"

"Good."

I look him off speaker. "I'll talk to you later."

"You suck."

"Bye Joe. Tell your girlfriend I say hi." When I hung up, I laughed out loud.

"That was mean, Babe."

"Well I'm bored. What else is there to do?" I found the closest camera. "No go." I told Natalie.

Damn, I'll think of something else, she texted back. By the way, basket was bug free.

"Don't you think this behavior is childish?"

"Sure," I said, shrugging. "But they're bored too. By the way, Mister Paranoid, the basket was clean."

He nodded. "I figured. Well we're having dinner with the targets tonight so they should be prepping for that."

"Don't call them that. They're names are Anne and Richard."

"And one of them is a gun runner." He grabbed my hands and sat me down on the couch. "You're not getting attached, are you?"

"No! Of course not!"

He sighed. "Try not to let it cloud your judgment. I know you can't help it, but I need you level headed."

"I'll try. I'm not that attached."

He just nodded.

Except I was, a little. Anne was just an innocent bystander. How could I not get emotionally involved? She was being lied to by the man she loved.

I looked over at Ranger. He never looked sexier. He was in his normal black shirt and black pants, feet bare, intensely cleaning his gun.

"You've never lied to me, right?" I asked him, putting my feet into his lap.

He stopped cleaning his gun and looked at me. "No, I've never outright lied to you. I've held some things back but I've never lied. I told you enough to send you in the right direction. You usually figured out the rest yourself."

I felt my blood pressure rise. "You should have told me everything that you knew, when you knew it!"

He grabbed my feet as I was trying to get them off his lap. "Would you rather I kept you in the dark? Would it have been easier to hear that I had been lying to you? Believe it or not, Stephanie, I did it to protect you!"

I swallowed. "Why?"

"Because you keep forgetting how well I know you." He gave me a small, sad smile. "I knew that you would want to solve the problem yourself and going in half cocked would have gotten you killed sooner. You felt like you had something to prove, so you weren't taking anyone's help. I figured giving you the information in bits and pieces that you would be more willing to let me help you. Your pride wouldn't have gotten in the way. I may have not told you everything in once sitting, but I have never lied to you."

He was right. If he had told me everything that I needed to know right away, I would have never asked him for anything again. It would have felt too easy. That I wasn't doing the work I should have been doing.

Shit. I felt like such a fool. For a minute, I was actually comparing him to Joe. Joe never wanted to tell me anything. He left me blind and I had to find everything out on my own. Which usually lead to a stalker or a blown up car because I was trying to do my job. If he had let me in, I may not have such crazy insurance. Ranger, on the other hand, had let me in more than I had ever expected. I shook my head. Ranger was not Joe and I should stop thinking of him that way.

Maybe that was my problem. If I spend too much time comparing the two men in my life, how am I going to be able to decide?

Of course, I had already let Joe go, so who was I comparing Ranger to anymore?

Heavy thoughts.

Ranger waited patiently for me to finish the conversation going on in my head. "Do you understand where I'm coming from?"

"If there was ever a time when I needed to know everything right then, you told me, right?"

He stared me straight in the eye. "Yes."

And I believed him. "Okay. I'm sorry I got angry."

"I'm sorry I didn't explain it to you right before you got angry."

This is usually the time when couples have make-up sex.

Ranger's eyes dilated, as if he could read my mind. My forehead started to sweat.

"I need to shower." I said when Ranger moved closer.

He backed up and put his hands to his face. "That's probably a good idea." The I'm sorry was implied in his voice.

I scurried upstairs and grabbed my clothes. Remembering the cameras, I shut the bathroom door before undressing. No need to give the guys a cheap thrill.

I took my time in the shower; cleaning my hair, scrubbing and exfoliating my body, and making sure every part that needed to be tended to, was. When I got out, I put lotion all over my body and another towel around my head.

Slipping on the outfit I had picked out, I felt some of my confidence come back. I slipped the black pants and red blouse, fluffed my hair and went back to the living room.

I was just making my way down the stairs when the doorbell rang.

"Showtime." Ranger said to me. He opened the door and waved our guests in.

This was the first time that I've had a good look at Richard. He was about the same height as Ranger, but he had less muscle. His hair was a muddy brown and military short. He stood straight and his brown eyes missed nothing.

"This is my wonderful husband, Richard." Anne said, introducing us. "That's Carlos and his wife Stephanie."

"It's nice to meet you." He said in a gravelly voice. "I wasn't sure what to bring, the red or the white, so I brought both."

"Stephanie has prepared a wonderful roast, so the red will go nicely." He gestured them to the dining room. "Please."

I snagged his arm as we followed them. "Stephanie did what?"

"Don't worry, Ella had some premade meals made for this."

"God I love her."

He pulled out his phone. "I'm going to tell Lester they have the green light and then I'll be in. You go play the good little wife."

"Sure, I'll do that." I said, coming around so I faced him. "But if you ever say that again, I'll make sure your last meal on this earth is your balls."

"Ooh, saucy."

"You know it."

The dinner was going smoothly. We talked about what our husbands did, the weather, football (I muddled my way through that, but Ranger covered nicely), the government (touchy for both men) and all the little boutiques that I needed to check out.

"How about we take our coffee into the living room?" I asked, starting to pick up the dishes.

Ranger and Richard shrugged. I had a feeling if Richard wasn't bad, they would be best friends.

"I'd love to get your input on some importing deals I have in the works. I have a feeling I'm being screwed." Ranger said, encouraging the move.

Anne and I cleaned up the dining room and she went to the bathroom while I got the coffee ready.

When it was done, I poured the cups and took them into the other room. Ranger was missing, but Richard was studiously looking at our photos.

"You made a nice bride, Stephanie."

"Thank you."

He moved closer to me. "Your husband is a lucky man."

"I tell him that every day." He stepped closer. "Where is he?"

"Getting some papers he wanted me to look over."

Ranger chose that moment to come back in. I sighed in relief. My spidey sense was tingling and not in a good way.

While they did that, Anne and I chatted for a few more minutes. Since it was such a nice night, we decided to take our coffee outside.

"You'll have to check out the church on Sunday. We're always looking for new members."

"Oh we're not big church people."

She looked confused. "I thought everyone was."

"Nope. Non-practicing Catholics here."

"Oh. How… freeing."

Shit.

"…But we can always check it out. If we have time."

Anne brightened. "Oh good."

I smiled. My fingers were crossed behind my back.

As it got dark, we went inside to see what the men were up to. They were coming out of the family room, sullen. Richard had the beginnings of a really nice shiner on his right eye and Ranger was holding his hand.

I filled in the blanks myself.

"Jesus, are you okay?" I asked him.

"I don't want to talk about it."

Richard just stalked out to the car. Ranger, went upstairs.

Anne and I were confused.

"I'm so sorry." I said to her.

"He probably deserved it."

I shook my head. "He's a guest. My husband should know better."

She smiled softly at me. "So should mine. Still it was probably his fault."

Coming from the burg, wives usually protected their husbands. It was odd to see one throwing hers under the bus.

"I married him, faults and all. There's not much he wouldn't do for me. That being said, there are days when I wish I could kill him. But then I just remember one question: would I change anything that happened between us that got us here? And as long as the answer is no, then I know that I still love him. It makes it worth it." She shrugged. "I'm sorry. I hope they get over it."

"I'm sure they will."

"I'll see you Saturday, right?"

"You know it."

She smiled. "Good."

When she left, I thought about the question. Was there anything that I would change?

That's when it hit me. I wouldn't. Not even when he sent me back to Joe. Not when he told me that his love came with a condom. Not even after each time he pushed me away.

In fact, there was no one I'd rather be here with other than that crazy, stubborn man.

Mental head slap. How had I missed that for so long? How had I not realized that what I wanted was right in front of me all along?

Oh right, my friend, denial.

Well, I'm shoving denial right out the window. I nodded to myself and continued the mantra until I reached the bathroom. Where Ranger was.

Thankfully when he let me in, he was fully dressed.

Good. No distractions.

"Hey." I said, shutting the door behind me.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"I think we should. Are we in trouble?"

"No."

"Did he think you were a cop?"

"It probably passed his mind, but considering I'm still alive, I think we passed that one."

"Then what?"

Ranger wouldn't look at me. So I took a stab.

"Was it about me?"

He looked at me out of the corner of his eye. "Oh," I whispered.

"He was being an ass and I set him straight."

"You didn't have to."

"I wanted to."

"Oh." I looked at my shoes.

"I'm not going to apologize."

"For what?"

"For my actions." He slammed his hands down and looked at me. He was still pissed. "I'm so fucking tired of walking on egg shells around you. I make any advance on you and I feel like a dick. You're being all grown up and realizing what you want and I'm pushing your boundaries. But not this time. This time, he fucking deserved it. So this time, I'm not apologizing." He splashed water on his face.

"Good. Because I want you to stop apologizing."

He looked at me. I think this was the first time I had surprised Ranger.

Good. Now I had his attention.