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Ford F150

Chapter 10

The day dawned bright and clear. Sydney got up and showered, cringing again when she saw herself in the mirror. She stared at the deep purple bruise that crossed her torso. Slashing from her shoulder, between her breasts and over her ribs to her waist.

"I guess this is as close as I will come to wearing a Miss America sash," she kidded herself in the mirror, trying to smile, but knowing that it really did look bad. Turning and looking at it from different angles, she knew that it was going to be hard to find another shirt in her wardrobe that would cover this darkening mark. Which truly was difficult, as it started high next to her neck.

After she had seen the stricken look on Rams' face the first time he saw the angry looking bruise peaking out of the collar of her shirt, she had diligently tried to dig up anything she could to hide it. He had started to treat her like she was made of glass, and she missed his passionate, spontaneous hugs. If he didn't see the evidence, she hoped, he would forget that there was anything to be concerned about. It really didn't hurt that bad…

Sydney heard the door beep twice. Ram had disabled the alarm and was coming in the front door. She hurriedly grabbed the only shirt she had left that could come close to covering the bruise and got dressed. She rushed out to greet him, throwing herself into his waiting arms before he got a chance to take a close look. Fortunately, he responded the way she'd hoped by holding her tight, kissing her neck and whispering all the words she wanted to hear, she was in heaven.

"You are still keeping us busy," he accused as he loosened his grip on her. He smiled at her, he hated being away from her for even a minute, but coming back to this kind of welcome was almost worth it.

"Busy?" she asked so innocently. Knowing full well that he had told her this more than once. In fact, every time he had to leave her, he mentioned that her referrals had increased their workload significantly. Not allowing him to request any time off until RangeMan had hired enough additional men to keep up with the work. She teased him, kissing his chin, his cheek, the corners of his mouth, everywhere but on the lips, until he growled. She looked at him, he smiled. That incredible smile that showed that adorable dimple in his left cheek. There was only one kind of smile that revealed that dimple, and she knew that there would be no more teasing now. He possessed her lips in a kiss that left them both breathless, gasping for air, before they dived back in for more.

OoOoO

"We've made enough for an army," Sydney said as she surveyed the large pot of vegetable soup they had just finished, and had simmering on the stove. Just then the timer on the stove went off and she grabbed an oven mitt to remove the rolls from the oven. "Tell me again why we just made all this," she said, winking at him and ducking playfully when he came to grab her.

Ram smiled at her and pulled her close. "You are kind of cute when you wear an oven mitt like that," he said in a low, sexy voice. Lowering his mouth to hers as he spoke, so that the vibration of the last words he said tickled her lips.

He didn't really have to explain it again, she had been teasing him the whole time they were cooking. They had discovered that they both liked to cook. Once a month. And they had had fun comparing notes on recipes and techniques of the bachelors and bachelorettes.

When she had first discussed moving to New York, Sydney's mother had suddenly felt the need to give her daughter a crash course in taking care of herself while living alone. Laundry, cleaning, self-defense and cooking were all treated with equal importance.

She learned to make enough in one day of cooking to be able to stash single servings away in the freezer to last all month. Her favorite recipes included Texas stew, Coq au vin, and a roll dough that could be partially baked and then rozen, only requiring a few minutes of baking to supply fresh baked goods for each meal. Ram had actually convinced Ella to share some of her recipes with him. It had been her vegetable soup that they had tried today.

While they were busy in the kitchen, three black trucks pulled up in front of Sydney Schaeffer's house. A whole group of large men dressed in black walked up to her front door.

"I'll get that for you," Ram said, when they heard the doorbell. Sydney was about to tell him that she had just armed the system, then she caught the look in his eye. Yeah, she reminded herself, he designed the system. He knew more about it than she ever would, and he would know how to turn it off to open the door. She just smiled.

"Thanks," she said.

When Ram opened the door, he just stared at them. He knew that Ranger was coming, but this was just over kill. He correctly guessed that these other guys were still curious about Sydney. Believe it or not, he did get that! But how they talked Ranger and Tank into letting them come with them today, he couldn't even begin to fathom. It had been a few days, since the accident. He figured that they had shown incredible restraint to wait this long to come get a look. He was actually impressed.

"Ram," Ranger said. Ram nodded. He stepped back and the men all filed in.

Cal and Les suddenly turned into statues. Vince and Bones were trying their best not to laugh, they wore their best blank faces, and Hal stood by smiling. Ram could tell by the sparkle in their eyes that they found this very amusing. He knew it was the reaction to Sydney, who had just walked into the room. Every eye in the room followed her, as she moved over to stand by Ram.

He wrapped his arm around her shoulder. "Sydney, I would like to introduce you to…"

Ranger stepped forward extending his hand to her "Ranger, I mean, Carlos Manoso, owner of RangeMan Inc," Ram said.

"And Tank," he said, as Tank moved closer. She shook hands with each of the men as Ram introduced them.

"Vince,"

"Bones,"

"Hal,"

"Cal,"

"And Les."

She nodded to Lester, with a gleam of recognition in her eyes. "Yes, we almost met before," she said as winked at him. Ram watched the exchange with amusement, Les looked like he was about to pass out.

They were all men of few words. Sydney smiled at them all collectively and said, "It's good to meet you." Inviting them into the front room to sit down, she waited for them to tell her why they were here. Ranger was the one to speak first. He asked her how the security system was working for her. She took this opportunity to tell them how much she admired the company. How much she loved the way the installation of the systems didn't detract from the design of the spaces. She couldn't say enough about how much her clients absolutely loved not only the perfect installation, but the service that they got with their systems.

She had to suppress a smile, she wasn't sure she should tell Ranger that all the women seemed to like watching his men doing their job. Not that she could blame them, she could appreciate it herself. But it would remain her little secret for now.

"Ms. Schaeffer," Tank said.

"Please," Sydney said, interrupting him. "Call me Sydney," she said with a smile.

Tank started over. "Sydney," he smiled back at her. "We have a surprise for you."

She raised her eyebrows and shot a look at Ram. A surprise? Did he know? One look into his eyes and she knew that he did. He took her hand and pulled her past all of the men, toward the door.

"Come on, let's show you the surprise," he said.

He walked outside to the black truck parked in the middle, between the other two. Bones tossed the set of keys to him, and Ram handed them to her. They all looked identical, how he knew this was the right one, she didn't know, she just smiled at him.

"Jimenez totaled your truck," he said. "So we made sure that you got a replacement."

Sydney unlocked the truck and climbed into the passenger seat. Everything looked exactly like her truck. The Bose docking station even had her iPod in it. At least it looked like her iPod. She looked at Ram and he nodded.

"We got everything of yours out of the truck before they took it." He then helped her down, and led her back to the bed of the truck. Lifting the corner of the black tarp, she could see the boxes that she had picked up from Edith's house. Without a word, the men came and unloaded the boxes. Ram took the remote opener from her visor and opened the garage. They carefully placed all of the boxes along one wall. Sydney was a little bit speechless herself at that moment. But she did have the presence of mind to say at least one word to them all.

"Thank You," she looked at each of the guys. All of these big tough guys had smiles that they couldn't hide. She didn't know, yet, that they had all been watching her for these past months. She only knew that she would enjoy getting to know them. They were part of Ram's world and she had no doubt that she would be seeing them often, the more she spent time with him. And she intended to spend a lot of time with him from now on.

That time was going to start right now. Sydney looked at Ram and he nodded slightly. He was pretty sure he knew what she had in mind. And he immediately added another entry to his list of the things that he loved about her. He put his arm around her and gave her shoulders a little squeeze.

"Gentlemen," she said. "Are any of you hungry?" Given the number of smiles she got, she took it to mean that they were all going to accept the invitation to come in and eat, so she motioned them all into the house and herded them back to the kitchen.

"I thought something smelled good," Lester said as he lifted the lid from the pot and looked in. Ram just rolled his eyes and told him to go sit down. The guys were all teasing and telling stories as the bowls of steaming soup and warm rolls were placed on the table. Sydney went back to the counter to grab the salt and pepper, when she turned around she noticed that they were waiting for her to join them before they started eating. She was, once again, impressed with the men from RangeMan Inc.