Chapter 11

Stephanie rolled to Ranger's side of the mattress to peer at the clock for the fifth time since coming to bed. It was nearly three in the morning and she had yet to find sleep. Ranger and Jase had sequestered themselves away in the office after Stephanie's procedure, now it sounded like they'd gone to the den or the kitchen.

Would he not come to bed tonight? She had never lived in such close quarters with Ranger prior to his going on missions so she had no idea what was usual for him and what was not. She had to wonder if he was avoiding her. Or perhaps he knew that like her, he would be unable to find sleep.

She had killed in the past, or rather had been forced to kill. But she had never gone to bed at night knowing that she would end someone's life in the coming day or days. Did it bother him? She knew that in this case, it was survival at its most primal level. Kill or be killed … or something close to it. She also knew that Ranger's mark was not a good man. The world would be a better place without him in it. But it was still a human life.

Kicking the blankets down, Stephanie climbed out of bed, tugged down Ranger's shirt to cover her panties and padded down the hall.

The men were at the kitchen table. Ranger was shirtless with his sculpted back to her, his arm lying across a blue sterile drape. She heard the pronounced click of the tracker applicator gun, but Ranger didn't flinch as she did. She unconsciously rubbed the inside of her arm over the small bandage Jase had placed there.

When Jase began cleaning up his supplies, he looked up and saw Stephanie. Ranger was pulling his shirt back over his head.

Stephanie stood stock-still at the entrance to the hall and softly said, "Ranger."

He glanced over his shoulder at her and then took the bandage that Jase offered him. Walking over to him, she motioned for Ranger to pull away the tight sleeve of his shirt while she applied the bandage. Finished, she looked at his face and saw that he was watching her.

She ran the tips of her fingers gently over the bandage. "You didn't … thank you."

He caught her fingers and kissed her palm, his eyes never leaving hers.

She whispered, "Come to bed."

He stood and threaded their fingers together as they walked down the short hall. He paused at the office door. "I'll be there in a second. I just have to get something."

Nodding, she released his hand and stepped into their bedroom. She had just climbed under the covers when Ranger came in. He closed the door and set the lock.

Sitting on the edge of the bed near her hip, Ranger handed her an electronic device. Taking it, she frowned up at him. "Is this like a smartphone? I didn't think it was safe to use cell phones."

He smiled softly at her. "It's not a smartphone. And if it were, it would be more like a Mensa phone. It's a computer of sorts. I have one too. It will allow you to access my bio data … you can see that I'm living and breathing. Jase will go over how to use the different functions. You'll be able to see my coordinates and he'll teach you how to read where I am."

Her lips kicked up a fraction. "So if you say you're running for milk, I'll be able to tell if you're really handing out fifty dollar bills at Domino's?"

Ranger chuckled. "If I were going to a strip club, I'd take you with me." His smile slowly slid away. "I have nothing to hide from you." Taking the device from her hand, he placed it on the nightstand. Then he stood and peeled off his shirt and shucked his cargos.

Following suit, Stephanie tugged the shirt over her head and tossed it to the floor. Then she held up the covers for Ranger to climb in. In moments, he was over her, his weight settled firmly between her thighs. With his forearms on either side of her head, the bandage on his bicep was just inches from her face. Lifting her head, she kissed to the right of the bandage and said, "How long will you keep it?"

His fathomless black eyes stared into hers. "As long as you keep yours."

Stephanie closed her eyes and smoothed her hands over the contours of his chest and shoulders. She had expected him to lean down and kiss her. When he didn't, she looked up at him in question and found him staring at her. "What's wrong?" she whispered.

He shook his head and leaned down, brushing his mouth over hers. His kiss was gentle and heart-achingly tender. He'd never kissed her like this, with such reverence.

She pulled away and choked out, "Don't kiss me like that."

Confused, he frowned and said, "Like what?"

"That felt like goodbye."

Placing his lips on her shoulder, his loose hair dragged across her breasts. "I'm sorry."

Laying open-mouthed kisses along the outer curve of one breast, his hand cupped the weight of the other, his index finger circling delicately around the areola.

Stephanie combed her fingers through his hair, pulling him in. She watched as he closed his eyes and drew a rosy tip into his mouth. As he suckled, she felt a jolt of desire tug directly at her womb. She blurted, "Are you ever afraid?"

Still suckling her, his eyes slowly opened. Releasing her nipple with an audible pop, he answered, "Yes."

He rose above her on his knees, hooked his fingers into the hips of her panties and dragged them down. When he tugged them off completely, he captured her foot and licked a long line from her ankle to the back of her knee.

She shuddered out a breath and said, "Of dying?"

He impaled her with dilated eyes as he nipped the skin of her inner thigh. "No."

Pressing her knee toward her chest, he stroked at her cleft and swirled her wetness over her clit. She let out a breathy moan and arched toward his hand. He spread her legs wider with his shoulders and leaned down to place a soft kiss at the apex of her sex. Stephanie gripped at his shoulders and said, "You're trying to distract me."

He took one long lap of her sex from bottom to top and circled her nub with a sharply pointed tongue. "Mmmm," he hummed as his lips surrounded her clit. "I'm trying to love you." He tasted her again, then buried his tongue, the sound of growled pleasure purring from his throat and vibrating against her.

When he entered her with his fingers, she flexed her hips and pressed towards his mouth because she needed more. Moments later she found herself pulling back when she got too close. She panted, "Let me love you. Let me make love to you."

Since he showed no signs of relenting, she dug her heels into his back and used the leverage to scoot way from his sinful mouth. He looked up at her with sharp predator's eyes, not happy with the escape of his prey.

She shimmied to her knees and crawled back toward his prone body, leaning over his head and shoulders to kiss and lick the beautiful topography of his back. His muscles shivered and tensed as the length of her curls tickled along his sides.

Leaning further over him, she stroked along his rippled muscles, her hands gliding over the pronounced curve of his ass. She felt the rumble of his groan and in the next instant, he flipped over, hauled her thigh over his head, tipped his head up and tasted her again.

Stephanie gasped, grasping her breasts, she sat up, straddling is face. Her hips swiveled and undulated as his tongue intermittently danced, and lapped at her. His hands gripped her ass and she fell forward on all fours, bracing herself on his thighs.

Her hand unerringly encircled and stroked him. When her tongue came into play, Ranger's oral ministrations ceased and she heard him groan her name. With her free hand she caressed his sac, then took as much of his length as she could in her mouth, moaning at the taste she had thought long forgotten.

She knew Ranger had given up the fight when she felt his head drop back against the mattress between her knees. She stroked his length with her hand and her mouth, taking him as deeply as she could. Ranger's fingers took over the work that his mouth could no longer concentrate on doing.

"God, Babe, so good … don't stop." His hips began to thrust toward her mouth as he gave in to the sensation of the erotic gift his lover was giving him. Lifting her mouth from him, she licked and sucked at his sac, still pumping his length in her hand.

He jack-knifed upright and shoved her roughly forward. Clasping her hips with his powerful hands, he buried himself inside her to the hilt. He laid his chest across her back and panted into her neck. "Have to be inside you. Have to come inside you."

Slowly, he started to withdraw, and just as slowly, he reversed his direction. Keeping his carefully measured pace, he wrapped one arm around her waist as the other hand cupped the supple softness of her breast. He murmured words of promise and love into her hair, some in Spanish and some in English, and each word, each phrase made the connection of their bodies more profound, more intimate.

Somehow, they had become nearly upright, with Ranger kneeling and Stephanie straddling his lap, her back tight against his chest.

He pinched gently at her nipple with one hand and the fingers of the other circled at the apex of her sex.

"Come, sweetheart," he breathed in her ear. "I need to feel you come around me."

Stephanie laced her fingers with his between her thighs and together they increased the tempo and friction. Then her own hand dropped lower and she felt her slickness coating him where they were joined. She reached over her head and grasped at his hair, pulling his mouth over hers.

When Ranger stroked his tongue against hers, his low, animalistic groan resonated in her mouth, triggering her blinding climax. Wave upon wave of sensation coursed and contracted through her groin, her thighs, and her sex. Ranger latched his mouth on the tendon between her neck and shoulder and bit down at the moment he came inside her.

Stephanie opened her eyes and knew something wasn't right. She was laying belly down on Ranger's side of the bed but Ranger was nowhere to be found. The clock on the nightstand said 5:00.

Climbing out of bed, she went straight for the door. At the last moment, she remembered Jase and threw on a clean t-shirt and panties. The hall was silent and the office door was ajar. She peeked her head in and saw Jase tapping away at the laptop. She crept down the hall expecting to see Ranger in the den. He wasn't there. She scanned the dining area and the kitchen. Nothing. Her heart speeding up, she quickly walked to the bathroom and pushed the door open to find it dark and empty.

"Goddamn you!"

A moment later, Jase was behind her with his hands on her shoulders. "Steph-"

She spun around, slapped at his chest and shoved him away. "Go to hell!"

Stomping back into the bedroom with Jase close behind, she pulled jeans out of her dresser and stabbed her legs into them, tugging them up over her ass with such force, a belt loop ripped. She shoved her feet into sneakers, grabbed her purse off the dresser and pushed past Jase to head back down the hall.

"Steph!" he called after her.

"He just snuck out?" Dumping the contents of her purse on the coffee table, she snagged up the fob and aimed it at the door with a shaking hand. Hearing the click of the lock release, she went for the door. Moments before she reached it, Jase's arms came around her, holding hers against her sides, rendering her immobile.

She kicked out and railed, "Let me go! Did he just leave? How could he just leave?" Her voice raised in volume and shrillness with each sentence.

"Stephanie, calm down." When she successfully clipped him in the shin with her heel, he said, "Fuck!" Spinning around, he tossed her unceremoniously on the couch.

He stared down at her, hands on hips, waiting for her to pull herself together and catch her breath. When she made to stand up, he snarled, "Sit. Down."

"When did he leave?"

He glanced at his watch and said, "A little over twelve hours ago."

"What?"

"It's after five p.m. You've been asleep over twelve hours."

She shook her head furiously. "No … no."

"The sooner he leaves, the sooner he comes back for you."

Running her hands through her messy hair, she said, "He lied to me."

Jase shook his head and sat down on the coffee table across from her. "No. He wasn't going to leave until tonight. He changed his mind at the last minute."

"Why?"

He shrugged.

"Why wouldn't he say goodbye?"

Jase watched her for a moment before slouching down, elbows on his knees. "Soldiers don't like to say goodbye. We say, 'see you on the other side,' and, 'Godspeed, man.'"

She dropped her eyes to her lap and whispered, "He didn't even give me that."

Jase stood and then squatted in front of her, tipping her chin up. He moved his hand from her chin and traced it lightly over the fresh mark on her shoulder before dropping his hand once again. "Stephanie, he told you goodbye in the only way he could."