Twenty minutes later, Ranger punched in the security code to the underground parking garage of his apartment building. I was still panting and shaking from a fantastic orgasm as I moved my panties back to their regular position and pulled the hem of my dress down. Ranger had a slightly smug smile on his face as he pulled into a parking spot and looked down at his lap once he turned the car off.

"Yeah, I can't get out of the car like this. There are kids in this building," he said, trying to adjust himself so that there wasn't an obvious bulge in his pants. I considered offering to take care of it for him, but realized I'd never be able to comfortably lean over with the console and gear shift in the way.

After a minute, he was able to find a position that was a little less obvious, though if you looked closely enough it was clear what was going on.

"I'll walk in front of you," I told him. "If you can walk, that is."

Ranger smiled. "Babe, I've had to do more than just walk while in this condition before. I'll manage."

Once we'd gotten our duffle bags out of the Turbo's cargo area, we walked over to the elevator and got on. Ranger pushed the number twelve button and the elevator began moving, but stopped on the main floor lobby. I noticed Ranger move his duffle bag to hold in front of him as two kids about ten years-old stepped onto the elevator. They proceeded to hit every button not lit on the panel so that we stopped on every single floor, making them snicker and trying my resolve to not beat my head against the wall of the elevator. They got off on the fifth floor, which meant Ranger and I had to stop on every floor after that until we mercifully arrived on twelve. We stepped off the elevator and Ranger guided me down the hall to the right. We stopped in front of twelve-ten, and Ranger pulled out a key and unlocked the door.

I held my breath as I stepped inside. I couldn't believe I was in the Batcave, which was currently pitch black so that I couldn't see a thing. Ranger had walked slightly ahead of me and flipped on an overhead light.

I was standing in a small, narrow entryway with closets along the right hand wall. To my left was a small galley kitchen that had white appliances and butcher block countertop. It also had a bar that opened onto the living room. The living room was about the same size as the living room in my old apartment, with a black leather sofa facing a flat screen television mounted on the wall. There were also two black leather recliners, a dark cherry coffee table and two matching end tables. On the wall behind the sofa were mounted picture frames of various people. I wasn't close enough to see who they were, but could tell there were older pictures and more recent photos mixed in. There was a small hallway off to the right of the living room.

"This is the bedroom," Ranger told me, beckoning me to follow him to a room down the hall.

There was a queen-sized bed with a cream-colored duvet in the middle of the room, flanked by two walnut bedside tables. Along the opposite wall were a dresser and desk that matched the bedside tables with a black leather office chair at the desk.

I noticed a bookshelf along the furthest wall that contained books and a bunch of random objects that had no clear connection to one another. I walked over to it and begin looking through them, finding a handcuff that had been severed from its twin, a small seashell, a SEAL cap that I had seen Ranger wear in the past, a key chain with various car keys, an ink pen, a little container with what looked like spent rounds, and a rosary.

"This is a bit random," I told Ranger, who had been watching me look through his shelves. "Are these things significant, or did you just not know where to put them?"

"Each thing represents something or someone significant in my life," Ranger told me. "The rosary was the only thing my grandfather brought with him when he and my grandmother fled Cuba with my dad. The pen is the one I used when I signed up to join the Army. The handcuff is from when I was captured in Colombia and tortured for three days before escaping. The SEAL hat is from a friend who got killed a couple of days after he gave it to me. Julie gave me the seashell on the day her adoption by Ron was final. The bullets came out of the vest I was wearing when I was shot by Scrog. And the keys belong to every single car of mine that you've managed to destroy."

I was surprised that Ranger had kept things with sentimental value. The only time he had ever shown much attachment to anything had been the one time he let me wear the SEAL hat and had told me it reminded him to always stay alert.

"Your reminders of me are bullets and keys to blown up cars? How romantic."

Ranger grinned and put an arm around my waist. "Well, I thought a condom and one of your thongs might be a bit tacky."

I smacked him on the arm, and then turned around to hug him. "Thank you for bringing me here," I told him. "It's nice to finally see this place. It tells me a lot about you."

"Like I said, you have the chance to know me better than anyone else," Ranger told me, kissing me on the top of the head.

I leaned back to look at him. "I know I'm the only girlfriend you've brought to meet your family, but I doubt I'm the only woman to have seen this apartment."

Ranger raised an eyebrow. "Babe, do you really want to know that information?"

"Yes, I can handle it. After all, I dated Joe Morelli, who's nailed half the women in Jersey."

"Are you wanting to know how many women have been in this apartment, or how many women I've slept with?"

I thought about it for a moment. "Both," I said, hoping I could handle the information. It was one thing to know about Morelli's past, as I had been there or learned about it as it happened. Ranger's would be coming at me all at once.

"I only lived here full-time for a year and a half, and during that time I brought three women here. One was a woman I had a sexual relationship with for a few months, and the other two were one-night stands," Ranger informed me.

I nodded. That number wasn't bad, but the number I was more curious about was going to be much higher. Ranger was a sexy man whose moral code was fairly vague on rules when it came to getting into a woman's panties. I stared at him expectantly when he didn't continue.

Ranger sighed. "And I have had sex with twenty-six women."

"Oh, that's not too bad. I was thinking it would be much higher. Do you at least remember everyone's names?"

"For the most part. There were a couple of one-night stands whose last names I never knew, but I'd recognize them if I saw them again."

I felt a little better after he told me that. Morelli's number had been well into the three-digits, he only remembered about fifty percent of their names, and on more than one occasion while he and I had been out on a date, a woman had approached him and alluded to the fact that they had slept together, but he didn't remember her.

"Since I had to give it up, are you going to tell me your number?" Ranger asked.

"You mean you don't know that from your background checks on me?" I asked.

Ranger smiled. "We don't go that in-depth unnecessarily."

I rolled my eyes, and began counting off on my fingers. "There was Morelli and Carl Costanza in high school, Kyle Lewis and Greg Jones in college, Dickie Orr in college and marriage, Phillip Davenport after my divorce, and you, so that makes seven."

"You slept with Costanza?"

"Yeah, it was in high school, after Morelli. We got drunk the night of our senior prom and went at it in the back of his car. He ripped my dress, had a small dick, and finished before I was even close."

Ranger shook his head. "I'll never be able to look at Costanza the same way again. And here I thought the Trenton PD was cleared out of all of the men who had seen you naked."

"There are a lot more women who've seen you naked than men who have seen me naked. Anyone I know?" I asked. There had always been lots of rumors about Ranger and Jeanne Ellen Burrows, but I'd never asked him before.

"Ancient history, babe," Ranger said as he began unzipping my dress. "You're not the first woman in this apartment, but you will be the first woman in this bed."

He certainly knows how to change a topic.

I woke up the next morning snuggled against Ranger in his bed. The sheets weren't the orgasmic thread count of the ones he had in his apartment at Rangeman, but they were comfortable and we had thoroughly christened his bed during the night. I slid out of his grip, picked up my duffle bag from the bedroom floor and made my way to the bathroom. I showered and got ready for the day, putting on a floral summer dress with a halter top. I pulled my hair back in a pony-tail and put in some silver hoop earrings. I wandered out to the kitchen, but found it mostly empty. It wouldn't make sense to keep much food when Ranger wasn't here often, though he thankfully kept coffee supplies on hand. I had the coffee brewing when Ranger walked out of the bedroom. He was wearing a pair of sweat pants and was shirtless as he grabbed a coffee cup for himself.

"There's nothing to eat," I told Ranger as my stomach growled loudly. "I worked up an appetite last night, and now I'm starving."

Ranger grinned. "There's diner nearby that I like to go to for breakfast. Let me get showered and dressed, and we'll eat there before heading to Sofia's house."

Ranger took his coffee into the bathroom with him and I took mine into the living room. I stood in front of the couch and looked at the picture frames on the wall behind it. There were photos of Ranger as a little boy with his grandparents, his grandmothers looking very much the same as they did last night, only with less gray hair and fewer wrinkles.

A photo containing all four grandparents, both parents and all six kids had been taken in front of a large tree, and Ranger looked to be about five or six years old at the time. A photo directly below it showed the family twenty-five years later, with the grandfathers notably missing, and five great-grandchildren fighting to sit still. Sofia was very pregnant in the photo, and Ranger's hair was cut in the same short style he'd kept for the past couple of years, indicating the photo was fairly recent.

I moved along the wall, finding a recent school photo of Julie. She looked much the same as when I had seen her, though slightly more mature. I recognized a photo of Ranger with the men from his Special Forces unit as the one he had showed me when Orin was on the loose and hunting us down. There was another photo of Ranger standing at attention in his Army uniform. He looked incredibly young, with his hair buzzed short, and a serious expression on his face. There were no pictures of old girlfriends or his ex-wife, thankfully, but there were also no pictures of his new girlfriend.

Ranger came back out to the living room a little while later, dress in black pants and a black dress shirt. He was sans jacket, which made me wonder where he was keeping his gun.

"I was enjoying your pictures," I told him. "You were adorable as a little boy."

"I looked like a boyish version of Julie."

I looked over at Julie's picture and then back at Ranger's picture of his younger days. He was kind of right.

"Well, Julie's beautiful."

"Yes, she is. But boys aren't supposed to be beautiful."

We went to breakfast at a nearby diner where Ranger ordered an egg-white omelet and fruit while I asked chocolate chip pancakes and bacon. I'd received a 'how the hell did you end up with him' look from the waitress when I placed my order, and a 'you're going to get fat eating like that' look from Ranger.

"The metabolism lasts until forty, so I still have a few years left to enjoy it. Then I'll start eating healthier," I told him.

"It takes a while to get into those habits, babe."

"Are you going to leave me if I get fat?"

Ranger didn't say anything for a minute, but took a sip of his coffee as he looked at me. I made a look of indignation at the implied response.

"No, babe, I won't leave you if you get fat. I will, however, try to get you to exercise and eat healthier so that you'll live longer and give us more years together," he finally responded.

Damn, that was actually kind of sweet, and it had made me feel guilty about my order. I flagged down our waitress and replaced my bacon with fruit. Small changes turn into big ones, right?

We made it to Sofia's house an hour later, where Celia was passing out orders to her siblings and in-laws as to their responsibilities during the party. I offered to help, but Celia waved it away, telling me I was still new, so I was off the hook this time around. Ranger was given the task of keeping the peace between some feuding cousins, and ensuring that the bartender cut people off before they had too much to drink to be able to drive home safely. The weather was beautiful, so the party would be spilling out into the backyard where tables and chairs were set up around a dance floor. A salsa band was milling around, setting up their instruments and testing the acoustics of the backyard.

"Hey Stephanie," Lucy said as she headed towards the kitchen to start her job of setting out the food. "Just a few words of advice on attending a Manoso/Carranza family event: Don't turn our back on Uncle Humberto, he'll grab your ass; don't ask cousin Maria Angela about her eyebrows, and never, ever mention Castro, the Bay of Pigs, or Guantanamo Bay."

I stared at Lucy for minute, processing everything she'd told me. I had a feeling the only thing I actually had to worry about was Uncle Humberto's wandering hands, but I was grateful for the warnings nonetheless.

Lola, Javier and their mothers arrived at eleven-thirty and the party was due to start at noon. I was helping Sofia put the finishing touches on the tables' centerpieces when people started to arrive. I had always thought my family was enormous, given we were Italian and Catholic, but Cuban and Catholic put my family to shame. Ranger was hugged by numerous aunts, uncles, and cousins, all of whom asked him if he was seeing anyone. As soon as he would indicate me, I was hugged and kissed and welcomed to the family as though Ranger and I were married. When an older man wearing tan trousers and a blue striped shirt grabbed my butt while hugging me, I knew I'd found Uncle Humberto.

A woman with a massive unibrow came in after Ranger had removed Uncle Humberto's hand from my ass and gave him a beer.

"Hola, Maria Angela," Ranger said as the woman kissed him on both cheeks. "This is my girlfriend, Stephanie."

Maria Angela's unibrow shot up. "Oh, Carlos. How wonderful! Welcome to the family, Stephanie," Maria Angela said, hugging me and kissing me on both cheeks.

"Geez," I told Ranger after Maria Angela left us to join the crowd. "Your entire family acts like we just announced our engagement or something."

Ranger wrapped an arm around my waist, resting his hand on my hip. "Babe, they know that if I'm bringing someone home to meet the family, it's permanent."

I turned to look at him, a look of incredulity surely written all over my face. "That's incredibly presumptuous of you, Mr. Manoso."

Ranger watched me for a minute with an expression of amused affection. "Do you really think so?"

I knew it wasn't presumptuous. It was a fact I had known since I decided to pursue a relationship with Ranger. I squeezed his hand as yet another Manoso family member greeted us, thus bringing the conversation to a close.

I was shuttled around the party, meeting various people and helping out wherever I was needed. After an hour of mingling, Celia stood on the dance floor and used a microphone from the band's loud speaker to thank everyone for coming to the party to honor her parents' anniversary. She then informed Lola and Javier that they would be dancing to the song they danced to at their wedding, which was something in Spanish that I didn't quite catch. I was standing along the edge of the party, sipping a glass of wine and watching the Manosos dance when I felt someone come up behind me.

I instinctively leaned back, thinking it was Ranger when a hand pinched my butt. I squeaked and turned around to find Uncle Humberto grinning at me. I caught sight of Lucy in my peripheral vision doubled over laughing.

"I thought you were Carlos," I told him, not wanting him to get the wrong idea. Humberto winked at me and walked away.

I looked around for Ranger and could see him through the windows in the kitchen, standing between two men. I walked inside and could hear raised voices. These must be the feuding cousins.

They were arguing in Spanish with Ranger standing in the middle, speaking in his typical calm tone.

"Hey, guys," I announced after a moment. "What's the problem?"

All three men turned to face me. "Who the hell are you?" the tallest of the men asked. He had a mean look about him that made me feel uncomfortable, like the kind of person you'd see on the news for murdering his wife.

"That's my girlfriend, Stephanie," Ranger said coolly.

The taller man sneered at me for a moment. "A white girl, of course. You always did have bad taste, Carlos."

My jaw dropped open at the remark. Ranger's family had been nothing but kind to me, and no one had said anything about me being white, except for Lucy, who had been thrilled.

Ranger stared at the man for a moment. "I don't care what you think of my taste, Juan. Just avoid Ernesto during the party today. Celia will kill you both if you ruin the party she's worked so hard to set up."

The man I presumed was Ernesto snorted. "I'm more concerned about him avoiding my wife. I'd love nothing more than to meet him behind the garage, so I can bury him in Sofia's rose bushes."

Ernesto turned his attention to me. "Hey, Stephanie, consider yourself lucky that Juan doesn't like white girls. Otherwise, he'd probably try to get in your pants the way he did my wife's."

Juan started to charge at Ernesto, but Ranger grabbed him by the shirt and shoved him against the wall.

"Don't even think about it. It's the truth, and you know it. Get outside, now." Ranger told him, releasing him. Juan stalked away, bumping into me as he walked out into the backyard.

Ernesto loitered around for a minute, looking out the window. "I can't believe Celia invited us both. What was she thinking?"

"She was probably thinking you two could act like adults for the sake of your aunt and uncle," Ranger told him. "But she assigned me the task of making sure you two didn't get in a fight, just in case. Can you go out there and behave, or do I have to shoot both of you?"

Ernesto was a little shorter and stockier than Ranger, but he wasn't bad looking. He looked outside again for a minute, shoved his hands in his jean pockets and walked out the back door. Ranger walked over to me, and pulled me into a hug.

"I'm going to be more of a bouncer than the son of the honorees today," he told me. "Try to have fun without me, but a word of caution: avoid Juan. He may try to antagonize you into saying something, hoping you'll make yourself look bad in front of the family. He's a hothead, and the reason he's not married is because he beat the shit out of his wife one too many times, and she left him. I'd rather not have to kill him, though the entire family would help me hide the body and no one would breathe a word. No one likes him, not even his own parents."

I kissed Ranger on the cheek. "Understood, but I'll stick with you as much as I can. I may kill Uncle Humberto if he grabs my ass again."

Ranger chuckled. "Yes, he's the family pervert. I'd threaten him, but he'd just tell me that it would be a hell of a way to go out and do it anyway. I'm trying not to maim or kill anyone today, but people like Juan make it difficult."

We walked back out into the yard and watched as Ranger's parents finished their dance. The crowd clapped and then the band began a lively salsa number. Several couples made their way to the dance floor and began dancing. I was amazed at how good they all were, even the older couples.

"Wow, everyone's so good," I told Ranger.

"We're Cubans, babe. We're great on the dance floor, in the kitchen, and in the bedroom."

I grinned. "I'm well aware of that last part, though I've never seen you make anything more complicated than a sandwich, and I've never seen you dance."

"All in time, babe."

The sound of raised voices met our ears. Ranger sighed and walked away, headed over to a table where Juan was sitting across from Ernesto. Geez, you'd think they'd learn.

Sofia and Lucy caught my attention, waving me over to where they were standing with a pretty woman wearing a black dress. I made my way across the yard, skirting around Uncle Humberto's table.

"Stephanie, this is our sister Silvia," Sofia said, indicating the woman in black.

"Hello. It's nice to meet you," I told her as she shook my hand.

She nodded. "Likewise. I'm sorry I couldn't make it to dinner last night. I had a migraine."

Our eyes met for a moment, and I nodded. She likely knew that I was aware of the true story, but wasn't going to say anything. Lucy and Sofia chatted animatedly while Silvia and I stood silently, all of us watching the dance floor. Several young men came up and talked to Silvia, who was polite, but cool. I noticed a man watching her from a nearby table, and I suspected he was her husband. Silvia seemed to ooze sexuality like Ranger, so it really wasn't a surprise that nearly every male that wasn't family were practically clambering around her.

I went back in the house, not sure of what to do or who to talk to. I was ready for this party to be over, but suspected it wasn't even close to being over. We'd only been there three hours, and no one looked tired or bored. I walked in the kitchen, where both of Ranger's grandmothers were sitting and talking with a couple of older Cuban women. I waved as I walked past, headed towards the restroom. I took care of business, touched up my lip gloss and walked back towards the kitchen, where the voices of younger women speaking in English met my ears.

"I can't believe they are actually together. I mean, did you look at her? She's a white girl, first of all, and she's not very pretty. What the hell is Carlos thinking? She's only after his money, and the chance to make herself look good on the arm of a hot guy. I've seen her in the papers before. She's a disaster; they call her 'The Bombshell Bounty Hunter'. I imagine she must give really good head or something—"

"Angela! I can't believe you just said that!" I peeked around the corner of the wall to see who had yelled. It was Ranger's Grandma Bella. She was standing up, a fierce expression on her lined face.

"Sorry tia, but you can't believe she isn't interested in his money. You haven't seen the newspaper articles about her. She blows up cars, and burns down funeral homes. I have a friend whose brother-in-law works at the Trenton Police Department. She's a big joke, and apparently she used to be involved with an Italian cop, but everyone thought she was sleeping with Carlos at the same time. You can't know that she's not seeing someone else, and just keeping Carlos around for his money. We need to look out for him. You know he's never been the same since he came back from the Army, and I can't help but wonder if his judgment wasn't messed up while he was gone."

I heard footsteps across the kitchen, and a second later the sound of someone being smacked rang out. No one spoke for a minute, and it didn't sound like anyone was moving. I stood on the other side of the wall, trying not to breathe too hard while dealing the sensation of being kicked in the gut. Was this what people really thought about me? I'd never considered that people might see me as a gold-digger. I knew Ranger was wealthy, but I didn't often stop to consider what it meant. He lived well, but only because Ella made him do so. We never talked about money, except when I needed to earn it and he would give me some work at Rangeman. His expensive cars were collateral for security he provided to some business. I didn't want to hear anything else Angela had to say, so I quietly slipped down the hall to the restroom and loudly shut the door. I walked down the hall like I had just left the bathroom and tried to keep my face neutral. As I walked into the kitchen, everyone turned to look at me. Angela was holding her cheek, and another woman stood beside her looking equally shocked. Grandma Bella gave me a determined look, and I gave a small nod as I walked through and back out to the yard.

The band was playing a slow song as I walked through the tables to the food area. I started stuffing my face with some sort of chocolate pastry and picked up a flute of champagne to wash it down. I needed to distract myself from what I just heard before I saw Ranger again. He'd know something was wrong if he saw me at the moment, and I didn't want to explain what I'd just heard. He'd be disappointed in his family, or worse, he'd think they were right. I had felt so happy at dinner the night before, glad that his immediate family seemed to like me, and had assumed it would carry through to the extended family when they had greeted me so warmly. Angela's pronouncement made me question the entire family's feelings. I now suspected everyone thought of me as some pathetic tramp who was seducing a sexy, emotionally-damaged man for his money.

I really wanted to leave the party, but didn't think I would have the opportunity to do so without Ranger insisting on coming with me, plus I didn't want to distract from his parents' day. I also didn't want to stand around all afternoon trying to keep the feeling of rejection off my face.

I was still contemplating what my next move would be when I felt arms slip around my waist. Thinking it was Uncle Humberto, I threw an elbow back into his stomach.

"Oh, babe!" Ranger said, which made me spin around.

"Sorry, I thought you were Humberto."

He rubbed his rib cage for a moment, grimacing slightly. "Good aim. Those were the ribs that got broken when Scrog shot me. They've stayed a little tender since."

Great, now I was a gold-digging hussy who elbowed her boyfriend in an old injury he got while saving her life. Where was a sniper when you needed one?

"Sorry," I moaned again, picking up another flute of champagne and chugging it down.

"Babe, what's wrong?" Damn Ranger and his perceptiveness.

"Nothing," I lied, attempting a smile. "How's the babysitting going?"

"Juan left a few minutes ago, so the job's over. Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, just a bit of a headache. Do you think Sofia would mind if I went to lie down for a bit?"

Ranger watched me for a minute, and I knew he was seeing if I would break and tell him the truth. "No, she wouldn't mind. Do you need something for the headache?"

"I've got something in my bag," I said. "I'll take it and lay down for a bit. I'm sure I'll feel better after a while." I kissed him on the cheek and went back inside.

The kitchen was mercifully empty, so I went upstairs and found the master bedroom, which had a dark red accent wall that served as a back drop for the king-sized bed. I closed the door, kicked off my shoes and laid down on the bed. It was incredibly comfortable, and within minutes, my faux-nap turned into a real one.