Free At Last

Disclaimer: Janet Evanovich owns Stephanie Plum and all of her family and friends. I just like to play around in her world. Anyone you don't recognize is someone from my own imagination, but I'm still not making any money here.

A/N: From the reviews I've been receiving, it seems that the previous chapter really cleared up the confusion from before. I'm truly happy that so many of you liked the dialogue I wrote between Ranger and Frank Plum. Right now, I truly wish I was on an airplane going someplace warm and sunny. This long sort-of filler chapter is in Stephanie's POV - lucky girl! Enjoy! :D

"Do you think he's crazy?"

"I think he has no life."

"Like us?"

Ranger looked over at me. "You have a life. You shop for shoes. You eat Butterscotch Krimpets. You have a hamster, half ownership of a dog, thirty percent of a cop. And you have a scary family."

"You think I only have thirty percent of Morelli?"

"I think you have as much as he can give anyone right now."

"How about you?" I asked. "How much can you give?"

Ranger kept his eyes on the road. "You ask a lot of questions."

"So I've been told."

To The Nines

Chapter 11: Relaxation Techniques

Ever since I was a little girl, I've always wished that I could fly. I don't know if I'd actually want to have wings or anything, but I think it would be so cool to glide through the air and soar high above the ground like an eagle. When I was a kid, I broke my arm jumping off the roof of my father's garage because I was trying to fly - just like Wonder Woman. Yep, I'd love to have an invisible, battle-ready plane, too - especially right now. The regular 747 jet in which we were traveling didn't feel very secure as we bumped and bucked through the air, trying to get past the turbulence of a powerful storm.

I turned to Ranger, who was sitting in the comfortable leather seat next to me, and asked, "Do you really think it's safe enough for us to be flying in this weather?"

"Babe." His tone of voice sounded like exasperation mixed with a slight tinge of worry - probably because I'd asked the same question ten or twelve times already.

We'd barely made it onto our plane out of the Philadelphia International Airport. If we had arrived at the gate five minutes later, the airline would have given away our first class seats. That would have been a real bummer because Tank said that lots of flights had been cancelled already. As it was, by the time we buckled ourselves into our cushy seats, all the other seats throughout the plane were filled with people who also wanted to get out of town before the bad weather delayed their travel plans any further. Right now, though, I wish we'd been late.

I get nervous enough on nice, smooth flights and this flight was anything but smooth. At that moment, I was way beyond nervous and approaching nauseated. A lot of passengers already had used up their airsickness bags and I kept mine close at hand, just in case. Ranger must have noticed the desperation in my eyes because he reached over and grabbed my hand to reassure me.

"Babe, you've got to relax," he said, smoothing his fingers over mine in a vain effort to calm my nerves. "Everything will be fine. You'll see."

"I can't relax," I said, tightly gripping his hand in response. "I keep thinking about what will happen if the plane shakes itself apart. Won't we all get sucked out into the atmosphere? I read somewhere that the pilots and crew have emergency parachutes, but what about the rest of us? Do you think it's possible for a person to die of a heart attack in midair and not even feel the impact of hitting the ground?"

"Babe," was all he said as he brought my hand up to his lips and kissed it.

I'm sure it was just another attempt at trying to get me to relax. Ranger should have known better. Ordinarily, the touch of his lips anywhere against my skin would have sent waves of excitement and desire through me; however, at that precise moment, I felt far from amorous. I also felt far from being relaxed.

Even though the flight attendants kept trying to reassure everyone that the air turbulence was due to the major weather system entering the atmosphere, I still wasn't prepared for the shaky feel of the plane and all of the many sudden descents as we few through the different air pockets. They asked all of us passengers to stay buckled in our seats throughout the first half of our trip since it would be a very bumpy ride until we got past North Carolina.

The skies over our destination - the southeastern part of the Florida peninsula - were reportedly calm and clear, thank God. Yes, we were headed to Miami. I had guessed correctly that Ranger was going to someplace warm and sunny. It felt good to be right and I could hardly wait to get there. But first, I had to survive this dreadful flight.

"Come on, Babe, you've got to relax!" He said, squeezing my hand firmly, but with a gentle touch. "You're making yourself sick by worrying so much."

"I can't help it!" My voice sounded much higher than usual as I lamented, "My mind keeps imagining all the awful things that could happen to us up here." I knew my heart rate was quite elevated and I was very close to hyperventilating.

"Alright, then," Ranger said with determination. "I'm going to show you a different relaxation technique so that we can get your mind off of those negative thoughts."

I wasn't sure what Ranger meant to do when he unbuttoned the top three buttons of his shirt, but he definitely captured my undivided attention. Taking my trembling hand in his, he gently pressed it open and guided the palm of my hand onto his smooth, hard-muscled chest. Then he placed his much larger hand on top of mine and positioned both of them over his heart. His skin felt very warm and the constant 'thub-dub, thub-dub' of his heart began to reverberate down through my arm and into my body.

"We need to bring your heart rate down," he said calmly, in a soothing tone of voice. "I want you to breathe in rhythm with me, Steph. Can you feel my heartbeat?"

Staring wide-eyed, I nodded at Ranger and tried not to panic. I could feel that his heart was beating at a much slower and steadier pace than mine. At his prompting, I tried to mimic his calm breathing pattern of inhaling slowly for four beats and then exhaling even slower for the next eight beats. Over and over again I struggled to get my breathing in alignment with his, and finally, this relaxation technique began to work as intended.

When I no longer felt as though I would faint or throw up, I tried to remove my hand from Ranger's chest, but he held it firmly there. Then he turned and gazed deeply into my eyes and I could see that his eyes had darkened with desire. The next thing I knew, I was pressed back against the window as Ranger slid my hand further inside of and around to the back of his shirt. He had twisted his upper body to face fully in my direction and leaned over to kiss me.

All thoughts of disaster in the air followed by a horrible death fled my mind as I inhaled Ranger's wonderful, sexy scent. Screw the turbulence, I thought; I was beginning to get turned on. And, obviously, so was Ranger. My fingertips curled into the warm skin of his back and I could feel the tension in his muscles as he fought to maintain control over his body. How was it possible that I could feel so relaxed and excited at the same time?

The plane dropped suddenly as we hit another air pocket and I smacked my head against the window. Fortunately, Ranger didn't collapse onto me and crush me because he had been bracing himself against the side of the window while he kissed my neck and face and lips. Unfortunately, my front teeth scraped his lower lip as our kiss was jarred apart by the turbulence and I saw him wince in pain.

"Oh! I'm sorry!" I exclaimed and reached out to touch his now-bleeding lower lip. So much for relaxation; I could feel myself tensing up again.

"I'm not," Ranger said as he licked off the tiny beads of blood on his lip and smiled at me. "This is the first time in over an hour that you haven't asked me about the safety of this aircraft. I'll gladly do whatever it takes, Babe, to keep your questions to a minimum and your mind occupied elsewhere."

Speaking of minds being occupied elsewhere, I glanced over his shoulder and noticed that the older, gray-haired couple across the aisle from us had been enjoying our little PDA 'show'. The grinning woman, who reminded me slightly of Grandma Mazur, gave me a tiny finger wave. The old man winked at me and then waggled his eyebrows. Clearly, Ranger and I had taken their minds off of the turbulence as well.

"It appears that we've had an audience for a while," I whispered to Ranger.

"Let 'em watch, Babe," he purred into my ear and nuzzled my neck. "I'll bet they won't worry as much now, either - especially while they're wishing they could be just like us. Think of it as a ... public service." And then he leaned in for another round of mind-distracting kisses.

Yes, Ranger was magic. Without laying a finger on me, he had my whole body humming in anticipation of what would normally follow such actions. My mind was completely distracted from whatever was happening with the airplane. In fact, the only thing I wanted to do was to climb onto Ranger's lap and find the kind of passionate release my body now craved with him. My only consolation was that I knew Ranger had to be just as frustrated and uncomfortable as I was while we remained strapped down in our seats. Sadly, the 'Fasten Seatbelts' sign had remained illuminated the whole time so far.

Finally, after what seemed to be hours, the pilot's voice came on the intercom and announced that we were flying over South Carolina and that everything should be relatively stable for the remainder of our flight. Immediately, the atmosphere both outside of and within the interior of the plane became much calmer. We now were free to move about the cabin, if need be. The flight attendants were able to get up and serve beverages and snacks and everyone seemed to be a bit less anxious, if not happier.

Ranger stopped kissing me, but he continued to hold my hand in its place over his heart and he began to gently caress my fingers. I gazed over at him as he leaned back into his seat, pulling me upright with him. He closed his eyes and the corner of his mouth lifted in the slightest hint of a smile, but the rest of his gorgeous face appeared to be relaxed. The whole scene felt so very intimate and I really wished we were already wherever it was that he was taking me.

"Ranger?" I asked. My husky voice was barely above a whisper.

"Mmm-hmm?"

"Where are we going?"

"Relax, Babe. You know where this flight's headed."

"Okay, yes, I know we're flying into Miami, but where exactly are we going to go after the plane lands."

"Not too far." As usual, he was being annoyingly vague.

"I was just wondering ... will we be seeing Julie while we're there?"

Ranger's now eleven-year-old daughter, Julie, lived in a modest suburb of Miami with her mother, Rachel, who was Ranger's ex-wife, her step-father Ron Martine, and her half-siblings. I hadn't seen Julie since the terrible Scrog incident, when Ranger and I worked together to rescue his little girl from an insane kidnapper. I really liked the girl and I thought about her often. It would be nice to reconnect with her under much more pleasant circumstances.

His eyes remained closed as he answered, "I hadn't planned on it, but that can be arranged. I usually visit the Martines only when I'm specifically invited."

"Oh." I chewed on my lower lip and then asked, "Well, then, are we going to visit the RangeMan offices in Miami?"

"They know I'm coming. One of my cars should be waiting there at the airport when we arrive."

"So ... I'll get to meet more of your Merry Men?"

"Babe," he said, and another slight smile played across his lips. "You might not want to get into the habit of saying that too often. One of these days, they're going to overhear you calling them 'The Merry Men' and, while most of the guys in the Trenton office probably don't mind, I'm not so sure the guys down in Miami will appreciate it."

"I think it's cute," I said defensively. "Besides, I bet they wouldn't mind."

"How much?"

"What?"

"How much are you willing to bet that my men down here in Miami will like your nickname for them?"

"Are you joking?"

"No. Not at all." Ranger opened his eyes just a little and turned toward me. "I find it hard to believe that none of my men have roped you into their constant betting pools yet. You know, Cal and Lester are notorious for making wagers on everything from football games to weather reports."

"Well, they've probably figured out by now that I don't have a lot of available cash to throw away on stupid bets. In fact, I'm pretty sure they've noticed that I usually work for RangeMan only when I really need a steady paycheck - like now."

"You might be right. At any rate, unless you're ready to put your money where your mouth is, you should be very careful about making casual comments about wagers with either of them - particularly Lester."

"Hey!" I protested, "Lester's always been very kind to me." In fact, Lester had told me more about Ranger's family than Ranger had shared so far.

"Lester is a player. He'll try to fleece you in a heartbeat and you won't even realize you've made a bet with him until the contents of your wallet are long gone. Consider yourself warned."

"Sounds like the voice of experience. How often have you lost to your cousin?"

Ranger shook his head, "I rarely bet against any of my men, and certainly not against my cousin. It's too risky."

"Afraid you'd lose too much ... or too often?"

"Neither, but I like to keep the peace among my family members. I'm actually very good at placing bets and winning, but sometimes my good fortune can seem ... suspicious. It's not nice to pay the men one day and then win it all back from them the next day. I prefer to keep my workforce happy." Then he returned to his eyes-closed and fully relaxed position.

"Mission accomplished then," I sighed. "I'm happy."

Ranger opened one eye and slid a glance in my direction. He still held my hand over his heart and I thought I felt his heartbeat speed up just a fraction before he said, "Good to know, Babe." Then he opened his eyes and gave me look that radiated sensual heat. "When we get to our destination, I plan to make you ... happier."

Oh boy. Now my heart rate was speeding up again.

One of the flight attendants - a tall, poised brunette with exotic dark eyes stopped in the aisle next to Ranger's seat, leaned over toward him and then asked if she could get anything for either of us. Her smile was aimed only at Ranger, though, and I shot a look of pure venom in her direction. He turned toward her, requested two glasses of white wine for us, and then closed his eyes once more. Then she smiled politely at me and asked if I would like to have an icepack for my eye.

Damn! I'd forgotten what I must have looked like. Here I was, wearing casual jeans with a red fleece pullover, my hair was pulled back into a sloppy ponytail and I was sporting a black eye. Then there was Ranger reclined in his seat next to me, looking incredibly sexy, as usual. He was wearing black slacks with a black, button-down shirt - which was currently unbuttoned and he was holding my hand inside of it. I'm sure that the flight attendant wondered what in the world such a hot man was doing with someone like me. Sometimes, I wondered that very same thing, especially after I'd rolled in garbage again or received yet another black eye.

Nevertheless, after drinking half of a glass of wine, I began to relax again. Now that I was able to use both of my hands, I reached into the seat pocket in front of me and pulled out the complimentary copy of the airline's in-flight magazine. Flipping through the pages, I found very little of interest, until I came to an article on the best beaches in Florida. The glossy photos made me whimper in anticipation. All of them seemed to show off long, beautiful stretches of sugar-white sand, which was very different from the light tan sand of the Jersey Shore. I could hardly wait to get myself onto any one of the beaches mentioned in the article.

"Do you see anything that you like in that magazine?" Ranger asked. I figured he must have sneaked a peak over my shoulder, even though his eyes remained closed. He'd barely touched his wine, but he still seemed to be way more at ease than I was. The skies might be calm now, but my nerves definitely understood that we hadn't landed yet.

"Sure," I replied, trying to sound casual. "Are we going to go to any of these beaches?"

"Yes."

I barely suppressed a squeal. "Oh, I love the ocean and the sun and the sand! I can hardly wait! Which beach is closest to the place we're staying?" So much for casual.

Ranger completely sidestepped my question and asked, "Have you ever been out to sea?"

"Do you mean, like, on a cruise ship?" Fine. I'd play his game - this time.

"No. Like on a sport fishing boat - or a yacht."

"Yes," I nodded in reply, but of course, he didn't see me. "But that was a long time ago - during the fifteen or so minutes I was married to Dickie Orr."

"Really? Tell me about it - your time on the boat, not Dickie," he murmured.

I truly envied Ranger's ability to sit there with his eyes closed, looking like he didn't have a care in the world. My nerves still were fairly calm, but now I could sense my anxiety creeping back in. I wanted to be on the ground - right now.

"Not much to tell. One of the partners at my ex's law firm had a real nice boat - I guess you'd call it a yacht, but I'm no expert," I shrugged. "During the summer, Mr. Randall - now Judge Randall - invited each of the underlings out on his boat for some fun in the sun and sometimes he'd suggest that the wives tag along. Dickie and I went aboard a couple of times. I remember that the sun really scorched my neck and back the first time." Despite the sunburn, though, it was one of the few nice memories from back in the days when I'd tried to be a good little housewife.

"Should've worn sunblock, Babe."

"It was Dickie's fault," I said, wasting a perfectly good Burg girl glare at Ranger's face since his eyes remained closed. "I got burned because the jerk neglected to put enough sunblock on my backside. In hindsight, I realize that he probably had been paying way more attention to the bimbo wife of one of his fellow lawyers than he had to my pale skin."

A hint of a smile played across Ranger's lips as he said, "Bad move on his part. I'd never neglect your backside, Babe."

A wave of heat sent rosy color to my face while it simultaneously warmed a path southward to my doodah. I could just imagine Ranger not ignoring my backside - or my front side or any other part of my body. Now I really wanted - no, I absolutely needed - to get him off of this darned plane and onto solid ground.

Ranger opened his eyes and looked directly at me. "Did you ever have any problems with seasickness?" he asked. His dark gaze looked more serious than it had in a while.

"Not that I can recall."

"Also good to know, Babe." Then he returned to his eyes-closed, fully-relaxed position.

"Are we going out on a boat while we're here?" I asked; eager to pry more scraps of information out of the Man of Mystery.

"Sit back and relax, Babe," Ranger smiled. "See how smooth the flight has become? You should enjoy the feeling of soaring through the air like this. You always said you wanted to fly."

"That's different!" I protested. "I want to fly like Wonder Woman, not Amelia Earhart. Now, what I really want to know--"

"We'll have plenty of time to go over the agenda when we get to Miami."

"Wait just a minute!" I was beginning to get a little miffed at him. "Remember how I said I wanted to pay for my way on this trip? I meant it then and I mean it now. I think you need to give me at least a smidgen of an idea of where we're going and what we'll be doing while we're down here. I really need to know how much this is going to cost me."

"Relax, Babe. You're getting all worked up again."

"Seriously, Ranger! I've already figured out that this first class ticket is going to set me back a few thousand dollars, so I think I have a right to know what other high-cost activities will be involved."

"Babe."

"Don't you 'Babe' me again, Ranger," I said through clenched teeth. "I said I'm serious!"

He opened his eyes again and stared at me. "And I said, relax! RangeMan will cover it. Consider the cost of the plane ticket to be a business expense because, yes, you will be visiting our Miami office while we're there. I want to introduce you to the crew there."

"What about the hotel?"

He sighed and said, "You don't need to worry about the cost of a hotel, because our lodgings will be covered by Suarez Enterprises, International - my grandfather's primary business. We'll probably share all of our meals and you can pay for some of them if you like, but you'll definitely have to buy your own junk food. Good luck finding any Butterscotch Krimpets in Miami, though. You'd be better off eating the locally-grown fruits, anyway. And, by the way, I'll remind you again that I haven't kept a running tab on anything I've given to you and I'm not going to start doing that now."

"Fine." I said stiffly. Then I settled back into my seat and continued to look at the beach photos in the magazine.

One the one hand, I liked sitting in the first class section, but my budget was much more accustomed to the cheapest seat in coach. I was almost overcome with relief at the thought of not having to reimburse Ranger for the cost of my very expensive plane ticket. I probably could afford the clothes in the suitcase, but I still wasn't comfortable with what Ranger had said about our accommodations.

On the other hand, I was starting to feel like I was going to pay the consequences for not having thought this trip all the way through before I made up my mind to accompany Ranger on this trip. I mean, what was I thinking? I'd never been to Miami. With the exception of Julie Martine and her parents, and perhaps Silvio Pareda, one of the RangeMan employees who used to be at the Trenton office, I didn't know anyone else in Miami besides Ranger.

Sure, I could check into a hotel on the beach and have my own little private vacation, but that's not what I really wanted to do. I really wanted to stay with Ranger so that we could finish what we'd started when he used his fabulous relaxation technique on me during the most turbulent part of our flight. It's just that it would be nice if he'd clue me in to what we'd be doing for the next few days. Was that too much to ask for? I didn't think so.

"Ranger?" I gently nudged him in his side.

"Mmm-hmm?" Again, he didn't open his eyes.

"So ... is Suarez your grandfather's name?"

"Yes. My Abuelo Ricardo is my mother's father. I lived with my grandparents for a few years after I fell in with the wrong crowd as a young teen. After I got out of juvie, my scandalized mother packed me up and sent me down to her parents in Coral Gables. That's where I graduated from high school before I returned to New Jersey to attend Rutgers."

"Oh. So, what does Suarez Enterpri--?"

"Primarily cars. Eleven major dealerships all along the East Coast, including New York and New Jersey. He used to have more, but he recently sold off the ones located out West, like Las Vegas and Dallas."

"What kind of cars?"

"Fleet vehicles - cop cars, utility vans. A few locations sell high-end European cars."

"Like the ones you drive?"

"Exactly."

"I see."

So that's how he gets his fancy cars; it's a family thing. Now it all began to make sense. Ranger never seemed to worry or freak out when I exploded any of his vehicles and now I knew why. His grandfather's business probably was able to account for my many mishaps by writing them off as business losses. I had thought that only the Italians worked those kinds of deals with their kin. Guess I was wrong.

"Ranger?"

"Babe." His eyes were still closed, but his voice was starting to get that irritated edge it sometimes had and I wondered how many more questions I could dare to ask before he lost all patience with me.

"Am I going to meet your grandparents while we're in Miami?"

There was a long pause and then he said, "My grandmother passed away a few years ago - complications from diabetes. It's ... highly likely that you'll meet my grandfather while were in town. Now please, Stephanie, just sit back and try to relax. Remember, that's what this trip is about - relaxing."

I was saddened to hear about the loss of Ranger's grandmother, but I didn't say anything else. He had used the magic word 'please' again - as well as my real name - so I knew that he was serious and that it would be wise for me to shut up now. Ranger had said 'please' to me more times in the past forty-eight hours than he had in all the time I'd known him. I was beginning to suspect that he was up to something sneaky. I had no idea what it could be, but now that my senses were on alert, I hoped I'd be ready for whatever the Man of Mystery threw my way. Meanwhile, I'd try my best to relax.

A/N: Ahhh, deep breathing with Ranger. Don't you just wish you could experience that particular relaxation technique? I hope to catch up in responding to your encouraging reviews very soon. Until then, I'd still love to know what you think. Thanks! :D