Apologies for such a long wait! SiT is actually nearly complete, so I thought I'd give you two chapters at once... cos I'm nice like that. Feedback is always appreciated! Heather x

Chapter 11

I awoke as the heater at my back got up and crawled out of bed. I glanced blearily at the clock and swore silently when I read the time, 6am.

It's day five on the psycho hunt, and it's not going so well. Every lead we chase up turns up a blank, and the truth is, we're running out of leads.

The worst thing is Ranger's working himself to the bone trying to find the sleaze ball; he's up till 3 or 4 am in the morning and he gets up at 6. Not only is Ranger tired, but as I can't sleep unless he's by my side, I am too.

I haven't complained or said anything because I don't think that it's my place. It's his sister's life on the line; of course he's going to be working nearly 24/7 to keep her safe.

Ranger's been busy co-ordinating the search and running the Miami offices, so I've spent a lot of the past few days doing patrol and security checks with the guys, and I've learnt a lot.

I haven't really interacted with Ranger's family because I've been trying to keep a professional distance. Despite Ranger's plan for me to hang out with Trina as her guard, I've barely spent more than a few hours with her, and I certainly haven't exchanged more than a few words with her.

Trina was a good victim. That doesn't sound right, what I mean is; she does what Ranger tells her to do, if he says 'no, don't go out' – then she doesn't. If it was me, I would've tried to escape the safe house a hundred times already.

But then, the psycho would probably have kidnapped and beaten me by now.

I think Trina's the smart one.

The sad thing is, I'm a little jealous of her. Not because she's stunningly beautiful, or because she's clever, or because she's warm and kind. Nope, I can cope with all those things, what I'm jealous of is the way Ranger spends so much time with her.

It's ridiculous, I know. She's his baby sister that he doesn't get to see that often, and it's not even like it's a social call or a family gathering.

But I'm still jealous.

I push my jealousy down to the heels of my boots, doing denial, ignoring the feelings that I don't like.

The thing is, I miss his arms around me; oh he still holds me so I can sleep, but he doesn't wrap his arms around me when I'm just looking out the window, or touch my arm lightly when he walks past, or twirl my curls around his finger, or…

I miss it all so much.

I miss him asking about my day.

I miss him brushing my hair.

I miss him coming for a run with me.

I miss him.

And it's ridiculous, because he's still here.

Which, in a way, makes it all the worse. If he was gone I could imagine he was thinking of me, dreaming of me, but he's here and I know his thoughts are occupied with his sister and the stalker.

Which makes sense, it's his sister's life on the line; of course he's going to be working nearly 24/7 to keep her safe. But it doesn't matter how many times I tell myself that, it doesn't matter how true I know it is; I'm jealous, and I miss him.

Christ, I'm sulking. It's so pathetic. I rolled my eyes at myself and told myself to get a grip.

Ranger came out of the bathroom fully dressed, hair still damp, and kissed me lightly on the forehead. Then he was gone.

I should be happy he kissed me on the forehead. But it felt cursory, dismissive. Gone were the slow kisses that burned into my heart and my soul. And there had been no repeat or encore of our first night's activities.

I dragged my weary body out of bed and stumbled into the shower. I dried and brushed my hair after, quickly getting dressed. Then I spent half an hour carefully concealing the dark circles under my eyes so Tank wouldn't get worried about me.

Tank had surprised me a lot over these past few days. When it became clear to him that I didn't really know what to do, he paired himself with me and as we walked the perimeter or checked the security, he'd explain in low a voice exactly what we were doing, and why we were doing it.

If the boys teased me, he'd put a firm stop to it, glaring all round. He ran the security of the house with a tight fist, and I didn't doubt that his morals were as loose as they were rumoured to be. Don't get me wrong, I don't doubt that there were some things he wouldn't do; but as far as I could tell, the only absolute moral laws Tank had seemed to be about honour and respect.

Nothing to do with throwing junkies out of windows.

But Tank had apparently decided I was his baby sister. So he took me under his rather large figurative wing and helped me out.

He glanced up at me as I walked into the impromptu office the boys had made. I sat at 'my' seat and Tank nodded to me. Lester got up and went over the new codes for the day, as well as briefing us on the addition of guard dogs, which would be Hal and Lester's responsibility.

One by one we went through our reports, all of us stating that there was no unusual activity to be concerned with.

Tank nodded and we all dispersed; Tank and I were on foot patrol again today.

'You tired?' He asked when we were alone.

'Do I look it?' I asked in mock outrage.

'No. But you haven't been getting a lot of sleep, so you should look tired, but you look like you've slept for twelve hours and you're as fresh as a daisy. But I know you haven't and you're not; so you must be wearing enough make-up to hide the fact that you're more tired than you want to admit.'

Shit, who knew Tank could do such convoluted make-up­ logic.

I shrugged.

'Steph,' Tank said seriously, 'If you're tired then there's no shame in that, but I need to know in case it compromises your performance.'

'It won't.' I said firmly.

Tank said nothing and we walked on.

'Steph?'

'Yeah?'

'If you think it is effecting your performance, you will let me know, won't you?'

'Yeah big guy, I'll let you know.'

He nodded, and that was the end of it.

It's three am, and I'm in the 'office'; it's only Tank and me, everyone else is in bed - except Ranger, Trina and Jack, who seem to be arguing in the main room, and Lester and Junior, who are on night patrol.

'I'm calling it a night.' I said to Tank.

I was exhausted, but I'd already gone for two runs tonight to keep me awake, not to mention the four cups of black coffee. I'd seen Tank's mouth tighten as I'd poured cup after cup into my drained body, but he'd said nothing.

'Night Steph.' Tank smiled.

'Night big guy.' I replied.

I wondered down the halls and into the main room - the argument seemed to be full swing, so I slipped into Ranger's bedroom unnoticed.

Ranger must be tired too if he didn't see me, or maybe he'd seen me but was ignoring me.

I shrugged it off and undressed, scrambling into bed, intending to wait up for Ranger.

But my eyes began to close inadvertently, and I soon fell despairingly into what I knew would be a troubled sleep.

Ranger's POV

'Trina!' I growled, 'stop being difficult; we need to install the security camera's here, here and here so that the whole house is covered.'

'Isn't it enough that I'm surrounded by two of your goons all day long? Isn't it enough that everyone's privacy has been taken away and you have your men stomping around? Why do we have to lose that last tiny bit of privacy?'

I took a deep breath, searching for calm, 'Trina-'

I froze as a familiar piercing scream came from my room, 'Babe!' I ran to my door, wrenching it open, forgetting everything but my Babe.

Her eyes were wide with terror and she was shaking and shivering, tears coursing down her cheeks.

I crossed the small distance between us and gathered her in my arms, holding her close, rocking her back and forth. 'It's all right.' I whispered, 'It's over.'

She continued to sob until eventually she calmed down, and then she tensed in my arms and pushed me away, 'Thanks.' She said stiffly, 'I'm going to get some water.' She pushed me away and walked out.

What the hell?

I followed her soundlessly, standing behind her whilst she drank, in case she needed me. She drained the bottle and binned it, ignoring me, walking back to out room.

I followed her.

'I'm taking a shower.' She informed me coolly, she grabbed something and then disappeared into the bathroom, locking the door behind me.

She'd grabbed clothes, why would she do that?

Unless…

Unless she didn't want a repeat performance of the other night when I'd tugged her towel off her.

But she'd enjoyed it – I'd made sure of that. Then why?

I lay back down onto my bed and reviewed my actions for the past few days.

I was not happy with what I found.

I'd been so wrapped up in my family and my sister, and so busy trying to appear coolly detached so she would be respected as a professional, that I'd actually become coolly detached. I hadn't held her simply to hold her in days. I hadn't brushed her hair, or gone on a run with her, I hadn't asked how her day had been.

I hadn't even kissed her.

Shit.

I lay back on my bed, and waited for her to come back out.

Steph's POV

I came out of the bathroom after twenty minutes, the hot water had pummelled the shaking from my weakened frame, leaving me feeling tired and resigned to another long night.

I stepped out into Ranger's bedroom, Ranger was lying on the bed; he looked up as I walked in.

He patted the space between his legs, I hesitated half a second before sitting. I closed my eyes as I felt him start to ease the tangles out of my hair; taking the time to tame my rats nest.

Eventually the hairbrush stilled, 'I'm sorry.' He said softly.

I shrugged, 'You didn't do anything.'

'Exactly.' He sighed. 'I've been neglecting you Babe.'

I twisted to face him, 'I'm not a puppy Ranger,' I said, more sharply then I intended, 'I can take care of myself!'

His gaze met mine steadily, 'I know. I didn't mean to imply that you couldn't. What I mean is I've been a lousy…' He broke off, hesitating.

'A lousy what?' I asked, my voice rising, 'A lousy friend? Is that what I am?' I shook my head and climbed into bed, turning my back on him. I removed the dressing robe under the sheets, so that I was clad in my nightdress.

'No.' Ranger said, moving closer to me. 'You're far more than that. You're everything to me. I love my family but…you're more important. I'm sorry I haven't made that clear.'

I turned to him, unsure of what to say.

Ranger moved closer still, his warmth pressing lightly against me.

'I'm sorry.' He whispered, and I could see in his eyes that he was. Something inside of me eased.

'It's ok.' I half said, half sobbed.

Ranger held me tightly as I wept quietly. 'I missed you.' I whispered.

'I missed you. I'm sorry.' Ranger breathed back, 'We'll talk more tomorrow, but for now, you should get some sleep.'

I nodded. 'You're tired,' I managed to yawn, 'You sleep now too?'

Ranger's POV

'You're tired,' she yawned, 'You sleep now too?'

Always, she astounded me; We'd had our first semi disagreement, she was exhausted, and I'd been an ass-hole – but she was still concerned for me, still looking out for me.

'I sleep now too.' I agreed, kissing her on the lips.

I tucked a loose curl behind her ear, and curled my body around hers. In minutes we were both asleep.


Chapter 12

I awoke feeling more alert than I have done in days. I stretched out lazily, enjoying the warmth that surrounded me. I felt strong arms slip round my waist; I twisted round and smiled up at Ranger.

'Morning.' I said.

'Morning Babe. Better?' Ranger asked.

'Mmm.' I said, stretching luxuriantly again. 'What's the time?'

'Two.'

I looked to the curtains; they were drawn, but the amount of light streaming through them showed that it was definitely two in the afternoon, rather than two in the morning.

'Huh.' I said, surprised that Ranger was still in bed next to me.

'You only sleep when I'm here.' Ranger explained, 'and I slept till twelve anyway.'

'Thanks.' I smiled.

'It's my fault you're this tired anyway.'

I rolled my eyes, 'It's not your fault - I should have said something.'

'Yeah, but I should have noticed you were tired without you having to tell me.'

I sighed, 'can we just agree that it was both our faults?'

Ranger smiled slightly, 'Ok.'

'Ok.' I agreed. 'So…what's happening today? What's left of it anyway.'

'We're taking the rest of the day off.'

'We are?'

'Yeah.'

'Cool.' I paused, 'how come?'

'We've both been working hard, we deserve a break.' Ranger said.

'Works for me.' I shrugged.

'Me too.' Ranger smiled. 'You wanna have a picnic at the park?'

'Yeah, that sounds good!'

'Good. You take a shower, I'll do food.'

I started to lift the covers up, but I was pulled back by Ranger's light touch on my wrist.

I raised my eyebrow at him.

I saw a glimmer of amusement lurking in his chocolate eyes. 'Babe.'

'Yes?'

He shook his head slightly and leaned forward, pressing his lips lightly to mine.

'Is that it?' I pouted.

Ranger's lips twitched, 'I have morning breath.' He explained.

'Me too.' I shrugged. Then I leaned forward and kissed him anyway – with tongue and everything.

Breathless, I pulled back, 'It's ok if you both have morning breath.' I justified it.

'Ah,' Ranger said, smiling all 200 watts, 'that's good to know.'

I flashed him my version of the 200-watt smile, then I sauntered to the bathroom, putting an extra swing into my walk.

I heard Ranger laugh softly behind me, 'Great view.' He commented.

I tossed my hair over my shoulder and fluttered my eyelashes exaggeratedly. Ranger grinned at me, 'Hoochie mama.' He teased.

I laughed all the way to the shower.

Twenty minutes later and I was shaved, cleaned and moisturised.

Some people speed dated; I speed showered. For some, twenty minutes wouldn't be that be speedy, but I'm a girl form Jersey, and we have different standards to the national ideal.

Grandma Mazur had dragged me speed dating a few months after the horse's ass was found buffing the kitchen table with his hairy ass. Suffice to say, it wasn't an experience I'd ever willingly repeat.

It'd much rather rip out my teeth one by one.

But hey, that's just me.

It occurred to me, as I donned my jeans and a pretty blue silk top, that I wouldn't need to date ever again – speedily or otherwise – not now that I had Ranger.

OMG!

What the hell was I thinking?

Ranger and I weren't a couple.

Were we?

I dragged a hairbrush ineffectually through my hair, gazing out the window, my mind whirling.