I "waited" for probably all of ten minutes before a red flashing light in my mind started screaming BOREDOM! Then I set to work mentally singing "ninety-nine bottles of beer." By bottle fifty-six, I decided to sneak a peek over at Ranger to see what he was up to. I gave a mental sigh. Still in his "zone." Probably being much more mentally productive than I was with the quickly diminishing bottles of beer.

I skipped a few numbered bottles as I neared the end, my reasoning being that someone with that much alcohol in their system probably wouldn't know the difference anyway. Just as I was coming to that lonely last bottle, the lock clicked on the door, and I nearly shrieked in surprise. Ranger just continued to sit on the couch like nothing had happened. Cool as a cucumber.

Someday I was going to learn that whole "cucumber" business. Sure seemed to come in handy sometimes.

The person who opened the door took a few hesitant steps inside before pausing in the entryway. "That you, Manoso?" he asked into the silence. "Front desk mentioned I might have a guest."

Guess I wasn't as inconspicuous as I'd thought. Nice of them not to call the police at least.

Ranger didn't respond. Guess we were playing the whole "cold shoulder" bit. Funny how these things sometimes resembled petty marital spats. Not that I would know anything about that…

"I assume you're here to negotiate a deal," Nick continued as he casually draped his jacket on a chair. "Let's hear the offer."

Ranger stood and walked over. I followed closely behind not wanting to miss anything important. "I'm here about the car actually," Ranger stated dryly. "It's a rental. Gotta return it in pristine condition, or I don't get my deposit back."

Nick smirked. "That car is in pristine condition, mate. In fact, I think it had fewer pieces of lint on the seats." He walked over to the bar and poured himself a shot of whiskey. "Either of you care for a drink?"

I thought about raising my hand because the atmosphere was starting to feel kind of tense. Obviously Nick Fox hadn't got the memo that Ranger was of the no-monkey-business variety. Either that, or he had a death wish. It was kind of hard to tell with all these con artist types.

Nick eyed the hotel room. "Hopefully you two haven't been waiting long. Kate wanted a goodnight…kiss."

Ok, that did it. Enough was enough. I was getting pretty damn tired of his whole nonchalant attitude. Actually, I was just getting pretty damn tired in general. Past my bedtime and all. Not to mention the whole time zone issue that I still hadn't quite adjusted to.

I'm not sure what made me do it. Hormones maybe? Boredom? All I know is that I honestly couldn't stop myself. My feet crossed the distance to where Nick was standing, and my hand involuntarily grabbed his glass and tossed the remainder of his drink in his face.

"Cut the crap, Nick, and give me the damn key," I growled with narrowed eyes. I was pretty sure I could feel Ranger smiling from somewhere behind me. It only encouraged my performance.

Nick quickly wiped his face before holding up his hands in surrender. "Jeez, no need to get all pissy about it." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a key that looked familiar.

I grabbed it out of his hand and tossed it over my shoulder without even looking. Badass style. Ranger snatched it out of the air like he'd been anticipating the throw all along. Reflexes like a cat, I tell ya.

Then I took a threatening step into Nick's space. "Now listen here," I glowered, pretending I was on some movie set giving an Oscar-worthy performance. "I don't know what angle you've got going on here, and I really don't give shit. Honestly, if it were me, I'd drop your ass like a freaking hot potato. But Hubby here seems to think you might important. So…the way I see it, you've got two options: make friends, or make enemies. Your choice." A-a-and cut! I mentally took a bow.

Nick stopped smiling. "I don't respond well to threats, sweetheart."

And I didn't respond well to annoying con artists who smelled like whiskey.

A hand thrust a phone under Nick's nose, and I suddenly realized Ranger had magically materialized against my back. "What do you respond to, Fox?" he growled over my shoulder.

"Ah," Nick practically stuttered after glancing down at the phone. "Point taken."

I wanted to steal a glance at what was on the screen, but by the time I had sense enough to consider it, Ranger had already pocketed the device. He grabbed my arm and headed us both toward the door. Guess it was time to go.

"Tomorrow, Fox," Ranger said over his shoulder. "10.00 hours at Perch. We'll discuss our business then."

Oh good. More business negotiations. At least on the bright side, I'd get to try Perch's brunch menu. Mmmm…brunch. It was mild consolation for the fact I was pretty sure I'd left my "life-changing" white chocolate bread pudding in the Mercedes look-alike.

"What was on the phone?" I asked as we walked toward the elevator.

"A language he would understand."

"You didn't place a hit on him, did you?" I asked feeling slightly concerned for the guy.

Ranger's mouth twitched in amusement. "You really think I would do such a thing?"

Umm…yeah. If the situation called for it. "No?"

"I showed him a screen with the details for a sizeable and anonymous donation to the FBI. Along with an offshore account number I was pretty sure he might be familiar with."

Ah, money. The universal motivator. "Wow. How did you manage that?"

"The same way you managed to take Fox by surprise back there," he grinned before ruffling my hair. "Trade secrets, babe."

Yeah, except I think Ranger's trade secrets are a lot more secret that my secrets. And they might involve more legal gray area than I feel comfortable with. Maybe all that stuff canceled itself out this time around since we were dealing with a con artist.

"So where to now?" I asked as we exited the lobby.

"Our hotel." Ranger clicked our rental car key and quickly scanned the lot for flashing lights. The car was parked over in a corner. It looked exactly the same as we'd left it. Thank goodness… "But we may need to swing by a bar first."

"Why? You wanna get me drunk so you can take advantage of me later?" I asked with a flirty wink.

Ranger shook his head. "I want to watch you toss another drink in a guy's face. Is it bad that that totally turned me on?"

Probably only if said thrown drink resulted in a bar fight. After all, we wouldn't want to get kicked out of LA before our brunch tomorrow. I had life-changing white chocolate bread pudding with my name on it.