Already Gone

Two is Better Than One

Disclaimer: They aren't mine and never will be.

A/N: Well, I'm done with school and almost done Spring Cleaning. RL is still crazy and threw me for a loop this week. Please be patient with me, while I take care of things. Please know that I'm updating as often as possible.

Thanks as always to Jenrar (Rock Star Beta). Thanks also goes to Angie, for being there with me through RL's issue and having my back no matter what. Love ya, Babe.

Please listen to Two is Better than One by Boys like Girls

Ranger's POV

I waited patiently for Steph to tell me where she wanted to move. I preferred Miami over Boston, but I'd understand if she wanted to stay closer to her family.

"You're going to let me pick?" She turned to look at me like I'd lost my mind. "I'm uprooting you from your home; you pick where we go. I figured you'd want Boston because it's close to Trenton."

"I can run RangeMan from either place. Hell, if you wanted to go somewhere else, we could look into opening a new branch of the company wherever you chose. Of course, that would require more time and planning. You just need to decide if you want the beach, or old historic buildings."

"I'd like to stay in Miami, if you're sure that it will work for you. I don't want to cause any more trouble for you than I already have." She looked like she was afraid she'd made the wrong choice.

I grabbed her head and pulled her lips to mine. I kissed her, sweeping my tongue and seeking entrance, which she granted. After a moment, I reluctantly broke the kiss. "Babe, you're worth all the trouble. I promise."

She chuckled, "Yeah, I think you're the only one that believes that, but thanks for the sentiment."

I pulled her back against my chest, and we started mapping out all the details of the move. A few hours later, Steph began to fight yawns, "I should get going, Babe. You're tired, and we've got a big day tomorrow." I saw a look of distress cross her face as she began to chew her lip.

"Ranger, would you stay?"

I stood up, pulling her with me. "Sure, Babe."

We quickly got ready for bed, and I slid between the sheets beside her. As badly as I wanted to make love to her, I didn't think she was ready, and I refused to screw this up. There would be no regrets the morning after. No running away on my part. I kissed her lightly on the lips, and she snuggled into my side. We were both asleep in minutes.

I was pulled awake by the buzzing of my cell, I checked the display and saw it was Tank. I eased away from Steph, and smiled as she whimpered before rolling over and pulling my pillow to her.

"Yo."

"It's about fucking time. I expected a phone call from you yesterday."

"Unless something's fucked up the universe while I've been gone, the last time I checked, your name wasn't listed as CEO. I don't report to you."

He chuckled. "Sooo …"

"So what?" Yes, I knew I was being an ass, but he deserved it.

"You know what? Stop all the evasive crap and tell me you fixed things with Bombshell."

"Yes, things are fixed, but we've decided to stay in Miami. I'm coming back to Trenton for three weeks. She's going to stay down here-"

"What the fuck?" Tank interrupted. "You just got her back and you're going to leave her for three weeks? In Miami? By herself? Have you lost your mind?"

I growled. Best friend or not, he was pissing me off. "Shut the hell up. I'm getting tired of your shit. I understand, I deserved it, but enough already. As I was saying, Steph doesn't want to go back to the 'Burg. We've talked about it and decided she will stay here and work on the apartment. I'm going to get the stuff out of our apartments in Trenton shipped down here so she can set up the apartment at RangeMan. I'm taking her to meet Tomas and some of the Miami crew today. She's going to help Silvio with searches."

"What do you need me to do?"

"I'll be flying back to Trenton tomorrow. I want to get back down here as soon as possible. We're going to have to make some changes to the plan we had in place for the restructure. I would like to switch the core teams from Miami and Trenton."

Tank mumbled under his breath. "Damn."

I had known this might happen. He didn't want to leave Trenton. "Lula?" I knew the answer before I'd asked the question.

"Yes and no; it's not important, though. I agreed to move with you originally before Bombshell walked into your life. I won't go back on my word."

"You could always have her move with you." Dios, what was I saying? Miami may not survive.

"Are you only going to relocate the core teams? Will it just be Miami and Trenton, or are all three teams transferring?"

"Before Steph, we'd planned to rotate all the core teams. I think it's time to do just that. Trenton to Miami, Miami to Boston, and Boston to Trenton. Find out if any of the men at any of the offices have put in a request to transfer. I'd like to bring at least three more guys from Trenton to Miami. It would give Steph a few more friendly faces. We also know them better, and can trust them with her when she goes on distractions. I can't completely trust the guys down here with her yet. That privilege is earned."

"Understood. Email your flight information, and someone will be waiting for you at the airport."

Closing my phone, I crawled back into bed with Steph. I pulled her close and drifted back to sleep.

Steph's POV

My eyes opened to a warm mocha latte chest and I sighed.

He'sreally here. He stayed with me.

I couldn't believe we were finally together, after all the years and all the misunderstandings. He loved me, I loved him, and nothing else mattered. I knew tomorrow would be extremely hard on us. On me. Now that we're together, I don't want to let him go.

Ranger began to slowly run his hand up and down my back. I made a noise of contentment before voicing what I'd been thinking. "I can't believe you're really here."

He tilted my head back and gently kissed my lips. "Get used to it, Babe. You're stuck with me now."

I grinned. "I think, I could get used to that. So you said we had a busy day today, but you never said what we were doing..."

"Well, first, we're going to RangeMan. We need to get you settled and introduce you to the guys and Sierra. Then we're going shopping."

"Shopping? For what?" I tried to raise my eyebrow, but only accomplished both of them going up.

Ranger smirked. "We have an entire apartment to make our own, unless you've changed your mind and want to buy a Bat Cave?"

I shook my head in exasperation. "The apartment will be fine."

He pecked my lips one more time before pulling me out of bed so I could begin my morning routine. As soon as I was ready, we could head out for the day.

Sometime later …

We pulled into the RangeMan garage, and I was nervous. What if they hated me? What if they made fun of me?

Ranger's ESP must have been working. "Babe, they're going to love you."

"You don't know that."

"I do. I promise, everything will be fine. Come on, I'm sure Tomas has already told everyone I was bringing you here today."

I reluctantly got out of the car, and we walked hand in hand towards the elevator. Ranger had told me this building was set up the same way as the building in Trenton. We went to the fifth floor, and everyone on shift was waiting for us near the door.

I immediately recognized Ranger's brother, Tomas. He walked over to us and gave Ranger a quick, brotherly hug before pulling me into his arms. "You're even more lovely than they said."

I blushed. "I find that hard to believe."

He chuckled and turned to Ranger. "You keep her close, or I might just steal her away, mi hermano."

Ranger growled. "Try it and die."

I couldn't help but giggle. I'd never seen Ranger act this way. We followed Tomas down to his office so we could go over the move and the effects it would have on all branches of the company.

I was pleasantly surprised; all the men seemed genuinely happy to meet me. I was beginning to feel like this was going to work out better than I'd ever dreamed. Ranger took me up to the apartment on seven, and we spent the afternoon picking out new furniture online. I thought the old furniture was just fine, but he insisted on picking out some new things together so the apartment felt more like ours, instead of his.

After the online furniture shopping, he took me to IKEA and I fell in love with him all over again. They had everything, and I think we spent a small fortune in the store. We bought some shelves and new bedding and throw pillows. The list of purchases went on and on. I honestly think he was buying stuff just to give me things to do while he was gone. We stopped by Best Buy and bought a Blu-ray player and a ton of movies, including Ghostbusters.

We went to Ranger's favorite Cuban restaurant before going back by the hotel to get all my stuff and check out. Everything about today had been perfect. We both seemed pleased with everything we'd picked out, and excited about starting our life together. Tank, Lester, and Bobby had called earlier to let us know they were already packing to move down with us. When we got back to our apartment, I was buzzing with excitement. As soon as Ranger closed the door, I lunged for him, wrapping my body around his, I kissed his lips before whispering, "Thank you."

He pulled me close, and I could feel his hard-on pressed against my stomach. I moaned, and he attacked my lips while I tugged him towards the couch. I pushed him down before straddling his hips, then pulled off his shirt and ran my hands over his sculpted chest. I ground my core against his rock hard cock, causing us both to groan.

We quickly worked ourselves into a state before Ranger grabbed my hips, holding me still. He rested his forehead against mine and sighed. "Babe … I can't believe I'm going to say this, but I want to wait. I want this to be right. The night before I leave for three weeks is not the right time."

I couldn't believe it... We were this close to having sex, and he wanted to wait. I knew he was right; we needed to do this right this time. No regrets, no second guessing ourselves. I kissed him gently on the lips. "You're right. We need to wait."

We got ready for bed, and Ranger wrapped me in his arms before we both fell asleep in our apartment, together, for the first time.

The next morning …

I woke up the next morning with a feeling of dread. Ranger's plane was leaving for Trenton soon, and it would be three weeks before we saw each other again. We spent the morning cuddled together, and Ranger kept trying to reassure me three weeks would go by before we knew it. It seemed like no time at all before he was climbing on the RangeMan jet and heading back to Trenton.

I got back to the RangeMan building and went straight up to seven. I missed him already. I was about to call him when my cell rang. I checked the display and couldn't fight a smile. "Yo," I answered.

"Babe."

TBC …

A/N: So … What do you think? Will they make it the full three weeks without each other? Sneak peeks will go to those who review.

I've had a bunch of people asking me if I'm ending this story and saying that they were sad to see this story end. I had originally planned to end this story and start a sequel called Miami Nights.

But I've changed my mind and now plan to just continue AG and make it a longer story. My question is do you think I should end the story and start the sequel or should I just continue the story as planned. Please go to my profile and vote for which you prefer. (I haven't used the poll feature before, but I think it's fixed now.)

You can also send your vote via private message.