Author notes: I have noticed that interest in this story has declined. For some reason, there were far fewer people reading the last chapter. If you like what your reading pleases let me know. It does not necessarily have to be a review a PM is just fine. I can work on other things you guys are tired of this story.

I lugged the large box up to Stephanie's porch and rang the bell. The box was not heavy, just large and awkward. She opened the door and looked at me with an eyebrow raised?

"Please tell me that is not for Angel, you are going to spoil her", Stephanie told me.

"No, this one is for Angel's mommy, but before you open it, there is something you should know," I said.

"Oh boy"

" Relax, it's not bad news, just something I think I need to explain. I know that you assume I was punishing you when I walked away from our friendship, but I was punishing myself for what I let happen to Bobby. I was in charge, he was my employee, my friend, both of you were my responsibility. Having you in my life seemed selfish and unfair. What I did not realize is that when I walked away from you, I was punishing all of Trenton Range Man too. You had become everyone's pain in the ass little sister and they missed having you around. Don't get me wrong the were fed up with your disrespect for the rules and reckless behavior. I 'm sure that no one wants to suffer another injury messing around with you, but they loved you and cared about you all the same. Anyway, when I was in D.C. prepping for my next mission I had some free time, not enough to go home to Miami, but enough to make the drive up to Trenton. I went to Range Man for a visit and the guys and I went out to lunch and got to talking about you. They all basically agreed that I was a loser for letting you get away twice. I mentioned that bought TastyKakes for you. Then everyone wanted in on the act, they all wanted to buy you TastyKakes. Everyone got carried away making sure you to get all he new flavors and it was too much for me to keep at the base. So Junior agreed to mail them to my condo in Miami. Then I checked them with my luggage on the flight here."

"Are you serious?" , she said in a shocked voice.

"About them missing you, or that you have the equivalent to a case of TastyKakes sitting in your living room?"

She opened the box and started to pull out the snack cakes. The first were the ones I had chosen, butterscotch krimpets, chocolate junior and peanut butter Kandy Kakes, they were still wrapped with the red ribbon.

"Those are from me," I said.

Next were the new mini TastyKakes all three flavors, they were tied together with string and on the box was a neon green posit with a hand-written note scrawled it.

Steph,

The past few years have been boring without you, I can't remember when the last time we a had car blow up.

Bret

Binkie had given her all the seasonal flavors of Kandy Kakes, Lemon white chocolate, Chocolate cherry and white chocolate strawberry. There was an orange post it onto a box that said

You're too good for that man.

Binkie

A small paper bag contained an assortment of TastyKake pies on the bag a note was written.

Bomber,

No one here is holding a grudge, Range Man Trenton misses our girl.

Ram

I watched her pull every imaginable flavor of TastyKakes from the box, set them aside, then take the post-its and placed them in her lap. Slowly she read the short messages and I watched her lips curl into a smile. Then she read through them again and I saw tears run down her cheeks.

"I thought they hated me and would never want to hear from me again. The next time you see them, tell everyone I have missed them too." she said softly.

"Tell them yourself, I am sure they would love to hear from you, I do believe that is a phone number on that post it over there. Besides, I am not sure when the next time I get to Trenton will be," I said as I dried the tears from her cheeks with a tissue.

"Look at you," she said running her fingers through my freshly cut hair.

"Had to get ready for our date tonight", Babe I said.

"So what I am wearing tonight ?" she asked.

"It's in the SUV, I will go out and get it."

When I returned with the bag she had Angel on her hip. My little girl jumped out of her arms and ran to me. I swept the toddler up in my arms and tossed in the air and she giggled. Then I pulled a plush bunny wearing a tutu and toes shoe from the bag and handed to Angel.

"Look, she is a dancer just like you Angel," I said.

"Mommy, look she is a ballerina", Angel chimed.

"Ranger, enough toys okay", Stephanie said.

"So are you two ready to go to Julies track meet?" I asked.

"I'll drive, that way we don't have transfer the car seat", Stephanie explained.

After the track meet, Stephanie drove us back to the house and I said my goodbyes to my girl, I was not going to get a chance to see them before my flight left tomorrow.

"I'll pick you up at 5:30 Babe", I said before I left to get dressed for our date.

Once back at the hotel, I showered, shaved and dressed in a black Tom Ford suit with a black shirt, and blue tie the matched the dress I had picked out for Stephanie. I completed the look with a gold tie tack, cuff links, a Louis Moinet watch and a small diamond stud in my ear.

As soon as I pulled up to Stephanie's house she stepped onto the porch. I got out of the SUV and open to the passenger's side for her, then helped her in.

"Hope I did not keep you waiting ", I teased.

"You said you had reservations, and I know how you are about being on time."

We rode in silence to the restaurant and Babe seem to be a little nervous.

As we walked into the upscale bistro, I took in all of my Babe in the Brocade satin dress. The blue and white print set off her eyes, the plunging halter neckline accentuated her breast along with her tapered waist and the full flowing skirt that hit just above her knees showed off her finely sculpted long legs. Her strappy heels were going to be perfect for dancing later on in the night.

Once inside the bistro, the mater dei showed us to our table.

"What a handsome looking couple, are you celebrating something special ?", he asked.

"No, this is our first date" I replied.

He handed us our menus and left the table.

"First date, but we are married," Stephanie said as she laughed quietly.

"Why are we still married?", I asked. "I'm not complaining, but I would have thought you would have had it annulled or filed for divorce."

"There are a couple of reasons. At first, I was just too lazy to deal with all the legal hassles involved. Then when Lester showed up, I realized that I need to remain married to you in order to protect your interest in Range Man for our girls."

"Our girls huh, I like the sound of that. You have really taken Julie on as your daughter", I said.

"With all my heart, Rachel better never try and change her mind," she said seriously.

"Speaking of our girls, is Julie babysitting tonight ?", I asked.

"No," Babe said shaking her head." I won't leave them alone in the house. If someone were to break in, I worry they could not defend themselves against a grown man. I have an alarm but it is no Range Man system. I know more about security alarms than the company that set it up. The girls are spending the night with Robyn. She is taking Julie to school in the morning."

"As I was saying, if you left Lester in charge of Range Man, who knows what he would do? Did frank tell you he tried to fire him?" Babe asked.

"Really, no he did not share that information with me, but that explains why Frank wanted to buy into Range Man" I answered.

"He had some stupid proposal, "Rangettes", women who look like models but are as deadly as they are beautiful. The uniform, a black mini skirt with a low cut red V-neck shirts and black blazer. Being able to run in heels is a requirement. He already has few in his division, but wanted to include this idea in every Range Man office". Stephanie explained as our food arrived.

"That sounds like a sexual harassment lawsuit waiting to happen," I said.

"Exactly what Frank told him, as well as the fact that it would be tainting the Range Man brand".

"So I take it Santos did not like Frank telling him no".

"That is when he tried to fire him and then Frank brought up the buy-in options you had written into his contract. Now that he owns a third of the company Lester has no control over Frank," Babe said as she forked into her entrée.

"Since you have been away, Frank says that the company is not gaining any more traction. It's not losing any either, but there is a need to keep expanding the brand. I suggested that he focus on home security since it is the main division that seems to be lagging behind," Stephanie explained.

"Well look at my Babe getting all fiscal on me", I joked.

"I do have a degree in Business Ranger."

"So how would you purpose upping that division?", I asked.

"There are lots ways, the market is hot right now because more and more people want to protect their homes and families. Range Man was and still is on the cutting edge of technology in alarm systems with more experience than any other firm out there. The market is ripe to step up and become the number one brand in home security," Stephanie explained.

"Damn Babe, would you like a job"? I laughed.

"Don't need one, I own one-half of your third of the company", she jested.

"True, but when did our date turn into a business meeting?", I asked.

"Hey, if you want to change the subject, go right ahead", she told me.

"So what's the next PTA fundraiser you have planned?"

"Flashlight tag capture the flag. We play in the dark. The objective is for one team to capture the others flag without getting tagged by a flashlight. There will be obstacles and hiding places setup. If a member of your team is captured, you can free them with your flashlight. The grown-ups can play, but I don't think as many will participate and they did in the last event", Stephanie told me.

"Well, you are just full fun ideas," I said to her.

"Come on Ranger , you already knew that", she said in a sexy voice.

"Ms. Plum are you flirting with me?" I said.

"It's Plum-Manoso now for legal reasons. And if you have to ask then it has been way too long", She said with a wink.

I watched the look of glee on her face as tasted her dessert and I smiled.

"Want a taste, I'll feed it you", she offered.

"No thanks, but I am enjoying watching you eat," I told her.

"So where to next?" Stephanie asked as I helped her into the SUV.

"We are going dancing Babe" I replied.

"Batman dances ?", she asked with a smirk.

"No, but Carlos does", I replied.

Next we hit a Latin Salas club.

"I have no idea how to salsa or merengue," Babe said as she entered the club.

"Not to worry, I don't mind teaching you my best moves" , I said with a sly half-smile.

"I have already experienced your best moves", she purred.

"Babe."

"All man did I say that out loud. I should not have had that second glass of wine," she said blushing.

We found a quiet corner of the dance floor and I put both hands on her hips.

"Let's start with the merengue it's the simplest. You start with your left, I start on my right, and it's just left, right, left, right, it is all in the hips. Now place your hand on my shoulder blade and I'll do the same to you. Then we are going hold hands at shoulder level over here" I said instructing her.

"Now we want to mirror one anthers moves, and I know this one is going to difficult for you, but you have to follow my lead", I told Babe.

We practiced a few time and she picked up the steps.

"So once you have these basics down, we can add some flare to it, We can travel, we can spin, cuddle or dip," I said as I demonstrated.

After I felt like Babe had all the moves down, we joined the rest of the dance floor.

The look of pure joy on her face was an enticing sight matched equally, by the way, her curls flowed around her face and the skirt of her dress bounced around her long shapely legs. At this moment on the dance floor, Babe was unbelievable sexy.

Throughout the night, I was able to teach her how to Salsa and Cha - Cha. I could tell she was really having a great time, as true happiness shined on her face as bright as her blue eyes. I hated to have to take her home, but I had a flight that left at noon tomorrow.

On the way back to the SUV, the two of us walked together arm and arm. Abruptly I found my arm solo and I looked behind me to see what had happened to my date. Several feet behind, Stephanie was standing on a metal grate struggling to remove the heel of her shoe. I looked up at her and smiled then walked back to where she was trapped, I could not contain my laughter.

"Babe only you. How in the world do you manage these things ?" , I chuckled.

"It's not my fault", she huffed. Stop laughing at me"

I bent down to unfasten her shoe, then removed it from her foot and freed it from the grate. After replacing the shoe onto her foot, I stood, offered her my arm and we strolled back to the SUV.

I walked Stephanie to the porch and waited for her to unlock the front door. My plan was to see that she got into her house safely and go back to my hotel. Instead, Babe took my hand and pulled me through the front door with her. We stood there in the foyer not saying a word. Then Babe threaded her fingers through mine. She looked at me intensely, desire burning in her eyes. I moved to take a step back before things got out of control. Babe was having none of that as she tugged my arm hard , practically dragging me up the stairs. We stopped at her bedroom and she pushed me hard against the door. I watched her unfasten the halter at the back of her neck and then she unzipped her dress and stepped out of it all in one motion. There stood my Babe looking better than ever in nothing but her lace bra, skimpy matching panties, and her heels. That's when my pants suddenly became uncomfortably tight. Babe's eyes went to my crotch and she pressed her body against mine kissing me. The kiss was fiery and passionate. Her lips moved hungrily and desperate against mine as her hands fumbled while trying to unbuckle my pants.

I gently pushed her back and took her chin in my hand.

"Babe, you sure you want to go here?" I said in a horse whisper.

"Yes", she exhaled as her hands went back to my belt.

"Babe slows down, I am not looking for a quickie in the closet, I want to make love to you", I whispered into her ear as I picked her up and carried her into the bedroom.

The next morning I woke up tangled in the sheets and Babes limbs. I smiled as I thought about the memories we made between these sheets last night and then earlier this morning. Wrapping my arms around her waist, I pulled Babe to me and spooned as I nuzzled her neck. The alarm went off on my watch and reluctantly I dragged myself out of bed.

I found a towel and took a shower, then dressed in my clothes from the night before. After looking at my watch, I knew I still had some time before I needed to get back to the hotel, collect my things and check out. I sat in the chair next to the bed and watched my Babe sleep. The alarm on my phone buzzed and I turned it off.

"You keep doing that, and you're going to miss your flight hanging around just to watch me sleep," Babe said drowsily, her eyes still closed.

"How did you know that is what was I doing ?" , I ask knowing for sure that she had just been awakened by the alarm on my phone.

She leaned up on one elbow and looked at me, her eyes met mine.

"I know you, Ranger, I know what makes you smile, and what makes you angry, what emotions lie behind your best blank mask. I know the pattern of your heartbeat and the rhythm of your breath in the middle of the night". She expresses sincerely.

I sat in the chair focused on the beautiful woman who had held my heart for so long.

"So where does this leave us, Babe?" I ask.

"We can discuss that when you come you better come back, if you abandon me again Ranger I…."

I kissed her passionately before she had a chance to complete the statement. "That's not going to happen Babe, I love you , I have since the moment I met you in that day in that cafe , I knew right away that I would always want to keep that feisty Jersey girl around", I assured her.

"Be careful," she said and kissed me again before I left her in bed and walked down the stairs, then out to the SUV.

Before I drove off my chimed with a text message alert from Babe "I love you too Batman."