Disclaimer: The primary characters in this story belong to Janet Evanovich. I make no money for this work. While I work in health care, the names and places detailed in this story are not based on specific persons or events.

A/N: Special thanks to FairTaxGirl (Linda) and Margaret Fowler for reviewing this for me. I don't know what I would do without you two!

Previously:

"Babe, I need to talk to you about something."

Well, this couldn't be good. "What's wrong?" I asked.

"I spoke with Eddie a little while ago. He did get the warrant signed, but they can't find Michael. His car is at his apartment, but he's not there. "

Control Chapter 21

I swallowed and said, "So no one knows where he is?"

Ranger answered, "I still had a man on him. It looks like he went to his father's office, went out the back door and took another car. The police questioned his father, but he's not talking." Ranger took a moment and said, "I spoke with Eddie and the police understand that RangeMan has a vested interest in finding Michael. The police not agreeing wouldn't stop me, but now they won't try to get in our way. We'll find him, Babe."

I nodded and leaned against him, grateful that this wonderful man was in my life. "Thank you, Ranger."

Ranger shook his head and said, "Babe, you don't have to thank me. I regret letting Michael go the day I had him in the guard shack at your apartment complex. I knew it wouldn't be enough to scare him off for good and I still let him go."

Now it was my turn to shake my head. "Ranger, it's not your job to protect me or take care of Michael."

Ranger frowned and said, "You're wrong. It's completely my job to protect you and I take pride in how good I am at my job. You have become my most important client and I promise you that my men and I will handle this. Michael will be found."

I put my head into his chest and said, "I know you'll take care of it. I've never met anyone like you." I gave him a gentle kiss and we went on to more pleasurable pursuits.

Sunday morning, I called my mom to tell her that Ranger and I would be coming by for Sunday dinner. To say that she was thrilled was an understatement.

Ranger and I spent the day together, talking and laughing and learning more about each other. I learned more about his work and found that for such a major badass, Ranger was a very smart businessman. He told me about getting started in Trenton as a bounty hunter and slowly building his security business. He picked the men he trusted most during his military career to work with him and it had been a very lucrative venture. Ranger said he opened Trenton first, then Miami and later Boston. He had an Atlanta office at one time, but sold it to a former major who had been under his command in the Rangers.

As we talked, I realized that although I loved a lot of things about him, the thing I loved the most was his sense of honor and loyalty. I knew all too well how rare it was to find a person like this. Most people would say they were both honorable and loyal, but few lived their lives that way. With Ranger, if he made you a promise, you knew you could count on it. While staying at RangeMan I also learned that this wasn't just Ranger's code, he only hired men he could trust with his life. I hadn't spent that much time with most of the men, except for Lester, Cal and Tank, but I knew instinctively that Ranger would never employ anyone that he wasn't 100% sure of and his instincts about people were flawless.

For my part, I told Ranger stories about growing up in the Burg and stories about my crazy family. I told him more about my crazy, but lovable Grandma, my borderline alcoholic mother and my mostly silent dad. I told him about my sister and her strange husband and my niece who thinks she's a horse. We even shared some creepy crawly Vinnie stories. Ranger laughed and didn't seem at all worried about meeting my family.

We talked more about Michael and I made him a list of possible places Michael might try to hide. In truth, I couldn't tell him a lot because I had never met any of Michael's friends, other than Derek, and I didn't know any of his extended family. I had only met his father one time and that was when we happened to have dinner at the same place one night. His father had been perfectly polite, but he was also cold and wasn't a man to inspire others to get to know him better. Not that it really mattered, but I couldn't help but wonder if he had been an abusive father and that was why Michael had developed such controlling and abusive ways himself.

I told Ranger, "You know, I've never had to be scared of anyone being after me before. I've had my share of patients who were a little too attached to me, but beyond the rare occasion of a really psychotic patient taking a swing at me, no one has ever really tried to hurt me because I'm me. Even the shooting at the shelter was just random. He didn't know me. He just knew that the staff there was helping his wife stay away from him. It wasn't personal. This thing with Michael is personal."

Ranger put his arms around me and said, "It's strange being on the other side of the desk, isn't it?"

I nodded and said, "Yes and I don't like it at all."

We stood there for a moment, just holding each other and I hated to say what came out of my mouth next. "Come on. It's time to face the firing squad."

Ranger laughed lightly and said, "Babe, it'll be fine. Let's just get it over with."

Ranger did feel strongly enough about meeting my family that he changed out of his usual SWAT gear into black slacks and a black dress shirt. It wasn't overly dressy and he wasn't wearing a tie, but he looked incredibly edible. I didn't tell him that I was sure my grandma would point out how edible he looked.

Ranger drove us in the Porsche and as we pulled to a stop at the curb, I could see my mother and grandma peeking around the curtains in the living room. Usually they would be waiting at the front door, openly staring, but I figured they wanted to see Ranger before he saw them.

Ranger never failed to amaze me. He wasn't nervous at all. In fact, he didn't even look mildly uncomfortable. He opened my door and took my hand and we walked to the front door. By the time we reached the porch, my mother and grandmother were standing there with their mouths open. My grandmother was also drooling a little bit and moving her dentures around with her tongue. This usually meant she was excited about something.

Mom opened the door and I made the introductions. Ranger shook hands with them both and mom and grandma didn't move. They didn't allow us to come inside and they didn't say anything. They just stood there and stared. I could have expected this from Grandma Mazur, but mom could usually be depended on to have perfect manners and be an excellent hostess.

I snuck a look at Ranger and he looked mildly amused, but not offended, so I eventually said, "Mom is it okay if we come in now?"

Mom seemed to shake herself out of her stupor and she said, "Oh my goodness, please forgive me! Please, come on in." She and grandma stepped aside and Ranger and I stepped into the living room, where dad was sitting watching the evening news. Dad looked up and started at the sight of Ranger. For the first time in my life, I watched my father stand up to greet someone I had brought home. He put his paper down slowly, stood and walked over to us. "You must be Manoso?" Dad asked.

Ranger replied simply, "Yes, sir. Carlos Manoso. Most people call me Ranger." Dad nodded and said, "I was an Army Ranger myself and I understand the significance of the word. I've heard good things about you, both from my daughter and others."

Mom came out of the kitchen and asked me to help with a few things. This was clearly a ploy to get me alone as I have a hard time boiling water by myself. When I came in, Grandma said, "Damn, Stephanie."

"What?" I asked. Mom and Grandma exchanged a look and Mom cleared her throat and said, "Well, he's certainly very handsome. Not quite what we were expecting."

I was a little confused. "What were you expecting?" I asked.

Mom blushed and said, "Well, when you said he was a security specialist, I sort of pictured an older, overweight cop type." I suddenly understood their reaction now. Ranger was certainly not an overweight cop type. He was more the People's "Sexiest Man Alive" type.

I helped Mom take the dishes to the table. She had made a much healthier meal in deference to Ranger. She made a roasted chicken and vegetables that were not marinated in oil or butter. She even skipped the mashed potatoes and made rice pilaf instead. She didn't even make Pineapple Upside Down cake. Instead, she made some type of low-sugar Apple Crumble. Honestly, I was disappointed.

We sat there, filling our plates and everything was going surprisingly well until Dad said "So, Ranger, did Stephanie tell you about the time that she ran over that Morelli boy with the Buick and broke his leg?" My mouth fell open and a carrot came out. What the hell was Dad doing?

Ranger, however, just gave a small smile and said, "She did tell me about that. I wish I could've seen it."

Grandma, not to be outdone, said, "Did she tell you about the time that she and her friend Mary Lou were playing dress up and they had just heard the story of Medusa?" Ranger shook his head and Grandma continued, "They broke into the tampons and Steph glued them all over her head." Ranger thumped me on the back as I choked on the rice. I could feel my face flaming. The tampon story? Did she really have to tell that one?

Mom then piped up and said, "Ranger, if you'd like, I can show you some old family photos after dinner."

Oh, crap. Why were they doing this to me? I'm sure the family pictures she's talking about include me naked in the bathtub. No one ever brings out sweet, Easter dress photos. I spoke up and said, "Mom, I don't think we need to worry about the pictures tonight." Ranger squeezed my knee under the table. I looked over at him and he was giving me a look of high amusement and support. I leaned over to him while everyone else was occupied with their plates and whispered, "Adopted." I saw him smother a smile and felt him squeeze my knee a little more. When I looked back up, all eyes were on us. Mom and Grandma were smiling and Dad was just watching us.

After dinner, Grandma went to get her new camera to show me. She wanted me to take a picture of her in her purple track suit so that she could use it for a new 75 plus singles site she had discovered online. While we were playing with the camera, I saw her snap a picture of Ranger. He was talking to my dad didn't notice. I walked into the kitchen to spend a minute with Mom before we left. She was putting up the leftovers, but stopped when I came in and took a seat, gesturing to me to do the same. I sat next to her and she looked at me and said, "You're in love with him."

I was more than a little surprised. We didn't talk about feelings in my family. If I was sick or sad or upset, my mom made me my favorite foods. We didn't cry on each other and we didn't talk about what was wrong or what could be done. It wasn't that we didn't love each other, we just had never been that type of family. But when my mom made me Pineapple Upside Down cake, I knew it was her way of telling me that she loved me.

With no previous experience with these types of talks, I simply nodded. "Does he know?" she asked. I shook my head. "He's in love with you, too" she added. I held my breath and said, "How do you know?"

She shook her head and said, "Stephanie, when two people look at each other the way I saw you and Ranger looking at each other tonight, it's easy to see. We could tell it when you walked up the sidewalk together. Why do you think your dad bothered to get up and shake his hand?" If my mom wasn't good at talking about feelings, my dad never even attempted it. He showed love by asking me about when I last got my oil changed or discussing the latest baseball or hockey game.

My train of thought was interrupted when Mom said, "Stephanie, even if you weren't dating him, we would have welcomed him simply because of his attempts to keep you safe and protected." I smiled and said, "Thanks, Mom" and squeezed her hand quickly. Then I got the hell out of that kitchen before I agreed to learn to cook or broke down in tears.

A few minutes later Ranger and I were on our way back to Haywood. He had shaken my dad's hand and mom had given him dessert leftovers. This was her version of a hug. During the drive Ranger remarked, "That really wasn't so bad, Babe."

I said, "You really think so?" He nodded and said, "After everything you said about your grandmother, I thought she would be a lot more outrageous."

I smirked and said, "She took a picture of your ass, Batman."

I felt rather than saw Ranger's eyes cut to me. I had to fight to keep a straight face. Eventually he said, "Why did your grandmother take a picture of my ass?"

I couldn't hold my smile in anymore and said, "Have you seen your ass? I'd like a picture of it, too."

Though he kept a straight face, I could see the corners of his eyes crinkle just a little as he said, "Smartass."

We pulled into Haywood with me laughing and imagining what Grandma Mazur was going to do with the picture. As we pulled to a stop in the garage, we saw Tank sitting in an Explorer. He looked a little pale and for a man as dark as he is, that's really saying something. Ranger got out of the car and looked at his friend for a moment before walking over to the SUV. Tank didn't seem to notice Ranger standing at the window and I could tell that this concerned Ranger even more. By the time Ranger tapped lightly on the window, I was standing beside him. He had to tap three more times before Tank looked up and noticed us. It seemed to take him a moment for his eyes to fully focus. Eventually, he settled his eyes on me and said, "You didn't tell me Lula was so…..energetic."

I saw the muscle in Ranger's jaw twitch as he fought not to smile. "Are you okay man?"

Tank was trying to ease his way out of the SUV and said, "I feel like I need a blood transfusion. Is it possible to overdose on sex?"

"I don't know, but I'll do some research." Ranger replied, giving me a wolf grin. I could feel myself blush. I definitely didn't want to discuss our research in front of Tank. I took Tank's arm and said, "Come on, Big Guy, let's get you to your apartment." Ranger got on his other side and threw Tank's arm around his shoulders, taking most of Tank's weight.

As we got in the elevator, I looked up at Tank and said, "So, does this mean you're not going to see Lula again?"

Tank looked down at me and said, "Of course I'm going to see her! I just need some vitamins and a few days to recover. We've got a date Tuesday." I stifled my giggle and watched as Tank got a somewhat dreamy look on his face. After a few minutes, he said, "Oh, yeah. I'm definitely up for more of Lula." In a completely uncharacteristic move, Tank looked down at me, grinned and gave me a kiss on the cheek. He said, "Thanks, Stephanie" and then stepped off the elevator to head for his apartment.

As the elevator doors closed, I looked over at Ranger and he leaned down to whisper in her ear, "Let's go start that research, Babe."

A/N: I'm sorry for the long delay with this chapter. Real life has been a bitch this week and I feel like I've kind of lost my thread with this story. Real life should slow down a little this weekend and I'm hoping to have time for my usual twice weekly updates again. Thanks to all of you for your continued reviews and support of this story. Please read and review…