Not mine. Just playing with them for a while.Chapter 36 Planning a Wedding and Trip
The next morning and no not at 5AM or 0500. More like 9AM, the two men went for a run. "How was your night?" Lester asked. "Not that I need to answer that, you were there. But it was a very pleasurable surprise. I know I do not need to ask, but what did you think about it?" Ranger asked. "If all of our missions ended that way, I would go on a lot more." Lester answered. "I agree. So you got the same lines." Ranger said. Lester nodded yes.
"When are you getting hitched? Did you even talk about a date?" Lester asked. "We will talk about that when we get back to the suite. I would like to go on to Vegas now. I would like to make her mine officially. Keep Morelli away and her mother at bay." Ranger told him. "Sounds like a good plan to me." Lester commented.
"You know I still can't believe I tried to end it twice with Amanda." Lester stated. "Yeah, well you are an idiot." Ranger said. Lester came back with "You are just as big an idiot. How many times did you send her back to Morelli? You got lucky cuz."
By this time they had slowed to a walk. Ranger stopped. "I sent her back too many times. Yeah, I did get lucky. You almost lost Amanda in a totally different way. Never take her for granted. If you ever leave her permanently, there are several at Rangeman who will kick your ass, line up to console her and fill your shoes. Hal and Woody being the first two in line. I will confess to one other thing. If circumstances were different and I was not with Babe. I would have pursued her. Babe however is the one for me."
Lester replied, "I know I got lucky too. I have no intention of ever leaving her. I do not take her for granted. She is my light. I watched her dance for me last night. She did it for me. She wanted to do something that was totally not her. She told me that was the first time she had ever done a lap dance. She makes me want to be a better man. I know I have said that before, but it is true. Matter of fact the first day we met her at Shorty's and the flat tire thing. Was the first time I felt that way. I almost did not stop. I really did not feel like messing with it and getting dirty."
"What made you change your mind?" Ranger asked.
"Her eyes. There was something in them. It was not a pleading look, but more like my life depended on me changing that tire. For lack of better words. She wanted to find a man. A decent, caring man that would not just leave a woman on her own. Too many had done that to her over the years. She said obviously, she would have not taken me to lunch. Rangeman would not have gotten her business. Then she would have called Eric. He would have brought a portable air tank. The moon and stars lined up basically." Lester told him.
After they finished their conversation they walked the two blocks back to the hotel. Ranger got a text from Babe. She wanted to know where he was. He let her know they were on their way up.
They made it back to the room. The ladies were sitting in the living room when they walked in. Lester gave Amanda a kiss. "Heading to the shower Sweetheart, I will be right back." She nodded in understanding. Ranger did the same with Babe and headed off.
Amanda asked Steph, "What did Ranger think about our little performance?" Steph smiled. "He loved it. He also wanted to know when I could do that again." "So we did good? Lester did not mind you and Ranger being in the room. He said it made it hotter." Amanda said. Stephanie nodded, "I got the same thing from Ranger. We can do it again sometime. Maybe when they come home from missions. A welcome home so to speak."
"You know anytime they are gone on missions you are welcome to stay at my place. I always have Hal or Woody and sometimes both staying there when Lester is gone. Remember Ranger had equipment installed on the house after somebody came in when Lester was gone. We will talk to them about it if you want." Amanda offered.
"That sounds wonderful. I hate staying by myself. Lula has stayed over at my place before, but she snores something fierce. Plus a kindergartner can break in my apartment. It would make Ranger feel better. I know he would want me to stay on seven. You could stay there sometimes if you wanted. The drawback, there is only one bedroom. Do you have enough bedrooms at your place?" Stephanie asked.
Amanda nodded yes. "There is plenty of room. If you want to stay. There will be room. We have a pool in the summer and a hot tub for anytime. We can make Hal and Woody bunk together if need be. They both laughed at that thought.
They were still laughing when the guys came back in. "What is so funny?" Lester asked. The girls explained what they had talked about. Then about Hal and Woody bunking together. Another round of laughter. "Don't forget you have the other bedroom." Lester mentioned. Amanda nodded. "Your house has four bedrooms? I only saw three." Ranger said. Lester went on to explain about the room being a panic room but not a fantasy room.
Ranger asked if more security could be added to the house. Lester told him it could. "But we need to make it where the cameras on the inside only worked if the alarm was tripped. I want Amanda to keep as much privacy as possible. The men do not need to see her if she is wearing her lingerie and walking around the house."
"Could we have a bank of monitors for the house installed in the panic room?" Ranger asked. "Sure if Hal and Woody were both there one could stay in that room to sleep at night. Leave the other one upstairs with the women." Lester said.
"Woody would do the best for the panic room." Amanda said almost panicked. "Okay, but Hal is more observant." Ranger replied. "I understand that but that is also the problem. He is too observant. He would be in a constant state of embarrassment." Amanda rebutted. With a raised eyebrow Ranger said, "Explain." Lester interrupted, "Just take her at her word for the moment. I will explain later." Ranger nodded.
Steph's stomach added its two cents. "Babe, lets feed the beast." They ordered room service. While they waited they talked about the plans for today and tomorrow. Ranger reminded them he had a meeting with his attorney tomorrow morning. Everybody else was going shopping. Now they were also shopping for a wedding dress. Ranger's appointment was for 0900 in the suite. He should be done by 1000 he thought.
Ranger asked, "Babe, have you thought anything more about when you would like to get married?" She replied, "I would love to get married tomorrow. Just fly on to Vegas and get it done. Then, I won't have to worry about my mother and Morelli. But that can't happen."
"Want to bet?" Ranger quizzed. She knew better than to ask, but when has that ever stopped her. "How can we pull it off?" "Simple, shop today. Then after my meeting we can fly to Vegas. We have witnesses that I did not kidnap you. Get married fly back on Sunday. They can go on to Hawaii for their honeymoon. Then the pilot comes back to Vegas for us." Ranger said.
"How are they going to get home?" Stephanie asked. "Walk and swim?" Ranger replied. Lester flipped him off. "Where do you want to go for your honeymoon?" Ranger asked.
"Some place warm. I would like to stop in Miami for a couple days to see Julie and your family so they hear we are married from us. Then Tahiti or Jamaica for a month would be nice. We really should ask them if they want and can do all of this." Steph said.
The food arrived. It would give Lester and Amanda a few minutes to mull it over. "I would need to take care of the utilities for the house. I also need to make a few calls, mainly to Eric so he knows he has payroll and what is on the schedule. I have not talked to Hal about staying there at night and taking care of the animals. I know he was planning on it. What about you, Lester? Anything you can think of that I missed?" Lester said, "I do not know of anything. I do need to clear it with my boss. It is going to take a while to swim and walk back." "I believe it is settled. I'll make my calls and go from there." Amanda said.
Ranger told them Hal would stay there that was not a problem. He had already been assigned to stay there anytime Lester was gone. Woody was Hal's back up. They finished breakfast. Amanda went to make her calls. Everything was arranged. Time to go shopping.