A/N: I use them for fun and not for profit.

Chapter 35

He was hungry. They'd skipped lunch and he had expended a lot of energy during the course of the afternoon. It made him think of the first time they were together in this bed and he checked his immediate response, which was to turn his thoughts away. It was a habit he was trying to break. Anytime their first time came into his mind he had pushed it to the very back of his consciousness. It was the only way he could deal with the pain, but this time he made an effort to remember all of the details. His uncontrolled passion, and her unexpected response. The hunger, and the Tastykakes. He smiled at the memory and he thought Tavia would be pleased. He was making progress.

He could lift her off him and go look for food, but she was sleeping soundly and he didn't want to disturb her. She was straddling him diagonally with her knees on either side of his thighs. Her upper body had slipped off him and her head was buried in his armpit. He could see a mass of brown curls and her backbone extending in a crooked line down his body. He frowned as he saw red glitter stuck to the base of her spine. She looked uncomfortable, but she was snoring softly and he felt, possibly, a puddle of drool running down the inside of his arm. She was a mess and he was so turned on he was going to have to wake her up.

His phone rang and did the job for him. He reached to the nightstand and saw it was Tank. Stephanie moaned and rolled off his body to curl up next to him. He thought about letting it go to voicemail, but it was Tank and Tank had known of his plan to spend the day with Stephanie, so it must be important.

"Yo."

"We've got trouble." Tank was all business and Ranger paid close attention. "The Edison account was compromised today. Someone got in without setting off the alarms. Woody and Hector are on site and I'm going down to start damage control. I thought you'd want to know."

"I'll be there in twenty," Ranger said and he disconnected. He didn't want to go. He wanted to stay with Stephanie, but he'd been gone for several weeks and had left so much of the day-to-day running of the company to Tank it was time to jump back in with both feet.

"How long will you be gone?" Stephanie asked running her hand down his chest, stopping at the edge of the waist-high sheet.

"I don't know, but I'll call." He stood from the bed and began the search for his clothes. "You should stay in bed and get more sleep," he told her, "because I will be back and you'll need all your energy." His eyes widened as he saw her blush at his statement. She reached down and pulled the tangled sheet up over her bare breasts.

He laughed at her blush. "Babe, really?" He dressed quickly and leaned down to smooth the covers up over her and tucked them securely under her chin. "I should be able to work through the problem in a couple of hours." He looked at his watch and remembered his long ago plans for the day. "I'm taking you out for dinner and dancing. I'll be back by seven. Be ready."

Her response was a smile and he saw her stretch under the covers and he knew he couldn't leave without another touch, so he bent to give her one last kiss.

"We could stay home tonight," she told him.

"No. We're going to celebrate." She raised her eyebrows in a silent question. "Us," he told her. "We're going to celebrate us."

As he walked from her bedroom he glanced toward Stephanie's dining room and something familiar caught his eye. He took a detour on his way to the door. His hand ran over the heavy cream envelope addressed to Stephanie in hand-lettered calligraphy. He had no need to open the envelope. There was an identical one on the sideboard in his apartment. Time to call his mother.

As he turned from the door of her apartment and made his way to the stairs his mind was filled with what he wanted to say, and what he could actually get away with saying to his mother. He was halfway down the stairs when Morelli turned the corner on his way up. Both men stopped, staring at one another. After a moment's hesitation, Morelli resumed his climb.

"This isn't a good time," Ranger said. "She's napping." Morelli stopped one step below him.

"Is she sick?" he asked Ranger.

"No."

"Strange time of day for a nap," Morelli said, and then he lifted one eyebrow and continued his climb.

"This isn't a good time," Ranger repeated softly. He had no particular fight with Morelli, but he didn't like the idea of Morelli dropping by uninvited.

"I need to talk to her," Morelli said.

"I'll give her a message."

"You do that, Mañoso. Tell her the charges have been dropped on Anton Ward, the Red Devil, and he's now a free man." Morelli turned and made his way back down the stairs. He stopped at the bottom and stood with his back to Ranger. "I don't think Ward is much of a threat. The Slayers are pretty well destroyed, but I'd keep her and Lula off Comstock, if I were you."

"I'll tell her."

"Yeah," Morelli said. "You tell her, and when she doesn't listen, try Maalox. It works better than Tums." And he was gone.

Ranger pushed the building door open and stepped into the parking a lot, awash in the late afternoon sun. He saw Morelli's SUV peel out of the lot and into traffic. He walked toward the Turbo. The sooner he got to the Edison building, the sooner he could be free to spend the evening with Stephanie. He checked his wristwatch again and considered calling his mother. It was late in the afternoon and he knew she'd be preparing for his father's arrival at home.

His parents had an end of the day ritual their children were aware of and didn't normally intrude upon. They had provided a loving home for him and his siblings, but there was always a connection between his parents that was obvious to the children. Claudia and Ricardo were a team and very much in love, and their end of the workday retreat was well known to all the children. His father entered the house and went straight to his bedroom where he spent ten or fifteen minutes alone with his wife. When the kids were young they waited around the table. When his father came to join the family at dinner, the businessman was gone, and their papa was available to all of his children.

As a child he'd known his mother was upstairs telling his father all the trouble he'd gotten into during the day. Or sometimes he was sure his mother had told his father how mean his older sisters had been to him. As an adult, it crossed his mind that possibly more than conversation regarding the day's events had occurred during that short transition from the workday world to the evening devoted to the family, but even as an adult he couldn't go there. They were his parents.

He made the call. His father wouldn't be home yet and there were things that had to be said.

"Carlos?" The caller ID had obviously announced his call. He heard the unspoken question. He'd just spent time with her two days ago and it was unusual for him to be calling, especially approaching his father's homecoming time.

"I won't take long, Mother. I just wanted to RSVP for your anniversary celebration."

"That's unnecessary, Carlos. I know you'll be there."

"I'm RSVPing for Stephanie. She'll be coming with me."

"Oh?"

"Don't match-make, Mother. I can take care of my personal life fine without you. I appreciate the effort, but stop."

"So Stephanie will be your date?"

"She will be accompanying me," he said. He hadn't asked her, but he'd been planning to. And, yes, dammit, she would be his date. He just wasn't ready to go public with what was between them, at least with his family. There would be immediate questions about their future, and they would be questions he couldn't answer. He and Stephanie were new, and the fact they had a future was enough for him. He wasn't going to let his family entertain speculations about the two of them if he could avoid it.

"As your friend?" Damn, his mother was persistent.

"Yes. I've told you we are friends and coworkers."

"Carlos, did it ever, for even a moment, occur to you I might have invited Stephanie because I wanted her there as my friend?"

Nice try, Mama. "No." He disconnected. He didn't see the broad smile that lighted his mother's face, and he didn't hear her deep, satisfied chuckle.

There was a controlled chaos at the scene. Hector and Woody were reviewing videotape trying to figure out who had gotten around the alarms, and how. Tank was talking to the CEO as Ranger approached.

Ranger shook hands with the man. He was about to offer him an assurance they would figure out what had gone wrong when Lester approached with a tall shapely brunette clinging to his arm.

"Ranger, meet Ms. Allensworth." Lester angled his head toward the CEO. "She's Mr. Frend's executive assistant." The woman left Lester's side and walked toward her boss.

"I'm sorry, bab…sir." The CEO, Mr. Frend, blushed and Ranger knew what was coming.

"I turned off the camera and alarm before our, ah, conference today, and I forgot to reset." Ms. Allensworth hung her head.

"It's fine," he said quietly to the noticeably upset assistant. He turned toward Ranger and Tank. "I'm sorry, gentlemen. It seems your systems didn't fail at all. I'll start an internal investigation to see who was in my office, and what they took."

"We'd be happy to assist you with that investigation," Tank told him. "I've got two men going over different feeds right now. Maybe other cameras can give us a hint."

"Yes, well, thank you," Mr. Frend said.

"Let's go to your office, sir," Lester told the CEO. "I'll help you and," he shot a smile toward the distraught assistant, "Ms. Allensworthy sort through the mess.

"It's worth," she corrected Lester. "Allensworth, you know like, 'It's worth it'."

Lester grinned. "I'm sure it is." He once again hooked his arm through the woman's.

The CEO followed Lester and Ms. Allenworth, who was paying a great deal of attention to Lester. Ranger smiled tightly. The right man for the right job. Lester had his unique talents.

Ranger looked over at Tank. "That was easy," he told his friend.

"Easier that I thought it would be," Tank replied. "Sorry to call you out for nothing."

"Don't apologize. It's my job." Ranger said.

Tank looked at him for a long moment. "Welcome back, Rangeman."

"I've got a new job for you," Ranger told him. "Anton Ward is back on the street. His movements need to be monitored."

"I'll get on it," Tank said. He and Ranger turned and began to walk back to the parking area.

When he was once again seated in the Turbo, Ranger called Stephanie.

"Yo." Her voice was lazy and teasing, as she mocked him with his own greeting.

"Are you still in bed?"

"Yes."

He thought about turning the Porsche in the direction of her apartment, but he resisted. "We're going out, Babe. To the Cayman Club in Newark."

"The Cayman Club?" He heard the excitement in her voice. It was well known as an upscale dining and dancing establishment.

"Can you be ready in an hour?" he asked.

There was only a slight hesitation before she said yes. He smiled. He'd give her an hour and a half.

When she opened her door to him, he forgot to breathe. She was dressed in a black sheath which scooped low showing her cleavage to its full advantage. Her hair was a halo of curls around her head, its new shorter length curing under her chin and leaving part of her neck exposed. He wanted to lean in and touch the skin of her neck with his mouth, but he resisted. His eyes traveled down the length of her dress which clung to every curve and ended well above her knees. Her legs were long and muscular and her feet were encased in black patent sling-backs with four-inch heels.

"Can you dance in those shoes?" he asked her, not taking his eyes from them. "Because dancing is on the agenda."

"Of course I can," she replied. He let his eyes roam slowly upward and stopped at her breasts. He could clearly see the outline of her nipples through the jersey fabric. It seemed she was as taken with his appearance as he was with hers. He reached out a finger and dipped it slowly into her cleavage. When he withdrew his finger he held it in front of his face for a moment before extending it toward her. His smile was wide. Her eyes narrowed as she saw the single piece of red glitter.

"I'm going to be wearing glitter for months. Darn that Sally." She stepped back from the door. "Let me get my purse and make sure I have everything I need, and then I'll be ready." He followed her to the dining room, where her purse was laying on the table next to the invitation he'd seen earlier.

"I called my mother today," he said. "I told her I'd planned to ask you to attend the anniversary celebration with me. Will you go?"

"I, um, yes," she said blushing. "I'd like to." She picked her purse up from the table and took a moment to inspect her date. "You look so different with short hair," she told him, "but very handsome. And your suit is gorgeous. I'm not used to seeing you dressed like this. It's almost as if you're a stranger."

"You'll get used to it, Babe. And I guarantee I'm the same guy as I was earlier today."

"Well, the package is wrapped differently," and then she blushed furiously as Ranger laughed. "That's not what I meant!" she exclaimed, and then laughed with him. They left the apartment hand-in-hand and made their way down the stairs and out to the Porsche.

It was over an hour to downtown Newark where the dinner club was located. He was quiet as he drove. If he'd been alone in the car he'd have had music on, but he knew it wouldn't have been Stephanie's choice. And he was with Stephanie. She wouldn't stay quiet for long. The decision to take her to Newark had been well thought out. They were in a relationship and it didn't matter if the rules were undefined. She would be spending time with his family and he thought it would be a good thing to get her used to the affluent lifestyle some of his family flaunted. His present lifestyle was well known to Stephanie and it wasn't so far from her own, but that was his choice and his circumstance.

He thought there was a good possibility they would run into someone who knew him or his family tonight. It would be a good way to ease her into the Cuban society. The minute the words entered his mind he was reminded of Tulia Campos and her chiding that he was acting in a manner inappropriate for his place in Cuban society. The plain fact was he was from a prominent family and no matter how much he'd turned his back on them in the past, he was going to have to own up to his heritage. It was the only way he could bridge the gaps he'd made in his family relationships. Another thing he would have to report to Tavia.

The ringing of Stephanie's phone interrupted his musing. He didn't try to eavesdrop, but it was impossible not to in the close confines of his car. It was Lula.

"There's a rumor going on here at RangeMan," Lula told her. "I heard the guys talking and they said you're on a date with Batman."

"It's true," Stephanie replied.

"Why did I have to find out from the grapevine? I need to spend more time at the bonds office. I'm losing touch. I'm gonna come in and file for Vinnie tomorrow. You gonna be there?"

"Bright and early," Stephanie replied.

"Hunh. I'll see you around ten and I'm gonna want details." Lula disconnected and Stephanie looked to see how much Ranger had heard.

"About Lula, Babe," Ranger said. "How are things going without her?"

"Things are going great," Stephanie replied. "But I miss her. I always get my skip, because I've got RangeMan help. So things are going great, but they're kinda boring too."

"I'm hoping Lula will be back working as your partner soon," Ranger said.

"Are you firing her?"

"No. She's doing quite well with her research and Tank is impressed by her progress learning basic self-defense. If we could get her proficiency with a firearm up to acceptable levels she could partner with you. Would you like that?"

"Yes, but I can't imagine working with a Lula who is actually prepared for what we're doing."

Ranger was quiet for a moment wondering whether to broach the subject of Stephanie's training. He decided to go ahead. "I talked to Morelli today," he told her.

Her head swung around and he could feel her eyes on him. He kept his on the road. "Anton Ward was released today. Charges were dropped due to a police screw up with his arrest." She was silent and he glanced briefly at her.

"Babe?"

"Did Joe say he was coming for me?" Her voice sounded resigned.

"No. He said he didn't think Ward was a threat. But it brings up something we need to talk about. I want you to come to RangeMan. You can work with Vince, or Tank, or Lester for that matter. Or you can work with me. I want you to learn how to use your new gun, and I want you to start carrying it, loaded and ready to use. No more cookie jar."

He waited for her to tell him she didn't like guns, that she wasn't comfortable carrying one, but he didn't hear it. "Is it important to you?" she asked.

"Yes."

"Because of Ward?" she asked.

"Partly, and partly because of me. I tried for months to avoid a relationship with you to keep you safe. Now we are together and I still feel the need to keep you safe. Knowing that you are carrying a weapon you are qualified to use will help."

"You."

"Babe?"

"I choose you. I want you to train me." She leaned across the narrow confines of the car and pressed her lips to his cheek. And then she surprised him even further. "And you can put trackers in my purse and on my car, and you can even put a GPS chip in my phone."

Ranger stayed silent, judging now was not the time to tell her he already had.

He'd been to the Cayman Club several times before, mostly with family, and the maître d' greeted him like an old friend. He sat them in a corner where two glass walls merged. The lights of the city spread out in all directions and the view was amazing. Ranger couldn't appreciate it. His eyes left her face only to travel down to her neckline and then when it became uncomfortable, back to her face. They had wine with their dinner and he was careful to monitor her consumption. He knew she didn't have a head for alcohol and he wasn't taking any chances she'd be out of commission later in the evening. He still had plans for her at his apartment.

After dinner they danced and it was both pleasure and pain to hold her so close. He was completely mesmerized by her. He was still aware of his surroundings, and aware that they were in public and he couldn't let his hands drop to her ass and pull her tightly against him. On the other hand, if he maneuvered her into the far corner of the dance floor…

They returned to their table to drink another glass of wine. "This is lovely," Stephanie told him. "I think I feel a little like Cinderella, and you know what that means." He felt her toes slide up the leg of his pants, and his erection was immediate. He'd been half hard since he picked her up, and dancing had been a sweet torture.

"Do you mean you lost a slipper?" he asked her, still feeling her bare toes against his skin. She laughed.

"No," she said. "I mean I have to be home way before midnight." Her toes continued their journey and suddenly her eyes grew wide. "There's no knife. I know there's no gun, because we were dancing very close, and now…" Her toes skimmed his warm skin above the top of his sock. "Are you unarmed?"

"Wrong leg, Babe." He didn't have a gun on him, but there were two in the Porsche. He looked at his watch. Haywood and his apartment were a solid hour away. It had been a long day starting out with a confrontation with Lester and ending up in this restaurant with Stephanie. He wasn't so much concerned with getting her home before midnight as he was getting her home before he ran out of energy. A shadow fell over the table and he looked up to see Tulia Campos.

He was surprised, but he shouldn't have been. Her apartment, the one he was still paying for, was in a building on the same block. She was so completely a part of his past he hadn't considered the possibility of running into her. As soon as she spoke he knew she'd had too much to drink.

"Are you going to introduce me, Carlos?" She looked at Stephanie closely. "At first I thought this was the same old woman you were with the last time, but this one's much younger." She turned to Stephanie. "Are you stealing your older sister's boyfriend, honey?"

Stephanie looked at Ranger. The tight line of his mouth told her he was very angry and fighting to contain his temper. Tulia held out her hand to Stephanie. "Tulia Campos," she said. "The ex-lover. And you I presume are the future ex-lover." Then Tulia swung around and faced Ranger again. "You still have your key, Carlos? You should come see me. I can make you forget all about this one, too. We were meant for each other. It's in our blood." Tulia leaned down over the table to get closer to Ranger and he moved to grab hold of her to stop her progress, but he never got the chance. Tulia crumpled and fell in a heap on the floor next to their table. Ranger never saw the unshod foot that literally took her legs out from under her.

Rogay Alvarado came scurrying across the room. "Tulia!" he said as he bent to help her up.

"Get her out of here," Ranger said softly, and Alvarado saw he was serious. He lifted a confused Tulia up and walked her back to the other side of the restaurant.

"We're leaving," Ranger said. "Cinderella or not, it's time for us to leave the ball."

When they were in the Porsche and Ranger was navigating the streets of downtown Newark he glanced at Stephanie and said, "I know you have questions. Go ahead."

"I have no questions," she said. "The woman, Tulia I think she said, said she was your ex-lover. She didn't know who I was though, because she thought I was your future ex-lover." Stephanie reached across and let her fingers curl into the front of Ranger's slacks. Her fingers found him beneath the fabric and tightened their hold, moving slowly up and down the length of him. "I don't care who was in your past. I just care that I'm your present." His foot depressed the accelerator as much as he dared, and he maneuvered his way onto the turnpike. Home, he had to get home.