Babe story. Babe HEA. Very Morelli UNFRIENDLY. Some angst but lots of fluff to counteract it.

Mi amor (my love) Querida (Dear) Mi cariña(My darling/sweetheart) Si (Yes)Dios (God) Amante (Lover)

WARNING: Language, Sex and Adult themes apply. Possible Violence. Mature Content. I do not own anything, all belongs to Janet Evanovich.

37

SPOV

God, he's so mad. I flinched as his footsteps pounded closer and my eyes snapped shut as he stopped inches from me. I braced myself for the hit I was expecting to come. Instead, Carlos laid the mother of all kisses on my lips, slamming me back into my office door as his tongue plundered my mouth. I heard my gun drop to the ground with a quiet thud as my hands moved to his shoulders, holding on for dear life.

"You ok Babe?" He wondered as his lips drew back a fraction from mine. I think I nodded before his lips gently caressed mine. "Good" Carlos withdrew from my arms, stooped to pick up my gun, checked it was loaded and handed it back to me.

"Carlos?" I questioned quietly as he stood hands on hips, staring at the ceiling.

"You put a hole in roof" He remarked with a chuckle before slinging his arm around my shoulders and leading me to the centre of the floor.

His eyes began to glisten with fury as we approached the other men. Tank, Bobby and Lester drew nearer to us and paused as Carlos halted.

"Line up. Single file. Now." His voice was deadly calm. Too calm. He was really, really mad. I shivered and felt him pull me closer to his side, dropping a kiss to my head.

Every single man on the floor lined up in front of us, bar the three stooges; they were silently standing by Carlos' side.

"Bobby. Control Room" Bobby turned and marched off to follow instructions.

Carlos pulled away from me and stalked up and down the line of men, looking each one of them over. Nobody moved. Nobody breathed. Nobody so much as batted an eye.

"Very well" Carlos growled and came back to stand in front of me, brushing his lips against mine.

"Babe. Tell me what happened" I blinked at him. Nothing he had done so far was predictable…although he was calm…in a: I want to kill you all for aiming a gun at my woman kind of way.

"I removed myself to my office and got down to work. Fifteen minutes later, and from then on at irregular intervals, someone would knock on my door but when I opened it no one was there. After forty five minutes, I had enough and told them to pull their asses in line. No one responded. I fired a warning shot to indicate I meant business, then…well you saw" Carlos kissed me again and tugged on one of my curls, looking thoughtful.

"What were your exact words?" He enquired.

"I said; the next person to knock on my door will be getting a bullet in their dick. Do I make myself clear? Then I fired and asked if they understood" My voice was quiet. I wasn't sure if he was going to get angry at me or not.

"Thank you Babe" Another kiss, this one lingering.

He turned his back to me and stared down his men.

"Babe, start at one end and work your way up" My eyes widened as he looked at me, an eyebrow raised. "Shooting off dicks until someone cracks Babe" He explained further. I suddenly felt the weight of my gun in my hand…but these men had treated me with complete disrespect for over ten months. They had shunned me, belittled me, aggravated and insulted me. Least I could do was even the playing field a little.

The men must have seen a shimmer of evil or anticipation in my eye, because they all shifted uncomfortably. These men who didn't flinch under The Mighty Manoso Glare, were worried about little old me.

I chuckled quietly before moving to the man closest to me. Raising my gun to the man's groin I released the safety. He paled. I loved the feeling of power and control. No wonder Carlos enjoys being a bad ass.

"What's your name?" I wondered. While I did recognize all the faces, there were still a few Merry Men I didn't know the names of.

"Jo-Jonny" He announced.

"And how many times a week do you get laid Jonny?" I demanded in a falsely sweet voice. Carlos had moved to behind my back, his warmth radiating into me.

"Uh-um…five times?" I shook my head. Men were pigs.

"So you're really going to miss little Jonny, aren't ya?" My eyes hardened. He gulped but didn't reply.

Men.

I moved my finger to the trigger and pulled, aiming my gun a little lower, missing everything important, and instead imbedding a bullet in the floor between his feet.

The man still soiled his pants. Quick as lighting, my fist connected with his guts, sucker punching him, dropping him to his knees

"Fuck" he murmured softly.

Some of the other Merry Men's jaws dropped open, shock and awe plastered on their faces.

Carlos rested a hand on my hip and drew us a few steps back, to Lester and Tank.

"Babe" He whispered as he left me with his two right hand men, to pace in front of his employees.

"Next time she shoots, she will hit her target. Speak now and your dick will be spared" Carlos ordered in a low menacing tone. Their dicks will be spared. Snort.

One man stepped out of the line and cleared his throat nervously. Every head in the room snapped in his direction.

"Vince" Carlos acknowledged moving in front of him.

"I knocked on her door twice and I wish to apologize for my behavior." Vince announced, his eyes lowered to the carpet before lifting to mine. I gave him a nod.

"Anyone else have anything to say?" Carlos growled. No-one else moved. Glancing along the line, really taking the men in…I realized almost everyone from yesterday's learning session was missing, except for Caesar.

Silence endured.

"Everyone except Vince is fired. Dismissed" Carlos motioned Vince to follow us and he wrapped an arm around my waist.

Sounds of indignation erupted. I felt the man at my side tense.

"Enough" His voice silenced them abruptly. "You all pointed a loaded and cocked weapon at my woman. Stephanie will be staying. She is a CEO, she is your boss. Neither she nor I will tolerate disrespectful behavior towards her. By pointing a gun at her, you might as well have been pointing it at me. She is mine and you WILL respect her" His tone brooked no room for argument.

Apologizes and voices begging for forgiveness all shouted out at once.

"QUIET!" Carlos roared. "You were given more than one chance to admit to and apologize for your actions. You will each have half of this month's pay docked and every single one of you is on probation. One toe out of line and you will be fired." With that he spun me around and dragged me into his office, slamming the door closed behind us.

"Carlos?" I murmured. His response was to slam me into the wall again and render me both speechless and breathless as his lips fused to mine.

When my knees gave out, he scooped me up into his arms and carried me to his couch, laying me down and covering my body with his, all without breaking the passionate kiss.

Our clothes melted away, hands explored, fingers caressed, lips and teeth punished, tongues soothed and then we were moving in the age old rhythm, our bodies dancing to the music in our souls. We climbed higher and higher until our bodies shattered in mind numbing bliss. Soft, heartfelt words were exchanged, loving tender kisses given and received as we reveled in our intimate embrace.

Carlos flipped us over so that I was the one sprawled across his chest; my head nestled on his shoulder. One hand traced the curves of my body as his other brushed my curls away from my face. His lips brushed back and forth across mine.

"I think you broke the cardinal rule" I murmured as he continued his gentle ministrations.

"Babe, I've broken all the cardinal rules." He answered me with a chuckle.

"No. The less contact rule…" I expounded, my fingers dancing lazily across his deliciously bare chest.

"Babe. What I want to do to you is no secret. And I want to do it bad. Screw the rule. I don't care what the fuck they think. I can always just kick their asses. What the hell was I thinking when I made the damn rule in the first place?" He demanded in a quiet, yet strong voice.

I think I melted into him a little further.

"I love you" I smiled.

"Love you too" Carlos confirmed with an affectionate kiss.

We fell into silence as our bodies cooled down a little...of course it was nye impossible to cool down when lying on top of the sexiest man on earth.

"So you want to tell me what really happened today?" Carlos inquired.

I froze and closed my eyes on a sigh.

"What do you mean?" I mumbled against his skin.

"I mean mi amor, why you hung up on me after the takedown and then locked yourself away" He prodded gently.

"Caesar took my headset away. Everyone was congratulating each other on a job well done" I whispered.

"And no-one was congratulating you querida?" Carlos questioned. I shook my head no and pressed my face further into his shoulder.

"It was silly" My muffled voice replied.

"Hush Babe; no it wasn't. You deserve congratulations amante; you did very well. You kept the family calm, and gave us an estimation of the intruders' firepower. You told us exactly what we needed to know. You kept someone from getting hurt by providing us with that knowledge. You should have been congratulated instead of dismissed. You are a part of this team...The men will come around Babe, I promise you" He declared before falling quiet. I stared at his face, watching as his frown deepened.

"Carlos" I interrupted wherever his silent monologue was taking him.

"I'm so proud of you Babe" He smiled suddenly. "I can't believe you put a bullet in the ceiling, you never disappoint" Carlos shook his head slightly as his grin grew. "But Babe...you do know you could have just brought up the security cameras and watched who was doing it, don't you?" The small smile playing on my lips suddenly dropped off.

"Oh God. I'm such an idiot; I didn't even think I had access to the live feed. Of course that would have been the smart option, but no -" My lips were silenced with a Mocha Latte finger.

"You. Are. Not. An. Idiot. Comprender mi hermosa mujer?"Carlos growled. (Understand my beautiful woman)

I nodded slowly.

"They will take you seriously. I promise." He asserted.

We sat quietly once more. I shivered and Carlos hugged me tighter.

"I was so scared" he whispered suddenly.

"When?" I titled my face back to see his properly.

"When I walked in and saw twenty men with guns all aimed at you" He admitted fearfully.

"Hey, I'm ok. Look, no harm done. I'm sorry; I shouldn't have fired the shot. They were just doing exactly what they were trained to do" I soothed, stroking his jaw with gentle fingers.

His hand caught mine and brought each finger to his lips, yet he said nothing.

"Are you mad at me for how I reacted?" I finally asked. Lips pressed against my forehead.

"No querida." A smile surfaced on my lips, I knew how I was going to draw him out of his funk.

"Good. You can't be mad at me. I'm cute. I might even be adorable." I teased.

"You are adorable Steph, and sexy and gorgeous, certainly cute. I will never be mad at you. Upset or frustrated maybe; but not mad or angry. I love you, no matter what you do. Te amo con toda mi alma." He smiled gently down at me. (I love you with all my soul).

"Te amo" I sighed happily, letting my eyes fall shut.

"C'mon Babe. We should get up and dressed" Carlos poked my tummy with his finger.

"In a minute" I mumbled sleepily. "Work can wait" I continued.

"But Lester, Bobby and Tank won't, and if they saw you naked I would be obligated to kill them" Oh. I sighed and sat up, leaning back down to place a kiss on Carlos' chest, my hair tickling his skin. Huh, I hadn't realized I had lost my hair tie.

"Babe, we want to get up, not get me up" I giggled as I noticed it was already too late; all eleven inches of his pride and joy was standing to attention. "Later, I promise" He grinned, sitting up underneath me and kissing me soundly. "Get dressed" I mock saluted him and hunted on the floor for my clothes, quickly dressing.

"Where's my hair tie?" I wondered from the ground, glancing up at my sexy man. He was already back to his perfectly presented self.

"Leave it out, your curls are sexy" I scowled at him. "Besides…it hides the love bites" I stood up so fast, all the blood rushed to my head and I stumbled into him.

"Love bites?!" I half whimpered. Carlos laughed and trailed kisses up and down my neck.

"Mine!" He gave me a gentle nip and kissed the pout off my lips.

"You should leave your hair out too" I murmured, tugging on his leather tie.

"Why's that Babe?" He smiled, touching my nose lightly.

"Love bites" I smirked. He did in fact have a rather large one at his pulse point that was obvious even with the collar on his shirt.

"Babe!" Carlos laughed, pulling out his tie. His silky locks fell free to his shoulders.

"Sexy man" I smiled up at him.

"Sexy woman" He smiled right back with a kiss.

"You guys decent?!" A loud pounding followed Tank's shout.

"Get your asses in here!" Carlos shouted back. Wrapping both arms snugly around my waist.

A click of the lock and the three clowns tumbled in, closing the door behind them. All three were wearing cat ate the canary grins. I rolled my eyes at them.

They all started speaking at once.

"Beautiful! I can't believe you sucker punched that guy the look on his face…"

"Bombshell! Shooting the ceiling! That's my girl…"

"I really thought you were going to shoot that poor son of a bitch in the dick…I could feel his fear through the monitors…"

"Guys…GUYS!" They shut up for a second and smiled at me.

"We're so proud of you!" They chorused together. I felt tears prickle my eyes and Carlos pulled me closer to his chest.

"Thanks guys" I mumbled.

"Alright, enough upsetting my woman. Get back to work, and Lester, take good care of her" Carlos slowly released me from his arms with a gentle kiss. "Ask Lester to show you how to access the security feed. I love you. So do these clowns. Remember that" He whispered softly in my ear. With another kiss I was walking out the door, heading to my office with my own Merry Man in tow.

Lester opened the door for me and then helped me into my chair.

Probably I could get used to having Lester around.