Disclaimer: Not mine, bummer!

Notes: Sorry about the delay in posting, still sick over here and this chapter was very difficult to write dialog-wise and I'm still not completely happy with it! *gnashes teeth* But instead of continuing to obsess over it I'm moving on! Because people are waiting and I'm not sure if I'm simply being too critical with it. I also ended up splitting this chapter into two because this section was about 13 pages and the next part pushed it over 20 and that was a bit much for one chapter to handle!

I hope it doesn't feel like it ends to abruptly for anyone! I'm going to try to get the next chapter out tomorrow if Anton and Ranger will cooperate with me still! -_-

Rated M! This chapter earns it's rating! Just incase you weren't expecting adult content by now...yeah, *ahem*

Thanks! Huge thanks to all the readers/favoriters (so not a word, I know!) and reviewers! I'd like to type out everyone's name again but there are so many now that It might take me an hour to flip back and forth! Thank you guys so, so much for all your reading and reviews and support!

I cherish every bit of communication I receive you just don't know, I bounce around the house like a kid on a sugar high! :D

Chapter Thirty-Seven

(Stephanie's POV still)

The drive to New York was undertaken in silence, driving with Ranger is usually done quietly so I can't say I'm surprised even in spite of recent events. It wasn't like I suddenly expected Batman to turn into Chatty Cathy. I don't know what Ranger was thinking about in his zone for the last hour as we made the trip from Trenton, New Jersey to the over flowing taxi crowded streets of New York, but I couldn't help but focus on the way the muscles in my inner thighs kept trembling and jumping under my skin from our earlier exertion. Guess I need to spend more time stretching when I run.

When I pulled the Audi up to the Peninsula hotel we'd been staying at I expected Ranger to say something, instead he just got out of the car and circled to the driver's side to open my door for me before the valet could blink in reaction to our arrival let alone move to take my key. Ranger pulled it from my fingertips and tossed it to the valet without a word.

"Have a good day Mrs. Paretti," The Valet called after us and I wondered how much Anton had to tip the guy so he'd remember my name, though maybe it was the car the remembered. It was hard to forget a car this sweet. Ranger was looking straight ahead but I noticed the muscles in his jaw twitch at the name.

"Mrs.?" Ranger said. "He's got you going by Mrs. Paretti?" His voice had dropped to an angry hiss.

"Yeah, why? It's just a cover, I'm not actually married!"

Ranger was moving us across the marble foyer and up the staircase to the elevators, he waited until we were ensconced in one and alone before he turned to face me and his eyes were hard as stone. "Babe, Paretti is the name of one of his covers, like Marc Pardo is for me."

I remembered Ranger saying that he owned the ID of Marc Pardo, it wasn't something he just threw away when he was done. So what did that mean that Anton had married me to one of his cover ID's? Oh boy. No wonder Ranger was pissed!Ranger's hand lifted and his fingertips closed over the Saint Michael medal resting on my skin. "Anton wears one of these as well."

"It doesn't mean anything." I said.

"Babe," and Ranger's tone clearly said, 'Really? You expect me to believe that?'

Well it didn't, did it? I thought about the dinner and everything Anton had said, Crap. I tipped my neck forward and rested my forehead against his chest and I swear some of the tension eased out of him, not all of it, but enough I was no longer worried Ranger might go off on a killing spree any minute.

"Can't leave you alone for a minute babe without the devil swooping in,"

"So Anton is evil?" I mumbled back my voice muffled by his shirt.

"Babe, I operate in shades of legal grey," I nodded against him in acknowledgement—he'd told me this before. "I have a moral compass and I try damn hard to stand by it." Ranger added, though it wasn't necessary—I remembered that part too. That moral compass allowed Ranger to bend the law when it fit him, and I was also pretty damn sure it had allowed for him to kill when he thought I'd needed protecting.

"Anton doesn't see black or white babe, his whole world is a very slippery slope of grey—and as long as I've known him he hasn't had a real strong set of morals, at least none that I've witnessed."

I remembered insisting that Anton looked like he'd sell his mother for a nickel and him laughing at me and sucked in a breath wondering if the real reason he'd laughed at me was because I'd been right all along. God what did I get myself into?

The lesser of two evils, Stephanie! I reminded myself and then I straightened up with a tight frown and behind my back the elevator door dinged announcing the floor to my suite. I turned on my heel and led Ranger down the hallway to the door marked with the fancy name and number of our suite. I unlocked the door and silently prayed that when I opened it Mr. Paretti wasn't already home. I don't think anyone could blame me for wanting to put off that particular encounter a little while longer.

I glanced inside and breathed a small sigh of relief when the suite appeared empty as I opened the door and started to enter. Ranger's restraining hand on my arm however quickly brought me up short. His gun was out in front of him in both hands in mere seconds and I watched him move forward to sweep the suite ignoring my call of "Ranger, Seriously?"

I moved forward away from the door shutting it behind me softly and ignored the look Ranger shot me when I didn't follow his order to wait in the hall like I would have in my old apartment. What did he really expect to find here anyway? It's not like Anton would be hiding behind furniture waiting to jump out and grab me…

Well, not after the knee to balls incident anyway. I smiled to myself remembering that and Ranger's brow rose in question until I waved him off to do his thing. I knew he wouldn't relax until he was certain the 'perimeter' or 'location' or Hell whatever lingo he wanted to call it was secure.

I set my things on the bar and watched Ranger from the corner of my eye as he swept his gaze over the living room and dining area before opening the door to the entry way closet, which was empty and then the bedroom suite in an attempt to clear the other rooms the same way he always did my apartment checking for stalkers and killer dust bunnies—since I didn't have any stalkers that I knew of, and the hotel had probably never had dust bunnies I wasn't too worried. Nobody knew who I was here, and everyone that knew the real me for the most part thought I was dead, which didn't make for a lot of visitors of any kind.

Ranger frowned down at me when I squeezed by his chest bumping into him since his frame was more than partially blocking the doorway to the bedroom where he seemed frozen for some reason. I uttered a soft "excuse me," slipping by him but I wasn't sure if he even heard me since I didn't get a reaction from him, not even a flick of his eyes in my direction. I flicked my eyes to follow his gaze and realized he was staring at the bed.

"Does Anton sleep in here," Ranger asked voice tight and barely restrained.

"No," and okay once, but I didn't think he was really asking that exactly. I was pretty certain Ranger was still worried I'd slept with Anton, as in slept, slept. Which never happened, not even close, the first and only time he'd tried to kiss me I'd slapped the shit out of him. I turned away from the statue of perfectly still Cuban muscle blocking the doorway and kept walking so I didn't have to school my expression and hoping he would drop it. I needed to get out of this dress and into something that wasn't held up by safety pins, though Ranger had done a good job with them and from any distance you'd be hard pressed to even tell the dresses zipper was broken.

I left Ranger still looming in the doorway looking unhappy—I wasn't sure if he was upset about the suite, the name, or something else but I was certain that in a moment he would tell me. I might as well get changed while he got around to it, I didn't think it would take him that long honestly. When Ranger has something to say people listen. It was a skill I was still working on mastering. Sometimes I wondered if I'd ever really master it or if it was another one of those things you had to be born with—like the zone thing.

I was struggling with the pins in the back of my dress when I felt Ranger come up behind me in the dressing room, his warm hands replacing mine so I could stop struggling at an awkward angle to remove the pins without stabbing myself in the back repeatedly or getting a cramp in my muscles. Ranger's hands made quick work of the pins from the top of my back down to the last one just above the curve of my ass. I shivered when his fingers slipped inside the material ghosting up both sides of my spine to the back of my neck and then he peeled the dress off my body to puddle at me feet and turned me to face him in the span of a heartbeat. Ranger had my back pressed against the back wall of the closet trapped against the firm wall of his chest encircled in his arms and wearing nothing but my previously ruined panties and knee high boots. "That's a good look for you babe," his tone was thick with lust.

"Ranger—" was all I got out before he was kissing me again.

Several minutes later I was breathy heavy and Ranger wasn't sounding much better. "I need a shower," I finally managed to gasp right before his mouth crashed into mine again. Parts of me were embarrassingly sticky from earlier and I was starting to get uncomfortable.

Ranger's fingers hooked over the waistband of my panties next to my hips and he slid them down my legs—somehow without breaking our kiss and until they got caught on my boots and I had to pull away from him to alternately stand on one leg so I could remove them. When I looked up again Ranger was also naked.

Holy HotFlash this man is pure sin. I ran my hands over his chiseled chest marveling at all that mocha flavored shell of hot skin with just the right amount of muscle underneath flexing and moving under my roaming hands. Ranger's nipples hardened as I trailed my fingertips over them and I licked my lips wondering how they'd taste.

"Babe,"

Hmm? I blinked up at him and Ranger was grinning.

"I thought you wanted a shower?" Ranger said.

Oh. Right. We moved from the closet to the bathroom and Ranger started up the jets in the glass walled shower that was more than big enough for two—strange how I'd never noticed it before now. Ranger steered me under the spray and we started out getting clean—and then we got dirty all over again when Ranger pinned me to the tile wall of the shower and I wrapped my legs around his waist while he moved inside of me in a perfect rhythm driving me over the edge several times in the first few minutes. I traced my fingers down his chest again, following the cascading drops of water as they moved down his skin until Ranger pinned my hands beside my head and kissed me senseless. By the time my last orgasm hit in tandem with his my head was tilted back against the tile wall breaking our kiss and I was sobbing and screaming his name mindlessly to the ceiling.

When he finally let me slide down his body to stand on wobbly legs a few bleary moments later I watched him grab a washcloth and some of the body soap before diligently and gently clean me all over again. I bit my lip realizing we'd done it again. I really hoped Ranger was right about the whole ovulation thing—I wasn't ready for bat babies, I was still trying to wrap my head around finally having Batman!

We dried off and I left the steam filled bathroom to get dressed in the closet choosing a comfortable pair of black yoga pants and a plain black t-shirt over a slightly lacy bra and pantie set while behind me Ranger stole a pair of Anton's clothing to replace the one he'd been wearing when I kidnapped him. When I turned around he'd I found him in a pair of solid black work out pants with pockets and a plain t-shirt that fit tight enough to be a tattoo over his chest making my breath catch. He didn't borrow underwear, which I tried not to notice, though I honestly wasn't sure if Anton even had any—I never noticed, and it wasn't like I went looking for them like I did that time on seven trying to find the silk boxers of Batman…I blushed and Ranger lifted one eyebrow while tucking his gun into the small of his back beneath his shirt. I didn't comment. I had several guns stashed in various places throughout the apartment suite.

We moved to the main area of the living room and I grabbed two bottles of water from the fridge and sat next to Ranger on the sofa eying the files spread out on the coffee table in front of us from my previous perusal before I'd left.

"So what can you tell me?" I asked after taking a healthy swig.

Ranger was leaned back against the arm rest watching me, expression neutral but not exactly blank. "What do you want to know?" he said.

"How long have you known Anton? Does he do what you do?" Are you a hitman for the government? I didn't ask though I desperately wanted to know.

"I'm not a hitman, babe." Ranger's expression remained the same, but the lines around his mouth tightened slightly and his gaze moved out the window to the building across the street. "I met Anton on a mission eight years ago, we've had a few run-ins and even been required to work together a few times since then—we're not on the best terms."

I'd gathered that already. I snorted softly and Ranger continued ignoring me.

"Anton doesn't do the same work as me, he started out as an Army Ranger like I did—but he doesn't function well with a team, as far as I know he switched to the banner of the CIA a few years ago but when he's not working for them he freelances and does his own thing."

Like Ranger did with Rangeman.

"Yes and No babe, Anton doesn't have a company, obviously—he's just one man, and he doesn't have a moral compass so a lot of his money comes from questionable places. I know he's taken hits for our government, and also from private parties when he finds them—there was some concern a few years ago that he was taking on contracts outside the country, and might have been offering other countries intelligence work but he covered his tracks well and no one could ever prove it. The last two years he's been doing mostly black ops so there isn't much of a paper trail to track him. He works in the shadows; almost always alone, when someone needs to disappear Anton makes it happen."

I stared at the water bottle in my hands twisting and untwisting the cap repeatedly with my right hand while I thought about that. It was similar to what Anton had said about Ranger months ago—minus the hit man thing—though I assumed that when Anton talked about Ranger being the boogie man he wasn't suggesting Ranger showed up in the middle of the night to see the bad guy and that they had a nice little chat with hot chocolate and then he left again.

"Babe?"

"Do you kill people?" I was still staring at my hands. Neither of us spoke for a few heart beats. I don't know why I was asking—I knew he'd killed, or was 99% certain it had been him. Maybe I just wanted to see if he would answer me, there was so much about Ranger he held in secret. Man of mystery fit him to a T. I wondered how much of what Anton said about him was true; was Ranger a monster and I'd never seen it? Was I blinded by my feelings for him? Joe used to insist Ranger was insane, but I'd always ignored his ranting because I felt like Joe didn't like Ranger because of my feelings for him.

Tension coiled in my chest at the thought, and my stomach turned sour. No. Ranger wasn't a monster, I didn't believe the words when Anton said them, and sitting next to him now I wouldn't believe them. I couldn't. It wasn't possible to believe something like that about Batman.

Ranger's hand settled on the back of my neck and I felt the tension in my shoulders melt away under the heat of his hand. "Yes, I've killed people Stephanie. Sometimes, there isn't another way." Ranger finally said very quietly. "I've killed when someone I love is in danger and I need to keep them safe."

I nodded slowly taking a deep breath. Ranger had killed for me. I had killed for Julie. If Ranger was a monster, if any small part of me believed that; what did that make me? Ranger said nothing for a long time and his hand left me before I heard him draw in a heavy breath. "Babe, Stephanie—does that change the way you feel about me?" His voice was drawn and tight, quiet with a tone I rarely heard from him I realized it was pain, insecurity and I rushed to shake my head.

"No." I looked at him needed to reassure him, make him believe me. "No, I know who you are, and you're a good person." Sometimes good people had to do bad things for the right reasons. "What do you know about Ivan Vikhrov? I assume you know him." I found it very difficult to believe someone who'd never met or dealt with Ranger in any way would seek this kind of revenge on him.

Ranger sat very still. "He's from a crime family in Russia, they handle guns, drugs, and stolen military grade weapons they rehome to the highest bidders. I had a run in with them two years ago when they got their hands on anti-aircraft missiles among a few other nasty things. We went in to stop their sale and recover them, there was a firefight and the warehouse with all the weapons went up in flames. Lester took a bullet on that mission and Tank got banged up during our extraction. You don't want anything to do with Ivan Vikhrov babe. Any of the Vikhrovs—they're bad news."

I couldn't believe Ranger was telling me this, Ranger never told me anything! Wasn't this classified information?

"You're dead babe, are you going to tell anyone about it?"

I shook my head no and mimed locking my lips and throwing away the key making Ranger's lips twitch. Then I sighed because if he didn't already know this part, he would soon and he wasn't going to like it. "Ivan was the one that put the hit on me and Julie. He sent a few guys after us in Costa Rica; it didn't work out the way the planned. Anton knew they were coming and we were prepared. They got to the house we'd been staying at and we blew it up, while they were still inside. Well, Anton blew it up technically—I thought he was going to just distract them with the explosion or…Hell." I paused taking a deep breath and huffing it out. "I guess I didn't actually think about what we were going to do with the explosives at the time. I was just trying to keep Julie and me alive and I'm really good at not thinking about things when I need to just get through something."

Ranger nodded slowly "Probably payback for losing the 4.8 million dollars and the missiles. I understand he was pretty pissed about that."

I glanced at him before turning my attention back to my hands. "So on Thursday, I'm supposed to get on a plane with Anton—"

"Going where?" Ranger's eyes narrowed.

"Um, Russia. But now I don't know what any of this means," I waved my hands at the folders and papers on the coffee table. "And I don't think I can trust Anton. I have money, and a car and I mean shit I'm dead. I have a whole new identity—several, actually. I can just start over somewhere and I don't even know what I'm doing anymore!"

"These names aren't related to Vikhrov or any of their dealings as far as I could tell. Things have changed the last few years since I got intel on them but guns and drugs are covered in Jersey and New York by local families. There's no reason for them to be here. Stephanie, if Ivan put out a contract on your lives then he won't remove it until you and Julie are dead. He's not the type of man to reconsider…what are you going to Russia for exactly?"

We sat in silence. I tried not to fidget. I guess my silence told him something I wasn't ready or didn't know how to say.

"Babe, what do you want?"

I stared at my hands.

"Do you want your old life back?"

I grimaced and slowly shook my head. The stalkers, the garbage rolling, the exploding cars…no thanks.

"Do you want to be with me?"

I couldn't look at him but I felt him shift in his seat. I nodded slowly and Ranger pulled me into his chest wrapping his arms around me so tight the embrace was nearly crushing. "Ranger?"

"Carlos, babe. Dios, you scared me."

"What, why?"

"I thought maybe…" he stopped.

"What?" I pressed him. "You thought I didn't want to be with you?"

I felt him nod slowly. "Carlos, I always want to be with you, I've wanted you from the moment we met." I felt him pull in a deep breath.

"Even if this is just another in a long line of people trying to hurt you to get back at me?" The pain was back in his tone again.

"I don't know if you've noticed but the last three years I've done a bang up job of attracting my own line up of potential stalkers and killers. Anyone wanting revenge is just going to have to take a number and get in line with them."

"I noticed, I will do everything I can to keep you safe." I opened my mouth to argue and Ranger squeezed me tighter and continued. "But I won't lock you away, I agree—as much as I don't like to admit it. That's never worked very well at keeping you safe."

"So does that mean you're going to Russia with me?"

"Yes." There wasn't even a split second hesitation. "and I'd like Tank and Bobby and Lester to go as well."

I frowned. "You want to get them involved in this?"

"They were with me the first time, they know the risks—They can refuse if they want to but I know they'll want to go with us. Even if we didn't ask they might show up, and I want more than just the two of us against possibly an entire army."

"What about Anton?"

Ranger growled softly. "What about him?"

"He set all of this up, are you…I mean…will you…uh, can you work with him?" Are you going to kill him the second he shows up?

"I'll try not to kill him, but I make no promises." Ranger growled over my head. "When is he supposed to be back?"

"Tomorrow sometime, I don't know when exactly."

"And you won't go back to Rangeman." Ranger was watching me intently.

"No."

"Will you consider getting another hotel?"

I frowned. "What's wrong with this one? Is this some kind of macho thing?"

"Maybe." Ranger admitted.

I sat back pulling away from Ranger's chest to stare at him. "If I move how will he contact me?" I said.

"Babe, he's got a tracker around your neck, and probably a GPS locater on the car downstairs."

My fingers instantly went to the necklace. "He said it wasn't a tracker!"

"Just like the earrings I gave you to wear." Ranger said and I narrowed my eyes at him.

"You put a tracker in my jewelry?"

"Babe if I could get away with it I'd sew a tracker into the lining of your underwear."

I scoffed at him rolling my eyes. "That's just because you want to know I'm wearing it."

Ranger growled and pulled me flush against his chest. "Steph, there are very few things that get to me." I stared at him a little wide eyed feeling his chest rise and fall under my hands. "The thought of you with someone else—anyone else is one of those things. I wasn't kidding when I told you if you belonged to me I'd be very upset if you came home missing clothing. I'd go out and track down whoever the bastard was and kill him, inventively, and slowly."

I swallowed under the intense heat in Ranger's eyes my stomach fluttering. "Okie Dokie,"

"I'm being serious Stephanie." Yow, Ranger was deadly serious. No endearment this time, my full name. "I won't share you, not with anyone. If Anton has touched you in any way, I will kill him. If he tries to touch you in front me, I'll kill him. If we get home and I find you with Joe doing more than having a friendly chat in plain sight fully clothed on the street I'd be sorely tempted to kill him. I love you Stephanie, but I'm not always a nice man. It's one of the reasons being with you like this scares me so much. I can be…territorial."

No Shit! At least he wasn't trying to pee on my leg. I nodded slowly thinking about the way I felt when Julie told me about the drawer and the thong I thought belong to someone else and I could kind of see where he was coming from. Me territorial over Ranger? Yeah, not exactly a new thing as far as I was concerned. I'd been jealous and upset over anyone hypothetical or not that I thought might be in Ranger's life for years, even when I'd been with Joe. Very fair of me.

"Okay," I said a little breathlessly, feeling my heart pound in my chest—but I wouldn't say it was from fear. "But just so you know it's a two way street mister," Ranger's brow rose staring at me. It climbed higher watching me poke a finger into his solid chest. "I catch you with anyone else and I'm not going to be filing for divorce like I did with the Dick!" I threatened. I wasn't ready to say I would kill anyone—but the thought of Ranger with his hands on anyone else did make me see enough red that I'd probably consider it. Maybe I wouldn't kill him or Jeannie but I could burn the building down, I was very good at that. Hell I could probably blow up all the cars at Haywood and make it look like just another 'Bombshell Accident'.

Ranger grinned suddenly. "Babe, there's never been anything between me and Jeannie, but I have to admit I'm a little turned on at the idea of you turning to arson in jealousy..." Ranger was leaning closer to me as he was speaking, his hands drifting lower to cup my ass. I gasped feeling him. Ranger was more than a little turned on, if you know what I mean. His voice against the shell of my ear a split second later had me shivering. "You said Divorce babe, is that a yes to marrying me?"

"maybe, now shut up—" I mumbled against his lips twisting my fingers in his hair to hold him near me, "—and kiss me." Ranger's mouth sealed to mine and his hands on my hips turned me so I was straddling him in against the seat cushions similar to our positions earlier in the car.

I pulled back from his kiss a few moments later. "Bedroom," I whispered and Ranger nodded and helped me stand up before returning my mouth to his. He walked us backwards and sideways in a corkscrew weaving dance shedding clothing the entire way to the bedroom his gun held in one hand until he could deposit it on my nightstand. His eyes moved over my body when I was standing in front of him once again naked and I returned the gesture more than enjoying the view.

Every part of Ranger is perfect, always has been. He's tanned, muscled tall and big everywhere. Especially where it counts. I wrapped my hand around him and Ranger grabbed my wrist.

"Babe No," his voice sounded strained.

"No?"

Ranger pushed me down to the mattress. "I have plans for that later, but first I want to do this." I didn't get a chance to ask him what because Ranger went straight to demonstrating exactly what he meant by climbing onto the bed next to me and pinning me with one arm and another searing hot kiss. His mouth left mine after a minute to trailed down my neck, licking and nipping there briefly before moving further down to my chest.

My breath hummed out in pleasure and my thighs jump knees bending to press my heels to the bed feeling the heat of his mouth enclose my right breast while he flicks the tip of his artful tongue over its sensitive peaked tip, sucking hard and making my back arch off the bed. He turns his attention to the other side, slowly working his way from one to the other with little nibbles and hot wet kisses slow enough to drive me mad gasping and squirming. His fingers trailing down my abdomen cupping me but not doing anything else for a moment before moving on, tracing his palms over more of my skin.

By the time Ranger closed his mouth over my other breast I was practically leaping off the bed, the desire to feel his mouth on other things making me crazy. I twisted my fingers in his thick hair desperate to direct him, steer him toward where I needed to feel him.

"Tell me what you want babe,"

A startled gasp escaped me feeling Ranger's mouth move over the sensitive flesh of my ribs down to my belly. I wanted to touch him, I wanted him to move lower and taste me, I wanted to scream his name with him buried inside me.

"Soon," Ranger said and somebody growled, and I think it might have been me. Ranger's breath puffed out hot and distracting against my navel in obvious amusement and I felt the tiniest wriggle of irritation and then his mouth slide lower and my back arched rolling my hips towards him. Hot, wet heat from Ranger's mouth was driving me half-insane with need, hovering just above where I needed him to be to touch me. I forgot my frustration feeling his tongue swirl over smooth skin the spa had just waxed for me and I started to tremble, begging him to touch me lower, taste me. I'm physically shaking in anticipation. But Ranger apparently has decided to do things his way, driving me completely crazy.

He completely skipped over the throbbing flesh so obviously begging for his attention and instead set to trailing a path of kisses down one of my hips before continuing with his mouth down one leg all the way to my knee, soft kisses pressed to the inside of tender flesh I never knew was so sensitive leaving me gasping and writhing as he touches one side and then shifts to return the same attentions to the other.

Ranger's hands drag my attention for the slow crawl of his mouth, as they slide up over my thighs, skirting my bare hips and tracing the crease where my leg meets body making me twitch. My back arches clear off the mattress beneath me, some desperate sound I don't recognize escapes me and I clamp my eyes shut, panting, my pelvis thrusting subconsciously toward Ranger's hovering mouth and conspicuously absent hands. He's driving me crazy, not touching me. I can feel his breath hot against my skin—so close but not on me. My whole body is tingling, flushed from head to toe with need.

"Carlos, Please…"

My shoulders buck off the bed fingers clutching reflexively in the sheets, fisting them in to tight knots. Biting my lip to try to stop the throaty groan from escaping as he continues to torture me, knowing instinctively he'll only move where I want him so badly when he's done exploring the rest of me. I shiver and tremble and curse fisting my hands in his hair trying to steer him there, and finally he relents, and ducks between my thighs. I tremble and buck unabashedly against his mouth on a sob as he parts me with his tongue, tastes me with one quick flick of molten heat against my core.

Ranger moaned my name against my skin as I let my fingers bury themselves further in his thick hair, digging my heels into the mattress to push myself closer to his face. His arm snakes around my lower back, tilting me further so his mouth can devour my gathered heat, all the while making noises in his throat like I'm the most delicious thing he's ever tasted driving me over the brink of pleasure so hard and fast I can't breathe.

Holy. Sweet. Jesus. I'm coming apart at the seams if feels like and still he doesn't stop torturing me. It doesn't take long under that talent tongue before I'm shattering again. I twist, shudder and writhe under the intense wet heat of Ranger's mouth claiming every inch of me. He growls against my lips, his tongue tracing me before his fingers join in. He parts me with one long digit while I quake beneath his ministrations gasping and pleading racked with aftershocks still so intense I can't think. Every part of my body trembling and shaking with need, lust drunk nerve endings in my body begging for more of everything.

A second finger joins the first thrusting and scissoring inside me before curling perfectly to hit just the right spot, sending sparks flying again inside me spiraling out through my veins. Ranger withdraws his fingers slowly before plunging into me again, his tongue circling the hyper-aware pearl of nerves at my junction making me squirm and another sweet rush of heat flood through me around his fingers. He closed his mouth over me in the next second, flicking me with the tip of his tongue making me jump before sucking hard while my hips buck off the bed and then I feel his teeth scrap over me and two fingers becomes three and the friction…the wash of pleasure and pain and Omigod, I'm flying, falling; so intense part of me tries to crawl up the bed to escape it.

I twist beneath him, against him, cry out in shock as heat blooms up my whole spine. I forget how to breathe as wave after wave of pleasure blisters my nerves to almost the point of pain. While he continues branding his name into my body with his hungry mouth, growling my name; teeth scraping over sensitive skin just as I'm coming back down and sending me up again, and up again.

I flop back against the mattress feeling liquid and floaty when the sensations finally fade. Ranger taking his time crawling back up my body pausing to press kisses here, and there, making my body jump and twitch in particularly sensitive or ticklish places. When he's leaned completely over me I reach down and take him in my hand hearing his breath catch when I slide my palm over his skin. He's starts breathing again, quick ragged breaths as I continue to touch him, his hands pressed to the mattress beside my head for support, his arms start to shake under the strain of pleasure holding himself posed above me.

"Lay down," I tell him, still mildly surprised when he moves from above me and does exactly that without hesitation. I sit up and lean forward over him taking him in both hands, run my tongue over the silky soft skin covering him. Up one side of his length while he curses, then the down the other; moving my hands out of my way as run my tongue over his tip. I pull him into my mouth, adding suction to just the tip while my hand slides down his shaft to his thick base. Ranger utters a string of curses and praise in a mix of languages over my head. I take that as encouragement to increase the pressure of my mouth, working my hands over him as he hardens to the point of silk coated granite under my tongue.

I swirl my tongue over his tip tasting the drop of salty liquid I've pulled from him as I withdraw almost pulling him from my mouth, before sliding back over him. I hollow my cheeks pulling back before sliding down his length keeping the suction the same taking him back as far as I can, his hips jerk forward in reaction. My eyes water and my throat seizes in a gag and I jerk back coughing.

"Fuck Babe. I'm sorry! I can't control myself when you do that, stop…just stop…" He's shaking his head above me, his hand tighten on my shoulders; fingertips digging almost painfully into my skin fighting to restrain himself. I frown, clear my throat ignoring his protest and try again pulling a ragged exhale and several harsh surprised curses from his lips. This time I move slower. Sliding my hand in front of my lips so that when his hips jerk in reaction, I'm not caught by surprise and I don't gag as he hits the back of my throat. I swallow a few times, breathing slowly, to relax around him working my hand down the rest of his length while he curses and swears under his breath, muscles shaking trying not to move.

When I slide him deeper this time I'm more successful. It's still a bit too much, he's so much bigger then Joe and I never even attempted this with him. After a few more strokes I have to pull back some, my eyes watering once again. I can't take all of him this way, but I'm far from discouraged. Judging by the array of sounds Rangers making, the way his arms are crossed over his face hands clenched in white knuckled fists as he shakes and groans and curses and growls his favorite endearment of my name; I think he likes it. Before I can experiment further with my explorations Ranger is hauling me up from my position and flipping us, covering my body with his. His mouth tackles mine just like his body did, kissing me absolutely senseless.

"I love the way I taste on your lips." He tells me voice husky with lust, his eyes dark as night parting my thighs with one of his. Ranger's teeth slide over my earlobe stinging just enough to make the fluttering heat in my belly twitch. His breath is hot against my skin, his chest pressed flush to mine as he rolls his hips into me; grinds against me with the most delicious fucking pressure, he's so close, but not entering me. A spiraling weightless sensation has started up in my head, it's like falling, and flying somehow sweeter than the pleasure of my previous release and I want to wrap myself up in it and never let it end.

I grind myself against his next thrust, magnifying the sensation spiraling through me as the action hits my clit perfectly. I groan and buck, hiss his name out between clenched teeth while his hands shift to my hips gripping me tightly. Then he's jerking my body up, tilting my hips into his and driving himself forward and into me with each jagged thrust of his hips so deep it feels like he's buried all the way to my chest. He stills inside me, breathing ragged and too fast and I can feel the muscles of his abdomen jump and twitch, shaking against my own where he's pressed flush to every square inch of my body.

When he moves inside me finally, every withdrawal seems designed to drive me crazy slowly pulling back almost completely leaving me with just an agonizing ache of need torturing me in his wake making me clench and gasp desperately tightening my fingers against his back trying to bring him back to me. My breath catches in my throat on a whimper feeling him rushing back into me, banish the sensation of emptiness with a rush of searing pleasure that blisters out through my center, spiraling tight and hot and orgasmic through my entire body as he fills me. Every increasingly frantic thrust of his body presses my body further into the bed making my head spin and the crazy overwhelming molten heat swirling through my belly spread out through my veins. I moan staring blindly at the ceiling over our heads, bite my lip while it builds in my core; expands and tightens making it hard to breathe. A few more thrusts, a grind of his hips at just the right angle and I'm so close…

Fireworks light up my spine set fire to every nerve; burning through me sweet and overwhelming and so intense it's all I can do to not scream. I roll my hips up to his, tremble and gasp and wrap my arms tighter around his back burying my face against his neck breathing him in while my whole body seizes in an intense rush of mind splintering sensation. It floods every nerve flashing like chain lightening down my spine and up again, locking my muscles around him, pulling him deeper…closer to his own edge.

A strangled wordless cry somehow makes it past my lips as I seize impossibly tight around his next deep thrust, and Ranger's gasping and shuddering and grinding down against me perfectly and I orgasm so hard as Ranger fills me with his seed that colored spots dance in front of my eyes and I black out for a bit.

When I find my way back to him Ranger is pressing gentle kisses against my temple and smoothing my hair back from my face whispering how much he loves me. I keep my eyes closed and turn my face into his neck tightening my arms around him and groan in protest feeling him slide out of me. Rangers arms tighten around me as he shifts his body, turning us both so we're lying chest to chest; my head tucked against his neck, ear to his chest listening to his metrical heartbeat. His skin is warm everywhere it's pressed against me, his steady breathing is regular and soothing and I start to feel very heavy in just a few brief minutes of lying next to him. Before I know it comforting darkness is pulling me under again, lulling me to sleep before I can focus on our lack of birth control again.

TBC...