CHAPTER 45

"We need to talk." I told Ranger when he pulled his Porsche up next to my Tahoe. That was usually his line. He handed me some Godiva chocolates from the mall kiosk, and I handed them back to Olivia to drown her sorrows in. She finally stopped crying and I gave Ranger a grateful look and he nodded in acknowledgement. I got out of the car and stood next to him.

"Let me guess. I also owe you two guns, pepper spray, a bra holster, lipstick, and a new purse to fit it all in since it all got melted." he guessed.

"And don't forget the taser. And if you give me unlimited time on the Rangeman gun range with 1,000 rounds of complimentary ammo I'll consider us even. But that's not what I want to talk about."

"Deal. You drive a hard bargain. So what do you want to talk about?" he asked, turning around and putting an arm on either side of me so that we were facing each other.

"Why did you follow me here when we agreed the other day you wouldn't treat me differently? I'm trying to be independent again, and you can't just show up all the time trying to protect me now! I know where you put the GPS tracker on my car and I almost ripped it off. But I decided against it because I never want to be stuck in another situation where I'm desperate for help and no one knows where I am. I also left it there because I know how hard it has been on you worrying about me, so I thought I would let it go to ease your mind and even let Rangeman install a permanent alarm on my apartment to boot. But I know enough now to find and rip off all your tracking devices, including the one you thought you had hidden so well in the lining of my purse that's now melted along with everything else. So if I think you are going to overstep the boundaries I'm trying to lay out now then I'll disable all of them and go off of your radar." I told him assertively, although I'm sure he saw me chew my lip to calm my nerves when I was finished.

"I wasn't following." he offered. "Had a question to ask you. The tracker showed Victoria's Secret, so it was two birds with one stone."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I could ask you the question, and get to see what you were buying. But you did me one better and gave me a fashion show. Shame about the fire. I really liked it. Those little ruffles and bows….." He groaned, sliding his hand down to very gently cup the cheek that had gotten slightly burned by the melting ruffles. He moved his head next to mine and his lips traced over the line of my jaw and he placed light kisses over the most sensitive part of my neck. My heart started racing.

"So…umm…I guess I'll…uh…leave your tracking devices alone then." I managed to mutter. It occurred to me this was the second time in so many days he had ignored my look but don't touch yet rule, but this time I hardly seemed to mind. But I knew I wasn't ready to face all the confusion with my quasi-relationship with Ranger when I had just finally broken it off with Joe. "So…uh….what was….the errr….question?" I asked breathily. He leaned back and the kisses stopped, though part of me didn't want them to.

"Do you really still want to do distraction jobs?" he asked me in a dead serious voice, looking deep into my eyes.

"Yes." I answered without hesitation, staring right back.

He sighed and shook his head. "Pick you up tomorrow night at eight then."

"I've got a better idea. I'll come to Rangeman and meet you. I'll come a few hours early so I can get some practice in on the range." I told him. Firearms was a perishable skill and I was used to shooting at least once a week now, so it felt strange now that it had been over a week and I hadn't fired my gun. If you had told me that someday I would find shooting guns to be an enjoyable and relaxing activity I would have found that idea as implausible as me running on a regular basis. But here I was and both of them were true now. Life is full of surprises.

"A few hours Babe?" he questioned, cocking his eyebrow.

"You promised 1,000 rounds didn't you?" I challenged. I had some other plans for the extra time that I didn't want him to know about yet. He nodded. "Be sure to have my replacement guns ready for me too." I demanded. Now he cocked the other eyebrow. "You know if you keep cocking your eyebrows like that they could get stuck that way." I warned him.

With that he shook his head and put his arm around my waist and opened up my car door for me. "You'd better get her to the station before she runs out of chocolate." Ranger cautioned. "Besides, I should leave quickly before the ladies and their men in this town find out I helped burn down Victoria's Secret."

True….there could definitely be a riot. And speaking as a woman I know that when in serious emotional distress a sudden lack of chocolate was a dangerous enough proposition to strike fear into the heart of a warrior. I got in the car and turned it on, but couldn't leave without a final word of appreciation. I was being pretty hard on him after all and the fire wasn't exactly his fault. "Thanks for taking all those people's cell phones that were videotaping at the fountain." I said gratefully. They all had immediately surrendered their phones when he told them it was for police evidence and would be returned later, though I think they did it mostly because the look on his face said it was not a request. I had enough to deal with, so being saved from a YouTube clip of my wet and wild lingerie wrestling match was a huge relief.

"I had to. My phone doesn't have a camera on it." he replied with a feral look. I opened my mouth in shock, which gave plenty of room for his tongue when he leaned in to kiss me suddenly. By the time I opened my eyes all I could see was his Porsche pulling away in my rearview mirror. Olivia gave a long whistle and fanned herself with a Godiva bar. "That man can melt milk chocolate from across a room." she told me. I definitely agreed.