Chapter 46—My Butt Isn't Hairy
Sunday, May 16
Stephanie's POV
My dining room table was covered in little white boxes filled with Chinese takeout. Chinese was a compromise. I wanted pizza for dinner. Carlos wanted grilled chicken and steamed vegetables. I think we were going to have to agree to disagree when it came to food.
If you'd told me five days ago that I'd be dating Ranger…no, having wild gorilla sex with Ranger, I'd have said you were crazy. I still think I'll wake up and it'll have been a dream. And then he looks at me with those dreamy bedroom eyes and I melt, but now instead of running away, I drag him into my bedroom and have my wicked way with him.
I hadn't been able to wipe off this goofy grin I had plastered across my face. I knew I wouldn't be able to look my dad in the face yet without blushing furiously, so I called him on the phone to tell him I was home and that I was fine. I did the same with Sunny. She was going to read me like an open book tomorrow morning and I knew I'd turn beet red. After five days of nearly non-stop sex, I felt like I had 'horny sex maniac' written all over me.
The thing was, I didn't want it to stop. I enjoyed having sex with Carlos. Damn, I was addicted to the man! But Carlos was a sex god and I was coming off a multi-year dry spell. I had a lot of missed orgasms to make up for, Ranger/Carlos-induced orgasms to be exact.
I looked over the sea of leftover containers of Chinese food at Carlos, hoping he could read my naughty thoughts.
"Estefania, quiero follarle toda la noche," he whispered in my ear. [Stephanie, I want to fuck you all night long.]
"Tócame, bésame, singame," I whispered back, "I'm all yours, Carlos." [Touch me, kiss me, fuck me.]
My Spanish was definitely improving and I was beginning to like Ranger's ESP abilities.
Monday, May 17
Ranger's POV
It'd been hard to leave Stephanie this morning. I kept pulling her back into bed for one last kiss, one last fondle, one last…
When I finally showed up at the office, none of the men would look at me except Tank, and he just glared at me.
Tank stomped in behind me when I went into my office and he slammed the door shut. "Ranger, what the fuck were you thinking? You could have gotten Steph killed. Now you've got a crew full of angry men ready to whup your sorry ass."
I hated anyone butting into my private life, but I knew Tank was right. "Things didn't go like clockwork this time, but Stephanie didn't get hurt. I should have said no to the job. I should have insisted we wait until you could get a team down there. But fuck you and them for being angry at me."
"What did you expect? They just found out you're banging their friend. That's hard enough to get used to, but you don't exactly have a stellar reputation with women. When you hurt her, and you will…given your past performance, there'll be at least ten angry men ready to kick your hairy butt to Timbuktu."
I was used to good-natured teasing about my sexual exploits, but never censure or anger.
"Number one, my butt isn't hairy. Number two, women love me. I can't help it if they refuse to accept the fact I didn't call them for a second 'date'. I've always been upfront that I don't do relationships. And number three, who I choose to see is none of your business, Stephanie included. But because we're friends, I'll tell you…my intentions toward Stephanie are honorable and I wouldn't do anything to hurt her."
"Are you saying you DO relationships now?" Tank asked skeptically, eyebrow raised.
"Well, I do Steph…I mean…I'm seeing Steph now, and yes, we're in a relationship," I conceded.
"Do you love her?" Tank pressed.
"C'mon, man. Give me a break. It's private...between Steph and me," I grumbled.
Tank just wouldn't let up, "There's a roomful of men out there who think of Stephanie as their little sister, their best friend, and consider it their personal responsibility to protect her. They won't let up unless they know you're serious about her."
One more reason I didn't do relationships. I thought about my reaction when one of my sisters showed an interest in Tank when we were still in the Rangers. He was my best friend and I'd still wanted to kill him. I blew out a deep breath. "Yes. I love her. You happy?"
Tank smiled broadly, "Yeah, that makes me happy. For both of you." Tank punched me hard on the arm and left, grinning like the fool I felt. But I couldn't help smiling a shit-eating grin when I thought of going 'home' to Stephanie tonight.
However, the more I thought about what Tank had said about Steph possibly getting hurt during the takedown and then what she'd said about wanting to protect me as the reason for her going with Falcone in the first place made me rethink some things. Steph and I were going to have to talk.
But in the meantime, I'd clocked the trip into work this morning from the Center…7.8 miles exactly from Steph's cottage to my parking space at Haywood. If I modified my morning workout a bit, I could run out to the Center each morning (or at least the mornings I didn't sleep over) in time to give Steph my special 'wake up call' and jog back to the office in plenty of time for the morning business meeting. Maybe relationships weren't so bad after all.
Stephanie's POV
I was a little late (and a little sore) to work this morning. Nobody said anything on my tardiness or commented on my ear-to-ear grin. Sunny checked in with me mid-morning and was purposely keeping it all business, not prying. She obviously didn't grow up in the Burg.
By lunch I couldn't stand it any longer and ran into Sunny's office. She stopped what she was doing and smiled at me. I sat across from her and then jumped up and started pacing around the room. Taking a deep breath, I sat down again.
"I'm in love. Sunny, I'm in love with Ranger," I exhaled. "It's incredible. I thought I knew what love was, but this is all new. I feel like a schoolgirl. I'm giddy. I can't concentrate. I keep thinking about him and I can't wait until I see him again. I don't know if I'm coming or going."
Sunny laughed, "Well, if you don't know if you're coming…" which started me laughing. And then Dad walked in, "What's so funny?" We laughed even harder. It was one of those times you just had to be there.
Sunny caught her breath and motioned Dad to join us. "Stephanie was telling me some good news and her high spirits made me laugh. Please join us, Frank." Dad sat in the chair next to mine and looked at me expectantly.
I settled myself into a more dignified calm. This was my father after all. "Dad, Ranger and I have started dating." I swallowed everything else that was threatening to tumble out.
My dad glanced at Sunny and then back at me, "I see," he said softly, leaning forward and fingering the heart pendant around my neck. He looked into my eyes, trying to read me, which shouldn't be too hard. I still couldn't stop smiling. "Well, I've had the opportunity to get to know him a little when he's been out to the Center and of course, the incident at the dance." We all looked down for a moment of silence.
Dad continued, "I like him, Pumpkin. He's a good man and he's got staying power. I like how he refused to give up on you when you were down in the dumps. If he makes you happy, then I'm all for it."
I jumped up and hugged him, and then hugged Sunny. "I'd like to take the rest of the day off, Sunny, if it's OK?" She nodded.
I needed to gush some more so I called Mary Lou and asked if I could stop by later. I teased, "I have big news." I hung up and ran down to my cottage. One of the Merry Men had dropped my car and luggage off sometime yesterday. I grabbed one of the bags of saltwater taffy I'd purchased on the boardwalk and headed into town.
When I got to Mary Lou's house, she could see my excitement. I handed her the candy and she sat her two boys down in front of the TV to watch 'Dora the Explorer' with several of the chewy candies apiece and turned to me. "Now dish. What's this 'big news' you've got?"
My jaws were beginning to ache with the shit-eating grin plastered across my face. "You remember me telling you about Ranger Mañoso and how he's been helping me learn the ropes about being a bounty hunter?"
Mare nodded, "He's that sexy Cuban badass with the Rambo body and Batman dark good looks?"
I blurted out, "I'm in love with him." Mare screamed. "And he's in love with me." Mare jumped up and screamed. Her two boys came running into the kitchen, screaming as loud as their mother. She quickly got them settled down in front of the TV with more candy.
"More. I need more," she whispered. My grin nearly split my lips and I felt my cheeks burning bright red. Mare shouted, more a statement than a question, "You're doing it with Batman?" I nodded and waved at her to keep it down.
I told her, "For the last five days. We're on our fourth box of condoms, and I mean the large box and the large condoms." Mare screamed, but at least remembered to cover her mouth.
"Mare, he's wonderful. He's gentle and loving. He's generous and kind and funny and smart. And he's incredible in bed, and in the shower, and on the floor, and in a chair…" I giggled and couldn't stop. Mare finally shook me. She saw my necklace and zeroed in on it. "This is absolutely beautiful, Steph. It's an original piece of work, isn't it? And I bet he gave it to you in a really romantic way, didn't he?"
I told her all about the day on the beach and our memories of that day when we were five years old. She cried and I followed suit, but not for long.
"I'm so happy, Mare. I've got this shit-eating grin on my face that won't go away. It was never like this with Dickie. Yuck, I don't even want to say his name in the same discussion with Carlos. Oh, his given name is Carlos and he calls me Estefania. Isn't that romantic?"
"Steph, you live such an exciting life. I get all my thrills listening to your exploits. I saw you dancing that sexy salsa with him at the benefit dance." Mare watched my face to see if I'd crumble, but I think I'd finally accepted what had happened that terrible night.
She continued, "He is so hot. You lucky dog. Can we go on a double date sometime?"
I knew this wasn't something Ranger would look forward to, but maybe I could talk Carlos into going out to dinner with Mary Lou and Lenny. I stayed for another hour, telling her what had happened with Michael, the trip to Point Pleasant, and Ranger finding me. I glossed over the hours of hot steamy sex, but told her about our dance night in Atlantic City and the excitement with Matteo Falcone.
She couldn't take her eyes off my necklace and asked me again to tell her everything about that special moment. I told her about me getting up early in the morning and building the sand castle and then both our memories being jogged and Carlos saying it was love at first sight for him and how he defended my honor from a bully.
As I replayed for Mary Lou that day long ago, I realized the mean boy who'd destroyed my sand castle was none other than Joe Morelli. That was quite a shock all by itself. Then I remembered a year later, I let him destroy my innocence when he felt me up in his dad's garage. Shock turned into anger. When I was sixteen, I let him take my virginity and was humiliated when he wrote about it in a public restroom. And then I nearly begged him to sleep with me a few months ago. Damn. What a messed up fool I'd been. Why couldn't I see it? How could it have taken me so long to realize what a selfish bastard Joe was?
Then I heard my mother's voice, telling me it was my fault. My fault Joe had cornered me in his garage when I was six. My fault Joe had molested me at the Tasty Pastry when I was sixteen. My fault I was such a screw up. Over and over. It was always my fault. Why wasn't I a good girl, like Valerie? Why was I such an embarrassment? Why was I always getting into trouble? Other people's daughters didn't get into trouble. Don't make waves, don't rock the boat, be a good girl.
She'd never supported me. Never praised me. Nothing I did was ever good enough. And nothing ever would be. She kept harping on me to find a man. Well, I guarantee you, she wouldn't be pleased I was seeing Ranger. She wouldn't see his wonderful qualities; she would only see his badass image and his dark skin. What would the precious Burg say?
The most wonderful thing in the world had happened to me and I realized I didn't want to share it with my own mother. I felt sad, but more for her than for me, for what she was missing and would miss in the future. I think I finally realized I was not to blame and it was not my responsibility to try to fix it or even to feel bad about it.
These last two months not having to listen to my mother criticize me and go on and on about my failures had been an eye opener. I was finally feeling good about myself, without my mother to constantly tear me down. My boss, Sunny, praised my work and my abilities. My dad was really happy I'd found a job I liked and was good at and he didn't even mind I was still a bounty hunter. I had an entire crew of Merry Men who thought I was great and enjoyed my company, asking for nothing in return. Ranger was proud of me and Carlos loved me. He loved me just the way I was.
What would have happened if I hadn't taken Dad up on his offer to introduce me to Sunny? That's when everything changed. Would I have continued to wait for something to happen with Joe, God forbid? I can't imagine the hell my life would be if I started a relationship with Joe. It would have been nonstop fighting and constant worrying about who he was with when he didn't come home on time. If I hadn't started working at the Center, would Ranger and I have ever really gotten together?
Was it all a phenomenal coincidence? Was it fate? Kismet? The revelation that Carlos and I had met and intertwined our hearts so many years ago on the beach at Point Pleasant and that it had obviously impacted both our lives had to be destiny, didn't it? I'd like to think so.
