Chapter Ten

The next few days passed in a whirlwind. Vega was still holed up and Ruiz was still a pain in the ass. I managed to carve out lunch, coffee, and a quick dinner with Montero. I found myself thinking about him a lot. I looked forward to talking to him. Every time the phone rang and it was him, I'd get a little rush. I found myself missing him if we hadn't talked, and looking forward to the next time I could steal away and see him.

We spent a lot of time talking and getting to know one another. Montero and I also had some serious make-out sessions, but we were taking that pretty slow as well.

Montero was easy going, fun, and very open. I found it refreshing. I knew about his family, his career, his favorite color, his favorite sports team and his favorite food. I knew I was falling for Montero and I was pretty sure he was falling for me.

Sometimes I found myself comparing my relationship to Montero with my relationship to Ranger. Ranger had always been a closed book. I found I resented that a little. I accepted that Ranger couldn't tell me about some aspects of his work or past, but why didn't I know his favorite color? Was it black? Or had he just favored black because it hid blood stains?

I guess I'd hit the anger stage of grief.

At 4:30 PM my phone rang. It was Montero.

"Hey you" I said.

"Hey yourself" Montero sounded a little weird. It made my heart do a little flutter skip. These days I was always waiting on the hammer to drop.

"What's up?" I knew I sounded suspicious.

"I thought you might want to get away with me this weekend" Montero said.

I felt a rush of heat go through my body. "I'd love to but I don't think I can take that much time off." I was pretty sure I knew where going away for the weekend would lead and my body was screaming hell yes, but the adult part was saying you have obligations.

"Tank said he could swing it. That you could take the weekend off?"

"You talked to Tank?" I asked incredulously.

"I did" Montero sounded tentative

"You're a brave man Montero. If Tank says I can go then I'm all yours." Shit, all yours had I just said that. I whacked the heel of my hand to my forehead.

"Yes, Plum, you are. I'll pick you up at 7PM" and Montero rang off.

My heart was pounding and my palms were sweating. The good days were starting to outnumber the bad.

I also realized Montero thought I worked for Tank. While I'd been open about my family and other aspects of my life, I'd never corrected him about RangeMan. I hadn't lied. I'd just omitted things and let him make his own assumptions. I'd certainly learned from the master I thought sourly.

I looked up and Les and Tank were outside my door. Tank was shifting from foot to foot nervously. Eyes glued to the floor.

"Gentlemen" I said.

They came in and closed my door. "Steph, we need to talk" Tank said.

"Well?"

Tank looked Les, Les looked to me. I was starting to feel dread building up inside me. Whatever it was this must be bad. I steeled myself for the bad news. Had we lost track of Vega? Terrorist attack? My mind was whirling.

Les finally spoke. "We need to go shopping."

I stared at Les dumbstruck. "What?" I stuttered. Shopping?" my voice had gone up an octave.

It was Tank's turn. "You can't go away with Montero this weekend looking like that" he declared gesturing at my RangeMan uniform.

I narrowed my eyes at them both. I didn't even bother to ask why they were gossiping about my weekend with Montero. There were no secrets between Les and Tank. That caused me a moment's pause. I sure hoped there was at least one secret between them. Les was still ambulatory so I figured, he must have kept our one night together to himself.

"Look Steph, we love you, but you're looking kinda scary" Les forged on. "I went through your closet."

I put up my hand in a stop gesture. "Back-up, you went through my closet?"

"Well, yes and your lingerie" Les was oblivious to the fact I was giving him the death glare. "You've got nothing in there that is going to work. I'll take the lingerie and evening wear. I think I can uh, well guess your sizes". My eyes narrowed. We both knew there was no guessing about it. "Tank can take you for the daywear, and we will meet back in" Les checked his dive watch "one hour and thirty minutes to regroup."

My life was officially off the rails. I looked down at myself and decided Les had a point. I was starting to warm to the idea.

"OK" Les and Tank looked relieved. Les headed for the door.

I called after him "Les I don't want to look like a hooker." Les waved and gave me a wolf grin.

Oh boy. I was in trouble.

Tank and I headed to the mall in Pentagon City. We were both dressed in RangeMan black, and Tank was hard to miss. We made quite a sight. People kept murmuring and quickly moving out of our way. The sales clerk looked like she might faint.

I was in the dressing room and Tank was bringing in selections.

I stepped out and showed him a blouse. "No" Tank said.

"No? What's wrong with this one?" I was starting to get exasperated.

"Washes out your complexion" Tank said.

I stared at him for a minute trying to reconcile this conversation in my head. Tank the bad-ass mercenary that could kill you ten ways with his bare hands, thought the blouse washed out my complexion. Surely one day I would discover I was like Jim Carrey in the Truman Show.

Of course, Tank did have cats named Miss Kitty, Suzy and Applepuff. Perhaps he also had a secret addiction to the home shopping network and color wheels. I looked in the mirror. Eh, Tank was right. I shrugged off the blouse, and he handed me a different one giving me a told you so look.

"Did Montero tell you where we were going or what we are doing?" I asked

"No, we will have to improvise. Make sure we have all the based covered" Tank said. He was approaching this like a joint military operation with the same focus and tactical planning.

An hour later we loaded the bags in the SUV. Not a single thing was black.

When I let myself into the apartment Les was waiting. He had the selections spread out for me to see. I was impressed. It was tasteful but sexy and surprisingly practical. A couple of lacy bras. One in light pink, the other tan. Several pairs of matching lacy boy shorts, a camisole, a light green silky negligee and a box of condoms.

I hugged him. "These are perfect. Are you sure you are OK with this?"

I thought I saw something warring in his eyes for a second, then his grinned snapped into place. "Absolutely, Montero is a lucky guy. Now get your beautiful ass in there and get ready" He gave me a little shove towards the bathroom and a playful swat on the ass.

At 6:49 PM Tank was banging on the bathroom door. I rolled my eyes and stepped out of the bathroom for inspection. I had on a pair of jeans, a white V-neck t-shirt and a tan jacket. Tank and Les decided I passed, and handed me my roller bag and pushed me to the elevator. They were hovering at the door, pacing like anxious parents on prom night when I went outside to meet Montero.

Montero was leaned up against the black Mercedes arms crossed over his chest. When he saw me, he pushed up off the car and looked me over from head-to-toe. He clearly liked what he saw. Anticipation hummed through me.

He gave me a quick kiss on the cheek and leaned in and whispered in my ear. "The parents are watching or that would have been a very different greeting" I could feel him grinning against my ear.

"Yes, they are" I said and slid into the leather seat. I had a weird moment of déjà vu when I slid into the Mercedes, but quickly brushed it away.

Montero and I drove to a beach house just outside of Ocean City. "I thought the Jersey girl might want a day or two at the shore. I hope this is OK" Montero said

"Perfect." And, it was. It was a small beach house right on the ocean with wrap around porches and an old-fashioned porch swing.

Montero unloaded our bags and we went inside. He stopped in the family room and looked at me. "Do you want your bag in the guest bedroom or my bedroom?"

It was decision time. My mouth was dry and my knees felt a little weak. I knew I wanted to be in his bed, but I was terrified that once I got there I was never going to want to get out. I was pretty sure I was falling in love with this man. No, scratch that. I was pretty sure I was already in love with this man.

Montero was watching me intently, unmoving, waiting for me to answer.

"Your bedroom" I finally said.

Montero nodded and I followed him to the bedroom. It was a light seafoam green with a king-size bed that had a fluffy white comforter and coordinated pillows that brought in the colors of the room and the ocean. It had magnificent views of the ocean and French doors that opened to a private screened-in porch. The whole house had a light and airy feel to it.

"This place is beautiful" I breathed.

"I'm glad you like it" a broad smile spread across his face. "You should have seen it when I first bought it. All dark wood and closed in. I've been remodeling it for almost two years. It has been good to have a project." He shrugged.

I'm not sure why I was surprised this was his house and his design come to life. It had a lot of his personality in it now that I looked around.

Montero's eyes cut to the bed and then back to me. "I know it's late and you must be tired" he started.

"Montero" I snapped. "Will you get over here and kiss me already."

He grinned. "Yes, ma'am!"

In one stride he was in front of me. He put his hand behind my neck and pulled me to him. The kiss was bone melting. I heard myself whimper and I fumbled with his shirt. He helped me pull it up and off.

I was mesmerized by his broad chest and hard abs. He had soft, dark hair on his chest that trailed south. I ran my hands over his perfect chest and heard him suck in breath and harden against me.

He pulled my jacket and t-shirt off and took his finger and traced the swell of my breast along the top of my bra. I saw his eyes darken. Score one for Les I thought absently.

He unhooked my bra and discarded it. He trailed kisses down my neck to my collarbone. I saw him frown a little when he saw the scar from the gunshot wound on my right shoulder. He trailed his fingers over it and bent and kissed it.

"Stalker" I murmured by way of explanation.

"You are a fascinating woman Plum."

"Hmmm" Sure I thought, and there would be plenty of time to talk about that later. Right now, I had one thing on my mind and I was pursuing that goal with single-minded focus.

I reached down and unbuttoned his jeans. I was really liking this whole button fly concept. It reminded me of unwrapping a Christmas present.

He sprang free and I reached down to stroke him. Holy shit was all I could think. Montero was magnificent everywhere. I felt a little tremor of uncertainty. I wasn't even sure I could manage that thing, but what the hell I was definitely willing to give it a try. I'd never been a quitter. I figured why start now. I'd give it as many tries as it took.

"You're smiling" he whispered against my ear. "I'm hanging out here Plum. I'm not sure how to take that." He was grinning at me. He knew damn well why I was smiling.

"Just admiring the view."

I felt him push my jeans and panties down over my hips. We were both naked and he pulled me to the bed.

He began licking and kissing his way down my body with a stop at my breasts. He spent time licking, sucking and caressing each one of them. Then he continued his journey down to my belly button, and lower abdomen until he reached the juncture of my thighs. He gently pushed my thighs open and settled between them where he spent the next several minutes kissing, licking, exploring and making me forget my own name. My hands were fisted in his dark hair and I came fast and hard.

I was still dazed and panting when he leaned back on his heels and donned a condom.

"Open for me" he commanded.

I readily complied. I let me legs fall open, exposing my most intimate parts for him.

"You are beautiful". His blue eyes were dark with desire, and I had the most random thought that we would surely have blue eyed babies.

He moved over me and laced his fingers with mine. I felt him gently nudge part way inside me. I gasped and squirmed against him. He immediately stilled and gave me time to adjust. I had a momentary flash of panic that maybe I couldn't do this.

"Just relax, we can go as slow as you need. We have all night" he whispered against the shell of my ear. He gave me a moment and then pushed the rest of the way inside me. The pleasure was exquisite as he began to move against me, and I had a whisper of a thought that this man could make me forget far more than just my name.

The next morning as I drifted up from sleep, I felt warm, strong arms around me. I felt protected and loved. I snuggled closer to the warmth and I felt the arms tighten around me and a kiss on my head. I started awake. This was not a dream.

I realized I was draped across Montero's chest. I looked up and stared into the depths of his blue eyes. A woman could get lost in those eyes.

I stroked my hand down his body, and found a nice surprise. "How long have you been up?" I winced at my word choice.

I felt him chuckle. "A while."

I was now fully awake and fully aroused. I sat up and straddled him. I worked my way down onto his long length. He let me set the pace, and spent time exploring my breasts until neither of us could take much more. With lethal speed he flipped me on my back and drove us both over the edge.

I could get use to waking up like this.

When we finally made it out of bed, we brewed coffee and took it out on the porch. I checked my phone and I had ten messages from Tank and Les. I smiled and texted them back minus a few key details.

Montero made pancakes and I spent my time admiring the view. Mostly the ocean, but sometimes just him.

We decided to go to the beach and then explore the boardwalk. We drove to the Assateague National Seashore. It was too chilly to get in the water, but it was a beautiful day to walk on the beach and hike the trails looking for wildlife. We saw deer, egrets, a great blue heron, and even some of the famed wild horses. I was struck at how normal we were. Like two lovers on holiday rather than a couple of mercenaries for hire.

We left the beach and headed to boardwalk. We were walking hand-in-hand when I spotted a Dairyland.

"OMG" I squealed. "Look it's a Dairyland. We have to get ice cream."

"A woman after my own heart" he grinned.

"We could get a banana split and split it" I giggled.

Montero was looking at me his blue eyes unreadable. I thought maybe he thought I was a little nutty to be that crazy about some ice cream, but it had been damn near two years since I'd had any. That was a bit of a sobering thought.

"Careful Plum" his voice was rough "I could fall in love with a woman that has that kind of reaction over ice cream."

I knew it was just a joke, but my heart did a little stutter anyway. I decided to go for a playful response, which I hoped would cover the fact I was a little disappointed it was only a joke.

"Come on Montero" I said "you know you love me."

He was to me in one stride. He cradled my face in his hands and locked eyes with me. The rest of the world seemed to fade away as I stared into the depths of his eyes. "I know this is crazy, but I think I actually am in love with you."

"No, it's not crazy because I know I'm in love with you" I whispered.

We stood there for a beat and then he kissed me. It was a soul searing kiss that shook me from my head to my toes and all parts in between. I kissed him back putting all my feelings, all my fears, and all my hopes into the kiss.

I'm not sure how long we stood there kissing, but finally I heard someone tell us to get a room. We pulled away from each other laughing. We both thought that was a great suggestion and went back to the beach house and spent the rest of the afternoon making love.

It was crazy, we had known each other a couple of short weeks and it felt like we had known each other our whole lives. There was nothing weird or awkward. No games to be played. Saying I love you seemed like the most natural thing in the world. I thought maybe we should slow down, but then I thought why? Ranger and I had wasted years circling around each other like a pack of wild dogs and where had that gotten us? We'd lost so much time. In the end nobody really knew how much time they had. Living for the here and now was the only thing that made sense.

We had a lazy Sunday with more walks on the beach and a sailing trip. We finally got that banana split. All too soon, it was time to pack up and head back. We had put it off about as long as we could. Dark was fast approaching. We were in the process of closing out the beach house when Montero got a phone call.

I'd always known that bad things happen on pretty days, but I have to say, I never saw this one coming.

I could hear Montero's voice. It sounded like business, but with good news. He came back into the room with a satisfied look on his face.

I looked at him expectantly and then my world shattered.

"Manoso has finally done it!"

I shook my head. I must have misunderstood. "Did you say Manoso has finally done it? Done what?"

"Took out the last of Vega's operations. Now that son-of-a-bitch won't have any option but to reach back out to Kincaid and make a deal. Vega will have nowhere to run."

How could Ranger have taken out the last of Vega's operations? Ranger was long dead.

"What do you mean? Manoso is dead." My voiced sounded flat and far away.

Montero looked at me like I had two heads. "Manoso isn't dead. Are you OK? You look like you have seen a ghost?"

I felt my blood turn to ice, and I started to shake. "I think I have. Ranger has been dead for one year, nine months and twenty-one days" I whispered as I felt my knees buckle.

Montero caught me before I hit the floor and helped me sit on the edge of the bed. My vision was tunneling and I thought I might faint. He pushed my head between my knees for a couple of minutes.

When I looked up, I could see that something was starting to click into place for him. I saw his Adam's apple bob as he swallowed.

"Oh God" he said "you're her aren't you. You're not Stephanie Plum, you are Stephanie Manoso. Owner of RangeMan and Manoso's …wife." Montero looked pale.

I shook my head no. "No, I mean yes, I mean sort of." My voice sounded strangled.

Montero just crossed his arms across his chest and waited for me to explain.

"Yes, I run RangeMan now, and yes, I sometimes go by Manoso, but my name is Stephanie Plum. Ranger and I were never married. You need to tell me what's going on."

"A lot of it is classified" he started.

I held up my hand. I looked pointedly from the bed to him. We had been about as close as two people could be. Now was not the time to pull this classified bullshit with me.

He sighed. "Ok, I'll tell you what I know. The day Lillian and the other agents were killed, Manoso just happened to be out of the compound. He was late getting back from some meeting. Otherwise, he would have been dead along with everyone else. He knew there was a mole and he couldn't trust the government. He called Thomas Kincaid, the owner of Kincaid securities. He and Thomas go way back."

Of course they did I thought bitterly. Everyone knows Ranger. Everyone but me, I guess.

Montero continued "Manoso told Thomas he was going to let the government think he was dead. It was safer that way for everyone including him and his wife. Being presumed dead would allow him to go deep cover. He and Thomas hatched a plan. If Manoso could cripple Vega's operation, either Vega would get picked off by a rival cartel or Vega would need to seek protection as a cooperating witness. Thomas and I have known each other for years. He reached out to me because he knew I was WitSec."

"You still are WitSec aren't you? You went undercover with Kincaid?" I interrupted. I realized that is why Montero didn't know about me. He wasn't part of the Kincaid inner circle and he wouldn't have run a background on me because he would have assumed Kincaid had already done that.

"Yes. I came on board with Kincaid and we put out feelers and planted information. Manoso has spent the last twenty-one months taking out Vega's operations one-by-one."

"You have been in touch with him this whole time?" I knew I sounded slightly hysterical.

"No, not me directly. He dealt with Thomas. Vega finally took the bait and reached out to Kincaid. We were supposed to make a deal at the party, but then the assassination attempt happened. You know the rest.".

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I figured either you knew, since you were tracking Vega and you were RangeMan, or you weren't supposed to know. If I had known who you were, I would have never kept this from you. Please, believe me I never wanted you hurt. I thought you were just an operator that worked for Tank. When I asked about you, Tank didn't tell me anything. He just said I should talk to you myself."

I nodded. I knew that. I thought there would have been a lot of things Montero would have kept from if he'd know who I was. I winced. Including his tongue and his other pretty magnificent parts out of my mouth for starters. This whole mess was my fault.

"Why didn't you tell me who you were?"

I looked at him. I know my expression must have been haunted. "I liked you…... I thought Ranger was gone, and I just wanted to move on and be normal again. I'm so sorry. I really fucked this up."

Montero pulled me into a hug. "It's OK. We will figure this out. "

"You're not mad?"

"No, Plum. How could I be? You didn't do anything wrong." He held me for a few minutes. Both of us lost in our own thoughts.

"So, Ranger is for sure alive?" my voice was surprisingly steady.

Montero shrugged. "As far as I know. He missed his last check-in but that doesn't mean he isn't alive".

"When was the last time Kincaid heard from him?"

"About a week ago."

Oh god. The enormity of it all hit me like a ton of bricks. Ranger was most likely alive, and I'd cheated on Ranger. No, not just cheated on Ranger but fallen in love with another man. A good man.

I raced to the bathroom and threw-up. This couldn't be happening. A sob escaped. What the hell was I going to do now. I stayed in the bathroom for a few minutes trying to compose myself. I rinsed out my mouth and splashed cold water on my face. I knew I couldn't put this off forever.

I came out of the bathroom and Montero was on the phone. His mouth was set in a grim line. He hung up the phone and sat down hard on the chair. He raked his hand across his face and looked up at me.

"Lillian is alive."

For the second time in one day the earth opened up and hell swallowed me.