Chapter 49

When the car stopped, I suddenly looked at where we were, surprised that we were in the garage at Rangeman. I undid my seatbelt but didn't make a move to get out of the car. I felt myself being lifted until I was sat across Ranger's knee, his strong arms around me like a comforting blanket.

"I'm sorry"

"What happened tonight wasn't your fault Babe"

"Maybe not, but she had no right to say what she did"

"She's been saying it for years Babe, but I think how you handled her was just right"

That had me remembering what I'd just been thinking. He was right, she'd been like that for years and I suppose it was only recently that I'd taken a stand.

"Who called you an enigma?"

Oh god, I'd totally forgotten that I'd have to tell Ranger the details of my conversation this afternoon.

"Long story, besides you've had a bad day as well"

"So I'm the only man for you?"

I smiled because the fact that he'd picked up on that part of the conversation pleased me because it was true.

"Only if I'm the only woman for you"

"Mine" was all I heard before he pulled my face to his and he nipped at my lips. I opened my mouth to allow entry and it was only when I needed to breathe that he pulled away from me. My heart was pushing heated blood to every part of my body, a burning desire growing within me. As I moved, I heard Ranger growl and realized from the bulge digging into my hip that he was feeling just the same as me.

"You need feeding Babe. I'll call Ella and ask her to bring something upstairs"

"Ask her to make it for 8"

I had other ideas for what we could do until then.

I hadn't even thought about going up to Ranger's apartment on seven. I was too intent on ensuring that Ranger was distracted as we went up in the elevator. As he opened the door I came to a stop as the memories of me being here came back to me. I hadn't been here since that last night when I'd had to hide from the FBI.

"Babe?"

Walking into the lounge everything looked as it should. Nothing thrown on the floor or cushions ripped open. I stood in the bedroom door just staring ahead of me. Again, everything was neat and tidy as it always had been. It was as though my being in the apartment was like a dream, like it had never happened.

"Babe?"

"The last time I was here the place had been ransacked but it feels like it was just a dream"

"It's okay to remember Babe. It's what makes us stronger"

"I hid in the vault. No one knew I was up here. It was my last night before I went to New York"

I felt Ranger turn me toward him his hold once again being like a comforting blanket and as his face nuzzled on my neck, I heard the words that would make everything go away.

"Let's make some new memories"

At ten minutes past eight we were sat at the breakfast bar eating our dinner. I'd insisted that Ranger covered his chest with a T-shirt otherwise we'd never have made it out of the bedroom. I was sure that Ella had cooked something especially for me because we each had our own small dish, with Lasagne in. Mine was cheesy and creamy whilst Rangers looked to be made from sliced vegetables, okay I did have a taste of his, but no way was I going to admit that it did actually taste good.

Once tidied away he led me to the couch and used a control for some quiet background music. Once we were comfortable with me curled up on his lap, I knew it was time for us to talk so decided that I wanted to know about Ranger's day first.

"How did it go this afternoon?"

I kept my voice low hoping it would help for Ranger to talk to me. I watched as his head went back on the couch and he closed his eyes before he gave the answer that I was dreading.

"The tests came back as Jack. Apparently, the body was burnt badly making it difficult to identify. There was some blood and hair on fragments of clothing melted into the skin which was what they used to think it was me"

"I'm so sorry"

"I spent some time talking to his parents, but I think they'd already resigned themselves to him not coming home"

I didn't know what to say, I mean there are no words to say that could make it any easier for Ranger, so I didn't say anything.

"Babe, I'm so sorry that you had to go through that"

Again, I didn't know what to say. I didn't want Ranger to feel guilty for what I went through, and I didn't want to talk about the emotional mess that I'd been.

"It's in the past and you're here, that's what's important"

"Yes, it is. So, are you going to tell me who called you an enigma?"

"What exactly does it mean because I wasn't too sure if it was a compliment or not"

"Puzzling, mysterious or inexplicable. I'd say it was a compliment. When people see you they see your looks and demeaner, a white girl from the Burg born in Jersey. Meant to follow the life of those women. But that's not you. You're fierce and determined with an uncanny intuition and a way of approaching something that is totally unique to you. Yet you have a way of connecting to people. So yes, the word enigma could suit you well"

"Oh"

Was all I could say. No one had ever said anything like that to me and I wasn't too sure just how much Ranger was exaggerating to make me feel better.

"You don't agree with me, do you?"

I shook my head thinking of what he'd said finding it difficult to assimilate the words that he'd used to describe me.

"Babe, you went to Cambodia and took down Ronteah and saved a lot of lives. For me"

"Plus, you're hell cat in bed"

I used my fist to hit him in the chest, immediately regretting it, for him adding that last comment. I needed to change the subject away from me because to be honest I was feeling a bit embarrassed.

"You'll never guess who I had a conversation with today"

"When you visited your Grandmother?"

"Yeah. Grey haired man in his sixties with spectacles"

"They're all old people who live there Babe, I need a bit more of a clue"

"He's known there as Ron and came to Trenton to find out about me. He said being in the same place as Grandma was a coincidence"

I felt Ranger tense as I said that because I knew he thought I'd be safe inside the building and immediately regretted what I'd said.

"When I was at Siem Reap I met a man called Narith, I'm not sure why but I wanted to talk to him. There was a man there who acknowledged me, and I think he thanked me. His grandson had been kidnapped and was being held at Ronteah and they were threatening to kill the grandson. It was Narong Seang. It was him that I saw this afternoon"

"Doctor Narong Seang?"

I spent the next hour repeating the conversation that had taken place between Narong Seang and me. To be honest whilst I felt exhausted at having to repeat myself when Ranger wanted clarification it gave me the opportunity to reflect on what I'd learnt, especially when he was so quiet afterwards. Eventually I couldn't bare the silence any longer so had to ask.

"What are you thinking?"

"How it fits together, I suppose it makes sense"

I mulled over what we'd talked about not wanting to think about what we'd do next. It was obvious from what Narong had said about the drive that it was the real deal and had the potential to ruin lives. Maybe we should publicly destroy the damn thing and that would stop people from coming after us, then again, they might not believe it was the original drive that we destroyed.

"Babe, what did Morelli do to hurt you?"

I'm sure I tensed as Ranger asked but I should have known he would pick up on that part of the conversation that I'd had with my mother. Ranger was someone who never forgot a word that I said and would often surprise me ages later by referring back to what he'd heard. I didn't know what to say because I really didn't want Ranger to find out. I felt my bottom lip being pulled from between my teeth so knew I wasn't going to get away without saying something. But what did I tell him, how much? Then I realized that I had no reason not to tell him, as long he didn't get annoyed.

"Babe, I know it happened months ago and that you've made peace with him, but I want to know"

"I suppose I had some doubts after we, err, when you first went away, but things between us became more difficult. It was the day of the shooting at the police station that he called at my apartment. He was trying to get me to pack in my job so I would stop seeing you or any of the guys"

"I suppose he suggested marrying him?"

"No, I think he knew that wouldn't work, but he was pretty adamant that I moved in with him. Anyway, I decided I wasn't going to do that and the few captures I had went really well.

One of them was Chan Roan, aka Jin. I did surveyance on Lafeyette Street where he worked at Hisence and he just agreed to go into the station with me. I'd just got back to my apartment with things for Bobby's birthday party when Joe turned up. My apartment had been broken into and Joe insisted I went with him to someplace safe"

"His house?"

"No. Some cabin out of town. There was no food or anything to do so I headed upstairs to bed. All my trackers were missing from my bag and I couldn't get reception on my phone. Les said that you'd tried to call me"

"I did. I wanted to hear your voice before going on that job"

Okay this was going to be the hard part and thinking back maybe I'd been naïve with what had happened because I'd totally misinterpreted everything, even Joe's behavior.

"I heard him talking on a phone, a satellite phone, but I was so annoyed that I decided on going to sleep and then walking from the place until I had a signal and calling Les. Anyway, I woke up later to find that Joe hadn't been to bed, the bedroom opposite was empty, so I went downstairs to find out what was going on. Joe was drunk. He was really pissed off and started to blame me for screwing up his job with the FBI"

"He was working with them?"

"Yeah, apparently they were watching Hisence but then the company did a runner. Joe said it was because I was doing surveillance there and spooked them. He was kicked off the team and said it was because of me"

"Jin told us the company moved on because of an informant. It had nothing to do with you"

"I know that now but what Joe said, well it made sense. He was really pissed with me, which caused me to shout back. He started shaking me, and then he backhanded me across the face. I went flying and knocked myself out on the coffee table'

As I'd said the last part, I was looking down at my hands dreading having to look at Ranger's face. I was so worried as his hands came to the side of my face and lifted it up until we were facing each other.

"It really pisses me off that he laid a hand on you, drunk or not he doesn't have the right to do that. Him blaming you for what happened was arrogant on his part"

"I know and that night, well it frightened me. I saw a side to him that I'd never seen before"

"Does he think that you'll go back to him?"

"I've told him it's not going to happen, but he always brings it up whenever he sees me. I'd never go back to him even if you kicked me out"

"That is never going to happen"

In some ways I felt a bit guilty with Joe. I had always gone back to him and at the time never thought through why. Now I knew. I was using Joe because he was a constant in my life because I'd never considered that Ranger would open up to me. What I said to Ranger was true though, even if in the future we parted, I'd never go anywhere near Joe again.

"He turned up at the FBI office, I think it was him who told them that I'd be getting off that train"

"How did he know?"

"Probably my mother. Joe thought that he could help get me out and no doubt with some stupid idea that he could get back into my life. I told him to leave"

I moved to get closer to Ranger feeling totally drained, who would have thought that talking could make you so tired, certainly not me. I was aware of the sound of the music in the background and the feel of Ranger's hand as it made circles on my hip but after that there was nothing.

I woke slowly, stretching my muscles before I opened my eyes. Looking around I had no memory of how I'd ended up in bed but had a pretty good idea. I knew I was alone in the bed because if Ranger had been with me, I would have been curled up with him. It wasn't as late as I'd thought it would be and felt that I needed to do something productive today. Once showered I found a Rangeman uniform of mine in the closet, stopping as I reached in to get it out. I could just see the panel through Ranger's suits now knowing what was hidden behind it. With a sigh I collected my clothes together and returned to the bedroom to dress.

Twenty minutes later I was coming out of the elevator to find Tank stood there. It was like déjà vu as he stood there, as though he was waiting for me. All of a sudden, I had an awful feeling that he was there to give me bad news. I know my eyes were wide as I confronted him.

"What's happened Tank?"

"We're in Ranger's office"

Oh shit, he'd never denied that there was something wrong and as I followed him into Ranger's office, I could tell from the atmosphere that I wouldn't like whatever it was that was going to be said. Ranger looked up as I walked in and held his hand out to me, pulling me down into a seat beside him. Looking around the table I wasn't surprised by who was here. Les, Bobby, Hector and Tank. The inner circle of men who were privy to what had been happening recently.

"Babe"

I looked at Ranger not wanting to hear what he was going to say but knew I didn't have a choice. Wasn't this what I wanted, to be part of the team and to know whatever information came about.

"Last night someone broke into Walter Dunphy's house. The police think it was someone looking for drugs because the house looked to be ransacked"

I know I was frowning at the idea of that, hell Mooner's house always looked as though it had been ransacked.

"Mooner was beaten up pretty badly, he's in the hospital"

"Is it serious?"

I needed to know because regardless of how Mooner led his life he was a friend. I was looking back and forth between Bobby and Ranger when no one answered and felt Ranger take hold of my hand.

"We don't know Babe. He's still unconscious so we'll know better in the next 72 hours"

"I'll need to go see him"

The idea that Mooner was so badly injured worried me more than I realized it would and I needed to be there for him. He had no one else that he was close to, that would care what happened to him.

"Little Girl, that's probably not a good idea. We got a call from Dillon last night. Eula had woken him up in the early hours because she was sure that someone was outside her door"

"Is she alright?"

"I sent a team over. Someone had broken into the apartment and taken a look around so I brought Eula here"

"Do you think they were looking for me?"

"Maybe"

I hadn't even thought about putting Eula in harms way when I asked her to look after my apartment. This was all my fault, and I had no idea how to make it right. First though I needed to talk to Eula and apologize and hope that she didn't hate me. I was about to ask Tank where I could find Eula when there was a knock at Ranger's door. On hearing Ranger's voice, I watched as Hal walked in wondering why he was looking at me.

"Sorry to interrupt Sir but a Detective Morelli is downstairs asking to speak to Steph"

"Me?"

I blurted out because I couldn't understand why he would be here to talk to me. It actually made me feel annoyed that he had the nerve to call at Rangeman.

"Where is he Hal?"

"In reception"

As I stood up, I turned to Ranger, he knew that I would have to talk to him, but I was pretty sure that he wouldn't like it.

"Can I use the conference room downstairs"

It wasn't until he was walking with me out of his office that he spoke and then it was to Hal.

"Hal, have Morelli sign in and on my signal show him into the conference room behind reception"

I wasn't too sure what Ranger thought was going to happen but the fact that he was with me as we entered the elevator to go down made me feel quite nervous.

"Ranger, I don't think it's a good idea for you to be there"

All I could think about was what I'd told Ranger last night and how annoyed he'd been with what Joe had done to me.

"I'll give you space, but I'll be right outside the door Babe. The room is monitored do you want me to turn it off?"

Did I?

"No. I have nothing to hide or be ashamed about"

Once inside the conference room I chose a seat away from the door hoping that Joe would stay on the other side of the table. I was annoyed at him coming here but also maybe a little curious. I watched as the door opened steeling myself for Joe's entrance. I wanted to appear strong even if I was as nervous as hell.

What I saw when he entered surprised me, I mean I knew that the work Joe did could be dangerous, but the bruises on his face were worse than I'd seen before. Usually, Joe could defend himself pretty well, but he looked to have a broken nose that now had a splint across it and bruising covering his cheek and jaw.

"Wow Joe. Does it hurt?"

I hadn't said that to upset him but for some reason I could see the signs that he was annoyed. As he started to walk toward me, I stood up and put the chair between us. Yeah, he was actually scaring me with the way he was staring at me, at how his fists were clenching and relaxing.

"Joe?"

Thinking maybe that saying his name would pull him out of the mood he was in.

"What the hell trouble are you in now Cupcake?"

"Me?"

Why was Joe saying that, I mean nothing had happened since I was taken into the FBI office?

"Somebody broke into my house in the early hours of the morning looking for you"

I'm sure I was frowning at what he'd said. Why would anyone go to Joe's house looking for me?

"I don't know why someone would do that. Everyone knows we broke up months ago"

"Then why the hell were they asking me if you'd given me something to look after or left something at my house?"

I was thinking more about how close he was getting to me rather than what he was saying and even with the chair between us I felt he was getting too close to me. As he came closer and reached across the chair, I moved to the left to avoid his hand from grabbing hold of me. Seems he anticipated that because the next thing I knew he'd pushed me back against the wall with my arm gripped tightly in his hand.

"Take a good look Cupcake. You hook up with Manoso and shit happens. I want to know"

I don't know what came over me, well yes, I did. I went from being afraid to being annoyed in a second flat. That he'd grabbed hold of my arm tightly only brought back the memory of when he'd manhandled before. The fingers of my right hand curled up tight with my arm moving quickly up from the side, not the best position from which to punch someone, but the fact that my knuckles came into contact with his nose had the desired effect.

As his hand let go of my arm and covered his nose, he was suddenly flying across the table to land inelegantly on the floor. Trying to slow my breathing down I was aware as arms came around me, the smell of Bulgari had me instantly leaning into Ranger's body.

"It's okay Babe. I won't let him near you again"

As I calmed down, feeling safe within Ranger's arms I looked to my side across the room. Joe was now stood up, still holding his nose but had Les and Tank stood to the side facing him.

"You've not heard the last of this Manoso. I'll file charges for assaulting an officer"

I almost laughed as he tried to say that with a hand holding his nose, but the threat made me tense. I didn't care what happened to me, but I wouldn't allow him to threaten Ranger.

"If you do that then I'll counter charge you Joe. You basically kidnapped me, trashed my apartment and assaulted me. Twice"

"That won't work Cupcake"

"Oh no? I have a witness to the mess in my apartment and the bruise on my face and look up there Joe"

I pointed to the corner of the room where a camera was position.

"You attacked me first Joe. I acted in self defence and Ranger acted to protect me from you"

It was the look on Les's face that caught my attention first. I could almost see him trying to work out what I'd said. When he figured it out he turned to Joe, his face full of anger.

"You did that to Steph? She never told anyone what had happened. She protected you and you have the nerve to come in here and make accusations and attack her"

Watching Joe, he seemed calmer, even a bit shocked at what Les had said. He finished wiping the blood from under his nose on the sleeve of his shirt before he just turned around and walked out through the door. Tank held up a hand to stop Les from following him, before he followed Joe out. My thoughts were thundering through my head as Joe's words came back to me. He'd been attacked in his house because someone thought I'd given something to him. It was then that Mooner and Eula came to my mind.

"I need to use the conference room next to your office"

I had to sort through everything that I'd done and everywhere I'd been since taking Chan Roan into the station. Pulling from Ranger's arms I was almost running out the door, totally ignoring my name being called out behind me. I even took the stairs, that's how upset I was becoming, and once in the conference room locked the door behind me.

There was a computer and printer on a desk at the side of the room and boards that ran down the entire length of one wall. I started up the computer and going into the search program started to input the names of people that I'd encountered. I knew I needed more information and had to admit that I needed what was on that laptop that Hector and I had worked on. I sent a message to Hector asking him to bring it to me and focused back on the searches.

Once Hector had delivered the laptop and I'd managed to get him to leave the room, not only was the door locked but I pushed a chair under the handle. I didn't want anyone coming in and disturbing me. The coffee was going down smoothly, and I was on a role.

The sky darkened outside as I continued to work. I was slowly developing a schematic on the board that included names and their information along with a timeline. You probably know exactly who was on the board. Everyone, from Joe, Connie, Lula, Mooner and Eula here in Trenton to Charnley, Freya with her father and stepbrother and the FBI agents based in the States. Then I had Juan, Maia and Narong with his grandson. Jin, Troy and Narong's assistant and let's not forget about Coleman and his companies. I didn't think that I'd left anyone out and to be honest there was very little room on the board for very much more. With each person I'd added anecdotal notes where I'd had personal contact with them including descriptions where they weren't available through the searches.

I was now sat on the table looking at my work. Every so often I would go to the board and move things or add a string to show the connections. I was looking at the names of Mooner, Joe and Eula, my eyes darting across to the time line when I was sure I heard a noise behind me. I wasn't going to be distracted though because I was close to figuring something out.

As a figure stood in front of me, I pushed them out of the way. As I felt hands on my arms, I wriggled free. I wasn't listening to what was being said because it would interfere with my thinking. I felt anxious but excited, and both my mind and body were buzzing with what seemed like excess adrenalin. I squirmed and wriggled as Ranger tried to hold me in place, my eyes still darting back and forth.

"Ouch"

Came from me as I felt something on my arm so turning, I was surprised to see Bobby stood next to me. I couldn't work out what was happening to me as my arms went heavy and I struggled to keep my eyes open.

"I'm sorry Babe"

A flash of anger surged through me only to disappear as quickly as it came. I felt myself being lifted and the sound of voices that seemed a million miles away.

"How long"

"Normally I'd say 8 hours, but with the amount of coffee she's drunk and how agitated she was maybe 4"

I lost sense of where I was or what I'd been doing. A darkness came over me, but not one that frightened me. Somehow, I just knew that Ranger was with me.

I felt sluggish, almost lazy, as I came awake. I knew I was in bed because I could feel Ranger against my back, one hand on my hip, holding me to him and the other underneath neck. My eyes slowly came open and closed again. Trying to move my legs to stretch out felt hard to do as though my muscles didn't want to do what I wanted them to do. I'm sure I moaned out in frustration and felt Ranger's arm tighten around my hip.

"Go back to sleep Babe"

I didn't want to do that. In the back of my mind, there was a smoky image that I couldn't quite work out what it was, and the need that I had something important to do. I tried to move again and realized that I really needed the bathroom.

"Babe?"

"Need the bathroom"

I muttered as I concentrated on sitting up. Shit I felt, I don't know, like being drunk without the hangover or feeling ill. I rubbed my hands over my eyes and through my hair in an attempt to wake myself up a bit. As I stood in front of the sink after using the toilet, I splashed water on my face and looked at my reflection in the mirror. The state of my hair was expected but I was sure that I looked pale. As I continued to stare at myself I suddenly remembered what I'd been doing, the image of the board screaming out at me.

Then it came to me, what I'd been looking for and why. After my breakdown I'd decided that I needed to do something but wanted the illusion of returning to my life. I'd gone to Mooner's house to take him to court and he'd given me the package from Ranger. I'd gone to see Eula at the station to ask for her help and I'd met Joe at Pinos to tell him that I was leaving town. Then I remembered that I'd gone to my parents. I bolted from the bathroom slamming straight into Ranger, his hands coming to my shoulders to stop me from falling over.

"I have to warn them"

"Warn who Babe?"

I tried to move to the closet to get some clothes, but it seemed Ranger wasn't letting me.

"They're in danger. I went there for dinner"

Ranger moved his hands so they were on either side of my face his eyes intense as they looked at me.

"Your parents?"

"Yes"

I shouted back at him. Thank god he interpreted that the only place I went to for dinner was my parents.

"They're safe"

"Safe?"

How could they be safe? I only just worked out that they might be in danger.

"Santos and Hector spent a lot of time going over the board of information that you put together. They worked out that anyone you saw after the reading of the will were targeted"

"Oh. Why can I remember you saying you were sorry?"

I wasn't sure why he pulled my head to his chest, unless I wouldn't like what his reply would be.

"You'd been working non stop for 18 hours. I was worried about you. You were hyper and running on coffee so I agreed for Bobby to, err, knock you out"

I stepped back to be sure that I had heard him right. He knocked me out? No wonder I felt so weird when I woke up. I felt that I should be mad at him and maybe I was but as I looked at his face, I knew that look. He'd done it because he was concerned for me.

"Only two men admitted to following me"

"Juan and Troy"

"Yeah, unless of course one of them was communicating with someone else"

"Or the FBI had eyes on you"

We were no closer unless we could get our hands on whoever it was that beaten up Mooner and Joe.

"Joe would have filed a report, wouldn't he?"

"Probably, why?"

"Find that man and he may lead us to"

"The man in charge. I'll see if Hector can hack into the police reports"

I didn't even want to think about Hector doing that, I mean was it something he could do? Of course it was.

"I'm going down to the gym"

A glance at the clock told me that it was only 5.30 in the morning. I had a decision to make. Watch Ranger in the gym getting all hot and sweaty or go back to bed. Nah, just the idea of watching Ranger had me waking up, in more ways than one. Ranger laughed, then turned and walked into the bedroom.

"Later. Go get changed Babe"

I was walking on the treadmill wondering why, oh yes, Ranger had suggested it so I'd be next to him. I actually upped the speed slightly to a fast walk and felt proud of myself when I stayed the time. Okay I was feeling it, my legs were aching, and I had the start of stitch. I followed Ranger across to the mats surprised when he started to make slow methodical moves. It was like those moves that those martial arts people did, slow and fluid. I stood opposite him and copied his moves. I'd hated ballet when my Mum had made me go but I'd loved gymnastics at school. As the moves continued, I heard Ranger tell me to slow my breathing down. Then he was behind me guiding me and telling me what to do so I closed my eyes and let his voice and hands guide me.

I wasn't too sure how he worked his magic but as he placed his hands on my shoulders, I actually felt calm and totally refreshed, especially when he wrapped his arms around me.

"Let's use some of those moves to get out of a hold"

I turned around to look at him, was he serious? There was no way I would be able to escape from being held.

"Close your eyes"

"Breathe in and relax, like you were doing before"

"Breathe out and as you breathe in throw your arms up in front you and then to the side"

That didn't go as planned so Ranger held my arms to show me the move. It took a few tries but I eventually worked out that if I bent my knees straight after the move I could literally duck away from his hold and step away from him.

"Good move Babe and it works because you're slightly shorter than me. Let's try another hold"

I think being able to free myself when someone grabbed my wrist or arm was the most satisfying, thinking of how Joe had grabbed my arm.

"What do I do if both arms are being held?"

"Step back to raise the attacker's arms and then thrust your arms down hard against where his thumb is. Don't forget to step back, away from danger"

It also gave me an opportunity to raise my knee, though I didn't try that with Ranger. No way did I want to do him any damage. By the time Ranger decided I'd had enough we headed upstairs I hadn't realized just how long we'd been down in the gym. It was as we entered the elevator that Ranger's phone went off. Of course, I could only hear his side of the conversation and being Ranger, he didn't say much.

"Give me ten minutes"

I knew from that single sentence that he was going somewhere, why or where was what I wanted to know.

"Ranger?"

"One of the teams has eyes on the man who beat up Morelli"

"You're going after him, aren't you?"

I already knew the answer so wasn't surprised when he didn't reply so I followed him into the apartment. I knew he'd take five minutes to shower and change and would soon be walking out, so waited in the kitchen. My mouth watered as he appeared, dressed in black and armed, he looked like the badass I'd come to know. His hair had grown slightly, still not long enough to tie back, and the slight growth on his face just made him look sexy to me.

"Not the image I was going for Babe"

"I love all of your images"

Was what I said as he stalked toward me. A bone melting kiss had me breathless before I watched him walk away from me.