A/N: Includes "Don't shout at me in languages I don't understand' challenge from FB group Ranger Should Get the Girl!

Chapter Twenty-Eight

When Stephanie stepped off on five, Les was the first person she spotted. He looked up and gave her that big grin of his. She couldn't help but grin back. His long legs ate up the distance between them.

"I hear Ric roped you into helping us out today." Les tucked her hand around his arm. "Let me show you to your desk."

Thirty minutes later, Les had given her a rundown of the RangeMan programs and she had a stack of papers on her desk to wade through. She was also a hundred percent sure that Ranger knew everything about her life. All the nooks and crannies, and darkest thoughts. The search programs were wicked scary. She pushed down that sense of violation that had plagued her. She was getting ready to do the exact same thing to others, including her assistant and Raymond's assistant, Angie. The thought made her a little nauseous.

The morning went quickly as she worked her way through the stack of searches, tumbling down half a dozen rabbit holes, but not finding anything concrete. At least Angie and Rory both seemed clean, although she'd learned things about Angie, she could never unknow. Buttoned up Angie had a penchant for serious kink. Go Angie.

Stephanie looked up and a slim, darked haired man was looking at her. His penetrating gaze locked onto her, examining her with obvious curiosity. She barely suppressed a scream, until she remembered she was at RangeMan. He wasn't here to kill her, probably. He was dressed in black, no surprise there, and had a gang slogan tattooed onto his neck. It was the single tear tattooed under his eye that caught her attention. He was in his early twenties, and he mostly spoke Spanish. She was pretty sure he'd introduced himself as Hector, but her Spanish wasn't so good, so she couldn't really be sure.

Hector looked like he should be wearing an orange jumpsuit and leg irons. But hey, what did she know? Probably Hector was a real nice guy. Probably he didn't know that a teardrop under the eye signified a gang kill. And even if he did know, it was only one teardrop, so it wasn't like he was a serial killer, right? Stephanie was beginning to wonder about Ranger and his merry men. It was feeling an awful lot like the island of misfit toys. She figured that meant she might fit right in. Maybe she had finally found her people she thought wryly. She gave Hector a tentative smile and he smiled back. Hector had a nice smile, but he still largely scared the shit out of her.

Hector motioned for her to follow him. Stephanie trailed behind him, hoping he wasn't looking to add a new tattoo. He took her to the breakroom, where Ella had set out lunch.

She thanked Hector. "Gracias." Apparently, he had drawn the short straw, and had been sent to babysit her.

Hector inclined his head and ambled off. Stephanie grabbed a sandwich and headed back to her desk. She hadn't seen Ranger all morning, and she scanned around looking for him. His office door was open, but no Ranger. A little skitter of disappointment went through her. He'd been gone all morning, and he hadn't even bothered to text. She didn't know where he had gone or when he was coming back. Why give her the phone, if he didn't plan to use it? The fact she wanted him to text, just annoyed her. Ranger was a man of few words. She wasn't sure why she thought he would be any better at texting.

Maybe she had hoped after this morning, something had changed. Clearly it hadn't. At least not for Ranger. He wasn't a guy that telegraphed his thoughts. Unless Ranger had his tongue in her mouth, it was usually impossible to tell what he was thinking, and even then, it was about a fifty-fifty shot.

Since when had Ranger become such a big part of her life? Probably ever since he'd saved her life and given her a world-class orgasm. Stephanie rolled her eyes. There was just one problem. Last night hadn't been about either of those things. She'd just missed him. Stephanie was afraid she was seriously, stupidly, screwed and not in a good way. He'd warned her, he didn't do relationships, and what had she done? Blown right past that warning sign, and here she was scanning around an office hoping for a glimpse of him. Maybe she should just tattoo a big L on her forehead and call it a day. Hector probably knew a guy that could help her out with that.

Stephanie flopped back down at her desk and got back to work. A few hours later still no Ranger, but she was pretty sure she had narrowed down four properties of interest. She got up and stretched. Rolling her shoulders and rubbing her neck to ease some of the tension. Her eyes were blurry from staring at the screen for so long. Frustration pulsing through her. She didn't feel like they were any closer to finding Novak, so she could get her life back. Whatever that looked like. No job, no boyfriend, no clue. That pretty much summed up her life at the moment.

Stephanie went to find Les. She could feel curious eyes track her progress as she made her way across the floor. She pretended not to notice the stares and whispers, but it largely made her feel like a zoo animal. Les was in his office on the phone. She had a moment to observe him before he noticed she was standing in the doorway.

She realized there was nothing soft about Les. Eyes like obsidian, steel in his voice, and a sculpted body. Les was just better at hiding the predator than Ranger was. Unguarded there was a sadness to him. A loneliness she hadn't seen before. Les looked up, and she watched as the mask came down transforming his features. He gave her a grin and waved her in.

Stephanie had a seat, and Les finished up his phone call.

"What do you have?" He asked.

Stephanie spread out her research on his desk. "I'm not sure it's anything, but I think I may have narrowed down possible locations."

Les nodded. Giving her an encouraging look. "How many properties?"

"Four." Stephanie replied. She saw Les' eyebrows go up with a question, as he sat up and took note. Four was a very manageable number.

"Yeah, I cross-referenced the data from the phone Lyons' had on him at the hospital. The phone records that Montero gave RangeMan." Stephanie clarified.

"I narrowed down the most frequented areas using the location data, then cross-referenced bank records and property titles to known shell companies tied to Vito or Novak. Four properties came to the top of the list. I can't narrow it down too much more than that. One of them is the warehouse on Calhoun. I'm guessing that one can be eliminated, since it was compromised."

Les was shuffling through the research. "Steph, this is great. I'll have Silvio see if we can access CCTV footage around these buildings. See if we can spot Novak or Tiny."

Stephanie felt herself blush at the praise. Anybody could have done it, but it had made her feel useful. Given her a sense of purpose and a measure of control in her out-of-control existence.

"I'm going to get this stuff to Silvio. Let me know if you find anything else." Les was grinning at her. "You should come to work here. You have a real talent for this."

Stephanie just smiled back at him. She probably was going to need a job, but she couldn't imagine working for Ranger and seeing him every day knowing she couldn't have him. Dante might have thought there were only nine circles of hell, but she was pretty sure that would be the tenth.

Stephanie headed back to her desk and combed through more data for a few more hours. Nothing popped out and she blew out a frustrated sigh.

"Querida?" Stephanie looked up as Les approached her. "Let's take a break. I'll show you around RangeMan."

He said it like she would be doing him a favor. Les had an uncanny knack of knowing when she was on the edge, and how to keep her from tumbling over it. Les was good at reading people, and he was good at handling them. She had a feeling Les could charm just about anybody into doing anything. She had no doubt Les charmed women right out of their panties on a regular basis, so why did he seem lonely? Like he hid his authentic self from just about everybody. Maybe one day she would have the privilege of knowing the real Les, but right now she was just grateful for the distraction.

Les held out his hand to her and she took it. He pulled her around the cubicle and towards the elevator.

"How are you fitting in?" Les asked.

"OK, I guess. Hector scares the bejesus out of me."

Les gave a low laugh. "Yeah, me too, but he's gay and he hasn't killed anyone in over a year so you're probably safe."

Stephanie had a bad feeling Les might not be joking about Hector.

"Interesting group of people."

"Yeah, Ric recruits people based on their skills. He is big on second chances. Most of the guys got into trouble one way or another, or found their skills didn't fit civilian life when they got out of the forces. Ric gives them a purpose. Pays well. It builds trust and loyalty."

"Which one are you?" Stephanie asked.

Les looked down at her. His smile still on his face, but his eyes were full of intelligence and wariness. "Probably a little of both."

They passed the other half of the Wonder Twins on the way to the elevator.

"What is his name?" Stephanie asked Les, motioning her head towards the massive figure retreating down the hallway. She'd met a number of the men today, but not him.

"That's Hal." Les replied.

"Hal, Cal, Ram, Les. What's with the three letter names?"

Les laughed. "Well, see Ranger has this policy where you have to be able to spell your name to work here."

Stephanie rolled her eyes at him and gently elbowed him. Les was a lot of things, but stupid wasn't one of them.

"I don't know. Maybe just operational efficiency, I guess. It's easier to say Cal than Callum when someone's shooting at you."

"Do you get shot at a lot?" Stephanie asked, slightly alarmed.

"A fair amount."

The elevator doors popped open and they came face-to-face with Ranger. Stephanie felt a bolt of electricity jolt through her. His eyes cut from Les to Stephanie and back. Ranger gave Les a dark look and Les just grinned at him.

"Steph and I are doing a little tour of RangeMan." Les said by way of explanation.

Stephanie could see the fatigue pulling around the corners of Ranger's eyes. She really wanted to reach out to him, but she didn't dare. Stephanie doubted it would be welcome. Ranger wasn't a guy that showed weakness, and she had her doubts about public affection.

Ranger's gaze swung to Stephanie. She thought she saw them soften when he looked at her. "Ella has dinner upstairs. Why don't you go on up? I'll be there shortly. I need to talk to Santos for a minute."

Les gave her hand a little squeeze and she nodded and got on the elevator, heading to seven.

"We can do the tour tomorrow." Les called after her. Yeah, Stephanie thought, it seemed like she might be spending the next fifty years here at the rate things were moving.

She would have sworn she heard Ranger smack Les on the back of his head as the elevator doors closed. Stephanie shook her head. Those two were quite the pair. They looked so much alike, but on the surface were so different, yet the steel that ran underneath was the same.

When Stephanie opened the door to Ranger's apartment she was greeted with a wonderful savory, spicy aroma that made her mouth water and her stomach growl.

Ella was bustling about setting the table. Ella looked up and smiled as Stephanie walked in.

"Thank you for the clothes and everything." Stephanie told her.

Ella waived her hand dismissively. "It was no trouble. Let me know if you need anything else. I set out some fresh towels and more shower gel."

"I love that gel. It smells heavenly." Stephanie sighed.

"My sister works on the cosmetic floor of a department store. She gave me a sample of the Bulgari. It is expensive, but I think it suits Ranger." Ella sighed. "Not that Ranger would notice. All he ever thinks about is work. No play, all work. No girlfriend. Until you."

"I'm not exactly Ranger's girlfriend." Stephanie was shaking her head. This conversation was rapidly veering into awkward.

Ella didn't seem to notice. "I hung up your clothes in the closet, and cleared out a drawer for you."

Stephanie stopped, frozen to the spot. Icy panic washed over her. Her clothes comingled with Ranger's. That was bound to go poorly. Way too close to domesticity for a guy like Ranger.

"Oh, I won't be here that long. I can just keep stuff in the bag." Ella's head shot up and her little bird like eyes focused on Stephanie.

"Nonsense. You're Ranger's girlfriend."

"No, no. I'm just." Stephanie thought about it for a minute. What exactly was she to Ranger? "I'm just a job." Stephanie finally said. Hot, scream-yourself-hoarse, bone-melting sex did not equate to her being his girlfriend.

"You don't want to be his girlfriend?" Ella's sharp eyes were assessing her.

Stephanie could feel the heat of embarrassment around her collar. Did she want to be his girlfriend? Well maybe, but that wasn't a position that was available. Ranger had made that clear.

"Ranger doesn't do relationships." Stephanie finally said.

Ella laughed. "Men. So stubborn. Ranger's already in a relationship, he just doesn't want to admit it. You know he has never had a woman here, besides you."

Yeah, that probably explained the curious stares and the whispered conversation every time she walked through the control room.

Ella gave her a pointed look. "His jobs don't wear his clothes, sleep in his bed, or have dinner with him. Just be patient with him dear. He's still a little feral that one."

With that Ella left. Stephanie staring after her with her mouth hanging open, wondering what had just happened.

Shit Stephanie thought, she needed to get her clothes out of Ranger's closet before he got done talking to Les. She didn't want him to think she had told Ella to move her stuff in, and she was encroaching on his space or pushing for something more. Ranger wasn't a guy that shared his closet. He'd made that clear. She turned to head to the bedroom when she heard the door open. She stood frozen to the spot, like a deer caught in a headlight.

Ranger walked in. He was wearing a fully loaded utility belt and an unzipped flak jacket. His mouth was set in a grim line. He had that eye of the tiger quality going on, like he was ready to stalk prey. The hair on the back of Stephanie's neck stood up. Ranger was in full-on work mode and scary as hell.

"What's happened?" Stephanie asked. Her heart was beating wildly in her chest.

"Just doing a little recon." Ranger replied. His voice and expression neutral.

Stephanie narrowed her eyes at him. "Right. That's why you have two guns, a knife, and about five pounds of explosives strapped to your belt."

The corner of Ranger's mouth twitched up. "I just want to be prepared."

"Nice try. Now tell me the truth."

Ranger watched her for a beat. She wondered if he was going to lie to her. Do that thing men liked to do. Tell her it was nothing because he didn't think she could handle the truth. Women were too delicate to deal with the realities of life and scary situations. She always figured that made men feel better about themselves, because it never did anything for women.

"We are pretty sure we have Novak's location." Ranger stated without preamble.

Excitement pulsed through Stephanie, and she was moving towards him. "I'm coming with you."

Ranger crossed his arms over his chest. "No, you're not."

Stephanie stopped short. He had that big dick energy rolling off of him in waves, and all it did was piss her off.

"It's my life. I'm coming with you." Stephanie tried to shove past him.

"I have cuffs." Ranger warned, touching his knee to hers, effectively blocking her path with his body.

Stephanie's heart kicked up to about two hundred beats per minute. She could feel his energy and the heat radiating off of him. He wouldn't dare, would he? Suddenly her mind was racing through all the possibilities, and come to think of it, handcuffs didn't seem like such a horrible idea, under the right circumstances. Shit, where had that thought come from?

"I'm not exactly a handcuff-me-to-the-bed kind of person. I'm more a turn-out-all-the-lights-and-hope-for-the-best kind of person, but if that's your thing, if that is how you like it." Stephanie gave him her best innocent smile.

She knew she was playing with fire when she saw his eyes dilate nearly black. The sound he made was half growl, half groan, and all feral.

He grabbed her arms and picked her up off the ground, unceremoniously dumping her on the dining room table, pushing her legs apart to stand between them.

He leaned over her, forcing her back almost to her elbows. Ranger gently wrapped his hand around her neck. She knew he could feel the pounding of her pulse under his fingers. His thumb stroked back and forth over her throat.

He leaned in close, his lips mere inches from hers. The pounding of her pulse increased and she licked her suddenly dry lips. Her eyes flickered down. His lips were so close they were practically touching. He was smiling. Not a happy smile, a predatory one. Stephanie felt heat flush through her body, settling between her thighs.

"When I get back." Ranger continued to stroke his thumb across her throat, his voice silky soft. "I want you on the bed naked, arms over your head, legs spread wide. That's the way I like it." The smile was still in place.

Time stood still, and she heard herself whimper. A needy little sound. She swallowed, hard. She was pretty sure; she was about to hyperventilate. OK, so he called her bluff. No reason to panic. Maybe Stephanie wasn't quite ready for Ranger just yet. Baiting him that way was like yanking on the tail of a tiger, and she was about to get bit. A delicious little shiver went through her.

He brushed his lips across hers. "I need you safe, and I need you to let me do my job."

Ranger released her neck. He placed slow, gentle kisses from her chin, down her neck, stopping in the front to touch his tongue to the hollow of her throat.

"Please." He whispered against her neck.

Ranger stepped back. "I've got to go. Remember you are on camera the instant you leave this apartment. And Stephanie, I've given orders to stun-gun you if you try and leave the building."

Indignant, Stephanie's mouth popped open to say something, but Ranger was already gone. Clearly, she didn't downshift as fast as he did.

"Arrogant bastard." She yelled at the closed door.

What the fuck. Anger rippled through Stephanie. Yeah, she was done with playing a passive role in her own life. Stephanie yanked on the RangeMan windbreaker, grabbed her key fob, and marched over to the door and threw it open.

The other half of the Wonder Twins was standing at parade rest in front of the elevator. The one named Hal. She narrowed her eyes and advanced on him.

Hal held up his hand in a stop gesture. "Excuse me ma'am." Hal said. "Ranger would prefer that you stay in the apartment."

"That's not happening. I need to get downstairs. Now get out of my way."

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that. I can't let you leave the apartment."

Stephanie crossed her arms and gave him her best Burg death glare. "Exactly how do you plan to stop me?" Her voice was deceptively calm.

Hal shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot. He had a stun gun in his hand.

"Well?" Stephanie prompted.

"I have permission to stun you, if I have to, but I really don't want to." Stephanie could see the red flush creeping up his neck.

"So, you plan to stun gun a woman that is living with Ranger and is friends with a U.S. Marshal. That's your plan?" Stephanie was pretty sure god wouldn't strike her down with lightening for those little lies. She was kind of living with Ranger, and Montero had bought her a tastykake. That counted as friends. Right?

Hal's face was leaning from red to purple. "Please don't give me a hard time. I like this job, and I'll lose it, if I screw up with you."

Stephanie smiled at him. "You're right. I'm sorry. You know it has just been a bad day." Stephanie sidled a little closer.

"How long have you worked at RangeMan?" She could see Hal starting to relax.

"About two years ma'am."

"You know I've never seen one of those." Stephanie pointed to the stun gun. "Are they hard to use?"

"Oh no, you just press the prongs to the skin and press the button. Real easy." Hal looked relieved to be talking about something he could relate to.

"Do you think I could see it for a second." Stephanie gave him her best doe-eyed look.

Hal held out the stun gun to her. Stephanie took it, pressed it to his arm, and down he went like a ton of bricks. Hal probably wasn't a bad guy, but he was dumb as a box of rocks.

She leaned over him to make sure he was breathing, and gave a little finger wave to the camera. Stephanie got on the elevator and punched the button for the garage.

Les turned at the sharp crack of Ranger's voice. "She did what?" Ranger barked into his comms.

Les watched Ranger pinch the bridge of his nose, and take a deep breath. Les had never seen Ranger look quite so apoplectic. Les was pretty sure only Stephanie Plum could make Ranger have that look, and he did his best to hide his smile.

He'd told Ranger that telling Stephanie to stand down and stay in the apartment wouldn't work. He had warned him it was one of those really bad ideas. Ranger hadn't listened. In fact, he'd scoffed at Les. Yep, Ranger clearly never met a woman like Stephanie before.

Ranger faced the elevator doors, arms crossed over his chest. The muscle in his jaw was ticking like a metronome.

Ranger had made himself big and was yelling at Stephanie, in Spanish no less, the minute she stepped off the elevator. This version of Ranger routinely made grown men wet themselves and cry. Stephanie seemed entirely immune to scary Ranger. Les knew two things. First Ranger probably didn't even know he was yelling in Spanish, betraying just how out of control he was. And second, and more importantly, Ranger didn't know jack about women. Les just stepped back waiting for the fireworks.

"Sangrienta puta mujer del infierno. ¿Estás tratando de matarme?" Ranger yelled at Stephanie.

Stephanie just crossed her arms and glared back at Ranger. She had no idea what he was yelling, but she was pretty sure it wasn't flattering by the tone of his voice and the look in his eye.

"Tú. ¿No es así? Definitivamente vas a ser la muerte de mí."

Stephanie marched right up to Ranger and took her finger and poked him in the chest. "Don't yell at me in languages I don't understand." She punctuated every word with a poke to the chest.

They glared at each other for a beat and then Ranger grabbed her by the lapels of her windbreaker and hauled her up against him, crushing his mouth to hers, silencing them both.

Everyone else stood around all googly eyed staring, except for Les, and he was just laughing.

Ranger broke from the kiss. His forehead resting on hers. "You make me crazy Babe."

Stephanie smiled, placing her hands on his chest above his heart. "Yeah, but you love me anyway." She gently teased, throwing his words back at him.

She felt him smile against her forehead. "Dios sabe, creo que realmente lo hago." He whispered. Stephanie had no idea what he had said, but it sounded like he meant it.

Ranger stepped back from her, shaking his head like he couldn't believe what he was about to do. Les just grinned at Stephanie and handed her a vest. She guessed that signaled she was coming with them. Stephanie shrugged out of the windbreaker, and Les helped her pull the vest over her head and secure it.

Tank stared down at his shoe. When he looked up, his expression was blank, but he really looked like he wanted to smile. With Tank it was hard to tell. Ram had his lips pressed together, doing his best not to laugh. Stephanie figured he wasn't on Ranger's good list to start with after the incident at the hospital. He was sporting a black eye and a split lip already. Ram probably figured he didn't want a broken nose to go along with it. Tank and Ram got into one of the fleet SUVs and left.

Les climbed into the driver's side of another fleet SUV. Ranger rode shotgun and Stephanie climbed in the back and they roared out of the garage into the night.

If everything went well, half of Stephanie's problem might be solved by the end of the night. That just left Vito. Well, and Ranger. He was rapidly becoming her number one dilemma.

.

A/N:

Bloody fucking hell woman. Are you trying to kill me? - Sangrienta puta mujer del infierno. ¿Estás tratando de matarme.

You are. Aren't you? You are definitely going to be the death of me. - "Tú. ¿No es así? Definitivamente vas a ser la muerte de mí."

God knows, I think I really do. - Dios sabe, creo que realmente lo hago