Chapter Thirty-Four
Stephanie wandered into the ballroom of the country club. Montero had been snagged by a couple of legislative aids to some Senator. They wanted to arrange a meet and greet later in the evening, and a photo op for the press. Mercifully he'd told her to go on and he would catch up. They'd been there about fifteen minute and already she thought her ears were going to bleed from making inane small talk.
Stephanie hadn't seen Montero since that morning in her apartment. The morning he had thoroughly kissed her until her eyes crossed and her toes curled. He'd been clear about what he wanted, but he'd left the ball in her court. It wasn't that she didn't want to see him, she did. She had a lot to figure out. Find a job, get over Ranger, deal with the fallout from the Morelli situation. She'd needed a minute.
Neither had taken the train to see the other in the ensuing month, but they talked a lot and texted. Montero seemed to sense that she needed a little time to adjust and figure things out and he hadn't pushed. Instead, he had just been there for her. They talked about everything and nothing all at the same time. She like Montero. He was easy going, funny, and wicked smart. She'd jumped into bed with Ranger without knowing anything about him, and look where that had gotten her. Stephanie thought maybe she would try a different approach with Montero.
Tonight, would be their first sort of date. Montero had been roped into attending by his director, and he had invited her to join him. No pressure, no expectations, not really a date. Apparently, a certain New Jersey Senator had insisted on his presence. Taking out a fixture like Vito had been big news. The Senator wanted a photo op and Montero was certainly photogenic and charismatic. He'd been sent mainly for public relations. Stephanie was pretty sure he was hating every minute of it, but he didn't once complain, and damn, if that man didn't look good in a tux.
Stephanie was starting to think her self-imposed period of exile was officially over. She hadn't quite figured out the job thing yet, but she had a plan. Morelli was out of the hospital, and that whole mess was starting to blow over.
The Burg had shifted away from Stephanie the harlot to more interesting things like Stephanie finding a dead body and Vito's demise. Stephanie had distanced herself from her family lately. She still remembered the message from her mother when the truth started to trickle out.
"Why me?" her mother had asked. "Why do I have to have a daughter who finds dead bodies? Where did I go wrong? Emily Beeber's daughter never finds dead bodies. Joanne Malinoski's daughter never finds dead bodies. Why me!" That had been the sum total of the message.
Stephanie couldn't help but resent the fact her focus had been on how it affected her mother's standing in the Burg, and not so much about Stephanie. She knew her mother loved her, but sometimes it just felt a little strained and stilted. Stephanie was a lot less interested in pleasing her mother or conforming than she used to be, and that had caused some added friction. Her mother had ironed everything including the curtains at this point.
Stephanie had created a little distance lately. She needed room to breathe and room to think. She'd reconnect eventually, but right now what she needed was not to feel like a freak. She guessed that is where Montero came in. He didn't seem to think finding a dead body rated all that high on the oh shit meter. Probably for Montero it was a regular occurrence. He was the one person she could talk to about all of it. Well, most of it. The Ranger thing she kept between herself and Rex. Rex was a good listener. He could be a little judgmental sometimes, but he wasn't prone to gossip. She mostly thought he was over getting evicted from his hamster mansion, although he did still offer up a fair amount of hamster side-eye.
Stephanie had a feeling Morelli had helped set the Burg gossip record straight. She hadn't seen him since that day in the hospital, but they had talked. She was glad he was doing well, but it was all still a little raw. Apparently, Bella was so thrilled Stephanie was out of the picture and Morelli was having a child, she'd agreed to threaten anyone that spread lies about Stephanie with the eye.
Stephanie wasn't really sure what it said about her that Bella preferred a mob princess for her favorite grandson. The Morellis had a few mob ties of their own, so maybe that sort of thing didn't bother you if you were Sicilian. Stephanie thought it didn't quite make up for the poem on the bathroom wall, but it was a start. People had finally stopped calling her mother and asking Father John to pray for her. Now they only whispered and pointed when she went to the tasty pastry.
Stephanie's hand involuntarily went up and touched the back of her neck. She was getting that weird tingle again. She couldn't help herself and she scanned the room. Ranger wasn't here, it was just her mind playing tricks on her again. A familiar ache spread through her and she pushed it away.
How many times over the last month had she thought she caught a glimpse of him? How many times had she sworn she felt his presence? How many times had she stared at the phone begging it to ring and cursing it when it didn't? She had probably deleted a thousand texts to him over the last month. Really what was there to say. Ranger didn't do relationships, and that meant she wasn't going to be doing Ranger. And, that was the end of that.
Ranger was brilliant, beautiful, and scorching hot. A man like that would consume you with his heat, his intensity, and his aloofness. Sometimes she thought maybe she didn't care that his touch would burn her skin and mark her. She was drawn to him like a moth to a flame. Even though she knew the flames would destroy her, it just might be worth it. She had tried to forget him, to get over him, but she stayed awake at night thinking about him. He invaded her thoughts during the day and consumed her dreams at night.
She consoled herself that it had only been a month, but she was afraid it wouldn't matter if it was a month, a year, or ten it would always be the same. Maybe she was just destined to forever be grasping and reaching for him, only to have him slip through her fingers like smoke.
Montero joined her and handed her a flute of champagne. Their fingers brushed and Stephanie felt a spark as the simmering desire between them stirred.
"Thanks for doing this. I know it isn't the most exciting event, but I'm telling you, I might have strangled myself with this bow tie just to get out of it otherwise." Montero was smiling at her. "I was pretty sure my face was going to crack from all that fake smiling. I'm a little afraid, I'll look like a crazed psychopath in some of the press photos, but maybe next time they will send someone else."
Stephanie grinned back at him. "Take me to Shorty's for pizza and beer after, and we will call it even."
"Deal." Montero gestured to another group of people. "Ready for another round of schmoozing."
Stephanie nodded and his hand settled on her bare back. She felt a flush of warmth go through her. Maybe there were some other things the Marshal could do to make it up to her.
She was busy mentally undressing him, wondering if his skin would feel as smooth as it looked, when the tingle on the back of her neck intensified and Stephanie scanned the room again. That's when she saw him.
Stephanie sucked in a sharp breath. Their gazes collided and time slowed. Everything around her seemed to fade away into nothingness. For one moment there was no noise and no other people in the room. All she could see was him. She was transfixed, by the intensity and hunger in his predatory gaze. The electricity between them palpable. "Babe" echoed in her head like a physical touch.
Ranger was wearing a perfectly fitted black tux. It was cut to precision, bold across his shoulders and gentle lines across his waist, no doubt to conceal the line of his gun. The jacket draped with a subtle movement, and she thought he should be holding a martini, shaken not stirred, instead of champagne.
His skin was flawless, his hair was soft and sexy and currently cut short. That shocked her a little, but long hair or short he was striking. She had always thought the long hair betrayed the fact he was untamed. She'd been wrong. He looked just as dangerous and entirely undomesticated. He was like a sleek panther in a sea of gazelles.
Hard muscles, lean lines, beautiful angles, and those wonderfully lush lips that could be sensual and inviting one minute and stern and demanding the next. The thought made fire race through her veins, and desire pool between her thighs. A month had done absolutely nothing to quell the heat.
His body was sheer male perfection. No matter what he wore he always looked great, but Ranger in a tux was a heart-stopper. Almost as good as Ranger naked. Almost, because nothing was as good as Ranger naked.
She could see the huge diamond winking in his ear from across the room. You would have thought a man with a diamond stud that big, would have been better at the whole relationship thing. It wasn't like he didn't have some experience picking out jewelry, and really wasn't that half the battle. Her eyes slid to the woman on his arm. Maybe the problem wasn't Ranger and relationships, maybe the problem was her. Maybe Ranger just didn't want one with her.
The woman next to him was absolutely exquisite. Perfectly polished and absolutely stunning. Everything about her screamed money and sophistication. Everything Stephanie wasn't and would never be. Flawless skin, flawless hair, and flawless figure. Clearly Ranger didn't need to go slumming with her. It shouldn't' have surprised her really. A man like Ranger could have any woman he wanted. Why settle for the ugly duckling that lived in a one-bedroom apartment with a hamster and a broken toaster, when you could have that on your arm. It was like the difference between a Maserati and a Volkswagen.
Stephanie could feel the bile rising in her throat and forced it down. So what, if Ranger was here. With another woman. Their relationship had burned hot and fast, born from extraordinary circumstances. It wasn't real. It never had been. It had ended with a whimper and they had both moved on. Back to their real lives, even if hers was broken into a thousand jagged pieces, and would never look the same.
Stephanie raised her glass in a salute to Ranger. Well done she thought. Ranger was out living his best life, and she had been sitting around staring at the phone and crying herself to sleep. Well, no more. Stephanie turned back to Montero. He was watching her intently.
"Are you OK?" Stephanie knew there was no way Montero had missed that little exchange.
Was she OK? Well no, she was pretty sure her guts had been ripped out and were scattered on the floor along with her pride.
"Yes. Just a little too much champagne and a little too warm. I'm going to run to the ladies' room for a minute." Stephanie forced herself to smile at him.
Montero put his hand on her low back and guided her through the sea of people. The advantage to being big and dangerous looking was people tended to get out of the way. He led her down the dimly lit hall to the lounges.
Stephanie stopped and cocked her head and looked up at him. Montero was a good man, and he'd been a good friend over the last month. She genuinely liked him, so why had she been keeping him at arms' length. Well OK, that was easy. Somehow, she thought Ranger would come to his senses. Maybe even confess undying love. Clearly that wasn't going to happen, at least not with her. The woman he was with had a far better shot than she did. Stephanie had deluded herself into believing that they had something special and unique. She had been wrong.
Maybe it was time to explore something more with Montero. Get back in the saddle so to speak, or maybe just astride Montero. That might work just fine too. It probably wasn't the best time to be making life altering decisions, but what the hell, it wasn't like good judgement or common sense had been all that kind to her lately.
"You're making me a little nervous Plum. What's going on in that big, beautiful brain of yours?"
"Nervous?" She asked. The man took down America's most wanted for a living.
"Yeah, you have that look." His eyes took on that deep stormy blue and her pulse kicked up.
"What look is that?" She hoped she didn't sound quite as breathless as she suddenly felt.
"The one that makes me want to kiss you."
"Well, then I guess you better get over here and kiss me."
"Yes ma'am." It sounded suspiciously like a growl, as he reached for her and cupped her face with both hands leaning down to brush his lips across hers, feather light, like the brush of a butterfly's wings when it landed on your skin. He broke from the kiss and studied her face, looking for her answer.
Stephanie pushed up and pressed her lips to his giving him her response. In an instant, his insistent mouth was parting her lips. She could taste the champagne on his lips as her mouth moved over his, the kiss deepening and becoming more provocative. His tongue claimed hers, and she moaned low in her throat as he nipped along her bottom lip.
She could feel the heat of Montero's hand on her back. His fingers sliding leisurely down her spine, pulling her close. One hand rested on her hip and the other behind her neck as he thoroughly explored her mouth, slowly savoring her. Stephanie's foot raised off the floor. That was one hell of a kiss.
Voices broke them apart. Stephanie's skin was flushed and she was breathing hard. No, it hadn't been her imagination. He really was that good of a kisser.
She gave him a smile. "I'll meet you back in the ballroom. I think I might need a minute."
"That makes two of us Plum." Montero gave her a knock-your-socks off sexy smile and went into the men's lounge.
Stephanie headed into the ladies' lounge. God, after that kiss, now she really did need a minute or ten. Her heart was pounding, and she felt a little light-headed. She thought she would kiss him and that would be that. Her curiosity would be satisfied. She had not expected fireworks. She reached up and touched her lips. They had the feel of a woman that had been thoroughly kissed. She dug inside her clutch looking for her lipstick, and headed over to the mirror to reapply. She pulled off the cap and slicked it on her lips. Her eyes caught movement in the mirror and she came face-to-face with Ranger's date.