Everybody and anything familiar belong to Janet. Mistakes are mine alone.

"Hey, Babe," I said, after politely letting myself into her apartment to spare her the walk to the door.

"Hey back, Batman. Wait, is that cake?"

I followed the trip her eyes took down to the plastic container I had balanced on the palm of one hand. I see only an insulin spike in the making, but I know Stephanie views cake as her sole reason for living on the bad days.

"It is," I told her, vying for her attention with a kiss that will remind her of how good I taste.

"Yum …" she breathed out a full minute later. "I don't know why you're here, but I'm happy you are."

I'd reluctantly released her lips, but I didn't let her move too far away from me as I slid the purchased cake onto her counter.

"I don't need a reason to want to see you, Steph, but I thought after the day you've had … you would need cake."

The slump to her shoulders disappeared as a genuine smile overtook her beautiful features. "I love you."

"I know you do. And Vinnie has a few bruises to show just how much I love you back."

She winced. "So you heard everything?"

"I did. And I can promise you that he will never speak to you like that again."

She tried for a casual shrug, but I saw the hurt hiding beneath the gesture. "Vinnie wasn't lying. I screwed up my last chance at that capture. He had every right to chew me out since he's now out some money."

I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her flush to me. "What do I do when my men screw up?" I asked her.

"I don't know, since it's never happened before. All the guys almost match your skill level."

"No one's perfect, Babe. Not even me. We've all messed up at some point. All you can do is take responsibility for it, learn from it, and never do it again. You understand that, and that's what you'll do. Vinnie was out of line. Seeing as how he's family, he really should've been less of an asshole."

"Not in my family. The jerkier the better is the Plums' motto."

"That's their problem, not yours. I've terminated my contract with Vincent Plum Bail Bonds. I suggest you do the same."

"I'm seriously considering it. I know I'm not the best BEA out there, that would be you, but he's not exactly helping me improve by calling me stupid and incompetent for choosing to bail on an apprehension instead of letting Stalson torch my car with me still buckled inside it."

"Reydon Stalson is also sporting a few new bruises."

"Did you 'teach him a lesson' too?"

Her arms were already around me, but she's suddenly holding as tightly to me as I am to her. Today could have ended in a way neither of us would have bounced back from … and we both knew it. Retreating isn't in my nature, but I'll be forever grateful to Stephanie for choosing to save her life over doing her job.

If Tank had heard that thought, he'd bust my balls for the rest of our lives. We always put the mission first, nothing else would be considered acceptable. But he hasn't met his 'Babe' yet. If he had, I know he'd feel just as desperate as I do to keep my lifeline intact.

"I didn't have to," I answered finally. "Santos and Brown were ordered to track him down as soon as I learned he threatened you and actively put your life in danger. I was picking up your cake when they called to inform me that they got their hands on the fucker."

She rested her chin on my chest in order to aim a look up at me. "Thank you for sticking up for me. And thank Lester and Bobby for me for doing the same, order or not."

I pressed a kiss to her head before replying. "They would have hunted him down regardless. They only waited to see if I wanted to catch the asshole myself. You can pass along your thanks yourself when you come to Rangeman tomorrow. Seeing you was my first priority. I showed up with cake, hoping to make you feel better, but also to bribe you."

"Into doing what? Quitting my job?"

"Yes. That will be one way to alleviate the kind of worry I've been feeling ever since Connie called and told me what happened today."

A cute little line bisected her forehead when she frowned hearing that piece of information. "Connie pinky-swore that she wouldn't tell you. She's supposed to be my friend and actually listen to me when I tell her not to do something."

"She is your friend because she understood that I needed to know how your cousin chooses to endanger you."

"I can take care of myself."

"Yes, you can. And you did that today. But you shouldn't have to watch your own back all alone, all of the time."

"So … the cake is to help persuade me into working for you?"

"And to celebrate our new partnership if you say yes to what I'm proposing."

"Do you provide good benefits," she teased.

I felt myself relaxing. If she's turning playful, she isn't pissed that I'd stepped in, trying to improve her life without getting her permission first.

I nudged her hips with mine. "You know my 'benefits' are some of the best."

I grinned as I watched a blush creep out over her cheeks and slowly down to her chest. "You mean ... they are the best. I can honestly say I don't have a single complaint about your benefits package."

That surprised a laugh out of me. "Only you, Babe."

"Yep. Only me can mess things up so bad, so often and still have you wanting to ride to my rescue."

"You didn't screw up. You saved my life right along with yours. And I'll always have your back because I love you."

The puff of air that my T-shirt absorbed was more of a snort than a laugh. "My mom 'loves' me, and to her that equals blind obedience."

"That's not love, Steph, that's conditioned-manipulation."

"I know. And I get that's what Vinnie uses too. So … yes. I'll say 'Fuck you' to him and work solely for Rangeman if you really want me."

Although I wouldn't allow myself to entertain any other outcome, I felt a weight lifting hearing her say that. "Why don't you allow me the pleasure of informing your cousin that you're all mine now."

"Is that conversation going to involve more bruises?"

"It's highly possible."

She nodded. "Okay. Good. You can give him my resignation, physically if you want to. I'm done with him … and with everyone like him."

I moved my arms from her waist to her shoulders and hugged her to me. "Thank you."

"So … we can have cake now to celebrate?"

"Have at it," I told her, knowing this was coming.

"I know it's probably a dumb question, but are you going to risk destroying 'the temple' and have a piece with me?"

"It's not dumb. And I'd like the piece with the blue rose on it."

That adorable frown line was back. "But you hate frosting even more than cake."

"And bacon, according to Ramon, but this is a special occasion and I feel it's appropriate to indulge. Plus, you seem to really enjoy me feeding you icing flowers. I'm willing to do anything to have you moaning like that again."

She blushed for a second time at the memory of my forking a flower off a 'Get Well' cake she'd brought me so I could hand feed it back to her. It was a sexy moment once I'd completely blocked out how many chemicals I had fed her.

Stephanie didn't give me time to change my mind. She peeled herself away from my body to get a plate for me out of the cabinet near the stove she doesn't use, and pulled out two forks and a knife from the drawer by my leg.

She went to cut my piece first, only to pause. "Oh … that's so depressing."

"What is?" I asked.

"Didn't you read what you bought?"

"No. You like supermarket cake, and that was a cake sitting in a supermarket. No more thought was needed."

"Spoken like a true guy. Anyway, I thought an abandoned 'Happy Birthday' cake was sad, but I can't imagine how bad things turned out for the guy who left a 'Marry Me' cake for a complete stranger to pick up at a sale price. Huh, I notice he made it sound like a demand more than a question. Maybe that had a little something to do with not needing this cake in the end."

I considered what she said. "Could be he knew he and his woman belonged together and was only using the cake to finalize it."

She plated my requested slice and handed it to me with a fork before she just took her fork to the rest of the two-layered potential-heart attack.

"Most women like to be asked, though cake is a good way to seal the deal if she's anything like me."

"No one's like you, Babe."

She toasted me with a fork full of cake. "And the world is still celebrating the fact that that particular mold was exploded seconds after I burst out of it."

"I have three buildings full of men who would pay good money for another product of that mold. They love you, Steph."

"Yeah, because they don't actually have to live with me. You have, so you could tell them exactly why they should steer clear of me."

"I have warned the men away from you, but as the man who will kill anyone who approaches you with anything other than strictly protective intentions. The only thing wrong with you is how you see yourself. And that's something we can work on."

She leaned her ass back against the kitchen island. "I know you're just trying to make me feel better, because you know that when I stay with you, I completely cover your bathroom counters with makeup and hair products and your coffee table littered with hair ties. I leave dirty dishes in your sink, putting them in the dishwasher only the next day. And I invite Ella, and whoever's free in the control room or on four, up to Seven to watch movies and keep me company whenever you're scheduled for a more dangerous than usual job, when I know how much you value your privacy."

"Why do you believe that I don't enjoy those aspects of your personality?"

"You're a guy who likes calm and is cool and collected. I'm none of those things."

"Did you ever consider that's one of the reasons why I love you? Because you're the opposite of who - and what - I am."

She shook her head. "Nope. Not at all. Opposites attract, but don't last."

"Who says?"

"I don't know. I just made that up."

I lifted the blue rose up to her lips and waited until her mouth was full of frosting to speak again.

"I think we can prove that theory wrong, right here and right now."

Her eyes opened wide, not only from my words but by a round diamond so large, it needed two interlocked bands to support it ... which the blue icing had just melted away to reveal on her tongue.

I gave her the five minutes she obviously needed to process the situation. But when she remained silent after taking the engagement ring out of her mouth only to stare blankly at it, I spoke up.

"I had that cake made, Steph. It wasn't abandoned, or a day-old purchase, despite how much better those appear to taste to you."

It took an extra thirty-seconds before she found her voice. "So … the 'Marry me' was on purpose?"

"I'd say it was in actuality ... a direct order," I explained. "Given what I was feeling when I heard that you could've just been killed, I decided that I needed you to work for me, as well as be married to me, so nothing like today could happen again."

"Are you serious?"

"Dead serious. Now that I've been told women like to be asked, I may have changed what I said to write across the cake, but my intention remains the same."

I took my ring briefly back to rinse off any residual icing, feeling a twinge of jealousy that her tongue had just been wrapped around it instead of me.

I dried the ring on the leg of my cargo pants before taking her left hand in mine to slide the platinum piece of jewelry where it belonged. "Stephanie Plum, will you marry me?"

"Well, since you asked so nicely … yeah, Batman, I think I will."