Everyone and anything familiar belongs to Janet. Mistakes are solely mine.

I had invited Stephanie here tonight with no idea what our outcome would be. I told myself that I didn't care if she brought Morelli along, just as long as she came … but seeing her dressed up and alone proved how severely I've been lying to myself.

I blanked-out my expression so she won't know what I'm thinking and went to greet her at the door.

"You look beautiful, Babe," I told her, leaning in to kiss her cheek in a non-threatening 'close friends' way so I wouldn't scare her into taking off.

I wasn't lying. Stephanie has had control of my breath, along with a few organs, from the moment she stormed into my life. But the shimmering, spaghetti-strapped, silver dress she had poured herself into tonight, which caught and held every bit of light in the room as well as my attention, had my mind less on raising money for the Autism charity run by a friend of my mother's, and more on raising the skirt of Steph's dress to see what's hiding beneath it.

"Thank you," she said, a bit nervously if I'm not mistaken.

And I am never wrong. I don't care much for fishing unless it's a matter of survival, but I welcomed this sort of expedition.

"I didn't think you'd come," I told her.

She gave me a sad little smile. "I almost didn't, but you've done so much for me, and do even more for others … I couldn't let you down. Plus, Mary Lou threatened me with multiple forms of torture if I didn't get prettied-up and represent her dress-pick properly."

Stephanie's best friend has gone from a woman petrified of me, to one of my biggest supporters just behind Grandma Mazur.

"She was right. You needed to be here," I admitted. "Though I'm surprised you came alone."

She didn't say anything, but her body language spoke volumes. Her smile never reached her eyes and hers averted the search mine were undertaking.

"You asked me to come, and you never ask for anything. I had to be here for you," she eventually said, skillfully avoiding my underlying question.

I grabbed her hand and gently pulled her to a corner where fewer ears would be listening. My men can out-rumor the Burg grapevine if given half a chance ... a by-product of being in intense situations every day. They need to decompress somehow … and Stephanie and I have become their primary source of amusement and distraction.

"What's going on?" I asked, happy that she's here, but uneasy about her motives.

She shrugged. "Same as usual. I wanted to do something Joe disapproved of and I told him to fuck off. I can do whatever I want for my friends."

"And that's what I am? Your friend?"

She sighed and I felt it absorbing into my bones. "No … which is the real problem." She stopped and glanced around the pretentious chandelier-lit, fabric-draped ballroom. "But tonight's not the time to get into that."

"I can't disagree more. We're here and you obviously need to say something," I told her. "Now feels like the perfect time to get into this."

I caught Tank's eye and tilted my head towards the country club's glass doors that led to the terrace overlooking an immaculate golf course. He nodded and I tugged Stephanie into the balmy night air. Her heels clicked on the stone pavers as we walked towards a secluded area near a four-foot stucco wall separating the clubhouse from the overly-manicured lawn.

"Start talking," I ordered.

"Ranger, you have an important shindig, as Grandma would say, going on. We can talk tomorrow."

I backed her up until her hips were pinned to the wall. I crossed my arms, not budging until she tells me what happened.

"Seriously?" She said. "You're going to blow off an important family fundraiser to listen to me complain about Morelli again?"

"Depends. Is he finally out of the picture?"

She took so long to answer, I was convinced she wasn't going to until she did.

"Yes."

Everything in my body stopped whatever they were doing hearing that one syllable, but I didn't let on how off-balance she'd just made me.

"Explain."

"Ranger …"

"No. Go on. Please."

As predicted, her defenses lowered hearing the 'P' word.

"Okay, but don't say I didn't warn you." She took a fortifying breath before continuing. "Joe wanted me to have dinner with him at his Mom's house where all his siblings were getting together, and I told him I was coming here."

She stopped talking and the way she wrapped her bare arms around herself had me believing she'd stop here if I didn't push her. And there's no fucking way I'm not going to push her when our relationship is hanging in the balance.

"And?" I asked. "You've never held anything back before, Babe. Now's not the time to start."

"Keep in mind, if I continue to talk … things will get way more complicated between you and me."

"You scared?"

"Frickin' terrified," she said on an exhale.

I took the jacket of my tux off and set it around her shoulders to ward off any chill she had, internal or external. Her fingers grabbed the edges of it and kept a two-fisted grip on the lapels like it's a lifeline.

"I can be strong for the both of us, Steph. What did he do?"

"He accused you of being more than just a friend to me, and that's actually why I needed to be here tonight. He wasn't wrong."

Those three words I could barely hear. She was speaking to the stone floor instead of to me. Oddly enough, that she couldn't meet my eyes lent a substantial amount of weight to what she'd just said.

I reached out and lifted her face up with my index finger so she couldn't hide from me. "What wasn't he wrong about?" I asked, holding my breath after I did.

"He accused me of loving you more than him," she began, then stopped again.

"And you do," I said not asked, as I held eye contact so she wouldn't look away. "He's always known that. That's why he's always trying to keep you away from me."

"You're right about that, but I suddenly realized that I don't love the two of you. I only love you. As his face became redder, and his arms flapped more, it dawned on me that I liked the idea of Joe … not the man himself. He called me on it, and I grabbed what little stuff I hadn't already brought back to my apartment and left his house for good without denying it. We've never stopped having problems with each other, but this past month has been dysfunction, distrust, and dislike all on steroids. Since we'd been avoiding each other more than seeing each other, I should've put a bullet in the 'relationship' a long time ago and damn the consequences."

I tried to process that as fast as I heard it, but realizing that an unattainable goal I had is now seconds away from happening was hard for my mind to accept.

"Are there regrets?" I had to ask.

"Only that I'm not really in the mood to schmooze and celebrate."

I cautiously pulled her into my arms, hoping she'd come to me willingly now without thinking about it. "You don't have to spend the night impressing people, you've already left an indelible mark on those who matter."

"Namely you?" She asked, with the first hint of a smile I've seen since she'd arrived.

"Yes. I didn't invite you tonight for what you could do, I wanted you here just for me."

"Because I look better in a dress than any of the guys?" She teased. "Though Lester has pretty legs for a dude."

I felt a shitload of relief that she's cracking jokes instead of fighting this … fighting us.

"You look better than everyone in anything, but there's also no one I'd rather spend a night with."

That got her shoulders pulling back, but she still appeared in a subdued mood - which is unlike her - yet not ready to relocate my nuts.

"I'm not sure if I should be flattered by that or annoyed?" She told my chest.

I kissed the top of her head where she'd gathered all of her renegade curls. "Since I was talking about you being my partner in avoiding spectacles like this, you should be flattered. But I admit, there's no one else I want in my bed either."

Her back went stiff again, but there's no heat in her blue eyes. "Is there room for me there tonight?" She asked. "I don't want to go back to my apartment alone or to what I had before you showed me something better."

I couldn't stop my reaction. I got a grip around her waist and used it to press her to me, covering her mouth with mine before she could protest. Judging by the way she melted the rest of the way into me, protesting is literally the last thing on her mind.

When my lungs signaled that they need a breather, I reluctantly released her lips. "Like with the Bat Cave, Babe, if you come willingly to my bed … it's forever."

I watched the different expressions flicker in her eyes. "Promise?" She finally asked.

I let my mouth speak for me again, with the help of my lips and tongue. If she ever wants out of my life … she'll have to go through me, my family, my men, and my entire organization, in order to accomplish it.