Welcome to part one of a two part Valentine's Day themed story that came to me while browsing Pinterest for drawing inspiration. As always, I do not own the characters or world detailed below. Just borrowing them to have some fun.

Contains Janet Evanovich Fan Fiction Facebook group February 2022 challenge: "I screwed up, all right. But I never once lied to you. I've done a lot of shit in my life but loving you is different."

The Ties that Bind

1 – Tied with a Bow

A shiver ran up my spine as I stepped onto the elevator on the seventh floor to head down to work. Something was up. I wasn't getting the sense that something was wrong, so much as I had warning bells in the back of my mind telling me to be prepared for the unexpected. I suppose I shouldn't be all that surprised by the feeling, though. It was Valentine's Day and if history served as a decent prediction, the guys would be celebrating the hallmark holiday in full swing.

Last year, Lester dressed up as Cupid in a diaper and fairy wings (and nothing else if you don't count his combat boots and utility belt) and went around the office shooting people with foam darts that's he'd drawn hearts all over from a pink Nerf gun. The funniest moment was when he'd switched out the regular darts for the ones with the suction caps on the end. He'd burst into the breakroom, barely spared a moment to aim and landed a shot on Cal, right in the middle of the skull tattoo on his forehead.

The year before, someone had done up conference room two in the gaudiest Valentine's Day decorations before the Core Team's morning meeting. When Tank got up to leave at the end of the meeting it was only to find the door was locked and the internal security panel to release it had been disabled. Ranger had tried to call Hector to come fix it and let them out, but his phone wasn't working. None of our phones were working, nor the laptops and iPad's we'd used for note taking.

We quickly descended into discussions of a possible security breach and how we could possibly combat it from inside the room with no way to contact anyone outside. Tank's gaze was cutting between me and the vent in the ceiling, probably contemplating the likelihood of me fitting through and not getting injured in the process of manoeuvring my way through them to the outside when the smart screen switched itself on and a message appeared informing us that we were in an escape room. To escape, we needed to solve clues that had been hidden in the decorations and figure out who our "Secret Admirer" was.

It was Hector, which should have been obvious from the technical difficulty required to pull off such a stunt, but it took us almost an hour to get out of the room.

Whatever it was this year, I had a feeling Ranger was involved, because why else would he not return to bed for a sweet wake-up call after his morning workout? It was one of the things that I'd come to rely on in our relationship. He wasn't always open with his words, but his actions more than made up for his taciturn nature. Over the last couple years, we'd fallen into a routine that worked for us. He got up early for his morning gym time, returning to the apartment to shower and have breakfast with me if I was awake by then - which I usually was these days – before we made our way down to four to start the workday. There were, of course, occasions where he would be called away before breakfast could happen. But even better were the special occasions when he would crawl back into bed with me to celebrate in the best way we knew how.

That hadn't happened today, though, and as much as I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt – maybe there was an emergency with one of the high-end accounts and he had to deal with it personally – I was a little disappointed. I'd been looking forward to the prospects of morning sex. And even though we'd made love the night before, I felt bereft.

The doors sprang open on four and I waited a moment for any surprise cupid appearances or glitter heart confetti before cautiously stepping out, taking in the unusual hush that had fallen over the command floor.

It felt like everyone was holding their breath.

"Happy Valentine's Day, guys," I called out, hoping to break the moment. There were a few quiet replies reciprocating the sentiments, a half dozen exchanged glances and, if I wasn't mistaken, a couple of snickers and snorts. Unsure what to do with that, I started toward the breakroom to grab a cup of coffee before heading to my office only to have my path blocked by one Lester Santos.

"Morning, Beautiful," he said, grinning from ear to ear in that boyish way he had about him when he was either amused or up to something… or both.

"Morning, Lester," I greeted suspiciously. "You wouldn't happen to know where Ranger is, would you?" His grin grew wider, taking on a devilish glint and my Spidey Sense ratchetted up a notch in response. "What did you do?"

Slinging his arm over my shoulders, he steered me back in the direction I'd come from, past the bank of monitors and the elevator to the short hall that held my own office along with those of the rest of the Core Team. "I left a present for you in your office," he explained, opening the door and leading me inside.

I froze two steps past the threshold as my gaze caught on the centre of the room. My mouth hung open and the panties I'd carefully picked out just half an hour earlier were absolutely ruined as a flood of heat rushed south. I was pretty sure I was panting from the mere sight of the present Lester had arranged for me combined with the thoughts of what I could do with it.

There, kneeling in the middle of my office, looking like he was frozen in the act of getting to his feet, was Ranger. And ordinarily, just the sight of Ranger alone would have left my mouth dry and my pulse racing, but the vision before me was so much hotter than anything I'd ever witnessed. He was dressed in the boxer briefs he tended to wear under his gym shorts to avoid unnecessary exposure of his jewels while working out. And again, that would have been enough to send my brain down a sexual fantasy rabbit hole, but that still wasn't the end of it.

Thick ropes were crisscrossing his torso, looping between his legs, over his shoulders, and around his arms, knotted in several places and securing his hands behind his back. Over top of the ropes, a wide pink satin material had been tied into a massive bow behind him.

My eyes roved over every inch of him, and I found myself pressing my thighs together firmly. A moan filled my ears, and it took me a moment to realise that it had come from me. I shook my head, trying to clear the fog that had descended over my brain and dragged my gaze back up his body to his face. Whereas he'd registered shock when our eyes first met, he was now glaring past my shoulder.

"Santos!" he seethed, lurching to his feet.

"And that's my cue to leave," Lester chuckled from somewhere behind me. "Happy Valentine's Day! You kids have fun!" He punctuated his words by hastily pulling the door closed behind him.

The move triggered a tirade from my gift, as he yelled threats at Lester through the closed door but made no move to follow, probably realizing that he was in no fit shape to make an appearance on the command floor for all his men to see.

I let him work it out of his system for a minute or so, taking the opportunity to examine the ropes, the knots, and the muscles they contained in much greater detail. My feet carried me forward of their own accord, heat and desire swirling low in my belly. I reached out to trail a hand over the line of rope that looped around his abs, following it down, down, down over several securing knots until it skirted around the prominent bulge in Ranger's briefs and dipped out of sight between his thighs.

His shouts stuttered to a stop, attention averted to my hand as it skipped to his other hip and followed a second line of rope back up. Leaning in, I pressed my lips to the taught flesh between knots, revelling in the way his muscles contracted in time with the quiet gasp that fell from his lips.

"Babe," he groaned. He said nothing more when I tilted my head to peer up at him through my lashes. His eyes were that dark molten chocolate colour he got when he was aroused, and the rise and fall of his chest was more ragged than usual. Apparently, he was just as affected by this as I was.

Letting a smile spread on my lips, I took his silence as consent to continue my explorations and relished in the fact that he was completely at my mercy for the first time ever. I moved my fingertips from the ropes to his warm, mocha latte skin and slipped them under the pink silk covering his chest until I could run my nails over his hard nipples. The way his breath hitched sent electricity through my entire body, almost as if it had been him giving my nipples that same treatment. It was at that moment that I realized it was possible that I could get myself to climax just by touching him and tuning my mind and body to the way he reacted.

A moan escaped me at the idea of using Ranger for my own pleasure and I buried my face in his shoulder, pressing an open-mouthed kiss to the place where it met the vertical column of his neck. My entire body was flush up against him now, and I could feel just how much he appreciated my attentions.

"I'm going to go out on a limb," I whispered, pulling back just enough to blow on the moist flesh I'd created but not so far that his shiver didn't flow straight into me. "And guess that it wasn't your idea to gift yourself to me like this?"

"No," he breathed.

I hummed as I continued to nuzzle his neck, removing my hands from under the material and walking them up his chest to his shoulders before running them over his arms, stopping only to tug experimentally at his bindings along the way. "Me neither," I admitted, my voice husky and low as I leaned up toward his ears. "I have to say I was a little disappointed when you didn't return to ravish me after your workout this morning, but this is a nice surprise."

I stepped back, looping my hands into the horizontal ropes at his waist, pulling him forward. He let me lead him to and push him down into one of the two visitors' chairs that were positioned in front of my desk, keeping eye contact the entire time. Quickly straddling his lap, I wasted no time in claiming his mouth, delving my tongue inside in time with the first grind of my pelvis against his so he would have no confusion about what it was that I wanted from him.

Ever the quick study, Ranger immediately leaned into the kiss, slanting his lips across mine as his tongue fought to take back as much control as his current bound state allowed.

A fire was blazing in my veins, and I knew I was one good thrust from falling apart when I managed to find the wherewithal to release my hold on his hair and reverse off his lap. I was breathing harder than when Bobby forced me to do sprints on the treadmill, the feel of oxygen filling my lungs almost painful as I suppressed the urge to press my thighs together once more, to touch myself and finish what I'd started.

"Babe?" The concern in his voice was evident as his gaze roved over me, searching for what was wrong, what had caused me to pull back so suddenly at such a crucial point. It wasn't in my nature to deny myself an orgasm, but the images flitting through my head of the things I could do to Ranger with him all trussed up like this were overriding my brain, and I knew on some instinctual level that denying myself the release now would only increase the pleasure I anticipated later.

I sent him a wicked grin as I backed away around the desk and plopped down in my office chair. A shiver ran through me as the action pressed my core against the seam of my cargos, but I breathed through it, forcing myself not to shift and lean into the sensation. Instead, just allowing the feeling to wash over me and away.

"What are you doing?" Ranger asked, eyeing me suspiciously as I let out a sigh as the pleasure faded somewhat until I reached forward to press the power button on my computer. My eyes slid closed, and I had to bite my lip to keep myself in check.

"The rule when I was growing up was that I had to get all my work done before I could play," I explained patiently, marvelling at how husky my voice had become. I sent Ranger a sultry glance, noting the way he shifted in the seat as though he, too, was in a state of discomfort after the abrupt ending I'd forced on our make-out session.

His movements stilled, eyes narrowing at my explanation. "You're playing with fire, Babe," he growled.

I smirked. "I know."

"Untie me."

I affected what I presumed to be an innocent, doe-eyed expression, pouting as I pointed to the inbox that never seemed to empty out despite constantly working on it. "But I haven't finished my work," I said. "I haven't even started it! We have to wait, or the boss will be forced to reprimand me! You wouldn't want me to get in trouble, would you?"

Rather than argue the point or lower himself to begging for his release – either from the ropes or his pleasure – Ranger slid to the edge of the seat and began to rise out of it.

Time to put my soldier in his place. "Sit back down," I commanded in the harshest tone I could manage, spearing him with a glare. I was rewarded when his expression went slack, and he fairly collapsed back into the chair. If I wasn't mistaken, his eyes had darkened even further, letting me know that the unexpected change in my demeanour had him more turned on than I had ever seen him. Best to file that information away to exploit at a later date.

In a sweeter tone, almost sickly sweet by comparison, I told him, "You're my Valentine's Day present, and I want to enjoy you. So, you just sit right there where I can ogle you while I work, and when I'm done, we'll see what we can do about those ropes."

He was torn, I could tell, between giving in to my demands, and taking control of the situation as was his usual modus operandi in all parts of his life. We stared at each other for long minutes, locked in a battle of wills I never would have thought was in the cards before Lester lead me into my office half an hour ago. When he let out a slow breath and adjust his position so he was more comfortable in the chair, I knew I'd won. I wanted to execute my victory dance but decided showing maturity and restraint in this instance would better suit the mood I'd created, so instead I nodded my approval and said a quiet, "Thank you," before averting my attention to the computer to type in my password.

For the next two hours I worked my way through my inbox, completing urgent tasks and setting up calendar reminders to come back and do the non-urgent stuff later.

Ranger hadn't moved a muscle in the whole time, slouched in the chair with his shoulders leaning against the backrest and his legs extended before him so that he was on full display. He watched me with the same intensity as a lion stalking it's prey. There was no doubt in my mind that he was thinking up all the ways he could exact his revenge when I finally released him from his bonds. Rather than let his stares intimidate me, though, I found the thoughts of his payback sent an electric thrill through me. And every time it happened, I let my gaze drift over him with a sultry smile, allowing a hand to caress my chest or dip to press against my crotch, increasing the drawing out the quake.

My earlier suspicions had been correct: the anticipation had me constantly simmering on the edge of combustion.

We'd exchanged a few occasional words over the course of the morning. Mostly centring around my obvious displays of arousal and refusal to untie him and let him finish what I'd started, but silence had reigned for the last twenty minutes, interrupted only by the small moan I'd let out when I'd accidentally pressed my sensitive nipple to the edge of the desk. I'd been leaning over to pick up the pen I'd dropped, and the answering growl that floated across the desk had me tempted to give in to the urges we were both so clearly suffering.

"I'll be back in a minute," I informed Ranger, coming around the front of the desk and pressing a chaste kiss to his lips. "I just need to drop these files with Tank."

He tried to stop me by wrapping one of his toned legs around my waist, but I managed to dance out of reach before he'd adjusted his balance enough to bring the other up and lock me in place.

"Be good," I warned, slipping into my imitation of a drill sergeant's tone once more.

He growled yet again as he watched me walk away with hungry eyes but said nothing and made no further attempts to prevent me from leaving. If it weren't for the raging hard-on he had no way to disguise, I'd be worried that I was pushing him past the limits of his patience, angering him and setting myself up for a one-way ticket to a third-world country.

With an excited grin plastered on my face, I stepped out into the hall and took a deep breath to gather my composure before crossing the ten feet to Tank's door. I knocked and let myself in when I heard a gruff, "Enter!"

His eyes widened like he was surprised to see me, making me wonder if he was in on the stunt Lester had pulled. Probably. After all, someone had to be covering Ranger's duties while he was incapacitated, and God knows Lester wouldn't touch that side of the paperwork unless his life was on the line.

"Just dropping off the files for the Henderson Group inspection this afternoon," I said, lifting the folders in my hand as evidence before setting them on top of his overflowing in tray.

His brow furrowed as I backed up a step. "Thanks," he said slowly. And then, because he was clearly confused by my appearance in his office when Lester had hand delivered an opportunity to spend at least the morning conducting some reciprocal body worship with my husband, he added, "Have you seen Ranger?"

I was helpless to keep the smile off my face even as my cheeks heated. "He's in my office."

Our eyes held for a long moment. I was pretty sure my entire face was flushed pink and steadily turning red. Thankfully, though, the big guy seemed to understand that Ranger's current predicaments and actions I may or may not have taken or have plans to take in the near future were not topics I was keen to discuss with him. The corner of his lips twitched with the suggestion of a smile and I decided that was my limit.

"Well, I'll leave you to it," I said, backing away further. "Got some important business to attend to."

"I bet you do," he said, the smile growing more permanent.

With my head down to avoid his eyes, I beat a hasty retreat and had just laid my hand on the door handle when Tank's voice reached my ears once more.

"You should know that the cameras are disabled, but the soundproofing isn't going to cover up any screams."

Mortified, I had to suppress a squeak as I bobbed my head to let him know I'd heard and understood his words. Probably, I looked like a tomato as I travelled the ten feet back down the hall to my own office. How many of the men were aware of the fact that Ranger was tied up in my office? Was I going to be able to look any of them in the eye ever again?

My embarrassment was forgotten, though, as I stepped inside and found myself frozen in shock for the second time today.

Ranger was on his feet behind my desk. The fabric from the massive pink bow that had been obscuring his chest was draped over the back of my chair as he worked at unravelling the ropes from his torso.

The red of my face seeped into my vision as annoyance and frustration rushed through me. "You just couldn't stand not being in control, could you?" I said, stalking forward until we were facing off over the desk.

This was not how I'd planned my return to play out. Having completed the urgent tasks that I hadn't managed to get to before leaving work the previous day, I'd been ready to finally unwrap the thoughtful gift my friend had left in my office for Valentine's day. But my gift had decided to unwrap himself instead.

"Babe, I-"

"No, Ranger," I cut him off. "This was one of the hottest things I've ever experienced – which is saying something considering our sex lives and your prowess in the bedroom – and you took it away from me. I was coming back in here ready to explore the fantasies that have been flooding my brain, keeping me right on the edge of coming since the second I saw you all tied up. I was so excited to be in full control for a change, but you just can't let it go, can you?

Shock registered on his face, quickly morphing to show a hint of the arousal he'd displayed earlier before settling into something akin to regret.

"I thought-"

A derisive noise escaped my throat and he cut himself off this time. His eyes roved over my face as I glared at him, probably looking for hints on how to remedy the situation. In the back of my mind, I acknowledged that he likely had similar plans to mine for when I returned to my office. But the fact that he'd ruined mine had put a real damper on the mood.

"I'll make it up to you," he pledged. "Full control. Anything you want – anything your heart desires – it's yours. I promise."

But without the ropes in place, my earlier confidence was waning. Having Ranger presented to me, restrained in such a way that he was at my mercy, ready for the taking, had given me ideas I never would have entertained under any other circumstances. I'd wanted to experiment. To try things.

Now, though, the thought that I might need to articulate those desires verbally in order to explore them had be backing down, retreating, shoving them into a box to be ignored.

My experiences with sex had been very vanilla before Ranger entered my life. And in some cases, trending in a negative direction. He'd broadened my pleasure horizons and taught me to follow my desires unashamedly, which I was getting good at doing if we were already in the head of the moment. Taken out of that lust-crazed state of mind, though, I still struggled to allow myself to follow those thoughts if they veered too far off the beaten path. And the fact that Ranger's impatience had wrenched me back out of the moment I'd spent two hours crafting had me bordering on furious.

Snatching up the first folder from my in tray, I turned on my heel and stomped to the door. I'd almost made it when I felt his presence approaching at the speed of light behind me.

"Where are you going?" he asked, a pained note to his voice.

I glanced down at the file I'd picked up. "Hal's cubicle," I stated. "He needs help getting a lead on a skip."

"Babe."

"You're the one who took away my favourite playtime option, Ranger," I pointed out, wrenching open the door. "I may as well continue to work instead." And with that, I stalked away, secure in the knowledge that even Ranger had a limit for the amount of humiliation he could endure and would likely not try to follow me and risk being ridiculed by the men for appearing practically naked and with ropes trailing from his body as he trailed behind his wife.

None of the guys questioned my presence on the floor, which lessened my anxiety about them all knowing what Lester had done to Ranger this morning, but as I settled in the spare chair in Hal's cubicle, flicking through the preliminary background report he'd submitted to me with his request for support, I couldn't prevent my brain from feeding me images of Ranger bound by the ropes and sprawled in the chair across from my desk and waiting for me to have my way with him.

It wasn't like Ranger to give in before I did, but he did have a tendency to take matters into his own hands in the bedroom when I'd been teasing him for too long. I'm only a man, he'd inform me, flipping us so that I was pinned underneath him. And while I usually revelled in pushing Ranger to the limit of his control and was always satisfied with the results, this was different. My goal hadn't been to see how far I could get before he snapped. It was to try something new and just follow my impulses without second guessing myself.

"Are you okay, Steph?" Hal asked, snapping me back to the task at hand.

"Yeah, sorry," I mumbled, running a hand over my face. "I was just thinking."

"Any thoughts I can help with?"

I shook my head no, because while I'd left my statement vague enough so that he could interpret it to mean I was thinking about his file, I hadn't given his skip a moment's thought since reading the name at the top of the page. And I damn sure wasn't going to clue Hal in to what I had been thinking about. "Tell me what you've already tried," I requested, letting the file drop to my lap.

"Well," he said, leaning back in his chair. "I thought the girlfriend seemed like a good…"

Before he'd even reached the end of his first sentence, my mind had once again drifted out of the cubicle and down the hall to my office. I really shouldn't have been surprised that Ranger had taken it upon himself to escape the ropes. I mean, it was entirely possible that the mere act of being tied up could trigger a PTSD episode, and I had insisted on keeping him like that. Maybe he'd been struggling mentally despite outward appearances, and when I stepped out of the office he just couldn't take it anymore.

If that was the case, I couldn't really stay mad at him. And really, what was there to be mad about anyway? It wasn't like Ranger was denying me sex. He'd never been able to hold out on me in the past and I didn't think that was going to change now. I'd still get my orgasm, and he'd happily oblige any wants or needs I communicated with him. And when it was all said and done, the main point was to enjoy the time I had with my husband and show him just how much I loved him. I was being petty by storming out the way I had.

"…thought I'd check the- Steph?" Hal's words penetrated my mind once more and I realised I'd gotten to my feet at some point. And if his expression was anything to go by, it had been an abrupt move.

"Sorry," I said. "I just remembered something I have to deal with."

I didn't even wait for his reply before exiting his space, pulling my phone out of my pocket as I went, and power-walking in the direction of my office. I hit speed dial 1 and pressed the phone to my ear, hoping Ranger hadn't called our surprise Valentines encounter a wash and already headed out of the building on a patrol or client call out.

A frustrated growl left me as it rang out, leaving me with Ranger's curt voicemail message. I hung up and redialled, quickening my pace as I entered the office hall. Deciding to try Ranger's office first, just in case, I still had the phone pressed to my ear when I passed my own door, but pulled up short when the feint sound of the ringtone I'd assigned to myself on Ranger's cell so he always knew when I was calling even before he looked at the screen drifted out to me.

On a whim, I shut off the phone and pushed my way into the office.

The sight I was met with took my breath away.

In the middle of the room Ranger sat in the same visitor's chair that I'd pressed him into before insisting I get some work done. The pink bow was back adorning his chest, and in addition to the ropes crisscrossing is abs and securing his hands behind him, his legs were now tied to the legs of the chair at the ankles, the ropes snaking up his calves to wrap around his knees before travelling around the back of the chair to pull them apart. In this position, his crown jewels were on full display, since his underwear had miraculously disappeared, and despite the fact that he was seated, I was getting a standing ovation.

"Yum," I breathed, stepping forward and shutting the door behind me.

"I'm sorry," he said, chocolate eyes following my progress as I closed the distance between us. "I shouldn't have untied myself and ruined your fun."

"No, you shouldn't have," I agreed, mesmerised by the pattern of shapes the knots and lengths made across my husband's thighs. I touched the slight bulge of flesh straining against the bonds.

"I screwed up, all right," Ranger went on, even as my hand abandoned his thigh and trailed up his abs the same way they had the first time I'd been presented with my gift today. "But I never once lied to you. I've done a lot of shit in my life, but loving you is different. I said I'd make it up to you, and that starts right now. I loved the way you took control and teased me earlier and as soon as you came back and let me have a piece of your mind for untying myself, I regretted not allowing you to have your fun. You're so sexy when you-"

"Ranger," I interrupted his rambling.

"Babe?"

"Stop talking."

He nodded, following orders like my good soldier, and I stepped out from between his knees, undoing my cargos and letting them slide down my legs to pool on top of the combat boots I still wore. His eyes zeroed in on the pink lace panties that perfectly matched the shade of the bow Lester had adorned him with, and they darkened almost black.

"You are going to do exactly what I say," I instructed, reefing my Rangeman tee over my head to reveal the bra that went with the panties before bending at the waist to give him a good view of my cleavage while I untied and removed my boots. "If at any point you do something I didn't ask you to do, this stops. Understood?"

Another nod and he managed to drag his gaze swiftly over the expanse of flesh I'd just exposed to him, leaving a trail of fire in his wake despite the fact that he hadn't physically touched me. My skin was burning with the mere suggestion of his touch, and the effect was sending heat to pool low in my belly once more. When his gaze locked on mine, all the love and desire he felt for me swirling in the bottomless depths of his eyes, I couldn't look away if I tried.

"Time to play."

Part 2, hopefully coming in the next few days, will be from Ranger's POV.