Chapter Five

Stephanie rounded the corner to the kitchen wielding her stiletto like a weapon and let out a startled squeak. It was Ranger. Not her worst nightmare, but close enough. Her eyes narrowed, and she quickly dropped the shoe, and tried to act normal even though she was panting like she'd just run a marathon and her skin felt clammy. Ranger was making himself right at home. Several bags were lined up on the counter and he was dumping out the contents.

He barely glanced up, and irritation skittered through her at his nonchalance. He seemed oblivious to the fact he'd almost given her a heart attack or the fact he'd broken into her apartment.

"Jesus, you scared the hell out of me. Why don't you try knocking next time?"

Next time? Where had that come from? There would not be a next time, Stephanie chastised herself. She should have insisted they meet somewhere other than her apartment.

Ranger continued emptying the bags, like she hadn't just yelled at him.

"And make some noise while you're at it." She snapped.

He greeted her outburst with silence, which just pissed her off more.

Stephanie huffed out a breath. "How did you get in here, anyway? Do you normally just break into people's houses!"

She was tinging into rhino mode and took a deep breath to avert the building bomb blast. Stephanie had locked the door and latched the chain. She gave him a narrow-eyed gaze. What exactly did she know about this guy? He could be a serial killer. He certainly dressed like one.

"I knocked, and you didn't answer. I texted you and told you I'd be here at six. You said OK. I thought you'd be expecting me." He sounded like he was trying to reason with a toddler, and she was trying his limited patience with her stupidity. He spared her a glance, and it looked like he was thinking about rolling his eyes. What he said made some sense, but she would never admit it. Except for the breaking and entering part. That had been uncalled for.

Stephanie's shoulder tilted up as she willed her heart rate to come down from stroke level. "How did I know it was you?" She hissed, appalled that he was entirely unapologetic for breaking in and scaring the crap out of her.

He turned and looked at her. "Were there any other possibilities?"

She gave him a stony glare. Stephanie wasn't even going to dignify that with a response. Mainly because the pathetic truth was no, there were no other possibilities, unless you counted the guy that stuffed giblets in dead chicken carcasses, and even that wasn't a sure bet.

His eyebrow hitched up and Ranger waited, refusing to let her off the hook and Stephanie tried not to fidget, but was fast losing the battle.

"Maybe." Stephanie elongated the word.

A whisper of a smile passed over his face, and Stephanie thought he looked pretty smug about the fact they both knew the answer was no.

Ranger's head motioned to the aquarium on the counter. "You live with a rat?"

"Hamster."

Ranger tapped on the glass and there was an upheaval of pine shavings, and Rex backed out of his soup can and looked around, sniffing the air, whiskers twitching.

"He's kind of cute. But he's missing a tail." Ranger commented as he peered into the aquarium.

"He's a hamster. Their tails are short." Stephanie explained, feeling a little like he'd called her baby ugly.

Ranger just made a noncommittal noise like he wasn't sold on that explanation and pulled out a baby carrot from one of the bags and held it out to Rex. Stephanie watched as Rex, the little traitorous beast, came over, sniffed the carrot and started eating it out of Ranger's hand. Stephanie gave a dismissive huff. She'd rename him Judas from here on out. No more high-end hamster crunchies for him, generic all the way.

Ranger finished feeding Rex the carrot and went over to wash his hands. He dried them on the kitchen towel by the sink and opened the refrigerator. Stephanie watched as he visibly flinched and his lip curled back.

He reached in and pulled out the slimy head of lettuce and examined it.

"Science experiment?" He queried.

"Lettuce."

Ranger gave it a pitch into the garbage and went back for the moldy bread and gave it a toss.

He poked his head back in and looked around like somehow food would magically appear if he looked long enough. Stephanie had bad news for him. She'd tried that little trick already, and it didn't work.

He closed the refrigerator door and opened the freezer.

He pulled out the vodka and read the label.

"For emergencies." Stephanie was thinking being in her apartment alone with Ranger while he examined every part of her life might qualify as one of those emergencies.

Ranger nodded and put the vodka back.

"You don't have anything in your refrigerator. No food, no salad dressing, no mustard, nothing."

Stephanie just shrugged. "No job, no money, no food. That's kind of how it works for most of us."

Ranger nodded but said nothing further. His eyes lit on the cosmopolitan magazine sitting on the counter and Ranger's lip tipped up into a smile. Stephanie tried not to wince or grab for it. She feigned nonchalance even though her heart was hammering against her ribs.

Ranger picked it up and flipped to the dog-eared page. Stephanie immediately regretted that nap. She wondered what Ranger saw when he looked around her apartment. Pathetic loser, most likely. No food, no furnishings, and no Hemingway. Just good old cosmopolitan the single girl's bible that often gave downright bad advice. Stephanie knew this for a fact, because she'd tried a lot of it, including that one unfortunate sex tip that involved a donut. At the time, it had seemed like a win-win. Turned out not so much. That had gone sideways in spectacular fashion, and almost ruined her love of donuts. Her gaze slid down Ranger's perfect body to his most perfect part. Yeah, that wouldn't have work with him anyway.

Ranger perused the article and read out loud. "How to tell if a guy is good in bed."

Stephanie felt heat flush up her neck until even the tips of her ears were burning.

Ranger's gaze locked with hers. "Here is a tip for you." He grinned. "If you have to take a quiz to figure out if a guy is good in bed, he's not."

Stephanie crossed her arms over her chest and tilted her chin defiantly.

Ranger scanned her penciled in answers. "Seems to me you've been sleeping with the wrong men." His voice held a distinct challenge.

Stephanie's whole body was on fire. The truth was, he was right. Ranger was the only man she'd slept with in a really long time, and she definitely didn't need a quiz to tell her he was good in bed. Ranger was studying her with an odd mixture of interest and regret marring his perfect features.

"I thought so." His voice was barely above a whisper, like he was confirming to himself something he already suspected.

Stephanie pursed her lips and huffed out a harsh breath and yanked the magazine out of his hands. Her eyes cut to the freezer. A shot or twenty of vodka would be useful about now. Vodka might not be the answer, but it was worth a shot. Anything to stop this slow-motion train wreck.

Ranger just gave a soft laugh. "Babe, you are full of surprises."

Stephanie wasn't sure what that meant, but she pushed it out of her mind. The way he was looking at her felt dangerous. Intimate even. Last night had meant nothing. At least not to him. He'd been clear about that this morning. "Last night was nice and all sweetheart, but no worries. I don't do relationships or women I work with." That little soundbite played through her head, and she glared at him for good measure.

"Maybe I got that magazine after last night." She quipped in her snarkiest voice.

"It's from two months ago. Nice try though." Ranger's grinned widened.

Stephanie just shook her head. The man was an egotistical menace. Her stomach gave a loud grumble interrupting the stand-off.

He held up his hands. "OK, let's get you fed." Ranger told her and went back to unpacking the bags, the smug smile still on his face.

Sliding one last hopeful look at the freezer, she came around and joined him in the kitchen, propping her hip up against the counter. She glanced at the food. Salad. Her lip curled back, and she swallowed down a sigh.

"You could have at least brought meatball subs or pizza."

"That stuff'll kill you, babe."

They were bounty hunters. People would probably shoot at them, hopefully not often, but occasionally, and Ranger was worried about trans fats and nitrates. That seemed a little simple, but then no one asked her.

"I'm not sure our life expectancy is all that good anyway," she pointed out. Especially since he'd almost given her a heart attack, and she'd almost stabbed him with a stiletto heeled shoe, and the night was young. Any number of things could still happen.

Ranger busied himself putting together dinner. Stephanie thought it looked suspiciously like grass and tree bark, with some tasteless grilled chicken thrown on top, but she kept that to herself.

Ranger seemed to take up a lot of space in her tiny kitchen. He was standing close, and the low hum of attraction she felt when she was around him kicked up to a buzz. He turned and moved closer, and Stephanie thought for one terrifying moment he was going to kiss her, and she was going to let him. Every nerve in her body pulled taut.

Her eyes drifted to that perfect mouth and her lips parted in an invitation. She desperately wanted to feel those soft, delicious lips on hers. It felt like it had been far too long since he had kissed her, even though she could remember exactly what it felt like. Her lips tingled and pulsed at the memory of his hot, greedy mouth taking hers. Her hands gripped the edge of the counter like a lifeline to keep from reaching out and fanning across his washboard stomach. Her mind mapped his body, forming an image of what he would look like naked.

Instead of kissing her, he reached around her and snagged two salad bowls from the over-the-counter cabinet. Relief and disappointment washed over her in equal measure. His nearness befuddled her and made her feel like she was touching a live wire.

"It's not the length of life that's important," he said. "It's the quality. The goal is to have purity of mind and body."

"Do you have a pure mind and body?" Stephanie wasn't sure where that voice had come from. It was pretty clear her mind was filled with impure thoughts.

Ranger's eyes drifted over her like a physical caress and she couldn't help the tremor of anticipation that snaked through her. His eyes locked with hers.

"Not right now," he purred.

That deep vibration strummed through her body and she licked her lips in a completely involuntary gesture. OK, mostly involuntary. She got a thrill of satisfaction as his eyes darkened and heat shimmered. Hmm. Mr. unflappable wasn't entirely unaffected by her nearness. He moved closer, and her breath hitched. His eyes were locked on her mouth and she could feel his body heat as his fresh citrus scent drifted over her. Her body fluttered, and she pressed her thighs together as she clenched around nothing. He could stop that ache. All she had to do was reach out. The invitation was written all over his face.

Shit, what was she doing? She moved away from him like she'd been scalded and put the counter between them. He might be hot as sin, but that didn't make up for the fact he was a jerk, she reminded herself. And sort of her boss. Things would be awkward enough without letting her hormones get the best of her judgement, which on a good day was suspect when it came to men. Especially ones that looked like that.

Her sudden movement snapped him out of whatever daze he was in, and his blank face slammed down. He filled a bowl with salad and handed it to her, making sure their fingers didn't so much as brush. He made one for himself and stabbed at the salad greens like they were the enemy. She could feel the irritation pulsing off of him. What did he have to be pissed about? She wasn't the one that broke into his apartment and damn near gave him a heart attack.

She threw him a dark look, and he studiously avoided her gaze while he murdered the salad in his bowl with impressive precision that gave her goosebumps. Stephanie stared down, pushing the greens around with her fork, wishing for the magical appearance of a meatball sub, or maybe just a sinkhole to swallow her up and save them both from her incurable stupidity.

"You need money." It was a statement, not a question.

"You know I do."

Stephanie looked at him. Where was this going? He was standing in her dirty apartment with no furniture and an empty refrigerator. The fact she needed money wasn't a mystery.

"There are lots of ways to make money."

"True." That had sounded darkly alluring and her spidey sense started clanging.

She wished he'd just get to the point and was tempted to tell him to use his words, but caught herself before she made things worse. She still needed his help, but what exactly did that mean? Lots of ways to make money. If so, she sure hadn't found them.

An unwelcome thought crossed her mind. Was he offering to pay her for sex? When he slept with her, he thought she was a hooker, and it was clear he knew she was desperate for money. There are lots of ways to make money sounded shady. Maybe that's how he got his rocks off, paying for sex. No mess, no fuss, no emotions. Just a business transaction. Her gut clenched and the salad suddenly sat like lead in the pit of her stomach. Maybe that had been her appeal last night. There weren't a lot of explanations for why someone as hot and successful as Ranger would come onto her. He was a mercenary, after all.

Stephanie thought about it for a second. Could she sleep with him for money? The sex had been good. No, way more than good, it had been spectacular really. She swallowed hard against the bile that rose in her throat. The thought of being nothing more than a throw away in his life, made her queasy. There might be lots of ways to make money, but that was not one she was interested in.

"Are you offering to pay me to sleep with you?" She asked with just a hint of incredulousness.

His eyes snapped to hers. "Do you want me to?" There was a menace in his voice that caused the hair on the back of her neck to stand up and take note.

"Of course not." She gave him a look that conveyed there was no question he was stupid.

"But you want to sleep with me."

"No!" Stephanie practically shouted, as fire streaked through her veins like hot lava at the thought.

Sleeping with him again was almost as bad an idea as the time her best friend, Mary Lou, had pierced her ears with an ice cube and a sewing needle.

"Liar." He challenged.

Anger, righteous and swift, ripped through Stephanie. "Just so we are clear, there isn't enough money in the world to get me into bed with you."

She could tell by the grim line of his mouth and the way the muscle in his jaw ticked that had pissed him off.

"Yet you thought I was offering money to fuck you?" The disdain dripped from his voice, and Stephanie flinched at the harshness of his tone. Maybe she'd misread the situation.

"Were you?" She shot back, doubling down on a bad position.

Ranger gave a derisive snort. "Don't flatter yourself. I don't pay for sex, even if it is good." He gave her a pointed look, and if her face got any hotter, fuck the vodka. She'd need to stick her face in the freezer.

"But then, we all know sex is never truly free, now is it." His words were clipped.

"That's a little cynical, don't you think."

Ranger's shoulder tilted up. "Just practical."

"You're an ass." Stephanie mumbled under her breath and his eyes narrowed a little.

"So we are clear." He demanded. "That I'm not soliciting sex. My offer is about employment."

"Crystal."

He stabbed a piece of salad with vicious force and stuffed it in his mouth, chewing slowly like he was trying not to yell or throttle her. She could see the vein ticking on the side of his head, and she had the perverse desire to tell him all the salads in the world wouldn't make a damn bit of difference if he blew an aneurysm or had a stroke.

A few minutes passed in blessed silence, and she could see by his body language he'd wrestled himself under control. Ranger reminded her of a jungle cat. Quiet and lethal. Every muscle relaxed on command. He probably did things like yoga and meditation when he wasn't busy torturing her. By the way he seemed to enjoy that salad, being human, or at least a sane one, was also debatable.

Stephanie did her best to ignore him. She was still pissed and embarrassed, which didn't bode well for the evening, and she had a feeling those bags didn't contain anything with carbs or sugar.

"RangeMan does more than just bounty hunting. We do corporate and personal security and a variety of other odd jobs. Do you have any restrictions or preferences on the jobs you are willing to take? Other than not sleeping with me."

"Legal." Stephanie hedged, ignoring his jab. OK, so she'd totally misread the situation and insulted him. She supposed she should feel bad about that, but he was the one that mistook her for a hooker.

Ranger waited until she looked up at him before he spoke. "There are all kinds of legal."

A little tendril of apprehension slithered through her.

"Oh." Now Stephanie was catching on, and the discussion in the diner made more sense. "I don't actually know what you do. I'm just searching for something that'll get me some quick cash short-term and maybe supplement my income long term."

Ranger nodded.

"Let me explain my work ethic to you. I don't do things I feel are morally wrong. But sometimes my moral code strays from the norm. Sometimes, my moral code is inconsistent with the law. Much of what I do is in that gray area just beyond entirely legal."

He let that sink in for a moment. "Think of it as broadening your horizons."

Stephanie swallowed past the lump in her throat. She had a feeling his horizons were a teensy bit closer to hell than she might want to travel.

"Something mostly legal."

Ranger just kept studying her and Stephanie looked down and toed the ugly beige carpet.

"Is this charity?" she asked him.

"Guess again." The seductive quality of his voice made her shiver.

"I'm not selling my soul, am I?"

"I'm not in the soul-buying business," Ranger said. Stephanie briefly wondered what business he was in. She thought maybe she should have asked more questions.

Ranger seemed to sense her unease. "This is an investment. Part of the working relationship." He emphasized the working part. "I'm not buying your body either."

Stephanie rolled her eyes. Yeah, he had made that clear. His revulsion had been almost insulting. She could tell that was going to be a sore spot for him.

"What do I have to do in this working relationship?" She asked.

"Jobs come up. Don't accept any that make you uncomfortable. Simple as that."

Stephanie studied him for a minute, perplexed. She couldn't figure out why he was helping her.

"You aren't doing this just to amuse yourself, are you?"

Ranger's lip tipped up. "That would be somewhere in the middle of the list."

Stephanie mostly thought he was joking.

Ranger helped himself to some more salad. "What I have going now is a renovation job."

This sounded appealing. "You mean like interior decorating?"

"Yeah. Guess you could call it interior decorating. This is the way it works," Ranger said. "I send a team in to renovate, and then I place one or two people in the building to take care of long-term maintenance. How does that sound?"

"Sounds good." Stephanie replied. That seemed easy enough, and safe.

Ranger finished his food and rinsed out the bowl before he put it in the dishwasher. If he put the lid down on the toilet seat, he might just be a keeper, if you could get past his obvious flaws, like the fact he was an asshole, and quite possibly full-on bat shit bananas. She did a mental eye roll. Maybe her mother was right and she should consider a date with Bernie, although she was pretty sure Bernie didn't play on her team.

"I'll pick you up tomorrow at five A.M."

Stephanie was busy wondering what he'd be like to live with and almost missed that important announcement.

"Five A.M.!" That sounded like pure hell. "To start an interior decorating job?"

"It's the way I like to do it."

A warning flashed through her brain. "Maybe I should know more—"

"It's routine. Nothing special. Besides, look at it this way. It gets you out of running."

"Aren't I lucky."

He gave her a look that said she could be, if she wanted. Stephanie swallowed with an audible click. This man was all over the map. Or maybe it was her. Hell, she didn't know anything other than Ranger was a complication she didn't need, and it was entirely possible her panties were going to burst into flames if he kept looking at her like that. She was on the verge of vaulting over the counter and wrapping herself around that perfect body. Good intentions and restraint be damned. Being a good girl hadn't worked out all that well. It netted her one slimy ex-husband and a date with Harold. Maybe it was time to be a bad girl. A really terrible girl. The idea gained traction with each passing second.

Ranger checked his watch. "I have to go. Business meeting." His voice cracked a little.

The spell broke and the invisible thread between them snapped, and Stephanie jerked her thoughts away from naked Ranger. She didn't want to speculate on the nature of his business meeting either, so she pushed that thought aside. She was beginning to think she'd bitten off more than she could chew on a lot of fronts.

He grabbed her trash and headed out, taking the slimy lettuce and moldy bread with him. Stephanie immediately missed him the minute the door closed with a soft click. How stupid was that?

Stephanie flipped on the television, buzzing through the channels until she found a movie she wanted to watch. She may as well watch some TV while she still had electricity. She took the files Vinnie had given her and started flipping through them, memorizing photos, charging details and other information on the skips.

An hour later, Stephanie stifled a startled shriek when a loud knock sounded at her door. She padded over and looked out the peephole. An enormous man with a buzz cut was standing outside with several brown bags. Stephanie pegged him in his late twenties. He was wearing the same uniform as Ranger, so she was pretty sure he wasn't a threat.

She unlocked the door and peeked out, keeping the chain in place just in case.

"Miss Stephanie?"

"Yes."

"I'm Hal. Ranger sent me."

Stephanie threw the chain and opened the doors and eyed the bags. "What's that?"

"Groceries ma'am." Hal replied.

"Groceries?"

"Yes ma'am. May I bring them in?"

Stephanie let the door fall open. "Sure, just set them inside."

Hal obliged. He was tall and muscular, but he had a boyish face that made him look friendly and unthreatening. She had no doubt that was probably an advantage.

Hal stepped back into the hall, his hands behind him at parade rest. "Do you need any help?"

Stephanie gave a negative shake of her head. "Thanks."

Hal nodded and high-tailed it down the hall like he couldn't wait to get out of the building. He was probably wondering how he'd managed to draw the short end of that stick.

Stephanie sighed and hauled the groceries to the counter and unpacked them and filled her refrigerator. All the staples a person could want. Vegetables, lunch meat, bread, milk, peanut butter, and eggs. The last bag contained organic gourmet hamster crunchies. Stephanie sent a dark look Rex's way. "Judas."

Stephanie was conflicted. Ranger being nice to her was weird, or maybe it was just pity. His way of apologizing for breaking into her apartment and mistaking her for a hooker. Then again, he didn't seem like a guy that had sorry in his vocabulary. Whatever, she wasn't going to analyze it too much. She needed the food.

Stephanie opened up the freezer, pulled out the vodka and took a big slug, letting the ice-cold liquid slide down her throat and turn into fire in her belly. She wiped her mouth on the back of her hand, screwed the lid on, and shoved the bottle back in the freezer. She picked up her phone and toyed with it for a minute, debating whether to thank him. Her Burg training won out. Just because he bought her groceries didn't mean she liked him, she reasoned. She was just being polite, even though deep down, she knew this was a slippery slope.

She typed out "Thanks" and hit send. That was benign enough.

"Anything else I can do?" Came his reply. Stephanie imagined that sexy, sultry look and that sinful voice when she read it.

"No."

Stephanie sat her phone down and then picked it back up. Apparently, vodka mixed well with everything but good decisions. "Not right now."

"Let me know when. It's inevitable."

A tingle skittered through her, and a smile toyed around the corner of her lips. She was playing with fire.

"Don't hold your breath." She typed and sent.

"It won't be my breath I'm holding."

"You're insufferable." And clearly, she was crazy yanking on the tail of a tiger and not expecting to get mauled.

"Night babe."

"Night."

Ranger looked down at his phone and realized he was grinning. He tried to stifle it, but it kept popping back up. Stephanie was intriguing. When she'd come around the corner brandishing a high-heel shoe like a weapon, he'd been surprised and a little impressed. She was going to take on an intruder with a shoe. She was fierce. He'd give her that. Now she just needed the proper training, so that fierceness didn't get her hurt or killed.

Ranger let out of slow breath. Stephanie didn't think much of him. She'd made that abundantly clear when she'd accused him of offering her money for sex. Her accusation had royally pissed him off, and if he was honest, it had even hurt his feelings, but he probably deserved it just a little. She had good instincts and saw right through him. She could tell he was damaged and jaded.

He had convinced himself she was an escort, even though a part of him knew better. The innocence about her, the way her body responded when he touched her, how she felt wrapped around him. Yeah, none of those things had exactly screamed professional. It didn't seem like she had even been with a man in a long time, but he was so jaundiced he couldn't see any other reason a beautiful woman would be with Harold. He couldn't reconcile that maybe she was on a pity date with him or maybe she liked him. So instead, he'd ignored all the signs and barreled ahead with his faulty logic and insulted her, convinced he must be right.

He didn't know how to make that up to her, other than helping her out. Ranger didn't do relationships, and he certainly didn't do them with women like her. Stephanie Plum was way too good for him. The attraction between them was strong and dangerous, and was bound to complicate things if he wasn't careful. He thought about it for a minute and decided the best thing to do was live up to her low expectations and let her hate him. It was safer for them both that way.

He'd mentor her and train her. Ranger would give her a job as long as she wanted it, but he would keep things professional between them. That's what he told himself. Sure, that sounded like a solid plan. So why was it he'd fobbed his way into his apartment and pulled out the shirt he'd worn last night just so he could smell her?

Ranger stood in his closet and wondered if he had officially lost his damn mind. When he brought the shirt to his nose and inhaled deeply, he was sure the answer was yes. The light scent of vanilla and jasmine tickled his senses, causing the dull ache that had stalked him since she'd walked out on him last night to pulse to life. His knees felt weak, and his breath quickened. He reached down and stroked his growing need. Yeah, who was he kidding? He was doomed. Ranger wasn't known for impulsiveness or poor decisions, at least not until he'd met Stephanie. Now that's all he seemed capable of making.