Steph's POV

There was a little part of me that thought Cal would call me the same night I'd run into him at Pino's, but I knew a work emergency might keep him busy that evening, too. I was trying to be reasonable. Probably, I wasn't being successful. What can I say? I'm a Jersey girl through-and-through, and we're not exactly known for our patience or a lack of hair products and makeup. No, we're loud and aggressive on the road, with hair always teased to hair perfection, and never seen without our war paint on.

I was certain that I'd hear from him the next day. I mean, he seemed excited to see me and said he would call. My business card had both my office and cell phone numbers on it, and I felt confident that one of them would ring any minute. I practically jumped every time my phone went off, but it was never him.

By the third day, I was angry. There were lots of words that I shouldn't repeat in front of children and Italian hand gestures to go with them. Looks like Cal was just like every other man in my life, minus my father. Dickie and Joe had both shown me that I wasn't worth much, and not hearing from Cal just reinforced that message.

"Mary Lou," I began when I got home on night five and sat down with a beer in my hand and my feet on the couch. "I want to go out Friday night. I need to find some willing guy to help me blow off some steam. I'm apparently not worth serious effort from any man, but that doesn't mean that I can't have fun for a night."

"Steph, you know that's not true. You just haven't met the right one yet," Mary Lou reassured me, but I wasn't having it.

"I'm just not a white picket fence kind of girl, I guess. You in?" I pressed.

I heard her sigh and could practically hear her fighting with herself over whether or not she wanted to be party to my night of fun. "Fine, I'll be there. I won't get in your way, but I'm also there to watch out for you. Is it okay if Lenny comes with us? I'll get my parents to watch the kids so we can spend time together while you're looking for Mr. Right Now."

"Yes, of course! Thank you, Mary Lou. I know just the place in Newark. I don't want to go somewhere in Trenton where I might run into Morelli or Cal."

Cal's POV

A few days after the incident, I was back on the control room floor doing desk duty. I'd be out of the field for a couple of weeks due to the blood loss, but I didn't mind for once. Desk duty meant that I could spend time trying to find Steph. Les had left no stone unturned in his search for her business card, but had come up empty. I wasn't in any shape to do much about it after I came home from the ER, but I was feeling much better today.

I booted up my computer and started a search using what little I knew – first name, height, approximate weight, and the age range I thought best fit. I walked away from my computer while it worked on results and sat down in the break room with the guys.

"Feeling better today, man?" Les asked.

"Yeah, it's not so bad. I'll be fine," I reassured him.

"Good. I'm sorry that I couldn't find your girl's card," he apologized again, causing everyone's ears to perk up.

"I didn't know you were seeing anyone," Ram, one of my coworkers, replied.

"I just met her. It's nothing. Yet, at least. I mean, I'd like to get to know her better. She gave me her business card and I told her I'd call, but it was in my shirt pocket. I'm trying to track her down," I explained. I have no idea why I said so much except to say that these men were my brothers.

"What can we do to help?" Woody asked anxiously.

An hour later, I had a rough sketch that Junior had done based on my description of her and a list of the Stephanies in Trenton so long that I didn't know where to start. I closed my eyes and thought back to the card and suddenly remembered the logo on the front. She worked for E.E. Martin! This was the break I needed. I gathered the drawing and my phone and then stepped into my partner Hal's office.

"Hey man, I just remembered where she works! You coming?" I asked excitedly.

Turns out my excitement was short-lived. The receptionist seemed to be scared by Hal and I, and after showing the sketch of Steph and several attempts to get information I hung my head and walked away. As I was approaching the door I felt the tingle on my neck that I always felt when Steph was around and quickly spun to look for her. I checked over the entire lobby but never found her. We stopped by Pino's on the way home, just to see if she might be there again, but I once again came up empty.

Steph's POV

It was Friday of a long week, and I was just done. Some of the girls and I had gone out to a late lunch, and as I walked in the hair on the back of my neck stood up. I saw Cal and some other huge man in the same uniform standing in the lobby talking to the receptionist, and I quickly swiped my badge, ducked into the stairwell, and dashed down the hall. I didn't know what he was doing here, and I wasn't going to stick around to find out. I watched them pull out of the parking lot from one of the windows on my floor and then gathered my things and headed out for the day. I was taking a couple of hours of personal time off to do some long-overdue pampering.

I picked up dinner on the way home, making sure to stay away from anywhere that I might see Cal, and enjoyed a couple of Coronas while I showered, shaved, plucked, exfoliated, and moisturized every square inch of my body. I straightened my hair for a different look and made sure my makeup looked sultry and sexy. Then I slid on a lace thong followed by a backless blue silk dress with a flowy skirt that hit a few inches above my knee hat made me feel like a million bucks. Silver FMPs finished off the outfit. I looked damn good if I do say so myself.

I took a cab to the club to meet Mary Lou and Lenny. Tonight was going to be fun. We grabbed a round of drinks and then Mary Lou and I walked out to the dance floor to get our groove on. We danced several songs before Lenny came over and stole Mary Lou away for a dance. I watched them move several feet away for privacy and decided to enjoy some time on the dance floor by myself. I'd only been dancing for a few minutes when I felt hands on my hips.

"Mind if I join you, Beautiful?" I heard from a man with a Latin accent. I turned my head to look at him and my mouth went dry. He was gorgeous with muscled arms, a chiseled body, spiky blonde-brown hair, and green eyes. It was obvious from looking at him that he was a player, but I didn't care. I was only looking for one night.

"Please do," I replied in my best sultry voice as I looked up at him through my eyelashes.

"I think you have the attention of every man here," he whispered in my ear. "I'm Les."

"Then every man here can be jealous of you," I flirted back. "I'm Michelle." One night. No entanglements. No way for him to find me again if I didn't use my first name. No way for me to get hurt.