Disclaimer: I don't own them and I'm not making any money.
Previously
"Babe," Ranger said with a grin before pulling his phone out.
"Sending Tank on another field trip?" I asked when he disconnected.
"Yeah. He's going to be begging to keep you if he has another easy capture."
—-
"Keep me?" I asked. I felt my eyes go big. What the hell was that supposed to mean?
"Yeah, Babe. I didn't want there to be any pressure, but I wanted to see if you had the skills I thought you did. Then I was going to offer you a job."
"A job?"
My mind was blown and apparently I wasn't capable of forming full sentences. On one hand, he had a convoluted way of arranging an interview. On the other hand, I'd just spent a few months in personal product hell. I couldn't say I wasn't interested.
"More specifically, a job doing research. I told you I'm starting a security company, but I plan to continue doing skip work. Once we're up and running, I'll need someone to research customers and jobs. I want to know what I'm getting my company and my employees involved in before we sign any contracts. Finding skips more easily will be a pretty big bonus too."
"And you want me to do it?" I asked, still a bit shocked.
"That's what I was getting at when we were talking earlier. Part of what I'm good at is reading people and situations. I'm also good at lining up resources for success. You're a natural at this. You have amazing instincts and I'd love to see what you could do with some training and more powerful tools."
"Can I think about it?"
"Of course."
With a nod, I made my way back the hall to my room in a daze.
I let my mind wander over what he had told me and honestly, I didn't really need to think about it. I had always loved a challenge and his offer sounded like it would provide plenty. He also didn't seem worried about my current legal status which had put a damper on my more recent job hunts.
I rested in my thinking position for half an hour, letting everything roll around in my mind. I was usually more of a dive in head first kind of girl, so even this much forethought was big for me.
After a while, though, the boredom got to me and I wandered back out to the kitchen to find Ranger tapping away at his own laptop. He'd lifted his head when I came into the room, but seemed to be waiting for me to break the silence.
"I'll do it."
"You don't want more details?"
"I'm currently employed to shove tampons in boxes for eight hours and my mom's trying to set me up with my boss because he's single with a house in Ewing."
"I can see the motivation for change there."
"But, if you have more details I wouldn't mind if you shared."
He gave me a real smile at that and I felt my heart stutter a bit. Damn man shouldn't smile like that without warning.
Then he laughed. His full, rich laugh that I'd been wanting to hear more of. But I was pretty sure my thoughts had just snuck out of my mouth.
"I said that out loud didn't I?"
"Yeah, Babe. I'm glad you approve and for the record, you have a very nice smile too."
"Thanks," I said, resisting rolling my eyes.
"Anyway, we won't have the company up off the ground for about another six months. It will depend on income from skips and possibly income from government jobs. I just finished up a contract and I'm considering signing another. With you on board to help boost success with bond enforcement, I may not need to do that."
"What would you signing a contract mean?" I asked, intrigued.
"I would be doing missions for the government, similar to when I was enlisted, but on an as needed basis. High pay, but high risk. I'd also need to be away from my company and Tank isn't enthusiastic about running things alone. He prefers to be in the field rather than doing paperwork."
"It's just you and Tank right now?"
"For now. We have two more guys we served with who are interested in coming on board, but they still have a year before their enlistments are up."
"What would the next year look like then?"
"I'm planning to rent some office space. Small at first. We won't need much room because we'll be doing mostly skip tracing. That'll build revenue fast. Seventy five percent of the capture fees will go into the company, the rest will be split between you, Tank and me. We won't bring on more employees until we can offer them a salary."
"Any idea how much I can expect to make a month?" I asked. Hopefully I wouldn't have to keep living with my parents or putting in odd hours at the personal products plant to make ends meet.
Ranger thought for a minute before answering. "Assuming Tank brings in Smith, your cut from today will be about six hundred. A slow month has about a dozen bonds in Smith and Szabo's range, but we usually have a few high bonds too."
My eyes went big. A couple pay days like that a month and I'd be doing better than when I was working for E.E. Martin.
"I think you have yourself a deal, Mr. Manoso," I said, holding out my hand.
He wrapped it in his own larger, darker hands and I was momentarily mesmerized by the contrast before being distracted by the jolt of sensation his touch sent up my arm. I had never been so physically aware of another man in my life. I wasn't sure if it was solely attraction or something deeper, but a part of me was very interested in exploring it.
Ranger seemed to feel it too, because he was slow to release my hand.
"Welcome to the team, Ms. Plum," he finally replied.
My hand tingled where our skin had touched and I felt a desire for distraction.
"Does your company have a name?" I asked off the top of my head.
"RangeMan."
His phone rang before I could reply and I walked over to the living room while he answered. His side of the conversation was only a few words before he turned to me with a large smile.
"That was one of my contacts at the FBI. The charges against you have been dropped."
"That's great," I said. My knees went weak and I collapsed onto the couch as relief surged through me.
"You should have gotten a call before the news made it to me, though."
"I'm sure I did," I said, shrugging. "I have my phone silenced."
He gave me a look that was vaguely questioning, so I attempted to explain one of the facets of my life.
"The Burg rumor mill has me arrested again. I haven't been seen for a couple days and I was pretty vague when I talked to my parents because I wasn't sure of all the rules of this protective custody thing. I'm sure every busy body in town has called me, as well as my friends. My mom is also probably calling every few hours to tell me how many calls she's gotten."
"What I'm hearing is that you're going to need a work phone," was all he said. No comment on my crazy life. I think I'm really going to like this guy.
"That would be great."
We ended the conversation there and I decided it was probably a good idea to go through my messages in case I'd missed anything else important and Ranger went to make dinner.
I had thirty six text messages and twenty two missed calls. None of the texts were from anyone I felt inclined to respond to, so I deleted them all. I went through the messages more slowly, not wanting to accidentally delete anything from the FBI. Hearing that I was cleared from Ranger was nice, but I wanted the official communication as well.
Fifteen messages in, I found it. Cleared of all charges. They were the most beautiful words I'd ever heard. There was also a message from my lawyer with the same news and I seemed to relax more each time I heard it.
I was standing taking slow, deep breaths, trying to dull the adrenaline my system thought I needed in response to the news when I felt a huge hand clap onto my shoulder and an arm wrap around my waist.
I let out a small scream as my eyes snapped open and saw Tank standing beside me, holding me in a half hug. His teeth were shining white in his dark face and I realized he actually was managing to look friendly rather than intimidating.
"You're a miracle worker, little girl. I rounded up both skips with no fuss and no extra leg work. Szabo was sloppy drunk and Smith was actually at his sister's. She bitched him out so hard he came peacefully. Did Ranger talk you into joining the team?"
"Yeah," I said. I was a bit overwhelmed by his sudden loquaciousness.
Tank stayed through dinner. Another healthy, but entirely edible meal where I did manage to communicate my dissatisfaction with his grocery shopping skills. I think he understood that in the future, donuts would be appreciated.
After he left, I held up my end of the bargain and cleaned up the kitchen while Ranger checked the perimeter. Something I may need to get used to if I was really going to get into the whole security industry thing.
When he got back, we settled onto the couch and I started flicking through channels. This house only had basic cable and I quickly settled on Dancing with the Stars. I may have danced under duress when I was younger, but I always found the idea of competitive dancing intriguing.
I kept half my attention on the screen but turned the rest to Ranger. He seemed relaxed, so I decided to ask a question that had been bouncing around my mind.
"So, will I need to learn to secure perimeters and shoot people?"
He let out a low chuckle before responding. "That's up to you, Babe. We can assess your aptitude for field work and then get you the training you need. Or, you can work in the office. The more cross functional the team is, the better, but I think you'll be an asset either way."
"Okay," I said, relieved. I wasn't sure how I felt about the more hands on aspects of what he'd described earlier, but I also didn't want to rule it out. Then I thought to add, "Will I need to wear pantyhose?"
That got a full laugh. "That's what you're worried about?"
"I don't like pantyhose," I said, shrugging.
"No. I'm planning a uniform of black on black. Cargos and t-shirt unless you're doing something customer facing."
"I can live with that."
We went back to watching the show and I felt jealous of the dancers. I'd never gotten to do more adventurous dances with skilled partners, but I always imagined it felt like flying."
"You know it?" Ranger asked, interrupting my thoughts. He nodded his chin at my bouncing leg to show the source of his question.
"Yeah. I danced in high school, but it's been a while."
"Want to give it a try?"
"You dance?" I asked, surprised.
"Cuban with four older sisters, remember?" he said with another one of his heart stopping smiles.
Without another word, he stood up and moved the coffee table before reaching a hand out to me.
"We've been cooped up here. It will be good for us to move a bit."
And the next thing I knew, I was salsaing with my soon-to-be boss. My very hot soon-to-be boss. Who I definitely shouldn't be noticing felt sinfully delicious moving close to my own body.
We danced through a few numbers while the music lasted. When he released me, Ranger gave me a soft kiss on the forehead and thanked me for the dance.
Flicking my eyes to the clock, I saw it was late enough to reasonably excuse myself for bed. I scurried back the hall and tossed myself on my bed in my thinking position for the third time that day.
Life was certainly getting interesting.
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A/N: Thank you everyone for reading and reviewing! This chapter was a more difficult one to write and edit. It just didn't want to flow smoothly! Luckily, the next chapter came more easily :)