Chapter 2

– Stephanie – Day 0, Evening Tuesday-

Stephanie carefully shifted her weight and sighed. Somehow, her butt was simultaneously sore and numb from sitting on a hard narrow surface. Her muscles ached from holding one position for so long and the toes on her right foot were starting to go to sleep. The last thing she needed was to lose her balance and fall out of the tree. At least it was dark enough that no one would see her if she did. Well, they probably wouldn't. With her luck it would get caught on camera and go viral.

This had seemed like such a good idea this afternoon.

Her FTA, Steven Wilmer, lived with his mother in the house she was watching. Stephanie had talked to her earlier in the afternoon. Steven was 43 years old but he'd always be Little Stevie to Mrs. Wilmer, who happily told her all about him.

Stephanie had the feeling that Mrs. Wilmer hadn't paid a lot of attention when Stephanie had introduced herself as a bond agent for Vincent Plum Bail Bonds. Especially given the way Mrs. Wilmer had looked her up and down and then exclaimed "Well, aren't you a pretty one!" then started chatting about what a nice young man her "boy" Stevie was. Steph noticed his mother left out the drunk driving arrests but emphasized his devotion to his mama and his steady job.

More importantly, she told Steph that he worked the evening shift at a grocery store across the river in Pennsylvania. The store closed at 9:00. Once all the end of day tasks were done, employees clocked out at 9:30 which meant that Stevie was usually home by 10:00 p.m.

Usually. But not, it seemed, tonight.

Stephanie sighed, checked her watch, and shifted again. He should have been home forty-five minutes ago. Maybe he stopped for gas or got stuck in traffic or something. If she'd known she'd be up here this long she wouldn't have done it. With nothing else to do but wait, her mind wandered again.

For the eighteenth time, she had to pull her thoughts away from Morelli and his open relationship bullshit. This might be the thing that broke them up for good. Such a lovely double standard – open for him, restricted for her. Anyone but Manoso, huh? And yet Joe could pick anyone he wanted no matter what Stephanie thought about it. And to top it all off – No. She had to stop thinking about it or she would be angry and distracted and miss her skip.

All right, focus on the skip. What did she know and what was her plan? Review.

The Wilmer house was on Fernwood, a few houses east of the intersection with 33rd Street. A short dead-end street, no longer than their backyard, put them on an odd corner lot with streets on two sides of it. The house backed up to a small store that shared a parking lot with a large drugstore both of which fronted 33rd Street. At one time, the dead end road had connected to the lot but had been blocked off.

It would be best if she could capture Stevie before he got into the house. She had a feeling the doting Mrs. Wilmer would be highly upset by the capture of her precious boy. In cases like this it was always a toss-up as to how that upset would show itself. It might manifest as a heart attack or fainting or some other physical ailment, or Mrs. Wilmer might turn into an outraged Mama Bear and attack Stephanie. Either way, she had learned that typically it was better to leave family members out of the actual capture if possible.

When Stephanie had escaped from the overly chatty Mrs. Wilmer this afternoon, she had taken a good look around. Steph could see that some of the neighbors parked in the dead-end street and she wasn't sure if Stevie was one of them. If she watched from the front of the house, and he parked in the side street and went in the back door, then she'd miss him. Likewise if she waited for him in the side street and he parked in front and went in the front door.

Then she noticed the trees that lined the side street and the back of the yard. Standing next to the trees, she checked the lines of sight for the back and front doors. There was one tree that was almost perfect but a small shed in the side yard blocked the view of the front porch. She looked up. There was a branch within reach that should put her far enough to the side to clear the view. From there, she could watch the front, back, and side of the house at the same time. Regardless of how he approached the house, she should see him. Sounded like a good plan at the time.

After what felt like half an hour, Stephanie checked her watch again. All of seven minutes had passed. That was it. She was done. She'd been up this damn tree for an hour with nothing to show for it besides a stiff neck, a cramp in her ass, and a foot she couldn't feel any more. She'd call it a night and try again tomorrow without the tree.

Despite having gravity on her side, getting out of the tree was harder than going up it. Stiff muscles made for slow going and her hands had trouble grasping the trunk. She was almost back on land when she lost her grip. She half slid, half fell the last two feet to the ground. On the way down, her cheek brushed the trunk. Bark that felt smooth to her hands was like steel wool against the delicate skin of her face. She landed with her numb foot first which felt odd because as far as her brain was concerned it didn't exist. That pitched her forward. She put her arms out to catch herself and scraped one forearm against a rock. She lay there for a minute, not to catch her breath but to see if there was any commotion that meant her ungainly descent had been seen. All was quiet.

Rising slowly, she dusted off bits of dirt and grass. Her jeans survived intact as did her sneakers. There was a splotch on her t-shirt that could have been dirt or blood from her arm - there wasn't enough light to tell which. Too bad it hadn't been cold enough for long sleeves. That might have been enough to protect her skin. She could feel her ponytail coming loose but couldn't feel her foot. How weird was that? She wiggled her ankle, grimacing at the pins and needles sensation as circulation returned. Once she could mostly feel her toes, she started the long walk back to her car.

She cut through the parking lot of the drugstore, jaywalked across 33rd Street to the bicycle shop, and then behind it. Her crappy car was still there. Steph had locked it though it really wasn't necessary. The car itself was an anti-theft device. It was fifteen years old with mismatched quarter panels and the side mirror was duct taped in place. The front and back bumpers – also duct taped – were both cracked and missing little pieces. But the air conditioning and the heater worked, and all of the windows rolled up and down at the touch of a button so that was a plus.

Stephanie unlocked the door and grabbed her purse from under the driver's seat. She pulled her cuffs, stun gun, and pepper spray from her pants pockets and tossed them into the purse. She had run out of pocket space and tucked her phone into her bra. She pulled that out as well, wiped the display against her shirt to clean off the boob print, and then set the phone in the console. She got behind the wheel and turned the key. The engine chugged but didn't catch.

Her heart sank and her stomach clenched. She was afraid this would happen. She hated it when her cars gave up the ghost. Maybe she could at least get this going long enough to get back to her apartment. She tried several more times. With each attempt the chugging was slower and fainter until finally there was no response at all.

"Dammit."

She could feel her blood pressure rising. It was stressful when her car broke down, even more so when she was stranded too far away to walk home. And doubly so in the dark of the night.

It was after 11:00 p.m. on a Tuesday. Mentally, she reviewed her options, as if the outcome was ever in doubt. Her dad would be sound asleep as would Mary Lou. She wasn't going to wake either of them on a weeknight. No point calling Lula at night. She might be up, might be out, might not hear the phone, and might not come regardless. And there was no way Steph was calling Joe.

Okay. Batman it was. She hoped she wasn't bothering him but she didn't know who else to call. Besides, she knew everything would be okay once he got involved.

She picked up the phone and hit speed dial 1. She was still flustered and took a couple of slow deep breaths to calm her nerves. It didn't help much, though.

Ranger answered with the usual "Yo" but from the warm way he said it, she could tell that he knew it was her calling.

She smiled. "Back atcha, Batman."

Now that she had him on the line, she hesitated. She was always interrupting him. Always asking him for help and never returning the favor. Always taking from him. Maybe she should just –

"Babe?"

Calling him then saying nevermind would be even worse than asking for help. A lock of her hair fell across her face and she puffed out a breath to push it back.

"I'm sorry to bother you so late, but my car won't start."

"Where are you?" He sounded concerned, not annoyed which made her feel better about calling.

She sighed. "At the corner of Clifford and Lowell over in Mercerville. Behind the bicycle shop on 33rd Street."

"I'll be there in twelve minutes."

"Thanks, Ran–" She stopped mid-word. He'd disconnected. If he didn't want to say goodbye, fine, but he should at least give her a chance to.

Steph tucked the phone into her pocket and leaned against the car to wait. True to his word, Ranger pulled up beside her twelve minutes later. His car faced the opposite direction as hers, so the drivers' sides faced each other with her between the cars. She stayed where she was as he stepped from the Porsche and moved to stand in front of her.

The light back here was dimmer in deference to the houses that crowded around the shop, but as close as they were, she could still see him clearly. She looked him over, taking time to appreciate the way his work clothes showed off his body. Her eyes scanned up from his narrow hips to broad shoulders to rest on his face. She realized that he was asking a similar sweep, though where hers was simply admiring, his was also assessing.

He gently placed the tips of his fingers on her cheek, turning her head slightly. His touch on her skin made her breath hitch.

"Road rash?" he asked.

She'd forgotten about the little sore spot there and had to think. "Tree bark."

Ranger grinned. "City girls don't usually get to have that kind of fun."

Steph rolled her eyes. "Trust me. It wasn't fun."

When she reached up with her right hand to tuck a stray chunk of hair behind her ear, he wrapped his fingers around her wrist and moved it to get a better look at her forearm. His eyes flicked to hers and she answered the unspoken question.

"It's a sort of road rash."

He raised one eyebrow.

"It was a rock and some dirt but it wasn't on the road."

"Tackling a skip?"

She almost said yes because the truth was embarrassing but what the hell. He'd seen her do dumber things.

"Fell out of a tree."

When he raised one eyebrow but didn't laugh or mock her, she told him all about how she'd ended up there. When she was done, he nodded.

"That was a good plan. Sounds like all you need is some practice aloft. Ask Lester to give you some tips. Of all the Core Team, he spent the most time with arboreal surveillance. The only suggestion I have is to park your car closer to the capture site. Even cuffed, your skip would have a lot of opportunities for escape before you could get him all the way over here."

In for a penny, in for a pound. Steph told him the other embarrassing thing.

"I was going to park in the lot across the street from here where the parking lot for the drugstore butts up against that little side street, but my car started acting up. I managed to get as far as here before it died completely." She shrugged one shoulder. "I figured by the time I got back with Wilmer, the car would've had a chance to rest and all would be fine."

This time Ranger did smile. "Babe. You thought your car was tired and needed a nap?"

When he put it that way… Abashed, her cheeks warmed as she flushed. Whether it was optimism or denial that had taken hold of her at the time, she had to admit she knew enough about cars to know better. Deciding she could either feel silly or make a joke out of it, she went with joking.

"Hey, it works for me." He was still holding her wrist so Stephanie wiggled the fingers on that hand to draw attention back to her arm. "A little nap and I'll hardly notice this little scrape."

"Or," Ranger said slowly, "I could kiss it better."

His darkened eyes met hers and held her gaze as he lifted her arm slightly and bent his head to place a light kiss to the inside of her wrist. Her breath stuttered at the touch of his soft warm lips on sensitive skin. His free hand slid up into her hair. He released her wrist to once again brush the pads of his fingers around the mark on her cheek. She let her hand drop to his chest and turned her head slightly to better position her face for his inspection.

He moved half a step forward putting his right leg between hers, his left leg to the outside of her right. She could feel the heat of his thigh at the juncture of her legs and her heart beat louder and faster. His scent filled her lungs as his mouth delicately pressed little kisses along her cheek. The hand in her hair gently grasped the back of her head, tilting her face up. His lips met hers and a fire ignited inside her, filling her belly and burning hottest down at her core. There was a tremor in her limbs and she was certain that only the car door against her back held her upright.

She slid her right hand from his chest around his neck. Her left hand came up to his waist and then skimmed around to his back, the fabric of his shirt rippling under her outspread fingers. She pulled him into her, opening her mouth to him, as their tongues slipped across each other. Their hips pressed tightly together as his hand came down to palm her breast. Ranger tweaked the nipple through her t-shirt and bra. She gasped as it sent a bolt of desire through her. She whimpered, her hips undulating of their own volition, and he shifted his leg so she could ride his thigh. Her left hand moved from his back down to clutch his ass to pull his hips even tighter against her but he was already ahead of her. He rocked his hips, his hard length rubbing high up against the inside of her thigh, and he groaned. Her knees weakened at the sound and it took all of her strength not to collapse.

Stephanie's other hand trailed down across his chest, then grabbed his polo shirt, pulling it up and out of his cargo pants. She needed to feel him, skin to skin, her fingers hungrily tracing the ridges and valleys of his muscles. All the while her hand moved ever downward stopped only by the thick leather of his utility belt. From this angle, it would be difficult to undo the buckle but she was too impatient anyway. She settled for rubbing her hand against him through the heavy fabric, pressing the heel of her palm against the head. She felt him shudder in response and did it again and his hips jerked as he made a noise deep in his throat.

He broke away from her mouth to kiss down her neck, adding little nips and licks along the way. The heat in her core flared again as the hand at her breast pulled her nipple one more time before moving. Gliding first down her side, then over the swell of her hip, his large strong hand gripped the back of her thigh just above the knee. He pulled her leg up to his waist and they found a rhythm, his breath harsh and fast. She threw her head back and collided with the edge of the car roof. The sting did nothing to diminish her desire. Legs quivering, chest heaving, she was panting and moaning and so close to release.

A car horn blared on 33rd Street and Stephanie snapped out of her lust-filled haze.

"Stop!" She was breathing heavily, trying to get herself under control. She'd been less out of breath after running three city blocks chasing a skip. "Holy shit."

"Dios mio." Breaking their kiss, Ranger stopped moving against her, though he pressed his body firmly against hers. He touched their foreheads together, his deep ragged breath gusting across her face. "Christ, what you do to me, Stephanie."

He shivered as some kind of aftershock went through him. The movement brushed his thigh against her sex, making her gasp and shudder. If he hadn't had her pinned against the car from belly to knees, she'd have sunk to the ground.

Voice wavering, she replied, "Back atcha, Batman."

Ranger smiled as she repeated her phone greeting. He drew back, carefully untangling them. As he tucked in his shirt Stephanie could see him transforming back into Professional Ranger but there was something else. Something underneath that. She had a vague recollection of noticing something like that a few times recently.

Come to think of it, it was after she and Ranger had been flirting or more than flirting, like now, with actual touching. Then she'd call a halt or he would. And he'd look at her and ask her where she wanted to go. Usually, she went home alone but sometimes she was staying with Morelli. And no matter where she named, he would take her. Even if it was back to Joe.

With a sudden understanding Stephanie realized what she was seeing. He was bracing himself. He was bracing himself to be set aside yet again. He always gave her the choice and he always, always, respected it. How had she not seen this before? She'd get him revved up then walk off or worse, go to someone else and leave him hanging. Oh hell. She was a tease. She hated people who did that. It was mean. How did she not see what she was doing to him? But why would he put up with it? Why wouldn't he put a stop to it? Wouldn't it be better not to get dragged into this mess than to get warmed up and dropped?

Great balls of fire. The only reason she could think of for Ranger to continue letting her play hot and cold with him was because he was hoping that one day, one fine day, she'd get her head out of her ass and choose him.

"Babe? Stephanie?" Ranger was looking at her, one eyebrow raised, a half-smile on his face.

Apparently having an epiphany made a person zone out, so really it wasn't her fault she wasn't paying attention. She shook her head as if to clear her thoughts out.

"Sorry, Ranger. What did you say?"

"Get any personal things from your car. I'll have Al pick it up in the morning."

Her phone was already in her pocket so all she had to do was grab her purse from the front seat. She pulled the car keys off of her keyring and handed them to Ranger. She knew he'd make sure they got to Al's in the morning.

"So." He looked at her, his face in neutral. "Where to?"

She could see it. The tension in his body. Hear it in his voice. It was very subtle but she recognized it. Maybe she hadn't noticed it before because he was so good at masking. Maybe it was only now that she'd come to know him better than almost anyone else did that she could pick it up.

She thought of Joe and his one-sided demands. The yelling, the snide remarks, the putdowns. She thought of Ranger and the support he gave her. The encouragement. The respect. For the life of her, she couldn't figure out why she'd stayed with Morelli as long as she had.

"Well. Joe suggested an open relationship where we date other people."

Ranger looked at her warily.

"But," she continued, "he wanted to have it open for him and restricted for me. That's bullshit. And I'm done."

"Restricted?"

"Anyone but you."

His blank face was firmly in place. "Got anyone in mind?"

"Well, that's the thing. I don't want anyone." She saw something flash over his face and hurried to correct herself. "What I mean is, I don't want anyone except you. I'm done with Joe. You're the only person I want."

Taking a deep breath, Stephanie did some bracing of her own. One step forward put her close enough to give him a quick peck on the lips. Her voice shook with nerves.

"How about we finish this at my place?"

There was a brief pause as surprise flashed across his face, then she was in Ranger's arms, up on her tiptoes, being thoroughly kissed. They were both breathing hard again when he set her back on her feet.

He had a full 200 watt smile as he said, "I thought you'd never ask."

– continued –