WARNING: A little bit of Ranger and Steph fun prior to the game.
Steph stretched and took a moment to enjoy the delicious aches throughout her body. After dinner and a little dancing at club Eclipse, she and Ranger had called it a night, and had been subjected to the cat calls and whistles of the guys they left behind. She wanted to be embarrassed that they knew she and Ranger were cutting out early so they could have their own private birthday celebration on Seven, but she couldn't quite muster the energy.
She opened her eyes and glanced over at the clock. The digital numbers read nine thirty. On a sigh, Steph tossed off the covers and climbed out of the bed. She needed to grab a shower, get dressed and maybe get a little breakfast before heading down to Five to work for the day.
Once she and Ranger decided to officially become a couple, she also made the decision to come on part time at Rangeman to help the guys with paperwork and to run searches. She'd been worried about splitting her time between Vinnie and Rangeman, but so far, it had all worked out without much of a problem.
After a nice long stent in Ranger's opulent shower, Steph emerged clean and dressed just in time to hear Ella moving around the kitchen.
"Good morning, Ella."
"Good morning, Ms. Stephanie. Your package came." Ella pointed to the box on the breakfast bar.
A jolt of excitement coursed through Steph as she rushed over to her box. "I'm so excited."
Ella grinned. "I'm sure Carlos will love it."
"I hope so," Steph said.
"I left a plate of waffles in the microwave for you," Ella said as she headed for the door. "Please let me know if you need anything else."
"I will. Thank you, Ella."
Not wanting to wait to show him, Steph returned to the bedroom, ripped open the package then changed out of her clothes and into her new outfit. She slid on some ankle socks then found a pair of white sneakers in the bottom of her side of his closet.
She picked up her phone and took a picture of herself in the full-length mirror and sent it to Ranger. Giddy anticipation coursed through her as she waited for his delivered icon to turn to read. A moment later a Babe text reply appeared on her screen.
It's for tomorrow, she texted back. I'm going to be Rangeman's head cheerleader.
I'm coming up, was his reply.
Less than a minute later she heard the front door open. "Babe?"
"Bedroom," she replied as she reached into the box and picked up the pom poms that went with the outfit.
He stopped in the doorway and a slow grin claimed his features. "Where did you get that outfit?"
"Ella helped me." Steph turned in a circle showing off the back of the black and white cheerleading outfit. She spun back around to face him. "I got it to wear to the game tomorrow. Do you like it?"
In two steps, he crossed to her and slid his hands around her bare waist. "I love it, but, Babe, you can't wear this."
Confusion took over as she stared up at him. "What do you mean I can't wear it? I want to represent Rangeman too."
"I know you do, and I appreciate your enthusiasm, but you still can't wear this."
She dropped the pom poms to the floor and angled her hands onto her hips as her temper began to build. Just who in the hell did he think he was trying to tell her what to wear? "Give me one good reason why I can't wear this."
"Besides the fact that there are no cheerleaders in baseball," he replied as he pulled her against him, the evidence of his appreciation for her outfit was evident. "You'll cause us to lose the game if you wear that."
She gave him a shove, but of course he didn't move. "What in the hell is that supposed to mean? Am I now some sort of bad luck?"
"That's not what I meant," he replied. "It's just that you look so amazing in this outfit that you'll be a distraction for the guys. They'll all be too preoccupied looking at you to be focused on the game."
She rolled her eyes and tried to pull away from him. "Right, like anyone but you is going to care about what I'm wearing."
His grip tightened, holding her against him. "I still don't understand how you can't see how beautiful you are."
She snorted at his statement. "A beautiful mess maybe."
"It's true, amante. Even when you are a mess, you're beautiful, but there's another reason why you can't wear that."
"Why?"
"Because you won't be cheering for us from the sidelines. You'll be playing in the game with us."
This time when she pulled back, he let her. "What do you mean I'll be playing with you? I can't play softball."
"Yes, you can, Babe. Why do you think Vince had you batting and playing in the field yesterday?"
"I thought he was allowing me to help the guys practice."
Ranger shook his head. "He was assessing your skills. You have a talent for the game, Steph, and Vince wants to utilize that talent."
"Me?" She angled a thumb against her chest before shaking her head. "I think you might have made a mistake in your choice of managers if Vince thinks I have talent."
"I'm not wrong," Ranger replied as he reached for her again. "And neither is Vince."
"B-but, isn't it a men's only game?" she tried to protest.
"For their league sanctioned games yes, but this isn't one of their league games and nowhere in the rules Costanza sent me did it specifically say that women were prohibited from playing."
Both her brows went up in challenge. "I think Carl probably assumed you'd know that fact."
"He should know by now never to assume when it comes to me."
Steph snorted at his statement. "No kidding. You're the king at finding loopholes in rules and laws."
He grinned. "Babe."
"I can't play," she tried again. "I don't have a uniform for tomorrow."
"The moment Vince voiced his desire to add you to the team roster I called Ella and had her start working on getting you a uniform."
Even as a kid she'd wanted to play softball. Her father spent quite a bit of his spare time teaching her the game, only to have her mother put the kybosh on her dream when she found out Steph's plan. So, deep down, she really wanted to play with them.
To be part of the team against TPD would not only be so much fun, but it would be a wonderful bonding experience to share with the guys. Still, the doubts creeped in, bringing with them her mother's disapproving tone. Proper girls don't play those kinds of sports. "I don't know," she said. "What if I make a mistake or cause you guys to lose?"
Ranger brushed the loose hair away from her face, then cupped her cheeks in his palms. His eyes caught hers and held them in an intense stare. "At the end of the day, it's just a game, Steph. Win or lose the money goes to charity and we all participated in something that was a fun morale booster and team building experience. At this point, beating TPD would be just a bonus." He leaned down and took her lips in a gentle kiss.
She returned his kiss with enthusiasm and lifted her own hands to cover his. When he pulled back, she grinned. "You've spent a stupid amount of money, bringing in contract workers and subs to cover for the guys, buying all new equipment for the game, renting the best park in Trenton to play and I can only assume you're having custom uniforms made. Are you really going to try to tell me that this game is no big deal?"
He let go of her, so she could take a step back. "Babe, you know I don't half ass anything I do. If we're going to play a game against TPD, we're going to at least look like we know what we're doing, no matter how it plays out."
She shook her head and glanced down at her cheerleading outfit. "So, what do I do with this?"
Ranger's smile returned. "I can think of a few things. Just make sure you pack it and the pom poms for our weekend away."
She looked up at him, and grinned. "Planning on a little bit of role playing?"
He gave her all 200 watts. "Something like that. Now, I suggest you go change before I lose what's left of my control, bend you over the bed, strip you out of those panties and fuck you senseless."
What woman in her right mind would pass up any opportunity for sex with Batman? Raising up on her toes, she leaned into him and brushed a kiss against his jaw. "Hmmm…sounds like fun."
A low growl tore from his chest. The next thing she knew he had her bent over the foot of the bed, her panties were gone, and he was buried deep inside her.
"Oh God, Carlos," she cried as he thrust into her hard and fast. "Yes. Harder."
"Babe," he groaned from behind her even as his fingers curled around her hips and bit into her flesh. She'd probably have bruises there tomorrow, but right now she didn't care. Not when what she knew would be one hell of an orgasm was barreling toward her.
Within seconds she was riding the razors edge, desperate to topple over and take him with her. He let go of one of her hips and slid his hand forward and down, to flick his fingers over her clit. That was all it took for her to fall right over the precipice. His name tumbled from her lips on a scream as he drove into her and held there, filling her with his heat. "Fuck, Stephanie" he shouted, his voice hoarse as he dropped his hands to either side of her on the bed, his warm rapid breaths drifted across her neck.
"Wow," she finally managed to say after she regained her faculties.
"I always wanted to date a cheerleader," Ranger said as he pressed a kiss to the back of her neck before pushing up and eased his way out of her.
Slowly she stood up and turned to look at him. "I've always been your cheerleader, Carlos."
Her declaration pulled another smile from him as he leaned forward to take yet another kiss from her. "Te amo, amante"
It was early the next morning when Steph woke. Being both nervous and excited about the game, she'd been worried about oversleeping. So, when Carlos' alarm went off at five am, she pulled herself out of bed.
At seven am, Ella arrived with Ranger's and Steph's uniforms. Steph didn't bother to hide her smile as she glanced from the uniform to Ranger and back.
He quirked a brow. "Babe?"
"Why am I not surprised that you went for black uniforms?" she replied.
"They're not all black," Ranger argued.
"You're right," she said as she picked hers up to inspect it closer. "I like the silver pin stripes and the Rangeman written across the front in silver script." She flipped it over to find her last name written on the top of the back in block letters with the number fifteen underneath it. Her brow knit as she looked back at him. "Why fifteen?"
He shrugged. "You're the fifteenth player added to the roster and since I didn't think the number would really matter to you, I went with it."
That was as good of an answer as any. "Let's see yours." She motioned to his jersey.
He picked it up and flipped it over so she could see the back. Manoso was written across the back in block letters with the numbers zero one beneath it. She stared at his jersey, then glanced back at hers and found herself wishing that the name on her jersey would have matched his.
Ranger returned his uniform to the hanger, then reached for her, pulling her against him. "What are you thinking?" he whispered against her ear, sending a delicious shiver racing through her.
"What makes you think I was thinking anything?" she replied.
"Babe, you'd never make a great poker player."
She turned her head to glance up at him. "Guess I need to do a better job of schooling my expressions."
"Not from me you don't," he said as he turned her in his arms, so she faced him. "Now tell me what's wrong."
She shook her head before leaning to rest it against his chest. "Nothing is wrong. I just found myself wishing for a moment that your name was on the back of my jersey too."
His arms tightened around her. "I would love that too and we can make it happen."
"Not before the game today," she replied.
"No, but for everything that happens in the future. All you need to do is say the word, babe. I'm ready whenever you are."
Knowing they were running out of time; she took a deep breath and turned her head so she could kiss the bottom of his jaw. "That's a discussion we don't have time to undertake right now. So, lets shelve it for the moment."
He leaned down to press a proper kiss to her lips. "After the game, we'll have all weekend to discuss it in more detail."
"Sounds good. Let's get ready."
A few minutes later Ranger appeared from the closet dressed in his baseball uniform. His jersey, if worn by a normal baseball player, might have been slightly loose in the sleeves, instead it straining to contain his biceps. The silver pin stripes against the black background helped to accentuate his muscled chest and narrow waist. He'd chosen to go with the more modern version of pants that went all the way to the ankle.
Steph motioned for him to turn in a circle, earning a slow grin from him as he did. Much like the jersey, the pants, while loose near the ankles were tight nearly everywhere else on him and cupped his ass in a way that stirred her hormones "Yum," she murmured as he turned back to face her.
His smile widened as he closed the distance between them. "See something you like, Babe?"
"Hell yeah," she replied, even as he snagged her by the waist and pulled her against him. "It's entirely possible that baseball Ranger is even sexier than corporate Ranger," she said. "I'm feeling unreasonably possessive right now. Like maybe I shouldn't let you out of the apartment looking this good."
He chuckled as he leaned down to brush a kiss across her lips. "I could say the same thing about you, Babe. You look nearly as good in this as you did in the cheerleading outfit."
Her brows went up at his response. "Oh yeah?"
"Yeah," he replied, "I think you should pack both for our trip."
At eight o'clock, with Ranger by her side, Steph stepped into the garage and stopped short. There in front of her was the Rangeman team also dressed in their uniforms. Slowly her attention drifted from Lester, to Bobby, over to Tank, then on to Ram, Cal, and the others. After seeing Ranger in his uniform, she should have expected and been prepared to see the guys in theirs, but she wasn't.
As her gaze traveled over the men then back to Ranger, she considered how she'd never really found baseball uniforms to be all that sexy. Of course, she'd never seen her boyfriend and his men dressed in them before. As far as she was concern, the guys always looked hot in their Rangeman uniforms, but seeing them in the black and silver baseball uniform took each of them to an entirely different level of sexy.
"Uh, Beautiful, you might want to close your mouth before you catch flies," Lester joked.
"Babe," Ranger said from behind her. "You have the same look on your face that you get when you're about to attack a full box of donuts. Should I be worried?"
She turned to look over her shoulder at him. "Not even a little bit. I was just thinking how I wish I had more single women friends, because as good as the guys look in their uniforms, they'd all have no problems getting girlfriends."
Lester groaned. "Beautiful, don't say shit like that. I'm too young to be tied down by one woman."
"Don't worry," Ranger said to Lester. "Spending any appreciable time with you would cure any woman from wanting to get married." He placed a hand on Steph's lower back. "Now, enough goofing off, we need to get to the park. We have a game to win."