I do not own any of these characters, although I would really like to meet up with Ranger in a dark room somewhere. I simply borrow and gently use them for my amusement.

Chapter Three

She edged closer to me, and reached out. She must not have remembered where she was when she first woke up. As soon as her fingers grazed my bare skin, she realized her mistake. "Oops."

I didn't give her the chance to get away. I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her close before she could retreat back to her side of the bed. She seemed to momentarily relax, and then more than relax.

"You smell great," she murmured, then brushed her lips against my neck. It wasn't quite a kiss; more like a nuzzle. "I thought of you every time I took a shower. I love this stuff you use."

So, she thought about me in the shower, huh? What I wouldn't give to know what went through that pretty head as she stood under the spray, lathered up with bath gel, and thought about me. The things I could picture in my head... I enjoyed the warmth of her next to me, the feel of her skin against mine. It had been forever since our night together.

I tried to keep things light, and not concentrate on her body in my arms, but it was a losing battle. "My housekeeper buys it for me. Maybe I should give her a raise," I murmured. Then I kissed her.

She pulled away, and I knew it was the wrong thing to do.

"Oh shit," she said as she pulled away.

"Now what?" I asked. It could be any number of things, none of which I liked, but I sincerely hoped it wasn't him.

Of course, it was him. "I'm sorry. I'm having a major guilt attack over Morelli."

"While we're on the subject, why aren't you in his bed?" I hoped I kept the bitterness out of my voice.

"Same old, same old."

"You had a fight, and you moved out."

"More like a disagreement."

"I'm seeing an unhealthy pattern of behavior here, Babe." She ignored the comment, and I let it pass as well. Nobody liked it when you pointed out something wrong with them; Steph was no different. In fact, she might be worse.

"I didn't want to move back home because Junkman was looking for me, and I didn't want to endanger my family." Good, she had learned something. "I was going to sleep in the truck, but it led me here. The GPS was on. I just followed it backwards."

Well, that was something I hadn't thought of. I was glad she only had my truck.

"And broke into my apartment?"

"I had a key. You don't seem especially upset or surprised that I borrowed your apartment."

"With the exception of the seventh floor, the entire building inside and out is monitored. Tank called me when you pulled up to the gate. I assumed you had a good reason for needing the apartment, so I told him to let you stay."

"That was nice of you."

"Yeah, I'm a nice guy." That's why you're still with Morelli. "And I'm late for work." I rolled out of bed, stood at bedside, pressed speakerphone, and hit a button.

"Good morning. Welcome home," Ella chirped through the speaker.

"Breakfast for two this morning." I disconnected quickly, trying to avoid any questions about who was with me. I trusted Ella completely. After all, who can you trust if you can't trust family? I wasn't worried about anyone finding out where Steph was. I was worried about Aunt Ella making assumptions about what was going on between Steph and me, and asking questions I'd rather not answer.

"What was that?" her voice was breathless, even though she tried to conceal it

"Ella and Louis Guzman manage this building for me." I neglected to provide any other details about them. Knowing Ella was my aunt would probably just make Stephanie uncomfortable- or more curious. I didn't need the two of them talking. "I work here, and sometimes I sleep here. That's about it. Ella makes it easy for me. She does the cooking, the cleaning, the laundry, the shopping."

"And she brings you breakfast?"

"She'll be at the door in ten minutes." I thought I should give Steph a fair heads-up about Ella. While she's no Grandma Mazur, she can be pretty tough. "I've never had a woman here before, so she's going to be curious. Just smile and endure it. She's a very nice lady." I wonder if Stephanie was paying attention to what I said. She kept looking at me when she thought I wouldn't notice.

I was lacing up my boots when Ella brought in the bagels, fruit, and lox.

"What is that?" Steph asked, pointing to the food in the dining room.

I headed for the door. "Breakfast?"

She sounded a bit incredulous. "You eat like this everyday?"

"Everyday that I'm here."

"What about the tree bark and wild roots?" Steph's face frowned a little.

I poured coffee and took some fruit. "Only when I'm in a third world jungle. And I'm almost never in one of those." At least, lately.

"I've been eating that cardboard cereal in your cupboard."

I looked at her, calling her on the exaggeration. "Babe, I looked in my cupboard. You've got Frosted Flakes in there."

"So is this the Batcave?" Master of subtle subject change.

I smiled inwardly before I answered. I don't know who started calling me Batman first, her or Lula. "This is an apartment I keep in my office building. I have similar buildings and apartments in Boston, Atlanta, and Miami. It turns out security is big business these days. I supply a variety of services to a wide range of clients. Trenton was my first base of operations, and it's the place I spend most of my time. My family is still in Jersey."

I could see her taking in all the information and filing it away for future reference. "Why all the secrecy?" she asked.

"We're not secretive about the office buildings, but we try to keep a low profile." I hoped she would let the "we" pass by, but this was curioser- than-a-cat Stephanie.

"We?" she prompted.

Some things Stephanie did not need to know. I tried to keep it vague. "I have partners."

"Let me guess- the Justice League. The Flash, Wonder Woman, and Superman." She smiled a little at her joke. I almost smiled back.

"Okay, forget the partners. I want to get back to the Bat Cave. Is there a Bat Cave?" She was like a dog with a bone.

I took a bagel and spread some lox onto it. "You're going to have to work harder for that one. It's not in the phone book, and GPS isn't going to take you there." I glanced at my watch. "I have five minutes. Tell me about Junkman."

"Not much to tell. He wants to kill me. I told you everything I know last night."

"What are you doing about it?"

"Connie and Lula and I kidnapped a slayer. The plan was to get him to talk to us about Junkman, but we haven't had any luck."

I finished my bagel and pushed back from the table to finish my coffee. Steph was getting ambitious; kidnapping was a big deal. It showed how afraid she was. "Kidnapping a slayer is good. Why wouldn't he talk?"

"He didn't want to."

I paused with my coffee cup halfway to my mouth. If it had been anyone but Stephanie, I would assume the uncooperative hostage had been beaten beyond bloody and/or dead. I wondered what Stephanie had done to try and get him to talk. "You're supposed to persuade him."

Steph looked sheepish. "We were going to slap him around, but when we got him tied to the chair it turned out none of us could hit him."

I burst out laughing and my coffee sloshed out of my cup into the table. In some ways, Stephanie was a good bounty hunter; she was tenacious, smart, and saw angles other people didn't. And she had lots of luck. But she just wasn't...violent...enough. I put the cup down, and reached for a napkin, trying not to laugh. I wasn't very successful.

"Jeez. I think that's the first time I've ever seen you laugh like that."

"There's not a lot to laugh about when you're knee deep in garbage. And that's where we usually operate." I guess I needed to take her to some nicer places. I swiped at the coffee spill with my napkin.

"If you have all of this, why do you still do fugitive apprehension?"

I thought for a second before I replied. "I'm good at it. And someone has to do the job."

She followed me into my dressing room, and watched as I opened the locked drawer and removed a gun. Her eyes kept dropping down, and I had a feeling she'd noted that the only underwear I owned was the black silk boxers that I'd slept in. I tried to redirect her attention; if she kept looking at me like that, I was going to be late for this meeting and she was going to have a serious case of Morelli-guilt. "Do you still have your Slayer hidden away?"

"Yes."

"Is he secure?"

"Yes."

"My day is filled, but we can talk to him tonight. In the meantime, don't have any contact with this guy. Don't feed him. Let him worry." I clipped the gun to my belt. "I need the truck. Use one of the Porsches. The keys are in the plate on the sideboard. The communications room and gym are on the fifth floor. Feel free to use the gym. Ella and Louis live on the sixth floor. You can intercom number six if you need anything. She'll be in today to make the bed and clean and pick up laundry. She'll do your laundry if you leave it out for her." I looked at my watch again. "I have a meeting scheduled. I'm assuming you want to live here a while longer?"

"Yes."

I almost smiled. "You're going to be indebted to me, Babe. You want to start working on that guilt problem."

I grabbed her and kissed her. Kissing her was like touching the sun. She burned me, but I couldn't help myself. The amazing thing was that she didn't realize the depth of her power. I pulled away, rushed. If I didn't leave now, I wasn't going to make it out of the apartment. I wanted to throw her over my shoulder, carry her back to the bed, and worship her for hours. "I have to go. I'm late."

Stephanie didn't let me go that easily. She continued in a conversational tone, asking me if I knew where the truck was.

"It's in the garage. I had Tank bring it in last night. All the cars and trucks are equipped with GPS tracking. We always know where they are." I answered her question over my shoulder, as I closed the door behind me. I didn't think I'd be able to control myself if Steph stayed for more than couple of days.