CHAPTER 4

I woke up smelling cinnamon in the air. My neck was a little stiff from sleeping on the couch of my parents' house. My head weighed a ton and I groaned at the thought of getting up. My impromptu sleepover caught all of them by surprise. Mother reheated the food and had a mini celebration for me. They were too excited about planning for my wedding that nobody asked why I was here in the first place. I decided not to spoil the fun. They'd probably find out all about the incident after Grandma's trip to the parlor. Unfortunately, all rooms were still taken and I felt too tired to complain about the couch.

"Good morning, cupcake." I was startled to hear Morelli's voice. I opened my eyes completely and saw him sitting on the coffee table. He leaned over and kissed me on the forehead.

"Looks like you're well rested." He smiled and I would have hit him, if he didn't look so tired himself.

"How long were you sitting there?" I checked to see if I had drool on my chin.

"Long enough to want you bad." Morelli started to move towards me. I sat up quickly and placed my hand on his chest.

"Joe, my mother is just at the other room!" He laughed and kissed me on the lips instead.

"I can't stay long, cupcake. Just came by to see if you're okay. It's safe to go back to the apartment. There'll be a cop there, keeping an eye out until I get back tonight. We'll talk later, the station will be keeping me busy for a while." I walked him to the door and gave him a final kiss before he left. By orders of my growling stomach, I made my way to the kitchen.

My mother was busy putting something in the oven. I instinctively reached for the cookie jar but was stopped by my mother's words, "Don't touch that! Those are desserts, not breakfast! Did Joe leave already? Don't forget, you're having dinner here tomorrow." I rolled my eyes, quickly snatched a cookie, and ran to the bathroom.

I entered the office feeling awkward in Valerie's most decent clothes. A yellow floral Sunday dress. I borrowed the Buick and left the house quickly before my mother could ask me anything about my car. Both Connie and Lula stopped what they were working at as they noticed me.

"Well, lookie, here. Barbie just walked in." I laughed and told Lula that Barbie didn't have brown hair.

"Sweetheart, Barbie comes in different types of hair color now, you know, to avoid being sued for discrimination." Lula stood up and walked closer to where I was standing. She put her hands on her hips and frowned a little.

"There's something different about you. It's not the girly dress or that hair of yours." Connie joined in and started searching for something in my face. I smiled at both of them and held out my hand. Their eyes widened at the sight of the ring on my finger.

"My God! You've gone and done it! You tied yourself down!" I raised my eyebrow at Connie. That wasn't how I viewed my situation. She saw my reaction and retracted.

"I mean, that's great! Congratulations to you and Morelli! It is Morelli, right?" Lula looked like she was going to slap Connie behind the head.

"Of course it's Morelli! Ranger's not the mar—." She stopped mid sentence and seemed to be staring at someone behind me. I turned around, my hand still held up, to see Ranger looking handsome in black. His eyes were looking at my hand, his reaction, if there was one, was hard to read. I suddenly put down my hand and his eyes found mine. I sucked my breath and waited.

He gave me a little nod, "Steph." Turned to the other two and he gave them a small twitch at one side of his mouth, which I assumed was a smile, "Ladies." I heard both of them sigh and watched Ranger turn around to leave the building.

I was stunned. He called me Steph. What the hell was that supposed to mean? It wouldn't kill him to add a few words to his sentences. I could have gotten his meaning with context clues!

"That's weird. Batman came and went without asking for any FTA's. In fact, he didn't do anything but greet us then leave." Connie was eying me suspiciously. I shrugged.

"Do you have any FTA for me? I really need to buy a new car." I quickly changed the subject. It would be useless to talk about Ranger. There was no knowing what went on in his mind. They wondered about my car and I told them what happened yesterday, from the proposal to the explosion. Afterwards, Connie handed me a file.

"You're in luck. This one's big." I looked at the file and frowned. Lindsay Morgan, whose bond was worth $45,000, was arrested for shooting her husband. I looked back at Connie.

"She shot her husband to death!"

"It was self defense! Her husband was beating her up, if she didn't do what she did, then it'd be her husband you'd be chasing after. She's not a cold blooded killer or a psycho, Steph. She could be just scared to go to court, that's why she didn't show."

"I'll go with you. You know, to help you out in case she's more trouble than she seems." I smiled at Lula.

"We're taking you're car."