Author's stupid mistake. I didn't mean to cause Stephanie to skip out on her date with Joe. It was a total oversight on my part. I apologize for it and hopefully I got it straightened up in this chapter.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If it hurt, he didn't show it. Instead he took a step closer and pressed his abdomen harder against her leg. His eyes darkened only slightly as he murmured just one word.
"Babe."
Steph In The Right Direction
Chapter Seven
"No more freebies Ranger." Stephanie said slowly, trying to hide the tremors in her voice.
"I don't remember asking for a handout babe."
"That's just it, you didn't ask. You always just took."
Ranger cocked his head then slowly pushed his body away from the wall. Two more steps backwards and he was no longer touching her. He crossed his arms the asked, "Care to explain?"
Stephanie shuffled her feet and tried her best to remain unfazed. "Not right now, but maybe later."
"I think you should explain now…"
Ranger stopped talking the moment Stephanie's cell phone sprang to life. He waited patiently as she gave him the universal one figure salute for 'wait a minute'.
"Hello. Oh hey Joe I was about to call you. Did you get my message last night? I was just so pooped after all the unpacking I would have made a terrible date." Stephanie darted her eyes to the ground, hoping that Ranger's eyes would follow. But no such luck. His stare was set on her, and her alone.
"Yeah Joe, tomorrow night should be fine. See you then. Stay safe."
Stephanie snapped her phone closed and tried changing subjects with Ranger.
"So, I need a favor Ranger."
"I'm still waiting for you to explain yourself Stephanie." Ranger's jaw hardened to stone.
"I will explain. I promise, just not right now. I have to run and what I need to say to you will take more time than I've got right now."
Ranger stood silent for a few minutes and to her credit, Steph met him silent beat for silent beat.
He finally spoke. "What's the favor?"
"Can you loan me two of your guys today and your truck? I need to pick up some furniture."
"Can't Joe help?" Ranger asked smugly.
"I don't know, I didn't ask. But I am asking you. So is that a yes or no?"
Ranger didn't answer but instead reached for his cell phone and punched in a number. "Grab Lester and bring the F150 over to Morelli's place."
Stephanie's mouth dropped then she quickly began flailing her arms about trying to get his attention. "Not Morelli's! Tell them to meet me here and they can follow me to my new apartment."
Ranger's eyebrow lifted ever so slightly as he gave the corrected directions. After he snapped the phone shut he waited for her to answer the obvious. When she didn't he was forced for the second time to break the silence.
"Not staying with Morelli?"
"Why would you think that?"
"Call it a hunch babe."
"Well, guess your hunch was wrong. I found an apartment last night on Henderson."
"Guess so. So how long will it take you to get the furniture moved in?"
Stephanie glanced at her watch then back to Ranger. "Probably 3 or 4 hours. We'll have to make a couple of trips to get it all. Can you spare the guys for that long?"
"I can spare them, but not myself. I've got bad guys to catch. Will you be home at 7:00 tonight?"
Stephanie wondered where he was going with the questions. "I'll probably be in the middle of putting my new furniture together.
"I'll pick up some food and then you can do some explaining."
Before Stephanie could argue with him, Tank and Lester rolled into the parking lot. Ranger turned smoothly then sauntered over to the driver's side door. He mumbled a few instructions then cornered into his Expedition and drove away.
"Dammit!" Stephanie shouted to her now nearly furnished apartment. The hammer made perfect contact with her finger. That was for sure going to leave a mark.
She tossed the tools aside and walked away to calm down. She had been trying to assemble the bed frame for an hour and a half but it still was lopsided and slightly unlevel.
As she grabbed a bottled water from the refrigerator she caught a glimpse of the time. 6:48. "Shit!"
She had completely lost track of time and only realized it 15 minutes before Ranger was set to arrive. She ran for the bathroom to do some quick touchup work but was stopped by someone knocking on the door. She tossed her head back in defeat then padded to the door. After a quick peak out the peephole she pulled the door open and revealed Ranger and a large pie from Pino's.
She motioned him inside and he did a quick survey of the apartment. The smell of the pizza took over her manners and she quickly said, "We'll do a tour after we eat. I'm starved."
Ranger nodded his head in agreement then placed the pizza on the counter. Stephanie pulled two beers from the fridge and the pair settled into eating.
Finding the silence rude and annoying Stephanie asked, "So did you catch the bad guys today?"
Ranger did a small shoulder shrug before taking a large swig of beer. When he had completely swallowed he explained. "We caught one, but the other guy proved to be a little slippery. We need to re-evaluate our plan and try again."
"What was the plan?" Stephanie made a mental note that Ranger was actually sharing details.
"Go to his house, knock on the door, hit him in the head and drag him to the car."
Stephanie nearly choked on her pizza. When she calmed she laughed, "I can see that you put a lot of thinking into the first plan. What went wrong?"
Ranger frowned. "It was a good plan and it would have worked too but the skip recognized Bobby from a previous job. The moment he opened the door and made the I.D. he bolted through the house. I didn't really want to shoot him so we let him go. We'll try again tomorrow."
"Ahhh. Well, better luck next time."
Ranger frowned again and Stephanie decided the silence wasn't that bad after all.
After the last piece of pizza was devoured Stephanie began the tour of the apartment. "The view is great from the living room, but come take a look at the one from the bedroom."
Ranger stopped at the entrance of the bedroom. "Nice bed babe."
Stephanie blushed slightly. "Yeah, I was having a few minor problems."
Ranger grinned. "Want some help? Or would you prefer to leave your bed unassembled while I'm here?"
Feeling as if a challenge had been drawn she accepted. "Normally I would do the 'I don't need a man for this kind of thing speeches', but I'd really like to have this thing put together before I get so frustrated I toss it out the window. So if you don't mind, I'd really appreciate the help.
Ranger circled the heaping pile of metal and wood laying in the center of the room. Stephanie stood firm in her place with her hand on her hips waiting for instructions. "So where do we start?"
Crouching down, Ranger grabbed the mangled piece of furniture. "Well first off I think we should take apart everything you've already put together."
"I'll ignore the obvious jab." Stephanie laughed.
"It's probably in the best interest of this bed that you do." Ranger flashed her the long missing wolf grin. Stephanie's body temperature rose slightly as old memories flooded back to her.
"I'll get on this side, and you get over there. Hand me the parts when I ask for them." Ranger said as he began stripping off his jacket and weapons.
"I think I can handle that." Stephanie settled on the other side of the room.
Slowly and methodically the bed began to come together. Ranger would randomly ask for the next part and piece by piece the furniture began to form.
As they were getting ready to attach the headboard Ranger asked, "Where did that other screw go?"
Stephanie walked to the center of the frame and leaned down, "I think I saw it laying right here just a second ago." She continued searching for the missing part as Ranger maneuvered the large flat piece of wood into place.
"Ah ha! I found it." Stephanie rose to her feet quickly and turned around to hand Ranger the screw. At that exact moment Ranger did the same and it was precisely that chain of events that resulted in the loud 'THUMP'.
Stephanie stood stunned for a few seconds then faded to the floor as her world slowly dissolved from her eyes.
To Be Continued…
