A short one – sorry!

Chapter 11

Somehow I was back in my apartment. I had no idea how, I guess I'd driven back home on auto pilot. I grimaced – Wonder Woman definitely hadn't been aware of her surroundings. I was still angry, so I had a shower. I felt a bit better then. I got out and dried my hear, pulling it back for convenience, and got dressed. Black jeans, black boots, black shirt, black mood. Don't fuck with me.

I walked into the living room and there was Tank. He looked over my outfit and smiled, 'perfect.' Then he took my hand and dragged me downstairs and into his SUV.

'What's going on?' I asked. He shook his head and didn't answer. He pulled into the Haywood offices. There were more cars there than I'd ever seen before. Black SUVs filled the garage and covered the road.

'What-' I asked again. He shook his head. He killed the engine, climbed out and took my hand again. He dragged me to the fourth floor. He knocked on a door and entered. Ric was arguing loudly with someone who might as well have FED sprayed across his forehead. Ric stopped abruptly as I walked in. 'Babe?' sounding concerned.

'She's fine. You need to come with us.' Tank replied to Ric. Ric blinked once and nodded. Tank looked at the Feds, 'Private business. Stay here.' I could tell that the Feds didn't like that. Ric, Tank and I climbed into the elevator and Tank pressed two. I really had no idea what was going on, but I didn't ask again.

We climbed out and Tank led the way into a large room that reminded me distantly of my college lecture rooms. About 30 tiered seats filled the room, and at the front was a slightly raised platform. Virtually every seat was filled with a muscle bound, dressed in black, man. Wow. I sat down on a seat, indicated by Tank, on the stage. Ric sat next to me.

'Gentlemen. I've called us all together for a very important reason. Bear with me whilst I explain a few things to Stephanie.' Tank turned to me. 'When we bodyguard someone we're wired. This is for several reasons, so we can communicate with each other and the comm. room, and so that we can record what happens in case a client complains for some reason.' I nodded, this made sense, especially if they bodyguard women.

Tank continued, addressing the rest of the room, 'Today, whilst Danny Tinfel – a new Rangeman employee – and I were body-guarding Miss Plum something happened that I feel everyone here should hear.'

Oh shit. No, he's not going to-

Tank put something that looked like a small cassette into a machine and pressed play. Joe's voice filled the auditorium.

'Could we have some privacy?'

Stony silence

'Shit, they're bodyguards aren't they? Christ, you just can't stay out of trouble! What is it this time? Rogue Feds? Assassins? The Mob?'

Oh God. I felt Ranger tense next to me. I didn't want everyone to hear this, this was embarrassing. But the tape wouldn't stop. It wound on and on, getting to the bit I really didn't want to hear again.

My cold, fury resounded in the silence, 'Don't ever speak that way about Ranger again, or his men. They are worth ten of you – each and every one. Every time I fall over, one of them is always there to pick me up. They support me, respect me. Which is more than you've ever done. You might want to avoid me for a while, because I'm so angry right now I want to rip off your bollocks and feed them to you and then beat ten shades of shit out of you. Clear?'

I squinched my eyes shut.

'Poor Joe. You really don't get it do you? I would go to the wall for these guys; I would die for them – I would kill for them.'

Tank clicked off the tape. Then he turned to me, 'welcome to Rangeman Steph. I've got your back.'

I stood and walked to him, 'I've got your back.' I replied, I don't know why – it just felt right. He hugged me to him. Then Ranger was there, 'welcome to Rangeman Babe. I've got your back.'

'I've got your back.' I replied. Then Lester was there, then Bobby, and Hal and Cal and Junior and Hector and Nick and Danny and everyone else. Each one greeted me with, 'welcome to Rangeman Steph. I've got your back.'

Gradually the crowd dispersed and I was feeling overwhelmed.

'You're one of us now, Babe.' Ranger said, and I knew that I was.

Rico gave me a quick kiss and murmured, 'we'll talk about this later.' And then he was gone, to right wrongs, to fight for justice, to yell at some feds. Whatever works.

Tank smiled at me, 'I know you're probably quite freaked now. Want me to explain?' I nodded, not quite ready for words.

'Firstly, I'm one of the Justice League, one of Ranger's partners. I've known Ric a really long time, most of our lives in fact. When he decided to start Rangeman I backed him all the way. The truth is, although I'm an ok leader, I'm a better follower. I prefer to have orders, direction. Ric prefers to give the orders, so that works. When he's not here I take over, and I do an ok job. But he does better.

'The other partners are Chameleon and Guns. Chameleon runs the Boston offices and Guns runs the Miami offices. So there are four of us. We all spent some time or other on the street. Now I'm not going to explain why Ric was on the streets but I was there cos my home was abusive. We were all on the streets at the same time, in the same area. We were part of a gang.

'A lot of shit happened that I'm not going to get into now, but we dealt with a hell of a lot prejudice. Back then, the only people you could rely on was yourself and your brothers - your gang. Eventually we got off the streets and then, when we were older, we joined the army. Again, we found prejudice and that the only one you had to look out for you, was you. All the guys in Rangeman have similar backgrounds. So, maybe now you'll understand why it's such a big deal to us that not only would you stand up for us, fight for us, but that you'd kill for us – die for us.

'It's a big deal Steph. To me, to Ric, to everyone who was here. Before we would have protected you because it's our job, and we liked you. Now we'll protect you because you're our sister, and we love you.' Tank sounded so intense, so serious. Wow.

Suddenly Tank grinned, 'I bet Ranger doesn't feel very sisterly towards you though. You're gonna get sooo laid tonight!' He sounded like Lula. I hit him lightly over the head, but I couldn't stop the smile that seemed to be permanently tattooed on my face.

Tank laughed and hugged me tightly, and I hugged my brother back.

We spent a while in the comm. room, Tank explained some things to me, like my basic salary if I decided to join Rangeman full time. $500,000. 'Basic?' I had squeaked. 'Basic.' He'd confirmed, with an amused smirk, 'with a company car and insurance provided by Rangeman.'

Then Tank had showed me how to man the comms, well, the essential bits anyway. His cell rang ('Yo.') and he conversed monosyllabically with someone on the other end. Then he turned to me and grinned hugely. He took my hand once more and led me up to the 7th floor. On the couch were several packages.

'From Ric.' Tank explained, grinning still. I opened the biggest first, and out slid the most gorgeous white dress I've seen. The label said D&G. OMG! After staring at the dress for a year or two, I opened the other package – revealing very sexy white lace underwear, including suspenders and a suspender belt.

'Wanna model for me?' Leered Tank, I stuck my tongue out at him and he laughed. The next package was shoes, and yeah – they were white satin with a small bow and a three-inch heel – wow. I picked up the final package slowly, it was a long, thin, square box. I opened it and gasped.

'Holy Fuck.' I said.

'Show me!' said Tank, with all the excitement of a four year old at Christmas. I tilted the box towards him. 'Holy Fuck.' He said. And we both stared at the platinum and diamond necklace with matching bracelet and earrings. They were absolutely beautiful and I couldn't stop staring.

'Steph?' asked Tank.

'Yeah?

'This must have cost him millions. Literally.'

'Yeah.' Then I fainted.

Something smelled really bad, I opened my eyes reluctantly. Ella's warm smile sprang into view, 'I knew those smelling salts would come in handy!' I smiled weakly and got up. Ella left, leaving me with Tank, Lester and Bobby.

'You fainted.' Lester said with a grin.

'I did not.' I stuck out my tongue for good measure.

The merry men started to laugh. 'Hell yeah, you did!' gasped Bobby through his laughter. I put my hands on my hips and gave them my best burg glare. It must have skipped a generation, cos they laughed even harder. Damn. I would have gone into rhino mode but I caught sight of the jewellery, it was so damn amazing, so beautiful. I wouldn't have fainted if I'd thought for even a second that these were stolen, but I knew they weren't and I knew that Rico had literally spent millions on me. So I'd fainted.

I looked up, the laughter had stopped and they were all looking at me with sweet smiles on their faces.

'Go get ready, Angel. You have two hours.' I nodded and dashed to Ric's shower, normally I would use his Bulgari, but instead I hunted around until I found the stuff I'd left here accidentally. I bathed, shaved, exfoliated and moisturised. Then I eased on the underwear and started on my makeup that Tank had fetched for me whilst I showered. I did my hair and for once it was behaving. Beautiful loose, shiny curls cascaded around my face. I sprayed on some Dolce Vita and eased into the dress. I gaped at my reflection. The dress, wow, it made my breasts look bigger and accentuated my slender waist. It ended mid-thigh, but it ended in choppy layers, like a fairy dress. The shoes went perfectly. I put in the diamond earrings and put on the bracelet, but I'd left the necklace in the other room. I gazed at my reflection once more. Everything was just wow. Did I mention I love Rico? I went out into the main room and talking ceased.

Rico was up from the couch in one smooth motion. He walked towards me, looking droolable in a black Armani suit, the necklace in his hand. Then he stepped behind me and lifted up my hair, and gently secured the necklace.

Then he turned me in his arms, so that I was facing him. Then he pulled back, and kissed me lightly on my hand, his expression full of desire and love – hiding nothing. When he spoke, his voice was rough and husky, 'Querida. Mis Dios. Tu es bonita, perfecto. Te amo con toda de mi corazon. Tu es mi vida y mi alma. Querida.' He kissed me then, lightly at first and then with all the passion in the world. He drew back reluctantly and smiled into my eyes and my heart. 'I said 'Sweetheart. My God. You are beautiful, perfect. I love you with all of my heart. You are my life and my soul. Sweetheart.'

I smiled at him, all my love for him in my smile. 'Gracias Rico.'

'De Nada, es Verdad. It's nothing, it's the truth.' He translated for me. 'Come on Baby, time for us to go.' He nodded bye to an astonished Tank, Lester and Bobby; apparently the merry men didn't often see Ric being so…demonstrative. Then he led me to the elevator and then down to the waiting limo outside.

Chapter 12 smut may occur...ok, it occurs! You've been warned!

The limo wound its way to the airport, where we boarded the Rangeman plane. We sat down and waited for the plane to take off. Then Rico pulled me into his lap. 'You're so special,' he breathed, and then proceeded to kiss me senseless. We stayed that way for the whole flight. Just talking and kissing, but neither of us talked about today. Eventually we landed. We drove, in a limo of course, and then got in a gondola. I looked around and then I turned to Rico.

'Venice?'

'Venice.'

'Oh wow.' I managed to say, before I pulled him to me and kissed him senseless. The gondola man with the big stick chuckled quietly and steered the boat to who knows where. And honestly, right that moment, I wasn't caring where we were - aslong as we were together.

The gondola stopped moving and we stepped out, onto a pathway. Rico said something to the gondola man and then offered me his arm.

What followed can only be described as the most perfect evening of my life. First we went to a small but gorgeous restaurant where we ate a five course meal. Each course was small but oh yum! The dessert was my favourite, when I asked Rico why he wasn't having any, he leaned forward and whispered into my ear, 'I told you, there's only one way I eat dessert Baby, and I can't do that in the restaurant. I'll eat some later,' he promised, and I bit my lip so I didn't moan.

Then we got back into the gondola and went to the opera. We had VIP seats, in a box all to ourselves. We sat down and it started. It was amazing, the power, the emotion. I was swallowed up into it, my mind automatically translating the Italian – guess it wasn't so rusty after all.

By the end I was so emotional I was nearly crying, instead I turned to Rico and threw my arms around him and kissed him passionately. His kiss was just as urgent and a low growl escaped from his throat. We left the opera and headed instead to the gondola. We climbed in and were taken to a beautiful hotel. We checked in and all but ran up to our suite. Finally, we were alone.

'Do you trust me?' He asked, in a husky voice.

'Always.' I replied. He nodded and slowly unzipped the back of my dress. It pooled to the floor around my feet and he swept me up into his arms and laid me down on the bed. He reached into a draw by the bed and tied me to the bed with silk scarves.

'Chocolate?' he asked.

'Yes.' I said, confirming my stop word.

He kissed me passionately then, and ran his fingers through my hair. Then his mouth left mine and I wanted to whimper, in fact, I did. He smiled his sexy smile and moved off the bed. He reached into a duffel bag under the bed and pulled out a Dictaphone-like contraption. He pressed a button and my angry voice rang out, 'he's the best man I've ever had the honour of knowing!' He pressed the button again and put the Dictaphone thing down.

'I'm going to show you exactly how much that means to me, Baby.'

And then his lips were on mine again. His hands stroked up from my shoes, caressing my stocking covered leg. His hand paused and stroked at the top of my bare thighs, his fingers tracing the straps on the suspenders. Then his hands grasped my panties, and tore them from me. I gasped. I wanted him. Rico trailed wet kissed up from my navel to my neck, my ears, he grasped my bra and tore it off me, I whimpered again and I felt a further rush of heat between my legs.

He took my breast into his mouth, sucking and teasing and biting my sensitive nipples. He switched breasts while his fingers toyed with and pinched my nipple. Then he looked at me, and smiled at me, a wicked, delicious predatory smile. 'Cum. Now.' And I did. His eyes darked further and he licked his lips.

'How wet for me are you Baby? Shall I see?' I nodded breathlessly as he eased himself down my body. He paused at my entrance, and laughed softly, 'Oh yeah Baby. You're wet for me.' And then he pushed one finger inside me, one tantalising finger. I clenched my walls around him, wanting more of him in me.

'Tell me what you want Baby.'

I know Rico liked me begging for him, so I'm betting he'd really love it if I talked dirty. So, 'I want another of your fingers inside my wet pussy. I want you to finger fuck my cunt while you lick my clit until I cum screaming your name.'

'Mis Dios.' He growled and then he did exactly what I wanted.

I began to come down from my orgasm and I decided exactly what I wanted. 'Rico. I want you inside me, your rock hard cock inside me, pounding into my tight, wet cunt. Fuck me Rico!' His eyes were black with desire. He pulled on a condom and plunged inside me. He slammed into me again and again until we came, screaming each other's name.

He untied me and we lay together. I was still wearing my shoes, stockings and suspenders. Rico ESPed and removed my remaining clothes for me. I stretched against him and he smiled.

'I love you.' He breathed.

'I love you.' I replied.

'Good,' he said with a warm smile, 'now it's time for my dessert.'

I stared at him, eyes wide. 'Oh God.'

He threw his head back and laughed, 'Yeah Baby. I told you I was going to show you how much that means to me. I'm not gonna be done until your voice is hoarse from begging and screaming my name.'