Prologue

My name is Stephanie Plum and currently my life is shit. I am a 30 year old bounty hunter, and not a very good one at that, and about to turn down a marriage proposal from one of the hottest men in all of Trenton. That man would be none other than Joe Morelli, vice cop and voted to have the nicest ass by all the women in Trenton. Now you must be thinking why, would I be crazy enough to turn down such an appealing offer. Well the fact of the matter is I am just not in love with him. Lust? Oh yeah plenty of lust and even love but not the kind a relationship can be built off of. I want fireworks and Joe isn't the one that gives me the fireworks. That honor belongs to the other man in my life Ricardo Carlos Manoso AKA Ranger AKA Batman. The only catch is he doesn't know he has my heart yet.

One

I took a deep breathe, "Well this is it." I thought, and started my explanation. "Joe I want you to know that you will always have a special place in my heart. We have a long history together. But…"

"Cupcake…"

"Please Joe this is hard enough as it is just let me say what is I need to say." He just nodded and slumped into his chair.

"What I was saying was I am not the woman you want me to be Joe. I tried to be the Burg wife once but that isn't who I am and that is who you want." I felt the tears start to well up as I slowly slide the ring off of my finger and handed it back to him. "I am so sorry Joe but I can't marry you. This isn't where my heart truly lies."

He slowly took the ruing from my hand and absent-mindedly started inspecting it. He abruptly stopped and suddenly looked up at me with a fierce, angry look in his eyes. "Manoso." Was all that he said as he through the ring across the room and stormed out the front door.

I released a breath I didn't even know that I was holding. "That went well." I said sarcastically to myself. I flopped onto the couch thinking about what I should do now. All of my things are here at Morelli's and I long ago gave up my apartment. I could stay at my parents house but I don't want to face the inquisition. Besides that Val and the girls are still there and I would have to share a room with Grandma Mazur. I gave a small shudder at that thought. Don't get me wrong I love my family its just that they drive me crazy. So that option is out and you can count Mary Lou's and Lula's places out as well. I guess that narrows down my options to one. I grabbed the phone and hit speed dial 1. The call was answered on the 2nd ring.

"Yo."

"Yo, yourself."

"I need your help."

"You handcuffed naked in the shower again?" I swear I could hear that man smiling over the phone.

"Nope that was a once in a lifetime experience. Actually what I need is a place to stay and help moving."

Silence

"Ranger?"

"Yeah Babe, I'm here."

"Can you help?"

"Be there in 20."

I heard the distinct sound of him hanging up. I wonder what has gotten into him. Oh well no time to worry about it now. I gotta get all my stuff together.

Two

21 Minutes later

I looked out the window to see the best looking Cuban-American man I have ever seen get out of his black Bronco and start to head up the front walkway. I glanced down at my watch as I opened the door for him and had to suppress a giggle as I said "Ranger YOUR late!

The corners of his mouth tipped up ever so slightly in one of his Ranger patented mini-smiles and simply stated "Traffic."

"Oh." Yeah that's my miss eloquence.

I stepped aside as Ranger stepped through the entryway and into the living room. I closed the door behind him and followed closely behind. He slowly looked around at the mess I made as I was hastily packing all of my things up. "Trouble in Paradise Babe?"

"Yeah, I guess you could say that."

"How long you need a place for?"

"I guess just until I can find one of my own again. Joe and I have ended things."

Ranger gave me a look that says "hey we have been down this road a time or two before." Before the Master of one word sentences said "Again?"

I shot him one of my best burg glares. Not that they ever do any good but I had to give it a try. "For good."

This gave me a raised eyebrow.

"No really. It's for good this time. I realized that I don't love him the way I should if we were to get married. I told him my heart belongs to someone else."

I started to walk away. This was way harder than I thought it was going to be. I think maybe I need a beer for this. So I started to walk past Ranger and into the kitchen when Ranger quickly grabbed my arm and quickly turned me towards him. In a voice just barely above a whisper, so that I almost didn't hear him say it. "

"Who?"

"Who what?"

"Who does your heart belong to?"

I looked down at the floor and stared at my boots. I knew that my face was bright red, I just wasn't expecting this conversation so soon. He let go of my arm and took a step closer to me and he was standing so close I could smell him. Oh God did he smell good. He reached out and put one hand on either side of my face and guided it up so that I had to look at him. I looked into those deep dark pools and emotions flicker through them for just a moment and I thought I saw hope and maybe something more. Something I just couldn't place.

"Who?" He repeated slightly louder this time.

"Ranger, I can't…"

He slowly leaned forward and brushed his lips against mine and for a moment my brain seemed to have stopped functioning. Not only that but he was waking up certain other parts of me as well.

"Please Babe. I need to hear it."

Wow Ranger was unsure. This wasn't something that I was used to seeing in fact it was a little unsettling. He was always so confident and sure of himself, and yet seeing these sides of him, made me love him even more. It made him less Batman and more human. This wasn't even Ranger anymore, I am starting to think that this is Ric the personal side that few people really get to meet. I must have been standing there a little too long because he started to pull his hands down from my face and turn away. I quickly reached up and placed my hands over his to keep them in place. "You." I said.

He leaned in and kissed me. It was like nothing I had ever experienced before. It was hot and passionate yet sweet and slow at the same time. As he kissed me everything else just simply faded away. I thought for sure that the floor had completely vanished. He slowly pulled away and broke the kiss and looked intently into my eyes for a moment and smiled a good 200 watts at me. "Say it again."

"You Ranger, my heart belongs to you. I tried to fight it because I was so afraid of my feelings. I have never felt this way about anyone else before and I now know that I never will again. You are it for me Ranger my heart will never belong to another. I love you."

He leaned in for another kiss and as his lips touched mine he whispered "I love you too babe. I have from the moment I saw you in that diner. I felt something as you walked in the door, something that I never felt before and I know that you were the one." Then he kissed me a soft and slow loving kiss. We were so consumed by each other that we didn't hear the door open and close behind us. We were suddenly ripped from our own little world by the sound of a very angry voice.