Disclaimer: We all know the characters belong to Janet Evanovich, but we are just having fun trying to second guess where she's going with her story.

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Chapter Seven

Connie and Lula just stared at me.

"You mean there is something to those rumors," Connie gasped in surprise. "I thought it was just Burg talk. I mean you guys have done this before. No big deal, right?"

Lula looked like she was expecting an answer to that one as well.

I grimaced. Maybe it was better to come clean. "Look," I started nervously, "you might as well hear this from me. Yes, it is over between Joe and me. I really don't want to go into the details."

"Bet Batman has the details," Lula offered.

"No, not even Ranger." Especially not Ranger.

Connie picked up a bottle of nail polish off the desk, Dusty Rose the bottle read. "Well, if you ask me, it was about time you two called it quits. There really wasn't a future there for you, Stephanie. Not that Morelli doesn't have the nicest ass in town, but let's face it he's a cop. You can take the cop away from the precinct, but you can't take the cop out of the man." Of course, the same could be said for Mafia men if Connie ever referred to her family tree.

"I don't know that it was Joe's job that really caused the problem. Most likely, it was my job that did it." I looked for another donut.

"Well, hell, you like your job, don't you? Where else is a skinny white girl goin' find all this excitement that's legal?" Lula considered.

"Yeah, I usually like my job, but lately I've been having second thoughts. You know that Ranger set us up with Willard Nobel yesterday, don't you?"

Lula just looked at me. Connie smiled. "I knew he was up to something. He was acting a bit odd, even for Ranger."

"Yeah," I continued. I think he knew I was upset and thought that helping Lula track down a tough guy would kind of cheer me up. Thing is, I bet he had backup around us the whole time."

"No shit," Lula gasped. You think that hunk Tank was hanging around?" Lula had a full-blown fantasy in her mind where Tank was concerned. She wasn't yet able to force herself to follow through on some of those fantasies.

"I don't know about Tank, but I bet you he was tracking us somehow. We should search you car for tracking devices," I offered then realized that it was even simpler than that.

"Damn," I shouted, bringing Vinnie out of his office.

"Hey, quiet down in here. Some of us have work to do." He slammed his office door again.

I noticed that Lula let Vinnie's appearance slide. Usually, she'd have a great comeback.

"What's 'damn'?" she asked.

"Ranger didn't track your car, he tracked me." I emptied the contents of my purse. I had forgotten that I was even carrying it, but sure enough, there was a small tracking device right there on my key fob. It was the same key fob I used to get around Rangeman's offices. Not only was my truck key and house key on it, but the passkey to the office building.

"Damn," I muttered. "Why are they both so controlling?"

Connie and Lula looked at me as if they knew I wasn't expecting an answer. I packed everything back in my bag, yelled bye over my shoulder and climbed into the truck. Ranger wasn't going to get away with this!

I was pretty much fuming while I drove the short distance to his office building. The words that I used against Morelli the other night when he was talking about Ranger played over and over in my head. Ranger was only trying to protect me, but why did it feel like so much more. He had set me up on that capture with Lula. He was there to make sure it didn't go down badly. Part of me said I should be relieved, but the rest of me was just totally angry.

I pulled into the garage at Rangeman, parked the truck on the far wall, away from the standard Ranger black vehicles, and climbed the stairs to the 6th floor. I looked around the office. Everyone seemed to be hard at work. If they had noticed that I was there, no one said anything. I finally yelled over at Bobby, "Where's Ranger?"

Bobby pointed to the kitchen area. I stomped into the kitchen to find Ranger seated at a bistro style table, sandwich in hand.

He looked up by way of acknowledgement, but said nothing. I pulled up a chair and sat down.

"Babe," he offered. Nothing else was said.

My face must have been flushed, because I could feel the color rising in my cheeks. "Ranger, did you set me and Lula up with that FTA yesterday?" Let's see if he was going to lie to me.

"Thought you could use the entertainment. You seemed pretty down." He focused those dreamy chocolate eyes on me and I had to shake off the effect.

"What right did you have to track me? I found the bug, Ranger, I know you or someone from the office was there to back us up."

Ranger didn't deny or confirm my suspicions. In fact, he acted like he wasn't going to say anything at all. Frustrated, I was just going to leave, the fight having slowly drained out of me.

"Babe, is it true that you and Morelli are history for good?" There was something in his tone that made me turn around.

"Yeah, Ranger, it's over. Joe wanted to control me just like you do. I can't let either of you turn me into something I'm not. I can't depend on either of you to keep saving me."

In a flash, I found myself pressed against that hard body of his. My breath caught in my throat. I was supposed to be mad at him. I was supposed to be fighting, but every fiber of my being was screaming to be kissed. Luckily, Ranger appeared to understand my need.

The kiss started off a bit awkward, but quickly blossomed into one of heat and passion that neither of us could control. I felt myself melt into his body and heard someone moan. I couldn't tell which of us it was, it was like we were one and the same. In the back of my mind, I knew this wasn't what I had planned, but damn it felt good.

Somehow I found myself on the seventh floor and in Ranger's apartment. I don't remember him ending the kiss long enough to get us upstairs. I realized suddenly that he was carrying me to his bedroom.

"Ranger," I whispered, "I didn't come here to try and seduce you." His tongue in my mouth cut off my words.

I found myself very quickly without clothes. I knew that I shouldn't do this, having promised myself to keep my distance, but I also knew I wouldn't stop him. I was such a slut. I only left Joe's house a few days ago and here I was in Ranger's bed.

"Stop it," he bit off. "This is between you and me. Morelli's out of the picture. You tell me that you don't want me and I will get out and let you get dressed."

His eyes were darker than I ever remember seeing them. His facial features had softened, but there was tension around the eyes. He was waiting for an answer.

I pulled him toward me. "Aren't you a little overdressed?"

It was dark by the time I finally woke up from my stupor. I reached over, but the bed was empty. I found the clock and a note beside it.

"Babe, stay in bed as long as you want. I'll be back as soon as I can. R."

I stretched and realized that there were several places where I was sore. I considered a bath or shower. I ended up preferring a bath. Luckily, Ranger's well-equipped bathroom did contain a Jacuzzi tub. I hadn't had the nerve to try it before, but what the hell, I was going for it. I poured some of his shower gel into the swirling water for good measure. I was enveloped in the hot, aromatic water. It felt wonderful against my skin. I laid back, eyes closed and nearly drifted back to sleep. I never heard the door open, but I sensed he was there. I didn't bother to open my eyes. I was being lifted out of the water and placed on his lap. He leaned back against the jets, one arm bringing me closer to him. Eyes still closed, I leaned against his chest. I heard the beat of his heart and felt the caress of his arms near my ribcage. He ventured further north and was rewarded with a soft moan that involuntarily escaped my lips.

"Babe, you're perfect," he whispered into my ear.

"Ranger," I sighed, "you're better than donuts."

Ranger's chest rumbled with a deep laugh that I hadn't expected. "Sure, but how do I stand against cake?"

I turned around in the tub, took his face in my hands and kissed him until I was breathless. "You'll just have to try harder if you want to beat out cake," I gasped.

Really smart, Stephanie, I thought. You just gave Batman a challenge he can't refuse.