Chapter 27: Feeding the hungry. WARNING: SMUT BETWEEN LULA AND TANK

That night I was laying in my bed, thinking about the events of the day. I was back in Trenton, much to my mother's happiness. I had a few days off before I would start my job again, and I was looking forward to it. I was back in my improved apartment and it felt like coming home. And I had a lunch date with Ranger. Everything during dinner had felt nice, relaxed and friendly right until those last couple of minutes. And now I was thinking about it again. Why did that bother me so much, didn't I want Ranger to want me? Yeah, a little voice said, but what exactly does he want from you? That was it, just like he didn't know my ideas about him, I didn't know how he thought about me. Did he want a relationship? Or just friends with benefits? Or maybe just playing around? I realised during my time in Canada that I only wanted a relationship if it was a real one. Otherwise friendship was the only possibility. And this time I would want 'normal' friendship, without the touching, innuendos, kisses and looks. This was exactly why I needed to talk to him before this went too far and I got another of those 'I love you in my own way, no ring needed but condoms come in handy' answers from him that would break my heart. With a contented sigh I turned on my side and snuggled in my pillow. Yep, life was looking good and being back in Trenton felt good.

I got up at a reasonable time that morning, and delivered the rental back to the company. I unpacked and did the laundry. Then I went to the supermarket and got myself some necessities of life, like Tasty cakes, ice cream and Cheez doodles. After I put everything away, it was time to go to Rangeman, to pick up Ranger. I drove right up to the fence in front of the garage when I realised that I didn't have any keys anymore. I whipped out my cell phone and called Ranger.

"Yo."

"Yo yourself. I'm in front of your garage."

"Come on in, Babe."

"I can't, I have no key." I heard Ranger say something to someone else and the gate opened itself.

"Thanks," I said, but there was only a dial tone in my ear.

I drove in and parked next to his Cayenne. I got out and then the next problem presented itself: I couldn't get to the 7th floor without keys. I looked a bit uncertain at the cameras when my phone rang again. Ranger.

"Yo."

"Yo yourself, Babe."

"I can't get up to your apartment."

"I programmed the elevator, just step in." Dial tone. The elevator doors opened themselves at that moment, and I got in. And indeed, it went straight up to his apartment. When the doors opened, I got off and saw that the door to his apartment was open. I walked in and called out to him. He answered from his bedroom.

"Come in, Babe." I walked towards the open bedroom door and looked in. Ranger was standing in front of his closet. He was wearing dark blue jeans that fit him well and he was still on his socks. He was currently busy with putting on a black long sleeved shirt with buttons, the black sling laying on the bed. He looked delicious. He was fumbling with the buttons of the shirt and I saw that he was trying to use his right hand, but that it was a painful experience to move the fingers of his right hand.

"Let me help you with that." He looked up in surprise, he hadn't heard me come in to his bedroom.

"I feel like I'm 3 years old again," he said. I smiled at him and started with the lowest button of the shirt, which was situated low on his chest. He wasn't wearing anything under the shirt and my hands touched some skin. I felt a shiver going through me and I saw him watching me intently. I finished with button number 2 (there were 5 in total) and my mind told me it was really a shame to cover up all that delicious mocha latte skin.

"How many buttons shall I leave open?"

"As many as you like, Babe," he said in a low voice. I felt a blush creep up to my cheeks and looked up at him. His pupils were dilated black and there was a hint of a smile at the corners of his mouth. He was playing again. A moment long I felt the impulse to back pedal, but then realised that I had just spend months away from him finding out that I wanted him. There was nothing standing in between us anymore, no guilt whatsoever, so I could play with him just as much as he liked to play with me. The playing field had just levelled itself! While I closed the 3rd button I spoke.

"Ranger, there aren't enough buttons on this shirt to leave open for the way I like it." And with that I turned around to the bed and grabbed his sling. The sling was really nothing more than a long piece of foam, covered in black fabric. I placed it around his neck and folded the end of each side around the cast on his arm. One end around his wrist, the other end around his arm and secured them with pins. I looked at him with a smile and saw that he was still watching me with a slightly stunned expression in his eyes. I felt encouraged by this, so I bowed forward, letting my right arm snake around his lower back while allowing my lips to run across his jaw and heard him take a sharp breath. I continued until my lips were next to his ear and then half whispered/half moaned:

"I'm hungry, Ranger." At the same time I placed my leg between his and pulled him with my right arm against me, making it clear what kind of 'hunger' we were talking about and felt him grow hard against my hip. I gently bit on his earlobe and felt him shiver. I was playing with fire, but it was just too good and opportunity to let pass after the years of torture he put me through before Morelli and I got married.

"Babe," he groaned. I smiled at myself and then whispered in his ear.

"Let's have lunch," and let go of him and walked out of the bedroom.

I was leaning against the back of the couch when he walked out of the bedroom a minute later, black trainers in his hands. He dropped the trainers to the floor and started to shove his feet into them. The laces were tied, but loosely so he could get them on without having to redo the laces.

"Babe, that was unfair."

"No Ranger, that was fun." He looked at me with an unreadable expression for a moment and I wondered for a moment if he was angry. Then he spoke.

"It was both." I nodded while smiling, indicating that I agreed with him but still thought that he deserved it. He walked towards me, crooked his left arm around my neck and kissed me somewhere above my ear.

"Come on, let's feed your other hunger," referring to my love for food this time.

We had a nice lunch at Shorty's while we talked about where I had been and what had been going on in Trenton while I was away. I almost could feel my feelings for him grow, and realised we needed to talk about the future soon. Very soon. As in after lunch.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I could see more than a few covert glances at Ranger when Stephanie's car pulled up at the gate. I was sure that everybody knew she was back after Stephanie had driven him back yesterday evening, but nobody knew what happened, other than that pizza had been ordered and that Stephanie had left a few hours later. I had tried to find out during our run this morning, but Ranger wasn't talking about it. Still, his mood was good, so it couldn't have been bad. And here she was again, picking him up for lunch. She called him to say she had no keys and he told Ram to open the gate. After that he had left the control room and went up to his apartment. When they had come down together 15 minutes later, he had changed his clothes. That sparked a discussion in the control room about a possible 'quick nooner' and they were checking to see if Stephanie's clothes looked different in any way when I put a stop to it. I was going out for lunch myself, so I needed the men to get their minds back to work. I was meeting Lula in 10 minutes at her house, and I did have hopes for a 'nooner' although quick wasn't our style. I intended to use the full hour of the lunch hour.

I rang her from the car, asking her if she was home.

"Oh yeah, I'm home and ready." Lula wasn't subtle, but that's what I liked about her.

"Really, how ready?" I asked in a low tone.

"Why don't you come over to find out?" she answered with a seductive tone in her voice.

"Lucky for me I'm standing in front of your door." I heard her squeal and ended the connection. Two seconds later, she opened the door, wearing a robe so it was impossible for me to see what else she was wearing, but usually this meant she had made a trip to Victoria's Secret. I felt myself grow hard in anticipation. This woman was amazing. I stepped inside and closed the door behind me. Then I fixed my patented sexy stare at her and she looked right back.

"Like what you see, big man?" she asked in a low and sexy voice. I made an affirmative sound and slowly she opened the robe. I almost stopped breathing. I had mentioned to her a few weeks ago that women wearing stockings and suspenders were a big turn on for me, and that was exactly what she was wearing. The whole set was a beautiful red with orange and red flowers on it that contrasted beautifully with her dark brown skin. Everything was made with lace and the stockings were the same colour of red, her brown skin shining through them. I swallowed hard and just stared at her.

"Then how do you like this?" she asked, while dropping the robe to the floor. I made a sound that sounded like a growling purr and took a step towards her. Her eyes widened a bit at the obvious hunger in my eyes and she took a step back with a devious look in her eyes. Uh-oh. That usually meant something bad in an incredibly good way was about to happen. I took another step forward and she took another step back, towards her bedroom.

"Now this set cost me a fortune, so I can't let you rip it off me like you did last time," she said with a sexy stern look. I just shook my head, willing to promise anything as long as it would make me able to touch her. Another step forward and she took another backward step towards the bedroom. I made a frustrated noise.

"Somehow I ain't convinced that you won't rip it off me." She looked thoughtful, but in a way that you knew that she already had thought of a solution to her 'problem'. I was wondering where this would lead, I could only look at her in that outfit and all coherent thought left me. Suddenly she turned and walked into her bedroom and I followed her, while pulling my t-shirt over my head and kicking off my shoes at the same time. She was standing next to her bed, holding something behind her back and a sexy grin on her face. I was starting to open my pants when her voice stopped me.

"No rush, my man." Then she took one step forward and I could almost reach her. Almost…

"What do you have behind your back?"

"Trust me?" I waited for a moment before answering her. She could, in theory, have a gun behind her back and blow my brains out, but I knew that that wasn't very likely. Still, I'm ex-army, I learned to be careful.

"You'll regret it if you say 'no'" she said, almost purring, and I knew it had to be something good, so I nodded 'yes'.

"Turn around." What? No, I wanted to see her in that outfit, feel her. I made a move forward and she stepped back again. Damn! I was so hard I felt I would explode soon.

"C'mon, trust me!" I took one last wistful look at her and then turned around. I felt her walk up behind me and then she placed something over my eyes. My instinct was to move away, but she whispered 'trust me, darlin', you'll love it' in my ears and I relaxed. Still, I wanted to see her.

"But I want to be able to see you!" I sounded desperate, even to me. She chuckled.

"No worry, we'll do that later, Thomas." I shivered when she used my real name. I loved how sexy it sounded from her mouth. She led me to the bed and pushed me down. She made me move to the middle of the bed and my arms were laying wide. I could feel her climbing on the bed herself and then on top of me. My hands went to her and she said:

"Nuh uh. That way this nice set will end up on the floor in no time." She pushed back my arms and she did some wonderful things to my ear and neck and when she whispered 'trust me' I suddenly felt the cold metal around my wrists and heard the familiar click of cuffs. I pulled back and realised she cuffed me to her bed. She had one of those cast iron frames, so I wasn't going to be able to get loose unless she wanted that. I stopped struggling and realised she was still sitting on top of me.

"Done this before, Tank?" she asked me. I shook my head 'no'. Never met a person whom I trusted enough, really.

"Well, there's a first for everything, and this is yours, my man." The way she said it made my blood rush south once more and she chuckled when she felt my response. I suddenly understood the erotic attraction of cuffs for the first time in my life. So far I had only used them for my work to restrain dangerous persons, and had never really understood how it could be 'fun' to be restrained myself, but Lula had just given me a whole new perspective.

"Better let the office know you're gonna be late, Thomas." I could only swallow and nod. I felt her grab my mobile and heard her push some buttons.

"Hi, it's Lula here. Just thought I'd let you guys know that Tank is off line for a couple of hours." God, I was never going to hear the end of it when I came back, but I had the feeling it would be more than worth it.

And it had been more than worth it. Lula had spent over 1.5 hours torturing me in the best way possible before she released me. After that we had made love one last time while I had been able to hold and see her, before taking a shower together. I was currently driving back to the office, my legs still shaking and noticed that my wrists showed some marks from the cuffs. I started rooting around the car for a sweatshirt to put on, but couldn't find any. Shit, if the guys saw this I had no life left! I would have to fetch a long sleeved shirt from my apartment first thing and not forget to put on long sleeved clothes on for the next few days. But no matter what happened, nothing could wipe the smile from my face nor stop the warm feeling I had inside me. I loved that woman.