Chapter 2

"Perfect aim in what, bello?" I mischievously asked.

"I meant with my gun. But I am curious how you took those words, bella," Zero teased. I laughed and said I was joking.

Zero and I talked during the flight. I got to know more about the quiet man. We were surprised to learn our grandparents lived in the same neighbourhood as children. It was shocking to hear they moved to the states before returning to Italy within months of each other. They were close friends. "My grandma wanted to introduce me to her best friend's granddaughter. If I had known I would have met you sooner, I would have accepted the offer years ago," Zero confessed.

"When did they want to introduce us?" I wondered.

"After I returned from my first tour in the Army," he replied. I shrugged because I didn't know when he finished the tour. "Ten years ago," he said to narrow down the timeframe.

"Before I married Dickie," I stated. "You could have saved me a world of hurt."

Zero thought about my words before he broached another topic. "Are you dating Vince? He said you weren't, but I've seen you go out together. Everyone could see he loves you."

I couldn't stop myself from laughing. It took half an hour for me to calm down enough to reply, "What I'm about to share cannot get spread around." I waited for him to promise before telling him the secret. "Vince and I are second cousins. We attend events together whenever we find ourselves dateless."

"Why?" Zero asked.

"To keep the creeps away from me and the married women away from him," I replied. Zero looked confused that Vince never took anyone home during our outings. I decided to put him out of his misery. "Teddy, Vince was my date for those events. Picking up another woman would have been tacky."

"Vince is a better man than most," Zero agreed. He could name a few of his coworkers who took home a different woman instead of their date. Lester and Zip came to mind.

"Is your last name Torino and is your grandma's name Carina?" I asked when a thought jumped into my head.

"Yes," he replied. "I'm surprised we haven't met before now."

"I'm sure we have, but we can't remember," I said, feeling the truth in my words. Zero entwined our fingers, making my heart race from the shift in contact. I forgot we were holding hands because it felt natural.

"What is going on between you, Morelli and Ranger?" Zero asked as I reclined my chair. He copied my motion to keep holding my hand comfortably.

"To be honest, I'm still trying to figure it out. Joe and I broke up a month ago. He hated my job, and I didn't love him enough to accept his marriage proposal. Although, it wasn't exactly a question. It was more like he wanted to be engaged to be engaged. Whatever that crock of crap was supposed to mean. Joe said he was saving for a ring but purchased a pool table instead. I think he was more in love with the idea of marrying me," I attempted to explain. "He wanted to be the man to tame Stephanie Plum."

"Ranger?" he asked. I wasn't sure how much Zero knew or suspected.

"He is an enigma. He's Batman. Ranger is the first man to accept me, faults and all. He gave me work when I barely had enough money to pay my rent. Ranger supported and rescued me more times than I could count," I replied.

"Ranger loves you," Zero added.

I scoffed before mumbling, "Ranger loves me in his own way. His love comes with a condom, not a ring. He sent me back to Morelli after screwing me senseless for an entire night. I had never felt so used before that morning. We have tons of chemistry, but he only wanted me when Morelli and I were together." Zero had a strange expression on his face. He slowly released my hand. "I never cheated on Morelli. Ranger and I had sex during times Morelli and I were not dating."

"Why aren't you and Ranger together now?" he asked. I felt bereft when his warm hand left mine.

"I want more than he can offer. If I ask him to change for me, I would be no better than Joe. I refused to change for Morelli," I replied. I was relieved when Zero grabbed my hand to entwine our fingers again. "Ranger and I haven't been intimate in nearly a year." Zero seemed relieved by my confession.

"Are you talking about marriage and children?" I rolled my head to face him. Zero assumed I wanted what most women, especially Burg women, wanted.

"Zero, I'm not sure if I want to get married again, and the thought of having children gives me hives," I explained.

He chuckled before asking, "What do you want, Stephanie?"

"I want someone to love me despite my many flaws. All I want is commitment, respect and monogamy," I replied.

"Those are reasonable requests. I have neither been married nor do I have children. One day I might find the perfect woman," he stated as I yawned. "It's okay to close your eyes, Stephanie." Why was I suddenly hoping that woman was me?

It didn't take long for me to fall asleep. I woke up several hours later when someone gently touched my face. Zero leaned over me, asking me to wake up. "Hmm?" I groaned.

"Raise your seat, Steph. We should be landing soon," Zero explained. I reluctantly returned the seat to the upright position. Zero grabbed my hand, entwining our fingers once again. He spoke softly as the plane descended and then touched the ground. We waited another twenty minutes before the stewardess announced we could exit the plane.

Zero reached over my head to remove my carry-on luggage from the compartment. He slipped the bag over his shoulder and reached for my hand. I felt comfortable with his fingers entwined with mine. It felt like our hands were supposed to fit together.

His hair colour matched mine, and his eyes were hazel in colour but appeared to be blue more often than the slight brown tone. Zero was an attractive man. He was better looking than Joe but not more than Ranger. It was probably better this way. His future girlfriend would notice women staring at him, but not as blatantly obvious as the women who watched Ranger. I had seen many women run into walls when they saw Carlos Manoso. Jealousy went through me as I pictured Zero with another woman.

We walked through the tunnel to enter the terminal. Zero read a sign before guiding me to the luggage carousel. "You read Italian?" I asked, speaking Italian.

He quickly replied, "I do. Hearing you speak our mother tongue is sexy."

I blushed, recognizing the Italian words. "Do you speak much Italian in Trenton?" I asked, choosing to continue speaking to him in Italian.

"No. But that will change," Zero confessed. For a minute, I wondered why. He answered my thought by saying, "I had no idea you knew the language."

Changing back to English, I replied, "My grandparents made sure I learned how to speak Italian. Dad and I used to converse in Italian during dinner until my mom got mad. She demanded we talk in English at the table. Mom doesn't know that dad and I get together once a week for lunch."

"Does anyone else know?" Zero asked.

"That I speak Italian?" He nodded. I shrugged because I didn't really care who knew. "The guys probably assumed I only know the swear words," I joked. He laughed as he tugged me to claim our baggage. I called Vince to let him know I landed in Italy while Zero searched for our bags.

Zero bent over to pull the suitcases off the moving belt. I groaned when his pants pulled tight across his muscular glutes. How did I ever think Morelli had the nicest ass in Trenton? Theodore Torino's ass was delectable. I wanted to sink my teeth into those firm cheeks.

"Not here, Steph," Zero whispered in my ear. "Save it for when we're alone."

"Did I say any of that out loud?" I asked. He nodded.

"I have similar thoughts about your sexy ass," Zero quietly said as he placed my bags beside me. I could feel my face blush.

He wouldn't let me pull my luggage behind us as we walked toward the exit. I saw both sets of grandparents waiting in the pick-up zone. "Stephie," my grandma said as she pulled me into her arms. "We are riding home with Carina and Alfonso. I hope you don't mind."

"Not at all, grandma," I replied. Zero grinned as he helped our grandfathers load the bags into the back. I climbed into the third row of seats, taking the one farthest from the sliding side door. Zero took the seat beside me, leaving the centre seat in the second row empty. Our grandmothers were in the other two seats. I saw my grandpa smile and wink at me in the rearview mirror before driving away from the airport.

The trip home didn't take as long as I anticipated. Zero and I explained that we met at Rangeman around three years ago. We worked together many times to track down skips. "I was offered a full-time position again," I announced.

"Why didn't you accept the job?" Zero wondered.

"I needed time to sort out my life before training at Rangeman," I confessed. "Vince thought I could use a vacation and bought my first-class boarding pass."

Zero nodded, understanding I had to get my priorities straight. He didn't seem annoyed that Vince purchased my airfare, now that he knew we were related. When grandpa parked in his driveway, Zero helped me climb out of the SUV and carry my luggage inside. He followed me up the stairs with my bags to place them inside my room. We returned to the main floor to see Zero and his grandparents go next door where they lived.

"When you unpack your bags, I need to show you something," grandma said as I headed back up the narrow staircase. Grandma didn't want me living out of my suitcase. I let her know that I heard her request. My shower would have to wait a little longer.

After filling the shelves with my clothes, I fixed my ponytail and went downstairs. Grandma waited for me in the kitchen. She placed a photo album on the table as she removed the ingredients to make lasagna. "What's this?" I asked as I opened the album covered in a floral print.

"Pictures of you at the beach," grandma replied.

I opened the album but didn't remember anything from my past. "How old was I?" I wondered. If I was too young, I would get a flashback.

"Most got taken before your fifth birthday," she answered. It made sense since I couldn't remember much before the age of five when I met Mary Lou on our first day of kindergarten. She pointed to the photos of me. According to the labels, they ranged from ages one to four, sitting beside a boy with our backs to the camera.

When I was one, I touched the boy's leg as he touched mine. In the picture, when I was two, we were holding hands. At the age of three, he had his arm across my shoulder.

We had our arms wrapped around each other at the age of four as I rested my head on his shoulder. Grandma had taken a few photographs from that day. The best picture was from the frontal view. I took in the expression on my face. "I looked happy," I said. My eyes were closed and my lips were curved into a smile. Looking at the picture warmed my heart. I felt the boy and I were destined to be together. But finding him would pose a bigger problem. Who was the boy and where was he living now?

"You were content," grandma added. "Whenever Theodore visited us, you gravitated towards each other. I always wondered if you two would meet as adults. Carina and I had tried many times to get you two together, but our timing was always off."

"Do you mean the boy in the photograph is Zero? I mean, Theodore Torino?" I asked.

"The one and the same. He's three months older than you," she replied before returning to the stove to brown the sausage and beef. I wondered if Zero knew about these pictures, and I wanted copies of the ones when we were four. "I'll make copies." Huh, I must have spoken my thoughts.

An hour later, I answered the door when the doorbell chimed. "Come in," I said, opening the door wide for Zero and his grandparents.

"You look beautiful," Zero said when he entered the house.

After examining the photo album, I had showered to wash off the stickiness of travelling. I found the blue sundress inside the closet. It wasn't mine, but it looked brand new. My grandmother must have purchased it for me since it was in my bedroom. "Thank you. You look mighty fine yourself, Theodore," I reciprocated.

He smiled, showing me his pearly white, perfectly straight teeth. "Two years of braces," Zero replied when I mumbled that his teeth were too perfect.

"I have something to show you," I said as I grabbed his hand. He let me drag him into the living room and push him to sit on the couch. I placed the album on his lap. When he opened it, he flipped a few pages until he reached one of us at age four.

"My grandma has this picture. The girl is pretty. She must be drop-dead gorgeous now," he said. "That's me in the picture," he added, pointing to the boy. I already knew it was him.

"The girl is me," I whispered.

His eyes quickly snapped to mine. "You're serious?" he asked.

"Yes. But look at me. I'm not drop-dead gorgeous," I replied.

"Stephanie, you truly don't believe that, do you? How could you not see the gorgeous woman you are? All the guys at Rangeman are waiting for Ranger to say you don't belong to him so they could ask you out."

I shook my head, not believing what he was saying. "The guys look at me like a sister. Nobody at Rangeman is interested in dating an inept, accident-prone woman like me," I said, disagreeing with his statement.

"You're wrong. I want you, just the way you are," he replied as he stroked my jaw with his finger. It was too soon for me to get involved with another man, but I felt my skin sizzle from his gentle touch. I needed to find myself before I could be a good girlfriend. He leaned in to kiss me, but we got interrupted when grandma called us for dinner.