WARNING! This chapter contains scenes of domestic violence(obviously not involving Ranger). I want to give you fair warning in case anyone reading might possibly be upset or offended. There's no sexual assault but there are some physical injuries.

And to make up for the bad stuff there's some really, really good stuff between Ranger and Amy. Another extra long chapter for you all to enjoy because I have to get busy on the work I do at home(custom knitting) with Christmas coming up.

Thanks and enjoy!

Chapter 7

"Would you like a glass of wine?" He asked just as he stepped back and went to the fridge on the other side of the kitchen.

"Wine sounds great."

As he poured out two glasses of wine he continued, "I'm going kind of simple for dinner, I hope you don't mind. I'm going to get some potatoes baking, then I'm going to throw together a light salad, grill some sirloin steaks, and I believe Ella made lemon cake."

"That all sounds wonderful, especially the lemon cake. I love lemon anything."

"How does Ella know all of your favorite things?"

"We've talked a lot over the last few years of me working in your office. I don't have a lot of friends here. Being a single mom who is trying to make up for the fact that my daughter has a deadbeat felon for a dad is a lot of work."

Ranger just nodded in agreement as he was pulling ingredients out of the fridge and digging through the one cabinet that had the box of tools and utensils he would need to prepare dinner. He hadn't actually moved in yet so he'd brought up just the bare essentials earlier in the day.

"So Ella has kept me company when I've eaten many lunches alone in the employee lounge. Or if I've ever had to stay late or work on Saturday mornings, she usually checks on me every so often. She's such a mother hen over everyone. I love it."

"She does take good care of everyone." Ranger stopped to look at Amy. "Can I ask you about your ex-husband, since you brought it up?"

Amy just stared at him for a few seconds, twisting her mouth around as she considered whether or not she wanted to talk about Troy. "I did bring him up. It's a crappy subject to talk about but we have to talk about it at some point. What don't you already know?"

"I obviously know the charges, we ran an in-depth background check on you and naturally your ex-husband when you applied for the job. But I know that the charges are only a very small part of the story, of your story."

"I suppose I'll start at the beginning." Amy took a deep breath, "Troy and I met our sophomore year in college. He was your typical frat-boy jock, and he loved to party. He had a drinking problem then, but I wasn't with him all the time or for every party so I had no idea just how much he drank at the parties. He always seemed to go easy when I was around. He got his first drunk driving charge the beginning of our junior year. He cleaned up for a few months after that, but peer pressure won him over eventually. I would get after him if I was around him when he was drinking, just to remind him to slow down. But I don't think he would drink as much when I was around. I didn't know then just how much and how often he usually drank. If I had known I would have left him then.

We got engaged at Christmas our senior year. He graduated the following May, partially because I helped him with his homework and partially because he was one of the stars of the football team. We were married in September. Troy had majored in sports medicine and ended up working as a personal trainer and physical therapist for a gym in Miami. We stayed in Miami mainly because we both got good jobs there right out of school." Amy paused to take a sip of her wine. Ranger kept working on the meal prep, seasoning the steaks and pulling out ingredients for the salad. "He tried to hide the drinking from me. We were renting a cute little house in a nice neighborhood. I had baby fever. I'd always wanted kids, I loved babies, and Troy wanted kids. So we started trying. I knew he still had a problem with alcohol, but I was in denial about how bad it was. We found out we were expecting and it was the greatest feeling in the world for me. That was in October. I was super excited and wanted to tell everyone I saw, Troy talked me into waiting until Thanksgiving to tell our families then we would tell everyone else after. The weekend before Thanksgiving he went out with a bunch of his friends for a bachelor party." Amy saw Ranger look up at her, he knew where the story was going. "He got his second DUI, which had a mandatory minimum jail stay of 4 days, he lost his drivers license for six months, they installed a breathalyzer on his car after he got a restricted license back. I was furious with him. He spent his 4 days in jail. He had to attend at least one AA meeting a week and I made him go twice a week. I told him that if he didn't I would leave him. That threat was at least enough at the time to scare him into sobriety. I thought it would work. If I could just get him to quit until our baby was born, I thought that seeing our child would change things for him." She shook her head. "I was eight months pregnant with Lexi when he could drive again. Which I was thankful for, I hadn't been looking forward to either driving while I was in labor or having to call a friend to take us to the hospital. Lexi was born on June 14th. It was a really fast labor. So fast that I never even got a chance to ask for or really even think about an epidural. It was actually an amazing experience for me. And for the first few months of Lexi's life everything seemed perfect. Troy hadn't had a drink since the weekend before Thanksgiving. But what happens in September?"

Ranger took a few seconds to think, "Football season starts."

"Bingo." Amy stood up to stretch her legs and walked over to the French doors leading to the patio. "He went to a friends house for the first Monday night football game, someone else drove him so that he could drink. I told him not to, but he came home completely wasted. I waited up for him to get home. We got into it that night." Amy wrapped her arms around herself. "What I'm about to tell you is the one thing that you never would've found in any background check." She knew he would be upset and surprised so she kept looking out the patio doors. "That was the first time that Troy ever hit me." Amy flinched when she heard Ranger drop the knife he'd been using to cut up the tomatoes and cucumbers for their salad.

"Why didn't you turn him in?" Ranger asked through clenched teeth. He didn't trust himself to go near her right at that moment.

"I rationalized and made excuses. He was too drunk to know what he was doing. It was a slap, it hadn't left a mark. But the way he'd grabbed my arm left some bruising. It was September and I worked in a climate-controlled office so I just made sure to wear sweaters and jackets. I told him then that if he touched me again I was done, I was taking Lexi and leaving. The next day he swore he wasn't going to drink again. He saw the bruises on my arm and apologized and promised me that he was done. He admitted that he'd lied after his DUI's, but that seeing me and knowing he'd hurt me physically made him see it differently. Things were great after that. He quit drinking and went to AA meetings without me having to remind him to go. It really seemed like things were better. Until he got off probation and the breathalyzer was taken out of his truck in January, one year after his sentencing. He went out with some friends on a Friday night and got absolutely trashed. He got home and I had purposely went to bed on the daybed in Lexi's room to avoid him. I wasn't asleep when he got home. I could hear him banging and crashing around. He barely made it up the stairs. I just prayed he wouldn't come looking for me when he realized I wasn't in our bed. Thankfully he didn't." Amy stayed at the doors, Ranger's house really did have some amazing views.

"The next day he went golfing. I honestly don't even think he had sobered up from the night before. As soon as he left I started packing. I wasn't going to subject my daughter to living with a drunk father. I didn't want to have to register at a hotel and deal with Troy finding out where I was staying. So I called Miguel, the head of your Miami office, and gave him the readers digest version of what was going on. There was an apartment empty for me to use as long as I needed. It took one trip in my Jeep just to get Lexi's crib and everything I would need for her to the apartment. I didn't want to leave her with anyone, I knew Troy would start checking with all of my friends and figure out where she was. And I was still breastfeeding, she was six months old but hated baby food so she still mainly just nursed, so it was easier to have her with me. I packed up as much of my clothes and whatever else that was mine and had it all loaded into my Jeep. I took a break to nurse Lexi and we ended up falling asleep together on the daybed in her room. I woke up and was just getting ready to load her up in the Jeep and go when Troy got home. I'd never seen him that drunk. He saw me with Lex in the carseat and asked where we were going. I lied of course, told him I was just going out to do some shopping and run a few errands. He stumbled toward me and I started walking backwards into the living room. He noticed that there were picture frames and other things missing around the room.

I could literally see the change come over him. He was furious. There was no way I was setting Lexi's car seat down, but carrying it made it hard to get away from him. He managed to grab my left forearm and yank me towards him. I struggled to get away from him, hoping he would be too drunk to keep his footing or to keep a hold of me. But as I'm sure you know, alcohol is a powerful drug. I put the carseat down then because I was afraid of dropping it or slamming it into something in the fight. Poor Lexi was crying already, I just wanted to get her away from him. I swung with my right and managed to land a good one to his cheek. That made him worse. I actually felt the two bones in left forearm snap with the force of him yanking me around. Thankfully the adrenaline helped me ignore it for a little bit. I lifted my right knee hard and fast into his balls. He released my arm and doubled over.

I grabbed Lex and my purse and ran out to my Jeep. Troy's truck had me blocked in but I had Lexi secured safely in her seat in the back and the doors were all locked. I called 911 from my cell. Troy came out of the house, I'm assuming he was going to try to pull me back into the house. He banged on the window once. I yelled through it that I was on the phone with the police. He stumbled to his truck in a panic and left.

About five blocks from our house he went the wrong way down a one-way street. They estimated he was probably going about 55 miles an hour when he ran head on into a woman going about 40. She was killed instantly. Troy somehow managed to survive. After spending a month in the hospital getting his broken legs put back together with rods and screws and starting rehab he was taken to jail.

The rest is in my background check, or I've already told you. Mostly anyways."

Ranger finally walked around the island and approached her. He stopped right behind her and gently put his hands on her upper arms. "I am so glad that you moved up here. First because it got you and Lexi away from a really bad situation." Amy turned and put her arms around Ranger's neck, he settled his hands on her waist. "Second because it brought you to me. Well, maybe that's first." He smiled as he leaned down and pressed his lips to hers. "And third, because with me around there's no way in hell that asshole of an ex is ever going to get near you again." He kissed her again and stood there for a few minutes just holding her before he went back to the island.

"Sorry, my past isn't really uplifting or positive date conversation. Man, I am great at ruining the mood with bad conversation."

"Hey, I asked." Ranger put the bowl of salad back in the fridge. "Grab your glass of wine, we'll move out to the patio. I need to start up the grill and I'll start the fire place out there."

"Sounds good to me." Amy grabbed her wine and her phone and headed out to the patio. She found a very comfortable couch and sat down. The views from this house were amazing. There didn't seem to be a bad place to sit and look out on the countryside.

A few minutes later Ranger came out, he started the fire place and then the grill before joining her on the couch. "So what do you think of the house?"

"I think it's amazing. It's huge. Like way too big for you, me, Lexi, and any possible future kids we might have. But it's beautiful." She took a small sip of her wine.

"Thank You. It is big. But I have extended family. You have extended family. I want there to be room for everyone to visit us. I'm finding that I want to visit with my family more these days."

"That's really nice." She smiled and felt a tingle shoot through her body when he put his hand on her leg. He wasn't even trying to be seductive and yet he was still managing to seduce her. "So how many acres do you own here?"

"About forty." He pointed off to the west, "There's a little creek that runs through the west side of my lot. But otherwise it's mainly just trees."

"And it's far away from civilization." She teased.

"Yes there's that too." He squeezed her thigh. "I do like seclusion. I've always preferred to keep my private life, private. But I'll admit that this is about as far from modern conveniences as I want to be."

"You definitely picked a good place and a very beautiful piece of land."

"The grill should be ready now." He got up and put the steaks on the grill then rejoined her on the couch.

"So, kids." He turned sideways on the couch so he could face her, putting a hand on her leg again. "I really am open to whatever."

"Lexi has been on the baby bandwagon lately. Her best friend Emma has a 6 month old little brother so she's talked about it quite a bit. However she's requested a little sister. I told her it doesn't quite work that way." Ranger smiled at her as he lazily rubbed her thigh. "But I definitely wouldn't mind having one or two more kids."

Ranger nodded. "I would really like to meet Lexi. I mean I've met her a couple of times before. But I would like to do something with the two of you. I know we just started dating, but I want you to be comfortable bringing her out here with you. Or for me to be at your house now and then."

Amy nodded, "We'll have to figure something out, maybe for next weekend. I want to talk to her first and let her know that I'm seeing someone."

"Understandable." Ranger took a drink of his wine, "So, besides work and Lexi, do you have any other hobbies or anything?"

Amy chuckled, "Working full time and being a single mom doesn't leave much time for anything else, that's why I've dated so much." She teased. "You'll laugh at me, but I like to knit."

Ranger didn't laugh, but it was kind of surprising. "As in you knit sweaters and afghans?"

Amy nodded. "Well I've never knit an afghan, a couple of baby blankets but those take forever. The scarves and cowls I usually wear around the office were knit by me. The black stocking hats that the guys wear were knit by me."

Ranger paused with his wine glass halfway to his mouth. "The black knit stocking hats that Ella had the Rangeman logo embroidered onto? You knit all of those?"

Amy nodded. "Hats are easy. It took me about two months to get all of those done last fall."

"Two months is a long time."

"Not really for knitting, or at least not to knit that many hats. I did like thirty. I've done about a dozen more since then for new hires and to have extras on hand."

"That's my favorite hat to wear in the winter."

Amy smiled, "I'd noticed."

Ranger got up to flip the steaks.

"What about you? Any hobbies or bad habits I need to know about?" Amy teased.

"I'm pretty sure you probably know all of my hobbies and habits, both good and bad. I'm not really all that different at home than I am at work. I'm usually pretty organized and like things to be clean and tidy. I eat really healthy. Our dinner Tuesday night was the worst meal I've eaten in over a month. Tonight's dinner comes in second. I work out, a lot. It's a stress reliever, it's my fall back if I'm bored. I have a TV in my apartment but it rarely ever gets watched." He rejoined her on the couch.

"Well we've got a problem there. I can't live without my DVR. I mean I rarely get time to watch much TV during the week. But the weekends, especially Sundays, are when I relax and watch the shows I missed during the week and do some knitting."

"Okay. On Sunday's you can knit and watch TV, I'll just make use of the gym and do some training." Ranger took a drink of his wine and moved on. "My contractor will be here about nine tomorrow morning. I have paint chips taped to the walls in most of the rooms, but like I said earlier I want your input. We don't have to decide on the paint immediately since they have the theater room in the basement to do, the bedroom in the guest apartment needs to be completely gutted, there's mold on the walls in that room for some reason. Another thing for the contractor to figure out. I'm debating on opening up one of the bedrooms upstairs and making it a toy room or entertainment area for the kids. Another thing for us to talk about."

"Oh so just small decisions, no pressure or anything." Amy teased as she shrugged her shoulder then took a drink of her wine.

"Do you disagree with any of the changes?"

"Well, I suppose not. I mean I haven't seen the basement yet but a theater room sounds nice. You would have a lot more knowledge and opinion on that than I would. An entertainment room upstairs wouldn't be bad. What room would you want to give up for that?"

"I was thinking either the second master or the bedroom across from it."

"Both of those are right at the top of the stairs by the family room, easier to yell up and get people's attention that way."

"True." He nodded in agreement.

"Well the steaks should be done. Why don't you take our glasses back in to the kitchen, I'll get our steaks and turn off the grill."

Back in the kitchen Amy left their wine glasses on the counter and grabbed the salad and some dressing out of the fridge. She put oven mitts on and grabbed the baked potatoes out of the oven. Ranger walked in just as she was setting the baking stone with the baked potatoes on the counter.

"You didn't need to do that. I'm supposed to be making you dinner." He said as he set the plate on the counter next to the potatoes.

"I want to help. I have proven yet again that I suck at making good conversation on dates. So I want to do something to help." Amy turned to Ranger who was standing right next to her. "Now what? Can I set the table or something?"

Ranger smiled at the confidence and determination that you could clearly see on Amy's face, and especially in her fierce blue eyes. "Sure. There's a box in the lower cabinet right next to the fridge that has placemats, plates, and silverware. I obviously don't have a dining table here yet, so just set the island."

While Amy set their places at the island, Ranger took the plate with the steaks and the bowl of salad to the other side of the island. "Would you like more wine?"

"Yeah, that would be great." Amy sat while Ranger refilled both of their glasses.

They both sat and took their first few bites of food in silence. After taking a couple of bites of everything Amy took a sip of her wine then looked over at Ranger sitting next to her. "This is all delicious. Thank You for the first home cooked meal, that I haven't had to cook for myself, in a very long time."

One corner of Ranger's mouth turned up and he nodded. "I'm glad that you like it. Although I have to admit that none of it was that hard."

Amy just smiled and continued eating.

"So," Ranger said between bites. "I was hoping I could convince you to have lunch with me on Monday. I know it's your day off," he said anticipating her first possible objection, "I was hoping I could talk you and Lexi into meeting me for lunch somewhere. Or," he stopped for a moment while he considered. "Maybe Lexi would feel more comfortable meeting me for the first time at your house. I can bring you lunch from your favorite place, or her favorite place, and the three of us can hang out for a little while."

Amy couldn't believe how Ranger was constantly surprising her at every turn. She also couldn't stop smiling at him, "I think that would be great, and I'm sure Lex would love it. But I can promise you that food from her favorite place would definitely qualify as the worst meal you've eaten, probably in a year."

Ranger's face went blank, "It's not McDonald's is it?"

"Oh good God no, we don't eat there." Amy couldn't stop the sour look from forming on her face. "But she does love cheap Chinese. However, if that's not your thing either, she isn't really that picky about food generally."

"I can handle cheap Chinese. They usually have decent pot stickers and some seasoned vegetables and sometimes beef or chicken that aren't doused in gallons of salty sauce."

"Lexi would be offended, she loves the sauce." Amy teased.

Ranger smiled, "I'll pick up food and bring it over about noon then."

"That'll be perfect."

Ranger watched Amy take the last bite of her steak and set her utensils down. "So are you ready for dessert?"

"I don't think I have room for dessert right now." Amy couldn't exactly gracefully slide her chair back to signal she wanted to get up since the stools were bar height, she was wearing four-inch stiletto heels, and a full knee-length skirt that she loved and looked fabulous in but it didn't exactly lend to sneaky seductions. So she did what she could do. She reached her right hand over and touched Ranger's thigh, "I need to freshen up, meet me in the master in ten minutes?"

Ranger's eyes instantly darkened, "I'll clean up in here first."

Amy nodded at him then as carefully and gracefully as she could manage she slid down off the stool and walked down the hallway to the master bedroom. Once she was in the master bathroom she quickly used the facilities, washed her hands, and was getting ready to go back out to the bedroom when she noticed the master closet. She decided she had a minute to be nosy and walked in. Some of Ranger's clothes were already hanging, but this closet was massive. They could easily fit all of Ranger's clothes, all of Amy's clothes, and still have about half of the space leftover. She made a quick last minute decision and quickly stripped out of her heels, skirt, sweater, and shirt then quickly pulled on one of Ranger's black Rangeman tees.

Amy was just about to climb onto the bed when she heard the bedroom doors close behind her. She turned around and judging by the gleam in Ranger's eyes he was very happy to see her in his shirt. He slowly made his way across the room to her and stopped just a few inches in front of her.

"I've got to say, your outfit tonight was stunning. But I think I'm partial to seeing you in my shirt." He gave her a grin as he toed off his shoes and unfastened his belt.

Amy sucked in a breath when Ranger stopped undressing himself with just his pants undone and started pulling his shirt up her body.

"I've been dying to do this since your first day in Trenton." Amy's eyes widened and her pupils dilated as she looked up into his eyes. "Yeah sweetheart, that long." He answered, reading the surprise and question in her eyes perfectly.

Amy lifted her arms as Ranger pulls the shirt all the way up and over her head. "Your turn." She says as she reaches out and starts unbuttoning his shirt. After making quick work of the buttons she pushes the shirt off his shoulders and it drops to the floor. She reaches for his pants and starts pushing them down, loving the way his tight boxer briefs hide absolutely nothing. He steps out of his pants and pushes her backwards a couple steps until her thighs touch the edge of the bed.

Ranger grabs her face and pulls her mouth to his as she throws her arms around his neck and crushes her chest to his. The kiss is brutal, she knows her mouth is going to be bruised from his kisses but she doesn't care. He could give her hickey's all over her body and she wouldn't care. His touch feels too good. Being pressed up against his bare chest is both soothing and setting her blood on fire.

He quickly reaches behind her and unhooks her bra, pulling the straps down her arms releasing her soft and supple curves. He groans, then kisses all around her nipple before finally sucking the turgid tip into his mouth. Amy arched her back and moaned as the sharp tugging was linked directly to her heat. She gasped as he ran a hand over her underwear lightly massaging her.

"Off" she managed to whisper breathlessly. Ranger pulled her underwear down her legs, kissing his way down her stomach and to the juncture of her thighs as he did. His tongue flicked over her sensitive flesh and she couldn't stop the loud moan at the sudden sharp sensations going through her. "Oh my God," she managed. "Please."

He entered her wet flesh with first one finger then two, and in less than two minutes she was screaming her release. Ranger stood and unceremoniously dropped his boxer briefs before he joined her on the bed, pushing her legs apart with his knees. "You look so beautiful when you come."

Her heart raced and her legs were tingling, "Come here." She pulled him down and kissed him as he slowly entered her. She gasped as he filled her completely in one quick thrust. He didn't pause or stop, this wasn't going to be slow. Ranger was too desperate for her. Amy's little moans and gasps were only fueling his absolute need to take her hard and fast.

A couple minutes later Amy is screaming out his name as her orgasm completely debilitates her. Ranger thrusts hard a few more times before burying himself to the hilt and pumping his release into her. He collapses over her holding himself up on his elbows to keep most of his weight off of her. They stay that way for a minute, both trying to catch their breath, before Ranger finally pulls out of her and lays on his side next to her.

Amy suddenly sits up, "Oh shit." She gives Ranger a panicked look.

Ranger has his head propped up in his hand. "What?"

"You didn't use a condom."

Ranger slowly sits up next to her. He runs a hand through his hair, "I've never forgotten before, I'm sorry. We hadn't even talked about it." He puts his other hand on Amy's shoulder. "Are you on the pill or anything?"

"I wish I could say that I was." She looked into Ranger's eyes and was surprised that he didn't look any different than normal. "I haven't had any kind of relationship in years, I haven't had any reason to be on anything. You don't look freaked out. Why am I the only one panicking?"

"It's kind of scary," Ranger admitted. "But it's kind of too late now isn't it?"

Amy tried to slow her breathing back down to normal. "What if…"

"Don't," Ranger interrupted her. "We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. We'll just use condoms from now on."

Amy nodded, "I'm going to uh," she stood up and pointed to the bathroom as she grabbed his t-shirt she'd worn earlier. He nodded at her and she turned toward the bathroom as she pulled the shirt over her head. Closing the door behind her she leaned back against it for a few seconds to gather her thoughts. She finally stood upright and went to the sink. She turned on the cold water and splashed some on her face then blotted it off with one of the super soft teal hand towels sitting on the counter.

A light knock at the door brought her head up quickly. "Can I come in?" Ranger called through the door.

"Yes," Amy called out as she absent mindedly started twisting the towel in her hands. She turned and leaned back against the counter as Ranger walked in, keeping her eyes focused on the slate grey faux wood tiles.

He walked right to her and leaned one hip against the counter as he faced her. Slowly reaching up, he started slowly rubbing her back. "You're freaking out aren't you?"

All she could do was nod.

He put his other arm around her and pulled her to him. "What can I do?"

"Nothing." She said quietly. "I'm just trying to think and figure out if we really need to worry or not."

"I don't know that I ever thought I'd ask this, but when did you finish your last period?"

Amy just barely lifted one corner of her mouth, she knew he didn't really want to know the answer but he cared enough to try to help her figure it out. After some quick mental math she answered, "Eleven days ago." She took a deep slow breath, "but I don't know enough about my cycle to know if we should be okay or not."

"Well, then I hope the next two weeks go by quickly." He kissed the top of her head and gave her a quick squeeze. "Do you want me to take you home?"

"No," she answered quickly. "I'm a little freaked, but it'll pass. Like you said, it's too late now."

He nodded. "Let's go have some cake."

Amy couldn't hold back the laugh that bubbled up in her chest. "Cake sounds nice."

Ranger stepped into the closet and pulled on a pair of black and grey plaid pajama pants.

"Do you want to borrow some pants?"

"I'm good."

They walked down the hallway to the kitchen, Ranger got two small plates and two forks out of the box in the cabinet while Amy found a knife and cut a couple of small pieces from the round cake. They sat at the island again, Amy smiled and hummed as she took her first bite. "Ella's lemon cake is my favorite. I'm glad she doesn't make it often. Or I'd have to spend even more time in the gym."

Ranger gently elbowed her, "I've already told you, but I'll tell you again. You look fabulous. Now having actually seen you naked I can officially verify that you have no reason to hide that amazing body."

Amy smiled at him. "You do realize that I'm basically naked in your kitchen, you don't have to keep saying things like that to get in my pants." She winked.

He growled in response then quickly slid down off his stool and unceremoniously lifted Amy off of hers, carrying her over his shoulder in a fireman's carry back to the bedroom. They never made it back out to the kitchen to finish their cake.