UPDATED! Let's try this again. I know for a fact all of that crap was not there when I first uploaded the chapter this morning. Fingers crossed it goes better this time.
Thank You, again, everyone! Things are calming down a bit on the farm. And so far I have all of my custom-knit projects done. So I will be writing like crazy while I have the time. I'm hoping I can get one chapter out a week for the next few weeks at least. I can't make any promises on that schedule, but I've been writing like crazy lately so I'll try. But I can promise that this story won't go unfinished, I have to finish what I write and give myself a sense of closure or finality with my characters.
Chapter 8
Ranger's alarm woke him up at seven-thirty Saturday morning. He reached over and quickly turned it off to keep from waking up Amy, who was snuggled right into his side with one leg thrown over his, an arm wrapped tightly around his stomach and her head on his chest. Laying in bed as he listened to the slow even breathing from Amy, he couldn't remember the last time he'd slept until seven-thirty. Ranger's typical wake up time was between five forty-five and six am, without an alarm. He just wished they didn't need to get up to go through the house with the contractor.
There was no way for Ranger to get out of bed without waking Amy. So he slowly started rubbing her back until she finally moved and stretched against him.
"Hey there sweetheart, good morning." Ranger lightly kissed the side of her head.
"Mmmmmm," Amy said as she smiled before slowly opening her eyes. "Morning. What time is it?"
"Seven-thirty."
"Oh my God, I haven't slept this late in so long. Probably since college to be honest."
"I couldn't even guess at how long it's been since I've slept this late." Ranger pulled her so that she was laying across his chest. "Do you need to shower?"
"Probably, I haven't seen my hair yet. But considering our, uh, workout, last night" she blushed a little as he smiled at her, "I should probably wash my hair. But I didn't bring any extra clothes for today."
"I have some extra clothes here. You should be able to make a pair of my cotton pajama pants work, they have a drawstring. And we already know you look great in my shirts." With one hand on the back of Amy's head and the other cupping her naked butt, Ranger pulled her head down to his, "In bed or in the shower?" Amy got a breath away from kissing Ranger before quickly rolling off of him and making a mad dash for the shower. Ranger was right on her heels.
They managed to finally stop taking advantage of each other and make it out to the kitchen by eight-thirty. Amy stole a pair of Ranger's boxer briefs and thankfully his drawstring grey cotton pajama pants worked out pretty well with his Rangeman t-shirt. She had decided while she was in the shower that she wasn't going to panic over their lapse the night before. They were adults. If she ended up getting pregnant, it must be meant to happen that way. Stressing about it wouldn't help or make a difference. And it wasn't like she was getting any younger.
Ranger was standing at the kitchen counter with a cup of coffee when she walked in. "So, for breakfast we can have yogurt with or without granola, I've got some fresh fruit-bananas, blueberries, and strawberries, and I think I have a loaf of bread although I'm not sure there's a toaster here yet."
"Do you have orange juice?"
Ranger pulled open the very large professional grade full size fridge, "I do have orange juice."
"Perfect. I don't need a toaster, I can use the broiler on the oven. So I'm going to have some toast, some fruit, and orange juice." Amy set the broil setting on the oven and started pulling out the fruit to wash and cut it up.
"Do you mind making some for me? I'm going to step outside to make a few phone calls. Oh and Tank and Hal should be here in about ten or fifteen minutes, they're going to be finishing up some bugs with the security system here."
"Sure thing. I'll be here in the kitchen. "
"Thank You," he walked up behind her and put his arms around her waist. "The calls shouldn't take more than ten minutes." He nuzzled into her neck, loving the smell of his soap and shampoo on her. "About last night."
"I'm not stressing. If I am pregnant, then it was meant to be. I believe that all things happen for a reason just when they're supposed to. So I'm good with it, either way."
"Good." He kissed her exposed neck. "If you are, if WE are pregnant, it'll be a good thing."
"Okay," She nodded, "butter on your toast?"
"Yes, please."
"Do you have any peanut butter?"
"That one I'm pretty sure is a No. But feel free to check." He walked over to the door to the breezeway and closed it behind him.
Amy watched him walk away, completely unashamedly checking him out. She couldn't believe she had just spend half the night, and most of her morning, having sex with this man. She was one lucky woman.
Fifteen minutes later Ranger was sitting next to her at the bar, again. They had just started eating their breakfast when the security panel by the patio doors and the breezeway door started beeping. Amy looked up instantly at the noise.
"That faint beeping just means someone is using another key pad. If someone types in the wrong number the keypad flashes red. You get two tries. If you type it in wrong the second time the whole house goes on lockdown, a silent alarm is set off and Rangeman dispatches whoever is on-call. Since my house isn't technically in Trenton, the Princeton police department gets paged as well."
"Good to know." Amy nodded as she scarfed down her second piece of toast having already eaten half of her small bowl of strawberry, blueberry, and banana.
She was just about to say something else when she heard Tank's rumbling voice down the hall, accompanied by the quieter voice of Hal.
They approached the kitchen with their eyes shielded. "I hope you guys are at least decent." Tank said as he took the two steps down into the sunken kitchen and family room area.
"Ha Ha guys," Amy chuckled as Ranger squeezed her leg under the counter. "We're dressed."
Tank and Hal went straight to the fridge.
"Flynn was happy to see me this morning," Tank said as he walked by Amy, patting her on the shoulder on his way. "I fed him, we played in the backyard for a little bit, then I locked him back in his kennel."
"Thank You so much for doing that Tank."
"Not a problem." He winked at her before he opened the fridge to grab a bottle of water. Hal took a water and stole a banana off the counter.
"So boss, which panel did you say was acting hinky yesterday?" Hal was getting right down to business.
"The panel in the office keeps giving an error message saying it isn't connected to the network. And the camera on the west corner of the north garage isn't working."
"Those should both be easy to fix," Hal said between bites of his banana.
A loud but short ringing sound came from the security panel. Ranger jumped up and went to the panel at the breezeway door. He pushed a button before saying "Hello."
"Yeah Hi, Bobby Walker, your contractor."
"Just pull right up to the courtyard between the two garages on the north side of the house."
"Will do."
Ranger pushed another button to open the gates then turned back to see Tank, Hal, and Amy chatting.
"Tank, did you bring up the paperwork?"
"Yes, it's in the folder on the counter."
Amy shot a questioning look at Ranger, "Are you working?"
"No," he answered as he grabbed the folder and started looking through the contents. "It's the fixtures, furniture, and electronics I want for the theater room downstairs."
"Oh, speaking of house changes. I was thinking, the formal living room seems a little dark. All of the woodwork in that room is really dark, the walls are burgundy, which makes the room seem small and well, really dark. How would you feel about changing the stain color on the woodwork and maybe doing a light sandy beige or light grey for the walls?" Amy was taking the initiative since he'd said she could help pick the colors and décor.
"That room could use some brightening." Ranger admitted. "We'll have to ask Bobby if that woodwork is worth stripping and re-staining or if we should just replace it. The flooring is dark in there too. Do you want to do a lighter wood for the floor? Or we could tile it. I'm guessing Bobby will have some good recommendations and hopefully some sample books to look through."
"I think we'll have to see what we end up doing with the trim and then decide on the floor."
A knocking on the breezeway door pulled Tank away from watching the two talk about the house. He'd never seen Ranger be so, domestic. The contractor was standing at the door along with two other guys. Tank opened the door and the contractor introduced Gil who would be the site manager for the project and Jake the architect.
Ranger stood, pulling Amy along with him and introduced her as his girlfriend, which made her smile. They spent the morning going through the house room by room and discussing all of the changes and ideas. All three guys agreed that it would be better to strip and stain the woodwork in the formal living room, rather than tearing it all out.
At a quarter after eleven they were in the storage room that would be transformed into the theater, Amy pulled Ranger off to the corner of the room to talk. "I need to pick Lexi up at her friend's house in about an hour or so, but I need to go home to get my Jeep."
"Oh yeah, sorry, I kind of lost track of time." He gave her a quick peck on the cheek before going back to Bobby, Gil, Jake, and Tank. Hal was replacing the camera and wiring on the north garage. "Hey guys, I've got to take Amy back to Trenton. Tank, can you finish up?"
"Well actually," Bobby the contractor spoke up, "I think we've got everything we need, at least for now. We can draw up the new plans and all of the proposed changes and then I'll email them to you when they're done and ready for your approval. My assistant will call you to make sure you get them and to set up an appointment to finalize everything and get the contract done and signed."
Ranger nodded. "Good. I'll walk you guys out then."
Thirty minutes later Ranger was walking Amy to her front door. "I don't think I'm going to be able to sleep in my new house without you, it just won't be the same."
Amy smiled and put her arms around his waist. "I think I'm going to have some problems sleeping without you too."
Ranger gave a barely audible growl, "I hope the work on the house doesn't take long, I'd like to have it done by Christmas. And I'd like for you to and Lexi to move out there with me."
Amy looked up at him in surprise, "While I have no doubt in your abilities to win Lexi over on Monday, don't you think that's moving a little fast?"
"If our forgetfulness last night results in you being pregnant, I'm going to insist on you guys moving in with me." He had to try really hard not to come off as arrogant.
"Well, if I am then I probably wouldn't object to moving into your mansion with you."
"I don't want you to spend the next two weeks worrying and freaking out. If your pregnant, we'll make a plan. And if your not, then I might have to try to talk you into staying off birth control."
Amy was pretty sure her eyes were about to pop out of her head.
"We talked about kids last night. I want more, you want more, Lexi wants a little sister. Plus your helping me renovate and pick the décor for the new house. I know that my feelings for you aren't going to change. But I won't push you. If you need some time, I can wait."
"You just keep surprising me at every turn." She smiled at him then set about digging out her keys and unlocking the front door. "We'll have the birth control discussion in a couple of weeks." She walked straight back to Flynn's kennel, unlocking the dog door on her way, to let him out. "Moving in with you would be a big change for us, but especially for Lexi. She's never lived with anyone but me, she wasn't old enough to remember her dad. She would have to change schools. Living in Princeton would take her away from her friends. I would actually have to commute to work, something I don't really do now."
"I'll give you that." He conceded. "You could probably arrange it for her to finish out this school year here. And maybe look into her continuing school there since you'd already be driving into Trenton anyways."
"I'll have to look into the Princeton school system. There's a lot to look into and quite a few decisions to make before we uproot our lives here." She could see the determination in Ranger's eyes, but underneath that was worry. "I'm not saying No. I meant what I said earlier, I would love to move into your mansion with you. It's just going to require some thought and consideration."
"I understand." Ranger pulled her into his arms. "Are you sure I can't see you until Monday?"
She nodded. "And I hate to push you out but I need to go upstairs and change before I go pick up Lexi."
"Can I help?"
Amy swatted at him then backed a few steps away from him. "I don't need THAT kind of help. Go. I'll talk to you later today I'm sure."
"Count on it." He swooped in and gave her another kiss before leaving her.
Amy found herself checking out his ass as he walked away for the second time that day. And he still looked delicious.
Amy and Lexi spent their Saturday running errands. After making them pan-seared salmon with steamed veggies and microwave risotto for dinner, they sat down to watch a movie before bed. As expected, Ranger sent her texts throughout the day and called her after Lexi had gone to bed at 9. They talked for nearly an hour, which surprised her given how much talking they'd already done that day and the night before. But the good thing was they seemed to be able to communicate well.
Sunday was their lazy day. Lexi begged to have her friend Millie come over to play for the afternoon. Amy agreed mainly because she lived two blocks over so her mom walked her to their house. Amy and Lexi would walk her back before supper. While the girls played she worked on laundry and wrote up their menu for the week. They would go grocery shopping Monday afternoon. After Lexi went to bed at eight-thirty, Amy had another nearly hour-long conversation with Ranger. He'd turned into a chatty Cathy. But she liked it.
