Disclaimer: Anything familiar belongs to JE and the creators of Criminal Minds.
Warning: Adult language, adult situations, smut
Chapter 75: Friday, September 2nd, 0900-1500
Miami Rangeman
Stephanie's POV
Last night was a great night. I had a wonderful time out with the FBI team. We got along great, almost as if we've been friends for a long time. I hope we can put together a contract to work with them in the future because I really enjoyed working with them.
When Carlos and I left Club Fuego, we came straight home. Even though we were with a group and spent a lot of time talking and dancing with the others, it still felt like a date just between us. Every time I tried to sit separately from Carlos, he pulled me on his lap. After the first two attempts, I submitted, and willing sat there, not that it was such a hardship. He makes me feel safe, beautiful, sexy, and loved. After Lester kissed me on the lips, which he warned me about before he did it, because he wanted to get Carlos worked up, I couldn't help straddling Carlos and kissing him. I felt him react underneath me, and I know that if there were no one around, it would have ended with us naked. As it is, when we broke apart after the whistles and shouts of "get a room," Carlos whispered in my ear, "playing with fire, Babe."
Finally, the BAU team decided it was time to leave, so Carlos and I were able to make our exit as well. The rest of the guys were staying longer, looking to have a little more fun, though I think Manny and Emily hit it off. I watched Hector sneak out behind us. When we got to the Lamborghini, Carlos kissed me, making me melt. "I hope you're not too tired, Babe, I have a lot of things planned for you tonight."
All I could do in response was a moan. I saw Carlos' wolf grin. When he looked over the car, I know he saw Hector because I saw the slight nod he gave. I know that Carlos feels more secure in having someone watch his back when he's not one hundred percent aware of his surroundings. As we drove home, Carlos had his hand on my thigh, slowly inching it up closer and closer to my center. I was slowly starting to unravel, feeling my breathing become erratic, my body tingling all over.
Once we got to the house, Carlos pulled into the garage. We quickly made our way into the house, seeing Mariela in the kitchen having a cup of coffee.
"The kids are fine. Tommy went right to sleep. He's looking forward to school tomorrow. Julie's a little unhappy. I think you need to spend some time with her tomorrow, Carlos." Mariela informed us.
"Will do. Thank you, Mariela. Night." Carlos replied before we went up to our suite. Once there, all bets were off. Carlos pushed me against the door of the bedroom, searing me with a kiss unlike any we've shared before. Our hands were pulling at each other's clothes, we couldn't get them off fast enough. Carlos simply undid his pants, letting them drop to the floor then he ripped off my panties, pulling up the skirt and entering me. I cried out in pain and pleasure as he began to fuck me against the door. He'd never been this rough, this out of control with me before, but instead of being scared, I was immensely turned on. Orgasms shot through both of us quickly. Once they did, Carlos somehow managed to get us over to the bed before we collapsed in each other's arms. Once our breathing regulated, we looked at each other.
"Babe, did I hurt you or scare you? I didn't mean to be so rough with you. I'm sorry, Querida." Carlos said, full of sorrow.
"Carlos, look at me." I paused until his eyes met mine. "You can never hurt me or scare me. I trust you. I know that you will never hurt me or do something that I don't want you to do. You surprised me, but I would welcome that surprise repeatedly. You have nothing to be sorry for, Carlos."
I watched as he sighed with relief. "Babe, you don't deserve to be fucked against the wall like a cheap whore. You deserve to be worshipped, to be loved, to be tortured with a slow building of pleasure. I don't like being out of control."
"Carlos, however, you make love to me is perfect. I love that you can lose your control with me, that you feel safe enough with me to let your guard down. Even though that time was wild, crazy, and out of control, I know that this time, when you make love to me, it will be slow, gentle, and loving. Carlos, I love both sides of you, and I want to give you whatever release you need when you need it. There will be times when I know I'll want it fast and furious, and times when I don't. It is my job, as your lover, to know and anticipate what you need, and for you do to the same. I know that if I had said stop, you would have and that knowledge is what makes me want you, however, you want me."
Carlos moved closer to me to kiss me. "What did I ever do to deserve you, Babe. I've done so many horrible things in my life. I've killed men, women, and children. I've destroyed families. I gave up my daughter to another man who didn't love her as I thought he would. You are such a good person, Stephanie, such a genuine person. I don't know what good you see in me."
"I see a man who would give up his life to protect those he loves. I see a man who walked into my apartment unarmed to face a madman to save that daughter he gave up and me. I see a man who had always had my back, who had helped me whenever I asked for help, and even when I didn't. Carlos, you are the best man I know, and it is I who don't deserve you. You deserve a woman who is much pretty than me, who is more refined and worldly. Someone who doesn't get thrown in the garbage or gets stalked regularly. You deserve someone who can take care of themselves."
"You are the only woman who has ever seen me for me. You see past my looks and my money to see the man inside. You are now working with Lester, and you will be able to take even better care of yourself. You're resilient, your strong, and are the sexy, most beautiful woman I know. I love you, Stephanie Plum."
We once again kissed, this time, it was a slow, passionate kiss that we used to express our love for each other. The kiss leads to Carlos shifting over my body, with his manhood at my entrance. He used his fingers to prep me for him once again, and when he slid inside, we coupled with slow movements. I was kissed, my breasts worshiped by my Carlos' mouth and fingers. I don't know how long it took, but when we finally climaxed for the second time, it was the most emotional orgasm I ever experienced. I felt the tears in my eyes and saw the love in Carlos. It gave me the courage to say what I've wanted to say for days.
"I love you, Carlos Manoso."
Carlos looked at me, studying my eyes, before smiling to answer, "I love you, too, Babe."
Carlos laid down next to me on his side and pulled me against him, so we were spooning. As I was about to drift off into sleep, I suddenly sat up.
"What's wrong, Babe?"
"We can't be lying here naked. What if Tommy wakes up and comes in here looking for us?" I exclaim.
Carlos got off the bed, picked up our clothes from the night before, and tossed them into the hamper. Then he went to the closet and retrieved one of his t-shirts along with a pair of comfortable panties for me and a pair of silk boxers for him. He stepped into his boxers then helped me into my panties and t-shirt. "Better now?"
"Yes. Thank you, Carlos." I replied before giving him a gentle kiss. "Good night, and I love you."
"Te quiero, Babe." I heard him respond before I drifted asleep.
I woke up this morning to butterfly kisses down my chest and abdomen, continuing lower. Once Carlos sees that I'm awake, he pushes his tongue inside me. I can't help the moan that escapes my throat. "Mmm, good morning, Carlos." I purr.
"Good morning, Babe," Carlos says before continuing his assault. He adds two fingers inside me while his tongue moves to my clit, fully waking me up better than coffee ever did. I start to buck my hips, but he holds me down. He's quickly bringing me to my first orgasm and pushes me over by adding a third finger inside. I feel my orgasm rip through my body, and Carlos continues moving inside me until I come down from the orgasm. Then, he stands, pulling my body to the edge of the bed. I see his soldier standing at attention, and I must say, it is a handsome soldier. I reach my hand out and stroke it, listening to Carlos growl in appreciation. There's a drop of precum that I'm about to lick when Carlos pushes me back on the bed. "No, Babe, he's going inside you. If you put your tongue on him, I'm done."
Carlos lifts my hips slightly before plunging inside me. It feels like he can go even deeper inside from this position. I feel him pump inside me. I start to play with my nipples, which is something I have never done before. I watch as my lover's eyes get even darker, feeling his arousal even more pronounced. "Dios, Babe. I'm not sure I can hold out much longer."
"Don't, Carlos. I'm ready for you."
I reach down and start to rub my clit while Carlos pounds into me. In a matter of seconds, we are both falling over the cliff of pleasure. Once our orgasm dies down, Carlos helps me up. "Let's get showered and dressed. The kids will be up soon."
We decide to shower together, to save time and water, and come out about twenty minutes later, fully satisfied and very clean. We have breakfast with the kids, then drive them to school. Tommy bounds over to a couple of kids he met yesterday, while Julie reluctantly gets out of the SUV. A couple of kids approach her, and she seems to like them, but she is clearly still hurt.
"I wonder what that's all about," Carlos says.
"Talk to her. This afternoon make time for her. I'll keep Tommy with me." I tell Carlos. He nods in agreement, and we head off to Rangemen.
Once we get there, I head to my shared office with Lester. I am shocked to see that I already have my own desk, chair, and file cabinet. There's a note on the center of the desk letting me know that I can spend up to $1000 on any supplies I want, from organizers to highlighters, to file folders. I'm grateful for the thoughtfulness of Carlos, no Ranger when we are at work.
I put down my bag and Lester comes marching in with coffee doctored the way I like it and a blueberry muffin.
"Good morning, Beautiful. We have a few skips that need to be researched. Then, we need to put together an apprehension plan. We have about twenty minutes until the morning meeting. We can start the searches going on a couple of the skips so we can review them after."
"Good morning to you too, Lester," I say, giving him a Burg glare.
"Sorry, Steph. I'm in work mode. I'll tone it down a bit."
"That's okay. I don't mind. I wanted to do that myself. Can we do our training from 10:30 until noon each day, unless something else comes up? That way, we can get searches started, review new business, and be ready to meet with our team after lunch, at say two?"
"That will work. However, we only need an hour for training. We will do your self-defense on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and work in the gun range or with other weapons on Mondays, Wednesday, and Fridays. I can work with you further on the self-defense over the weekend at the house if you don't mind. That way, we have more time to formulate our plans."
"Can we do the training at home every day?" I ask, feeling more comfortable in my own gym than here right now."
"Probably, but that would mean you need to get up early, around 0500 if you plan on being able to have breakfast and take Julie and Tommy to school each day."
"Let's give it a couple of weeks here then we'll try that schedule."
"Sounds good to me, Beautiful," Lester replies.
He hands me copies of the three skip files that we have for today. My first one is an African American man named Huey Davis. He is was arrested for mugging an elderly couple outside a dinner/show theater. He stole the $200 cash they had on them and the woman's engagement ring and wedding band. Fortunately, the police were able to find the jewelry at a local pawn shop. The second skip is a man from the Dominican Republic, Fernando Consuelo. He was arrested for jacking a car at gunpoint. He has priors for assault and assault with a deadly weapon. Finally, we have a Pakistani man, Mahad Ahmed, who was arrested for attempted rape, stalking, and assault with a deadly weapon. He became obsessed with a co-worker who rejected his advances. When he was served with a restraining order and fired from his job on the same day, he attacked her on her way home, outside of her sister's home where she was cat sitting. These three men all need to go back to jail.
I enter their names into the search programs as does Lester. We decided to run the same searches initially, and then we'll figure out how to better divvy up the work in the coming weeks. With the computers doing their thing, we take our coffee and head to the conference room for the morning meeting. Once again, Lester directs me to the chair to the right of Ranger.
The meeting today goes off without a hitch, and I see a few of the men shooting dirty looks at me, Lester, and Ranger. Finally, before releasing everyone, Ranger has a final announcement.
"Your team members will be returning from Trenton today. Manny, Woody, and Bobby will be going back to Jersey to run that office with Tank. However, Hector will be staying on her to ensure that our security systems here are up to par and hack-proof after the incidents of the last few months. I'd like to remind everyone that Hector can speak a little English, but his conversational skills in English are not strong. Please talk to him in Spanish. If you do not speak Spanish, have a translator with you, or use the translation software on your Rangeman devices. Dismissed."
As the men are filing out, Ranger turns to me. "Babe, I have a few clients I need to meet today. I might not be back in time to collect Julie and Tommy. Please take either Lester or Hector with you when you go to pick them up. I'll see you later, Querida."
"See you later, Ranger. Don't get shot."
"Don't go crazy." I smile as he walks out of the room, and I walk out with Lester back to our office. I review the searches on Mahad while Lester starts with Fernando. I notice the Mahad visits a Hookah Lounge on NW 24th Street every Friday night. This seems like our best chance to get him. We can use a distraction, but in this case, a male distraction, as Mahad is gay.
"Les, I think we can get Mahad tonight, but we need a distraction and a male." I go over my idea with Lester, and he is on board.
"Okay, Steph. That sounds perfect. We'll put the plan into action tonight. Proud of you. Now it's time for your training, Steph. On to the gun range."
I inwardly groan as I follow Lester down the range. After an hour of shooting paper figures, I'm ready to eat lunch. We grab some sandwiches and an apple from the breakroom and finalize the apprehension plan. At 1:30, we call the team in.
"Good afternoon, men. We went over the three outstanding skips. We determined that Mahad Ahmed would be the best one to go after first. Stephanie uncovered that he frequents a particular Hookah Lounge every Friday night, strolling for a date. The plan is to use a distraction to lure him out." When Lester finished speaking, I noticed that Hector had snuck into the room.
"Santos, I don't know how you do things in Trenton, but here in Miami, we don't do distractions. Women are a liability. Things always go wrong when a skirt is involved." One of the men answered.
"I guess it's a good thing that Ahmed is interested in men and not women then. We wouldn't involve a skirt then," I retort. I see both Lester and Hector hold in their chuckle.
"You think one of us guys are going to act gay? You have got to fucking be kidding me." The same jerk answered.
"Carerra, right?" He nodded. "The key component of a successful distraction is pretending to be something that the mark wants, no matter how much it disgusts you. You think I enjoy allowing perverts and other miscreants to touch me, flirt with me, and attempt to make out with me simply because they are men and I'm a heterosexual woman? That's why it's called acting."
"And that's why it doesn't work. Skips can see through that shit easily." Another guy called Max Rivera answered.
"Listen, in Trenton, we use distractions regularly, and we have a 100 percent capture rate when employing that tactic. If you did things the right way and treated each member of the team as a valuable member, then you would be successful as well here in Miami. Now, regardless of whether you agree with the plan, Stephanie and I have developed, you will follow it. We oversee the Fugitive Apprehension part of the company, and you will do what we order you to do. Do I make myself clear?" Lester answered, giving a look that would have me quaking in my cat boots.
The team quickly quieted down and listened to our plan. I had no doubt that the men weren't going to follow it. From Lester's glance at me, I know that he felt the same way. He demanded that everything is caught on camera and taped, with wires and earbuds. He would be here monitoring the apprehension tonight. When they left, it was with a sense of superiority. Once the door closed, I turned to my partner.
"You know they are going to ignore our entire plan and fuck this easy apprehension up."
"Yeah, Beautiful, I know, which will make Ranger and me kicking their asses Monday so much sweeter. Hector, go with them, in the shadows."
"Si, Santos," Hector responded. About ten minutes later, I hear a commotion outside. I open the door and see Bob standing next to Zip, who is holding his leash loosely. I run out and say hello to my dog.
"Hi, Bob. Did you have a good flight? Are you ready to go home?" He licks my hand and wags his tail, happy to see me. However, he didn't jump once.
"What happened to Bob?" I ask Zip.
"Nothing, except a little training, a day at the doggie spa, and a name change."
"What?" I ask incredulously.
"I grew up on a sheep farm and always had sheepdogs, mostly collies. Part of my chores when I was a teenager was to keep our sheepdog groomed. I had to brush her daily, for her long hair would get tangled quickly. I also gave her baths at least twice a week. Training herding dogs is not easy, and I was one of the better trainers on the farm. I just used those skills on Champ here."
"Champ?"
"Yes, Champ. Bob is no name for a dog, and he clearly didn't like it. When I tried to get him to follow basic obedience, such as sit, come, stay, and heel, he wouldn't respond well when I called him Bob. I experimented with a few other names, but when I said Champ, he'd always respond. So, I rechristened him Champ."
I decided I needed to try Zip's theory. "Champ, sit." He sat.
"Champ, come." He came over to me. "Wow, he really is a changed dog!"
"I took him to the vet. His vaccinations were up to date, but he is overweight. Ella decided that there were no commercially produced dog foods that were good for him, so she researched how to make people food nutritionally sound for dogs. She made a couple of meals for Champ. He gobbled them up. Since then, he hasn't vomited nor had crazy excrements. For exercise, I took him running with me. I noticed on days when we ran, he wasn't destructive. However, one day, I skipped my run because of an early meeting, he ate a couch cushion and a pair of my sneakers. Champ has a lot of energy and needs an outlet for it. Between the running and Ella's dog food, he should trim down nicely. He needs to lose fifteen pounds. I'll go over the training process with Ranger, but he is familiar with my methods. I have trained several dogs for the Army."
I walk over to Zip, giving him a hug. "Thank you for taking care of Bob, I mean Champ. I appreciate it."
"You're welcome, Bomber. He really is a good dog."
I ask Zip, "are you staying in Miami?"
"No, I'm heading back with the Trenton crew and Javier. I was Champ's chaperone. Stephanie, Morelli asked you to call him when the dog arrived here. He wanted to know that he made it to Miami in one piece. He wasn't thrilled to be giving up the dog, but he's right. Champ is better off here in Miami with you and Ranger then he would have been in Atlanta with Morelli."
I spend the next half hour with my Trenton Merry Men before they must leave for the airport. I say goodbye to them all, and I give Javier an extra big hug and kiss. "Thank you for all your help with Julie and Tommy. I'm glad I get to be a part of their lives."
"It was my pleasure, Stephanie. Thank you for giving yourself to my brother. You are perfect for him. I hope that he makes you an official part of our family soon. Bye, Querida." Javier says, kissing me on my cheek and hugging me tightly.
Once they leave, Lester and I head to Julie's and Tommy's school to pick them up. Tonight, we're going to make dinner together, then Carlos will talk with Julie. I hope we can help Julie through whatever drama she's dealing with. I know how cruel fourteen-year-old girls can be.