~4~
They were laughing when Ranger got them into the room and he stalked right to the bed and dropped Steph on it, causing her to bounce. She laughed and he jumped after her onto the bed, while managing to stop his momentum from dropping his full weight on top of her. He rested his forehead against hers, gently kissing her on the lips, and the night progressed from there. A few hours, and one exhilarating shower later, they lay wrapped in each other's arms and fell asleep.
The pounding on the door caused Ranger to grab his gun off the side table and stomp towards the door. He didn't bother to get dressed, or even put his pants on. He opened the door and leveled the gun at Lester and Bobby. They both took a step back and held up their hands. "Easy there big fella," Lester said, looking down at Ranger, as Ranger stood there in all his naked splendor. Bobby shook his head at Lester and said, "We're heading down to breakfast and then going to zip line. We were going to ask if you and Steph want to join us, but I think you have other plans." Ranger just shook his head and slammed the door. Putting his gun back on the side table, he got back into bed and realized that Steph hadn't moved during the encounter at the door, she was still sleeping soundly, with her arms wrapped around his pillow instead of his body like she had been before the idiots pounded on the door. He slipped the pillow out of her arms and she scowled in her sleep and her arms were reaching out, getting only air. He slid in place and once her arms wrapped around him again, she sighed in her sleep. "God, I really love her," he thought before falling back into a light sleep.
They slept for another hour before Steph's stomach rumbling woke him. Ranger chuckled and reaching out to gently move hair off of her face, kissed her awake. "Babe, time to wake up." She mumbled something into her pillow and swatted his hands away. He shook his head at her and started rubbing his hands up and down her body and it only took a few times before she was fully awake and actively participating. Eventually, he pulled her out of bed and into the shower. By the time their shower was over and both were dressed, the "beast" was very angry and letting them know. Ranger grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the room and downstairs to the breakfast buffet.
Once seated at their table, a table that Steph had loaded with multiple plates of food from the buffet, Lester and Bobby stopped by. Lester tried to tease her, "Hey Beautiful, you finally let Ranger out of bed?", but all he managed to do was get the Burg glare she was good at and a swat on the back of the head by Ranger. They both sat down and when Lester tried to eat a piece of toast off of one of her plates, he found himself getting stabbed in the hand by her fork. "Hey, back off. Get your own." Bobby said, "We already ate a couple of hours ago." Steph looked at him and said, "You should have stopped by to get us, we would have eaten with you." They both look at her and shook their heads. "What?" she asked. "Babe, they did stop by but we weren't ready to get out of bed yet so I made them go away," Ranger said. "Yeah," Lester said, "He came to the door, totally naked, and pulled a gun on us, and then he slammed the door in our faces." Steph looked over at Ranger, who just shrugged and continued to eat. "You answered the door without any clothes on?" she asked. Lester grimaced and said, "I saw more of him than I would have cared to this morning." She rolled her eyes at him and said, "What do you two have planned for today?"
Bobby smiled and said, "We've got a date for dinner with a couple of lovely local ladies we met last night at the bar, but first we're going to go zip lining. Do you want to come with us?" She shook her head and said, "Nope, I have a date at the spa. Ranger, what are you planning to do?" He looked at her and said, "I thought I'd go with the guys, if you don't mind." She laughed saying, "I didn't expect you to come to the spa with me. Do whatever you want, you don't need to ask me. Can we meet up for dinner?" He agreed and said, "I was planning on it." He finished his breakfast and got up to leave with the guys. He gave her a long goodbye kiss and as he was leaving, he said, "Wear the blue dress if you brought it. If you didn't, go to the shops here and find something similar and charge it the room." With a wink to her, he walked out. She sat there, stunned that he remembered the blue dress she'd worn once around him, and had to fan herself with her napkin so she would cool off. Mentally going over what she had packed, she smiled. "Guess I have some shopping to do." She bounced up and headed back to the room. She grabbed her bag and then headed over to the spa, where she had a glorious massage and treated herself to a manicure and pedicure and at the last minute, decided to splurge and got waxed. A few hours later, she left swinging the bag of lotions and nail polish that she treated herself to and headed to find the perfect dress.
It didn't take long in the one shop at the resort and she walked out an hour later with a dress and shoes. She let those two items get charged to the room, but she paid for her new lingerie herself. If Ranger wouldn't let her pay for the room, she would at least pay for the treat she planned for him. She headed upstairs and when she entered the room, Ranger was getting ready to head out. He had his bag in hand and stopped to kiss her. "I'm heading to the guy's room to get ready so you have the entire room to yourself. Can you be ready in about an hour?" She said, "Yep, do you want me to come get you or meet you somewhere?" He shook his head and said, "No, I'll come and get you." He gave her another kiss and left the room. She watched him walk away and sighed. It was a beautiful sight to see him walking, the backside of Ranger should be considered one of the wonders of the world. Smiling, she walked into the bathroom and started to get ready.
Exactly one hour later, there was a knock on the door. She smiled and finished putting on her shoes and headed to the door. She opened it to find Ranger in a black suit, holding out a rose to her. She accepted it and brought it up to smell it. "Thank you." He looked at her, scanning her entire body and then held out his hand. "Beautiful, absolutely beautiful. You look amazing Babe. Are you ready to go Babe?" She nodded, "Just let me grab my purse." He followed her into the room and watched as she sighed, smelling the rose again, before she grabbed her small purse.
Walking over to her, he came up behind her and wrapped his arms about her waist, pulling her close to him. He inhaled deeply, lavishing in the scent of her, before saying, "Babe, if we don't leave now, I won't let you out of this room." She giggled and turned around in his arms before lightly kissing him on the lips. "Ranger, I.." He interrupted, "Babe, call me Carlos." She smiled and then said, "Ok, Carlos, I think we should go to dinner." She patting him on the cheek and stepped out of his arms. She linked her fingers through his and together, they walked out of the room and down the hall, towards the elevator.