Not mine, but a girl can dream.

Warning: language and and smut.

Thanks so much to Rach who makes the writing better and so much more fun.

Better Man 18

Storyline borrowed from Lean Mean 13

I woke up wrapped in Ranger. Is there any better way? I don't think so. We had both fallen asleep after our first round of make up sex. I remembered what Ranger said about it being a regular occurrence and I had a small hot flash. The Sex God was still sleeping. Neither of us got much sleep the night before and we were up early for the stake out. Add in two rounds of amazing sex and we were exhausted. I stretched and felt Ranger's grip tighten in response.

"Sleep good?" His voice was rough with sleep and sexy as hell.

"Mmmm.." was all I could manage.

He nuzzled my neck, "Are we okay?" sounding a little worried.

"If I say no, will you apologize again?" I couldn't keep the smile out of my voice.

I felt him chuckle, but then he got serious again and flipped me onto my back, so I was trapped underneath him. I can think of a lot worse places to be trapped. His eyes were serious, "Are you still angry?" He brushed his lips softly across mine.

"Why?" When his lips touched mine again I reached up and pulled him to me to deepen the kiss. He groaned and kissed me hard. Pulling back he looked at me, searching for something.

He hesitated a minute before answering, "I just want to make sure we are alright." He looked a little skeptical.

"Do you want me to me angry with you? Would that make you feel better?" I narrowed my eyes a bit, trying to see where he was going with this. I still wasn't completely awake and he was confusing me.

The man actually looked nervous. "No, I just, I mean I expected…." He didn't want to spit it out; it must be bad.

I pushed on him so he rolled off me and I sat up next to where he laid, his arm thrown over his eyes. "What?" my voice was a little sharper than I intended. He didn't make any move to answer, so I climbed on top of him and tried to pry his arm off his face. Of course unless he wanted me too, it wouldn't have worked, but finally he relented.

He sighed, but propped himself up on his elbows and looked at me, like he would rather be facing a firing squad. "I just wanted to make sure we are really okay. I screwed up pretty big and I'm surprised you let me off the hook so easily. I thought I'd at least be on the couch for a couple of days."

I laughed out loud, "You expected me to kick you out of your own bed?"

"Babe, it's our bed." He sounded relieved. My heart fluttered when he said our bed.

I put my hands on my hips, "How big of a shrew do you think I am?"

He was backpedaling, "No, I mean, I know how upset you were and you had every right to be. I fucked up and I embarrassed you." His hands covered mine and then moved from my hips down to rub my thighs.

I threw my arms in the air, "Like I don't embarrass myself on a regular basis?" While he might have agreed, he was smart enough not to say so, "Carlos, to tell you the truth, if you hadn't said something to Dickie I probably would have. I only remembered that it was all recorded after seeing Lester and Tank. In truth, you were pretty reserved in what you told him. I probably would have been much more graphic and used more adjectives to describe what goes on between us." I smiled trying to think of adequate descriptions.

"Babe, I'm not sure there are words that can describe what is between us." He gave me the full 200 watts.

"I know. It's different, special." I leaned forward and kissed him softly. "That's partly why I don't want anybody to know about how amazing it is, like it's our secret and that if other people know, it wouldn't be ours anymore." I shrugged continuing, "I mean I've avoided Connie and Lula pretty much so they don't try to quiz me. I know they're dying to know all of the details and I don't want to tell them." I shook my head, "They won't understand. When I was with Joe, I told them stuff, but this is different. Maybe I'm just being silly." His hands traveled up my sides to my back where he used them to pull me down for another kiss. His kisses were another thing that were indescribable.

He held my face in his hands when he spoke, "You know I wouldn't, I'd never intentionally tell the other guys about our sex life." I nodded in understanding. "It wasn't always that way. When we were younger and there were lots of women we all told stories, me included. But with us, with you, your mine and I don't want to share, not even details." I smiled; happy we are on the same page. I snuggled down into him, glad to put all of this behind us. He ran his fingers gently up and down my spine.

I asked him, "Has it ever been like this before? So intense? So perfect?" Part of me wondered if it was because he was such a talented lover, I'm sure every woman he slept with walked away seriously satisfied. Even our first night together he made me feel like a goddess, that what I needed and wanted were the only things that mattered. Dickie had been lousy in the sack; Joe on the other hand was good, very good. Of course he had lots of practice. But with Joe, while I may have an orgasm, that's all it was. With Carlos, every time we made love, it rocked me to the core. Made love. Joe and I had never made love. We had balls to the wall gorilla sex. With Carlos, even when it turns primal and I am begging him to fuck me hard and fast, it because of my need for him, not just how much I want to come.

His voice was rough when he finally spoke, "Never. But I've never been in love before." He placed a kiss on top of my head, "When I am with you, the need overwhelms me; I can't get close enough or deep enough inside of you." His arms tightened around me. "You're the other half of me. The part I didn't even know I was missing until I met you. When we're making love, I finally feel whole."

My heart was pitter pattering. The man doesn't talk a lot, but what he did say was amazing. But the depth of the emotion we were getting into was a little too much for me. I teased him to lighten the mood, "So it isn't just that you are a Cuban Sex God, able to give a woman an orgasm with a single glance?"

"Babe." That meant quit teasing me. "I know that the other men in your life have treated you badly. Your ex husband is the biggest idiot I have ever met. You're the kind of lover that every man dreams of, beautiful and passionate and the things you can do with that sexy mouth." I was glad my face was against his chest because I am pretty sure I was completely red from blushing and utterly turned on. "I've never had a problem with satisfying a woman in bed. But it was just fucking. It was a release, a chance to feel really good for a little while. With us, while we are really good at the fucking, even the first night we were together I knew it was more than that. There's more involved than two bodies trying to make each other feel good. The connection we have, when I am inside of you, you own me and I you."

How did he know how to describe exactly how I feel? It still amazes me that he loves me as much as I love him. He was just going to illustrate his point for me when his phone rang. It was Tank reminding us of our shifts for the afternoon. We hurried to ready ourselves for work. We showered together of course to save water. Sure, that was the reason. Carlos felt the need to reiterate just how sorry he was. Who was I to deny him?

We headed down to the garage and split up. He and Tank left in his truck and Lester and I took the Cayenne. Lester was uncharacteristically quiet. It was kind of awkward. The silence was broken by my stomach growling loudly. We both laughed and he turned to head towards Pino's.

We found a table, in the back with Lester facing the front door naturally. He ordered a large pepperoni and two cokes. After the waitress left, Lester finally broke the silence.

"Steph, I wanted to tell you how sorry I am about teasing you before." He looked sincere.

I smiled at him, "Thanks Les."

It was quiet again for a long time. "Les?" I asked.

"Yeah Beautiful?" he gave me his lopsided smile.

"You aren't going to stop teasing me are you? Because that would be weird." I returned his smile.

His grin widened, "Whatever you say Beautiful."

I bit my lip, trying to figure out how to continue, "This morning, it was just embarrassing. I don't want you guys thinking the only reason Ranger has me on the team is for sex or because we are together."

Lester reached across the table and grabbed my hand, his face was serious. "Steph, no one thinks that. You never quit, and have a gut instinct like nothing I have ever seen before. It's better than Ranger's. I always thought he was the best."

I grinned, "He is."

Lester laughed, "So I hear." He paused a moment and then cocked an eyebrow, "Too much?"

I smiled back at him, "Nope, perfect."

Lester changed the subject, "You were pretty impressive with your ex this morning. It was fun to watch you work. You made him nearly berserk. Tank couldn't even get a rise out of him."

I shrugged, "It's a gift."

He got serious for a minute, "Are you and Ranger are okay?"

I nodded, "Yeah, we're okay."

"He's a lucky man Beautiful." Lester just smiled at me.

Our pizza arrived which halted conversation for a while, we were both starving. I didn't realize I hadn't eaten since last night at Rossini's. It seemed like a million years ago. Lester and I demolished the pizza and I ordered chocolate cake for dessert. I moaned in delight. After a few bites I saw Lester shifting in his seat, he had a pained look on his face.

"Steph, how bad could your ex have been in bed? I think you are about to have an orgasm over that piece of cake." He was almost groaning.

I almost choked. I took a big drink before I looked at Lester. We both burst out laughing. I could feel the whole restaurant staring at us, but we couldn't stop. Finally I calmed down enough to finish my cake.

"You're a good friend Lester." I smiled at him.

He shrugged, "You make it easy to be your friend."

I bit my lip, not sure I really wanted to know, but my curiosity got the best of me, as usual. "Les, what about the other guys? Is it going to be awkward to see them? What do they think about me?"

Lester gave me another lopsided grin. "Beautiful, half of the guys think of you as their little sister. The other half, well let's just say they didn't need any help in fantasizing about you, so it didn't change anything. And they all think Ranger is one lucky SOB."

I blushed. "Are they really okay with having me on the team? Aren't they afraid I might get them blown up or shot or break them?"

Lester laughed, "No beautiful, they aren't afraid of you. And we all love having you on the team. Like I told you, you need to appreciate your abilities. Plus when we finish your training you will have a whole new set of skills. You will be one dangerous woman. Besides, there are things that you can do that none of us can, and I'm not just talking about distractions. You have a way of putting people at ease and they tell you things. You aren't big and scary." He shrugged.

"Thanks Les. And for the record, I don't find any of you scary." Hot and sexy yes, scary no.

Lester choked on his soda and spit it out all over the table and me. "Good to know Beautiful, good to know."

"Shit." I couldn't help but laugh, "I'm gonna go clean up." I slid out of the booth and made my way to the restroom. As I came out of the ladies' room I ran into a familiar body. He caught my shoulders, steadying me after I bounced off his chest. Backing me into the wall, his hands slid down my shoulders to my waist, pulling me to him. Before I knew what was happening his mouth descended upon mine. The kiss was needy and forceful; his tongue invaded my mouth while his body held me prisoner.

Finally coming up for air he moved to whisper in my ear, "Missed you Babe."

"Carlos," was all I could manage, my voice was breathy and my heart was beating erratically. My god what this man could do to me with just a kiss.

"I just wanted to make sure you were okay. How are things going with Lester? You aren't feeling too uncomfortable?" He was whispering in my ear, but his hands were roaming over my back and sides, when they brushed the swell of my breasts I gasped.

"MMmm…what?" was all I could manage. I leaned into him, inhaling his scent, kissing the skin where his neck and shoulder meet. I could feel his chest rumble. I was less than coherent as his lips and tongue worked their magic on my neck. I moaned and tried to pull him closer with my hands palming his gorgeous ass. I ground my hips against him.

He growled, "Babe, you keep that up and I am going to take you into the bathroom and fuck you senseless." Hmmm, and the problem with that was? Oh right, we were in Pino's. Neither of us was particularly quiet and shouts of orgasmic bliss echoing through the family restaurant would probably be frowned upon. I shook my head and laid it against his shoulder.

"Better not do that," I told him in a regretful tone, "Can't risk being banned from Pino's." He threw his head back and laughed. The rumbling through his chest made me moan. I had to push on his shoulders to back him up a bit before I took him up on his offer. I straightened my clothes. He was giving me the full 200 watt smile. Throwing his arm around my shoulder he guided us out of the dark alcove.

Lester and Tank were at the table and another large pizza had appeared. It looked like Tank had already eaten half of it. Neither one of them said anything, but they look like they were going to burst. Lester moved to sit next to Tank so Ranger and I could sit together. We slid into the booth and Ranger's arm went back around my shoulder. I put my hand on his thigh. Since I couldn't jump him in the bathroom, I had to settle for this.

Tank smiled at me, "Impressive interrogation techniques this morning Bomber."

"Thanks, I always did have a knack for pushing his buttons," I grinned.

Lester joined in, "Oh Beautiful, you did more than push his buttons. The guy's ego is in the negative numbers."

I shrugged, "It was nice for me to finally figure things out though. For the longest time I was baffled about why anyone would want to sleep with him."

"I wanted to punch him, the way he badmouthed you. But don't worry; he won't be saying anything bad about you for a long time." Lester, my adopted overprotective brother chimed in again.

Tank laughed, "He won't be saying much of anything." I saw Ranger shoot them both a warning glance. I looked back and forth between the three of them.

"You didn't kill him did you?" My eyes were wide.

Lester reached across and grabbed my hand, "No Bomber, we didn't kill him. We didn't have enough votes." He smiled, I think he was kidding. "But he will be the weak silent type for quite a while. Ranger broke his jaw."

I looked to Ranger. He just shrugged and said, "Babe."

I leaned in close to him and placed a big noisy kiss on his lips. "Thanks Batman."