I burrowed into Ranger's body as I heard his watch alarm go off the next morning. Ranger woke up instantly. Me, not so much. It had been a late night doing research and I was still tired. At least, I was blaming the late night rather than my general sleepiness.

Ranger laughed quietly as he extricated himself from my Vulcan grip, and he smoothed my hair away from my face. I think he might have even kissed me on the forehead. I'm not sure. I was falling asleep again for that, so I might have been remembering it wrong.

Three hours later, Ranger woke me again. I think I growled at him, and he laughed. "Babe, I let you sleep as long as I could", he said. "As it is, I've been doing work up here in my office. However, I need to get you up. It's eight-thirty."

"It's eight-thirty?" I sat up, and Ranger pressed a cup of coffee into my hands. I pried my eyes open as Ranger brushed my hair back from my face and tucked it behind my ears. "What time did you get up?"

"My regular time. Five-thirty."

"You would have only gotten five hours of sleep. We worked quite late last night."

"That's true, but I don't know about you. It was worth it for me. I got a lot of work done."

"I did as well." I drank my cup of coffee, hoping that the caffeine would kick start my brain. About half way through the cup the caffeine hadn't yet worked but my bladder was making itself known. I got up and used the facilities, brushed my teeth and, after Ranger called out that breakfast would be in fifteen minutes, I jumped in the shower. I washed quickly and took the time to shave. I wanted to have the option of having sex with him that night. While Ranger had once told me that stubbly legs weren't a turn-off for him, they were a turn-off for me. I had found in the past that there was an inverse relationship between my enjoyment of sex and the length of hair on my legs. The longer the hair, the less I enjoyed sex. Of course, Ranger always made sure that I enjoyed sex, but why make things more difficult for him?

When my legs were smooth and I freshly smelled of Bulgari Green, I stepped out of the shower and dried off. Ranger called through that breakfast was ready, and I thought that was one of the differences between staying overnight and living together. When you lived together, you weren't greeted with a warm towel and someone to dry you off like you were when you were simply visiting. If I had been visiting, Ranger would have at least come into the bathroom while I was showering. More likely, he would have come into the shower and made use of the double width of the enclosure with me. I wasn't sure if I liked the change.

I dried off and dressed in Ranger's housecoat just as Ella came in and dropped off a tray of food. I walked into the kitchen and smelled French toast. Ranger had passed out the plates and the pot of fruit spread that Ella had made. He had already poured me another cup of coffee and placed it in my seat. "Do you feel more awake now?" he said.

"Yes, thanks. You didn't have to let me sleep so long."

"I knew you had a busy day today, and I thought you'd be able to use the sleep."

"I'm researching this morning, and going skip chasing this afternoon."

"Who are you chasing?" I told him about the house mover and the bank robber, and Ranger smiled. "You never fail to brighten my day", he said.

"Is your day not going well?"

"Dickie is driving me nuts. He is getting upset that Jose wants to watch television when he is on shift. He said that the sound of the television interferes with his sleep, so Jose offered to sleep in bed with him, but Dickie liked that idea even less. Jose told him it would be more satisfying to him than late night television anyway. That apparently bothered Dickie even more, go figure. I had to talk Dickie down this morning. I told him that I have put my best men on his protection detail, and he has complained about every single one. I asked him what was most important to him – to be personally comfortable or to be adequately protected."

"What did he say?"

"He said he wanted both. He said that he couldn't imagine Rangeman having someone on staff who wasn't good at guarding people, and he wanted a change in babysitters. He said he liked Ramon."

"I'm glad he liked Ramon. What are you planning on doing about Jose?"

"I'll move him onto another assignment. He's probably had enough of tormenting Dickie anyway. Hector said that he had never met a whinier person, and he can't imagine why you married him."

"That seems to be the general consensus of anyone I know who has met him. He does have his good points. They are just buried deep, deep down."

Ranger laughed. "Babe, they are very, very deep down."

I smiled.

Ranger pulled me onto his lap for a deep kiss, and he loosened off the sash on my robe to snake his hand underneath to reach my bare skin. He smoothed my skin from hip to breast, and grazed all the good parts with his thumb. Just when I was ready to self-combust, he gave me another quick kiss and sat back and pulled out his hand.

I sat back, dazed, still in the zone, not sure why we were stopping. "I have to go to work, babe", he said. He pushed me lightly onto my feet and stood beside me. As he walked away, I said "bastard" after him. I could hear Ranger chuckle.

"I have a meeting in five minutes", he said as he came through after brushing his teeth. "As much as I would like to stay and explore our mutual enjoyment, I think I should go to work."

"Just as long as you aren't leaving because you are getting tired of me."

Ranger gave me a deep kiss. "Me? Get tired of you? Never." As I was settling into a deep kiss and Ranger sucked my tongue gently, and as I started to moan, Ranger's watch buzzed and he broke away again. "Later", he said. I wasn't sure if he meant later, as in he'd see me later, or later, as in we'd continue our encounter later. Either way was good for me.

After Ranger left for the day, I dressed and put on my makeup. BB cream, lip gloss and two coats of mascara. I had found that the more coats of mascara I put on, the more confidence I had. Today was a two-coat day. I didn't have anything to do that would require more coats. The skips should be easy. The research should be easier. But I knew that no matter how easy I thought the day might be, it paid to be prepared by wearing a minimum of two coats. It was like Murphy's Law. If you were prepared, nothing would happen. But if you weren't prepared? All hell would break loose and you'd be caught with your pants down.

When I finished getting ready, I strapped on my gun and left the apartment for my office. I booted up the computer and walked down to the break room for a bottle of juice and a cup of coffee. Being nicely stuffed with French toast, I didn't think that I needed any additional food for a mid-morning snack. However, I took an apple anyway. They were, apparently, a popular choice. There were only two left. I guessed that other people had heard the theory that they were more effective than coffee as well.

I spent the morning researching employees for Bordin, the manufacturer who made computer whatsits for various computer companies that Ranger had dropped on my desk the afternoon before. By the time it was lunchtime, I had completed research on twenty of their employees. It would be a long few days.

I popped my head into Ranger's office. "Do you have time to eat together before I head to the bonds office for the afternoon?"

Ranger put his computer to sleep and came around his desk. His eyes dilated to black in arousal as he gave me a deep kiss and said, "let's get our lunches to go. We could take them back upstairs to the apartment and follow up on what we started after breakfast."

"I don't know if I'm in the mood now."

"Oh, yeah?" He gave me another deep kiss and massaged my top lip with his tongue. He bit it and soothed away the sting with another kiss, and as his hand ran up and down my side from hip to breast and back again, I changed my mind.

"Let's pick our lunch quickly", I said.

Ranger smiled.

I hurried faster than I had ever hurried before in my food selection. Gone was my typical habit of seriously considering each lunch option until I was happy with my choices. Instead, I grabbed food willy-nilly, my only consideration being that I picked something that didn't have to remain hot to eat. I fully intended on filling my belly after I satisfied my sexual appetite.

After choosing our food, I tugged Ranger's hand and pulled him to the elevators. As we got on, Ranger looked at me with a grin. "A little eager?" he said.

"Eager! First I was too tired last night to make love, and then this morning you left me hanging. I'm absolutely bursting."

Ranger laughed. "So am I, actually", he said. "If I hadn't had that meeting this morning, I would have taken you on the dining room table."

Oh, boy.

Ranger unlocked the door and walked into the apartment. He took off his gun belt and put it on the breakfast bar, and I put mine beside his.

"Lunch first?" I said with a smile.

"Babe, I'm ready to eat, but food isn't what I'm interested in right now."

I smiled. I could hardly wait.