Beefcake for Charity Ch. 5

A/N: As always, I own nothing aside from the mistakes.

A text message from Cal alerted me that Ranger was back and in the building. Right on time. He was only in Miami a couple of days but it felt like a lifetime. How had I survived all those years without his constant presence in my life?

I knew my hormones were on overdrive when I caught myself ogling the guys and trying to; but likely not succeeding; at being subtle about it. Lester caught me this morning in the gym watching him. He just smiled and waggled his eyebrows at me and went about his business.

The elevator dinged and I heard the front door open and close. "Babe?" Ranger called dropping his keys in the dish near the door.

"In here," I called back as I opened the silky robe that covered my new Victoria's Secret lingerie and struck a pose I hoped was sexy.

Ranger appeared in the doorway looking good enough to eat. "Babe!" he said his voice suddenly very husky and his eyes darkening with desire. He dropped his bag and in one long stride scooped me into his arms and kissed me like a parched man taking his first refreshing swallow of water.

My fists curled into his painted on t-shirt as I returned his kiss. There was just no getting enough of this man.

"I missed you!" he moaned between kisses.

"I missed you too," I said removing his guns and setting them down. His lips traveled along my neck as he toed off his boots. His fingers ran down the edge of the silky robe when he pulled his lips away. He pushed the material off my shoulders and let it fall into a pool at my feet. "This is new," he said and gave me a wolf grin as his eyes traveled down my body.

"I got it for your homecoming."

"I like it. It'll look great on the floor," he said pulling off his t-shirt. His muscular chest flexed with that simple act and I'm pretty sure I whimpered. After the shirt, he slipped out of his cargoes. He crooked his index finger and motioned for me to come toward him. Apparently I hesitated for half a second too long because I found myself thrown into the middle of the bed and a deliciously naked Cuban sex god leaning over me. Yum! I wonder what he would have done if I had managed to hesitate a whole second.

Several hours later we ventured out into the kitchen and warmed up the food Ella left. After satisfying our hunger for food we curled up together on the couch, just enjoying each others company.

I played with the soft sweatpants material on his thigh as he twirled one of my curls around his finger. "How were things here?" he asked.

"Good," I said, "Brought in a couple new clients and met with a woman with an interesting charity proposition."

"What made it so interesting babe?" he asked leaning forward to kiss my temple.

"I think with the guys' participation it could be a huge fundraiser for this charity. Rangeman alone could bring in thousands of dollars for local kids."

"You have me intrigued. What would we need to do?" Carlos asked.

I looked at him a little sheepishly. "Babe?" he drew my name out conveying his skepticism about whether he was going to like this idea.

"Promise you won't automatically say no," I said, "That you'll hear me out."

He closed his eyes and rested his forehead on my shoulder. "I'm afraid to ask," he said. His body shook with a laugh. "I promise," he said finally.

I turned myself around between his legs and looked at him. I was actually quite excited about this idea.

"It's a bachelor auction. Most of the guys are unattached and a lot of them complain they really don't meet a lot of women. It is practically a Rangeman requirement that all the men are hot..."

Carlos raised an eyebrow. "Of course I don't notice since I have the hottest one of all!" I grinned and gave his lips a quick kiss.

"That's better," he smirked. "I don't want to have to fire all my men and make the deciding factor of employment how ugly they are!" He laughed as I playfully smacked his shoulder.

"Seriously, you of all people should know how far good looks will go and there are plenty of women who would pay top dollar to charity for a date with any one of the guys," I said.

Carlos was quiet for a moment. "Tell you what," he said, "I'll let you present it to them tomorrow in the morning meeting and we'll let them decide if they want to participate."

"Really?" I said excitedly.

"Yes. Come'ere," he grinned pulling me into his arms, his lips a whisper's away from mine. "I missed you." I couldn't help the perma-smile that took over my face before I closed that tiny gap between us.

BCBCBCBCBCBCBCBC5

RANGER POV

At 0830, the main business of the morning meeting had concluded. "Gentlemen, Stephanie has something she'd like to discuss with you. Please continue to give her your undivided attention," I said. I could see Tank's smirk out of the corner of my eye.

Stephanie stood up and pressed a button on her laptop which projected her power point presentation on to the screen on the far wall. Leave it to Babe to make a formal presentation to persuade the men to voluntarily allow themselves to be auctioned off on dates! I schooled my face to remain neutral and not reveal the amusement I felt.

"What is it Beautiful?" Lester asked.

"Well," she began, "Lester, I am glad you asked."

"The Premiere Youth Foundation?" Bobby said, "They do good work."

"I'm glad you think so," she smiled. I could see that twinkle in her eye and knew this would be good.

"I met with a woman from the foundation who asked if Rangeman would participate in this years main fundraiser. So I am asking if you guys are interested in helping out local kids."

"Of course!" Hal said, "Anything for the kids. What do you need me to do?"

"Yeah, me too," a number of voices around the room chimed in.

"Why the formal presentation, Beautiful? You know we'd all be glad to help kids," Lester said.

"Well," she hedged," You wouldn't be working directly with the kids."

"What then?" Bobby asked the confusion evident on his face.

"A bachelor auction. Women would pay a lot of money to have dinner with you guys and the money goes to the foundation. A nice local restaurant has agreed to host the dates. Of course if you'd rather, she did suggest a Men of Rangeman Calendar."

"No!" I said quickly and firmly wondering why this was the first I'd heard of this option. "There is no way I am having my men pinned up on walls all over Trenton especially in various states of undress. We are a serious business here."

"What's the matter boss," my cousin; who was asking for a painful death; asked, "Afraid my month will be more popular than yours?" Stephanie nearly spit her coffee out in response.
"Santos," I growled, "Do you just enjoy meeting me on the mats? Perhaps a trip to the middle of wherethefuckamI is more to your liking?!"

"Naw, there is nothing like a little cousin bonding time," he grinned before Tank's large mitt smacked him in the back of the head. He gave me a nearly imperceptible nod while Santos rubbed his head.

"So what do you guys think?" Babe asked.

"What exactly would we have to do?" Bobby asked for the group.

"Just come to the auction and allow women to bid on a dinner date with you. You would escort the highest bidder to one of the sponsored nights and that is it. It is a great opportunity to help kids and meet women."

"But what if the winner is your grandma or something?" Zip questioned. Most of the guys groaned. Steph glared at them. "Grandma Mazur is not bidding. I'll hide her purse."

"I'm in," Lester said. "I can raise more than the rest of you anyway."

"In what universe Santos?" Bobby scoffed, then accepted the challenge. "It's on!"

With that last declaration a whole conference room full of men agreed to be auctioned off for charity and Babe was grinning in satisfaction.

"A friendly wager is fine men, but please remember you are representing Rangeman and act accordingly. Especially you Santos!" I said and adjourned the meeting.

Lester scowled. "Yes Dad. You just don't want us to have any fun."

When have I ever been able to stop you? I wondered quietly but said nothing.

The guys each said a few words to Steph on their way out and she promised to get back to them with more details.

"I'm counting on YOU, Brown to keep him in line," I said gesturing to his partner. Bobby nodded and smacked Les in the back of the head for good measure as they exited the room.

"Hey!" Les whined.

"This should be fun," Babe said after the men cleared out. I pulled her into my lap and kissed her soundly.

A/N: What do you think? Who will raise the most money for charity and how outrageous will things get?