If you recognize them, I can't take the credit. :) And a big thanks to Margaret once again for pushing me to post this chapter on time. Margaret, I love your pushing—keep it up.

Chapter 11—On Top of the World

Stephanie's POV

I woke up feeling particularly alone. I mean I knew Hector was in the other room but I seriously missed waking up next to Carlos. I had gone to bed with my phone nearby so when I reached for it to text him a good morning I was surprised to find two new texts from him. No, there weren't any additional photos.

Ranger: 4:38 am: 'Morning Babe. Going to the gym to see if I can get you off my mind'

Ranger: 8.02 am: 'I'm flying down. See if Lynn can move Hector to a hotel'

Oh shit, Bobby was going to go ballistic. I hoped Carlos had at least asked Les to help Bobby with rotations. For as crazy and flirtatious as he was, Les was pretty organized and, if you asked me, usually got away with doing anything that required sitting behind a desk for too long. So I did two things simultaneously, I texted Carlos and I threw on a robe before going out to see if Hector was still here.

StephPlum: 'I'm not sending Hector to a hotel. He's injured and needs TLC. And he's in his own room!'

"Hector, are you here?" I asked, knocking on his door lightly. No answer. He was injured so he wouldn't be in the gym. Or would he? Hector followed his own rules.

I picked up the intercom and called the front desk.

"Rangeman, Miami. Carl here. How may I help you?"

"Hi Carl, it's Steph. Did you happen to see Hector this morning?" "He did? Was he by himself?"

Hector went out. I was about to text him to find out where he was, when the intercom buzzed. It was Carl again.

"Hey Steph. Hector just came back into the building carrying a large bag. If I had to guess, I'd say he's bringing up breakfast."

My hero.

I still hadn't taken a shower, but that could wait if Hec had indeed brought food. There was a knock on the door before Hector used the extra key fob I gave him last night to let himself in.

"Estefania, I expected you to still be sleeping. I was going to try to lure you out with the smell of Egg McMuffin sandwiches and coffee. McDonald's was the only thing in walking distance."

"Thank you Hector, you are a sweetheart."

"I'm a bad ass; but you're welcome."

I took out plates and forks while Hector pulled the McMuffins and coffees from the bag.

"Egg White Delight McMuffin?" I asked looking at the wrapper of the sandwich Hec took for himself.

"I got you Bacon, Egg and Cheese, leave me alone."

"Mmmm. Carlos is on his way here," I said making breakfast conversation after I took my first bite.

"Has something come up that we don't know about?"

"No, he just misses me and the gym wasn't doing it for him."

"You're kidding, right?"

"Nope," I said, purposely popping the 'p'.

"Shit. No disrespect but I never thought I'd see his ass this pussy-whipped."

"He's not pussy-whipped Hector," I said emphatically, standing up and waving my arms to prove my point. "I didn't ask him to come down."

It was true. I was certainly glad he was coming to see me but I'd never ask him to just get up and leave his managerial responsibilities to someone else. It wasn't as if he was going off on a mission he couldn't refuse. God, now I felt bad. Wondered if the guys saw him as pussy-whipped too?

"Yes," Hector said.

"What?"

"You asked. I'm telling you yes. They tink Tank is too."

"Well Lula can be demanding but I'm not like that."

"You have him wrapped around your little finger. He'd do anyting for you."

I was getting mad. I really hoped that the guys hadn't lost their respect for Carlos. I mean I knew he'd softened a little but he was still one scary dude when he wanted to be.

"Hector? They still respect him, don't they?"

"Of course they do. They see him as a great leader."

I felt better.

"A great leader that's temporarily stopped leading. I tink they see that he's more interested in claiming the fair maiden right now, but once he has her squared away in his big-ass castle he'll be back leading the hunt for boar."

What the hell was that supposed to mean?

"He's infatuated with you and he's mentally giving himself a much needed holiday. He's worked very hard all these years. We forgive him."

I was glad they did but I didn't like the way that sounded. It made me out to be some sort of manipulating bitch. I wasn't. I'd gotten training, gun certifications and everything. I wasn't in over my head anymore. I didn't need Carlos to rescue me like some damsel in distress, to add to Hec's metaphor.

"Stop," he said, reading my mind. "Don't beat yourself up, everybody loves you and they want to see the bossman happy. He goes easier on everybody when he's happy."

My phone buzzed with another text.

Ranger: 'I'm on a 9:30 flight. Be there by noon. I made us 1:00 lunch reservations at Juvia. Ernesto's parking my Mercedes at the airport so I'll pick you up around 12:30'

StephPlum: 'What do I wear?'

Ranger: 'They say smart casual. I have on beige khakis and a white shirt. I'm not changing'

StephPlum: 'Sundress?'

Ranger: 'Pretty'

StephPlum: 'Ok, I'll be ready by 12:30'

Ranger: 'Ok'

I smiled to myself and turned back to Hector. I guessed he was right, Carlos was still pursuing me. "Carlos is picking me up around 12:30 to take me to..." I glanced down at my phone to check the name of the place, "...Juvia's."

"What did I just tell you?"

"That he's pursuing me before he leads the men to hunt boar. I hope there's no boar on the menu or I won't be able to stop laughing."

Hector had his phone in his hand and had probably googled the restaurant when I gave him the name.

"No boar, but this is an expensive place. Great views of the city. Look!" he said handing me his phone. God the place was pretty.

"I better start getting ready. We weren't going to try to visit Maria today, were we?" I asked as an afterthought, probably mixed in with a little bit of guilt.

"Silvio and I will go check out her workplace. I'll try to get her hours and hopefully we can talk to her tonight or tomorrow depending on her schedule. Go to lunch. Have a good time. I tink you're supposed to enjoy your engagement."

I cleaned up and put all the dirties in the dishwasher before heading back to our master suite to take a shower and get ready. I really loved that this was a two bedroom, two bath apartment.

After I finished washing, shampooing, conditioning, shaving, exfoliating and buffing to my high standards, I got out, did my hair and put on a few coats of mascara. This was Florida, I didn't need anything more, although I still looked pale compared to everyone around me. Mental note: get some sun.

I opened the closet and looked for something to wear. A dress with the tags still on it stood out. I knew I didn't buy it, but it was my size. It was a sleeveless tank dress with a bit of a flared skirt in old-school Japanese indigo stencils, the top a different pattern than the bottom. It was in the blue tones that I knew Carlos loved on me, so I tried it on. It had a thin sash at the waist and as soon as I tied it, I knew it was perfect. I had either Ella or Carlos to thank and something told me Ella. I paired it with the four-inch high ankle-strap wedge sandals that I left here the last time we were down and I went out to the kitchen to cut off the tags.

I got a wolf-whistle from Hector who was sitting at the dining room table with three laptops.

"You look beautiful Estefania. The bossman's not going to be able to take his eyes off of you. Do you want help with those tags?"

He asked at the right moment. I was either going to have to take the scissors back to the bedroom and take the dress off, or I'd need a second set of hands. The second set would be faster and it was already 12:20.

"Thank you Hector," I said as he cut the plastic cord that held the price tag and labels as close to the material as possible. At some point I'd have to remove the other half that was digging into my skin, but that could wait.

My phone buzzed with another text.

Ranger: 'I'm pulling up in front of the building now. R U ready?'

StephPlum: 'I'll be right out'

I grabbed my regular bag that was unintentionally the same color as the dress and I went out to the elevators. By the time I made it down to the lobby, Carlos was in front of the reception desk talking to Herb, Lynn's husband and the building manager.

His eyes dilated black when he saw me and before I knew what was happening, his arms were around me and his lips were crashing down on mine. And once again this was in front of some of the guys. Maybe Hector had a point with his thoughts about Carlos' need to 'claim the fair maiden'. His lips had certainly claimed mine.

"Is this new?" Carlos asked, taking in my dress once again.

"I found it in the closet. The tags were still on. If you didn't put it there, I guess Ella sent it down."

"It's beautiful. You look beautiful. I can't wait to take it off you," he added in a whisper.

"Carlos!"

"Ready for lunch Babe?"

I nodded and he led me out to the black Mercedes SL roadster, which already had the retractable hardtop down.

"Beautiful day for a drive Carlos," I said looking up at the sky as he put the car into gear.

"Its only about fifteen minutes away but we could take a drive after lunch if you're still up for one."

Hmm. Courting? I didn't say anything, I was just going to let the day play out as it may. As Carlos drove he put his hand on my thigh and squeezed. It felt like he wanted to be close. Who was I to complain, I loved being close to Carlos. In fact my whole mood changed after learning he was coming down to Miami to be with me. I still had a job to do, but I was a little less interested in talking to Maria and a little more interested in playing with Carlos. I knew this wouldn't last, his wanting to be so close was probably a phase; so I'd made up my mind to go along with any and everything that happened these next few days.

"Babe? Is something troubling you?" he asked, breaking into my thoughts.

"No not really, it was just something Hector said. I'm trying to make sense of it."

"Concerning Maria Padilla?"

"No concerning you and your sudden need to come down here."

"I told you Babe, I couldn't get you off my mind. Having a perpetual hard-on is not exactly comfortable."

I had to smile at that one. I figured it wasn't. Then the words just popped out of my mouth. "Do you have one now?"

Ranger took my hand and I guessed I was about to find out. It landed on his inner thigh and it kept moving up. Yep, he was hard. I could do something about it, but we were probably minutes away from the restaurant, I didn't have any tissues with me and let's say light colored slacks show every little stain. Hmm, dilemma.

"Will you be ok with this little problem?" I asked, "or do you want me to do something about it."

"It's not a little problem, but put on a 'talk radio' station and that should take care of it."

Yeah, I knew what he meant; if it weren't Howard Stern it would probably be boring enough to to the job. I played around with the radio and finally found someone comparing RBIs—that would do the trick for me. And at least I wasn't with Hector who would be excited about it and probably have a running commentary and stats of his own to add.

I pulled away from Carlos completely and upped the volume. If this didn't work, I want sure what to do next since it looked like Carlos was slowing down in front of a parking garage on Lincoln Road.

"You can turn it off Babe, I'm under control," he grinned me a 250-watter. Carlos pointed out that the restaurant was located on the rooftop just as a valet came over to take the car from Carlos, probably excited to drive it, and we walked to the entrance holding hands.

An elevator took us up to the rooftop and we exited into the pretty main room that Hector showed me earlier. We were met by the maître d' and led to an outdoor table under an overhang. Since it was spring and not too hot to be outside just yet, we and our fellow diners were treated to exquisite views of Miami from our tables.

Carlos ordered us each a glass of Gros Plant, a recommend from our waiter that paired well with crustaceans, so I had the distinct feeling that he was done with work for the day. Maybe an after-lunch ride or a walk on the beach was a possibility.

The menu was Asian/French fusion, so I ordered their Chilean sea bass with maple-glazed eggplants, heart of palm and basil soy butter. Carlos got a mango, papaya and cucumber salad, a butter-poached king crab nigiri and ordered rock shrimp with aji aioli and cilantro as an appetizer for us to share.

Our wine came right away. "Here's to us Babe," he said, clinking glasses.

I took a sip. It was very dry, but had a nice flavor to it. I could see it going well with our appetizer of rock shrimp, which came a few minutes later.

The portion was small, but then again it was the appetizer.

Carlos used the seafood fork to spear one of the shrimp, dip it in the aioli sauce and bring it to my lips. I took a bite; it was heavenly. I must have moaned because the couple at the next table turned to look at us. We made believe there was no one around but each other and Carlos fed me another bite of shrimp. Once he put the fork down, I picked it up and did the same, spearing one, dipping it into the sauce and feeding it to him. It was a combination of yum factors.

I looked down at my wine glass and it was almost empty, I guessed I didn't realize I had been taking sips. "Would you like another with lunch?"

"Will you be able to drive?"

"Babe."

I guessed that answered my question, Carlos was good with two glasses of wine; it was me that was the lightweight.

Our second glass and lunch arrived at the same time. Both were exceptional; my sea bass done perfectly and it looked like Carlos was enjoying his salad and crab nigiri but unfortunately we were done in no time.

It was then that Carlos took my hand.

"Babe, have you checked your Rangeman email lately?"

"Uh no, I thought it was still under lock and key."

"Hector made yours and mine available; you got a present from Kraven."

Fuck.