Building

Chapter 3

I nearly hyperventilated. Had I proposed? Damn. I wasn't thinking clearly.

"Well, it all depends on your point-of-view," I finally told him. Who knows what I meant by that.

"Babe, what do you really mean?"

I hate it when he knows I'm hiding something. "Well, do you want it to be?" Ball's back in your court!

He gave me a sweaty hug. "You know, I think I do."

"And if it was a proposal, what would your answer be?" I could feel my heart beating against my chest, trying to climb out my throat.

"Well, that would depend," he answered slyly.

I looked up at him, concern probably evident in my face. "Depend on what?"

"The ring you give me," he chuckled.

I moved my foot, twisting it behind his leg and pushing him onto the mat. It wasn't easy, but I managed to take him down. "Very funny, big guy. You're a riot." I leaned in for a kiss.

Ranger responded instantly, flipping me over so that his body covered mine. His hands seemed to be everywhere at once. I felt him start to remove my shorts. I arched upward to give him better access. He lifted my arms over my head and proceeded to remove my tank top with his teeth. It was wildly erotic and soon moaning filled the room. I recognized my voice, husky with passion. He whispered in my ear, Spanish love words that I had looked up on the Internet. Words like my love, sexy woman, and my heart were repeated over and over as he explored my body. I wanted to touch him, to make him feel the same things he was doing to me. I explored his hard back with my hands, reveling in the strength and warmth I found there. I covered his face in kisses, moving down to his throat and his chest. He leaned to his side to give me access and I took the opportunity to get up on my knees, totally naked now.

"You'd better hope no one wants to use the gym," I whispered against his washboard stomach. "I really don't want to be interrupted."

He laughed. "You'd better hope I turned off the cameras, Babe."

I looked up at him, fear blazing in my eyes. Jesus, he had better have those cameras off. They seemed to be everywhere.

"Don't worry, Babe, they're turned off."

I smiled wickedly and went back to trailing kisses down his long, lean body. He knew where I was headed and made no attempt to stop me. It was a good deal later when we both were laying on the mat, naked and sweaty, that we got back to the proposal.

"Babe, will you marry me?" He turned on his side to face me. "It's not the most romantic setting for a marriage proposal, but then you and I aren't the normal couple. Our lives together won't always be easy, but nothing about how we got to this point has been easy."

I sighed. He was right, of course, but I still wasn't convinced that this was what he truly wanted.

"Ric, ask me again later... sometime when we haven't been talking about it. Ask me when you're sure this is what you want, not when I might think that you're doing it because you think I want you to. I love you, you know that. I can wait."

He kissed my hand. His face was once again not giving anything away, but he stood up and pulled me up beside him. We dressed in silence and headed up to the main floor of the house. Ella was no longer in the kitchen. Ranger had gone to get a couple of bottles of water. He handed me one.

"I'm trying to understand, Babe. Seems that you're not turning me down exactly, but you want to give me time to reconsider. What do you think the last three years have been? I've thought of no other woman but you during that time. If I wasn't sure, I wouldn't have asked you."

I had hurt his feelings. A lot of people didn't think that he had any, but he most certainly did.

"Honey, it's not that." I used an endearment that I had never used before. It just slipped out. "We had been talking about marriage and I just think I came on a bit strong. I need to know that we're together on this."

Okay so it made no sense to me either, but he struggled to understand what I said.

"Fine. Maybe I'll just ask you later," he stated hotly. He climbed the stairs to the second floor, bottle of water in hand, looking a little dejected, if that was possible for Ranger.

Damn, I thought, I had screwed up. He expected me to be thrilled that he asked. He expected an answer, and I didn't give him one. I was such a jerk.

I didn't sleep well that night. I woke up several times to just look at the sleeping man beside me. He was so perfect in form. His hair had fallen over his face and I brushed it away. He felt my touch and instantly reached for me, spooning me against him. I tried to go back to sleep, but my brain would not turn off. I must have drifted off because what seemed like only a couple of minutes later, a fully dressed Ranger was shaking me awake.

"Come on, Babe, you're going to make us late," he said.

"I'm not going in with you today," I said with a yawn. "I'm off to Vinnie's this morning to help Lula. I thought I told you."

He got up from the side of the bed. "No, you didn't. You might have told Tank at the office, but you never mentioned it at home."

"Sorry," I murmured, trying to determine if he was mad at me or not. "What's wrong?"

He walked over to the desk where his laptop was plugged in. "Nothing, why?" I watched as he picked up his keys, his gun and disconnected the laptop. "I have to run if you're not going with me."

He came over to kiss me. A quick kiss, not his usual branding, searing kiss. "I'll see you tonight sometime."

With that he was gone. I moved to the bathroom, rushing through my usual routine. I found coffee and danish left out for me in the kitchen. Ella, I thought. God bless her. She probably couldn't find donuts. That was okay as I knew I would have to pick some up for Connie and Lula anyway. I scarfed down half a danish and put the coffee in a travel mug. I went out the front door and noticed that Ranger had left the garage door up. He was telling me, in his own way, to take the truck parked inside. Funny how we had certain codes that only the other knew.

I climbed into the Explorer, noticing that he had taken his Mercedes to work. I cranked up some tunes and tried to wake up. I hit the remote for the gate and started down the highway to Vincent Plum Bail Bonds. I hadn't told Ranger that I was going here before because my decision to go was pretty last minute. Lula hadn't really wanted my help. I sort of wanted hers. I needed to figure out how I dig myself out of this hole with Ranger.

I walked into the office, noticing that the ladies were listening intently to a box on the desk. It was a small microphone. They were startled by my arrival and attempted to hide the device.

"Okay, what's up?" They looked so guilty.

"Nothing girlfriend," Lula offered.

Connie wasn't as original. She sang like a bird. "Okay, it's like this. Joyce is in there with Vinnie and she was really pissed. Some thing's up and we're trying to find out what."

Joyce Barnhart was my arch nemesis and had recently taken on the job as bounty hunter as well. I had hated her since the day I found her doing the horizontal mambo on my dining room table with my sorry excuse for a husband, Dickie Orr. She had recently threatened to get her hooks into Ranger as well. I didn't take that threat very seriously, as Ranger wouldn't give her the time of day, but it annoyed me that she made a game out of screwing around with the men in my life.

The door opened and a very angry Joyce exited the office, slamming the door in her wake. "What?" she demanded. "Eavesdropping again. Don't you three have anything better to do? I would think Stephanie would at least be at Rangeman doing the boss, if nothing else." Her tirade stopped short as a black Mercedes pulled into the parking lot and Ranger stepped out of the car.