I posted this chapter before I finished the whole thing. Sorry, here's the revised entry!

Chapter 11

I was so caught up with the work that I lost track of time. I jumped when Ranger came up behind my chair and put his hand on the back of my neck.

"Ready to go home?" He reached down and pulled me out of the chair.

I stood up beside him. "Let me shut down this search and I will meet you in the garage."

He nodded and headed to the elevator. I watched the doors close and turned back to the computer. I then systematically shut everything down and took my time walking to the elevator. He wouldn't be upset with me, I thought. After all, it was his idea.

I met him at the Porsche. "Remember that suggestion you had at lunch about inviting my family over?" Might as well just jump right into it.

He nodded.

"Well, I invited everyone over for dinner on Friday. Wanted to give my mother a break."

If Ranger was anxious or upset, he didn't show it. "Sounds good. I happen to be free on Friday."

I climbed into the passenger side, leaving him standing at the driver's side. That seemed too easy. Joe wouldn't have been that understanding, even if it was his suggestion. Shit, I did it again!

Ranger maneuvered us out of the garage and headed toward home. It was our new home, I kept reminding myself. A part of me kept reminding myself that I didn't have to pay the bills. This was a new experience. I had offered to work for free now, but Ranger wouldn't hear of it. He explained that we were a team and as such each made his or her own contribution in his or her own way. Sure, easy for him to say. His contribution was clear. What was I offering up?

Lost in thought, I didn't hear him talking to me at first.

"Babe, what's going on? I smell burning."

I had heard that line many a time. "Ranger, just what is my contribution to this relationship? I mean, you pay all the bills and we have hired help with the house. Sometimes I don't feel like I'm pulling my weight." There was a time not so long ago that I wouldn't have had the nerve to reveal such information.

"Babe, you take care of me and that could be a full time job," he grinned at me.

Very funny, I thought. There I go being an 'entertainment expense' again.

"I didn't mean it that way, Steph. You're much more than entertainment. Stop jumping to conclusions."

"Stop reading my mind or my face or whatever the hell it is you do," I snapped.

"How about I fix dinner for Friday?" Ranger offered.

I knew he could cook and the thought of watching him make dinner was a bit intriguing.

"You could help me," he added with another one of those grins.

"Fine by me," I smiled back at him. Friday night should be an experience.

We arrived at the house, pulling the Porsche into the garage. I noticed that the truck I had driven the other day was now back in the garage.

"Hey, when are you going to answer my question about Martinez?" I asked as we walked into the house.

Ranger dropped his keys in the tray by the library door. He kept walking, going into the library and opening his safe. He deposited one gun in the safe, leaving another on his person. I was pretty sure that was the gun that usually found it way onto his nightstand.

"Martinez is nothing for you to worry about," he began. "It's being dealt with."

I shrugged. I knew that tone, but he also knew I wouldn't stop there. "Yeah, so is he the reason you came back early from Florida? Is he the reason you were out yesterday?" I settled down on the couch waiting for some answers.

He walked over and sat down beside me. "Babe, you know that there are a lot of dangerous characters in my past. That's one of the reasons I put off our relationship for so long. It's why we have to live with so many security measures," he began, his fingers playing with my hair.

"Martinez is a skip from years ago, probably when I first started out with Vinnie. Things got ugly. He vowed revenge. My guess is that he won't do anything stupid, but he will try to scare you."

I frowned at that comment. "Why scare me? I don't know the guy." Duh, I knew the answer before Ranger responded.

"To get to me, Babe. To get to me." He kissed me, gently at first, then with a passion I recognized instinctively.

He was the first to pull away. "I need you to agree to be careful. You and I are both going to be followed for a while, just to make sure that Jose doesn't try anything else. We don't know for sure that it was him who placed that device on your truck. We do know it wasn't on there when you left. My bet is that he followed you to the restaurant and when you weren't looking, attached the tracker. It looked like a bomb at first, but that was a ruse."

Great, another crazy. Funny thing was it didn't upset me as much as I thought it would. I was beginning to realize that the crazies and the freaks were a part of my world, like it or not. I seemed to attract them, whether it was because of my line of work or my connection to Ranger didn't matter. I didn't plan on changing either aspect of my life.

"I promised Lula I would help her tomorrow. She doesn't have anything dangerous, just a couple of repeats. One of the files is Mooner's friend Dougie."

Ranger laughed. "Don't inhale too deeply when you go into that house. Maybe you should get him to come outside. Those two are permanently high."

Maybe they were, but I also knew they were basically harmless. They were usually arrested for traffic tickets. They had both done time as well as community service. Their exploits were Burg legend, like mine were.

"I'm going to grab a shower. Coming with?" I stood up and reached out for his hand.

"Best offer I've had all day," he answered with a smile.

The next hour was nothing but us. No Mooner, no Martinez, no problems. These are the hours that sustain me through the long day of research or FTA apprehensions. When we went to bed, to really sleep this time, I told myself that I wasn't going to let the Martinez thing bother me. I told myself that I had to prove to Ric that his life was safe enough for me. Yeah, well, I told myself that, but that doesn't mean that I could always control my dreams.