Chapter 3

Lester and I chatted (can you believe a Rangeman employee is capable of that?) for the next hour. He was actually not revealing much, just kind of trying to feel me out about the possibility of a date. I was on the fence. On one hand, he was a great guy by all appearances and I didn't have a reason not to see him. On the other hand, he worked for Ranger and it might get awkward.

"Les, what about Ranger? If we go out, how do I know he won't take it out on you?" We were still in our reclining positions on the bed. I had only moved once to hobble into the bathroom and needed help to get back into position in bed. The darn cast was heavy!

"Ranger wants you to be happy most of all, Steph. I don't think he's considered that any of the guys would make a move on you, but I don't think he's the kind to retaliate too much. If you're happy, he'll be fine with it."

I wished I could believe that. I had seen how Ranger reacted to Joe. He could care less about my ex, Dickie, because there's no competition there, but what about one of his own?

"We should wait until I get this cast off," I offered. "I heard you're a great dancer."

Lester smiled brightly. "You have no idea. But I don't want to wait. I have a captive audience here. The situation is in my favor. How about I make dinner for you tomorrow right here. Bobby is coming over in a few minutes to relieve me. I don't want to go, but I have some work at Rangeman. Can we call it date tomorrow night?"

I didn't even realize what time it was. Lester and I had been totally absorbed in talking. It was nearly midnight and he had the late shift.

"I'm sorry Lester, I didn't realize it was so late. You never got any sleep. You're going to be exhausted."

That comment earned me a hug. "Don't worry about me, honey. I'm used to running on little sleep. I'll let you go back to bed and I will see you tomorrow night. Bobby should be here any minute. Close you eyes. Dream of me, okay?" He kissed the top of my head.

I wouldn't mind dreaming of him. Unfortunately, the dreams that I had were dark and ominous.

I was running. The street was dark and someone was following me, but I couldn't see who it was. I don't usually dream. This one was so vivid, so real. I was breathing hard, panting even. I heard the footfalls getting closer and closer. I wanted to scream for help, but I didn't know who to call for. Joe was out of touch with me; Ranger was out-of-town. I didn't have backup. You always needed backup. Why was I in the dark alone?

Hands grabbed my arms. They were shaking me. I screamed and screamed. I heard a voice telling me to open my eyes. I wasn't sure it was safe.

"Stephanie, wake up. Open your eyes now. Bobby continued to shake my arms.

"Bobby," I whispered. My voice was slightly hoarse from screaming. "What happened?"

"You were having a nightmare. I had a hard time waking you up." He voice and face were full of concern. "Want to talk about it?"

"No, I want a shower. Can you help me fix it so that I can take a shower?" I was struggling to get out of bed.

"Steph, hold on," Bobby said. "Let me fix the cast first."

He left the room and after a few minutes came back with a plastic bag and tape. He carefully taped the bag, and the helped me to the bathroom.

"I can take it from here. Thanks," I said as I closed the bathroom door. I looked in the mirror. Oh no, frizz alert. The hair was everywhere. That scrape on my face turned out to be a major road rash with bruising to add to the color. I carefully removed my clothes and entered the shower. The hot water felt wonderful and had a way of helping to chase away the nightmare. I couldn't stand too long anyway so it was a short shower.

I fixed my hair into a ponytail a the back of my head and threw on the robe that was waiting on the back of the door. When I opened that door, I noticed the Lester was now sitting on my bed.

"What are you doing here?" I asked and hobbled over to the bed at the same time.

"Heard you had a nightmare. Thought maybe we should talk about it. Sometimes help to talk after a traumatic event."

He looked so tired. His eyes were drawn, dark and moody even. "It isn't like that. It wasn't about the accident."

"What was it then?" He obviously wasn't going to give up.

"I think it more about being a victim who needed to be saved. I really don't want or need to talk about it." I settled onto the bed beside him. "Bobby shouldn't have called you."

"Don't give me that shit, Steph. I told him to call if you needed anything. He and I both think you need to talk. Either you talk to me or you talk to Bobby. What will it be?" He was irritated and made no attempt to hide it.

"What's with you guys? You never want to talk. Why now?"

"Because you need to, that's why. You've been through a lot lately, more than you probably realize. I heard about the cop dating. That's got to get to you."

Zing. That struck hard. I swallowed and leaned back on the pillows, painfully aware that all I had on was the robe. Hopefully I didn't flash too much getting into bed. Lester stood up and went to my dresser. He pulled out a faded, long night shirt.

"Put this on and I will be right back."

"Where are you going?" I don't know why I felt panicked.

"I'm going to tell Bobby to go home. I'll stay here. Cal is filling in for me at control. Right now, you're the most important thing."

Wow, that actually felt nice to hear. Lester was being very kind and very cautious at the same time. He wanted to push, I could feel it, but he wasn't going to unless I gave him no choice. I had been in the same situation with Morelli a hundred times.

He came back in just in time to see me attempt to crawl back into bed. "Here, let me help you. I'll move the cast for you."

Once I was settled in, I decided that maybe he was right, maybe I should talk. "Lester, I don't know exactly why I had that dream, but it started me thinking while I was in the shower. The dream was about needing to be rescued. This time, there was no one there to help me. Ranger and Joe were off doing their own thing. It was up to me to get away from the danger. The thing is I wasn't sure I could save myself."

Lester crawled into bed with me. "You feel abandoned somehow by Ranger and Joe?"

I shrugged. "Maybe, in a way. I don't blame them. I seem to find myself in trouble far too often. I hate it that I'm a magnet for crazies, but I don't want to stop being a bounty hunter. Of all the things that I've ever done, it's the one thing that makes me feel good about myself. Granted, everyone else thinks I'm loony but I think I can do it."

Lester arm closed around my shoulders. "Steph, you can and have done it. You're actually good at what you do. You've got great instincts and think clearly, most of the time." That last part was added with a smile. "And I know for a fact that neither Ranger nor Morelli have deserted you. They care about you and would be there to help you if you needed it. Having said that, I still wish it was me that you ran to for help. I'll always be there for you."

I was feeling pretty cozy right about now and probably only half way heard what he said. "Les, you're the best," I sighed snuggling closer to him. I felt him kiss the top of my head.

"Steph, you're the best. One of these days I am going to prove it to you." He sighed and closed his eyes to sleep.

I woke to nature's call and struggled to figure out a way to keep from waking Lester and yet get this stupid cast off the bed. My first attempt failed and resulted in my cast coming down over Lester's knee.

"Ouch, honey. That's rough," he murmured in a dreamy, sleepy voice.

"Les, I need to get up now," the urgency in my voice was evident.

He pushed himself off the bed and helped me hobble into the bathroom. I watched him head toward the living room as I closed the door. I finished all the necessary things and hobbled back to the living room, dumping myself onto the couch as if I just finished a marathon. This darn cast was heavy.

"Here's your coffee," he offered, handing me the mug. "Hope I fixed it right."

The coffee was fine. "Why did you spend the night?" I was grateful he had as I slept like a baby.

"If I hadn't, I would have worried about you all night anyway. This way we both get some sleep." He took the chair across from me and settled in. His face was shadowed and his eyes still wore dark circles underneath, yet he was positively sexy. Sometime during the night, he had removed the shirt he was wearing when we went to bed. I noticed now that the pants were actually sweats.

"Was that what you were wearing last night?" I asked over the coffee cup.

"Got up and changed during the night. It was warm in your bed." There was a twinkle in those dark eyes now. "You were all over me during the night, honey. It's amazing that I maintained control."

"Sorry," I blushed. "I guess I must move around a lot when I sleep."

"No, you settled on me and didn't move much the whole night. I had to move you over to change clothes, but once I got back in bed, you moved right back to my side. I'm not complaining."

God, that's embarrassing. Here's someone I don't even know well commenting about how I slept all over him.

"Don't worry, Steph. I'm more than happy to give you the chance to know me a lot better," he offered, shooting me a very sexy smile.

"Yeah, well that's what I'm worried about," I replied. This man could be trouble. He was dangerous like Ranger, yet comfortable like Joe. He was a force in his own right and one that could roll right over me if I wasn't careful. I was beginning to see that he could be, in a way, my perfect choice.