Cupcake warning. Not Morelli friendly.

3

As I watched Joe shrugging into his coat on the far side of the room, the door opened and in came Lula, Tank, and a bunch of the Rangemen, including, doubletake, the Range Man himself. Ranger. Holy shit! Who knew Batman was into Christmas parties?

Lula saw me right away and came barreling over. "Hey, there, girlfriend, I was hopin' you'd be here. Where's Supercop?"

"Hey, Lula. Joe didn't want to dance and he thought watching the hockey game on TV would be more fun than being here, so I sent him home. Wanna dance with me?"

"It's what I live for." Lula shrugged out of her fire-engine-red faux fur coat, dropping it onto a chair. She was a vision in bright red and lime green spandex, somehow working it to look terrific.

The band had finished with the token Christmas music and was playing something with a driving beat. Lula and I hit the dance floor, and before the song was over Tank and Lester had joined us.

When the song ended, Lester grabbed me, spun me around hard, and then dipped me all the way to the floor. I was laughing, and he pulled me up into a big hug. As we walked toward the table the other guys had secured, Lester guided me to an empty seat next to Ranger and sat down beside me.

"Hey, Ranger."

I was still laughing from Lester's antics, and Ranger responded with a genuine smile. "Babe."

"What are you doing here? I wouldn't have thought that the Police Party would be your cup of tea."

"RangeMan sponsored the open bar for the party, so I thought it would be nice to put in an appearance," he told me, sliding his arm across the back of my chair and leaning close so I could hear him over the music. "We frequently cooperate with the department, and making contributions and socializing helps us maintain a good working relationship."

Wow, a lot of words from Batman.

We sat and watched the dancers for a minute, and then the band diverted into a salsa beat. A gleam came into Ranger's melted dark chocolate eye, and he held out a hand to me.

"Wanna dance, Babe?"

"Sure." I put my hand in his, letting him guide me to the dance floor.

Wow, Ranger sure was a good dancer. I'd never danced with him before, although I'd suspected with his Cuban heritage he'd be a natural. And I was right. He was gentle and graceful steering me through the rapid moves, spinning me away and then pulling me tight to his body.

It was such a sensual experience that I totally let myself go, dancing with passion and abandon. As the dance ended Ranger went down to one knee and bent me backwards across his thigh, my body flexed and back arched, so that my hair touched the floor.

His gaze was intent on my own as he raised me up and stood, and we were both smiling. Suddenly someone grabbed my wrist and jerked me away from Ranger so hard that my ankle turned on my four-inch spike heels and I almost went down. Shit, that hurt. As I caught my balance I looked up. Joe.

"Time to go, Cupcake," he said through clenched teeth, starting to drag me toward the door, hand still clamped around my wrist. I tried to withdraw from his grasp, and his hold tightened.

"Joe, let go. You're hurting me."

Joe was still trying to pull me toward the door, and his grip on my arm was bringing tears to my eyes. Suddenly the vise on my arm loosened as Ranger grabbed Joe's wrist and squeezed.

"Let her go, Morelli," he intoned in a very quiet, yet deadly voice.

"This is none of your fuckin' business, Manoso, so get the fuck out of here."

"When you hurt Stephanie, that makes it my business." Ranger's tone was still dangerous.

Joe's right arm came flying up in a big windmill and his fist smashed into Ranger's nose. Ranger made no move to defend himself, just let it happen. A crowd had gathered, and a ripple went through it at the punch.

Ranger leaned in and spoke so softly that nobody could hear except Joe and me. "Morelli, you just assaulted me in the presence of a hundred witnesses, half of them cops. If you don't leave quietly I'm going to press charges. And we'll be documenting the bruise you just put on Stephanie's wrist. If you ever touch her again, I'll see that you end up behind bars."

Joe looked at me, his whiskey-colored eyes pleading. "Come on, Cupcake, I'm sorry if I hurt you. Come home with me. We'll watch the game." He tried to put on his charming smile, but it was a pretty pathetic attempt.

"No, Joe. You wanted to go home and watch the hockey game, so you just do that," I said. "And don't call me. Our relationship has been going downhill for quite a while, and this is the last straw. It's time to end it. For good."

"Okay, Cupcake, if you say so. But when he finishes with you and tosses you back, don't come crawling to me." And Joe turned and walked out the door.

I wasn't sure how I was going to feel tomorrow, but right now all I felt was free. "Come on," I said to Ranger, limping toward the bar on my sore ankle. "I need a drink."

TBC