A/N: That spark of inspiration for the last chapter was completely spent, and this chapter was hard as hell to write, even if I knew where I wanted to end up.
Chapter Eight
When we got back to RangeMan, Lester and I headed to Tank's office to give him an update. After Lester gave him a blow-by-blow account of our afternoon, Tank's smile got wider until it split his face as Lester wound down the tale. I was seriously embarrassed by all the praise Lester was heaping my way and I could feel the heat radiating from my skin. After ten minutes I told them both I was going to meet Lula at the Y and made my departure.
I took the stairs up to Ranger's apartment in a quick detour and fobbed myself inside. "Ranger?" I called.
"I'm here, babe," he answered as he appeared at the end of the hallway.
I smiled. "Hey Batman, how are you today?" I said as I walked towards him.
He took the last few steps towards me, enfolded me in his arms and kissed my forehead. "Babe. I'm glad to see you."
"Me too. Something good happened today and I just really wanted to see you and share it with you."
"Tell me about it," he requested.
"Lester and I landed an account, and it went better than expected. He signed up for the full package for his house, then added on his three car dealerships. So maybe you'll end up with another source for all the black cars you'll ever need," I teased.
"I'm proud of you, babe," he said as he gave me a squeeze.
We stood there in an embrace for a few more long minutes, and I became ever more aware of his body, his scent and the feeling of peace that washed over me as he held me. I closed my eyes as I inhaled deeply. When I opened them, I looked up to find Ranger's eyes, darkened with desire, on mine. He kept his gaze on me as he lowered his lips to mine, capturing them in a fiery kiss that spoke of passion and longing. After several moments, I reluctantly pulled back.
"Babe?"
"I have to go, I'm meeting Lula at the Y soon," I whispered. "But you have no idea how much I want to continue this conversation with you."
He grinned. "Do you want to come over later tonight?" he asked.
"I do, but I'm not going to. I need a night to myself to get some things done. But what are you doing tomorrow night?"
"How about a proper date?"
"Really? You want to date me?"
"Babe, I've wanted to be with you for a while. But our timing was never good. There were commitments on my end with the government that made circumstances unsuitable for relationships, but those are over now. And you had Morelli, but that's over now too. So, it seems like things are lining up for us. If that's what you want, too?" he questioned.
I thought about what he was saying. He wanted to be with me. With me! "I could maybe get on board with that plan, Ranger. In fact, it sounds great."
"Babe, do me a favour?"
"Anything."
"Call me Carlos?"
"Carrrlos," I rolled the R.
His eyes became two liquid pools of molten chocolate as he kissed me again, his tongue battling with mine in a battle of dominance. He fisted my hair in both hands, pulling me closer into his body until it felt like we were melded into one.
"Stop!" I said breathlessly. "I really have to go; I'm going to be late."
Ranger stepped back and released me from his grip, breathing heavily. "Go, babe, before I can't control myself any longer."
I backed away, then turned around and ran out of his apartment. I needed to burn off some energy, so I hit the stairwell, running down seven flights to the garage. I hurried into my car and had the car in drive before I even had my seatbelt fully on. Batman wasn't the only one trying to control himself. It's been too long since I had an orgasm when someone else was in the room.
When I arrived at the Y, I found Lula in the changing room. She took a long look at me and whistled. "White girl, you got some!"
I blushed. "No, I didn't."
"Uh huh…you been close," she declared as she studied my expression.
I didn't reply, but I felt the heat intensity creep up and settle on my cheeks.
"Let's go, Lula. I want to get in fifty laps today," I said.
Forty minutes later, I was exhausted after swimming sixty laps. Lula and I went back to the changing room. I didn't bother with a shower, because that was one of the things I needed to do tonight without Ranger around. He's good in the shower, but I had serious grooming and maintenance to do. Then I thought about the date he and I had tomorrow night.
"Hey Lula, want to go shopping tomorrow?" I asked her.
"For sure. Eleven o'clock?" she replied.
"Yep, then we can hit the food court at the mall too." I confirmed. "I'll pick you up at eleven."
With our plans made, I drove towards home, stopping to go through a Wendy's drive-through for one of their grilled chicken salads. Rex can have a crouton for dinner.
I had a hot shower and took care of all the grooming things I needed to. If Ranger saw me naked tomorrow, I wanted to look and feel good. I felt so good and so primed, my shower massager got a workout too.
The following morning, I pulled up in front of Lula's apartment at five minutes to eleven o'clock. I sent her a text that I was out front. In her neighbourhood, it wasn't the best idea to leave your car unattended unless you were a local, a drug dealer, or a RangeMan.
A few minutes later, Lula in her hot pink spandexed self, wrenched open the door and got into the car. "Hey white girl, you ready to shop 'til you drop?"
"You know it."
We chattered away and drove to the mall. When we arrived, Lula said "we should hit the food court first. You know, so as to keep up our strength for some serious shopping."
We ordered Popeye's chicken and sat down to eat our food. "What are we shopping for, anyway?" Lula asked.
"I need a dress for tonight. Something sexy and classy," I told her.
"What for?" Lula raised a solitary eyebrow. Damn it, can everyone in the world do that but me?
I thought about what I wanted to tell her. On one hand, she'll probably find out eventually if Ranger and I manage to make things work. But with our history, this is not a given. On the other hand, some things are private and I'm trying to keep my private life more private. It's been nice not being the subject of all the gossip in the 'Burg.
"Can I keep the reason I need a dress private for now, Lula? I'm not ready to talk about it yet," I explained.
"Alright. I don't need no reason to shop. Let's find you something gorgeous."
We finished up our fried chicken and threw out our trash. We headed to Macy's and made a beeline to the sale racks. I searched through the dresses but didn't find anything. Lula suddenly shrieked. "White Girl, I found the perfect dress for you!" She held up a deep wine-red lace form-fitting, knee-length sleeveless dress with a high neck. "This dress will be amazing on you."
I took it from her and held it up in front of the mirror. A slow smile bloomed as I took it in. "This could work, I'm going to try it on."
A few minutes later, I came out of the dressing room and spun in front of Lula. "What do you think?"
"Girl, it looks good. It'll knock his socks off," she said with a wink.
I narrowed my eyes at her. "Knock whose socks off?"
"Whoever it is you're trying to impress."
"I'm still not telling you," I informed her.
"Yeah, yeah. Is that the dress? Do you need shoes to match?"
"It's perfect for what I want. And I don't need shoes. I have tons of shoes that will work with this dress."
We hit up Victoria's Secret after that, and thanks to their semi-annual sale, we walked out of there with several bags and our wallets a lot lighter.
"Alright, girl, I'm tapped out after Vicky's," Lula said.
"Me too," I agreed.
I dropped Lula off at her apartment and drove home.
After a two-hour nap, I spent a further two hours getting ready. I took a shower, and I was buffed, powdered, exfoliated, made up lightly the way I know Ranger prefers it, and my hair was in soft tamed curls. I put on my new dress and matched it with four-inch strappy heels and a small black, beaded bag. I was just adding my Sig to my thigh holster and slipping it on under my dress and a stun gun to my bag when Ranger tumbled the locks and entered my apartment.
"Hey, babe. You look amazing," Ranger said as he looked me up and down. He leaned forward and kissed me softly on the lips. I wrapped my arms around him and deepened the kiss, moaning into his mouth.
"Babe, if you keep that up, we won't get out of here in time for our reservations."
I gave him a cheeky smile and grabbed his hand, dragging him behind me. He locked the door and he guided me to his new Porsche.
We spent the next hour and a half at an amazing little bistro and dined on delectable French delicacies. Ranger got escargot but I could not even fathom putting anything that disgusting in my mouth.
During dinner, Ranger confessed he'd been in love with me since the first time he ever kissed me, when his BMW was stolen, and I gave him his license plate and registration. I shyly revealed that I realized I loved him when I saw him come into my apartment when Scrog was waiting to shoot him. We agreed we wanted to try a relationship, though neither of us were all that experienced in a healthy and happy one.
On the drive home, he took my hand in his, kissed my knuckles and placed our interwoven hands on his thigh. When we got to my apartment, he came upstairs to check for killer dust bunnies and finding none, took me into his arms. He sat sideways on my couch and pulled me down to sit between his legs. He remoted the stereo on and navigated to a contemporary station where Michael Bublé was crooning about feeling good. We sat, content to just be together as he ran his fingers lightly up and down my bare arms.
That contentment soon turned to passion and I turned to face him, straddling his legs with mine. I leaned in to kiss him, running my fingers through his hair. It felt like we'd been kissing for hours, or maybe days, when he finally reached under my butt and held onto me tightly, standing and walked us both back to my bedroom.
He unzipped my dress and deposited me gently onto the center of the bed and held my gaze while he began unbuttoning his shirt, revealing more of that delicious caramel-coloured chest I loved. When he had his shirt off, he knelt over me, lowering me to my back. He began laving me with kisses on my face, neck and in my hair while he gently pulled my dress forwards and down off my hips. He kissed, licked and sucked each inch of exposed skin as it was bared to him and undid my bra with a single finger. He captured one of my nipples in his mouth, nipping and sucking it as his fingers worked the other one until I was so close to orgasming that I felt like I would die if he wasn't inside me soon. I clumsily tried to unbutton his pants, but my fingers just wouldn't cooperate and I felt like crying in frustration. He chuckled against my skin and gently pushed my fingers away.
"Soon, babe. Let me love you first," he whispered with a wicked grin. He undid the button on his pants and lowered them, kicking them out of the way. I watched raptly. He was commando!
"No, Carlos! I need you now," I moaned as I pulled him even closer to me.
He hooked his thumbs into my panties and slowly pulled them down over my thighs towards my ankles until he finally tossed them aside. He inserted his knee in between my legs and I widened them in anticipation of feeling him in my aching center.
His mouth and tongue moved downwards towards my belly, nipping bits of my skin lightly before soothing it with his tongue. He swirled his tongue in my navel and then lowered his head, He looked up at me with love and desire blazing from his eyes and breathed out, "babe, you're so wet. I love that I can make you feel this way."
He dipped his tongue in and tasted me, swirling around my nub. I groaned and thrust my hips towards him. He inserted one, two, three fingers inside me as he devoured and teased me, and I felt my entire body rocketing upwards into a frenzy until I exploded and saw stars. With a grin, Ranger moved back up to my face and kissed me. I could taste myself on him and it made me even more feverish than I was. I wrapped my legs around him and reached my hand down to grasp him.
"Please, now. Please," I moaned.
He lined himself up and pushed in slowly until he was buried to the hilt. He held himself still so I could acclimate to his size, then he started moving slowly. I felt the pressure build up inside me again and I was moaning, gripping his butt with fingers, urging him forwards while I met his every thrust. The intensity built into a peak and I climaxed again. It didn't stop and before long, I was falling over the edge a third time and this time Ranger let out a guttural groan and came right after me.
Ranger rolled over, bringing me with him and held me close. Our breathing gradually returned to normal while Ranger was still sheathed within me.
"That was…" I trailed off.
"Amazing," Ranger finished.
"Yeah. Carlos?"
"Yeah?"
"I love you."
He lifted his head and kissed me softly. "I love you too, babe."
A/N: Well, I hope that was okay. Please let me know in the comments. That'll help me decide if I should ever attempt any more smut in the future. It seems like this is an ending, but it's not over. TBC!