Over the last few months, after Stephanie and I had gotten closer as one of the unexpected results of her trip to Hawaii, she moved back in with me. She still kept her apartment, but she'd moved most of her stuff into my house. The guest bedroom had been, unofficially, hers for storing extra clothes, blankets, and other stuff that would have made my room cluttered. It wasn't that Steph was materialistic so much as she had things that were necessary for living on her own, but weren't as necessary when she was living with me. I took the fact that most of Stephanie's belongings were in my house as a good thing. It suggested that she was less likely to pack up her things and leave if we had a fight. Not that we'd been having many of those lately. After we'd had the necessary conversations (and some arguments) about Ranger, Hawaii, her work, and what we each wanted out of life, it felt like we'd reached a point where we understood each other's needs and could compromise on the issues that previously led to fights, like who had to buy the bread for toast.

With shopping for food, we decided to keep a list on the refrigerator door of the items that needed to be purchased. If the item could wait a few days, one of us would just write it down. If it could not wait, we'd put a star next to the item and tell the other person. As soon as the list reached fifteen items—stared or not—the person who'd written down the fifteenth item would have to go to the store. Occasionally, one of us would call the other and say, "There are fifteen things to get. I'll pick them up tonight." Sometimes, we went shopping together and ended up buying another ten items that hadn't been on the list.

We never ran out of peanut butter.

Living together meant we saw a lot more of each other, especially at night. Even if I was gone before Steph woke up and wasn't back until after eight or nine, I'd still see her before we went to sleep. This meant we'd been having sex at least once a night ever since Stephanie had moved back in. I can't say that this has hurt our relationship.

I put the rest of the cake in the refrigerator and stopped to check Bob's food bowl, suspecting that even though it had been full that morning, it would be empty by now. Sure enough, there wasn't a single piece of kibble left in the bowl. I gave him more kibble and refilled his water, and he looked at me as though I was the greatest human being in the world.

Stephanie was sitting at the table, reading a magazine and drinking some coffee. She'd put on her usual work uniform of blue jeans, a t-shirt (red today) and a matching flannel shirt over the shirt. Her hair was tied back in its usual ponytail, curls swinging around her shoulders. I gave her a peck on the top of her head and played with one of her curls.

"Sexy," I told her.

She turned around and smiled at me. "You should have seen me earlier," she commented wryly. "The FTA pushed me in a mud swamp."

I sat down next to her. "Mud swamp?"

"Yeah." She shuddered. "Lula made him wish he hadn't, though. By the time we got him into the station, I felt downright clean next to him. Even his hair was caked in mud." She giggled at this. "The cops were pretty impressed with us. You might hear stories about the Mud Monster tomorrow."

I grimaced. "Which one of you was the mud monster?"

Steph laughed. "Me. Lula barely got any mud on her. I took a shower as soon as I got home."

The fact that she called my house home made my heart skip a beat. I waited for a second in case Steph corrected herself, but she didn't. Just smiled at me.

"How much mud got on the FTA?"

She grinned. "There wasn't a mud free part of him when I was finished. You'd have liked to be there," she added, batting her eyes at me.

I chuckled and gave her a long kiss. "We can fix that now."

I detected the familiar grin, and she practically jumped out of her chair. I carried her into our room, and an hour later, we were cuddling in bed. Bob was pawing outside the door, which I'd had the sense to close before beginning our afternoon activities. Didn't want to traumatize the poor dog.

I leaned over and whispered in her ear a few suggestions about a different kind of mud wrestling. Steph rolled over to face me, smiling her unique "after sex" smile.

"Mmm…but we'd have to shower afterwards," she said, running a hand along my hair. "I don't think I'd be up for that." Before I could reply, she added, "Besides, mud would get…everywhere. Sorry, but I think that's going on the list of sexual acts I'm not going to do."

The list was a short one, I had to admit. When we'd first gotten together, she hadn't exactly been a prude, but she'd been pretty traditional. Over time, she'd become more open minded. Later, I found out that she'd done stuff with me she'd refused to consider with Dickie. That put a smile on my face. Not only because it proved how much of a jerk her ex had been, but that she'd grown comfortable enough around me to be willing to try things she'd previously rejected.

But now that she brought it up, I could see that my fantasy had some drawbacks. It was probably a good thing that Steph had pointed this out before we actually tried it.

Steph's hands moved from my hair down to my neck, and I was enjoying every second of it. If I'd been a dog, my tongue probably would have been rolling out of my mouth. She spent at least ten minutes on my neck before moving down to my shoulders. I shut my eyes, thinking that if this continued for much longer, I'd fall asleep. Not that this would be a bad thing. I didn't often get a chance to take a nap, weekend or weekday, and I'd welcome an hour or so of sleep after the couple of hours I'd had at the Plum home.

"You okay?" Steph asked, and I could hear the teasing in her voice. "Did I wear you out?"

"Not you. Your mom."

It slipped out before I could stop myself, and I could feel my cheeks redden.

"You like older women, Morelli?" she queried, giggling.

I rolled my eyes, not that she could see me. Well, might as well tell her now and get it over with.

"I'll be helping your dad perform manual labor on the house and the car for the next few weeks," I explained. "I spoke with your mom earlier on the phone—" Well, this was true enough. "—and she said he pulled his back after you'd left. I think he was trying to fix the sink…"

I felt her hands let go of my back, and I turned over to face her. "Is he okay?" she asked me. "Did he have to go to the hospital?"

"Yes, and no. In that order," I reassured Steph. "But he had some projects he wanted to work on, and your mom wants your dad to take it easy for awhile, so she asked if I'd be able to help him work on them."

"I wish you'd told me," Steph replied, sounding bitter. "Dillon's really good at that kind of thing, and he'd probably do it for next to nothing."

"Well, I'm doing it for extra helpings of your mom's desserts." I gave her a peck on the forehead. "It won't be anything too strenuous, I don't think."

"If it is, just tell her!" Steph had a look in her eyes that reminded me of her mother. "She shouldn't have even asked you. It's not like we're married or anything."

Then, she bit her lip.

"Not yet, anyway," I reassured her. "I think we should make sure we can live together for a few months without having a huge fight."

Stephanie seemed to brighten a little at this, so I settled down on the bed and wrapped my arms around her. She nestled against me, head in my chest.

"Ready for round two, or a nap?"

She yawned, and I could see the outline of a smile on her face.

"Okay, Cupcake," I said, pretending to be disappointed. "Guess that answers that."

Steph rolled over on her side to face me. "Gotta rest up for tonight, remember?"

I held her closer. "You got it, Cupcake."

She breathed in, tickling my neck as she did so. "You smell good. Sort of like…pineapple upside down cake."

"I was over there earlier," I responded.

"Any leftovers?"

I rolled my eyes. "Do you have to ask?"

"Mmm," she sighed. "Great, now I'm hungry."

"I thought you were tired."

"Well, that too." She shifted, contemplating the decision before her. "I guess it will still be there in a few hours."

"Unless Bob gets it," I teased. At her Steph's sudden movement, I added, "Don't worry. It's in the fridge." I felt Steph relax against me, and I brushed an arm against her side. "Sweet dreams."

She responded with a yawn of her own. "You too."

When I woke up, it was after 4PM. Stephanie had disappeared, and I suspected that she was downstairs with the pineapple upside down cake. I put on a shirt and shorts and headed downstairs. There was a large piece of cake missing from the box, but no Stephanie. Hmm.

Bob began barking at me, and his food bowl still had some kibble in it, but I noticed a note attached to his collar.

Joe,

Went shopping with Mary Lou. Going to pick up something for tonight. I refilled Bob's food and water bowl before leaving, but he might have to poop before I get back.

Will call if I'm back after 7. I'll probably get dinner with Mary Lou, but leftovers from my parents are still in the fridge. Call my cell if you want me to pick you something up instead.

Love,

Stephanie

P.S. I fed Rex, too.

I gave Bob a sigh. "You know you're going to gain fifty pounds if you keep that up."

He just wagged his tail at me and barked loudly.

"Need to go out?"

He barked again.

I grabbed his leash from the kitchen and hooked it onto his collar. "All right, I'm coming."

Fortunately, the weather was nice out—not too hot, not too cold. Not overly cloudy, but not so much sun that it hurt to look up at the sky. I grabbed a pair of socks from the laundry basket and located my sneakers, figuring it wouldn't hurt either of us to make this walk a run. By the time we came back, Bob was panting like crazy and whining as though I'd forced him to do a fifteen mile run, even though it had only been three.

I'd been running enough to break into a sweat, so I decided a quick shower wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. I'd completed a second half bathroom a year ago, but that one only contained a sink and a toilet. It would have been too expensive to install a shower or bathtub and, as much as Stephanie disliked the idea of having to share a shower, I knew that she wouldn't want me to go into debt to the tune of ten or fifteen thousand dollars for an extra place to shower.

I'd been a little nervous about the state of the shower after hearing her story regarding Lula and the FTA, but I didn't see any mud on the floor or the walls of the shower. Her shampoo bottle looked kind of low, and I made a mental note to add that to the list when I got out.

Given that it was almost six o'clock by the time I'd dried off, I figured I'd bypass clothes and head straight into a long t-shirt and boxer shorts. Why make extra laundry work for myself, or Steph?

I'd been a little surprised when she'd volunteered to do our laundry once she'd moved back in, under the condition that I took responsibility for cleaning the bathroom and taking out the garbage. She'd mentioned on a few occasions that I shouldn't leave my dirty socks and underwear in our room.

It seemed like a fair trade off.

I debated getting started on Mrs. Plum's homework assignment, but Steph's note had implied that she'd be back before seven, and I didn't want her to catch me trying to separate eggs. She'd know something was up. I checked to see what our egg condition looked like, and was happy to see that we had a full cartoon of unopened eggs. I could practice tomorrow, and if there were any that I couldn't separate, I'd make those into scrambled eggs for our breakfast.

Bob began whining, and I realized that he'd finished all of the food in his bowl. Not wanting him to resort to eating furniture—though he might do that anyway—I refilled his bowl.

"Now, Bob, that's it for tonight," I told him sternly. "Make it last."

Bob just did what I guessed passed for the dog version of a happy dance, and proceeded to eat every bite of his dinner. Figures.

I headed back into the kitchen, reheated the leftovers from the previous night's dinner of pot roast, green beans, and baked potato. They were every bit as good as they'd been the night before.

I was watching the news on TV when Steph returned, a few minutes after seven, holding a large shopping bag and looking pretty happy. She reached down and petted Bob, who began to sniff her shopping bag in case it contained anything remotely edible.

"Down, Bob," she laughed. "You already had dinner."

I got up from the couch and pulled her into a hug.

"Twice," I admitted. "He wouldn't leave me alone. So, did you and Mary Lou fun?"

"Loads, but traffic was horrible coming back." She set the back on the floor and walked over to the couch. "Anything good on?"

I used the remote to turn off the TV. "Not as good as what I have planned for tonight." I eyed the bag. "Can I see?"

She smiled. "Sure, but it's nothing for tonight." She started to take the piece of clothing out of the bag, but I stopped her.

"Put it on for me?"

Steph rolled her eyes. "I'll be back in a minute."

"You can change here," I offered, knowing she wouldn't take me up on it. The shades blocked most of the view from the street, but with the exception of undressing for sex, Steph wasn't huge on taking her clothes off in front of me.

I was pretty sure it had to do with insecurity about her bra size. In the Burg, a C was considered average, and you had to be at least a D to look good. Steph's breast size was definitely a B, maybe a C with the right bra. Personally, I thought they were perfect, but she'd received a lot of negative comments from various obnoxious women in our town, and a few from really nasty men. The comments never brought her to tears or anything like that, but it had to hurt her in the long run. I'd told her they were perfect on various occasions, and I knew that Steph knew I wouldn't lie to her about something like that. Still, it kind of hurt that other people could cause her to feel, if not unattractive, then at least insecure.

As I'd expected, Steph rolled her eyes at me. "I'll be back in a minute."

I remained on the couch while she put on whatever outfit she'd bought, waiting impatiently. I didn't want to turn the TV back on and seem like a jerk. When Steph emerged, she looked gorgeous.

The dress reached a little below her knees and had a really full skirt. It was dark blue with tiny roses all over it. The top of the dress was low cut, but conservative enough that she could wear it to her parents' house—or mine—without comment. The sleeves were short and seemed to contain a lot of fabric, almost giving Steph the appearance of flying. It looked both innocent and stylish, and very sexy. Stephanie had put on earrings, which matched the dress perfectly. Blue flowers with red petals definitely added to the outfit.

"Wow," I managed.

She smiled and twirled in the dress. "You think so?"

"Definitely." I pulled her into my arms so she was sitting on my lap. "You look good enough to eat." I studied Steph again. "I like what it does to your eyes."

Stephanie's eyes were pale blue, but the dark blue of the dress seemed to make them extra dark. The whole effect was pretty striking.

"You're pretty irresistible," I told her, picking her up. "In fact, I don't think I can resist you in that…"

"That's okay," Steph told me. "You don't have to try…"

The next morning, I woke up at 5:05AM to my blaring alarm. Stephanie rolled over onto her stomach.

"Shut that damn thing off," she pleaded, her voice muffled from the pillow. "It's been like that for ages…"

I removed one hand from Steph's waist and turned the sound off without bothering to look at the clock.

"I don't have to get up right away," I told her, coaxingly.

She rolled over on her side. "Forget it."

"Please?"

"Ask me in a few hours," she practically growled.

I nibbled at her ear. "I'll make it worth your while."

Steph reached for my pillow and placed it over her head. "Nothing is worth it at five in the morning."

Okay, so my chances of morning sex with Stephanie were maybe 10% on a good day. It happened, on occasion, but far more often, she flat out refused because she wanted the extra sleep. Steph was never a morning person by any stretch of the imagination, and if she had to get up early, she was more inclined to think about coffee and donuts than sex. Not that coffee and donuts could persuade her to get up with me, have sex, and then go back to bed.

I'd tried it often enough.

I removed the pillow, gave her a kiss on the head, and then returned the pillow to her head.

"Sweet dreams, Cupcake. See you tonight."

She said something that sounded like "Love you, Joe" but it could have been "Go away, now".

Choosing to believe it was the first, I responded with an "I love you, too."

I told myself it was a good thing I hadn't been able to convince Steph to have sex that early. If she got up, she might stay awake long enough to have breakfast with me. Since I didn't have to be at work super early that day, I'd initially set my alarm with the intention of getting started on Mrs. Plum's homework assignment. I wouldn't be able to do that if Steph was in the kitchen with me.

Before attacking the eggs, I logged online and tried to find information about separating eggs. I was glad I did this, because if I hadn't, I probably would have cracked an egg open over the bowl and tried to remove the yolk with a spoon. As it was, it took five tries before I was able to remove the yolk completely from the white. I gave it two more goes, just in case the fifth time had been luck, and got the egg separated completely from the yolk both times. I felt pretty proud of myself as I scrambled them up for breakfast.

One step down, a thousand more to go.

After I'd finished the dishes, I realized that the eggs I'd used might be different from the ones Mrs. Plum had used. I'd have to call her and ask if it made a difference in the separation process. Later that day, though. I wanted to enjoy my small victory while it lasted.

At work, I heard a few comments about the Mud Monster, but they were more admiring than derisive. Probably because the guys at the precinct knew better than to say anything negative about Stephanie to my face or behind my back. Not unless they had a legitimate reason to be worried. In a lot of ways, the men who worked with me took on the same attitude towards Steph as the men at Rangeman did: it was part of their job to let me know if she wasn't safe, and act to keep her that way.

I wondered how Rangeman employees probably felt about their job after they learned that I'd proposed to Steph. Maybe they would think that she'd still end up with Ranger. Certainly, he'd think that. My men might have doubts about us lasting as a long term couple, but at least they saw us together and knew we were legitimate and happy. I knew that Ranger still tracked Stephanie's car, allegedly out of the desire to make sure she was safe, but also for the purpose of knowing where she was at all times. I didn't make a big deal about it, but I would if it continued after we got married. Partly because I didn't want another man tracking down my wife, and also because Steph was tired of having to endure being tracked.

As horrible as it had been to see Stephanie with Ranger in Hawaii, it had opened up the doors of communication for us. After the business with the Rug and the photo cleared up, Steph agreed to take a couple weeks off from work so we could figure out what was going on between us. We had some tough conversations, even fights. We didn't fight as much about her job as we did about Ranger. I wanted Stephanie to cut him off entirely, but Stephanie valued his friendship and didn't want to lose that. She believed that, over time, a friendship between herself and Ranger could work out. Steph told me that she'd felt guilty about how things had gotten between them. I'd known about the flirting, and Hawaii had confirmed that they'd slept together more than once. Hearing everything from Steph hurt, but things between us improved because of our honesty.

I knew that if it came down to a choice between a sexual relationship with Ranger and a lasting relationship with me Stephanie would choose to cut Ranger off. She'd tell him that, while she cared about him and valued their friendship, as well as everything he'd done for her in the past, she had chosen me and didn't want any kind of romance with him. Not only did this mean no more sex between them, but no kissing, flirting, or anything she wouldn't do in front of me. In spite of everything, I still trusted Steph to do the right thing if they stuck to being friends.

Steph appeared in the kitchen about two hours later in pajamas and a bathrobe, just after I'd finished eating and cleaning up all of the eggs. I decided I'd risk being a little late and stay to have a second breakfast with her. There wouldn't be time for morning sex, but there was always later that night…

After we'd finished eating, I kissed Steph goodbye and hurried out the door. I hoped that

I'd see her again in the sexy blue dress on the night I proposed with the cake.

A/N: If you enjoyed this chapter, PLEASE take a moment to leave a constructive review. Thanks!