Here's the next chapter! Hope you like it!

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Not mine, not making money

Steph POV

We scurried to the kitchen. It was large, warm and welcoming. There was large doors leading to the yard and the space was divided in half by an island. Between the doors and island were a very large wooden dining table which fit us all. The kitchen cupboards were made out of cherry tree and the counters were white marble. There were large fruit baskets on the island and the sink was located there too. I sat down on the small, red bar chair which was beside the island. I watched as he filled two glasses with water from the fridge. Then I started to laugh.

I laughed so hard that I felt my eyes tear up. I tried to calm down, taking deep breaths but when I looked at Adam I burst out laughing again. I laughed and laughed and fell of my chair, but continued laughing harder and harder on the floor. I could hear Adam laughing with me, or at me, but I didn't care. I was becoming more and more hysterical.

I realized that the laugh had at some point turned to crying as salty tears ran down my cheeks. I felt Adam pick me up and lifted me so that I was sitting on the kitchen counter. I wrapped my arms around him and he hugged me closer. I leaned my head on his shoulder and wrapped my legs around him too. This wasn't sexual in any way, I just need somebody to hold me. I pressed myself against him and he stroked my back.

After what seemed like eternity my tears dried and I lifted my head too look at Adam. He seemed sad and hugged me tightly before letting me go. He held my hand still and reached for the glass of water giving it to me. I drank it fast and watched him walking past the fridge, going for a cupboard at the back of the kitchen. I knew what he was doing. I watched as he opened the doors and stood there, thinking about something, then reaching in to get something. He walked back to me with his hands behind his back, smiling at me and I couldn't help but to laugh at his manner. He stopped right in front of me, still hiding something from from me.

"Are you ready?" he asked me and winked.

"I think I am." I said to him my voice fake-serious but giggled. I reached my hand out and watched him place a pink cup cake on it. I held cupcakes and other not-so-healthy foods in that cupboard, in case of a bad day. I ate the cup cake as Adam just looked at me. I glanced at him and the look he gave my cup cake was hilarious.

"Go on! Have a cup cake." I said and laughed as he rushed to the cupboard. He stood there for a longer time and then came to sit beside me on the island. We sat silently there, just eating our cup cakes. I sighed as the final crumb was eaten. I looked at him and laughed.

"Your face is blue!"

"Well I had to take the blue one! The rest of them were pink and I'm a man! I guess it was blueberry." His mouth was blue and when he talked I saw that his tongue was blue too. I laughed at him and hopped down dragging him with me.

"Come, you can't be scary if you look like a Smurf." He laughed and followed me down the hall to a bathroom. It was a small one with separate toilet and sink area. We stopped at the sinks and Adam washed his face. I took a tissue and cleaned my make-up. My mascara had run and I looked awful. I stopped when I had fixed the right eye. I glanced at Adam who was drying his face on a violet towel.

"I didn't realize that would be so hard." I whispered to him and he looked at me.

"I know honey, I know. Do you want to talk about it?" He took my hand and squeezed it. I smiled at him, wondering what I had done to deserve him.

"Yes. I didn't expect to feel what I felt for him. I thought.. Well I don't know what I thought but it wasn't that. I think love him still. But he don't love me. It's simple." I looked at my feet when I spoke. I heard him sigh and felt his hand on my cheek forcing me to look at him. His eyes were still sad.

"Honey, this is far from easy. But hey, let's talk later when we have more time. Remember that you have guests in the living room?"

He waited for me as I cleaned the other eye too. After I was finished I looked like a human being again. He took my hand and led the way to the living room. I took a deep breath and entered the room with Adam following close by.

Ranger and his men were sitting on the sofas and they looked tired. Tank stood up and the rest of them followed after. They looked uncertain as I had removed their guns and there was a lot of armed persons around them. I smiled at them and asked what they had decided.

"We like to accept the offer of staying here, if that's still possible." Tank said with the most polite way. I nodded at them and they relaxed a little.

"That's good." I said and turned to Adam. "Do we have any apartments empty in the guesthouse?"

"Yes, two on the second floor. Martin and Dianna have the week of. I think they are clean and ready." he said to me with a smile. This was just an act, I had asked this before they arrived and arranged for them to have those apartments as they were just beside the hall which had cameras so that we could monitor them if they left. I thanked him and turned to them.

"You are lucky. We have two apartments that are empty, now if you would follow us?" I held Adams hand and led the way through the door at the back, leading the way to the back yard.

The yard was huge and the two buildings were placed that together with the lake and the main building so that they built a inner yard. There was a swimming pool in the middle and a little terrace beside it with a little table and four chairs. There were three sitting there and they all waved at me. I waved back.

The building to the right side was the guest house. Both of them was made out of red brick and were three stories high. The main door was at the middle of the building and behind it was a large hall and stairs to the floors. I walked without any hurries, admiring the warm summer air. Adam squeezed my hand to reassure me that he would take care of me if necessary. I thanked God I had built pathways leading from house to house as my heels wouldn't have liked this. As we entered the building I looked behind to make sure that they were still following me. Ranger was looking at me like he had recognized me but then slightly shook his head to clear his mind. I sent a silent thank you to Cindy. I cleared my throat.

"Well, this is the guest house. There are guys upstairs that are working so please be quiet on the evenings and nights. Breakfast is served at 0600 in the main house. We'll get someone to help you the kitchen. Follow me, let's check the apartments."

I walked up the stairs to the second floor and opened the door to the right and walked in and the rest of them followed me. It was a small apartment with one bedroom and a living room with the kitchen attached. There was one small bathroom. This one was decorated with greys and whites and all it was clean. This was the apartment of Dianna and she always took her personal stuff with her on the weeks off. I watched as Ranger and Tank realized that their baggage was already sitting on the bed.

"The other one is the same, only mirrored. I guess that it leaves you two to share that one. It's Martin's and he'll be mad if you mess the place. And you don't want to get him angry at you." I said to them and watched as they walked to the other apartment. I turned back to Ranger and Tank.

"Do you have any questions?" I asked them and waited a while for them to think about it. "Well if you don't, I'll leave you to get settled." I glanced at my watch. "It's 4.36. We'll have dinner at 6 o'clock. I'll send someone to get you."

I smiled to them and excited the building fast. I felt that Adam followed me and I slowed down. Soon he was walking with me and I glanced at him. He was looking at me.

"You did that good. I know it was hard for you."

"Yeah." I sighed and took his hand. "I'm heading upstairs to change and maybe call some clients. Can you talk with the guys?"

"Sure, honey. I'll come get you to dinner so you can focus on the work and not worry about being late."

I nodded and watched as he headed for the basement. I frowned and walked up to my apartment and took of my heels. I entered the kitchen and fed Rex. I had to hide him from straight view. I took the cage and patted to the living room and put him on the window sil and pulled the curtains so that it was hidden from view. I sighed and headed for the closet to change. I hated how much I had sighed to day and wondered if it was wise to let them stay. Guess it was better now that I had them monitored.

I changed into a work T-shirt and capri-pants. The shirt was green and the pants where black and fitted. They had a small print of lilies at the bottom and I loved them. I pulled on a pair of furry socks and entered the office to take care of the business.

After two hours I had just rung one of our biggest clients the McDonaghues. They owned a large jewelery store just in the heart of London and sold gorgeous pieces of jewelery with a price that made you gasp for air. I had bought a necklace from them a month ago and had to stop buying shoes for two whole months. It was a magnificent art work, made out of silver. It was formed like a big heart and embedded with real diamonds. I loved it but had quite a few opportunities to wear it as it was so expensive and I hated to lose it. Any ways Larry McDonaghue was a bit paranoid and bought almost everything we had to offer him. He had recently opened stores in three other cities and we provided the security he wanted. Last week somebody had spray painted the store front at the London store and was furious about that and that we hadn't done our jobs. I had had to call him several times to explain to him that there's nothing we can do about it and encouraged him just to paint over the mess. Finally as I had rung him today he had accepted the facts and called a painter.

I sighed as I looked around the office. The sun's light poured in through the window and illuminated the wall with the family pictures. I stood up and walked closer to take a look at them.
There was a total of nine pictures on the wall. One with my parents, one with me, Lula and Connie in the office. That one was taken at Halloween last year and we were all in costumes. I was dressed as Wonder woman, Lula as a super woman and Connie as a sexy secretary. I smiled at that picture, we had had so much fun that day as we had gone trick or treating. It was more tricking that treating. The next picture was taken the day after by Ranger. We had fallen asleep at the office, god knows why, and as he had come the ext morning to talk to Vinnie, he found us. Lula had passed out at the sofa and Connie and I had slept on the floor, her head in my lap. It was a bizarre scene.

I shifted my weight as I looked at the rest of the pictures. There was a picture of Ranger sitting in my kitchen feeding Rex with grape. He was so focused at the small animal in the cage. Rex was sitting on his back legs and reaching for the grape. I smiled and shook my head. The next picture was a funny one. It was a photo of grandma grabbing Tank's butt. His face was priceless, a mixture of horror and terror. I giggled at the photo. In the next photo was Valerie and her family. It was taken in a professional photo studio so that even one picture would be good, Valerie had told me. Pity that it hadn't worked. Mary Alice was sticking her tongue at the camera as the rest of them saw very formal. God, I loved that child.

The next was a group photo from RangeMan. There was everybody there, everybody long, tall and muscular except for me, standing in the middle of the group also laughing. I was a head shorter than the rest and the only woman. Lester was ruffling my hair and I had stuck my tongue out at him. It held a lot of dear memories and sometimes I felt home sick but then Adam cheered me up with a trip to the gun range or a walk by the lake. The following picture was a picture of Bob. He looked very happy as he stood in my kitchen. He had his tongue out of his mouth and eyes half-opened.

The picture that caused most heart break was the picture in the middle. It was the one I had showed to Cindy. Ranger hugging me and laughing at or with me and we both were so happy. The next thing I know is that he had been playing me the whole time. My heart had stopped and then shattered in tiny pieces and made it hard to breath. After I left Joe and started to date Ranger I had really trusted him. He had healed me and I loved him from the bottom of my heart. It killed me to know that he didn't and I mean that literally. Stephanie was dead and buried as far as I knew or at least caged somewhere dark. I was Charlotte now, fearless and beautiful woman who didn't had her heart broken by the man she thought loved her!

I fought the tears away as I sat on the edge of the desk. It had been a very hard day and it wasn't even six o'clock yet. I massaged my neck and picked up the phone, deciding that I could make one call before the dinner. I dialed the number and got into the business mode.

After finishing that I heard that somebody was on the way up and turned off the computer and took my gun and put it to my pocket. I exited the office as Adam stuck his head through the door. He seemed cheerful.

"Hi honey! Let's go eat!" I should have known, Adam loved to eat as much as I did. I took the hand he offered me and we hopped down the stairs. We were giggling like little girls as we hit the first floor. We ran to the kitchen, still giggling, he urging me on and hopped to our seats, me sitting on the end and Adam on my right side. It was then I realised that everybody else were sitting already at the table. I smiled politely at them and kicked Adam under the table. He kicked me back. I pulled my leg back so that I could get some strenght into my kick.

"Hey, stop that already. I swear that you are like kids." Michelle said to us and chuckled. I smiled at her and kicked Adam. He stuck his tongue out at me and we were interrupted by Michelle again.

"We have guests too, remember?"

I froze totally. I had forgot about them in the rush of excitement, and Adam had that effect on me. I glanced at the other end of the table and saw them watching me smiling. The hardest glance to meet was Rangers. He was looking at me with a frown. I looked away from him wondering if I had been discovered. I sincerely hoped not.

"Well... Let's eat then, we'll talk business tomorrow as I bet you are tired. So are we too, it's been a hard day. The kitchen is always open if you get hungry." I added as they were new to our routine. I looked at the rest of them and they didn't have anything to add so we dug in. I saw that there was mashed potato and steak with salad today. I ate all of it and watched everybody eat. My eyes turned to Ranger and his crew. Ranger was talking, occasionally glancing at me. The frown hadn't disappeared and I was becoming more worried by the second. I crossed my hands and turned to Adam.

"You think they know?" I whispered to him. He looked up from his steak and glanced at the guests. He shrugged.

"I don't know. I'll ask around if you want to." he offered and I nodded. He returned to the food. I turned to Michelle, sitting a few chairs away.

"Hey, Michelle, do you want to come to the spa with me today?" I asked and Ranger's crew turned their attention at me. "Could do good after a day like this."

"'Course I will, have I never said no?" she laughed and ate a piece of tomato. "I'll go change after dinner."

I smiled and nodded and watched Ranger. He took a look at me.

"Spa?" he asked confused.

"We have a little spa on the first floor as well as a gym. There is also two living rooms and this kitchen. You are free to use them. There is also the pool outside if you like to use that one too. You are not allowed on the second or third floor as they are living spaces." I explained to them and saw him nod at me and return to his food. I excused myself and walked to my apartment to change into bikini's.

I owned about ten bikini's but I chose the blue-white striped one with the halter neck bra. I changed into them and pulled a robe over that. I pulled my hair into a bun and slid my feet into some pink flip-flops. I changed the gun to a smaller one and fed Rex. I took a look at my apartment, headed back and changed the pillows and blankets back to light blue. I was pleased with that and walked to the spa.

The spa was located behind the kitchen and living room in the back. I walked through the living room and saw no one but that wasn't a surprise. At this hour the guys would be on a run or working in the basement. Michelle had been working since very early and she had finished her work so she could join me at the spa.

As I entered I saw that she was already sitting in the hot tub. The spa included a hot tub, a pool and massage rooms where also mani/pedi's were done. I smiled at her and walked over the blue tiles to the hot tub and sunk in. I relaxed and moaned at the feeling of the warm water against my aching muscles. We sat there silently for a while, me with closed eyes.

"So?" Michelle asked me and I opened my eyes so I could look at her. She looked excited and happy and sad at the same time. I sighed.

"I have this weird feeling when I'm in the same room with him. I don't know. It's weird." I said expressing my angstiety to her.

She looked at me and reached out to squeeze my shoulder.

"It'll be okay, you'll figure this out."

"Yeah" I answered and sighed again. "I think I still love him even though I hate him."

"Of course you do. That kind of love don't disappear like that. You'll just have to figure his feelings." she answered me and sunk in deeper in the tub. I could only see her face now.

"I know what he thinks! You know that, I told you. He don't love me, it's simple." I was becoming frustrated and angry at the same time. A dangerous combination.

"It's not simple. You force it to be simple, but it's not." she murmured from the water.

I sighed. She was right as usual.

After sitting there and talking for hours we left the spa and walked up to our apartments. I flicked on the lights and patted to the closet to change into something comfortable to sleep in. I chose a pair of hot pants and decided to take a Brown shirt instead the shirt Ranger had once wore and I had took with me. It would be a heck of a job to explain that one to Ranger or one of his men. I yawned and closed the curtains and climbed into the bed. Soon I fell asleep.

Steph POV

I felt weird. I sat up in the bed and checked the clock. 1.32 AM. The apartment was dark and quiet. I stood up, grabbed my gun and patted to the office to check the monitors. They all looked fine and then I froze. Ranger was climbing the stairs obliviously searching the house. I grabbed the gun properly and excited to stand in the hall hidden from view. I was going to teach him a lesson. I waited a while with various emotions going through me until I heard the sound of footsteps outside my door. A hand turned the handle and opened the door. Then he stepped inside.

Before he could say or do anything I had him pressed agaist the floor. I was angry with him, entering my home without invitation. I put my foot on his back and leveled the gun with his head.

"Don't move or I'll shoot you. " I exclaimed and lifted my foot. I backed a few steps and swiched the lights on. Ranger was laying on my hall floor.

"You can stand up now." I said to him with a little softer voice. He looked scared as he looked at my gun so I lowered it but didn't put it away. He wore a typical outfit by RangeMan, a black t-shirt and cargo pants. He looked at my outfit.

I had a pair of silver hot pants on and a black t-shirt and my hair was pulled to a bun. I stood there in the hall with my gun and Ranger and I felt beyond uncomfortable. The sparks were there again. I swallowed.

"What are you doing here?" I barked at him, taking the easy way out. Anger.

"I wanted to see you and ask you a question." He had his hands in the air and had his eyes focused on my face. His face blanked out as he waited for my answer.

"Why do you want to talk to me?" I was confused and worried. And the Stephanie part of me was estastic.

He lowered his hands and shifted his weight nervously. He glanced at his shoes and sighed. He looked like would go crazy.

"My friend is missing and as you knew Europe, I thought that you might know where she is. And you look a bit like her. Her name is Stephanie Plum."

Holy shit.

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