Hi. Remember me? Ugh. I suck as an updater right now.

So we all have excuses. RL has been kicking my ass (nothing new there) and I had a busy weekend so sadly no time to update (I went back to see friends from my college). Then, I had something written but... I didn't like it. Thankfully, this version came to me last night and I was able to finish it. So yay! I hope you all enjoy.

I'm going to work better at updating more regularly. I promise. Maybe when I can, I'll jot down something on paper...

The week after next I'll be getting a reprieve from work. I don't know how long it'll last, but at least my hours are less. More time for writing! Yay!

Not mine. Please enjoy Ranger in this chapter... I know I did.

Now what happened next took me completely by surprise.

But first, I need to go back a few weeks. This story is too good to skip to the end. Trust me.

After dinner at my parents, we set up a date for the following week. My mother was on cloud nine. Grandma, on the other hand, was still a little grouchy, but pleased that I was going out on a date. She told me later that Mark reminded her of Dickie, but if I was happy to go out with him, then she was happy for me.

I hadn't noticed the resemblance. It shocked me enough that I picked up the phone three times to cancel. No way was I going to go out with a Dickie clone. Just the thought of it makes me shiver.

The ratfink bastard

But I digress. Something always stopped me. Maybe it was the constant calls from my mother pleading me to not die alone. Lula and Connie took my cell away from me. They thought it was a good idea to go out with him. I needed to get out of the rut I was in.

Lula actually said something else… but since it's Lula… It's already obvious.

Or maybe it was because I knew that it wasn't right. That I was waiting for someone else.

But that theory was dismissed in the next breath. For the most part.

So I kept the date and had a really great time. He took me to a little hole in a wall Italian place and we talked about everything under the sun. Books, movies, tv shows, politics; you name it, we talked about it. I hadn't had this much in common with another person since Mary Lou, my best friend.

Unfortunately, things went slowly downhill from there.

"Good morning." I said to Lula when I entered the store.

"So what happened?" Lula asked, ambushing me. She dropped the last pair of panties onto the pile.

"I said good morning." I paused and waited. Manners were not going to get past me. Plus it tickled me to watch her struggle with anticipation.

She sighed and rolled her eyes. "Good morning. Well?"

"I designed our catalog for next season. What do you think?"

"Whoops."

"He was a nice guy, just no spark." I bit my lip. I started to fiddle with the rack of bras on my left.

"Uh oh. You're doing that thing again. When you bite your lip it means you're leaving something out."

Damn lip. "Nope. Not me."

"What did you do?"

"I may have… brought up Ranger."

"You did what?"

"He was asking me about them and what they were doing there and I may have told a few stories."

"A few?"

"Six?

"Jeez, white girl. I knew you liked him, but I never knew it was that serious."

I moved on to a different rack. "What? I don't like him."

Lula followed me. "Uh huh. And I'm a size six."

I had no response for that. I started to walk back to my office and Lula followed me. "So what are you going to do?"

"About what?"

"About Ranger! That man looks at you like you're lunch."

"Nothing."

"Nothing?"

I shrugged. "He works for me. I don't want to miss business with pleasure."

"Damn girl, that's half the fun! I should know."

"You were a hooker. That was your job."

"True enough." She paused. "Well?"

"No."

"Come on girl, you need to get relaxed."

"I am relaxed."

"No no. You're not. The only way you need to get relaxed is to remove that stick from your ass and put it in your…"

"Hey!"

"I'm just saying."

"Well say it somewhere else."

"Think about it? Please?"

"Fine. Shoo."

Thankfully she left.

Life went on as normal and the attraction I was feeling towards Ranger continued to grow. He and his crew gave me updates every day and it was getting harder to focus on the task at hand.

I spent twenty minutes thinking about how Ranger would taste with chocolate sauce on him.

After shaking my head free of that dream (and boy was it hard!), I saw Mark entering the shop.

I got up from my desk and went over to him. "What are you doing here?"

"Lula said I needed to see you and to bring flowers." He kissed me on the cheek. "You look good."

"Thanks. You too." I glared over at Lula. I knew what she was doing! She was using Mark to Ranger to react since I was being a chicken.

And let's face it, I was.

He pointed behind the flowers. "So, is that him?"

I looked over. Ranger looked like he was going to murder someone. "Yep."

"Oh yeah. He's interested."

"What?"

"Lula seemed to think that you were nervous he'd turn you down because he wasn't into you. Considering he's looking at me like he wants to kill me for kissing your cheek, he's interested."

Surprised by that statement, I led him into the office. We talked for a few more minutes and he left to go back to work. He assured me that my affections were returned and I let the nervousness felt away. I felt more myself. The job was almost done and someone from his company would be taking over for him, so the professional thing was no longer an issue.

And there was no harm in trying, right?

Right.

So I tried. I shocked the hell out of him.

"What?" He asked.

"You heard me. I asked you out."

He grinned. "I know. I just wanted to see if you'd say it again."

"Ass!" She paused. "Well?"

He opened his mouth and before he could answer, one of my better customers came over. "Carlos!" She said, squealing in delight. She tottered over in her blood red high heeled shoes.

Marcia Ovriella was half my weight and twice my bra size (even though everyone knew they weren't real). She had died her hair blonde and wore something that resembled a black mini dress, only it covered about half of that.

Completely his type if his eyes were anything to go on. His eyes darkened in lust. She even called him Carlos. I guess he saved that for the special women in his life. My stomach dropped. He never wanted me to call him Carlos.

"Hi Marcia." He replied.

"You never called after." She pouted.

Everyone has a sense of fight or flight. Usually I like to fight for what's mine.

But right now, my brain was telling me to run. There was no way I was going to stick around to hear about their sex life.

So I ran.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid." I said banging my head on the wall. Of course he probably had tons of women chasing after him. He was probably working for a way to let me down easy. Clearly I wasn't in his league. I felt anger and sadness at that thought. I really believed…

Suddenly the door banged open. Ranger came pounding in. He backed me onto my desk and got right in my face.

For a second, I thought he was going to kiss me.

"W… What?"

"You didn't let me answer."

"I thought it was pretty obvious that…"

He cupped my cheeks and forced me to look at him. "Nothing happened with Marcia. Her husband offered me a job installing security. She thought she'd get me to do some work for her too, if you know what I mean, but I don't go after unavailable women."

"Oh." I breathed.

"Can I answer now?"

"Yeah."

"How about tomorrow night at seven? I'll pick you up at your house."

I nodded. I could barely speak yet.

He smiled and moved closer. "I know how much you want me to kiss you. But I'm not going to. We're going to do this right and it's going to be good."

And then he was gone.