I do not own JE's characters. I just like to play with them.
A/N: This a new story. Brace yourself, Babes, this is a TART. I welcome your reviews and input. The rating is for future scenes.
I did not want to drag out their reunion, so here it is.
Thank you for reading and reviewing.
One Year Later
Stephanie POV
I let my thoughts wander as I completed my run around the property with Lu. We are in great shape now and we can fight, throw knives, pick locks, pick pockets, shoot guns and we know stealth. Well, it would be stealth if we wore black. We both hate to be in all black even though it is necessary at times.
I listen to the sounds of my breath, my feet hitting the stone pathway, and I can feel my hair bouncing even in a ponytail. These past few months have been eventful. For one thing, we are officially licensed consultants and we have our degrees.
We moved to Pennington, NJ, which is about 8 miles outside of Trenton, but it was far enough away that I had my buffer zone. We had been here for two months. When our degrees were completed, Lu completed the sale of her home in ATL and paid off her mortgage here. She had the money; she just wanted to create a good credit portfolio. Whatever. I let her and Mr. Grisham haggle about all of that. I just shopped for furniture and decorated my home.
I still sent emails to my husband and he sent them back. He said they were in phase three of the mission. That was a couple of months ago. I will keep the faith and I will probably keep shopping. We are looking at a few spaces to open our center. We are calling our consulting business Shell&Ivy. Ivy is Lula's middle name. I send off one more email to Mateo. I give him the address here so he can just show up whenever he is free. I miss him so much!
Workout finished, we nodded at each other and separated to go into our homes and shower and change. We had to finalize our advertising and choose a location today. I wonder what Mateo is doing right now.
Lester POV
The guys wanted to leave in a couple of days, but I was leaving now. It was a week since I got the last email from Mitch and I could not wait anymore. I felt like the walls were closing in on me. It was 0340 and I was finished packing. It would take all of my skills to get away clean. I ordered the taxi to pick me up a block from here. I just could not take it anymore. The guys were going out at night and clubbing. They met women and all of that. I declined. That is not my scene.
They don't know I am married, but they know I love Mitch. How can the guys expect me to stick around here any longer than necessary? I crave my wife. It is like there is a deep hunger inside me that nothing will sate. I have thought nonstop about having her in my arms. She sent me the address and I am the fuck out of here. I jump the fence and grab my bags. My flight is in two hours. I left the guys a note. Hopefully they would pack and join me in NJ.
I am successful and I make my flight. There is a bit of explaining when they get to my weapons, but my military id clears that up nicely. I sleep on the flight and dream of my beautiful wife. When I arrive at the line of waiting cabs, I question them until I get one who is willing to take a flat rate and not to write down the address.
He said whatever and for the $150 I was willing to pay him, as long as I was not a murderer, he did not care. I was eager the whole ride. When we finally got there, I got my first glimpse of her in two years and she is my goddess. I pay the cab driver and take out my bags. A dog barks and she just keeps dancing. Who does she think I am? Suddenly, in her dancing, she turns and sees me. My mouth goes dry. I love her dress and she looks so pretty.
Stephanie POV
Another day of sunshine and I was dancing and watering my rose bushes. I planted roses that were just like the ones Lester gave me on our first date. Of course I was listening to Aretha Franklin and singing to 'Rock Steady' when I heard a car coming up the drive. As it turned the corner, I saw that it was a cab. It must be Gram. I went back to shaking my ass and singing.
My puppy, Romeo barked twice. My dog can count, so Gram brought someone with her. She did that sometimes, too. She liked going to the creek or sitting by the pool or on the back porch. She said my place was her hideout. She is so funny.
I was wearing a green sundress that came to my knees and matching wedged heels. I turned while dancing to a part of the song and I saw him. Standing ten feet from me, wearing a grey Army tee shirt and faded jeans was my husband. I let my eyes sweep over him from head to toe. He was gorgeous. He was tanned, muscled and he had a five o'clock shadow. He put his bags down and smiled at me.
"Come here, Mitch. Your dog does not know me and I don't want to be bitten." Oh, he is really here! I ran over to him and threw my arms around his shoulders. He supported my ass, so I jumped and wrapped my legs around his waist.
"Hey there, Soldier. I missed you." We stare at each other, and then we kiss and we take it slowly. Oh, he tastes like I remember. I pull away and bury my face in his neck. Tears leak out of my eyes.
"Shhh, Baby. I am here now and I am early! Tomorrow is the anniversary of the date I met you, Beautiful. Give me my ring, and stop hogging it." I smile and take the chain off and give him his ring back.
I kiss Les again. "Oh, Baby. I missed your beautiful smile. The house looks just like in your emails. I am so proud of you!" He swings me around.
"You got your degrees!" I smile and hold onto him.
"Did you and Lula really get black belts?" A gun cocks behind him.
"Yup and I don't know you, so get off my girl before I shoot you." I giggle.
"Lula, this is Lester. Lester this is Lula." They smile and Lula hugs him.
"Girl, he is so fucking dreamy. Get me one!" I laugh at her.
"You know it is your turn to cook." She hates cooking breakfast. It is always my turn.
I smile and pull Les into the house. In the kitchen, I change my music to Beyoncé.
"Les, where are the other members of your crew?" He smiles devilishly.
"I ditched them, Mitch. They would not leave me alone. We have been stateside for three months, but we had to debrief for two of those months, then Carlos worked out a deal with his cousin Diego and they are incorporating and building another branch of what will be called Rangeman here in Trenton."
"Why not just buy a building?" Les frowns.
"They don't know much about the town, so they decided to build a new building." I shake my head and so does Lula.
"Call him and tell him I know of three locations he can try and if he needs an investor, we might be interested." Les smiles.
"Okay, Baby." He makes his call while I cooked breakfast and I sit on his lap when I am done.
"Did you sign another contract, Les?" He shakes his head.
"No, Mitch. I am only available for consults or training and I remain stateside." I kissed him again and we took it French.
"Well, that is my cue. I am being nice and getting ghost for a while. Me and Gram are going to swim and all that. Come outside at your own peril." She says that to Lester. He laughs and kisses me again.
"Ahem." I look up at Lu. "Girl, husband or not, we are running in the morning." I nod at her. We have a routine. We still run every morning. I have straddled his lap by the time the front door closes.
Les carries me to bed and we stay there for the rest of the day. He makes the food runs and I try out many of the fantasies I have had about him. We take a bath together and talk. Well, we kiss and talk. I cannot believe he is here.
Of course, we make love in the tub. Talk about slippery. His hair is just a little longer, but it still looks sexy and disheveled. He is incredible and he is all mine! We sleep with our bodies entwined together. I don't even get mad when he wakes me at 0200 and again at 0400.
I had to sneak out of bed to meet Lu at 0500 for our run. We were in camo tee shirts and cargo shorts and boots. We were armed with our guns and a knife each. She left Juliet home and I left Romeo with Les. We stretched and talked before our run. Lu said that Gram would be back on the weekend and said it looked like I could still walk fine and wasn't I glad I took yoga. I winked at her and said hell yes. We were taking the five mile route today, which was two and a half miles up and back. We watched each other's back and for the last mile, we raced.
Today I was not even upset that Lu beat me, but when I reached the front of our combined driveway, I saw she had company. Muscular company. She had two guys down on the ground and two more guys held her at gunpoint. The last guy was checking her out. Heh heh.
I cock my gun and clear my throat. They look at me. "Hello. Nice weather we are having here, isn't it, gentlemen?" They just glare at me.
I pick the one that must be Ranger. "Hello, Ranger. Why are you holding my friend at gunpoint?" He looks shocked that I know his name. He gives me a once over and I roll my eyes.
"Sorry, hombre. I am taken and that would be a little like incest, anyhow. Stop making Lu mad before she shoots your friends. You must be tired from traveling. Come on inside and I will fix breakfast."
Lu finally speaks up. "I know that's right and I won, so I get red today. You take blue." She stands up and puts her gun in her ankle holster. I do the same with mine. She goes into her home and I motion the guys to follow me inside. I show them the guest rooms on the second floor and I take a shower.
"Mateo, baby, wake up." He moans and reaches for me. I let him catch me. We kiss, but I stop him before he takes off my robe.
"I have to cook breakfast. Take a shower. We have company. I love you, Les." He grins and I wonder how fast a quickie is. He laughs because I said that out loud.
"Not quick enough, Mitch. Go ahead. I will be down, love." I dress in a robin's egg blue mini sundress and use my thigh holsters for my gun and my knife and I leave my hair down with a blue checkered headband and I put on my matching 6"blue heels and take the dog with me to the kitchen.
I am dancing to "Shake your ass" by Mystikal when Ranger and the guys come into my overly large kitchen. They sit down at the table and I give all of them juice and start placing bowls of food on the table. When I am finished, Lu comes into the kitchen.
"Good, I am right on time, just like always, Girl." She sits down next to one of the black guys. It is the one that did not draw on her. She smiles at him and he swallows. I giggle.
"So, Ranger, how are you feeling?" He blinks at me.
"I am fine. I was given this address by our friend. Have you seen him? You know me, but I do not know you." I smile and get up and hug him.
"Yes, Lester is here. He stayed the night. I know he is your cousin. I am Stephanie. That is my best friend Lula. Relax and eat." I know it is killing them that they really do not know who I am. Hee hee. I hear footsteps, so I pour another glass of juice and get another empty plate. Les comes into the kitchen and the guys start messing with him.
"Here is the invisible man." That was from Tank I think. He is the tallest.
"Damn, man. You must have missed Mitch a lot to do a Houdini on us like that." That was Bobby. It was logical. He was the only other black guy.
"You could have told me you wanted to leave, Lester. I would have understood." That is from Ranger.
"Cuz, I needed to get here to see Mitch." He smiles and takes the juice from me and drinks most of it and sets the glass down.
Ranger smirks at Lester. "Well, where is he? Is he still in bed?" Lula laughs loudly.
Lester walks over to me and pulls me to my feet and bends me backwards into a steamy kiss and I cling to him. We both moan and deepen the kiss.
"Girl, stop it! I am trying to eat and you are making me think things. One of these army men is about to be my new toy, okay!" I tap Les so he lets me go. He turns to his cousin and the rest of the guys.
"This is my wife, Stephanie Michelle Santos. Her middle name is Michelle and I call her Mitch." He glares at I guess Axe.
"I am not gay. I have nothing against that lifestyle, but I am in love with my wife. Ramsey, stop looking at her ass, man. I will let her shoot you." Ram stops checking me out.
"When did you get married, Lester?" We sit down with me in his lap and feed each other while Lester explains.
He tells them how we met and that he saved my life and as payment I agreed to marry him. I smacked his head.
"Tell it right!" He kisses me.
"Girl, you know I saved you from a life in hell. You saved me right back. You gave me a reason to come home. I love you, Mitch." Awww. We kiss again. Lula talks to the guys.
"So, which one are you, Cutie? I like that you did not make me draw my gun on you." Bobby grins at her.
"I am Bobby Brown, Lula." She giggles at his name.
"Are you a ho, Bobby?" He looks offended. Lula looks at Lester and gives him the raised eyebrow. He gives her a thumbs up.
"Fine, what are you good at?" He licks his lips at her and she shivers.
"No, I mean combat type skills. Stop flirting with me." He straightens up.
"I am a doctor, so I served as the medic. I have army ranger skills girl. I cannot tell you everything, because then I would have to kill you." She winks at him and throws a knife at him that hits the back of his chair near his head.
He looks at the knife and exhales.
"I think I am in love." I snort.
"Tallulah, you will replace my chair if you do that again!" She sucks her teeth and stands up.
"Bitch, please. I know you and Green Eyes over there have put a hurting on some of this furniture already. That is if he let your ass out of the bedroom." Lester shakes his head at her and she laughs.
"Oh, I spoke too soon. It will happen." She takes Bobby's hand.
"Listen, I am glad you are a doctor. I went running this morning and I think I pulled something. Can you take a look at it and maybe help me get my alignment back and all that shit?" Bobby gets up and pulls her close.
"Sure thing, Miss Lula. I will come with you so you can show the Doctor where it hurts. Let me just grab my bag and I will be right back down." He kisses her cheek and she watches him leave. I don't blame her. Bobby is tall, has a complexion like light chocolate and his hair is all wavy. He has grey eyes!
"Girl, now I understand your little romance with Green Eyes. I will be back around lunchtime and cook, then we can all talk about the business venture. Let the boys play by the pool or whatever." Bobby comes back and they race out the back door.
I turn to the guys and smile. "We can hang out by the pool or you guys can play basketball or watch movies in the media room. It is up to you. I am going to clean up the kitchen." They thanked me and left the kitchen. Les moved behind me and kissed my neck.
"Let me help, Mitch." I turn and kiss him again.
"I love you. Go play and I will be along soon. I need to take Romeo out anyway." He kisses me again and bites my neck. That's gonna leave a mark. I watch him walk away to play with Ranger and the guys. He is delicious looking and he is home! I am so happy right now.