Disclaimer: I don't own Plum characters. A nod of respect goes to Janet Evanovich and her imagination for creating these characters.

TBC Ranger Challenge

..::Dare You::..

Ranger was staring at me with those intense eyes he reserved for two things: the bedroom and when he wanted to intimidate someone. And since I'd been in the bedroom with him, the intimidation thing really didn't work on me anymore.

"You can't be serious!" I wrapped around the other side of the counter and walked over to the refrigerator. "You can't kidnap me. This isn't even an option you should be considering!"

"You want options?" Ranger's gaze followed me and I could feel the intensity burning against my back. "You either come with me or let them kill you. Which is it, babe?"

I shot him a look from over my shoulder as I jerked open the fridge door with a little more enthusiasm than required.

"You can't be debating this." I heard the kitchen chair protest and the sound of Ranger's boots against the hardwood floor. "We don't have much time."

"Then why are you bothering asking me?" I snapped. I shoved the fridge door shut behind me and gulped down half a bottle of water. My mouth felt like the desert. My nerves were shot. My blood pressure was through the roof. "If you're just going to do what you want, then treat me like any other victim, Ranger. Make my mind up for me."

All my senses tingled at once. He was close enough to feel the body heat radiating off him, to feel the barely contained anger I'd caused by arguing with him. By ignoring my safety, by choosing not to run directly to him when all my problems started, only perpetuated the situation.

"You're playing with fire, Stephanie," he whispered in my ear. The smell of freshly showered Ranger and Bulgari wrapped around me. I was lulled into a false sense of security and tempted to lean back into him, but managed to keep my distance. Ranger seemed to realize this, and brushed his lips against my neck. "I'll take you when you least expect it."

I turned my head so that I could see him. His eyes were dark, focused. His hands rested on my hips, blunt fingernails dug lightly into my skin as he pulled me against him. My breathing hitched, my lips parted on their own volition.

There was something about him that lit my body up like a fireball.

"Oh yeah?" I whispered my gaze slipped to his mouth. That mouth that could bring pleasure or torture or both depending how you looked at things. "I dare you."

I flicked my gaze back up to his and his eyes had turned to molten fire. I watched as his lips moved towards mine and my eyes slid closed. My thoughts seemed to tumble around and around. I shouldn't do this. If I did, he would win. I would be in big trouble. I'd be at his mercy but I couldn't help myself. I leaned into him, my finger curling around his neck and pulling him closer to me. The first brush of his lips made me gasp. Ranger kissed me as if he demanded nothing less than everything. The slick slide of him inside my mouth send a shiver down my spine and I moaned against his lips.

I wanted him. Bad.

He nipped my bottom lip and pulled away. His fingers curled into my jacket, holding me at arm's length while I wanted nothing more than to wrap myself around him. "We can do this the easy way or the hard way. You're call."

Just what I thought. Using my body against me. I gave him a look and shook his hands off my jacket.

"You know exactly how to get what you want." I smiled when he seemed to relax a bit. I narrowed my eyes. "The hard way."

..::Cat and Mouse::..

All day I'd had this feeling like I was being watched and considering I'd challenged Ranger, I had good reason to be paranoid. Ranger would hit me when I least expected it. Though, I half expected to be sleeping and wake up with him beside me, grinning; but that would be too easy for him.

I looked over my shoulder again and beeped the Mini locked. I scanned the parking lot quickly and ran into the building, all the way up the stairs and fumbled with the lock. I didn't see anything that didn't look familiar but Ranger was trying to be sneaky and he was the King of catching me off guard.

I heard a noise on the stairwell and I had to bite my lower lip to keep from squeaking out in fright. I think I'd officially stopped breathing. If it wasn't bad enough I'd been with Lula when she accidentally shot a member of the Irish mafia in a big misunderstanding between us and a skip, now they thought it was me who'd shot him and they didn't like that one bit. But now I had Ranger hunting me down too and he ten times more relentless than some hitman looking to score some loot.

I heard the creaking noise again and I shoved my keys a little too hard into the lock and they slipped through my fingers and fell to the floor. Another creak and I dove to the ground, grabbing the keys and shoved them into the lock. I debated praying that it was Ranger, but then I thought to myself that would be just as stupid as praying it wasn't. I twisted the key with a curse, swearing up a storm as I jumped up and put all my weight into the door and threw it open, slamming it behind me. I didn't realize how hard I was breathing, and my hair had matted itself to my skin. I brushed it out of my eyes and leaned against the door, trying to calm my breathing down. I fumbled with the locks, throwing all four and dropped my keys onto the floor and kicked them over to the counter. I tossed my pocketbook onto the counter for good measure and flipped the light on.

I turned and ran into a solid wall of muscle, dressed in all black and looking lethal. And then he grinned with all 200-watts.

"Babe."

My mouth opened and no words came out. I backed away from him and he took a step to me. He watched me, stalking me like prey. His intense eyes fixed on mine. His grin was predatory; his footsteps producing no sound, moving like liquid smoke.

"You ready for the hard way?" He said, his eyes assessing me, but always aware of my every move. His hands were loose and I noticed right away that he wasn't wearing his normal utility belt, but I knew there would be a gun at his lower back.

I guess he wasn't taking any chances with me this time, I mused.

I backed up another step. "You don't really want to do this, do you?"

He grinned again and took another aggressive step forward. I tried not to let my eyes give away my attentions, as I dove past him into the kitchen for my keys but Ranger was too quick for me.

He wrapped his hands around my wrists and I twisted out of his grasp, sliding my body under his along the hardwood floor and slipping past him all except for my foot. My sock was caught on his jacket zipper. We stared at each other for a moment; his breathing regulated and even, mine coming out in raspy pants. As quick as he could move, I slipped my foot out of my tennis shoes and sock, pulling as hard as I could on my foot and scrambling to the door, throwing the locks as fast as my fingers would work. I threw the last lock and turned the door knob as Ranger slammed his weight against me, slamming the door behind me, pressing me flat against it. His body was hard and demanding against mine, his hands wrapping around my wrists and pinning me so that I couldn't move an inch.

"You're tired," he said, the amusement obvious in his voice. "Nice try, Babe."

I tried to pull my hands from him and didn't even slide them away a millimeter. I was slick with sweat, my hair falling from the ponytail and sticking to my neck and shoulders. If I couldn't move him with brawn, I had to outsmart him.

And I knew just what I needed to do. It was all a matter of principle and he was pulling out all the stops. Well, buddy, watch out. So was I.

I tried to buck him off of me and our hips came into contact and in that moment everything changed. I tightened in places ready and willing to use the excess energy in another physical manner and my breathing deepened. I stopped fighting him, he settled closer into my body. My hips stirred against his, my breasts brushed up against his chest and I settled my lips to the curve of his neck and shoulder. Before I could stop myself, I was brushing my lips against his skin, my tongue flicking out and running along the edge of his t-shirt towards his ear. I heard him groan and he hardened against my lower body, grinding against me.

In one swift moment, he transferred both wrists to one hand and laced the other one in my hair, turning up my face and taking my lips in a kiss so fierce it stole my breath away. He nipped my bottom lip and I moaned into his mouth as he tried to pull away, but I drew his lips back to mine, determined to have him. His hand slid between our bodies and he cupped my breast in his hand and leaned fully into me, letting me feel all the hard lines of his body.

He pulled away and looked me in the eye. "You're walking a fine line, Babe."

I'd already crossed the line. I wanted him so bad it hurt and I didn't think that was possible.

I could feel his lips running up my breastbone, up the curve of my neck, his teeth grazing my chin as his lips teased my own. Then I felt it; the telltale coolness of cuffs. My eyes flew open and Ranger's hand maintained a firm hold on the chain holding the cuffs together.

"You thought you had me, didn't you?" He said, leaning down, staring into my eyes. "I told you months ago that you had the power and I should've known better."

I stared at him. My breathing still out of control, my body still screaming for him to satisfy me and said the only thing that came to mind. "I'll never give up."

..::To The Batcave::..

"Take these cuffs off me!" I jerked against the cold metal. "I mean it, Ranger. Take. Them. Off!"

He shot me a look from the rear view mirror and I gave him my best Burg glare. I wasn't afraid of what might happen. I was pissed off beyond belief. "I can't believe you cuffed me in the back like a fucking criminal!"

I didn't even get a look this time.

"You know I'm just gonna keep talking until you either let me go or talk to me."

Nothing.

"I can't fucking believe this! Where are you taking me? You know you're kidnapping me. Right? It's a felony. You know, the type of thing law officials frown upon. The type of thing you track people down and kick their ass for doing!"

He made right turn and pulled into a driveway.

"You're not taking me out here to silence me, are you?" I asked, looking around the best that I could. There was a faint line of trees was the only thing visible through the dark tint of the windows. "You'd tell me, right?"

That got me a head shake- like I was the unbelievable one.

I leaned down so that I could look through the windshield and a house was just coming into view. He slowly pulled up to the house and pulled into the garage. He got out and went into the house, leaving me in the back of the SUV and I swore every word I'd ever heard. I was cold. I was tired. And I was sexually frustrated. It's not a good combination to be if you ask me.

I watched him walk back out and he yanked open the door.

"Don't fight me."

I opened my mouth to give him a piece of my mind and he pinned me with a hard look.

"Babe." He reached for me and smoothed a curl away from my eyes. "It's late. I'm tired and I'm trying hard to remind myself that I love you."

I sucked in a deep breath and forgot how to breathe.

I wanted to give him a piece of my mind. I wanted to tell him about how his methods of making me cooperate sucked but I couldn't wrap my brain around what I wanted to say. I locked my jaw and gave him a nasty look as he made quick work of cuffs and peeled me out of the backseat. Ranger wrapped his hand around the back of my neck and steered me towards house.

I walked beside him silently, taking everything in. The house was older, large windows along the wall in the living room, a fireplace and a couple of couches. The kitchen was small, serviceable, updated and looked hardly used. I was standing in the kitchen, gawking. Ranger moved through the house, not really sweeping through, but moving as though he lived here. I watched him curiously for a few minutes until he disappeared and I heard the shower turn on.

I guess that meant I should make myself at home. I was too tired to take off and he knew it.

I flipped off my shoes and walked into the living room and plopped down on a couch, sinking in. I let out a sigh of relief and leaned my head back. As much as I didn't want to go to a safe house, now that I was here I could relax for a second and it felt great.

"So where are we?" I asked when I heard the shower turn off and heard him rustling around.

Ranger came out of a room missing his shirt and I tried hard not to stare. He was scrubbing his hair with a towel, smelling of Bulgari and looking good enough to eat. And he knew it too. He was smiling ear to ear watching me work hard not to get up and pick up right where we left off in my apartment. I tried reminding myself that I was mad at him but my hormones were locked in overdrive.

"Don't tell me that spidey sense of yours isn't working?"

"Smartass," I said, crossing my arms over my chest. "Are you staying here too?"

He gave me a look that could melt a chastity belt into molten metal and I bit my lower lip. God, it wasn't fair the things he could make me think about with just one look. With one look, he could have me thinking about the things he could do with that wicked sensual mouth, or the way that his hips moved against mine in the heat of the moment. Or the feel of his hands sliding up my legs or the way he made my toes curl when I got close to orgasm. And he knew it. Bastard.

"This is the only way to keep you safe, Babe."

"You know that's not a good way to keep me here."

"You really don't have a choice."

I narrowed my eyes, "You sure about that."

He tipped his head back and laughed, but it lacked humor. "Priceless. Stephanie. You have no idea where you are. You've got the mob after you and you're talking about walking away from the safest place I've got. Sometimes I just want to shake the shit out of you."

I jumped up off the couch and brushed past him. "That really inspires me to stay here, Ranger."

I walked over to the door and turned the doorknob and nothing happened. I shook the doorknob and still nothing. I didn't see any locks. I looked for a button along the side of the door because knowing Ranger it was some safety precaution, but nothing.

I looked back at him and he was leaning against the counter casually, "I tried to tell you but you wouldn't listen."

"What did you do?"

He shrugged a shoulder. "Nothing I wouldn't normally do."

He walked away and I followed behind him, close on his heels. "What do you mean, 'Nothing I wouldn't normally do,'? Do you do this often? Where are we?"

Ranger laughed and kept on walking. We walked right into a bedroom and the steam from the shower was still lingering, warm and inviting.

"There's a guest bedroom, Babe."

I shot him a nasty look. "I wasn't coming in here to sleep. I was coming in here to get an answer."

"You already know the answer."

I held back a frustrated sigh. "I'm so confused."

Ranger grinned and flipped off the bathroom light and flipped on the nightstand lamp. "Babe, it's late. I have an early meeting in the morning and you need to get some sleep." He walked up to me and ran the pad of his thumb underneath my eyes. "When was the last time you slept?"

I fidgeted and took a deep breath. "Two days ago."

"Come on," Ranger said, taking my hand and leading me down the hall. He opened up the door to another bedroom and led me over to the bed. "Make yourself at home. The kitchen is fully stocked and everything you could ever need is in the bathroom."

He stared at me for a couple of minutes and I wondered if he was debating if he'd done the right thing. He kissed my forehead; his lips lingered there for a second longer than normal and he walked away.

"Ranger! Wait." I said, taking a step forward and he turned back around. "This is home, isn't it?"

He gave me a small smile and grabbed the door.

"It's the Bat Cave, babe." And he shut the door behind him.

..::Forever::..

Oh boy.

I was staring up at the ceiling, replaying his words over and over again. I was in the Bat Cave. The infamous Bat Cave, something that I was told that I couldn't find in the phone book and GPS wouldn't take me here. But there was something else nagging me.

The Bat Cave was forever.

I rolled over and stared out the window. The moon was shining in the bedroom, shadowing the window on the floor. It was quiet. I couldn't hear TV's blaring or Rex running on his wheel. There was no traffic to soothe me to sleep. It was just… quiet. Peaceful. And this was Ranger's home. It suited him. It felt more personable, not that there was anything I'd notice that made it more personable but it felt lived in. It smelled like him, clean and crisp. I felt comfortable here and not out of place and that left a weird feeling settling in my chest. I felt like I belonged here.

"I'm trying hard to remind myself that I love you." Ranger had said he loved me again. He said it casually, as though he said it every day to me and it made my heart skip a beat to think about it. I still hadn't told him. It wasn't like I didn't want to but I hadn't found the right moment yet and I didn't just want to blurt it out. But every time I went to say it, I froze, afraid of what he would say. I sighed. I wish I could just fall asleep. Brain, just shut up already!

I rolled over again and decided enough was enough. The only way I was going to get any sleep is if I went in there and told him right now. If I was lucky, he'd be asleep and never remember a word of it in the morning.

I padded over to the door and eased it open, making my way back down the hallway to his room. His door was partially open and I peeked in. He was sprawled out on his stomach, in the middle of the bed. The sheets were riding very low on his hips and I almost fanned myself. No boxers. Jesus.

I eased the door open as quietly as I could and moved to sit at the edge of the bed. I sat there for a minute. I knew he was awake; he was just waiting for me to make the first move.

"Ranger?"

His hand found my wrist and he pulled me down into his arms and settled me against his chest. "Go to sleep babe. It can wait until the morning."

I found myself wanting to argue, but he was warm and I felt safe in his arms. I snuggled closer to him and closed my eyes.

..::..

The next thing I remembered it was morning and I was sprawled out on top of Ranger, my arm slung across his chest, my head tucked underneath his chin, my right leg between his. I was warm and comfortable but I could hear an alarm going off. Ranger moved underneath me and turned the alarm off and groaned, "Babe."

I buried myself deeper into him, curving my arm around his shoulder. "Don't move. I'm comfortable."

I heard him laugh and I groaned, "That means you're gonna move, aren't you?"

He tipped my chin up and kissed me lightly on the lips. "I have a meeting."

I opened my eyes and squinted in the light, fixing on his face. "This feels right."

He studied me. "You mean you drooling on my chest and snoring in my ear?"

"No." I shifted so I could roll over. "Just forget it."

Ranger's arm tightened around me and pulled me close. So close I couldn't move away. I could feel the steady beat of his heart against my ear.

"There were nights when I watched you sleep that all I wanted to do was slip into bed beside you and hold you just like this." His thumb caressed my cheekbone, "It does feel right to have you in my arms."

"I know why," I told him softly. I was going to do it. This was the moment. "I love you."

For a full minute neither of us moved or spoke and finally Ranger broke our silence. "I was wondering if you would ever admit it, Babe."

"I think I have for a while."

Ranger smiled and leaned down to kiss me. "I know."

I rolled my eyes. "Conceited aren't we?"

"It's in your actions, Stephanie. You're just good at living in denial."

I raised an eyebrow at him and leaned up. "Hm. Sounds like someone else I know."

Ranger glanced at the clock. "I really do have a meeting."

"How important is it?"

"You have plans?"

I slipped my hand underneath the sheet and slid it down his body. "I was wondering if you'd like to pick up where we left off last night. I was just curious-" I ran my fingernail down the length of him and he groaned, "you feel like picking up where you left off last night?"

Ranger maneuvered me underneath him and made quick work of my t-shirt, "Let me properly welcome you to the Bat Cave, Babe."

..::End::..

A/N: The original challenge was a part of the TBC Ranger challenge. The secondary challenge was issued by PI, Stef, Linds and Stace to add in Steph and the Bat Cave.

Just a preliminary warning: I will not be posting on Sideshow during November. National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) runs November 01 - November 30 and I will be trying to "win" by writing 50,000 words in 30 days. I'll put my username link in my profile in case you're curious about NaNo.

Original Posting Date: February 22, 2007 – February 25, 2007

Secondary Posting Date: October 17, 2011