As always, i do not own the characters.

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CHPT 5

"Are You going to call Ranger? Because if you aren't, I don't want to call him. The man scares me. He is intimidating in his sexiness."

"Nobody is calling Ranger." Oh boy, we made a mess out of this one.

"You sure are lucky that man wants you. Because I don't know any other man who would put up with you continuously destroying his cars. He must have damn good insurance, that or a lot of money. Oh, I hadn't thought of that before. Ranger might be rich. Sexy and rich. If you don't want him I'll take him"

"I thought you met your soul mate, future husband. He made you fried chicken."

"Yah, but money can buy me a whole lot of chicken and Via Spigas and Louies! Besides, he snores. And Ranger don't snore, I can tell"

"How can you tell he doesn't snore, maybe he does and its super annoying and you would never get sleep. Maybe he snores so loud Rangeman installed soundproof walls in the bat cave."

That was a lie of course, Ranger never snored, he was a quiet sleeper and never even moved around. Unlike me who was known to sprawl out and make sheet angels in her sleep. Occasionally Ranger had bad dreams but he either would wake up and go out to the kitchen to recoup, or just pull me tight against his chest until his breathing settled and he could fall back to sleep.

"I could buy ear plugs. That body is worth it. Those muscles poppin out of his shirt. Mmmmm, I'd like to have those."

And she didn't even know the half of them.

"We are going to call Connie, Vinnie should be back from his retreat by now. And she can have her cousin pick up the car. And you can tell Ranger how it ended up in a pile of cow manure personally."

"Hell no, I'm not telling Mr. Tall Dark and Handsome his hundred thousand dollar supped up bullet proof car is swimming in cow poop. You can tell him, he won't even get mad if you tell him."

No, he wouldn't get mad, he would be amused. He might get that crease between his eyebrows for a moment when he thinks of how he is going to write this one of, but he won't get mad.

"Call Connie," I told Lula then paced on the gravel alongside the paved street. This was getting old, this is also why I didn't want to borrow another Rangeman car. Granted this time it wasn't my fault, Lula had been the one driving.

My phone buzzed in my hand mid-way through my pacing. The caller ID read Rangeman.

"Hello?" I answered hesitantly, sighing as I awaited the inevitable.

"Babe, Hal tells me you are stationary in the middle of I-95. You ok?"

"Yep, just peachy."

"Ok, if you need anything let me or the guys know"

"Thanks Ranger, but I've got it. Lula and I are after a skip."

"Cinderella?" He asked jokingly. This made me smile, how could I not? His playful attitude melted me to my core every time.

"Yea, Cinderella has left the carriage and nearly turned into a pumpkin." This actually wasn't far from the truth. He had fled the black Rangeman carriage mid motion and landed in a field freshly fertilized and tilled under, perfect growing soil for pumpkins I assume. Ranger chuckled on the other side of the line.

"Steph." One word, as always, but it held a question in it. My guess? He knew about the car. How? I have no clue, but he knew.

"Yes"

"Would you like me to send Santos instead?"

I glanced over to Lula.

"Connie didn't pick up, line was busy. I'm getting hungry, we're gonna starve, I warned you! I knew this would happen." She was eating the last donut hyperventilating.

"Lula sounds distressed Babe, you sure you're ok?" Ranger's protective voice set in and I knew I was losing the battle.

"She is just coming off her sugar high…but Santos isn't a bad idea, maybe he could pick Lula up and take her home, if he is not too busy at the office. But I really can handle this on my own, I don't need Rangeman backup."

"Babe"

Ugh, how does he do that? One word! I sighed, thanked him and disconnected.

"Lula, Santos is on his way to rescue you."

"Oh thank the lord! If I don't get food soon I might faint. I might pass out here on the side of the road and crows will eat my Via Spigas!"

"You have a donut in your hand, and I doubt crows have an interest in your shoes."

"You never know, they might be fashionable crows, gemstone loving fools ready to pick off any possible remnants of these beautiful babies."

I rolled my eyes.

Lester pulled up next to us in less than half an hour. He climbed out of the Rangeman SUV with a long slow whistle.

"Don't-say-a-word" I warned.

He just smiled at me and continued to assess the submerged car.

"Ranger told me I was just picking up Daisy over there." He gestured toward Lula in her bright yellow sundress and matching yellow hair. He was going to regre-

"What'd you call me?" Lula stomped over angrily.

Lester, without missing a beat, charmed his way through his slip up, "I called you a beautiful vibrant flower ma Cherie."

Lula batted her eyelashes at him and smiled.

"Oh you're good."

"For you ma beauté, anything." He gave a slight bow in Lula's direction.

Wait a minute, that wasn't Spanish. Lula climbed into the SUV muttering about sore feet and an appetite and Santos smiled at me amused.

"That was a close one." He laughed.

"Were you speaking French?" I wasn't bilingual, but it sounded French to me.

"Oui, mon amour. I'm taking a night class. Please don't tell Ranger."

"Why don't you want Ranger to know, I'm sure multilingual is a selling point for your job."

"Yes, if the class were just on language. But it's a cooking class also. And there is fashion lessons too. It's kind of a private hobby."

"Nothing is private at Rangeman Santos." He knew I was right but he just shrugged.

"Let's get old faithful out of the cow patties." He gestured toward the sunken car now and picked up his phone. "Don't worry, I won't call the boss. I'll let you tell him in person later. Maybe after its been thoroughly cleaned."

"Thank you."

"Can I know what happened?"

"You only want to know because you and the guys have a pot going on all the ways I can destroy the next car."

"True, but it's also curiosity. You are the best entertainment we've got." He chuckled. I knew he wasn't making fun of me, he and the other men at Rangeman, at least the main crew, looked after me and genuinely cared I believe.

"I'm glad I can entertain you all." I sighed in defeat.