A/N : Once again characters aren't mine, just playing with them. Here we go with the next one for your reading pleasure. (I hope) :-)
SPOV
I have been awake since 7:30 a.m.; I know unusual for me right?! I just dropped a couple of raisins and some hamster crunchies in Rex's food dish. Now that Rex is fed, I have to find some food for myself, here-in lies the problem. Ric has left mostly natural, good, wholesome foods in my fridge and cupboards.
And what do I want to eat, doughnuts! Oh well, I pick up my keys and head to Tasty Pastry. I lock up my apartment door and head downstairs.
I drag myself into my recent POS car and crank it over; after 3 tries. Stupid car! I make my way across town to the bakery.
My car knocks off as I pull up in the bakery parking lot. Great, just great! I swear under my breath and get out of the car.
I walk inside and recognize the woman behind the counter. It is an old high-school classmate, Jenny Mancini. I walk up to the counter.
"Hey Stephanie Plum. I haven't seen you since high school. What you been up to?" Jenny says as I reach her.
"I've been OK. Just started hunting down bad guys for Vinnie last week. I need some sugary goodness to keep my strength up."
"Well, what can I get for you?" Jenny replies.
"Give me a dozen assorted. I'm stopping by the office in a few and Connie would never forgive me if I didn't have some for her." I laugh.
As Jenny is boxing up my breakfast of champions I feel a presence behind me and a familiar tingle on my neck. I feel his breath on my cheek as he whispers in my ear.
"That stuff will kill you babe."
I turn around and give him my best seductress smile and voice.
"Well I wasn't allowed any Cuban goodness this morning so I had to settle for second best."
His eyes widen slightly in surprise as his wolf-grin appears.
"Next time I'll make sure you have your mouth full of Cuban."
I swear my panties went up in flames! I barely register Jenny's voice in front of me.
"Steph. Here you are. All ready to go."
She hands me my box of sugar and glaze, oh and don't forget the chocolate and yummy vanilla custard. I pay her for the lot and make my way to the door with Ric close behind me.
"I'm going by the office and see if Connie has any more files for me today. Half of this box is hers, you know." I tell Ric.
He just stares at me as if to say. 'Sure.'
"OK, I'll follow you and we'll talk about what to do about Morelli when we leave." He says.
I climb in my POS car putting the box on the seat beside me. I try to crank the engine over, of course it doesn't do anything. Damn piece of shit, foreign made, piece of junk!
"Problem babe?" Ric asks.
I sigh heavily as I admit. "Yes, this stupid car is getting on my last nerve."
He opens the driver's door and pulls me out.
"Come on babe. We'll take my truck. I'll send someone to come take this to the auto graveyard. There's no hope for it. This soldier is down."
"Wait! My doughnuts," I cry as I lean through the window to grab my breakfast.
Ric just sighs and shakes his head as he leads me to the passenger side of his tricked-out truck. I climb in and fasten my seat belt, resting the box of doughnuts on the floor between my feet.
"I know you're dying for one, so go ahead and eat." Ric tells me.
I have no choice but to reach down and pull out a Boston Creme. I moan loudly at the first bite of creamy goodness that flows across my tongue.
I notice Ric shift in his seat. I can't help but giggle at his discomfort. "Sorry." I mumble around the mouth full of cream and fried dough.
As I finish off my second doughnut we arrive at Vinnie's office. Connie is sitting behind her desk applying a coat of fire engine red nail polish to her thumb, by the looks of it, it is the third or fourth coat. She looks up from her manicure as I speak.
"Hey Connie, what's up? Any new files for me today?"
"Just these two. They should be easy enough to pick up. Local stoners and stolen goods fencers." She replies as she blows across her nails.
I pick up the two files off the corner of her desk. I flip through the first and notice the name on the rap sheet, Douglas Kruper. I flip the other open and see it is Walter Dunphy.
I went to high school with Dougie Kruper and Walter "Moon-man" Dunphy. They were stoners then and probably are still. I remind myself not to eat anything they baked.
"Yeah, I know both of these guys. They should be real easy to pick up. I should be able to just sweet talk them to the car with a promise of a blunt, buying some of their merchandise, or sex."
I glance over at Ric and notice him stiffen. He leans in to my ear and whispers.
"The HELL you will on the latter!"
I whisper back to him. "Jealousy looks good on you, cave-man." He growls lightly in return. I hear Connie ask.
"You're getting pretty close to Ranger, aren't you?"
"We actually met years ago. We got reacquainted when you set up the meeting for us at the diner. We are dating now." I tell her.
Connie looks at me, then to Ranger, then back at me. She picks up a file off of her desk and starts to fan herself with it.
I whisper to Ric. "I think that's our cue to leave."
"You got it, babe. You want to go pick those two up now? We can talk about what to do next about Morelli on the way."
"Yepp, let's go get Mooner and Dougie. Connie, we'll be back by later with the receipts for these two. See you later."
Connie nods her head before we turn to leave the bond's office. We climb in to Ric's truck and buckle up.
As we make our way across town I start up the conversation.
"So what do you think we need to do now? I think we should go by Morelli's apartment and have a look-see around."
"Good idea, babe. That's just what I was thinking." He answers.
A few minutes later we pull up in front of Dougie's house. We get out of the truck and make our way up the walk to the front door through the high grass in need of mowing.
As we reach the front door, I lift my hand to knock. I guess no one hears the first try, so I knock again; louder this time as I call out.
"Hey, Dougie, Mooner, it's me Stephanie Plum. Come on, answer the door. I need to talk to you guys. I am in the market for a new Gucci knock-off purse or some shoes."
I look over at Ranger and see his blank face as he tells me.
"You offer the other and I will have to show them you are mine."
I just wink at him. I hear movement on the other side of the door. Seconds later it is slowly opened and I see the obviously stoned face of Mooner.
"Dudette! How the hell are ya? Did you say you were interested in some of our groovy merchandise?"
"Maybe after we get back. I need you and Dougie to come with me to the police station to be re-bonded. You forgot your court dates." I tell him.
He smacks himself on the head and utters. "Dang, I knew there was something we were supposed to do yesterday."
"Just come with us. We can get you re-scheduled in no time."
"Sweet. Hey Dougie!" He yells out over his shoulder.
Dougie shows up by his side shortly after. I remind them to lock up before we lead them to the truck. Good thing Ranger has a king size cab so we all fit.
We get them to the cop shop, get them re-bonded, and pick up our body receipts. We make our way back to the bond's office to drop off the receipts and pick up my check.
After that is done we sit outside in the truck and talk about what to do next about Morelli.
"So up next Morelli's apartment?" I ask.
"You got it babe. Let's see if we can get a clue as to where he might be hiding out."
"Lead the way, Professor Higgins!" I giggle.
Ranger drives us over to Morelli's last known address, an apartment on the west side of town. We pull into the parking lot. I notice Morelli's forest green Chevy pick-up truck, king cab of course.
"How are we going to get in?" I ask Ranger.
"Babe," is all he says as he looks at me incredulously.
I glare back at him. "Well?"
"I think this is the perfect opportunity to teach you some B & E skills, babe. What do you think? Want to try?" He asks.
"Sure, why not? You are supposed to be teaching me ALL of your bounty hunter master skills. Bring it on." I tease.
We make our way to Morelli's front door. I watch as Ranger pulls a slim tool out of his cargo pants pocket and begins to work his magic on the door knob. Within 10 seconds the door clicks open.
"Wow, I knew you had magic hands, but I had no idea." I taunt him.
"So you do remember how my hands felt?" He wonders.
All I can do is whimper as I recall exactly how his hands felt all over my body. He chuckles lightly.
"Let's see what we can find, shall we?" He says.
We enter what looks like the typical bachelor pad, large screen TV, DVD player and discs, rocking stereo system, and cheesy leather furniture. I was half expecting to see a pool table in the corner.
We begin our search here in the living room. Finding nothing but porn in the DVD and magazine collections, we move on to the small kitchen.
Here we find only out-dated bills, and expired food; yuck! We move on to the bedroom.
I made my way slowly searching through the closet as Ranger carefully examined the dressers. No freaking way I was going to dig through Morelli's underwear drawer, shudder!
"Find anything?" I ask him.
"This has got to be the cleanest house I have ever searched, not a damn thing here. I think we've spent enough time here, nothing to see." He answers.
We make our way back through the living room and to the door.
"Grab Morelli's phone bill and the spare keys off the rack in the kitchen, babe. If we have to come back again, we'll have the key. No need to break in twice." He grins.
I grab the phone bill off the kitchen counter and the keys off of the "key" rack by the doorway in between.
We make our way back out of the apartment and lock the door behind us. As we make our way back to Ranger's truck he starts to speak.
"I have a way we may lure Morelli to us."
"What? What are you thinking? How do we do that?" I ask.
"What keys you got on that keyring?" He asks.
"Looks like house, car, and a couple of keys that look like they are for your typical lock. Why?" I wonder.
"Car key, huh?" He inquires grinning broadly.
"Yeah, a spare car key, so what?" I am beginning to get an idea too.
"I say we borrow his truck and when he shows up to re-claim it, we snag him." He smiles.
"OK, and what if he tries to come get it in the middle of the night and we're, or I am, asleep?" I challenge him.
"That's why we're going to take out the distributor cap. It won't crank, he gets out to investigate and we got him." He laughs.
I let an evil grin spread across my face as I tell him.
"I love it! Let's do this!"
"You drive Morelli's truck and I'll follow you back to your apartment. Park it in the middle of the lot. Give me a few minutes to make a phone call first." He tells me.
I unlock Morelli's truck and stand beside it while I watch Ranger make his call. It's short and to the point, as usual.
"OK, let's roll." He yells towards me.
We drive out to the road and head back to my place. When we arrive at my parking lot, I park in the center as he asked. I pull the hood release switch before I step out of Morelli's truck and lock it up tight.
Ranger parks his truck and makes his way over to me. I follow his line of sight as he looks over my shoulder. I see two black SUV's rolling in to my parking lot. I look at Ranger with question in my eyes.
"I called Hector to place a motion sensor alarm on Morelli's truck so we know if anyone comes by to claim it."
"So what's with the other SUV?" I ask him.
"That would be Bobby bringing you the other one. Your POS car died and you need something to drive. Take it please."
Crap! I forgot about my car dying at the Tasty Pastry this morning. I have no choice but to take the SUV he is offering. I refuse to borrow "Big Blue" again. No way!
"OK, I'll take it this time, but if it blows up or is set on fire it's on your head. You asked for it." I tease.
He just shakes his head at me. I watch Ranger pop the hood of Morelli's truck and remove the distributor cap as Hector does something to the under-carriage. Glad my prints aren't anywhere!
After everything is done, Hector and Bobby head out in one of the SUV's. Ranger follows me up to my apartment, to secure it I'm sure.
After all the boogey men are forced away, (I wish that worked on the dust bunnies) he pulls me into his arms and kisses me soundly. As our lips part I groan at the loss. I hear him laugh slightly and tell me.
"I know how you feel. I wish I could stay here, but I have a ton of paperwork to get done."
"OK, get out before I drag you to the bedroom." I tease him.
I hear him growl in response as he tells me to lock the door behind him. I watch his gorgeous ass walk away from me again. Damn it!
I tumble the locks after he is gone. I stroll to the kitchen to see what I can find for dinner. I settle on some microwave-able mac and cheese. Yum!
After my tummy is full, I shuffle off to the shower. A short time later I am clean as a whistle and dragging on my jammies. I collapse onto the bed and try to make myself dream of Ric. It is easy to think of him and what I want to do to him, again.
I let these thoughts bring me down into a restful slumber where my dreams are filled with images of a naked Ric. Yes! ####
A/N : Sorry it took so long to get this chapter out, RL was giving me trouble. I had a close friend in the hospital and my muse was sufficiently clogged up without her. She is doing better now tho, thanks for those of you who asked about her in reviews. And next chapter will be the one that everyone is waiting for, yup the infamous shower rod scene! ;-) See you then.
Rain (Jackie)