Chapter 22

When Joe came to the breakfast table, he was still damp from the shower. If I wasn't so humiliated, I would have jumped him right then and there. He was just wearing boxers and he looked oh, so sexy with his hair damp.

"So," I said, keeping my eyes averted, "you were awake the whole time?" How embarrassing.

"Nope," he said, popping a mini-blueberry muffin in his mouth, "I wouldn't say the 'whole' time. I came to for the grand finale, however." He leaned down to kiss me and I figured, 'what the hell, he doesn't seem to mind, just go with it.'

"It was pretty damned good, anyway." I admitted, studying my feet.

"That's an understatement. Think about it, Cupcake. I got to wake up to find the most beautiful, sexy woman I've ever met perched up on top of ole' smokey, pleasuring herself with my body. That is not the worst thing to ever happen to me. Besides that, I didn't have to initiate it, obviously, and I was allowed to go back to sleep approximately 10 seconds after the action stopped without having any commentary or heartfelt banter. You know, all those things add up to just about every guy's fantasy. So," he bent to kiss me again, deeper this time, capturing my eyes with his, "thank you, Cupcake. You never cease to amaze and excite me. I love you."

He sauntered back toward the bedroom to dress. Now is the dilemma, do I just take him at his word and let it drop, or should I do what he expects a woman to do and get pissed off at him for not 'wanting' the heartfelt banter he 'has' to provide on an everyday basis? Hmmm. Well, like I said, it was damned erotic to me, so I'm just going to let it drop and try it again some other time.

In just a few minutes, Joe emerged wearing the Trenton PD investigator's dress uniform, which includes khakis, a white t-shirt under a blue button down, brown dress shoes and a belt. He had a tie stuck in the pocket of his khakis, which I assumed he'd put on when he got there.

He sat down and finished eating breakfast while reviewing a file on Jeff Green. He was silent for a couple of minutes, and then he looked up at me, "What are you going to do with yourself today? If you get bored, just call a Taxi to take you into town."

"Okay. I really think I'll be fine. My mother says I'm 'nesting', I guess that means I'm okay just hanging around and planning things for the baby. I seem to be daydreaming a lot more than normal these days."

Joe's eyelids were at half-mast. His eyes were so dark and dreamy, I could have looked into them forever. "I can't wait to be in your nest with you," he said. He stood, and bent to kiss me goodbye. I had to struggle not to cry. I kept reminding myself he'd be here with me for another day before we had to go back to our separate realities. I was looking down and swallowing hard and I guess he realized what was going on. He squatted down next to me and nuzzled my face and neck with his. "I'll miss you and I'll be back as soon as I can, okay?"

"Okay," I managed to croak out. "I'll be fine. Really. See you tonight." I was smiling again. He kissed me on the cheek and took off out the door.

I'd gotten up to spend a little time with Joe before he left, but Joey and I were still a little sleepy, so we climbed back into bed and slept for a couple more hours.

I rolled out of bed around 10 a.m. which is 1 p.m. in Trenton. That sounds about right to me. I think Joe Jr. and I are going to get along just fine. He's a night owl like I am. We'll do fine. Joe is a natural night owl, too, but he's had to adapt to daytime hours for work, mostly. If left to my own devices, I just come awake around 9 p.m. and then I want to sleep until early afternoon. We'll see how this works after the baby is born.

Speaking of Joe Jr., he seems ready to play now. I took a shower and did the hair and makeup thing. I was ready to roll by noon. I was wearing jeans and tennis shoes with a purple sweater. I checked to see how cold it was outside. It seemed a little chillier than yesterday when Joe and I walked around the lake, but still not bitterly cold at all, so I put on my coat and a hat and gloves and headed out for a walk. I'm normally exercise averse, but since going to the gym regularly and also seeing how beautiful the lake was, I was looking forward to the walk. Not to mention that it may earn me another footrub tonight.

The walk around the lake was glorious. The air was still and crisp and the water was tranquil and placid. I felt invigorated and was wishing I'd kept the car like Joe offered. I was a little stir crazy after staying at the cabin most of the day yesterday.

I took my time strolling around the lake and talking to the baby. There was nobody else around, so I didn't think I'd be committed for seemingly speaking to no one. I went back inside and found that Joe had bought sandwich stuff and I could eat lunch, thankfully.

I read two more chapters in my 'pregnant' book. Those on breastfeeding (yuck) and sex while breastfeeding (hmmm, interesting – I was happy to learn they didn't mean having sex and breastfeeding simultaneously).

I had started to pick up the stack of FTA's I had brought with me. I just wanted to stay on top of things happening in the criminal community. I'd brought about 22 files. Since I wasn't doing many takedowns anymore, Vinnie was letting Lula try her hand at it. He was using Joyce Barnhart for some, and Ranger and his men were pitching in by lowering their standards and taking on some cases with payoffs of less than $10,000. Even with all that, and Vinnie bringing in a few FTA's himself, we were really backed up.

I was getting depressed just thinking about the files, so I put them back down. There were some old magazines in the cottage on the little coffee table, so I spent some time flipping through them and watching TV.

7:00 p.m.

I again heard Joe's boots crunching on the pine needle covered path out in front of the cottage. He'd had a full day, which could be very good, or very bad. "Hi, Cupcake. I'm home." He was smiling, so I'm guessing very good.

I popped up and rushed over to him for a big hug and kiss. "How did the meeting go?"

Cop face. Uh oh. Why would Joe need his cop face – the one where he expresses no emotion and I can't read anything from his eyes. "It was good. I got a lot of good information. Hey, let me get cleaned up and we'll go into town for a pizza or something." He walked past me into the bedroom.

I stood in place, sort of chewing on my lip for a few minutes. He'd shared information with me pretty freely until now. I wondered what had happened. It makes me really mad when he won't tell me things. In the past few months, I've been worried, I've been lonely, I've been jealous and I've been scared, but I have not been mad. Until now.

"Joe? Why are you avoiding me?" I didn't even try to hide the edge in my voice.

"Cupcake, I'm not avoiding you. I told you I'm getting cleaned up for dinner." He was shaving. He never shaves after work. He hates shaving. He is most definitely avoiding me.

About the time I was prepared to storm into the bathroom and throw a good old fashioned temper tantrum, my cell phone rang. The caller ID showed it was Ranger. Interesting. He wouldn't call if it wasn't important. "Hello?"

"Babe. Let me talk to Morelli."

"What? No 'Hello, How are you? I screwed Terri freakin' Gilman's brains out?'"

He chuckled. Actually chuckled. But he regained his composure really quickly. "Really, let me talk to Morelli."

"No, really, I want to hear about this Gilman thing. Was it everything you ever wanted and more?" I was just pulling his chain. He wasn't comfortable talking about his personal life.

"Babe, it was pretty damned excellent. Let's just say that I have a few new definitions of the word 'takedown'. If I need to bring Morelli in again, I have some ideas about how I'll change up my strategy. Now, can I talk to Morelli?"

"Uh, Ranger? Joe has a good policy. If I ask a question and he doesn't think I really want to hear the answer, he asks me if I REALLY want to know. Believe me, I really didn't want to know that about Terri. Please don't tell me anymore, okay? Now that I'm thinking of it, why do you need to talk to Joe?"

"He called and I missed it. I'm just returning his call."

Interesting. "Joe," I was standing in the open door to the bathroom where Joe was still 'cleaning up', "It's Ranger."

He smiled a tight smile. "Thanks, Honey." He took the phone and shut the door in my face and then started the shower. I assume so that I couldn't hear him on the phone. Now I'm doubly pissed.

I stood outside the door and steamed for a bit, but then remembered that there was a window in the bathroom. I wondered if I walked around the outside of the cottage if I could hear him better because he would be standing over next to the window to talk on the phone. I grabbed my shoes, my jacket, hat and gloves and took off outside and around the side of the cottage. I neared the window carefully, so as to not make any noise.

Bingo. I could hear Joe's voice. "That's what I thought. Shit. How can we make sure Stephanie doesn't get in the middle of that case? Now that I know he's a murderer, or at least an accused murderer, I really don't want her trying to bring him in…..(listening)…..well, I know she's not doing a lot of apprehensions right now, but you know Stephanie. First, the case he's FTA on is just a simple B&E. He's got nothing in his record that would tell her that he's dangerous and I know she's still doing a few non-confrontational takedowns. Secondly, she'd go after him a lot more aggressively if she knew it would get me home faster because the murder case is solved….(listening)….Oh, yeah. He definitely knows me and he knows I'm on the case. As soon as he heard her say that her name is Morelli, he'd be all over her. I'm just scared he'd hurt her or the baby or both, just to get to me and out of the murder rap….(listening)…Okay. I appreciate your help Ranger. Oh, I'm sorry Terri has you in such a compromising position. Are you mobile? Good. There's an extra key to those cuffs in the egg tray in the fridge. Yeah, it's good to be prepared with Terri around. Good luck. She'll be pissed when she finds out you escaped. Sometimes with Terri, pissed is good. She's very passionate when she's pissed, if you know what I mean." The idiot was laughing. "Just be sure you get her cuffed as soon as she comes back in because if you don't there's no telling what she'll do to you. Okay. Thanks again."

I ran fast around the front of the cottage and back inside. Joe was coming out of the 'shower' when I was taking off my coat. "How was your shower?" I asked.

"Fine, your nose is all red. Were you outside?"

"Yes. Just took a little walk. Your hair isn't wet. You sure took a long shower to not even get your hair wet." We can both play the 'I spy' game, you know.

Joe just smiled at me and I just smiled at him. "So, what are you hungry for?"

"Pizza." He grabbed his coat and we headed for the car.