DISCLAIMER: All characters are based on the characters developed by Janet Evanovich in her Stephanie Plum series. This short story follows the events between Smokin' Seventeen and Explosive Eighteen.

Chapter 5—Skip Chasing

I was sitting on one of the lounge chairs applying my SPF 50 when the hairs on the back of neck stood up. I felt Ranger before I even saw him. He kissed my head and took the sun block from me and applied it to my back, neck, and every other location before sitting behind me and pulling me against his chest.

"Thanks Babe."

"For what?"

"Trusting me."

"Ranger."

"Babe"

"It was amazing. I never experienced anything like that before. I didn't know that was even possible. The handcuffs. Why? What made you use them?" I asked.

Ranger leaned back and pulled me back with him. He rubbed his hand up and down on my arm. This was erotic or sexual, it was comforting. He was thinking on how to answer me, but I was starting to wonder if he would. "Do you remember our first night together?" he asked me.

I remembered that night well, often thought about that night. "Yes. I remember." I answered.

"Well, after our first time together, you asked if this was the part with the handcuffs" he replied. "It put the idea in my head of using handcuffs on you. I have never done that before, and never even thought of it, but it's been a fantasy of mine since then. To take you over when you have no control, to pleasure you like that, it was amazing."

Oh boy, we needed to cool off if we were going to get our skip. I decided now would be a good time to go in the ocean. "Race you to the ocean." And I took off. Ranger was right on my tail. Who am I kidding, he can easily out run me. But with the both of us laughing, we were struggling just to stay upright. Finally, I fell in the sand and he land on top of me. Our faces were inches away and we kissed for what seemed like eternity. Then I got up and made it into the ocean. Ranger joined me the water and held onto me, as if I was going to float out to sea. "You know I can swim. I do visit the ocean often."

"Babe" and then he kissed me again.

"What's the plan for finding Ruguzzi? We know he is here, but how do we apprehend him and get him back to Jersey with us?" I asked.

"We need to leave the suite, first off. So, we are going to dinner tonight in one of the restaurants. He typically eats at this restaurant during his stay here."

"How do you know that?"

"He stays here every other year and follows the same pattern. We should be able to get eyes on him tonight, and hopefully, pick him up. I will have the locals take custody of him until my team from Rangeman gets here to escort him back. Then, we can finish your vacation."

"Sounds like a plan." I said. "When is dinner?"

Ranger glanced at his watch "In an hour."

"Just enough time for a shower."

We walked into the restaurant 90 minutes later. The joint shower did not save us as much time as we initially thought, too much time on water sports. I was wearing a blue dress with a low v-neck top and a skirt the flared at the waist and rested about 3 inches above my knee. I had on an open toed pair of black FMPs with the dress. Ranger was wearing a black silk dress shirt with the top 3 buttons open and black dress pants. He looked good enough to eat. We sat in the corner of the room, with Ranger's back to the wall. We kept scanning for the Rug, but we were coming up empty. The food was phenomenal, of was to be expected, but we didn't get a chance to get our man tonight. We agreed not to ask the wait staff because we couldn't trust them not to give us up. I had just finished my dessert of pineapple upside down cake when we decided it was time to go.

"Sorry we didn't get him tonight." Ranger said as we walked back to our suite.

"I'm not concerned, we'll just have to partake in a couple of activities to try and see them tomorrow."

We got to our suite and walked straight out onto the beach. Ranger grab my left hand, give it a kiss on the ring, and pulled me towards to beach. I stopped him so I could take off my shoes and tossed them into the suite. He followed my lead and removed his shoes and socks. Then, he grabbed a blanket in his left hand and with is right, he grabbed my hand again. We walked down towards the water's edge, but not close enough to get wet. It was moving towards low tide, so we were pretty safe from the water where we chose to stop. Ranger laid out the blanket and sat down. He pulled me between his legs so my back was resting against him. He had his hands around my waist, pulling me towards him. He started to point out the stars and constellations to me.

"How do you know so much about the sky?"

"It was important to know when I was on some of my missions. When you are in the middle of a dessert or the jungle, it is important to be able to determine which direction you are traveling. The stars are the best compass when all other equipment fails or is taken."

Wow. He never shares his past with me. What is with the Hawaiian air that has Ranger opening up. While he has always been protective of me and caring, he has always guarded his emotions. The fact that he was letting down his guard get me nervous. What does this mean for us? Is there a chance for 'us'? Ranger was constantly pushing me back to Joe, telling me that he could have the type of commitment I wanted, but here we are, with fake wedding bands sitting under the stars in Hawaii acting as newlyweds in all ways. Joe! What am I doing? I am in a relationship with Joe. I should be sitting in Joe's arms right now. This is what the plan was. I didn't invite Ranger to Hawaii, I invited Joe and now I am her with Ranger. But somehow, being 6,000 miles away from Jersey and Joe helped to ease my conscious.

Suddenly, Ranger was kissing me again. All thoughts of Joe immediately left my head and I could only think about how Ranger was making feel. I turned around and pushed him onto his back. I straddled him and kissed him with everything I could muster. I heard him moan as his hand moved to take off my dress. "Not yet, Ranger. It's my turn."

His eyes dilated and he smiled. I kissed him again and started to slowly unbutton his shirt. As I was unbuttoning his shirt, I was kissing and rubbing his chest. Joe was built and fit, but Ranger was a masterpiece. Hard muscles, so defined, so sexy. I finally finished with his shirt and took it off him before kissing him again. I loved being on top of him, feeling him beneath me while kissing. He was such a great kisser. I moved back down his body and slowly undid his pants. He was, of course, commando, which made it so much easier. I pulled off his pants and started to kiss is thighs and his abs. I gave a small, gentle kiss on the tip of his manhood and moved back up his chest.

"Babe, this is torture."

I smiled. "Not yet." I continued to kiss him and used my hand on him, stroking him slowly up and down. His body was reacting. He wanted more. I stopped and used my hands play with his hair while kissing him. I moved back down with my mouth and started to slowly kiss and lick him. Not enough to have him climax, but enough for him to try guiding me. "Stop. Don't make me get the handcuffs." I said as I laughed. He froze. I decided that I teased him enough, so I put him into my mouth. He was too big to fit completely in, but I used my hands to assist. I started off slowly, barely touching. Then I would go faster before slowing again. I could tell he was barely controlling himself. Just when I felt he was ready to explode I stopped. "Babe" he said exasperated.

"I think that was enough." I said with a smirk on my face. His eyes dilated and became intense. I started to get up so I could take off my dress, but before I got to my knees, he had me on my back. "Enough Babe, I can't wait any more."

He kissed me with lots of tongue and while he was at it, he was pulling off my panties. His hands were frantically traveling up and down my body. He lifted my dress over my head and took off my bra. He used his finger on my, to get me ready for him. When he felt I was ready, he attacked. He moved inside me, first slowly so I could adjust, and then frantically. He exploded before I was even ready, but he kept going, using his hand to rub me while moving inside me. I climaxed as well. Ranger rolled off me onto his back and pulled me against him. I put my head on his chest. "Babe, what was that?"

"Why? You didn't like it?"

"It was amazing." He sighed. "Did I hurt you? Was I too rough?"

"No, you were magic." We stayed like that for a while until our heart rates returned to normal and then we slowly got up, gathered our discard clothes, and returned to our suite.

"I'm going to take a bath" I told Ranger. "I'll join you." Oh boy.