Chapter Thirteen

Stephanie POV

I slept peacefully that night and for the rest of the week. I hadn't talked to Carlos again, but I worked well with Tank and Lester teaching me the ropes. On Tuesday night, I spent the evening researching the costs and benefits of various payroll companies and had two for Tank to review. I had a preference between the two, but it was the more expensive option and I wasn't sure how they'd feel about springing for something like that when they'd always done it for free before. The company didn't seem to have a problem paying top dollar for things, judging by the fancy toys they'd given me and the perks such as a company car and free apartment on the premises.

On Wednesday, my office was ready when I went down to work in the morning. It was painted in an icy blue shade with walnut furniture. My chair was the same as Tank's and Carlos', and Tank had rolled in the locking filing cabinet in after me when he was showing me my new digs. "I love it," I enthused as I took it all in.

"Hector will be up in about ten minutes to set up your key code and retina scan for the readers," he said, handing me a key. "That's the key for the filing cabinet, please do not lose it. Ranger has the other one."

I placed my laptop in the center and my purse in the big bottom drawer of the desk. I sat and whirled in the chair, laughing with glee as Tank watched and smiled indulgently. I stopped and said, "thank you, this is so great."

"You don't need to thank me. You needed an office. We never had an office manager before, which is the only reason we didn't have one available for you before now."

"I have a couple of options for you to read through about a new payroll and scheduling system," I let him know. "One is more expensive but has more features. I sent the info to your email last night."

"I read it. Do you have a preference?" he asked.

"Umm yeah. The more expensive one. It has quite a few more features than the other one, which will make scheduling a lot easier."

"Done. I'll sign up for it. It's a yearly service, right?"

"Yes."

"Okay. I'll make it happen, but I'll be using your email to sign up. You'll be the main user anyway."

"Okey dokey," I said with a cheeky grin.

Tank signed up immediately for the payroll system and on Thursday I spent the entire morning inputting the information for our Trenton employees. We decided to keep the program to Trenton only for now and revisit the possibility of rolling it out to the other branches depending on its success here.

By that afternoon, Lester was sufficiently satisfied with my recall of our services and took me on a client sales call with him. He had me change into an outfit Ella got for me comprised of a black pencil skirt, a black fitted blazer and a red shell to wear underneath. The best part of the outfit was the pair of black leather Christian Louboutin stiletto heels though, and when I first saw them, I strutted around my apartment admiring them. I never made a lot of money working for EE Martin and couldn't afford shoes like this, but I had always drooled over pretty shoes. Ella got me two other business outfits too, but this one was my favourite.

When she had brought me the new clothes, she requested that I try them on for her to see if they needed any tailoring, but she must be magic because everything fit perfectly. "Thank you, Ella, they're just beautiful," I said while giving her a hug.

The sales call went well, and Lester was perfectly charming while extolling our company's services. The client was an affable man who did some sort of manufacturing, and his wife was subtly ogling Lester while following along as we showed them some of our hardware offerings.

In the car afterwards, Lester was laughingly teasing me, "she was checking me out, Beautiful, but he couldn't take his eyes off your legs. I think we make a good team. With my good looks and charm and your beauty, we'll have every client eating out of our hands while signing up for everything we have."

I punched him lightly in the arm. "Are you the only one who does sales calls?"

"Right now, I am. Sometimes Ranger goes but he's no good at small talk, so he mainly does the calls where the potential client insists on the owner being there. He always brings someone else along though."

"How long have you known him?" I asked curiously.

"Since we were kids. We grew up in the same neighbourhood in Newark and kept in touch after he moved to Miami. Then I joined the Army two years after he did."

"Wow. Are you the same age then?"

"He's about six months older than me."

"How old are you guys?"

He laughed. "You don't know? He's twenty-seven and I'm nearly there."

"Hey, me too."

"I know."

"How do you know?"

"From the background check. The core team, plus Hector and Rodriguez have all seen it. The core team had to approve your hiring before Tank and Ranger offered you a job."

"The core team is Ranger, Tank, you and Bobby, right?"

"Yep."

"Were you all in the Army together?"

"Yes. Ranger and I knew each other beforehand, but Ranger met Tank in Miami and we all met Bobby after we three became Rangers. When we got out of the service, we started Rangeman."

"How much information did you get on me when you did your check?" I asked. I knew what Carlos and Tank told me, but I wanted to see what Lester would say since he's way more talkative than they are combined.

"Your familial background, your grades at school, your credit rating, social media presence, newspaper clippings if you had stories about you, and your employment records. It's pretty in-depth."

"Geez. Do you know my bra size and the date of my last gyno visit too?"

"Well, I can guess your bra size and I can get the medical records if I want to," he teased. "But no, we don't delve into medical records unless necessary due to injury. We do know basic things like allergies. Bobby, as the company medic, may take a more comprehensive history from you at some point, but it's not mandatory and generally only pertains to things that would be helpful to know as your medical proxy in the event of an emergency."

I shook my head. "Wow. Would you teach me how to do background searches like that?"

"Sure, one day," he agreed.

We arrived back at Rangeman, and he dismissed me for the day. I went up to my apartment and had a hot bath, performing all the maintenance necessary to keep myself well-groomed. Afterwards, I changed into a pair of yoga pants and a tank top before slipping into a pair of running shoes, putting the GPS disk in my pocket, and carrying my key fob. I went for my evening walk, deciding to add a little speed to it tonight to break a sweat. I will do what I can to avoid running, but I can walk pretty fast when I want to. About four blocks from Rangeman, I literally ran right into someone else.

"Oh sorry!" I exclaimed as I looked up to see the grinning face of Morelli. "Morelli, what are you doing in this neighbourhood?"

"I was just gassing up my truck when I saw you coming towards the gas station," he said as he pointed to the brightly lit station behind him.

"Oh. Well nice to see you, I should go," I said.

"You can't spare a minute to chat with an old friend?" he asked.

I rolled my eyes. "You're not an old friend. You're an old boyfriend who cheated on me with a girl I hated, then tried to get back together after she dumped your ass."

"Yeah, but before that happened, we were friends, right?"

"No. I suspect I was supposed to be one of your cherry-popping stories."

"That's not true, Cupcake. I really liked you. But Joyce let me do dirty things to her and I wasn't having sex with you, so I was horny."

"Ugh, you're disgusting. Don't call me Cupcake. I didn't like that nickname when you made it up in first grade and I didn't like it when we dated for a whole three months, and I don't like it now. It's infantile and embarrassing that you still think it sounds cute." With that, I left him standing there as I turned and started walking briskly back the way I came. The walk can continue in the safety of the Rangeman gym because now I'm just annoyed and don't want to risk running into anyone else.

I got to the gym and just started walking on the treadmill, thinking about the things Carlos had said on the phone. It sort of sounded like he was interested in me, which is crazy right? I must be so far from the type of woman he usually dated, but then it occurred to me I really had no idea what kind of woman he was attracted to. Despite our dinners together where I practically interrogated him about his family and childhood, I didn't know anything about the more personal side of the man he is now. I decided I should try and get to know him, and for him to get to know me.

Satisfied with my conclusion, I finished my workout, waved at the men who had come in during my ponderings and went up to bed.

Ranger POV

I thought about Stephanie more than I was comfortable with on my first day in Boston, even while reassuring our client that he was still well-protected. With some well-placed cameras and surveillance by our patrol teams, we had determined the burglary was an inside job, carried out by the boyfriend of one of his employees. As a result of our detective skills, backed up with evidence to support our conclusion, our client was pleased and signed up for more security, this time with a package that included background checks on all employees and potential new hires.

Alone in the penthouse suite on that evening, I wondered if I should call Carmen, a woman with whom I had a very casual arrangement. Whenever I was in Boston and available, I could give her a call and if she was also available, we'd get together to satisfy some mutual desires. But on this occasion, I had absolutely no desire to spend even one moment with any other woman but the curly-haired, blue-eyed spitfire I'd been spending most of my free time with lately. My thoughts turned to Tank's comments on his relationship, and his observations about Stephanie. Though he's not loquacious, he's incredibly intelligent and I value his opinion greatly. I wondered what would happen when Stephanie became ready, and I had not made my appreciation and attraction for her known. If she started dating someone else, could I be okay with just being her friend? No, my mind screamed. I want her to be mine.

With that settled in my mind, I called her to hear her voice.

We chatted for a few moments while she assured me her day was good, celebrating with a meatball sub, I decided to feel her out on the possibility she might be interested in me. Tank was right, I needed to let her know I was attracted to her. When she let me know she was not ready for anything right now beyond that kiss, I was disappointed, but her admission that she didn't regret it made my heartbeat speed up a bit. I could wait for her to be ready, and hopefully cement a position in her life in the meantime.

For the rest of the week, I was constantly on the go. While I was in Boston, I decided to team up with the branch medic to perform the quarterly fitness evaluations. I spent most of the time in the gym assessing the men on and off the mats, so by the time each evening ended with meetings in the branch commanding officer's office, I was exhausted and fell asleep after a meal and a shower. Wooing Stephanie would have to wait until I could be there in person.