What Happens in Vegas
Chapter 16
I don't own then and I'm not making any money… Thank you all for reading and for all of the wonderful reviews, and thanks Haleigh for your help editing, I really appreciate everything!
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
When I finally had both of the guys standing and thought we were going to escape, Connie's phone rang. Before we could get out of the office, she waved frantically, signaling me to stop.
"It's your mom," she mouthed.
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
"Hello?" I asked into the phone Connie had handed to me.
"Stephanie, why do you have a cellular phone if you're never going to answer it? Thank God, Mary De Luca called to tell me she saw you going into the bonds office with two of those big men dressed in black."
"Sorry Mom," I said, pulling my cell out of my purse and finding it dead. "I forgot to charge my phone. Why were you trying to get a hold of me?"
"A nice young man dropped off a letter and asked me to get it to you. You could come for lunch and pick it up."
"What's it look like?"
"Just a white envelope with 'Stephanie' written on it," Mom said, before gasping. "You don't think it could be from your stalker do you?"
"I don't know, but I'll try to get to the house as soon as I can."
"Well that's just fine. I'll have some nice cold cuts for you."
"All right, Mom," I said, sensing that she was going into her own state of denial.
As soon as I hung up with her I swung my eyes to the guys. They must have picked up on something during the conversation, because they were both on alert, back in guard mode.
"A man gave my mom a letter for me. My cell's dead, can I use one of yours to call Ranger?"
Ram handed his over, saying only that Ranger was three on speed dial.
"Yo," I heard moments later, instantly feeling relief.
"Yo, yourself."
"Babe?"
"Yeah. My cell's dead. My mom called the office saying a man dropped a letter off for me. It might have been Harper. I thought I'd check if you wanted the guys and me to wait for you to go get it."
"Wait. I'll be to the office in ten." And he hung up.
After staring at the phone for a moment, I handed it back to Ram. "He wants us to wait, and then we'll go get the letter."
Both guys nodded in response to this order from Ranger as if he'd been standing in front of them. And then sat themselves on either side of me, not wanting to get too far away.
"What's up, girl?" Lula asked after a few minutes silence.
"We may finally be making some progress with Harper," I said, feeling a bit conflicted about that.
I wanted to make progress with the stalker situation, but at the same time I didn't. He wasn't really doing any harm. He'd taken a few shots, but he hadn't been aiming to kill. He was just being irritating. And as long as he was out there, Ranger and I got to keep playing house.
Lula seemed to pick up that I was getting lost in thought, because she didn't ask anything else. I didn't snap out of it until Ranger walked in and was standing in front of me. Looking up, I saw that Tank and Bobby were both in the room now too, and couldn't help smiling because Ranger had brought his guards.
"Ram, Woody," Ranger said, "Go to the Plum house and check that everything is secure. When you're done, call and we'll follow."
They had gotten up as soon as Ranger had come over and were out the door with identical nods. He took their place on the couch while Tank and Bobby stood at either end. I rolled my eyes.
"Is this really necessary?"
"It might be, or the letter might be nothing," Ranger said quietly, wrapping an arm around me and gently kneading my shoulders and neck. "It won't take the guys long and then we'll go see what's up."
I simply nodded and began to rest my head against his shoulder before remembering Connie and Lula were in the room and probably watching us closely. Instead, I pretended that there really was 'nothing' new between us and gave an overdramatic sigh.
"Fine, I'll be patient."
"Good." And then he leaned over and gave me a little kiss, just below the ear.
When I looked up, Connie was staring at us and Lula was giving me a look that said I was getting interrogated as soon as she could get me alone. Tank caught her look and the biggest shit-eating grin I'd ever seen spread across his face until Lula turned her look on him. Guess she didn't feel like he'd been keeping her up on the gossip.
With all of this going on in the tiny front office, I was glad for the distraction Ranger's phone offered when it started to ring. I was even gladder when I found out it was the guys and all was clear at my parents' house.
We made our escape quickly and I was even able to avoid promising the girls that I'd be back the next day. But as soon as we were in the truck, Bobby burst out laughing.
"Oh man, Boss, when you kissed Bomber, I thought Lula's eyes were going to pop out of her head and Connie was going to pass right out. And then that glare Lula was giving you, Tank. I don't think I've ever seen you look that scared."
Both guys ignored him so I decided to do the same, even though his chuckling made me want to try the nose breaking move Ranger had taught me.
Bobby was still laughing slightly when we pulled up in front of my parents house, but as soon as Ranger killed the engine, he snapped right back into work mode. He and Tank got out of the truck, scanned the area and then opened doors for Ranger and me to get out. They led us up to the house, and I was surprised that Mom and Grandma Mazur weren't waiting for us at the door, but soon saw why. The house was in an uproar.
It was obvious Mom had been tippling, since she was sitting in a kitchen chair, scolding everyone. Grandma was watching everything, commenting and generally being herself. And to add to that, Val's girls were there since they didn't have school today. Mary Alice was galloping, Angie was scolding her and baby Lisa was screaming.
And they guys were sitting in the living room with my dad, taking it all in.
"Mom?" I finally asked, cautiously.
"Oh, Stephanie. You're finally here," she said, so calmly that I could tell she had done more than her usual tippling.
"Yeah. Where's the letter you had for me?"
"I gave it to the large men that came to check the house. They're sitting in with your father."
"Okay, thanks," I said, bending over and grabbing the whisky bottle I spotted under her chair before heading in to talk to the guys.
Grandma, who'd started harassing Tank and Bobby when we arrived, spotted me taking it, and shook her head. "She's got another in the pantry. Taking it won't do any good."
I put it back in the pantry any way, hoping Mom would give it a rest for a while. I didn't have much hope, though, since she was having a hard day. She had to deal with the Hellions and Grandma, possibly assisted my stalker, and then had her home invaded by ex-army men. I bet Betty Pachinski down the street never had days like this.
In the living room, I greeted my dad with a kiss to the cheek before turning to the guys. "So?"
"The envelope seems to be secure," Ram said, holding it out and flicking his eyes between Ranger and me.
I reached out to take it, but Ranger beat me to it, earning him a dirty look.
"I believe the envelope has my name on it," I said.
"It does." Ranger answered me even as he was examining the envelope and breaking the seal.
When he was satisfied that it wouldn't explode and didn't look like it was going to harm me in any way, he handed it to me. I snatched it, giving him another little glare, before pulling out the sheet of paper inside.
Stephaine,
I've finally made up my mind what to do about you. I want you. I saw you having lunch with the cop the other day and did some checking. It wasn't hard to find out he's your ex. There must be something about you to interest men like him and Manoso. And I need to know what it is. I will have you. But first there's that pesky little issue of your husband. I'll deal with him and then come for you.
Blake
I held the paper out to Ranger and dropped back onto the couch as soon as he'd taken it. The letter was a bit of a shock. I'd expected a threat, that wouldn't be anything new, but this was a threat to Ranger. Because of me.
"Babe, we need to get back to Rangeman," Ranger said, interrupting my thoughts.
"Huh?" Coming back to reality, I saw Ranger crouching in front of me, Woody, Ram and Bobby standing at attention and Tank doing his best to assure my family everything was all right.
Nodding to Ranger, I stood to help Tank. He really wasn't any match for my family.
I told my dad that the guys would take care of me and he seemed to accept that. So did Grandma, but she had a gleam in he eye that I didn't like and disappeared to her room. Thankfully, I was able to convince Mom that she hadn't done any harm and that I'd be all right, and we escaped before Grandma got back with a care package.
Safe in the vehicles, our little caravan headed back to Rangeman. The only sound in our Bronco was Ranger talking into his cell phone, apparently arranging a meeting to take place as soon as we got back.
"Another meeting?" I asked as soon as he snapped the phone shut.
I really liked being involved, but if I was honest, the meetings really weren't my thing.
"Yeah. But you don't really have to be there if you don't want. You can go on up to the apartment and I'll fill you in on what we decide later."
"No, I'll come to the meeting." I felt like I was being manipulated again, since Ranger knew just what to say to get me there. He knew I couldn't resist being in on everything and hated people making decisions for me.
So, as soon as we made it to the building, we were heading to the conference room where half of Rangeman was assembled. I thought it was a bit much, but decided to keep that thought to myself for the time being.
I'd barely made it into my seat when Tank opened the meeting. "Bomber received another threat from Harper via her family earlier today," he said, taking the note from Ranger and placing it on the overhead projection thingy.
When everyone had had a chance to read the note, Ranger spoke up.
"I want efforts to find Harper doubled. We shouldn't be having this much trouble. Finding people is what we do. The man who gave Mrs. Plum the letter didn't match Harper's description, but a surveillance team should still be set up outside the Plum house. And security on Steph will be increase-"
"Excuse me?" I cut him off there.
"You'll be limited to the building and given a heavier guard when you do go out," he said, with the intention of going back to what he was saying.
I had other plans.
"I don't think so. I already have two guards when I go out and the actual threat is at you for the time being."
"Babe."
It was pretty clear Ranger didn't like me challenging his authority or interrupting his meeting. Well tough.
"Don't 'Babe' me. If I'm restricted to the building and have an increased guard so do you."
"I can't very well be looking for Harper with a bunch of guys following me around," Ranger said.
That just made me even madder. "So you want to go out searching for our stalker, who right now wants to hurt you, while I stay here?"
I was getting pretty loud, and gave a momentary thought to the fact that the room was full of Rangemen, but I didn't care. I was pissed and Ranger was going to know it.
He was about to reply to me, when Lester cut him off. "You know Boss, she's got a point."
Ranger turned to glare at him, and I saw Lester actually flinch but I was glad for the support.
"Go on," Ranger said calmly and I saw Lester relax some.
"Well, the actual threat was directed at you. Maybe you should both try to stay in the building. It doesn't sound like Harper's planning on making a move on Bomber until you're out of the way. It would be the surest way to keep her safe."
"Fine. Steph and I will stay in and I'm on call for emergencies only," Ranger said, agreeing to that logic. "But I want Harper found."
I still wasn't happy that he was pretty much confining me to the building. But I also knew he was only agreeing to stay in the building to make me agree, so I decided to be calm about it and prove that I could do it if he could.
The meeting didn't last much longer, and when it was over Ranger walked me to my cubicle, telling me he'd get me some searches to do. He didn't need to, however, since we found my inbox full.
"Guess I better put you back on the payroll," Ranger said, tugging a curl.
And for some reason, that irritated me. He was back to normal, but I still had anger simmering. With Joe, we'd always blown up at each other before the fight was over, but I didn't even want to blow up at Ranger. I didn't just want to go back to normal yet either… so I snapped at him.
"And why would you assume I'm going to come back to work for Rangeman?"
"You've been doing searches. I just thought you'd want to get paid for the work you're doing, especially since you might not be able to go after skips for a while."
"Fine," I agreed, stumped by the logic but still not ready to let go of my anger.
I heard Ranger leave as I grabbed the first file and sighed with relief. I knew I was acting like a baby and I just wanted to be alone until I could get over it.
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
"Babe?" I heard much later.
"Yeah?" I asked, looking up from my computer screen and stretching my arms above my head.
"Ella just called and told me she had dinner ready in the apartment. You want to head up?"
"I could eat," I said, as my stomach let out a rumble of agreement.
"Okay," Ranger said and led the way to the elevator.
Inside, I did some more stretches over my head, enjoying the feeling after sitting at the computer for too long.
"Everything all right?" Ranger asked after a minute.
"Yeah. I was just sitting still too long."
"Uh, I meant about earlier," he said, not looking at me as he let us into the apartment.
"Oh. Sorry about that. I'm better now." And I was. I'd cooled down, it had just taken me longer than him.
"Good," he said, pressing a kiss to my neck and heading for the kitchen.
When I followed him, I found him standing in the doorway, staring into the dimly lit room. The table, not the bar, was set with formal dishes. There were flowers, candles and wine chilling by the table… everything needed for a romantic dinner.
"I'm going to guess this wasn't your idea," I said coming up behind Ranger.
"Nope. This was all Ella. She may be trying to tell us something."
"Very subtle of her."
"Yeah. How about we pretend it was my idea. A 'sorry I was a jerk' dinner," Ranger said, giving me a half smile.
"We could do that," I mused. "Just don't think Ella will be able to bail you out of the dog house every time."
"Or what? You'll divorce me?"
"Nope. I'll refuse to," I said, walking around him and setting myself at the table. "And since this is your apology dinner now, you can serve me my food."
"Only you, Babe," Ranger said, laughing.
And he did serve me. He brought the covered dishes from the tray Ella had left and scooped generous helpings onto my plate and poured me a glass of wine with a flourish. If I hadn't already gotten over being mad, this definitely would have done the trick.
By the time we got to dessert, a cheesecake drizzled with strawberries and chocolate, I'd had two glasses of wine and was feeling very nice. The apology dinner had worked and I'd completely forgiven Ranger for being a jerk. To prove it, I offered him a bite of my cheesecake, since he was only having coffee. When he declined, I swirled my finger around in the strawberries and chocolate and offered him that, telling him it was fruit.
And he accepted, gently taking my hand and licking the topping off. Each touch of his tongue sent jolts of electricity through my body and I think I forgot to breathe.
"Yum," he finally said, releasing my hand and breaking the spell, but only slightly.
Able to move once more, I offered him the bite of cheesecake again and this time he accepted. He took the fork and ate the cheesecake before cutting another bite and feeding it to me. While I ate, he finished my wine and then poured us another glass, holding it to my lips once I'd swallowed. We went on like that until the dessert was gone and Ranger scooped up the remainder of the topping on his finger and offered it to me like I had done to him. Tentatively, I took his hand and licked his finger clean, just like he had done.
But I didn't release his hand when I was finished. Instead, I curled his other fingers away from his palm, and placed a soft kiss there. I felt his fingers twitch against my face and then his hand move into my hair, holding my head still as he brought his mouth down to mine.
The kiss had a dizzying, drugging effect and I barely noticed as Ranger scooped me up out of my chair, never breaking the kiss, and walked us into the bedroom. Lying on the bed, we continued to kiss with our hands roaming over and under clothing, until Ranger broke away and moved down my body. He lifted my shirt, giving each inch of exposed skin butterfly kisses and causing me to writhe at the tickling, tingling sensation. When he had my shirt off, he brought his lips back to mine and I buried my hands in his hair to keep him there. It wasn't until he rolled us, and began to unhook the clasp of my bra that I realized what was going on… and immediately stiffened.
"Babe?" Ranger asked, abandoning my bra and running his hands up and down my back in a soothing motion.
"I'm sorry," I whispered, tucking my head under his chin and hiding.
My body was screaming, demanding to know why I stopped. It wasn't because I didn't want him, but because I did. I wanted all of him. And I knew that sleeping with him would be the last straw, my heart would surrender itself to him completely. I wouldn't survive having him hand it back to me. So, I stopped myself and held onto the tiny piece of me that wasn't his and wondered how long I'd be able to hold on, and if I really even wanted to.
"Me too," Ranger said, interrupting my thoughts.
I tried to pull away, wanting to escape into the bathroom, but Ranger tightened his arms around me. It only lasted for a second, before he released me completely, and I didn't stop to think about it while I made my get away.
I did my business in the bathroom and knew I couldn't stay in there much longer. It was too early to get ready for bed, but I didn't want things to be awkward with Ranger, just hanging out in the apartment. I still hadn't come up with a plan after ten minutes, though, and reluctantly left my hiding place.
Thankfully, Ranger wasn't in the bedroom waiting for me. I knew I'd have to face him, but I was glad he'd moved to more neutral territory than the bedroom.
I found him in the kitchen a few minutes later. He was cleaning up the mess we'd left on the table with our impromptu departure.
"Want some help?" I asked softly.
"Sure." He'd turned at the sound of my voice and held out a pile of dishes to take back into the kitchen.
We cleared and wiped the table in tense silence. When we were done, Ranger gently placed a hand on my back, steering me into the living room. I began to silently pray that we weren't going to talk about what happened. I was perfectly happy to pretend that it hadn't happened at all and just go on like we had been.
"You okay?" Ranger asked once we were both seated on the couch.
"Uh, yeah."
"I really am sorry about earlier. I was out of line."
"I was just as much at fault," I assured him.
I prayed that that was the end of the conversation and relaxed when his response was a half smile. I really needed some denial for now.
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
A/N: Thank you all so much for reading! Please review and let me know what you thought about the chapter, I love the feedback :)