They're not mine and I'm not making any money… Thank you all for the wonderful reviews and for the ones the let me know it was past time for another chapter :) And thanks Haleigh for your help editing, I appreciate everything!

What Happens in Vegas

Chapter 17

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.

My prayers were answered after that, because Ranger didn't seem any more inclined to further discuss what had happened than I was. Instead, he grabbed the remote and began flipping through the channels on the TV. We sat in unspoken silence until he broke it to ask if the movie he'd selected was all right.

"Uh, yeah. Of course." I'd been lost in my own thoughts, not paying attention to what he picked.

We were quiet again after that and I forced myself to be distracted by the movie. It was an action-adventure that I'd never seen and before long I was snuggled into Ranger, sharing the popcorn he'd made. Things were back to normal and the sexual tension was forced back into its corner. We even made it through the post-heroic rescue sex scene without too much of a problem. I just pointedly didn't look at Ranger and prayed he couldn't feel my heart pounding as easily as I could feel the slight tension in the arm he had around me.

It was late by the time the movie was over, so I disentangled myself from Ranger and stood stretching. He stood as well, and gave me a playful swat on the butt, sending me off to the bedroom to get ready for bed. And I breathed a sigh of relief once my back was to him. The friendly teasing was back, so things were back to normal.

The relief vanished as soon as I was ready for bed, though. I was standing in the middle of the room, like my first night there, wondering where I should sleep… Could I trust myself to sleep with Ranger?

"Get in the bed. I won't touch unless you touch first," Ranger said, coming in to the room and giving me an amused look.

"I'm going. I was just thinking about… out stalker," I lied. I definitely didn't want Ranger to know what I was thinking.

But from the quirked eyebrow he gave me on his way into the bathroom, I'm pretty sure I was outdone by his ESP once again.

I tucked myself into bed, and listened to the sound of Ranger in the shower, waiting for it to lull me to sleep like usual. But it wasn't happening. I really wanted to get to sleep before he got out here, avoiding awkward situations by default, but sleep wasn't calling. When I heard the door to the bathroom open, I decided that pretending to sleep was my best option.

After a minute, I felt Ranger slide into bed beside me. I had to focus on forcing my muscles to stay relaxed when he pulled me over to himself and tucked me into his side. I did a pretty good job until I felt him place a little kiss on the side of my head and move over kissing my cheek. Against my will, I turned my head so my lips met his and I softly kissed him back.

"I knew you were faking," he said, breaking the kiss after a few minutes.

"You said you wouldn't touch," I accused. I wasn't really mad, more confused by this latest kiss, so I gave him a glare anyway.

He must have realized that I wasn't mad because he dropped a kiss to my forehead before leaning back. "I know."

I tried to raise my eyebrow at that, but didn't quite pull it off.

"I just wanted to prove you were awake. Now the 'no touching' deal is in place." And as he said that, he carefully set me away from himself and tucked the covers up around me.

I heard him settle himself for sleep, and after a few minutes I heard his breathing even out. I'd never had much of an opportunity to watch him sleep, so I carefully turned on my side and scooted a bit closer. His face was relaxed, without his usual alertness and look of total concentration.

I continued to study him, waiting for sleep to come for me too, but it just wasn't working. After a few minutes I gave a frustrated sigh. During my Ranger-study, I'd focused in on the arm nearest me, which he'd thrown over his head, perfectly exposing the shoulder I like to use as a pillow. It was like he was taunting me. But we had the 'no touch' deal.

Eventually I gave in and snuggled into him. I'd known I would, but at least I'd held out for a good half hour.

He brought down the arm he'd had above his head and tucked me more securely against himself and I felt myself relaxing, ready for sleep. Then he spoke.

"I win."

"You're an ass," I said, trying to pull away. "Have you been awake the whole time?"

"No. Not until you crawled onto me."

"I didn't crawl onto you. I put my head on you shoulder. There's a big difference."

"Semantics, Babe, you still touched first."

"Fine," I said, and tried to move away. If being a pillow bothered him he could have said something.

He held me tight, though. "Doesn't mean you have to move."

While I struggled with my decision, he leaned in and kissed the bridge of my nose, then ran his lips gently over my face, eventually making it to my lips. I didn't protest, so he deepened the kiss slightly, but didn't escalate it any further. After a few minutes, I realized that he was restraining himself, not letting things go too far. I was grateful that he wasn't taking things further, but another part of me was disappointed.

The kissing eventually ended, and he tucked me into his arms so I could settle my head back onto his shoulder. I felt content and relaxed as sleep began to settle over me. I had a fleeting wish that this could be real, but drifted off before I even realized what I was thinking.

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I woke up when Ranger's alarm went off and felt his chest muscles moving beneath me. When the alarm stopped, I cracked one eye in curiosity. Other mornings, Ranger had had to move me off of himself to reach the alarm. This morning, I noticed that the alarm was on the edge of the nightstand, just within Ranger's reach.

"That's nice," I said, tipping my head in the direction of the moved alarm without picking my head up off his shoulder. "But it still means my pillow's getting up."

"So are you. I just thought you might like a few minutes to wake up more slowly before I drag you to the gym."

"That's sweet. It would be really sweet if you'd let me sleep in."

"I let you sleep in yesterday. And I wouldn't want to risk getting a reputation as a 'sweet guy.' That would completely ruin my image." With that, Ranger placed a kiss in my hair and started to edge himself out from underneath of me.

"Do we really have to get up?" I asked, moving my arms to either side of him in one last effort to keep my pillow in bed.

"Yeah."

"You're sure?" This time, I flickered my eyelashes at him in an exaggeratedly flirtatious manner.

"Babe, now you're playing with fire," he growled from deep in his chest, making me feel it all through my body.

I felt myself shiver, and I knew he felt it too, so I moved my arms, allowing him to get up easily. I had always been amazed at how our interaction could go from teasing to deadly sexy so easily; but lately, it seemed to be happening in the blink of an eye.

Not wanting to think about it, I got ready to go to the gym, but didn't actually go without one more attempt to get out of it.

"Do I really need to go to the gym any more?"

"Are you an expert in self defense?"

"If I said yes would I get out of going?"

"Babe."

Taking that as a 'no,' I continued arguing. "I'm confined to a secure building. I don't really need self defense."

"Consider it a way to pass the time, since I know you'll be bored soon enough," Ranger said, shoving me into the gym since we'd arrived by then.

The time went quickly, as usual, once we got started. We spent about fifteen minutes reviewing everything I'd learned and Ranger made a few comments about regretting teaching me the leg swipes. When he was sure I had it all down, we moved onto the new stuff. I learned a couple more kicks and hits and then Ranger showed me how to move easily between moves.

I was working on a punching bag and having so much trouble transitioning between kicks and punches that I thought the bag was winning. Ranger must have agreed, because he told me to stop and began demonstrating.

I can't really say that I paid attention to the mechanics and form of what Ranger was showing me. I was too distracted by the way his muscles were rippling and working and how gracefully his body moved. I was vaguely aware of him speaking, explaining exactly what he was doing, but I wasn't understating a word of it.

"You got that, Babe?" he asked after a few minutes.

"Um."

"Babe," he said, giving me a knowing smile, and causing me to blush.

"I can't help it," I said.

"That's something you should work on." He was walking towards me now, giving me a predatory stare.

He stopped, millimeters away, and somehow I managed not to take off running. When I smelled the masculine, sweaty scent mixed with Bulgari coming off of him, I decided that not running might have been a mistake. My hormones were humming, and waging battle with rational Stephanie.

"You're looking at me like I'm lunch," Ranger eventually said, interrupting the battle.

"The same could be said about you."

His eyes flashed dark at that, and I thought he was about to kiss me until I remembered we were in a gym filled with his employees in the view of multiple cameras. I didn't know whether to be relieved or disappointed.

I somehow managed to break the spell by stepping away and bending into a cool-down stretch to break our gaze. "Are we done for the day?"

"Yeah. We've done enough for today," Ranger said, and from the corner of my eye I saw him beginning the same stretches.

When we were done, we headed back up to the apartment, not speaking and being careful not to touch. We took our turns in the shower and I noticed that I didn't get any glimpses of a towel clad Ranger today.

I didn't even hear Ranger until he called out that breakfast was ready while I was adding my last swipe of mascara. And despite the slight nervous feeling I had, I managed to leave the safety of the bedroom.

"Babe," he said over his newspaper as I entered the kitchen.

He seemed completely at ease, like he couldn't even feel the tension between us. And I had a sudden thought. What if the tension and escalation of emotion were all in my head? What if we were only behaving like we had before we were married and my imagination and desire for more were blowing things out of proportion? Unexpectedly embarrassed, I tried my best to act naturally.

"Ranger," I replied as calmly as I could.

"Any plans for today?"

"Just staying in the building… Probably doing a bunch of searches. You?"

"Same. And getting some work done in my office. This is probably a good chance to catch up on my paper work."

He'd folded up his paper by now, and I nearly laughed out loud at the look that flitted across his face at the word 'paper work.' It was pretty clear that he wasn't looking forward to it.

After that, we sat in silence for a while, but unlike the last few days, the silence didn't feel comfortable. Instead, I felt awkward and nervous. I nearly jumped each time Ranger moved to reach for a bagel or sip his coffee. Finally, I realized that I'd just have to say something.

"Anything interesting in there?" I asked, nodding my head at his newspaper. It was the best I could come up with.

"Not really. Marty Steinberg was arrested again. Possession with intent to sell this time."

"That's a surprise," I said, smiling a little.

Marty was a Rangeman regular, always getting arrested on drug related charges and always skipping his court date the first time around. You'd think Vinnie would just stop bailing him out, but Vinnie never was the brightest crayon in the box. So Ranger and the guys kept bringing him in.

We kept up light talk like that until we finished breakfast and then piled the dishes on the tray Ella had left for us. Neither of us tackled the other to the floor, and in the elevator there was no kissing or tickling. And, if I was honest, I was disappointed. I'd been enjoying Ranger's playful side despite, or maybe because of, where it seemed to be leading us.

I shook myself out of these thoughts when Ranger and I paused at my cubicle. There was an awkward moment, where we both just stood there, looking at one another, but he told me he'd be in his office and left, effectively breaking it.

Not knowing what else to do, I sat myself down in my chair and booted up my computer. Grabbing the top file from my inbox, I saw Rodriguez's familiar signature and resigned myself to a day of his searches.

By noon, I'd gotten through three searches on skips and two intensive background checks on prospective clients. Looking at my out box, I decided I deserved a break.

I stood and allowed myself a good stretch until I heard wolf whistles coming from the control room. One hand was used to pull my too-short Rangeman shirt down and the other to flick off the security camera. With that done, I headed off for the break room where I found Ella just delivering sandwiches.

"Yay, I get first pick," I said, leaning over the tray she was unloading them from.

"No," she said, causing my eyes to open wide in shock. This was not typical Ella behavior. She laughed at the look on my face before explaining. "The boys told me what a good sport you're being about staying inside, and Ranger too, so I made you a good lunch. It's upstairs."

"Oh, you didn't have to," I said because I felt it was necessary.

"I know. But I like to. I was just about to go let Ranger know, unless you want to."

"I can," I said before bouncing off to his office and knocking on the door.

"Come in," I heard from the other side, just as I was turning the door knob to do just that.

"Ready for lunch?" I asked, dropping myself in one of the chairs across from Ranger's desk.

"I could eat. Why? Do we have a date?" That was said with a bit of a wicked gleam in his eye.

"Apparently. Ella made us lunch up in the apartment for behaving and staying safe."

"All right. Let me just save this," Ranger said, turning his attention to his computer and clicking a few things before standing.

We walked in silence to the elevator, and I was glad to see that the tension of the morning was much diminished. Or it was buried under my excitement to see what Ella had made for us. Either way, I was feeling better now.

"So… You get your paperwork done?" I asked Ranger as we rode up to the apartment.

"I made a dent. How are your searches going?"

"Made a dent. I got a couple done for Rodriguez and did some client background checks. One looks good, the other not so much. Too many unaccountable expenditures."

"Tank gets to sort through those before they even get to me. It's good to be the boss," he said, winking and wrapping an arm around my waist.

I leaned back to look at him though. "Did you just wink at me? You never wink."

"I do, it's just rare," he said, still smiling.

We were to the apartment by now and when he opened the door, I skirted around him and headed for the kitchen ready to check out lunch. But I couldn't find it… no tray, nothing in the 'fridge or oven…

"In here, Babe," I heard Ranger call as my confusion was growing.

It sounded like he was in the living room, so I headed that way. I found him there as well as a red checked blanket, spread on the floor, and a picnic basket. The only thing I could do was laugh out loud.

"I may have to have a word with Ella," Ranger said, looking between me and the basket.

"Let her enjoy herself." With that, I grabbed his hand and sat myself down on the blanket, using all of my weight to pull him with me.

Investigating the basket, I found a container of fruit salad, grilled chicken, a rice dish with veggies in it, a bottle of sparkling grape juice, and finally, an apple pie. I wanted to start with the pie, but Ranger pulled out plates and started dishing up chicken, fruit and rice for me. Since everything smelled good, I figured I could wait.

I quickly tried everything and Ella had outdone herself. "Even the fruit is good."

"So you might be learning to like it?"

"I didn't say that, but I wouldn't complain if Ella made us more picnics with it while we're cooped up here."

"I think if it takes long enough to find Harper, I could have you converted to healthy eating," Ranger said, giving me a teasing smile.

I only responded with a light smile as my train of thought switched tracks. "Do you think it's going to take long to find Harper and deal with him?"

"I don't know, Babe. Are you in a hurry to get a divorce?"

"You know I'm not," I said, and then immediately felt a blush spread over my face. That hadn't come out quite right, but I wasn't sure how to say what I meant.

Luckily, I was saved by the door to the apartment bursting open.

"Boss, Bomber, how are our favorite people?" Lester asked as he, Tank and Bobby sat themselves down on the edges of the blanket.

"Can we help you?" Ranger asked, ignoring the question.

"Not really. We just saw Ella on the monitors, carrying a basket up here and figured you had a better lunch than us," Bobby said while peeking into the basket. "We were right. And, there looks to be enough that you could share…"

"And why would we want to do that?" I asked, teasing them.

"Because you love us," Lester said.

Ranger gave that a raised eyebrow, causing Tank to make his argument next.

"I didn't want to have to do this, but I'll resort to black mail. Bomber, don't make me tell Lula that you and Ranger were having a romantic, indoor picnic, alone in his apartment…"

"You wouldn't," I said.

"It would get me out of the doghouse since I haven't been keeping her informed about you two."

"You can stay. I was going to let you anyway," I finally said.

"Good, if you weren't, we were planning on kidnapping the basket," Bobby said as the guys began helping themselves.

We spent the rest of our lunch break talking and joking, and I learnt more about the guys than I thought I ever would. Eventually, though, someone's cell rang, calling us all back to work. The sound pulled me out of the doze I'd fallen into against Ranger's shoulder while the guys reminisced about their Army days. We quickly got the picnic picked up, and were back to real life.

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A/N: Thank you all for reading and for your patience with me over the last few weeks… I'm going to try to post more often and should be able to since I'm just about done with my summer job that's been consuming all my time!