I still don't own anything, and I'm not making any money… Also, thank you all for reading and for all of the wonderful reviews, I really appreciate them. And thanks again to Haleigh.l and Harmne for your help editing, especially on short notice ;) Other than that, please enjoy!
What Happens in Vegas
Chapter 18
Eventually, our picnic came to an end and we all migrated back to the fifth floor to get back to work. I did notice that the guys somehow managed to migrate faster than Ranger and I, leaving us to clean up. I didn't really mind though, since my alternative was more searches for Rodriguez.
Ranger and I finally did make it back to our respective office and cubicle and I started my searches. I'd just gotten into my own little zone when I heard knocking on my doorway. Flipping my head over the back of my chair, I saw an upside down Ranger.
"Yo, Babe," he said, while I flipped right side up again and turned to face him.
"Can I help you?" I asked. "In case you didn't notice, I'm busy doing vitally important work for your company."
"Right," he said, crossing over to my computer and scanning the windows I had minimized on my screen before restoring Cosmo's web page. "Very important."
"That was from earlier."
"I don't mind, Babe. I'm curious about who you were planning to use this stuff on."
I felt my face heat up when I realized the page I had open was an article to 'double his pleasure.'
"You needed something?" I said, not so subtly avoiding his comment.
"Yeah, I came to tell you I got a call from my Grandma Rosa."
"And," I prompted as my belly gave a nervous flutter.
"We're expected tonight for dinner with my family. No arguments."
"But," I said, casting my mind about for ways out of this before remembering we had a stalker. "Aren't we doing the safe house thing here?" I was currently having visions of a Cuban Grandma Bella.
"Yeah, but the threat level isn't so high that we can't go out at all. And when Abuela insists, you don't say no."
"She doesn't have the Eye does she?"
"The eye?"
"Yeah, you know… like the ability to curse people and see into the future. Joe's Grandma Bella was always seeing me with bambinos or my death. Usually my violent death."
"No, nothing like that," Ranger said, looking pretty amused.
"All right then. But only if you promise to protect me if she starts any funny business."
"Babe, I always protect you. But she's gonna love you just like the rest of my family."
I rolled my eyes at that and then flicked them towards the clock. It was a little after three-thirty which meant I had to start getting ready if we were going to make it to Newark on time. Ranger must have noticed, because he gave me a smile and sent me upstairs.
Once there, I made a bee line for the shower, striping along the way and leaving my clothes strewn about the bedroom. I took a quick shower, or as quick as possible while shampooing, conditioning, shaving and debating between Bulgari and my own shower gel. The Bulgari would give me that little courage boost, but I'd also smell like Ranger while visiting his family. In the end I decided on my own gel and made it out before I turned too pruney.
I wrapped my body and hair in fluffy towels and headed for the dressing area. I pulled on bra and panties and a nice pair of jeans before going back to the vanity to start the battle against my hair.
Half an hour later, I laid down my blow drier and hairspray and called it a draw. I had to get started on my makeup. That didn't take long since I could probably do it blindfolded, and by the time I was adding the last swipe of mascara, I heard Ranger entering the apartment.
Scurrying to the closet, I quickly grabbed the shirt I'd selected from my mental inventory while doing my hair. I just managed to pull it over my head as Ranger entered the bedroom.
"All ready, Babe?"
"Just about. I need to get my purse and shoes yet."
"All right. I'll be ready in a few minutes." And he disappeared into the bathroom.
While he was in there, I dug a pair of shoes out of the closet that would match my shirt and checked through my purse. Finding everything in order, I went out to the living room to wait. I was trying to limit the amount of time I spent in Ranger's presence when he wasn't fully dressed… and hoping it'd help me keep my hormones in check since I could feel my control slipping by the day.
I didn't have long to wait before he was ready, and soon we were off, along with our Merry Men escort.
In the car, I could feel myself fidgeting and saw Ranger's eyes flicking from the road to me and back, but I couldn't help it. I tried to sit still, but I was once again a ball of nerves. What if Ranger's grandmother hated me like Grandma Bella? What if his family had decided that they didn't really like me?
"Babe," broke into my thoughts.
"Sorry," I said. I knew my fidgeting couldn't be good for his zone.
"Don't be sorry. And don't be nervous. There's no reason."
"Easy for you to say," I muttered.
Ranger took one hand off the wheel at that, and picked up my left hand. "My family already likes you. My mother has threatened to disown me if I don't convince you to stay married. And the worst Abuela may do is make pro-grandchildren statements, but she always does, so it's not a big deal."
"Your mother threatened to disown you?" I assumed that was something like my mother threatening to never make me pineapple upside-down cake
"Yep. She doesn't want me to let the 'one woman who would tolerate my lifestyle' go."
"Huh," I said, studying the dashboard because I was at a loss for how to reply to that.
Then I saw it. A spider, crawling along, until it stopped on the panel for my airbag, poised to attack me.
"Ranger," I said.
"Yeah, Babe?" He gave my hand a gentle squeeze, but didn't take his attention from the road.
"Remember when you told me you always protect me?"
"Yeah," he said, and I saw the corners of his mouth turn up as his eyes flicked to me again. I was wondering how Mr. Aware of His Surroundings could be missing the viscous, probably poisonous spider.
"Time to prove it."
That made him turn his head slightly towards me and I saw the concerned look on his face. Finally.
"Babe?"
"There's a spider looking at me like I'm its next meal."
He followed my gaze until he spotted the spider. And then his blank face slammed down. I felt a moment of terror that it really was a poisonous spider, until I registered which emotion he was masking with the blank face. It was amusement.
I contemplated being mad, until I saw Ranger pull a tissue from some compartment. He reached out and easily balled up the tissue with the spider in it, before opening his window and shaking the tissue out. Once he was sure the tissue was spider-free, he closed the window and gave me a smile.
"Better?"
"Yes. Thank you," I said, not sure what emotion to express. I was thankful the spider was gone, but pissed he thought it was funny. Instead, I tried my version of the blank face.
The next thing I knew Ranger was shutting off the car and I looked around. We were there. I'd been so focused on the spider, I hadn't noticed Ranger winding his way through his old neighborhood and up to the house. I also hadn't had the chance to be nervous. Now I was.
But then I was distracted again.
Ranger opened my door and was offering me a hand to pull me out of the car and escort me up to the house. Problem was, it was the hand he used to ball up the spider with. And he used the other to empty the tissue. Yuck.
"No thanks," I said, getting myself out of the car.
"Babe?" Ranger asked. I rarely passed up an opportunity where we could be touching.
"You touched the spider with that hand."
"Through a tissue."
"You could still have spider cooties on you. You need to wash your hands."
"Spider cooties?"
"Yep."
"Are they related to death cooties?" Ranger asked, and I saw a bit of a wolf grin.
I just glared to cover up the blush he caused by bringing up the night we had the death cootie discussion and got out of the car.
As we made our way up the walk, I saw Ranger's mother Gloria and an older Hispanic woman I was going to guess was his grandmother appear in the doorway. So the radar that alerts mothers to the return of offspring is a cross cultural phenomenon…
That thought distracted me until we made it to the door and I heard Ranger greeting the women. Then came the introduction.
"Abuela, this is Stephanie Plum. And Babe, this is my Abuela, Rosa Manoso."
"It's nice to meet you Mrs. Manoso," I responded, offering my hand as Burg manners automatically took over.
"Call me Abuela," she said as she clasped my hand in both of hers, "and I'm happy to finally meet you too. I've been looking forward to meeting my Carlos' wife."
From the way she said that and the smile on her face, I was going to guess that she wasn't clued into the particulars of our marriage or that it was a temporary situation. Looking at Ranger, I could tell he had noticed too and was glaring at his mother. She just gave him an 'it's your problem' look before ushering us into the house for dinner, putting an end to the issue for the time being.
We went straight to the dining room, and I was glad to see that there would only be Ranger and I, his parents and grandmother for dinner. Things with Abuela were going okay, but I was still nervous. It was a relief not to risk having Ranger's sisters to be compared with. Grandma Bella loved to point out how I should be like the Morelli women and pop out babies while keeping an immaculate house.
Thankfully my fears were considerably calmed by the time we were fifteen minutes into the dinner. Nothing specific did it, but talk had been mostly about how things were going at RangeMan and how Gloria was planning on redecorating the sitting room. Much better than marriage and babies. And fifteen minutes is more than enough time for my denial to send me into a happy state of security.
"And how are things going with the stalker?" Manuel, Ranger's father, asked when there was a lull in the conversation.
I noticed that Ranger's mother sat up a bit more to pay attention as Ranger worked out an answer.
"We've established that it's a former skip, Blake Harper. He's become slightly more threatening, but we're still having trouble locating him. The current plan is for Steph and me to limit our time outside of the Rangeman building until we have more information."
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. He'd told his family about Harper the way he would give a report to one of the guys.
He must have caught my look, despite the fact that I didn't roll my eyes, because I felt him kick me under the table.
"Footsie?" I whispered at him, doing my best to raise one eyebrow.
Before he could respond with more than an amused look, Abuela spoke.
"I didn't know you and Stephanie had a stalker, Carlos. That explains so much."
"Abuela?" He even did the one word thing with his grandmother.
"I was wondering why you and Stephanie hadn't completed your marriage yet."
"What?" I couldn't help blurting out, as a mixture of feelings I couldn't sort out washed over me at the idea of not being married to Ranger.
"Gloria said you and Carlos had a civil ceremony, but in the eyes of the Church you're not married. I'm assuming you're waiting until after you're safe from your stalker to have the church ceremony. You are Catholic, right?"
"Um, yes," I said, not knowing what else to say. She's Ranger's grandmother, no way was I starting the conversation about not getting married in the Church or even staying 'civilly united.'
Abuela looked at Ranger next, but he was saved by his phone. And from his tone and the few words he spoke, I could tell something had gone wrong and we'd be leaving soon. I only felt a tiny bit bad for being relieved about that.
"What's up?" I asked as soon as Ranger snapped his phone shut.
"Control just lost feed on a warehouse here in Newark that RangeMan provides security for. The guys and I are going to go over and check it out. Most likely the building's lost power," Ranger said, addressing the table, then looking directly at me. "You stay here."
From the look on my face he must have realized I was going to argue. But before the words could even come out of my mouth, he quickly excused us from the table and led me into the sitting room.
"No arguments, Babe. It shouldn't take long and you'll be fine with my family."
"But what if it's a trap?" The words slipped out of my mouth before I could stop them. I didn't want to sound like I was worried about him, I knew that was a reason he didn't do relationships. But I couldn't help it. It kind of came along with the 'loving him' thing.
"That's why you're staying here," he said, reaching out to tuck a curl behind my ear while using his other arm to pull me close.
"What about you?"
"I'll be fine. Like I said, the building probably lost power, which would stop the feed. A team just needs to go check things out and we're closest."
"The guys could go by themselves…"
"We have Ram, Hal and Zero with us. They don't work with the security systems and won't be able to reset it or find the problem. I'll still take Hal and Zero with me. Will that make you feel better?"
"Can't you take all three?"
"No. Ram stays with you."
"Oh."
"I'm going to send him in and go get things taken care of. We'll be back before you know it. Just try not to let Abuela plan a wedding while I'm gone."
"I'll try," I said, smiling at his attempt to cheer me up.
With a last squeeze to my hand, Ranger was moving across the room towards the door. I caught up with him just as he was reaching for the door knob and slid my body between him and the door, wrapping my arms around him. I barely registered his shocked look before I pressed my lips to his and lost myself in the kiss as he took control of it.
When we finally pulled apart, he rested his forehead against mine while our breathing slowed to normal.
"What was that for?" he asked after a long minute.
"You forgot your good luck kiss," I said, blushing a little at my behavior.
"Then thanks for remembering," he said before pressing another soft kiss to my lips.
When we pulled apart this time, he'd turned us so I was no longer between him and the door. And he slipped out of it before my senses had fully recovered.
I took a deep breath to prepare myself for going back to the kitchen to face Abuela. By myself, this time.
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A/N: Thank you all for reading, I hope you enjoyed the chapter… please review and let me know!