Eliza Higgins and Henry Doolittle
What if fate had dealt the cards just a little bit differently?
R/S/R/S
Chapter 3
Stephanie spent the remainder of the day running searches for clients and faxing the needed information back to them. She carefully tagged the most useful information, made notes in the margins and wrote a summary page with her suggestions for finding and bringing in each skip. She had a full day and it should have kept her mind occupied, but every few minutes, the image of a tall, dark, brown-eyed man with a killer smile, meandered through her mind causing her to smile and sigh at once. He was almost enough to make her forget she'd given up on men and relationships.
At 5:00 p.m., she turned off her computer, straightened her desk and headed to the bathroom to shower and get ready for dinner at her parents' house.
Arriving promptly at 6:00 p.m., she became agitated when she saw Joe Morelli's truck parked at the curb. What the hell? If this was her mother's idea, there was going to be a showdown at the Plum residence tonight.
Grandma Mazur met her at the front door, but her mother was noticeably absent. After she greeted her grandma and stepped inside, she could hear the muffled sounds of a conversation taking place in the kitchen between Joe and her mom. Great, she thought. Despite her protests and requests for them to stop, the two of them were apparently going to continue to conspire to push her back into Joe's life. Not gonna happen.
She marched to the kitchen doorway and leaned against the door frame, crossing her arms over her chest. Joe, kiss-up, scumbag, brown-noser extraordinaire, had his arm slung over Helen's shoulder while she was, get ready for it, hand feeding him bites of homemade peanut butter cookies, while he sang her culinary praises. Barf bag needed in the kitchen/dining area, extra-large, with a hazardous waste symbol, please.
"What's going on?" Stephanie asked to their backs.
Joe kept his arm around Helen as the two of them pirouetted to face her, but dropped it when he saw the look on Steph's face.
"Cupcake."
"Stephanie."
"What are you doing here, Joe?"
"I was invited, Cupcake. Your mother was kind enough to set an extra place at the table for me, right next to you," he finished with a smirk.
Stephanie looked from one to the other and back again. "Joe, I've told you for the last time, I'm not interested in seeing you. We're done. Finished. Over and out."
She turned to her mother. "You and I had a long talk and you agreed to drop this whole matchmaking thing. You not only refuse to take my feelings seriously, you can't be trusted to keep your word. I'm leaving and won't be back for another dinner until you apologize. And, if you apologize and then pull this kind of stunt again, you and I will no longer be on speaking terms."
Steph turned and headed for the front door, passing a grinning Grandma Mazur.
"Stephanie Michelle Plum, you get back here right this minute," Helen snarked out as she followed Steph to the door. "You will not speak to me that way in my own home."
Stephanie turned back to face her mother. "Excuse me? Are you suggesting I should show you some respect when you refuse to grant me the same consideration? I admit, it's partly my fault for letting you meddle in my life for so long once I became an adult, but those days are over. I have a good job, make a lot of money, own my own home and call my own shots, mother. If and when I decide to start dating again, I'll be the one who chooses the guy, not you. And, you can bet your Sunday best pot roast, it won't be Joe. Those are my final words on the subject."
Stephanie turned and hurried out the door, the sound of her mother's protests assaulting her ears until she slid behind the steering wheel of her Mustang and slammed the door. She dug her keys from her purse, started the car and pulled away from the curb with a smile. A year ago, the thought of speaking to her mother that way would have had her breaking out in hives. Not any more.
Breaking up with Joe, starting her own business, and becoming successful at her chosen profession had served to bolster her self-confidence. She no longer allowed her mother, Vinnie or the 'Burg gossip freaks to bully her or try to dictate what she should be doing with her life. It took a while, and she'd shed more than a few tears of frustration, but it had been worth it.
Sure, she got a little lonely sometimes, but she was happy with her life and her little house. She was even thinking of getting a new hamster. She missed Rex a lot since he passed away almost a year ago. This weekend, she'd go hamster shopping, she decided.
Next, she phoned Pino's and ordered a meatball sub and side salad to pick up on her way home. That was another thing she'd changed. She used to avoid things like salads, but now, when she ordered something like a sub, she also made sure to eat some leafy green vegetables along with it. She didn't need anyone to tell her what to do. Maybe it took her longer than most women to take control of her life and start to make healthy choices, but she'd done it, and she wasn't about to start a backwards slide by letting Joe back into her life.
r/s/r/s
Around 8:30 that night, there was a knock at her door. Pausing her game, she went to look through the peephole to see who was there. She wasn't expecting anyone, but sometimes Connie stopped by on her way home from the mall to show off her purchases.
She was surprised when she saw Ranger through the peephole. When she opened the door, he had a big smile on his face and a bottle of champagne in his hand.
"Ranger," what are you doing here?"
"I took a chance you'd be home from your parents' house by now," he told her. He held out the bottle of champagne and she automatically took it and stepped aside for him to enter.
"What are we celebrating?"
Ranger toed off his boots, then reached in his pocket and pulled out two FTA receipts. "Thanks to you, Babe, it was a $7,500 payday for me."
"Wow, you got both of them today? Nicely done." She turned toward the living room and he followed her. "Make yourself at home while I get some glasses for the champagne."
Ranger glanced at the blurry screen on the TV from her paused game. "Babe, what are you doing here?"
Stephanie grinned over her shoulder. "I'm killing zombies."
"No! Are you playing Black Ops?"
"Yes, do you play?"
"Oh, hell yeah. All the guys I knew in the Army played."
"Well join me then," she said with a smile. Do you know how to set up the split screen? I've never done it."
"Sure do, no problem," Ranger said, settling down on the floor with his back against the couch. This was great. Not only was she beautiful, smart and sexy, she was a Call of Duty fan. He felt his pants tighten at the thought. One part of his mind was wondering what she would look like in a sexy little bra and thong set from Victoria's Secret while another part of his mind wanted to see her tricked out in a utility belt and Kevlar vest. He knew she'd be smoking hot either way.
Stephanie came back and set two flutes of champagne on the coffee table, then went and got the bottle and put it on the table next to the glasses. That's when Ranger noticed the wrapper from the Pino's sub.
Momentarily glancing at her while multi-tasking with the game controller, he said, "Your mom served subs for dinner tonight?"
Stephanie let out a huff. "Dinner never happened at my mom's. She explained to him what happened.
He'd set the controller aside while listening to her story. When she was done, he picked up the champagne flutes, handed one to her and held his out for a toast. "Proud of you, Babe."
"Proud of me? You don't even really know me."
"Steph, you just told me that at one time, you had a hard time standing up to your mother and other people. Now you've grown a spine and you've taken control of your life. You no longer let her control you or butt into your life when it doesn't concern her. Yes, I'm proud of you."
A smile slowly spread across Stephanie's face as she realized he'd actually listened to every word she'd said and was truly proud of her. She clinked her glass to his and thanked him before taking a sip. "Mmm, this is wonderful."
"I was hoping you'd like it. After all, you're the reason I was able to corral both those skips in such a short period of time. I can't thank you enough. I have quite a bit of money in the bank that I've been saving to start my own business, but wanted to add to it as quickly as possible. With paydays like today, it should happen pretty quickly."
After drinking a bit more of his champagne, he set his glass back on the coffee table, hooked a second controller to the PS3 and set up the split screen mode.
They spent the next hour laughing, talking and squealing, well mostly Steph squealed, while killing zombies. Every time Ranger yelled at her, "Look out! look out! look out! Window on your left!" she'd squeal and break out in laughter. This was the most fun she'd ever had playing this game.
"Babe, what's with using the AK-47? It's just a few zombies."
Stephanie was sitting right next to him on the floor, their backs against the couch. She elbowed him in the side. "Just a few zombies? My god, they keep coming and coming. What's with you, showing off and shooting them with a pistol, Mr. Big Shot?"
"Babe, I can shoot anything equipped with a trigger."
Stephanie set her controller on the table. "Just that good, eh?"
Ranger gave her a wolf grin. "At some things more than others, Babe."
She rolled her eyes at him. "I'm ready for a snack. Want some popcorn?"
"Sure. Popcorn sounds good." He got up and followed her into the kitchen.
While waiting for the corn to pop in the microwave, Ranger glanced around. Through the doorway to the laundry room, he could see an aquarium on a folding table. It contained a small bowl, an empty water bottle and a wheel, but no animal. "What happened to your pet?"
"Hmm?" Stephanie followed his eyes to Rex's old home. "Oh, I had a hamster named Rex for a long time. He died several moths ago," she told him, unable to keep the sadness from her voice.
Ranger wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "I'm sorry about Rex," he said, kissing the top of her head.
Stephanie felt the sudden urge to melt against him to soak up his warmth and comfort and breathe in his heavenly scent. Then she remembered that would a bad idea and jumped when the microwave dinged. She ducked under his arm, retrieved the popcorn and dumped it into a bowl.
Without looking at him, she said, "Okay, ready," and headed back to the living room.
They settled back in their same spots on the floor and chatted about chasing skips as they munched on the popcorn. Stephanie laughed when Ranger tossed a popped kernel into the air and caught it in his mouth.
"I can never do that," she complained. "I can catch maybe one in twenty and the rest end up on the floor."
Show me your technique," Ranger said. Stephanie selected a piece of popcorn, tossed it in the air, tilted her head back and let out a groan of displeasure when it came down and bounced off her chin. "See? That's what happens most of the time. Or, I miss my face altogether."
"Let me try," Ranger said, selecting a kernel. "Tip your head back and open your mouth."
Stephanie did as instructed. Ranger glanced at her open mouth, then tossed the popcorn up and it came down, disappearing into her mouth. "Holy cow, how did you do that?"
"Just takes practice, Babe. "I have a good aim. Watch this," he said. "Let's see if I can show off a little for you." He moved the bowl of popcorn out of the way and lay down flat on his back. He opened his mouth, tossed a piece of popcorn into the air and caught it in his mouth when it came down.
"Impressive," Stephanie said. "Lying down, you have even less head movement. For now, I'll have to name you the reigning king, but I'm going to be practicing, so watch out in the future.
"Ranger smiled and held her gaze. He silently hoped that her future included a rescinding of her no relationship rule.
Stephanie looked down at the man on her living room floor. His handsome face looked relaxed and happy and his brown eyes soft and alluring. Slowly, she found herself leaning down until her lips touched his. The kiss was soft and slow at first, then she felt his arms go around her, one around her waist and the other around her back. When she felt his tongue seek entrance to her mouth, she realized what she was doing and scrambled off him then jumped to her feet.
"Oh my god, I'm sorry!" she exclaimed, stepping a couple of feet away from him, wringing her hands.
Ranger pushed himself into a sitting position. "Steph," he said softly. "I wouldn't want you to do something you don't want to do, but I hope you're not really sorry. I'm not."
Stephanie pulled her lower lip between her teeth and tried to get her thoughts in order. "I ... well, I ..." She blew out a frustrated breath. "But I ... "
Ranger grinned. "Babe, I think the words you're looking for are that you don't do relationships."
"Right!" she agreed. "That's exactly right."
"Steph, I hope this topic comes up for a new vote every once in a while in that great boardroom in your mind. You're way too young to swear off relationships for good. Of course, you need to do what feels right to you, but remember that changing your mind is also an option because you're the one who gets to make the choices and rules."
Ranger got to his feet. "You okay?" he asked when she remained silent for a few moments.
"Yeah. It's just ... well, relationships don't work out very well for me."
"No matter how hard you try, a relationship will never work out with the wrong person. Relationships aren't bad, but they're pretty difficult when the couple is a mismatch."
Stephanie nodded, thinking over what he said.
Ranger picked up the popcorn bowl and champagne flutes and carried them to the kitchen. "I should be going," he said when he came back into the living room.
Stephanie followed him to the door and waited while he put on his boots. When he was finished, he reached out and tugged on one of her curls. "Sweet dreams, Babe."
"You too. I guess I'll see you in the morning if Connie has new skips for you."
"I'll be here," he promised as he opened the door and let himself out.
A/N - Thanks so much to everyone following my story and to those of you who have taken the time to leave feedback. It's so nice to read your comments and find out what you think and read your guesses about where the story is headed.