Chapter 7

Ranger asked me about Elisa on the way to Fort Lauderdale.

"She's perfect for Rangeman Miami. She trusts the men and respects them. She's young, but I think she's probably a very smart girl. She understands the importance of the work and the danger. It's really nice that you're paying her college tuition." He smiled at me and squeezed my hand.

"Ranger?"

"Yes Babe?"

"The sales and liaison job using a female employee for your customers is smart. Why haven't you done that in Trenton?"

"I've been waiting on you Babe. I would really like you to do that job."

"You never asked or said anything."

"The timing wasn't right yet. If I asked for you to come work full time at Rangeman and quit Vinnie, would you have done that?"

"Probably not."

"I saw Morelli pressing you to do what he wanted. I knew if I presented that to you during that time, you would have thought that I was just exerting my will on you the same way. It's a real job and important to my company. I know your background and education. You're perfect for the job. I would love for you to consider it."

"Wow. So many Ranger words again. That so turns me on." He grinned at me as we pulled into the hotel parking lot. He tapped his own mic. "Let's do a sound check." Everyone checked including Elisa. I got out of the car and Elisa and I hooked arms and headed in. "Okay let's spread out first and find the skip and then meet by the DJ booth. Got it?"

"Yeah. Meet you in a few."

This place was over the top commercial and gaudy as hell with chandeliers and gold statues. Jeez, perfect place though for a drug dealer to sell his wares to the rich and famous of the area with lots to spend. On the second level there was another room and there in the corner was our guy, along with his posse. I didn't like the looks of this and my senses were telling me that this private area was going to be a problem. "Elisa and Ranger meet me at the DJ booth."

They were both there when I walked up. "Ranger, he's upstairs in a private room and my senses are in alarm mode. Your guys can't just walk in there. At least not unless you're a customer. I'm worried not for me, but for Elisa. This is her first time."

"Stephanie, I'll be okay. I trust you."

Damn. There's that word. I can't resist the words trust or please.

"Babe, I'll be a customer. Men get in place. One on my six and two outside the room."

"Okay. Elisa and I will be customers first and we'll flirt. It might be hard to lure him out. We might have to wait for an opportunity like a restroom visit or something or even the club closing. So, listen for it." Ranger squeezed my hand and gave me a roll of money. "There's a thousand in this roll in hundreds and fifties."

Elisa and I headed upstairs to the room. We went to walk in and a big guy stopped us. I went to speak and Elisa said, "Amigo, we were looking for a hook up. Was told we might find it up here somewhere." He put his arm down and nodded to the corner and our guy. This girl was good.

We walked to the corner table and waited for Ravelo to look at us.

"What's your pleasure senoras?"

Elisa said, "Nieve (snow)."

"Cuanto (how much)?"

Elisa shrugged. "Mmm...Do gramos (two grams)."

"Ciento cincuenta dolares (one hundred and fifty dollars)."

"Por que tanto (why so much)?"

"Este es el precio a menos que quiera negociar (That's the price unless you want to negotiate)?" He looked us both up and down and licked his lips. Eww! No translation needed there.

I spoke up. "Maybe when you're finished here, we can go to your place."

"Then you should show me what you have to offer and maybe I'll give you a little taste until we are ready to leave here." Okay, what the hell is he talking about? I heard Ranger in my microphone. "No Babe, you don't want what he's offering. Refuse it."

"Not the way I like it. Thanks."

"Maybe you should try. Yes?"

"Uh...No thanks." Elisa spoke up. "Maybe we will just buy one gram and check back with you later before you're ready to leave?"

"One gram and you will both stay and have a taste." Oh shit this was not going well. He motioned for Elisa to take a seat next to him. I grabbed her arm.

"We'll come back."

"No chica. You will stay." He pulled what looked like an oral syringe out of a bag and motioned to one of his goons and nodded toward a nearby hallway. "Le conecte y luego haremos algunas preguntas (Plug her and then we'll ask some questions.)."

The goon grabbed my arm and the syringe and began pulling me to the hallway. Elisa was looking at me with wide-eyed horror.

What did that guy say? What is happening here? This whole situation just went to shit! Poor Elisa. I looked her in the eye and mouthed, it's okay. Gordon, I'm channeling you, surprise, grab, kick, punch, bite, poke, elbow…I heard Ranger. "On our way Babe."

The goon dragged me down the hallway. "Bend over and pull your dress up."

"What? No! I will not!"

"You do it now or you'll be sorry la perra (bitch)."

"What the hell are you planning to do with that?"

"It's going in your tight little culo (ass)."

"What's a culo?"

"Stop talking and bend over." I closed my eyes and started to bend over and then I took my heel and stomped his toe and sent my elbow backwards at the same time. He bent over and I turned and kneed him in the cojones. Yeah. How do you like my Spanish you fucker? Who's bending over now? When he fell I jumped on him hard and straddled him and grabbed his hair and growled and started slamming his head to the floor.

Strong hands grabbed me from behind and I elbowed him. "Ummph...Babe! Stephanie stop!" Then I felt the tingle. It was Ranger. I let go and turned. "Come here Babe." He was reaching out to me and his eyes were soft. "Elisa? Is she safe?"

"She's fine. Already heading downstairs and out of the building."

Manny was there handcuffing the goon.

"Let's go Babe. You did good." We started walking.

"This distraction went to shit fast Ranger."

"It wasn't your fault. We have him."

"What was that goon going to do to me?"

"You don't want to know. Forget it."

Elisa was outside and I ran to her. "Are you okay?"

She hugged me. "Yes. I was more worried about you."

"I'm good and I'll tell you a secret that helped a lot." I told her about Gordon and my classes and how much it had helped me to feel equal to the guys and the job that we're doing. "If you want to learn some self defense I'll have him hook you up down here."

"Hell yes, hook me up!"

"Okay. Gordon or I will call you. Strike a pose and let me get a picture of you for Lester and we'll swap numbers too." She stuck her hip out and smiled. "Are you sure you're really okay?"

"Yeah, I'm good. I trusted you and the guys and they didn't let me down." We hugged and I headed to the Mercedes.

"Take me home and…"

"Wait Babe." He reached in my dress and grabbed the mic and removed our earpieces.

"Now what were you saying?" He grinned at me.

I put my arms around his neck and whispered to him, "I want to soak in the tub and I want you to fuck me until I can't remember tonight anymore. Can you do that?"

"Yes Babe."

I was so exhausted from the adrenaline rush and crash; I didn't make it out of the tub before falling asleep. I woke up laying half on top of my hot Cuban man in a tangle of arms and legs. He was still asleep. He looked so young and sweet in his sleep and there was a definite movement under the sheets. I put my head under the sheet and grabbed his shaft and took him in my mouth and licked him.

He groaned and grabbed my hair and ran his fingers through my curls. I put my mouth around him and sucked him hard and grabbed his balls and the base of his shaft and kept up a relentless pace until he begged me. "Ahh...please Babe." I licked circles around his tip and took him in my mouth as far as I could and hummed a little and he gasped. A few more good flicks of my tongue and a suck while working his shaft and he came hard and I swallowed him down. I raised my head and looked at him. "Good morning Batman."

"Babe." He pulled me up to him for a kiss.

"Sorry I pooped out on you last night. Figured you deserved that."

"You did make up for it just now. That was a nice surprise."

"Do you want to go for a run before we have breakfast and have to leave Batman?"

"Sounds good."

"Babe, we need to talk."

"About what?"

"You're exercising, eating healthier, and you've wrestled a shark and a bad guy."

"Maybe we should just chalk it up to a really bad day."

"Doesn't fly Babe."

"You are so nosy. Lula and I have been taking these classes."

"Is that where you've been going at night? What kind of classes?"

"Self defense classes. Fighting classes."

"I'm really curious to know what kind of fighting."

"Dirty Dozen, guy named Jerry Gordon teaches it." He guffawed.

"Babe, I helped that son of a bitch write that book. How the hell did you find him?"

"What? The phone book. What do you mean you helped him?"

"Babe, I have been trying for a year to get you to do exactly what you're doing now. We'll pay him a visit when we get back. Again, you never disappoint."

We went for our run and showered and ate our leftover pastries and drank coffee. Ranger said that the plane wasn't leaving until later in the afternoon and he wanted to take me to a place called Coconut Grove for shopping and a nice lunch.

Ranger has good taste and he picked several things he liked and bought them for me. He said for a job well done. He surprised me when he asked me to help him pick out something for a nine-year old girl. We got her a colorful little Kate Spade designer bag and I bought lots of little stuff to fill it up like colorful lip gloss and costume jewelry and Ranger bought her an iPod and a couple of iTunes cards to go with it.

I bought Lula, Connie, Mary Lou, and even Gordon some souvenirs and we went to a seafood restaurant on the marina overlooking all the moored boats and yachts. They had a dock where boats could pull right up to the restaurant to dine. It was a great area with a beautiful panoramic view. We sat at a table on the back deck overlooking the marina.

Ranger recommended that I try something with conch in it because Miami and the Bahamas were the best places to get it. So I ordered the seafood platter with shrimp, crab, fish, and conch fritters with coleslaw and when he ordered the grilled dolphin, I almost came out of my chair. "What?"

"Babe, it's not 'Flipper' it's a type of fish." I relaxed and he told the waitress to bring us the chocolate mousse cheesecake to share for dessert.

"Whew, the picture that flashed in my head when you ordered that. Are you going to sully your temple and eat dessert with me again?" He grinned and nodded.

We shared our dishes and our dessert and he informed me that we were making a quick stop on the way back to his house. About fifteen minutes later we were pulling into a driveway in a nice neighborhood. He told me that he would be right back and grabbed the gifts we had purchased for the young girl and went to the door. I watched as an attractive woman answered and they spoke for a couple of minutes and then she shook her head and tried to close the door and Ranger held it and then she finally took the gift from him and shut the door in his face.

When he came back to the car he was quiet for a few minutes and finally I put my hand on his leg and asked, "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really. But you deserve an explanation. The woman was my ex-wife and the little girl I left the gifts for is my nine-year old daughter who was the result of a one-night stand when I was a young Ranger. I don't have a relationship with her. I do support her, but I gave up custody when Rachel remarried."

"She won't let you see your daughter…"

"Julie…not very often."

I squeezed his leg. "I'm sorry. That's not fair to you or Julie. I would want to know my real Dad."

"Well, I wasn't actively trying either for several years. I was being an ass."

"Wow, your ass has been a big topic of conversation this weekend. It's like a magnet for bad karma down here like I'm a magnet for kooks. Do you have ass problems that need to be addressed? Maybe you should see an ass specialist…" Then he grinned and tickled my side hard.

We went back to his house to finish packing to leave and then headed to the Miami airport. We were buckled and secure on the plane and I looked over at Ranger.

"I had a really good time. Thank you for asking me to come and taking me to all those wonderful places." He looked over and winked at me.

TBC