Sorry this one took a bit longer. Hope you enjoy.

Usual disclaimer applies. If you recognise it, it's Janet's

Chapter 13

Twenty minutes later and I was still sitting in the control room waiting for Lester. I had finally plucked the courage up to go speak to Hal. I needed to get in touch with Ella to let her know my plans and to arrange to meet up with her later. Hal had dialled her extension for me. She wasn't overly happy with me working again tonight but didn't say too much. She was going out shopping in the afternoon so we arranged on a definite lunch date for tomorrow. She told me to be careful and to stick with the men. They would look after me.

Hal was now showing me some of the search programs I would be using when I started doing research for Rangeman tomorrow. They all seemed pretty straightforward and I knew my way around a computer. All I had to do really was do the searches then print out the information I found. Piece of cake. Hal was actually a bit of a comedian under all the muscle, and he had just finished telling me how they sneaked doughnuts passed Ranger when Lester walked out the elevator. I did a double take when I saw him. He was dressed in faded blue jeans, navy t shirt, brown CAT boots and a well worn brown leather jacket. Gone was the usual black hat and his black hair fell across his forehead into his eyes and curled up slightly at the neck of his jacket. I thought he would probably still scare little old ladies but any female under the age of 50 would probably swoon at the sight of him. I know I was struggling not to. I heard a chuckle behind me and realised I had a death grip on Hal's leg. Not that he could probably feel anything.

"You want to stop drooling now" Hal said in my ear "No need to feed Les's ego, its fat enough already".

"Shut up Hal" I said letting go of his leg but giving it a slap for good measure. I got up and headed for Lester's desk where he was shuffling some folders about.

"You ready for this?" I asked him watching as he picked four or five folders from the top of the pile.

"Two seconds Sweetness" he answered. "Just going to pass some of this work to Hal, looks like he could do with something to keep him busy" He walked over to the desk Hal had been sitting at. "Fuckin' Rodriguez" he said dumping the files on the desk.

"Shit man, does he never give up" Hal said "How bout we swap and I'll take Carla shopping".

"No fuckin' way Hal, Ranger's orders" Lester said with a laugh. He turned to me and offered me his arm. I just rolled my eyes and headed over to the elevator. I was looking forward to this shopping trip but Hal was right, Lester did have a big ego and I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of having me hanging off his arm like some possession.

Lester pouted and feigned disappointment but could only hold the expression for a few seconds before his grin returned. "You not changing or slapping the war paint on for our expedition?" he asked as we got into the elevator.

"Nope, no amount of make up is going to hide the fact I'm hungover and look like hell, so no point wasting time on it" I said hitting the button for the garage.

"Shut up Carla you look gorgeous as ever, especially with that glow you women seem to get with the thought of buying shoes" he said.

I did feel I was glowing but it was Lester's close proximity in the elevator that was causing it and even more so now after his comment he just made about me being gorgeous. I don't know about Lester's ego but he was certainly working wonders for mine! We exited the elevator into the garage and I followed him not sure which vehicle he was going to head for. Lester walked over to a shiny black Mercedes convertible.

"This your car?" I asked. I didn't know much about cars but this one seemed like sex on wheels with its sleek lines and leather interior.

"Ranger's, but I talked him into lending it to me, seeing as I am being chauffeur for the morning" he answered stepping around me so he could hold the door open for me. I climbed in as elegantly as I could and just thanked God I wasn't wearing a short skirt this morning.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Twenty minutes later and we were standing in the mall. When I was with Lula and Steph I had just let them take the lead but now with only Lester for company I wasn't quite sure where best to head for a dress.

"So what exactly are we here for?" Lester asked noticing my unease.

"A slut dress and shoes for tonight" I replied looking around for inspiration. I could see a few boutiques but didn't know which one to head for first. I didn't want to go somewhere too expensive but at the same time wanted something I could possibly wear again. After all it's not every day you get an outfit for free! "I suppose we could head for Macy's" I said thinking about the outfit Steph had got there.

"I think I know the place you need" Lester said putting his large hand on the small of my back and leading me towards one of the more expensive looking boutiques.

"Why are you an expert on the best place to buy a dress?" I asked surprised that he had taken control like that.

"I have three sisters, one older, two younger, so I know a thing or two about shopping" he said opening the door of the store. "My youngest sister Marie used to work here, and the other two were always here taking advantage of the discount".

The store was small, but well stocked. It wasn't so designer that there was only a few outfits on display like some other places I had been. My eyes instantly fell on a deep purple satin halter neck top. Lester must have realised I had spotted it as he walked over and selected one from the rail. It was my size too. He obviously knew his stuff.

"You sure it wasn't you who worked here?" I teased taking the top from him.

"I would like to say I was an expect at judging women's bodies" he said glancing up and down mine "but I saw the label on your dress lying outside your bedroom door" he grinned.

"Wait a second, please don't tell me you were in the apartment when I got undressed last night? I said face burning with embarrassment.

"No I saw it when I looked in on you to make sure you were still breathing while I made the coffee this morning. Can you really not remember getting home last night then?" he laughed.

"Not much. I take it I fell asleep on the way back? I asked. I hated losing chunks of my memory after drinking. Well most of the time anyway. Sometimes it's good not to remember!

"You were both out. Tank decided the best thing to do would be to leave Steph with you, but in the end we had no choice" he chuckled softly to himself "once we got you both up to your apartment you had both sobered up enough to kick us out and slam the door in our faces, yelling "no men night" at us.

I laughed at this. We had stayed loyal to the end. At least I was now a bit more clear on what happened at the end of the night.

"Anyway you showed me a lot more this morning than I would have hoped for" he teased.

My face burned again "You had annoyed me by breaking in, I wanted to make you feel uncomfortable".

"Gorgeous, it certainly wasn't discomfort I was feeling this morning" he breathed in my ear.

The rest of my body burned as badly as my face as I backed away from him "Need to try this on" I croaked my voice failing me.

"Hope you're not planning on wearing that top as a dress, it's a bit short even for me babe!" Lester grinned again.

I grabbed a black satin pencil skirt hanging on a rail next to the top and headed through an archway to the fitting rooms at the back of the shop. There was two cubicles with wooden swinging saloon type doors and a small seating area where Lester ambled over to, to sit and wait for me. I didn't like the fact that he could see me from the shoulders up and the knees down.

"Do you thing you could wait outside while I change" I said sharply.

"I'm just here, it's not as if I can see any more than I already have" he winked.

"Well I'm sober now, and this is just too intimate. I'm not always a complete slut" I said just a shop assistant appeared from nowhere. She took one look and Lester and I and disappeared again. Lester just sat grinning up at me.

"Please Lester" I finally pleaded.

"Okay but I want you to come out and model it for me" he said standing up and heading back through the archway. Not on your life I thought to myself.

I undressed as quickly as I could feeling exposed by the small doors. I preferred a nice big curtain myself! The skirt was high waisted and was made of a beautiful soft satin that fell to just above my knees, but it had a split up the right leg which went three quarters of the way up my thigh. I put the top on and it fitted perfectly. I tucked it into the skirt and temporarily adjust my bra straps so they weren't visible under the halter neck. Okay so I wasn't showing any cleavage but with the right bra I would still be right up there in the visibility stakes. I was also showing a lot more thigh than was probably necessary. The only problem was I couldn't do the zip at the back of the blouse right up to the top. I was writhing and struggling to reach it when Lester's voice nearly made me jump out my skin.

"Need some assistance there?" he asked and before I could answer he had reached over the top of the doors to pull the zip up. "Very nice" he said his eyes raking up and down my outfit.

"I thought you agreed to stay out" I said angrily.

"No you agreed I should stay out" he replied leaning his arms over the top of the doors. "You need shoes to go with this outfit?" he asked.

"I'll go to Macy's , I think they still have a sale on" I said pushing his arms off and pointing to the door way.

"Hang on I've just seen the perfect pair" he said disappearing back out to the store. Although I was pissed off that he didn't respect my boundaries he did seem to be taking this whole shopping trip seriously. It might actually be over quicker than I thought and I could go back to bed for a few hours.

He returned a few minutes later with a gorgeous pair of shoes, in my size again. They were a deep purple that matched the top, and were made of a soft suede that felt like velvet. They had four inch heels and a delicate ankle strap. A fantastic pair of FMP's!

"Thank you" I said in shock. They were indeed perfect. I forgot my initial shyness and went over to the small couch to sit down and put the shoes on. I stood up, smoothed the skirt down and walked over to the large mirror on the wall outside the cubicles. It was the first time I had looked at myself in a full length mirror, dressed up, in a very long time. I was amazed to see how good I looked. With the weight I had lost and the exercise I was doing I looked pretty damn great. I looked at my face in the mirror and the stupid big cheesy grin I couldn't get rid of. Then I noticed Lester's reflection. He was standing right behind me but he wasn't grinning. He was looking at me like I look at cheesecake! My shyness came back and I ran back into the cubicle to change. I heard Lester let out a low chuckle and turned to see him walk out the changing rooms.

________________________________________________________________________________

Fifteen minutes later we were standing outside the store with my new purchases. I didn't see the final total but I thought it might have been ten times as much as I would normally pay for an outfit.

"You want to go grab some lunch?" Lester asked. "All this shopping can wear a man out" he said.

"Sure" I replied. I was in fact starving and wasn't sure if he could hear my stomach telling the world about my hunger.

We headed up the escalator to the food hall and headed for one of the concessions. We both grabbed some lunch and took a table in a quiet corner overlooking the floor below. I could see Victoria's Secrets from my vantage point and a plan started forming in my head. I did actually have an excuse to go there now as I needed a multiway bra to wear with the halter neck.

We had both got salads for lunch. Lester eyed mine warily. "I wouldn't have though a salad would make a decent hangover cure" he said.

"I feel much better now actually" I said "I'm not one of those people who need a pile of grease the morning after".

"Very healthy" he commented. He acted surprised.

"C'mon it's not that healthy" I said poking at my salad with my fork. "It's got chicken, croutons, bacon bits, not to mention the creamy salad dressing. There's probably as much fat in here as a McDonald's". Unlike Lester's which was just a pile of leaves.

He saw me eying up his salad and laughed. "I'm planning a nice juicy steak later, have to balance everything out".

"So you look after yourself then?" I asked

"We have to, if we can't cut it Ranger send's us to the gym for hours on end until we are fit enough. If you don't make the grade then you're out" he replied.

"How long have you known Ranger?" I asked, curious now about the whole Rangeman thing, and Lester was obviously quite the talkative one.

"Most of my life" he replied. "Our parent's are good friends. As teenagers we hung around, got into trouble together. Probably a bit too much trouble in the end. Ranger's family spent some time in Miami but came back eventually. Ranger went off to college, then joined the army. He came back on leave a year later and talked me into signing up. I was stuck in a rut with some very dodgy friends. If I hadn't I would probably have ended up in jail" he stopped and looked at me, maybe wondering if I would like this side to him.

"So how did Rangeman come about?" I asked. We all had a past, have done things we're not proud of. I wasn't going to judge him on things that happened years ago.

"We met Tank and Bobby while in the army and have been a team ever since. When we got out we decided to set up Rangeman. We have an office in Miami too, but we all prefer living up here, so we have another team that runs Miami, although we all have to take a turn at going down there, especially just now. We are having a few problems down there at the moment" he said with a grim face.

"What kind of problems?" I asked.

"Nothing to worry your pretty little head about" he answered finishing the last of his salad and eyeing up the piece of cheesecake I had sitting beside my salad.

"Don't even think about it" I said narrowing my eyes. "You should have got your own". I finished my salad and moved onto my cheesecake before he could steal it. "So if you are a team, why is Ranger the boss?" I asked.

"Ranger is a born leader. He was our superior officer in the Rangers so it was just natural that he took command at Rangeman too. Bobby, Tank and I are silent partners though so do have a say on what goes on" he said.

"So what does go on at Rangeman then?" I asked becoming very curious.

"C'mon Carla enough questions" Lester replied. "Tell me something about yourself instead of talking shop. I've got a couple hours off I don't want to talk about work".

"What do you want to know?" I asked.

"Why are you here?" he asked.

I looked up from my cheesecake at him trying not to choke on the piece in my mouth. I took a sip of water to help it down. He was certainly straight to the point.

"I'm here to see Ella, you know that" I replied.

"Yeah, I know you are here to see Ella because of something that happened back home" he said gently. "I know what you do for a living, or should I say did do for a living, where you live, about your mum, and that you have an ex boyfriend that you don't want to talk about" he finished.

I took a few seconds to compose myself before I answered. "And how do you know all this information, do you have a file on my too?" I asked angrily.

"We do" he replied.

"You are fucking joking" I shouted. "Why do you have a file on my and where did you get the information. Was I one of your searches" I pushed the last of my cheesecake away, no longer hungry.

"Calm down Carla" Lester said taking the cheesecake and taking a forkful. "We have files on everyone who works for us, even on a temp basis, and especially the ones living at Haywood too. But I didn't run a detailed search on you, all the information we have on you came from Ella. Don't be angry at her, it was the only way Ranger would agree to let you stay under the same roof as her".

"What did she say about me then?" I asked.

"That you haven't said why you came all this way to see her, but that she thinks it's something to do with the boyfriend. She's really worried about you Carla" he said quietly.

I didn't know what to say. I hadn't realised Ella had confided in anyone about my situation. The truth was I just needed to be near Ella. I didn't really want to discuss any of my problems with her. Just being here with her was enough comfort.

"You want to talk about it?" Lester asked when he realised I wasn't going to say anything.

"Not really" I said looking down playing with my napkin.

"Did he hurt you?" Lester asked.

"What?" I looked up quickly and glared at him. "I told you I don't want to talk about it. Can we go now? I said starting to rise.

Lester gently grabbed my arm and pulled me back down. "I was going to ask if he had been unfaithful to you but I think it's more than that isn't it?" He was still speaking gently and still had a light hold on my arm. "He's physically hurt you hasn't he?"

I took a deep breath and looked into Lester's soft brown eyes. I hadn't ever spoken to anyone about my relationship, and didn't want to start now. But Lester was being so kind and gentle.

"Look Les," I said "If I tell you will you just leave it, I really don't want to think about it, or talk about it to you, or anyone else for that matter".

Lester just nodded.

"Okay he was violent towards me, and I put up with it. For too long." I took a deep breath and continued. "But it's over now, he's out the picture. I just wanted to put some space between us and visit Ella. Now please don't ask me any more, and Les, please don't tell Ella any of this, or I'll shoot you with your own gun" I finished, swallowing hard on the lump in my throat that had formed.

He laughed gently and moved his hand down my arm to and put it lightly over mine. "Are you sure you are up to this job tonight? Ranger will understand if you can't handle it" he said.

"I can handle it" I said angrily. "Just because I have been a victim once doesn't mean I will always be a victim. I've toughened up, taken self defence classes. I'm not who I used to be".

"You don't need to be ashamed of what happened to you" Lester said.

"Just leave it okay" I said standing up. This time he didn't stop me. I looked down towards Victoria's Secrets and decided I needed to distract Lester away from my personal problems. "I need to go buy some new underwear for tonight. Are you staying here or coming with me?"

"I wouldn't miss this for the world" he said standing up and picking my bags up for me. "But Carla" he said moving over to me and putting an arm gently around my shoulders. "You know where I am if you want to talk" he said quietly.

"Thanks but I won't" I said.

"Remember I've got three sisters, I'm a good listener" he said.

"Is this you getting in touch with your feminine side Les?" I joked trying to lift the mood.

"I would rather be in touch with you're feminine side" he whispered in my ear.

"This is thing with you Les" I laughed swatting him on the arm. "One minute you are all Mr Sensitive then you turn into a complete pervert" I laughed.

"I try my best" he said giving me a quick hug.

We headed downstairs to Victoria's Secrets

______________________________________________________________________________

I was standing looking at a display of bra's. Or pretending to anyway. I was actually wondering how I was going to get the proof Lula needed that I had a Merry Man in Victoria's Secret. I selected a black multiway bra in my size and matching thong for my outfit tonight. I looked over at Lester who was standing looking at a rail of corsets. He certainly didn't seem uncomfortable or at all bothered by the fact he was in here. I suddenly remembered the cell phone he had given me and wondered if it had a camera. I discreetly checked and found that it did. I moved a bit closer to him and couldn't believe my luck when he actually picked out a corset from the display. I quickly lifted the phone and took a picture. Unfortunately it made a loud camera style clicking sound which Lester heard. He spun round to face me a look of astonishment on his face. I burst out laughing at his expression.

"What the fuck? He said looking at me.

"I'm sorry" I sniggered. "Lula and Steph set me a challenge to get one of you Merry Men in here, and get proof. I just couldn't resist."

Lester stood and looked at me for a long moment before slowly walking over to me, the corset still in his hand.

"Okay I'll let this one go, but you owe me now" he said in a low, almost menacing voice.

"Oh yeah" I said "I don't think so!"

"Oh I think so Carla" he said backing me into the bra display. "You are going to have to model for me. And you're going to model this" he said handing me the corset.

I gulped and looked at what I was holding. It was a beautiful purple satin boned corset with two black lace panels either side of a hook and eye front fastening. It also had a black ribbon lace up back. It was gorgeous.

"How do you know it's my size?" I asked.

"Oh it's your size alright" he said.

I looked at the label and it was indeed my size. It was also very expensive.

"I don't think Ranger will appreciate me spending this amount on something I don't need for tonight" I said trying to get out of this modelling business.

"I'll cover it" Lester said taking out a personal credit card from him wallet. He grabbed my arm and led me back over to the display he had been standing at.

"The till's are this way" I said trying to wriggle away from him.

"I know, but you're gonna need some accessories to go with that" he said pulling me towards him. "And the shoes will finish the look of perfectly" he said into my hair.

I felt myself go weak at the knees being so close to him. As much as I wanted to push him away my hormones were telling me not to resist. I had never felt this way with any other man before, ever. I felt a rush of wetness down below that was so unfamiliar to me. I hadn't felt that sensation since I was a teenager. I quickly pushed him away then, out of embarrassment rather than anything else.

"I'll delete the picture Les, just forget about it" I said turning away from him.

"You're not getting out of it that easily Sweetness" he said turning me back towards him. "But Carla" he said lifting my chin with his finger "Whenever you're ready, not before".

Oh fuck! My body was so ready, but my mind was still locked in the past.

Please review if you liked it, or even if you didn't