Standard disclaimer applies. Not mine, no money made, and still waiting for Ranger.

CHAPTER 4

When I came to, it was early the next morning and I was in Ranger's bed. The man himself was asleep beside me. My back was against his chest and his arm was thrown over my body. I could feel his chest gently rise and fall with each breath. It was like being wrapped in a cloud of Bulgari.

I took a quick inventory of myself and realized that I was mostly clothed. Damn. On the other hand, at least I didn't miss the good stuff. I was wearing what looked to be one of Ranger's t-shirts and my undies. The next thing I noticed was my horrible headache. In fact, I felt like one big headache. That must have been some drink last night, I thought to myself as I drifted off to sleep again.

The next time I surfaced was several hours later, and I was feeling semi-human again. Judging by the coolness of the sheets, Ranger was long gone. In fact, I couldn't even hear him in the house. I spent a few more minutes rolling around in the luxury of his amazing sheets before deciding to face the day. I found a robe hanging on the back of the bathroom door and put it on. It was navy blue and smelled like Ranger. I then padded out of the bedroom in search of him.

After wandering through the house, I found Ranger in the garage, working on the mystery car. I stopped when I saw the car, my jaw dropping to somewhere around my knees. It was a cherry red Lotus and nothing like I'd seen before. It was sex on wheels.

Ranger looked up and smiled when he heard me approaching. "Like it?"

"It's beautiful!" I replied.

"It's my toy."

I wonder if he would buy me a toy?

"So what's the plan?" I asked, leaning up against the nearest Beemer, and watching him wax the Lotus.

"No plan yet. Thought I'd see what information Tank got for me first." He smiled mischievously, "and how bad your hangover was."

"Boss."

I squeaked like a mouse and spun around. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph! Speak of the devil. "Christ, Tank! Make a sound, would you?"

Tank smiled at me a little smugly and said, "I thought you of all people would be smart enough to hide away your cars, man, with Bombshell here. Especially that one."

"She can see whatever she wants," Ranger replied, glancing in my direction. Tanks eyebrows shot up to his hairline and I stuck my tongue out at him. Hah. That showed him.

Ranger began walking up to the house. "Come on, children."

Tank left several hours later. I changed into my clothes from the day before and sat down back at the kitchen table, watching Ranger rummage in his fridge for some lunch for the two of us. I was silently contemplating what my afternoon was going to be like, and it didn't seem like much fun. My checkbook balance could use a little help, that was for sure. Rent and bills would be coming in this week, and I had gotten a little happy with my Macy's charge card last month. Now I had to pay for it. Literally.

"What's the matter?"

I was startled out of my thoughts. "What?"

"You don't look very happy."

I blushed. "Oh. Yeah. Well, I was just thinking about my Macy's bill. I really need to get some FTAs today." Luckily, I have a pile that Vinnie had signed for before he went FTA himself, so I was good to go.

Ranger set a salad in front of me. Blech. "Sounds good. I have some things to do myself."

We ate in silence for a few minutes, each of us concentrating on our own little ideas. Once I was done I cleaned up my dishes and grabbed my purse off the counter.

"I'm off," I said. "Time for work."

Ranger got up, too. "I'll be in touch. Call me if you find anything else out about Vinnie."

I gave him a salute. "Ten-four, Captain."

He walked over to me and gave me another one of those kisses. "That's Colonel to you, smartass." He pulled away and smiled. "You know my number."

I walked out to my car wondering what he meant by that comment. Of course I knew his number. Did he want me to call if I needed help with an FTA or did he want me to call him when I was feeling a lack of self-control?

I motored back towards my apartment. No doubt Bob had probably ruined everything in sight. Sigh. I don't know if I could do this dog thing. He was cute and all, but maybe Morelli would like to keep him. When I got there, I saw a note taped on my door.

I've got Bob, the note read. He was howling and making a racket up here so I brought him to my place. Good thing I came when I did. He was about to eat your TV set. Dillon, my building super, and an all around great guy, wrote the note.

I turned around and took the elevator to Dillon's little cubbyhole in the bowels of the building. I could hear the TV through the door as I knocked. Sounded like Dillon was watching ESPN. Go figure. Dillon and Bob opened the door, each with a smile on their face.

"Hey there," I said. "I'm really sorry about that."

"Hey, Steph! Boy, this sure is a great dog," Dillon gushed.

Bingo. We've found a winner. "You like him, huh?"

"Yup. Did you know that he likes ESPN?"

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, I know."

Dillon motioned me in. "Have a beer. It's five o'clock somewhere. Boy, Bob sure was mad when I got him out of your apartment last night. He was howling and whining away."

"Yeah, I know," I said, working up to my new idea. "I sort of got dumped with him, and my life isn't the best to have a dog with. Sometimes I struggle with Rex. I don't know what to do with him when I'm gone."

Dillon grinned. "I'll take him anytime you need me too. He's great company."

I smiled back. "You've got yourself a deal. And thanks, Dillon. This really helps me out."

"Sure thing. Just leave him in your apartment when you leave in the mornings and I'll come get him. I'll bring him back to you when I see that you're home."

"Sounds good."

Don't I have the best friends ever?

Ah, life is good. As of right now I'm stalker-free, my dog is being cared for, and I had a sneaky suspicion that I had Ranger's number- in more ways than one.

Shaking my head, I brought my attention back to the stack of FTAs sitting in front of me. My choices were 2 DUI's, a car thief, a vandal, and a candle thief.

Whoa. Candle thief, really? I flipped through the file. Margaret Lowzer was charged with stealing $800 worth of candles from "Candle Heaven" in the mall. How on earth do you steal $800 worth of candles? And why? The only thing I used candles for were to sit out on my coffee table to make my room smell better. I never lit it on account of I'm a little wary of fire since all my accidents.

I stuffed all the files in my bag and left the apartment again, locking up after myself. I figured I'd try Margaret Lowzer first. Hopefully, the candle thief wouldn't be packing. As I drove to Margaret's house I was trying to figure out where I'd heard the name Lowzer before. When it hit me, I suddenly understood the candle thing a little better. I had gone to school with Margaret's sister, Caroline. Caroline had always had this thing about candles, always carrying them around in her purse and her bookbag. Caroline sometimes had a funky body odor, which was forever mixed with the flowery scents she carried. Really weird. It seemed to be a familial trait.

Pulling up to Margaret's house, I could see candles burning through all the windows. As far as I could tell, candles were the only source of light coming from her house. This was way weird. I knocked on the door and it was presently answered by a younger version of Caroline.

"Margaret Lowzer?" I asked politely, sticking out my hand. "I'm Stephanie Plum, representing your bond company. Are you aware that you've missed your court date?"

A look of confusion passed over her face. "Court date?"

"Yes, you didn't show up at your assigned court date so I need to take you down to the station to let you reschedule. It won't take long." It wouldn't take long for me at least.

Margaret was still confused. "I had a court date?"

Good grief. I think she'd been sniffing one to many candles. I'm pretty sure there was room for rent in Margaret's head.

I put on a smile and gently maneuvered myself inside her house. "Why don't you blow out all those candles and then we can go for a ride?"

She appeared to be thinking about it for a minute. "Okay," she said finally, "but I'll need to take a few candles with me." Fine. Whatever. I didn't care as long as they weren't lit. I just wanted to get my money and go home. I had bigger fish to fry.

I followed Margaret as she walked all through her house, humming tunelessly and blowing out candles. At least she was a relatively happy and docile person. That was definitely more than I could say about most of my FTAs.

Thirty minutes later I left the police station with my body receipt in hand. I had seen Morelli a ways down the hall. He didn't approach me, and I didn't approach him, but I could see him watching me.

As I cruised back down Hamilton, I happened to look over at a man that was walking slowly and drunkenly down the sidewalk. I kept driving for a second before it hit me. Holy cats! That guy was one of my FTAs! I did a quick U-ey and parked Big Blue in a spot along the street. I sat in the car, taking another quick look at his file before I hopped out and approached him.

"Sam Walters?" I asked politely. "Stephanie Plum. I'm from Vincent Plum Bail Bonds. You missed your court date and we would like you to reschedule."

He, like Margaret Lowzer, looked confused. After a minute his confusion seemed to clear off and he smiled at me. "Well, I guess that would be okay, pretty lady," he replied. "We're gonna have to go in your...burp...car though cause I surely can't drive."

I fanned the air in front of me. No shit, Sherlock, I thought. That's what got you in this problem in the first place. I loaded him into Big Blue and drove back down to the police station yet again. This was turning out to be a great day. I managed to get two of my FTAs and no guns, garbage, or knives were involved. I must be improving with this bounty hunter stuff.

I went through the whole police station ordeal again, running into Eddie and Carl and spending a few minutes shooting the shit. They introduced me to a new cop, Randy DeParma. He seemed like a really nice guy. He was of medium height with sandy brown hair and fairly decent looking. Once again, I saw Morelli watching me from a distance but I decided to ignore it. His eyes were narrowed as he watched me talk to the guys. I figured there was nothing I could do to change or help the Morelli situation right now so I may as well just leave it alone.

When I escaped a second time from the station it was near dinnertime. I was debating the merits of being a good daughter and eating with my family when I realized that someone was leaning against my car. That someone was wearing black army pants and SWAT boots with a shirt that fit him like an old tattoo. He had a small gold hoop in one of his ears and I was about to swoon right on the spot. I don't think I'll ever get used to looking at this man.

"Yo."

I smiled. "Yo yourself. Why are you here?"

"Drove by. Figured I'd wait for you and we could go get something to eat." He raised an eyebrow in question.

"Yum," I said. "Lead the way, but nothing too healthy, okay? That salad at lunch almost did me in."

He smiled. "You got it."