So apparently my muse likes me. I was worried that after the last chapter I'd be stuck. Obviously, I'm not considering I'm posting this chapter. I've already got some ideas planned for the next chapter as well! Yay for good muses!

Not mine.

Warning: Smut. Honestly, I don't know how that happened!

Lula and I spent the rest of the day catching skips and after finishing my opened cases without a drop of garbage on me, I invited Lula, Connie and Mary Lou to Pino's for a celebration.

I called Ranger on the way there.

"We don't have plans tonight, do we?"

I felt him pause. "Were we supposed to?"

"No, but I wanted to make sure that you weren't waiting in my closet naked to attack me."

I heard him smile. "Wishful thinking?"

"No!" Maybe. "That would scare the crap out of me."

He chuckled. "Why were you asking about plans?"

"I haven't caught up with the girls in a while so I was going to have girl's night."

He paused for a beat. "Babe, you don't need my permission to see your friends."

I blushed. "I know, but I wanted to make sure you weren't hiding so I know whether to come home drunk or sober tonight."

"Sober would be nice, but drunk would be more fun. We could broaden some horizons tonight, Babe."

I felt my face blush again. "Jeez, maybe some other time."

"Someday..." He said. And he hung up. I fanned my face.

Connie and Mary Lou were waiting for us and judging by the wide eyed look from Mary Lou, she'd been brought up to speed.

"Is it true?" She asked. "Are you with Ranger?"

"Yep." I replied, raising my hand to call the waitress. I ordered two pizzas, one with the works and one cheese and pepperoni, and a pitcher of beer. Lula joined us then.

"What about Joe?" Mary Lou asked.

"What about him?" I asked.

"Do you think you two will ever get back together?"

"I don't think so. He gave me an ultimatum and I'm sticking to my decision."

Feeling more gossip was being uncovered, Lula spoke up. "Spill, girl." She said.

Before I could answer, Joe walked in. Pino's became silent, obviously waiting for the fight that would ensue.

"Hey Cupcake." He said when he walked up to the booth.

"Hi Joe." I replied, leaning back when he got too close.

"Haven't seen you in a while."

"Been busy."

He leaned closer. "Miss you."

"Do you have a problem with personal space? Back up."

He backed up. "Come on, Cupcake. You've made your point. You can move on without me. You can stop 'dating' Ranger and come home, where you belong." I felt the rhino in me when he put air quotes around dating. He thought I was doing this for fun!

Well, it was fun, but not in the way he thought.

"Look, Joe," I started, itching my neck. I heard a gasp.

Shit.

There for the entire world to see was a purple mark on my neck. Ranger's tooth marks.

"What the hell is that?" Joe yelled, pulling my shirt down.

"A hickey?" There was clearly no way out of this besides the truth.

"Who gave that to you?"

Duh. "Ranger." I think he needed some time for his brain to catch up with his mouth.

"Why?"

Since he pissed me off and ruined a good night, I was going to piss him off. Not a good idea in hindsight, but we were in public, so I felt brave. So I baited him. "He thought I was doing a good job in bed last night."

His face turned purple. "Are there any more?"

"No." I think I'd get killed for answering that one honestly. Ranger had left his marks on my neck, belly, breasts, and thighs. No man could see me naked right now without seeing them and get pissed off.

I think that was the point. Ranger had marked me as his.

And surprisingly, I was okay with that.

"Once that heals, then you can come home. I can't even look at you right now."

He was treating me like the leper? Hell no! "What about Terry? And do you have a hearing problem? I'm not coming back to you."

"You know you will, Stephanie. You always do."

"Maybe the old me would have. Not anymore." Not since Ranger and I started going out. He showed me that I was desirable. That I was a sexy, spirited woman.

"Come here." He said, curling his finger at me in a come hither motion. "I want you to see what I see."

I got up and started to reach for the sheet.

"No. Leave that there." His voice, demanding.

I did as I was told, then took his hand. He walked me into the bathroom and stood me in front of the mirror.

"What do you see?" He asked.

I shrugged. "Me?"

I could feel him mentally rolling his eyes. "What else?"

I sighed. "I don't know. An average body."

"Do you want to know what I see?"

I nodded.

"I see a beautiful woman with sexy hair."

"How can my hair be sexy?"

"Patience, amada." Then, he went on. "You have sexy hair because it's wild and out of control like you, but silky smooth to the touch. I like the way it curls around my fingers like you curl around everyone's hearts.

"I see a woman with a beautiful neck."

I snorted.

"What? Necks can be sexy." He started to kiss it. "Especially, when I mark it." His teeth bit into the skin and I moaned. His tongue soothed the sting away. He nuzzled the reddening skin. "It's more beautiful now."

"Because you gave me a hickey?"

"Exactly. Can I continue?"

"Sure."

He smiled at me. "You're breasts are perfectly made for my hands. Not too big, not too small. All natural. Just the right size for my hands." He cupped my breasts and started to massage them. I leaned back and moaned again.

His hands stopped. "Watch my hands." He said in the demanding voice.

I raised my head and watched his hands on my breasts, amazed at the startling contrast between my pale skin and his mocha skin.

His left hand stayed on my breast and the right traveled to my hips, caressing the skin there. "You're hips drive me insane. You swing them in a way that makes me lose my mind. It makes me crazy to know that it's your natural swing, not emphasized to look sexy. You're beautiful and sexy because you don't realize it."

His right cupped me. "Watch my fingers love you." He said, slipping his middle finger inside me. I moaned and a gush of wetness flooded me as I watched his finger slip in and out of my lips.

"Ranger." I moaned. "Please."

"Please what?" He asked, watching me in the mirror.

"Please fuck me."

His fingers slipped out of me and I whimpered. He reached for my hand and led me to the shower. Turning it on and adjusting the temperature, he led me inside. He turned and pushed me against the wall, grabbing my hips to lift me and I wrapped my legs around his waist as he pushed my back into the cool tile.

"Stop teasing," I said as he brushed his cock over my center, "and fuck me already."

That was all the incentive he needed. He pushed inside of me and I shrieked from the intrusion. He waited until my body was adjusted to his size and he started to thrust in and out.

"Do you see now? Do you see what you do to me?"

I nodded. I saw it now. I didn't even touch Ranger and he was turned on.

His finger rubbed my clit. "You are so amazingly sexy, Stephanie. Don't forget it."

And for the first time since I found Dickie on the dining room table with Joyce, I felt sexy. With this man, I was a goddess. I was the most beautiful woman in the world.

"Ranger!" I gasped as my orgasm hit me. He moaned and his head went into my neck as he stiffened. I felt his hot release on my walls, making me shiver.

"Terry meant nothing to me! Just like Ranger means nothing to you."

I don't know what happened, but suddenly, I felt three pairs of hands trying to pull me off Joe, who I apparently was choking.

"Ranger means more to me that you ever did!" I yelled as my friends pulled me off of him.

He snorted. "Last chance, Cupcake. If I leave now, don't come crawling back to me after he throws you out like trash."

I crossed my arms and waited for him to leave. Realizing that he wasn't getting the girl this time, he stormed out.

Pino's erupted in cheers.

I blushed, then bowed. When the cheering stopped, the girls and I went back to the booth and enjoyed our pizza.

A few minutes later, I got a text.

Proud of you, Babe.

I smiled and went back to my pizza.