Janet E. makes all the dough. I write for fun.
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Scent of a Woman
Chapter 5
Stephanie arrived at Sally's house just a few minutes after 1:00, and she was surprised to see Lula there. Obviously she had talked to Tank.
"Girl, how you goin' to be d'bomb on stage if you don't listen to me? I have experience at this stuff. I know what it takes to get a man to look at you. I was a professional!"
They spent the next two hours discussing hair and trying on a wide assortment of costumes. Some required Houdini like skills to get in and then back out of. Others revealed way too much Stephanie goodness. There was even one that looked amazing but fitted her snugly all the way down to her knees, which only allowed her to produce a kind of shuffle walk. But one...one dress was perfect. They all agreed.
"Shit, baby, this is just what I fuckin' envisioned. You have got to wear this damn dress."
"That is definitely the one, white girl. That boy would be a fool not ta' notice you."
Stephanie spun in front of the mirror looking back over her shoulder to see the rear view. "You are absolutely right, guys. This is the dress. What about shoes, Sally?"
"Oh, Steph, I have the shit perfect shoes for that dress right here." Sally opened a box to reveal a completely rhinestone covered pair of 4-inch open toed FMPs, with sexy little straps that buckled at the ankle. They sparkled in the sunshine like diamonds.
"Those are the most magical looking shoes I have ever seen." Stephanie couldn't take her eyes off them.
"Put em' on, girl."
Stephanie quickly slipped the shoes on, but had to have Lula buckle them because of the restrictions of her dress. She stood up and looked in the mirror.
"Damn, Steph, your legs look a mile long. And your ass…fuck!" Stephanie giggled at Sally's awe. It felt a little funny being ogled by a man in a dress.
"Sally, you've out done yourself. This whole plan is falling into place because of you. I owe you big time. Now help me get out of this 'cause the rest of the band will be here any minute."
Lula carefully peeled the dress off Stephanie and placed it back in the dress bag along with the magical shoes and undergarments for transport to Philadelphia. The rest of the band arrived a few minutes later, and an exhausting rehearsal ensued. They went over the numbers again and again until Sally declared them perfection. By 5:30 Stephanie was wiped out and hungry. During the discussion with the manager of Dino's the night before, it was agreed to that, following Stephanie's performance; Sally and the band would finish the hour playing dance music. They were intending to grab some dinner now, and then would rehearse another hour after that. Stephanie was invited to join them, but she begged off, waved goodbye, climbed into her beautiful car, and headed back to RangeMan.
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When Stephanie pulled into the garage at Haywood, Ranger was standing there waiting for her with a small duffle bag in hand.
Ranger stepped up to the driver's window. "How did you…..? Never mind," she stuttered. It suddenly dawned on her that, obviously, her car came with the RangeMan deluxe security package, and that a GPS tracker had already been dutifully installed. She reached under the front seat, and yep, there was the standard issue hidden Maglite. Later she would have to investigate further. Dollars to donuts there was a bullet proof flak vest in the back.
"Babe, give me your keys to the Focus and open the back of the Lexus. I'll move your luggage."
She dug through her purse, found the keys and handed them to Ranger. It took Stephanie a few moments to find the right button to push, but eventually she hit one and heard the satisfying 'click' followed by the 'whoosh' of the hydraulics lifting the back gate. This car is so cool! She stepped out of the car and tried to help. "I got this, Babe."
Stephanie heard the sound of the stairwell door opening and Lester appeared. He immediately began to assist with transferring Stephanie's luggage.
"Damn, Beautiful, you planning to move into this house permanently? 'Cause by the looks of all this luggage, you can't have left much back in that apartment of yours."
"Sorry." She gave a sheepish look to Ranger. "I tried to warn you this morning." After all the bags were loaded, Ranger closed the back gate. 'Thanks for helping, Les."
"Sure thing." Lester gave Stephanie a kiss on the top of her head, and smiled. "See you tomorrow, Beautiful. Break a leg!" He got into his car and drove away.
Stephanie got back into the driver's seat and Ranger entered opposite. "Where to for dinner, Boss?"
"Driver's choice."
"Okay, McDonald's it is."
"Babe."
"Just kidding, just kidding. How about someplace where we won't run into anyone we know? I'm not up for socializing and answering a bunch of questions…. Especially about this car or my hair."
"Head over to I95 and drive towards Philly. A few exits out, there's a nice little Mexican restaurant I think you'll like."
"Sounds great."
When they arrived at the restaurant they were seated in a booth near the back. Ranger, per usual, sat facing the room so he could survey and protect. The assignment had officially begun, and he was in guard dog mode. They kept the conversation casual throughout the meal, and Stephanie drank two frozen raspberry margaritas. She was now feeling much better.
Ranger paid the bill, and they headed back outside. Stephanie stumbled slightly off a small step. "Ooops." She giggled, as he caught her around the waist to steady her. "Ranger, I think it's your turn to drive my beautiful car. I must be a little tired."
Ranger chuckled as he pulled her to his chest and tucked a single curl behind her ear. "Yeah, Babe, that's it. You must be tired. You have been very busy the last few days. Let's get you home so you can get a good night's rest. I'll drive."
Another thirty minutes on the road and they pulled into a beautiful neighborhood. Ranger made a couple of turns and headed into the driveway at the end of a short cul-de-sac. He reached overhead, pushed a button on a small remote, and the garage door opened. Once inside, Ranger closed the garage door behind them.
"This is it, Babe. Welcome home."
They exited the car and Ranger pulled a set of keys from his pocket. He unlocked the door and they entered the house. He reached to his right and flipped a couple of switches. The kitchen came to light.
"Home." Stephanie sighed. She immediately began to investigate. The kitchen was huge and well equipped with gadgets and appliances that appeared to be top-of-the-line. Stephanie wasn't even sure she knew how to use some of them. The refrigerator was fully stocked, as was the pantry. She moved from the kitchen, through the dining room and into the living room. It was beautiful. The room was warm and inviting. She looked at Ranger.
"Ella?"
He nodded. "Ella does all the decorating in our safe houses. She has a ball doing it, and she has a knack for it."
Stephanie continued to look around, when a basket in the corner caught her eye. "Toys?"
"They belong to your son. There's also a booster seat at the kitchen table, and around here somewhere is a car seat. I'll put that in your car later." Stephanie smiled at the thought of Domestic, Daddy Ranger. "I'm going to bring in your luggage. Why don't you go upstairs and look around?"
There were three bedrooms and three bathrooms on the second floor. One of the rooms had been decorated in a fireman theme. A room, Stephanie imagined any little boy would go nuts over. She was still standing in the doorway when Ranger came by with his first load of luggage. She turned and followed him to the master bedroom.
"Wow! This room is bigger than my apartment." Stephanie was overwhelmed by the luxury of the space as she started exploring. She opened a set of double doors. "This closet is bigger than my kitchen. It's huge!" She continued to investigate and found a door that lead to the master bath. "Okay, I have officially died and gone to heaven." The bathroom was solid marble and mirrors. It had double sinks and not only a shower, with eight showerheads, but also a Jacuzzi style tub that at least three people could comfortably swim in together. "I should be paying you. This is like being on vacation, except I've never been on a vacation where I stayed anywhere this nice. The closest I've ever come to something like this is your apartment on seven." Stephanie sighed and looked at Ranger. "That made my life sound pretty pathetic, didn't it?"
"Babe, I'm glad you like it and that you enjoy being here, but it's just a house."
"Yeah, just a house with a bedroom you can land a plane in!"
Ranger chuckled. "I'm going to go get the rest of your luggage."
Stephanie decided to start unpacking right away. Some of the nicer things she brought needed to be hung up before they became wrinkled. She hung the costumes for her performance but left them in the garment bags, because she didn't want Ranger to see them yet. As she continued to unpack, she fingered the designer clothes and pulled out the expensive shoes, all her concerns about what she would be doing over the next two weeks started building. What was I thinking? I can't do this. This is insane. I'm going to fail. And before she knew it she was sitting on the floor of the walk-in closet in a panic, and Ranger was crouched down in front of her with concern on his face.
"Babe, are you okay? Are you sick?" He carefully lifted her, carried her over to the bed, and sat down with her on his lap. "What's wrong?" He was really starting to look as panicked as she felt, but she was having trouble forming words.
"Oh god, what am I doing here, Ranger? What made me think I could do this? I must be crazy. You're going to be so sorry you asked me to be part of this when I screw it all up! I could be the reason that this whole thing fails!"
"Babe, you are not going to screw this up. You have already made a big difference in the probability of success for this job. You found information we never would have looked for. Tomorrow night, you're putting yourself out there for the whole team. We have to sit back and watch you do all the work. And, Babe, you have never disappointed me, or any of my men, on any job you've done for us."
"But this is different. So much of this depends on me, on my skills. This is days of me keeping up a façade. I've never had to do that before."
"Babe, you're ready. You spent the last two days going over all the information. Tank has you covered with a complete and credible background. You. Will. Be. Fine."
"Really?"
"Really, Babe."
"Ranger, How long will you be here?"
"I'm all yours until tomorrow morning, then I have to head back into Trenton, get a few things done, and I'll be back tomorrow night. Why?"
"Well, just make sure you pay yourself double for having to spend the night babysitting my fragile self-esteem and total lack of self-confidence."
"Babe, I can describe my time spent with you as being, adventurous, frustrating, calming, educational, enlightening, sensual, and sometimes scary; but I have never considered it babysitting." He kissed the top of her head. "Why don't you go take a nice long, hot bath in that swimming pool in there? I'll go down and put together a snack. I think I saw Ella's chocolate cake under a glass dome on the kitchen counter."
Stephanie smiled and slowly rose from Ranger's lap. Just as she was about to enter the bathroom, she turned around. "Thanks, Batman. I feel much better now."
Stephanie stayed in the bath for nearly an hour. She finally decided it was time to get out when all the bubbles died and the water went tepid. There was an amazingly soft bathrobe hanging on the door, God bless Ella, and she wrapped it around herself. When she opened the door, Ranger was waiting with a tray of all kinds of goodies to spoil her with.
"I must have looked pretty bad earlier for you to be offering me all this." She smiled guiltily. "Ordinarily you would be hiding these things from me, or at the very least be giving me 'the look' while I ate them."
"You've had a long day. Besides, Ella will ask me tomorrow if you had any of the cake."
"I notice quite a bit of the selection here is sweet. Worried, Ranger?" Now she was baiting him. Stephanie thought it was a good time to lighten the mood with a healthy round of 'Flirt Shamelessly'.
"I don't know what you mean." He walked over to her and set the tray on the bed.
"Yes you do. You know how I get when I deprive myself of sugar." She looked up into his eyes.
"No, I don't. Why don't you tell me?" He tugged on her bathrobe tie.
"Well…my hormones get all out of whack… and I become… uninhibited… and a little out of control," she whispered seductively.
"Is that so? We wouldn't want that to happen, now would we?" He nuzzled her neck,
"I don't know, sometimes it can be kind of… fun. Adventurous even," she gasped.
"I love a good adventure." He nibbled her earlobe.
"Oh, yeah?" she moaned.
"Yeah." He loosened her bathrobe tie. She froze.
"Damn, you win! Give me the cake first." She stepped back defeated once again.
Ranger gave her an extra large piece of cake. He smiled.
After effectively reducing her chances of attacking Ranger during the night, by consuming large quantities of sugar, Stephanie was done for the day. She headed into the closet and put on her favorite tank top and boy short set to sleep in. She popped into the bathroom to perform her nightly beauty rituals and climbed into bed. Ranger followed suit except he just wore black silk boxers. He pulled her to his chest, kissed her on the head, and reached over to turn off the lamp on the bedside table.
"Ranger?"
"Babe?"
"What did you mean, earlier, when you said your time with me was adventurous, frustrating, calming, educational, enlightening, sensual, and sometimes scary?"
He sat up on his elbow and turned her face to his. "Well, it's adventurous every time I work with you. Things rarely go according to plan." He continued. "It is frustrating watching you during a distraction and hearing my men's comments through my earpiece." He took a curl from her hair and wrapped it around his finger. "It's calming when I watch you sleep or hold you in my arms. It's educational because I've learned from you that understanding people and how they think can be just as valuable, if not more so, than muscle and weapons." He used his thumb to softly trace her lips. "You've enlightened me by showing me that my life doesn't have to be all work, and my heart all alone. And it's sensual anytime we're together."
"Even when we're arguing?"
"Especially then. Your fire is one of the most sensual things about you. Your eyes burn with passion when you're angry." He kissed her sweetly.
"When is it scary? I've never seen you scared."
"Babe, it's scary anytime I'm anywhere near your Grandma Mazur… and every time I think you're in danger."
"Hmm."
"Night, Babe."
"Night, Batman."
They lay in their comfortable embrace for a moment. Ranger was drawing lazy circles on her arm.
"Babe, I almost forgot. I have something for you."
"It's alright; you can give it to me tomorrow. What is it?"
"No, I want you have it now. I have to leave early in the morning, and I want you to sleep in. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day for you."
Stephanie slowly sat up as Ranger turned the light back on, got out of bed and started digging through his duffle bag. "Okay, what is it?"
He pulled out a small black velvet box, came back to bed, and handed it to her. "Open it."
"Ranger, you didn't have to get me anything. I've been spending your money like crazy the last two days. What is this?"
"Just open it."
Stephanie slowly opened the box. Inside was a small heart locket on a silver chain.
"Ranger, it's beautiful… but why?"
"Open the locket."
She opened the locket and inside was a tiny picture of a beautiful little boy. Dark hair, brown eyes.
"Is this you?" she giggled. "You were so cute."
"This is your son. I thought the locket would be an appropriate prop for your cover. Mothers like this kind of stuff right?" He was so full of pride at presenting her with the necklace, Stephanie couldn't help but smile.
"Yeah, they do. It's perfect. Thank you." She leaned over and kissed his cheek.
"Oh, I have one more thing for you, too." He went back to the duffle and retrieved a small black and white patterned shopping bag with handles. When he returned to the bed, Stephanie noticed that it was from Sak's.
"Now what have you done?" she said suspiciously.
"I asked Ella, and she said you would never be able to find this in Trenton. So I had it sent by overnight courier from New York."
Stephanie opened the bag and pulled out a bottle of Black Orchid perfume. Her eyes got big.
"She was right. I couldn't get this in Trenton. I was going to shop around tomorrow here in Philadelphia. I figured they would carry it at one of the finer department stores downtown." She opened the bottle and sprayed some on her wrist. She gave her wrist a few waves to help it dry and then smelled it. "Mmmm, it's wonderful. I know why Marissa picked it." She held up her wrist for Ranger to smell.
"It's nice."
"Nice!" she chortled. "At $1200.00 an ounce, it should be more than just nice. It should be positively orgasmic!"
"Babe, I like your smell better." Stephanie was charmed by his sincerity.
"Well, as of right now, it's Maria's signature scent."
"Maria?" Ranger questioned
"That's my name on this assignment. So you are now officially spending the night with Maria, not Stephanie."
"No, I'm spending the night with Babe." He leaned over and gave her a light kiss. "You can be Maria for everyone else, but to me you are always Babe."
Stephanie really had no response to that. She just smiled. She put the perfume and the necklace on the bedside table, and Ranger turned out the light. "Let's get some sleep."
"Night again, Babe."
"Goodnight, Ranger. Thank you. I love my presents."
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Author Note: Many thanks for the positive and plentiful reviews. I enjoy sharing this story with you.