AN: As a heartfelt thank you for all the reviews and comments and encouragement from all of you here is a short little epilogue as my gift to you.

I hope you enjoy one last glimpse of my far from perfect versions of R & S

Oh - there should be a warning for a tiny bit of smut.

Ranger's POV

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"Babe."

I tried to keep the impatience out of my voice because I knew this was hard for her, but I was ready to go. We'd been at it for half the day and I just wanted to get home and into a hot shower – preferably a shared hot shower.

"Hmmm?" She was wringing her hands together and I could see that she was biting the inside of her cheek to keep from crying.

"There's nothing left to do," I said for the second time. "It's time to go."

She turned to me, her eyes swimming with unshed tears. "What if you get tired of me?"

I bit back the sigh that wanted to escape. I don't even know how many times we've had this discussion. I saw the single tear that slipped down her cheek as she tried to look away from me. Even after all this time she hated to cry in front of me. She thought it made her seem weak.

I used my finger to bring her face back to mine. "Stephanie, it's been two years. I'm not going to get tired of you. Ninety percent of the time we're together I still can't keep my hands off of you. Don't you remember what happened two weeks ago after we left Rossini's?"

A small smile began to tug her lips up as she remembered our after dinner activities. "If I recall, we thoroughly defiled the backseat of your Mercedes because you said there was no way you could wait the fifteen minutes it would have taken us to drive home."

"That's right," I said. "What about the elevator two nights ago?" I watched her eyes dilate with lust at the memory that invoked. I leaned in close and whispered in her ear. "Remember what I did to your panties?" Her cheeks turned bright pink and she lowered her head to hide her smile from me. It amazed me how she still got embarrassed when I talked about sex.

It wasn't really my fault – we'd been at her parents for dinner and because her sister and her brood were all there as well her Grandmother's latest "man friend" we'd ended up sitting across from each other. Stephanie spent the entire meal with her toes in my crotch under the table.

By the time we left I was so hard I couldn't even talk and she's lucky we were in my Turbo or I would have had to have her in the car again. As soon as I got her into the elevator at Rangeman, I hit the emergency stop button and scrambled the security feed. I bent her over at the waist, shoved the long flowing skirt she was wearing up her impossibly long legs and ripped the brand new Victoria's Secret lace thong she had just purchased off her body. She screamed my name as I thrust inside her from behind and I was grateful I'd had the elevators sound proofed because we both made a lot of noise that night.

Damn. I was getting hot thinking about that again.

"And haven't we spent the last six hours here packing up your stuff when it should have taken two, tops?"

She looked at her watch and her eyes widen in surprise at the time. "That's right," I confirmed. "It's taken this long because you look so fucking hot in those cut off jean shorts that every time you bent over I had to have you."

That got a full blown smile from her. "I think you bent over in every room even if you didn't have to just to drive me crazy."

"Not every room," she countered quickly. "We never made it to the kitchen."

I raised a single eyebrow. That sounded like a challenge. I love a good challenge. I grabbed her, threw her over my shoulder and carted her off to the kitchen. I set her down on the counter, slid between her legs and drew her into my arms for a long, slow kiss.

Her nipples were hard under her t-shirt and I had to touch them. I slipped my hand up under the soft material and covered her bare breast with my palm. She'd stopped putting her bra back on after the fourth time I took it off her so I had unobstructed access. A small moan sounded in the back of her throat at the contact and I pulled her shirt off completely and replaced my hand with my mouth.

My name fell from her lips on soft sigh and that was always my undoing. Her voice was filled with love and lust and passion and I was going to bust through my zipper if I didn't get inside her. I removed her shorts and panties and divested myself of the constraints of my pants.

I slid my hands up the outside of her thighs and gripped her hips to scoot her to my waiting erection. Her head tipped back and her eyes closed in anticipation of what was about to happen.

"Look at me, Steph," I said softly. Her head came up and her eyes opened slowly. They were dilated to the deepest midnight blue and I had to use all of my self-control not do dive into her right then. "Can you feel what you do to me?" I pressed into her lightly and she sucked in a sharp breath.

"Yes," she hissed and dug her nails into my shoulders.

"I will never get tired of this." I slipped in an inch and bent my head to kiss her. "I will never get tired of you." One more inch inside. "I will never get tired of us." I rolled my hips and pushed in all the way.

Her arms wrapped around my neck and her hips rushed to meet my every thrust. "I love you," she whispered in my ear as she came and it took me over the edge with her.

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She was quiet on the drive to Rangeman. Standard for me, I normally don't talk when I drive but it was unusual for her. I linked my fingers through hers and didn't press her to share her thoughts. I knew what they were. She was giving up her home so we could share one together and now she was quietly mourning the loss of her previous life.

It wouldn't last long; she'd practically been living with me for the past six months anyway, but it was still difficult. I knew she felt like she was giving up some of her fiercely guarded independence so I would give her the time and space she needed to adjust.

She still hadn't spoken as we entered the elevator so I decided to break the silence. "Manny and Vince are right behind us with the van," I said. She didn't have a lot of personal possessions but she loved the few things she did and I knew she would feel better as soon as they were in the apartment on seven.

"I know," she said. "I don't know why I feel so sad; I mean I haven't really lived there for a long time. I don't think I can even remember the last time I slept in that bed."

I pulled her into a hug. "That apartment was your home for years, Babe. It's okay to feel sad about giving it up."

She smiled up at me. "How do you always know the right thing to say?"

"I'm incredibly gifted."

She laughed and squeezed me tightly.

"I know something that will take your mind off it completely," I said casually.

"Oh yeah? What's that?"

I pressed the stop button on the wall and scrambled the camera. "A repeat elevator performance."

Her cheeks flushed pink but she was already reaching for the button of my cargos. Yeah - there was no possible way I would ever get tired of this woman.

Fifteen minutes later we walked into our apartment hand in hand and two minutes later the guys arrived with the moving boxes. Vince was mumbling about something being wrong with the elevator and how they had to take the stairs and Steph had to leave the room to keep from laughing.

When all the boxes were stacked against the wall in the living room and the men were gone I drew her into my arms. "Welcome home, Babe."

She turned her face to me and grinned. Her eyes still held a hint of sadness but I knew it would be gone soon. She loved me and she loved this apartment and she loved our life together. "Thank you, Ranger. Thank you for letting me bring my crappy stuff and always making me feel like I belong here."

"You do belong here, Babe. Always."

"God, I love you," she said.

"I love you too. Do you want to unpack now or wait until tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow. I think I just want to take a shower and go to bed."

"Good. Me too. But first, I have a present for you." I released her and walked over to the counter where I'd left the envelope earlier.

"Ranger," Steph growled out my name in frustration. She still wasn't comfortable with the amount of money I spent on her, but I wasn't ever going to stop so she'd just have to get used to it.

I smiled and crossed back to her, envelope in hand. "You have to stop doing this." Her voice was exasperated, but she took it from me and pulled out the contents. She stared at the tickets for a full minute before her eyes found mine again. "We're going to Miami?"

"Tomorrow it will be two years since the night you showed up at my door and made me the luckiest man on the planet. I thought we should celebrate the occasion by going back for a visit."

She glanced back down at the tickets and ran her thumb over paper. "Well, I never did get to see any of the city since you kept me in your bed the entire time."

I tipped my head back and laughed out loud. She is the only one who has ever been able to make me laugh like that. "Yeah, I was a bit insatiable." I grabbed her by the collar of her shirt and pulled her against my body. "I still can't get enough of you." I covered her mouth and kissed her until her legs turned to jelly.

We were both breathing hard when I pulled away. She cleared her throat and shook her head as if that would help her focus. "Well this time I want to see everything. The city, the beach – and I want you to take me to all those Cuban restaurants you're always talking about."

"Done," I said and tucked a loose curl of hair behind her ear. "There is one other thing I'd like for us to do while we're there – and it's kind of personal."

"You know I'd do anything for you, Ranger."

"Before we get married, I'd like you to meet my daughter."

Her eyes lit up and she wrapped her arms around my waist. "I would love to meet your daughter." I counted in my head to see how long it would take her. I got to twenty.

She pulled back and out of my arms. Her eyes were wide and her lips were open, forming a small 'O'.

"Ranger…..did you just ask me to marry you?"

I scratched my eyebrow with a pinky and tried not to laugh at the look on her face. "I guess that depends on what your answer would be."

"Shit," she said softly and blindly sat down in the arm chair across from the couch. She almost missed it completely but caught herself before she fell on the floor. "We've never talked about getting married. Not even once."

"We're talking about it now," I said and kneeled down in front of her.

"You know I don't need a piece of paper to tell me that you're mine, right?"

"I know," I agreed. "I don't either, but I've discovered that I want one. I want to be married to you, Stephanie."

"You always know exactly what to say. How do you do that?"

"I told you, I'm gifted."

She threw herself into my arms and hugged my tightly. "Is that a yes?" I asked.

"Yes. It's definitely a yes," she confirmed and pulled back so she could kiss me. "But first, I'd like to take a nice hot shower with my future husband."

There was nothing else at that moment that I would rather do.