***I don't own any of the characters and am not making any money off of them. Angie, Babe, thanks!!! I know we both have busy lives, but you always seem to have time to edit my stories. You're the greatest! With this chapter, I was just typing away and realized that it needed to be divided…so….chapter 5 is not far behind because it's almost written!!! Hope you enjoy! For those of you who have been reading and reviewing, thanks!

Chapter 4

"Joe"

Stephanie dreaded Monday mornings most weeks, but this one was even worse. This would be the first time in over two weeks that she and Ranger would be separated for any amount of time. As the edges of sleep faded, she was feeling a bit sad about not being able to spend massive amounts of time with her husband.

Ranger had turned onto his side, facing her, watching as she struggled with the concept of waking up. He hated to admit it, but he was going to miss her today. He knew it was silly to feel sad about going back to a regular schedule, but he'd gotten used to spending large quantities of time with her and didn't want to give it up.

When she finally blinked open her eyes, they just lay there staring into each other's eyes. It seemed strange that in such a short time, they'd become so in tuned to each other. Neither of them moved for several minutes and then simultaneously, they reached for each other.

Ranger ran his hand over her face, toyed with her curls and then kissed her softly. "I feel like a two year old with separation anxiety."

She laughed, ran her hand through his silky hair one more time, before replying "C'mon, we both know you'll be kicking yourself later if you don't run. We might as well get back into a routine. We can't stay holed up alone for the rest of our lives; we'll drive each other insane."

She stumbled into the apartment, hot, sweaty and grouchy. Ranger just smiled, ruffled her hair and pulled her into the bathroom. When he stripped both of their clothes, she immediately forgot that she was grumpy.

He knew she hated to run, but he knew how to make her forget her crankiness. He pulled her into the shower and against his body, positioning them so that the water ran over and between both their bodies. He cupped a breast in each hand and rested his chin on her shoulder and just held her against him. When he felt her relax into his body, he brushed his thumbs back and forth across her nipples.

When one of his hands moved to cup her womanhood, she moaned in delight. She reached behind her and slid a hand between their bodies to stroke him. He growled in her ear and then spun her around, pinning her against the shower wall.

As he thrust inside her heat, he whispered her name, reverently. In and out he pounded into her as she screamed his name over and over. The power of their orgasms ripped through them and they ended up on the floor spent and gasping for breath.

She grinned lazily up at him. "Now, that was my idea of a morning workout."

He threw back his head and laughed. "Babe, you can work out like that with me anytime."

When she had finished with her make-up and hair routine, she walked into the bedroom to find Ranger already putting fresh sheets on the bed. She had a moment of warm appreciation at the sight of a domesticated Ranger. In passing, she kissed him on the shoulder and went into the closet to get dressed for the day.

She had decided to continue working for Vinnie in the mornings and then would spend her afternoons working for Rangeman. She liked the freedom that this arrangement would allow her. Now that she had the bounty money from capturing Sullivan, working wasn't about money anymore. They had yet to work out the details of combined finances, but she felt better about the money situation since she wasn't coming into the relationship broke and hard up.

They were sitting at the table eating breakfast when she decided to broach the dreaded topic. Money. She hated to talk about money. "Ranger, I want you to help me invest my reward money for helping to capture Sullivan." She could see the delight in his eyes, but she held up her hand. "But, I don't want you to just invest it; I want you to teach me what to do, so that I can do it myself. I've never had much of my own and I don't want to start our marriage with this is mine and that's yours, but I still need to feel like I'm a contributing member to our finances."

His heart swelled at how far she'd come in the past two years. He didn't want her to feel like she was a kept woman, but he also wanted her to share in the money he'd worked hard to earn. "Babe, I'll be glad to teach you how to invest your money. I agree that we each need to have our own identity, interests and money. However, I want us to be a team in every way. That means what's mine is yours and vice versa." He took his wallet out of his pocket and pulled out two cards, sliding them across the table to her.

She stared at them in amazement. The first was a bank card and the second was a credit card; both had her name stamped on the bottom. She frowned, looking at them. They had only been married for a few days. No way, he'd had time to add her to his accounts. "When did you do this?" He didn't answer her right away and she could tell that he didn't really want to share this information with her.

Finally, he started talking, "It really happened over a period of time. When you stayed in my apartment during the Slayer incident, I added you to my credit card accounts; because I thought you might need to purchase something that you couldn't go back to your apartment for. Then when you helped me with finding Julie, I added you as dual beneficiary to my Will with Julie. I did that because I realized you were the single most important person in my life. When you stayed with me, while you helped me find the kids that were breaking into my accounts, I added you to my checking and savings accounts. By that time, I knew that I couldn't live without you and planned to pursue you whether you were still with Morelli or not."

She was silently crying by the time he finished telling her how he'd been slowly incorporating her into his life, while she had been oscillating between him and Joe.

"Babe, I didn't tell you this to make you cry. I've wanted you in my life for quite some time now and knew that when the time was right, we'd make a go of it." He wiped her tears away and kissed each eyelid.

It humbled her greatly to know that he'd been so sure of her when she'd been fumbling around in the dark. She thought about all the things he'd said to her over the years and it was like a light switch being flipped on. He'd told her in numerous ways that he loved her and wanted her in her life. "Ranger, I'm sorry for not seeing it sooner. I guess I just never took the time to read between the lines."

He smiled kindly at her, "You've nothing to be sorry about. I led you to believe that I didn't want a relationship. What I really needed was to know that when you came to me, it was because you wanted to be with me and only me. I also needed to be sure that there were no residual feelings left for Joe. Personally, I think it worked out for the best. We became friends through it all and I think that the friendship part of our relationship will keep our marriage strong and healthy."

She couldn't agree more and told him so. "It's funny that you should say that, because when I think of our relationship, I always think of you as my friend first. You're my hero, mentor, lover and now my husband, but first and foremost you're my best friend."

He cradled her head between his hands and looked deeply into her eyes. "I'd never had a best friend until I met you." He picked up a napkin, wiped her nose, causing them both to laugh at the gesture.

After making out a bit, they both pulled away, deciding they'd never make it out of the apartment if they didn't stop.

As he walked her to the garage, he handed the keys to the truck to her. "Babe, I want you to drive the truck when you're going after skips. It has several features that will make the job easier. Hector will walk you through them this afternoon. I'd have him do it now, but he's at one of my accounts, working on a glitch in the security system."

The urge to resist was strong, but after their talk upstairs, she couldn't find it in her heart to argue with him. "Thanks, but don't get mad if I destroy it. You know my luck with vehicles."

He kissed her and helped her into the truck, "Don't care. I want my wife safe. Besides, I've wanted to buy a new truck for a while. If you destroy this one, it'll be the perfect excuse."

She was pretty sure he was joking, but you never knew with Ranger. She thought he'd close the door then, but when she looked up, she could tell there was more he wanted to say. Stephanie leaned her head to the side and raised both eyebrows, since she knew it was futile to try just one.

"Babe….the cards…do you want me to order new ones? You know….with Stephanie Manoso on them?"

The indecision on his face was rare and precious. She smiled widely, "Of course, that's my name now."

He knew that the relief showed in his smile, but he didn't care. He'd wanted her to use his name, but wasn't sure how she felt about it. It meant a great deal to him that she share in everything he had, especially his name. He kissed her again whispering his thanks and then reluctantly closed the truck door.

She walked into the bonds office and was immediately bombarded with a million questions about her marriage to Ranger. She held up a hand, "First and foremost, I will not under any circumstances talk about my sex life with Ranger, that's personal. Second, I'll only be picking up skips in the morning's from now on. I'll be working for Ranger in the afternoons. Connie, you might want to tell Vinnie that he needs another bond agent. And lastly, can I please have my files so I can get to work?"

The both stood there shocked at how firm she stood on the subject. Connie's smiled beamed at her as she handed over two files. She took them and headed out to retrieve the two low bonds that Connie had given her.

The defense lessons that Ranger had given her sure paid off. She almost wanted to pat herself on the back and would have if it wasn't for the stickiness of her shirt. They were having a heat wave from the last leg of summer and her shirt was plastered to her body. She couldn't wait to get inside the bonds office and the air conditioning.

She waved her two receipts in front of Connie's face, saying, "Ta da."

"Wow that was fast. What'd you do while you were off eloping? Did Batman teach you some new tricks?" Lula fanned herself at Connie's word, obviously her mind wandered to a different kind of tricks.

"We worked on some self-defense maneuvers, plus, I've been running. It helps if you can outrun your skips." Connie nodded in agreement and then handed her two more files with her check.

"These came in while you were out." Connie pulled out her nail file and began working on her manicure.

"Lula, you want to get some lunch?" She knew Lula never turned down food.

"You betcha!" She immediately began rounding up her purse, obviously in a hurry.

Stephanie figured Lula wanted to get out of filing or try to browbeat her into talking about her and Ranger's intimate relationship. She was going with the latter.

As they walked out of the bonds office, Lula was chattering nonstop about her being married to Ranger while Stephanie was flipping through her folder of FTA's, so she didn't see him coming. Before she could react, Joe had her arm in a vise grip and was steering her towards the alley.

"Cupcake, I think we need to talk." His words were ground out between clenched teeth.

When it dawned on her that he was pulling her towards the alley, the one that she and Ranger had been in so many times to secretly grope and kiss each other, she planted her feet, trying to stop the forward momentum. She could tell that he was angry and there was no way that she was going into 'that' alley with him. "Joe, how about we sit in the truck and talk for a minute. I can see that you have something on your mind and I'll be glad to listen, but not out here where everyone can listen."

He instantly released her arm, spun around and stomped towards the truck. She looked at Lula and shrugged her shoulders, waving her off before getting into the truck. "What's up Joe?"

"What the hell, Stephanie? We're broken up for a little over a month and you run off and elope with Manoso. And here I was thinking that we broke up because you didn't want to get married."

The anger was rolling off of him. She wasn't scared of him; she knew he would never hurt her, but she honestly didn't want to be in the truck with him when he was so angry either. "Joe, I'm baffled at your response. We broke up! We didn't break up just because I didn't want to get married. We broke up because you wanted to change me and I don't want to change. I'm really sorry if my marriage to Ranger has hurt you."

"Aargh…hurt, Hell, I'm pissed. I thought, you know, that we'd both cool off for a while and then go back to normal." He grabbed her left wrist and stared at the rings on her finger, the muscle ticking in his jaw.

"Joe, I'm happy and I love him. You'll always have a place in my heart and I hope that one day we can be friends, but I think that you need to get out of the truck." Her heart was pounding and her head felt like it was going to explode, just then her door was wrenched open and she looked up into the cold, angry eyes of her husband.

Ranger gave a menacing look at Joe, "Morelli,…. Babe" and then his lips crashed onto hers in a bruising kiss. There was no mistaking the message that Ranger was sending to Joe. He was staking his claim. Sometime during their hard, hungry kiss, Ranger gently took Stephanie's arm from Joe's grasp and she heard the door slam. When he pulled back, they were both panting heavily and Ranger's eyes were still blazing with fury.

She swallowed the lump in her throat, "Um…I'm guessing this is one of those things that has the potential for causing marital discord?"

His eyes strayed to her swollen lips, then back up. The corners of his eyes crinkled at the edges with the hint of smiling, but it didn't reach his mouth. "It has real possibilities. Care to explain why my wife is sitting in a truck with her ex-boyfriend?" She could tell that he was trying hard to sound neutral, but the gleam in his eyes told her that he was barely containing the big green monster.

She sighed heavily then leaned back against the headrest, closing her eyes. "It was either this, the alley, or outside on the street where everybody in the 'Burg' could get an earful. Option two was out for obvious reasons that are only known to you and me. Option three was out because I didn't want everything that was said to be fodder for the fools. Sorry, I know what this must look like, but honestly, what was said between Joe and I needed to be done with a little privacy."

She sighed loudly, "And….for what it's worth,…this is one of the few times that I'm going to say you were right and I was wrong. Joe was under the illusion that we were on another one of our 'time-outs'."

When she opened her eyes, he was smiling for real. "Okay," was all he said before he pulled her from the truck and kissed her softly on each cheek and then her lips.

She looked up at him dumbfounded. Where, she wondered was the screaming, yelling and hand gestures? "Sometimes, I forget you're not Italian. I love you, you know?"

"Yeah, I love you too. Babe, I was never angry at you. Lula called and told me about Joe trying to drag you into the alley. When I arrived, I saw him touch you and got a little crazy, but I 'never' thought you were cheating on me. I was a bit upset that you didn't just tell him to get lost, but I get the reason why you decided the truck was the best place for your conversation. Now, let's go to lunch and see if we can quell the rumor mill. If we go about as usual, there will be less temptation for tongues to start wagging." He took her hand and entwined their left hands.

"And once again, you underestimate the power of gossip. It'll be around town that I'm stepping out on you and having Joe's love child in less than ten minutes, but then I'll probably blow something up and that'll give them an entirely different focus." She had to blink away the stinging emotion that had suddenly swamped her.

Ranger gently pushed her toward the alley and this time, with him, she didn't resist. Against the wall, he cradled her head between his hands and kissed her warmly and deeply, washing away the last dregs of the worry that had consumed her since Joe first touched her arm.

Ranger invited Lula to lunch, but she declined. He still made her slightly nervous. Pino's of course was the obvious choice, since it would help settle the wagging tongues. They hadn't been there ten minutes when her phone started ringing nonstop. She set it to silent and sat back to enjoy lunch with her husband.

After lunch, the afternoon breezed by as Ranger began training her for her new position. She was going to be in charge of research since none of the guys enjoyed that part of the job and she seemed to have a knack for sniffing out the truth. Around four, Ranger got a call on the location of a skip and went with Tank to apprehend the bail jumper.

As she shut down her computer, she decided to surprise Ranger and went up to the apartment to get ready. She showered, shaved and exfoliated. When she heard Ella, she called out to her that she was getting dressed. She threw on her new fluffy robe and went out to help set up. After they'd finished arranging everything and dinner was in the warmer, she went back to the bathroom to apply a little light make-up and dry her hair. When every curl was softly cascading down her back, she went into the bedroom to get dressed.

Of all the lingerie she'd bought the day of their wedding, she'd only worn the one outfit. Tonight, she knew just the right one for what she had planned. The black and hot pink number was perfect for seduction. It had a short sheer black top that scooped up around the neck in a halter fashion. The front split down the middle, leaving most of her stomach bare. Hot, pink lace trimmed the edges that swung loosely at her sides. The bottoms were sheer boy shorts with the same lace trimming the legs. She slid on her black silk robe and tied the sash, before going to light the candles that she and Ella had scattered about the apartment.

She had just turned on the music and dimmed the lights when she heard Ranger key fobbing his way through the door.