CHAPTER THIRTY

*Author's note: I must apologize for the time gap in posting to this story. After posting the last chapter, I lost my beta. She felt that in good conscious, she could not participate in a story with the content that Dangerous Games was presenting. My spelling is atrocious but correctable through spell-check. There is no help for my lack of grammar skills. I wanted to present a professional looking story to my readers. After much hair pulling on my part, I decided to plow ahead without beta assistance. I feel the story and the need to show how a real D/s relationship works far outweighs my ego's need for perfection.

*To my readers: If you find a grammar error that is too painful to allow living. Please PM me. I will try to correct as many as possible. Thanks.

Now on with the story…

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Monday morning came way too early. Steph's body was a lump of satiated skin and bones and her cheeks ached from the permanent smile. Ranger's body had been magic. His lips, his fingers, and his equipment, even his toes had made goose bumps appear on top of goose bumps.

"This getting older stuff isn't as bad as I thought it would be," she thought to herself as she crawled out of bed.

Ranger had been up and gone for hours. A fire at a client's building pulled him out of their bed before dawn. She and Ranger were scheduled to meet with Vinnie at eleven o'clock. Since it was not quite seven, Steph harbored thoughts of simply turning over and going back to sleep. This bed is too big and too lonely for just one person. Food and a shower, that's what I need. Definitely the shower… a girl can sure work up a sweat playing bedroom games with Ranger.

Steph ran through her agenda while savoring her second cup of coffee. She and Ranger had a meeting with Vinnie at 11:00. She found herself grinning at the prospect of Vinnie's shocked face, when he hears who was behind his latest blackmail threat. It seems Steph's ex-bother-in-law has hit upon some hard financial times. His knowledge of Vinnie's extracurricular sexual activities, which Val inadvertently shared during their marriage, offered him what he thought was some easy money. A visit from some large, black-clad men had discouraged that line of thinking. In fact, the visit had encouraged him to relocate in another city in another state.

With Silvio's help, Steph had found the nefarious culprit two days into the job. But Ranger wanted Vinnie to sweat a while. Besides, he enjoyed having Steph close by. It was fun watching her jump to his Dom commands in a way similar to how his men jumped to his Big Dog commands. He overheard a conversation between Caesar and Ramon in which one remarked how "un-Stephanie" her behavior had become. "Man, not one foot-stomp or eye-roll all week. I was looking forward to some fire-and-water time to break up the monotony. I guess she knows which side her bread is buttered on now. The Boss finally broke her. She's as tame as a pup now. Too bad, I miss the little brat inside her."

After hearing that conversation, Ranger had returned to his office much more somber than when he left it. Hell, I never wanted to "break" Steph. Her spit and fire is what attracted her to me in the first place. This whole plan was supposed to draw us closer together and help her grow. Have I destroyed the best thing in my life, simply to relieve the burden of keeping another secret? Shit Mañoso, how are you going to fix this? His thoughts as well as his mood were dark for the rest of that day. The extravagant plans for her birthday weekend were already in place. He would start making changes after that.

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Steph arrived at the bonds office ten minutes early. Ranger was a stickler for promptness. Connie and Lula were at the desk sorting through a foot-thick pile of case files. Lula spoke up first. "Nothing makes a woman's face glow more than a weekend of good sex. Don't you agree, Connie?"

"If that weekend was with Magic-man Manoso, I'm surprised she is walking let alone glowing." Connie had emphasized her words with a wave of her hand. "Speaking of which, here comes Alphaman now."

Ranger strolled into the office with his usual 'let's get to business' attitude. Then he did something so completely out of character that the oxygen was sucked out of the room and all breathing by its female occupants halted. He smiled, walked up to Steph and gently kissed her on her cheek. "Hi Babe. You were asleep when I last kissed you. I like them better when you're awake." The he turned his business face to Connie and asked, "He in is office?"

Connie reached for the phone/intercom to let Vinnie know that his appointment was there. "Don't bother. He likes surprises." Ranger smiled again and placing his hand gently on the back of Steph's neck guided her into the office. "Come my dear, let's get paid," were the last words the two women heard as he closed the office door.

Standard breathing patterns resumed once the door was shut. "Holy shit! What was that all about?" Connie's eyebrows had finally found their proper place above her eyes. They had been closer to her hairline after the kiss.

"Damn, that must have been some weekend. She better dish, and dish it all! I'm going for a big box of doughnuts. You make the coffee. The files can wait. Don't you dare let her leave." With that Lula grabbed her purse and was out the door.

When Vinnie gets angry, his face turns a tomato shade of red and the veins in his neck start to resemble strands of thick al-dente spaghetti. He never looks more Italian than when he is about to have a stroke.

He was upset over the whole blackmail thing and who the perpetrator turned out to be. But he went absolutely postal at the price he was paying for Ranger's services. The monetary fee of $1000 per day was doable. After all, the blackmail demand was much higher. It was the additional clause that had him reaching for his medication.

Stephanie was no longer an employee of Plum Bonding. She was now to be considered a contract employee. All of her jobs were now to go through Rangeman offices. She wasn't locked into high-bond-only retrievals, as Ranger was. And her fee had only increased slightly. Since she hadn't received a raise in percentage recovery, even that part was acceptable. But now the weight and oversight of every FTA recovery carried the professional demands of Rangeman and Manoso, himself.

Vinnie was a weasel. But he was a smart weasel. He knew that the money he received from his father-in-law was contingent on his keeping in Ranger's good graces. Vinnie even suspected that there might be some collusion between Ranger and his beloved father-in-law, Harry "the Hammer". Given the choice (which actually was no choice at all); Vinnie signed the papers Ranger had placed in front of him. Good riddance. She's your problem now. Vinnie thought as he pushed the contract towards Ranger.

"I assume that you will begin honoring this immediately," Ranger spoke in his this-is-not-an-order-but-I-expect-immediate-compli ance voice.

"Of course. There are some jobs lined up there right now," Vinnie was quick to respond.

"Good. And I don't expect to see her idle for more than a few days. She is an asset to both your company and mine, and I don't want to see her abilities wasted. We're clear on that, right?" Ranger gave Vinnie a direct eye-to-eye glare.

"Most definitely! I'll personally select her jobs from now on. I'll get on it right away."

While still in shock at her new and surprising job status, Steph still had a moment wondering if there was now a puddle in Vinnie's chair. There had been times in her past where she was exactly where he was now. Carlos Manoso was not a man to be taken lightly…in anything.

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They walked out of Vinnie's office. Ranger kissed Steph's forehead and whispered "later". He nodded to the two shell-shocked women and left the building.

"What the hell…" "OK girl, start talking…" "Something we should know…" "Damn…" Both women had starting talking at the exact same time. It sounded like feeding time at a chicken farm.

Steph could hear them speaking, but her brain wasn't processing anything but Ranger's words and actions of the last half hour. She found that she was a little upset that he had made such an important career decision without asking for her input. Yet she felt warm and fuzzy that he had thought of her abilities as an asset and wanted them acknowledged and paid for accordingly. And the kisses…in public…so sweet…what's up with that!

Vinnie stuck his head into the office. "Connie, I need to see that stack of FTAs before you assign them. NOW!"

Connie was immune to Vinnie's despotism, but the sheer panic in his voice had her gathering up the stack of files from her desk and hurrying to his office. Damn, coffee and doughnuts aren't going to be enough. This calls for Margaritas.