******I don't own them and not making money from them. For one long torturous day, I looked at this page thinking, where the hell do I go from here??? I have to say I was worried that I would leave you hanging. I had really lost my focus (just goes to show what one hellacious day at work will do to you). Anyway, my little muse came along (her name is Angie) and helped me to refocus and the ideas started flowing. I've now got it mapped out to at least chapter 16!! Hope you enjoy!

Prying her eyes open, she locked her focus on his handsome face. With deliberate purpose, he took them over the edge with one final flex of his hips. Simultaneously, they both breathed the fervent words from their souls. Both knowing that saying, 'I love you', had never been easier or felt so right.

Chapter 9

"What the hell is a slugburger?"

She felt like there was an elephant sitting on her chest. Dragging her eyes open, she found the elephant. Ranger. For a change, he was laying sprawled half on top of her. One of his arms was wrapped around her neck, his hand under her head, tangled in her curls. The other arm circled around her waist, with his hand gripping her ass. His leg was thrown over her hip and he had managed to entwine their legs like a pretzel. His hot breath blew on her neck where he had his head buried.

As far as positions go, it was by far the most telling. It was a statement of intimacy and possession. As nice as it was, it didn't change the fact that she was smothering under his weight. She pushed at his shoulders. His response was to tighten his grip and grind his morning wood into her stomach. When she pushed again, he merely groaned in protest. If she wasn't so uncomfortable, she would have laughed.

She choked out, "Ranger, you have to let me breath."

Immediately, he rolled, bringing her with him. "Mmmmm, morning Babe. What a way to wake up." When his hand moved to cup her intimately, she scrambled back, quickly stopping him with a firm, but gentle hand to his wrist.

She stammered to explain when he frowned, "Uh..not that last night wasn't great…but, umm…I think I need to get up and stretch a bit." Her cheeks burned with the explanation that she knew he would want.

"Explain." His voice was commanding, but his expression softened the effect.

How to explain? "Ok, well, I haven't had sex in about six months and I'm extremely sore this morning." Embarrassed, she tried to look away.

Taking her chin gently between his fingers, he asked the question she had been dreading. "Babe, how can that be? You were living with Morelli part of that time."

She shrugged her shoulders and this time he let her look away as she shyly continued. "I don't know. His work, my work, and then we got into it and I moved out. Then the thing with your company came up. After that, I moved back in with him, but every time we started to get intimate……I froze up and……uggh couldn't. I guess in my heart, I knew that it was time to let go." She really hated having this conversation.

He looked at her considering for a moment, digesting her words. "Babe that explains the length of time. And I have to admit, that I'm overjoyed that you haven't been with Morelli in quite a while, but you still shouldn't be that sore after only one time."

She sighed heavily, saying quietly, "It's just that you're quite a bit larger than anyone I've ever been with."

Her cheeks were burning, they felt like they were on fire, she wouldn't have been surprised to see smoke rising from her face.

Frowning, Ranger said the one thing she'd been dreading. "You weren't this sore when we had sex the first time."

She pinned him with a frustrated look and blurted out what she'd been holding in for three years. "How would you know? You didn't exactly stick around to find out, did you?" She smacked a hand over her mouth with a horrified look. Stupid mouth.

Ranger bolted upright, opened his mouth and then closed it again. Seething with anger at himself, for being so careless with her, he ground out, "Fuck!" When he saw her flinch, he tried to tamp down on his temper. Taking a few deep breaths to calm himself, he gently took her arms and pulled her against his chest.

Quietly, he said, "I wasn't exactly gentle with you that night, was I?" She didn't answer him, didn't have to for him to know the truth of his words. He remembered all too well. He had fucked her senseless, repeatedly. When he was with her, it seemed that he went mad with desire and he lost all control. But that wasn't all. He had hurt her more than physically and it was time that he explained his actions.

Clearing his throat, he began, "Babe, when I left that morning, I had all these thoughts about what I could and couldn't offer you. I had finally come to the conclusion that none of it mattered and I was headed back to your apartment to tell you……well, everything. I was on my way with every intention of asking you to be with me."

He saw she was about to ask why he didn't, but he stopped her with a shake of his head. "Let me explain. That's when I got a call from my government handler. They needed me for a mission that was being organized for two weeks later."

He looked down at her beautiful face, gathering his thoughts. "Babe, I've had to make too many visits to surviving wives, girlfriends and families. I didn't want you opening the door to that kind of emissary. Then by the time my contract with the government was up, you had moved in with Morelli and seemed happy. I didn't want to make waves and spoil your happiness." He could see the wheels turning in her head and was relieved when she smiled kindly at him.

"I can live with that, this time. Just don't do it again." She smoothed the worry lines from between his eyebrows with her fingertip.

He smiled widely at her acceptance. That was one of the things that drew him to her. She easily accepted other's decisions, choices and lifestyles. "Now, get dressed in something loose and I'll help you stretch out. I'm going to remove these damn stitches, they're itching like crazy."

At the bathroom door he paused to say, "Oh, and Babe, don't think I've forgotten that you promised to train with me. That starts today. We've been lazy long enough." He chuckled at her groan and continued to the bathroom.

After removing his stitches, he found her already stretching in the living room floor. Her legs in a wide 'V' made his cock stand at attention. She leaned back on her elbows and extended a leg for him to stretch out. Kneeling between her legs, he placed her leg on his shoulder and stretched her to her limit. He couldn't resist nudging his erection against her crotch.

With strained breathing, she ground out, "Not helping, Ranger." He laughed softly, switched legs and repeatd the motion.

When they'd both stretched, he led her out onto the balcony and then to the head of the stairs. Looking down at the bane of her existence, she squeaked out, "How many?"

He deadpanned, "Ten, five down, five up", knowing full well that he would never get her to walk, much less run that many times.

With a stubborn expression, she countered, "Four." And the negotiations continued until they settled on five. After they had walked the stairs, he took her to the living room. He cleared the furniture and worked with her for an hour on defensive moves.

Pushing her sagging form toward the bathroom, he ran water in the tub. "Take a hot bath and soak your sore muscles. I'm going to fix some breakfast." She sighed in relief as she eased her body down into the hot water, laid her head back against the wall and smiled to herself, glad to see the end of their first training session.

1

While she cleaned up the breakfast dishes, she heard Ranger on the phone with Tank. "We need some equipment, give me a location on the closest available electronics store. Once I'm online, I can help with the paper trail on Sullivan. I'll have Steph look into Woodrow's activities in Trenton. Maybe she'll pick up on something that we've missed."

He came into the kitchen and pulled her against him while he listened to Tank's report on other RangeMan business. He hung the phone up, without saying goodbye, of course. "Up for a field trip, Babe," he said raising one sexy eyebrow in question.

"Sure. Where are we going?" She asked as she put on her shoes, searching around the room with her eyes for her purse.

"Tank said that there is a town about 30 minutes away, with an electronics store." He told her this as he went to the bedroom to get money from the bag that Lester had packed. Retrieving their guns, he came back into the living room to find her ready and waiting. He was surprised when she took her gun without complaint.

Two hours later, in the small town of Corinth, Stephanie found herself the proud owner of a shiny new, red laptop, complete with wifi and an internet card. Ranger had insisted that they both needed laptops to work on finding Sullivan. She smiled excitedly, "Thanks, Ranger. I've had my eye on one of these for awhile."

As he paid the salesman, he answered, "Denada, Babe."

The salesman was ecstatic about the large sale and was very talkative. "Are you guys in town for the Slugburger festival?"

Stephanie had to know, asking, "What the hell is a slugburger? Is it made of slugs and who in their right mind would eat them?"

The salesman burst out laughing. "No, dear, it's a burger that's made of beef or pork. It's mixed with soybeans and meal and then deep fried. Usually, it's topped with mustard, pickle and an onion ring. Our town is known for being the founder of what is considered a Southern delicacy."

Now, that sounded right up her alley; her stomach growled in agreement. "So, why is it called a slugburger?"

He smiled at being able to impart some history to the visiting tourists. "The burger was developed after WWI and could be bought for a slug, which is slang for a nickel. If you want to try it out, the festival's set up down the block." They thanked him and left the store.

After loading their purchases into the truck, Ranger noticed the wistful look on her face. Pulling her against him, he kissed her on hr full lips. Pressing small kisses on a trail to her ear, he asked huskily, "Want to go?"

She moaned, but he could feel her smile, "Yes, please." They pulled away from each other reluctantly. Hand in hand they walked the two blocks to the hustle and bustle of the festival in full progress. They made their way through the various vendors. Ranger bought her a slugburger and French fries, while choosing a smoked turkey leg and corn on the cob for himself. She could almost hear his sigh of relief at not having to eat the deep fried concoction.

They sat a table and listened to the twang of local talent as they sang their version of popular country songs. On the stage, an announcer introduced the next act and Stephanie got excited. "Ranger, I know this group. I didn't know 'Saving Abel' was from Corinth."

Ranger watched her enjoying the music as he cleaned up their trash. As the song, 'Addicted' wafted over the crowd, he had the urge to dance with her. Other couples were making their way to the clearing as Ranger extended his hand to her stating simply, "Dance with me, Babe."

Ranger took her through series of turns before settling into a slow sway, pulling their bodies close. The words of the song brought to her mind images of last night. I'm addicted to all the things you do, when you're going down on me in between the sheets at night. His closeness and the song had her thinking that maybe she wasn't so sore after all. She felt Ranger's chest vibrate with laughter. Damn ESP.

After their dance, they decided they'd had enough of small town U.S.A. and headed back to the truck. He pulled out of the downtown area and drove for about a mile before signaling to turn. Stephanie was shocked when Ranger pulled into what looked like a strip mall. Giving him a look of surprise, she asked, "I thought even God couldn't get you to go to the mall."

He gave her a smug look, "I'm not going in the mall, you are. I'm going into the health food store over there." He said pointing across the street, the he handed her several crisp hundred dollar bills. "You need some work-out clothes and a bra. Not that I'm complaining about your braless state, but I'd prefer that everybody else didn't get to see what I now consider mine." He said it lightly as he delivered a quick peck to her lips, but she had the feeling there was some underlying truth to his words.

After shopping for clothes and then food, they drove back to their little piece of solitude on the lake. Ranger insisted that she go lay out in the sun while he made dinner. She argued very little. All the activity of the day had her eyelids drooping, especially after lazing about for the last several days.

He woke her with several soft kisses to her shoulder blades, before pulling her up and into the kitchen. She knew she was going to pay for eating that greasy combination at lunch. He had prepared skinless baked chicken, whole grain rice and steamed vegetables. Not that she would tell him, it was actually very good. Still, it wasn't a slugburger.

While they were eating, she noticed an unmarked bag lying among the others. Curious, she asked, "What's in that bag?" He evaded with an 'hmmm?' and 'what bag?' Now he really had her curiosity humming. When she made a move towards the bag, he grabbed her and pulled her onto his lap. He succeeded in distracting her with a deep, intoxicating kiss that turned her brain to mush.

She decided to leave thoughts of the bag for later and helped him clean up the kitchen. When they'd finished with the dishes, Ranger silently led her to the bedroom. She wasn't quite sure how he managed the sight before her, Batman magic perhaps. The entire room was lit with candles and a bath towel was spread on top of the comforter.

"Babe, take off your clothes and lay face down on the towel. I'm going to give you a massage." His voice flowed over her like warm honey.

The contents of the bag were no longer a mystery. Ranger had actually gone in a store and bought massage oil……for the sole purpose of pampering her. Images of his hands massaging her naked body flooded her brain, sending heat directly south. Oh boy.