Chapter Thirteen
Ranger pulled the 911 into a parking spot two storefronts down from the dilapidated bar Rico had indicated. Rico parked on the other side. There wasn't any visual access in the front of the building. Just a plain metal fire door and a diamond-patterned stained glass window so covered in grime that not much light would be able to filter through it. They wouldn't be able to keep eyes on Steph. Not something he was thrilled about.
"Rico and I will hang back," he told her. "Give you some breathing room to do your thing. Then we'll slip in once you've got him distracted. Noah will be in the office in back. You just have to keep Cutter occupied. If you can get him to leave, that's even better." As long as she didn't leave with him.
"Piece of cake." Steph looked down at her top and started adjusting the stretchy fabric to expose more of her breasts, making sure the little bit of bikini there was to cover her flesh was clearly visible. It was mesmerizing to watch. He caught a flash of nipple more than once. His body reacting despite his efforts. She fluffed out her drying hair to encourage the bedroom curls. "How's that?"
"Makes me wish we were back at the waterfall," he said.
That gave her courage. She was about to climb out of the car, then paused, pulling the wedding ring from her finger. Dropped it into his hand. She probably thought it would complicate things to be wearing a giant rock like that when she was supposed to be holding the guys attention. And she was right. He knew that. Which is why he didn't entirely understand why he disliked it so much. He'd gotten used to Steph in his ring. And now she was going to confront a bad guy without his mark on her.
She turned to the door again. "Wait."
She paused. Ranger reached into her top and filled his hands with both breasts. He caressed them while he adjusted her a little more. His touch gentle but firm. Her body hummed as he touched her. Her eyes darkening to sapphires. She was breathless by the time he was done. Watching him like he was dessert. "Is that better?" she asked.
"It was fine before. That was for me."
She rolled her eyes so big that she almost fell over. He watched her climb out of the Porsche, holding onto his laugh until she was halfway to the bar. It might have been a dick move, asserting his claim like that. He just couldn't bring himself to regret it.
Rico slipped into her empty seat a minute after she vanished into the bar.
"So, how long do you think your girl needs to work her magic?"
"Give her five."
They sat in silence for a minute. Rico shifting. Rico wasn't as good at silence as Noah was. Rico was more like Steph. Talkative. Curious. It made him a good investigator, just like it did with her, but it wasn't nearly as cute. "So how long you and her been a thing?"
Not a question any of his other men would dare ask. Not even Tank. They all knew better. Ranger almost didn't have a personal life, let alone acknowledge what little he did have to other people. Rico wasn't deterred by his non-answer, though. "She's cute. Sweet in a don't fuck with me kind of way. I can see why you like her."
Ranger kept staring at the building.
"You guys set a date yet?"
"How often does Noah have to beat you down to discourage the rabbiting?" Ranger asked him, casting a hard eye his way. It was a look that made most people shrink. Rico wasn't most people. Ranger didn't know much about his past beyond what Noah told him and what showed up in the background checks, but he knew that intimidation never made much of an impression on him. Rico just grinned.
"Noah and I been tight since we were kids, Cuz."
"So at least twice a year?"
Rico grinned wider. This time Ranger let a small smile lift his mouth too.
Rico turned back to the door. "Seriously, man. I'm happy for you. I barely met her and I can tell she's a special girl. Not many women can do this kind of thing and keep their sweetness. And I'm guessing she's been good for you, seeing as you haven't punched me in the face yet."
"Still early."
Rico laughed.
Ranger glanced down at his watch. Three and a half minutes. Close enough.
He angled out of the car before Rico could start another conversation. Slipped Steph's ring into his pocket. They walked up to the bar's fire door and Ranger pressed the handle slowly to keep it quiet before he eased to open an inch.
Steph's voice was even and steady. Playful. Good. That meant she was in control. He gestured to Rico, then slipped through the gap in the door. The bar was darker than he'd anticipated. Daylight made a big impact on the room. The mark stiffened, his back to them. She'd been smart enough to go behind the bar to keep him from watching the door. He looked like he might turn to see who they were, but Steph caught his arm, leaning over the counter to keep his attention. It would have worked on anyone. Ranger was still more than ten feet away and he could see so far down her top he swore he saw bellybutton.
She purred something and it hit right on target. A bomb could have gone off and Cutter might not have noticed.
Then Steph straightened and took a step back, a shadow crossing her face. It was gone in an instant, replaced again by the flirty smile. If Ranger hadn't known her so well, he wouldn't have noticed it at all. Something Cutter had said rattled her. She offered him a strained smile.
Cutter stood and wandered around behind the bar, getting into her space. She backed into the register. His hand curled around her elbow, but she didn't rip it from his grasp. Still trying to maintain control of the situation. The exchange was getting more intense. She was trying to hide it, but a little fear was seeping out through her bravado. And a little discomfort. If the guy didn't back off and let her go soon, Ranger was going to make him.
Then Cutter snatched her up and dragged her against his body, and when she fought back he slapped her hard across the face. Ranger broke for him, ready to catch him around the neck and fling him over the bar, but Steph got there first. She racked him hard in the balls. Sidestepped him when he fell toward her, grapping the back of his shirt to turn his momentum against him and smack him face first into the counter. Cutter struck the Formica and flopped out of sight.
Ranger hit the counter first, peering over the edge at the lump of man on the dirty tile floor. He looked up at her in amazement. "Babe."
She could only shrug. "He wasn't being a gentleman."
His entire face lit up. Impressed and relieved all at once.
Rico came up beside him. They'd moved for her at the same time, but Rico hadn't been as fast as Ranger. He leaned over the Formica and looked at Cutter. "Damn. I'm glad I just got a sucker punch. You're a dangerous woman."
"It was mostly an accident."
Rico shook his head. "I'd hate to see what you'd do on purpose."
Ranger was already moving around to her side of the bar. Stepped over Cutter to get to her. He was tender when he brushed her hair back from her face to examine the pink mark left by Cutter's hand. Laid a soft kiss on her cheek. "You alright?" he asked her. She nodded. "Good. Because I might have had to kill him otherwise, and I don't have the connections here to make a body disappear."
The fact that he was joking didn't take away the ring of truth. In another life, it wouldn't have been a joke at all. He leaned down and flipped Cutter over, cuffing his arms behind his back, then glanced up at Rico. "Call it in. Have him booked on assault charges. They don't need to stick, but it should give you enough time to line up the rest of your evidence."
Rico nodded and headed back toward the office.
Ranger turned back to her and took her hand. Slid his ring back onto her finger. He lifted it to his lips. "I always do love seeing you in action."
"Morbid curiosity?"
"Major turn on."
A tiny smile quirked up the corner of her mouth. "So what happens now?"
"Now we hand him off to Noah and Rico and we head back to the resort."
"And then?"
Ranger smiled.
The office door opened and Noah walked out, Rico behind him. Noah looked at Cutter laying flat on the floor where Ranger had flipped him over, his hands cuffed behind his back. "You're right. Calamity Jane knocked him out cold." He looked up at Steph and winked. "Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy."
o o o
They might as well have been naked in the interior of the 911 on the drive back, the intimate tension was so thick. Ranger let his hand rest on Stephanie's bare leg through the opening in her wrap skirt, tracing soft, seductive lines on the inside of her thigh. Every few minutes, he inched just a little higher. And every time he did, her breathing got a little more ragged.
He cut his eyes to her and was rewarded to see the arousal in her expression. A smile surfaced. "So, are we heading home?" he asked, inching even higher. Enjoying the temptation on her face.
Steph bit her lip. She was fighting with her self control. And losing, by the look of it. In fact, it looked like she wanted to have him pull over like she had that day in Trenton so she could climb on him right there in the 911. Even if she did had to have her ass on the horn again.
"Not yet," she managed to say. "Maybe we should get some lunch first."
"And then?"
"You did promise to buy me a new dress."
"Do I get to help you try it on?"
"Maybe next time."
He glanced at her again and let out a quiet sigh, turning back to the road. "This is a long minute."
From the way she was fighting her body for control, Steph thought that too.
The atmosphere hadn't entirely cooled by the time they got back to Honolulu, but it wasn't burning them anymore. Steph was more comfortable with that. As much as it was in her nature, she didn't like feeling out of control. Didn't want to give in and fuck him just because her body wanted it, only to have her head retaliate when the blood came back.
He understood that. It was something a lot of guys could relate to. It's hard to think through consequences when all the blood leaves your brain to rush to other parts of your anatomy. Loosing control like that wasn't something Ranger let happen to him anymore. Well, maybe once or twice with Steph. Further indication of why he shouldn't encourage himself to get so close to her.
After lunch they found a quiet dress shop in center city and Steph picked out a sexy little black dress with accents of blue and white and a pair of black stiletto high heels. The heels gave him even more ideas than the dress did. Money well spent.
They drove back to the resort and he gave Steph some space to let her get ready. It wasn't what he had wanted. There had been plenty of time to indulge in each other and still make it to the luau. Even if he made love to her with as much rapt attention as he intended. But he let her keep him distant. Because he loved her enough to give her what she needed, not just what she wanted.
To a point.
What she probably needed most was for him to step back entirely. That just wasn't going to happen. Not yet. He liked being with her too much. Always had. He had known, from the number of times that they'd shared living space before, that she was easy to live with. Now he knew what it was like to live with her completely, intimacy and all. And it was incredible. He'd never had this with any other woman. Not even his ex-wife. Never wanted it with any other woman.
But he'd known from the beginning that this wasn't something he would get to keep. Something he should have reminded himself when he saw her without his ring and felt a hint of discomfort. First chance he got, he'd slid the ring back onto her finger. Marked his territory again. Because having her to himself, this far removed from all the shit back home, made it easy to forget that this wasn't the way things were supposed to be. She wasn't his wife. Or his fiancée, despite the way Noah and Rico talked about her. She wasn't even his girlfriend. Not back in Trenton. In Trenton, she belonged to someone else.
He pushed that back. She was still his here. At least for a few more days. Right now, that would just have to be enough.
The bathroom door opened.
Ranger let her gravity pull him back toward the bedroom, leaning on the doorframe to watch her. She really was beautiful. Even more polished than usual. Her erratic bedroom curls were actually tamed. Pinned up in a style that made him want to run his fingers through it and shake it loose. She was wrapped in a hotel robe again. No doubt pampered and soft. She certainly smelled nice. The new dress and heels were laid out across the foot of the bed with her delicate black lace underwear.
She glanced over at him. Taking in the black suit. It was more formal than any of the other men would be wearing, but the suit coat would hide his gun better than one of the black Hawaiian shirts.
"I just need a few more minutes," she said, obviously hoping he would step back out and let her get dressed in privacy. Like that was going to happen. He might be holding back the urge to rip the robe open and have his way with her right there on the end of the bed, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to let himself at least have this.
She hesitated for a few seconds and then shrugged out of the robe. Standing there completely naked. Five feet seven inches of smooth white skin and delicious curves. He should have felt like an ass for refusing to step away. But if that emotion was in there somewhere, it was overridden by sheer excitement. It was the ninety seconds, only in slow motion. The elastic waistband clinging to her thighs as she pulled her panties into place. The bra adjusting itself to cradle her breasts, a hint of pink still visible through the lace. It was almost as erotic as it would have been if she was taking it all off. Letting him memorize every inch as it disappeared so that he knew exactly what was underneath the dress when she dropped in on over her head.
She glanced his way while she was getting dressed. Wondering if his desires were going to get the better of him. Hoping a little that they would. She was just as turned on as he was. But for the moment, just knowing he was the only one who got to have her like this was enough.
"Ready?" he asked when she reached for the stiletto heels. They would add a good four inches to her. Bringing her up to eye level. Her lips all that much closer to his. She nodded in answer and started for the space he wasn't filling in the doorway, intending to slip past him into the living room.
His arms wrapped around her on their own when her gravity reached him, pulling her against him so that he could kiss her. The intensity consumed them until her fingers were curled into his shirt collar and she stopped breathing. That was a decent consolation. The fact that even without the sex, they could still come together in a way that made her dizzy and him raw.
He gave her one more kiss and pressed her purse into her hands. "Let's go ID us a hitman."