Thanks for your fab reviews - I can't believe how many people have me on their story alerts, please feel free to leave me a review too! Not bad since I know some of you struggle with my English version of English.
Only a few more chapters to go - I'm surprised how excited you've all gotten with Leo and Nayeli so I've expanded that part of my story so please bear with me as I'm having to add in a whole new section to the text that I've already written so it may be a while before I update again.
Anyway, here we go again...
Nayeli stretched on the kitchen countertop, exposing her belly button as well as a couple of inches of skin below her cropped top.
"You'll be the death of me, woman!" Leo growled out as he playfully nipped her abdomen, soliciting a girly shriek. He licked her skin and placed soft kisses on the wet circle he'd left, before grabbing her left hand and kissing the rings he found there.
"I know my bastard brother is away, so why don't we celebrate our recent nuptials upstairs?" he whispered against her skin. "He'll never know unless we leave him a calling card or two..." his hands wandering to lower, warmer places.
Nayeli grinned "I like your thinking, husband of mine. Perhaps we should christen the couch before we head up." She added tracing her tongue over her lips seductively as she sat up opening her arms to reach for him.
Scooping her up in his arms bridal style, Leo turned round and was about to head towards the lounge but was stopped in his tracks by a large human wall dressed in black.
"Well, what do we have here?" the wall asked in a deep baritone voice. "Trespassers!"
Leo glared at the wall and sneered "Hello, Baron. What drags your sorry carcass to my house?"
Baron guffawed, loudly "the alarm was tripped and as I was in the area I agreed to check things out." He sneered back. "And what do you mean your house? Your house! Since when has Carlos' property become yours?"
"Hey, what's mine is yours and all that shit..." Leo growled out petulantly, putting his wife down so he could push her behind him and take up an aggressive stance. Nayeli peered round his shoulders and glared at the man who had spoiled all her fun.
"I think you gave up the right to that benefit a long time ago, don't you? And I think you need to leave before I call the cops." He added, crossing his arms, his blank face giving no hint to the feelings that lay beneath.
"Come on, Honey. He's so not worth it." Nayeli huffed as she grabbed his upper arm and began tugging him towards the front door. "We'll celebrate somewhere else, OK, sweetie?" Turning to leave she flicked Baron the bird and stormed out the door with Leo hot on her tail.
Moments later the deep roar of a powerful engine and the squeal of tyres heralded their exit.
Steph breathed a sigh of relief from her vantage point next to the now open bathroom door. Hearing a third voice she'd figured this was the distraction Tank mentioned so she'd opened the door so that she could hear what her knight in shining armour said. From the snippets she overheard she decided that Leo and his 'charming' wife were one part of Carlos' family that she had no real desire to meet.
"It's ok, Bomber." Tank said confidently over the phone bringing her back to his reality. "Coast is clear. Why don't you go and say hi to Baron, he's wanted to put your face to your name for a long time."
"K... Hey! How long is a long time?" she asked the dial tone.
Steph wandered cautiously downstairs and into the kitchen where an enormous mocha latte coloured man that gave Tank a run for his money in the muscle department was texting as he leant his back against the breakfast bar.
"Ah, Miss Plum!" he said, looking up briefly before returning to his cell phone "Just let me finish this and I'll be with you in two shakes of a duck's ass." He added. Seconds later he reclipped his phone to his belt and turned his focus on her.
"Hi?" Steph said tentatively giving him a finger wave, not sure whether it was safe to go put the coffee machine on or not.
Baron chuckled sensing her unease. "I don't bite, unless requested." He said, waggling his eyebrows at her.
That broke the ice and Steph laughed as she headed over to the cupboard to grab a coffee cup. "Want one?" she asked, waving a chrome finished over sized mug at him.
"Sure, why not." He replied, breaking into a full smile and relaxing further against the counter top.
They stood waiting while the machine did its thing and all the time Steph surreptitiously looked at Baron, as she gathered a small jug of cream, a bowl of sugar and two teaspoons.
"Do you think we've seen the last of them?" she asked, obviously concerned about the intruders "Yeah, for now. They've just gotten back from their honeymoon so they'll probably try to make trouble for a while as they remind everyone that Carlos is not the only Manoso in town that has a reputation."
Steph looked confused and Baron laughed at her obvious facial expression. "What?" she snapped.
"Nothing, Les is right though, you are easy to read."
At that moment the coffee machine finished making its presence known with a loud gurgle so Steph filled their mugs, gestured to the jug and upon his confirmation, added cream to both cups before heading out to the den, Baron on her heel.
"You look familiar" she said as she put the drinks down on the large low level wooden coffee table that sat between two huge dark brown leather sofas and plopped onto the nearest one as she studied the man who seemed part Ranger, part Lester and part Tank, but perhaps that last bit was just due to his size. He also seemed to have Les's playful streak or maybe his attitude was from living in such a warm and vibrant place.
"Well, Ranger and I are sorta related." Baron said as he sat down. "We're all Cuban American from a tight knit community - Lester is my cousin and Ranger is his half brother, so although we don't share the same blood we nearly do. Does that make sense?"
"Ranger and Lester are brothers? How many siblings does Ranger have?"
"Les is his half brother – they share the same mother and our fathers are brothers. Ranger's father died in a car accident not long after he was born and Maria remarried when he was three. Les was born less than seven and a half months later, surprisingly large for such a preemie baby." He grinned as he said the last bit. "Ranger has two older sisters, Celia, Consuela, then there's him and Leonardo and finally baby Lester."
Steph giggled at the baby reference. She couldn't imagine Les being happy with such a moniker, but then, nothing surprised her about the Manoso family anymore.
"So" she said, going back to her earlier question "Why did Leo break in and what is he likely to do next?"
Baron shook his head wryly. "Do don't give up, do you? I can see how you've grown on so many people I know." He sighed, took a deep pull on his coffee and leant back. "Leo has always tried to be the best – and trouble is his forte. He's a slippery bastard who over the years has been implicated in lots of things – gun running, drugs, blackmail, arson, grand theft – but so far no-one has ever managed to pin anything on him. Believe it or not, Nayeli is good for him. She's a total bitch and I wouldn't bet against her in a fight, but she's tempered him, but every now and then he does something to try and impress her. I think today's little stunt was part of that."
o0o0o0o0o0o
Ranger dialled Tank's number "What's this about Leo and his bitch?" he growled out.
"S'k Ranger. Chill, it's all under control."
"No it's not! He shouldn't be anywhere near her. God, they could screw with her the way they did with Rachel. I know Rachel disowned them after the damage was done and the part they played in it came to light. But it took a long time for her to come to terms with the trust that had been broken. No-one expects a friend to do what Nayeli did."
"Yeah, but you coulda kept it in your pants, that mighta helped..." Tank snorted.
"Oh just fuck off!" Ranger said obvioulsy bored with the comment, like he'd heard it once or twice before.
Tank sniggered , he worked out long ago that it wasn't a good idea to bait the tiger too much about what went down that night and figured that perhaps he was pushing his luck so decided to change the subject slightly. "Baron's at the Batcave at the moment. He's just texted me to say he's gonna stick around for a while just to make sure they don't come back. Where are you? Do you want to go relieve him?"
"Just got my papers so I'm outta here. I can get transport to Miami so I could be there in just over two hours. Tell him I'll take over when I get there."
"Sure. Be gentle with our girl, she's been through enough recently."
"Tank?"
"Yeah?"
"Fuck off, will ya?" Ranger snapped back and put the phone down before he could hear Tank's inevitable laughter.
His phone went ping to advise him of an incoming message and he rolled his eyes as he read "I meant it! Play nice!"
He rolled his eyes, thinking that his Babe would be impressed at his maturity as he headed off to find a ride to the airstrip.
o0o0o0o0o0o
Steph was whooping Baron's ass at ski jumping on the Wi so missed Ranger's textbook-perfect parachute landing on the beach just outside the Batcave.
"Is this a closed game or can anyone play?" he asked the two combatants as he stepped through the large bi-fold patio doors.
"Ranger!" Steph yelled, dropping her control so that her Mi went hurtling down the slide on her shoulder causing the audience to boo, as she threw herself at him.
"Good to see you're aware of your surroundings, Baron." He grinned out from beneath Steph's curls.
"Nah, heard you coming in. Where did you stash your parachute?"
"You parachuted in?" Steph asked in amazement.
"Yeah, and you were too engrossed to notice – I'm hurt." He said, pretending to pout.
Steph giggled and before either of them could work out what she was doing, she grabbed his face with both hands and kissed the pout away. Suddenly realising what she'd just done she started to pull away in horror at her forwardness and began to apologise.
Ranger smirked and put a finger over her lips to stop her. "Any time, Babe."
She smiled weakly back at him and extricated herself from his arms.
"Well, now that the cavalry has arrived, I'm gone." Baron said with a glint in his eye.
"I'll swing by tomorrow to touch base before I head back to Trenton." Ranger replied as his focused returned to Steph.
Neither of them noticed Baron's disappearance as Steph gave him her best Burg stare "Want to tell me when you were going to let me know this was the Batcave?" she asked, crossing her arms and taking up a very aggressive stance in the middle of the room, next to the coffee table.
Ranger sighed and sat down. Dios! Why was everything so complicated with this woman, he thought as he watched his planned speech go sailing out the window.
"Babe."
"Oh no you don't, buster!" she gritted out. "One word answers are totally out of bounds right now. I knew this was your special place when I found your things."
"What things?" he replied totally confused. Anna had specifically been instructed to remove any traces of him before Steph had taken up residence. He was surprised that she'd miss anything.
"Well, there's the flag that smells of cordite and you, the photos, your Ranger's certificate..."
The penny dropped and he grinned as he realised he'd been set up "Santos!" he growled out.
"Don't go bringing your half brother into this..."
"You know he's my half brother?" Ranger said incredulously. Boy, the man had been busy while he'd been away.
"Yeah, and that you have a twin you don't get on with. Anything else? Oh yeah, Baron is your cousin and you have two sisters Celia and Consuela." She sighed and plopped herself down on the couch.
"I get that you need your privacy, but in that case why suggest I come here and risk me finding out about you? I've learned more about you in the past three days than you've told me in the last four years."
Ranger just sat there, unable to say a word, he sensed she was on a roll and for once he was powerless to stop her.
Steph took his silence as consent to continue but part of her knew she wouldn't have been able to stop, even if she'd wanted to. She stood up and began to pace as she vented her feelings. "But what I don't understand is why now? I mean, I was all set to marry Joe less than two week's ago. I've always wondered about us but your 'no relationship, condom-not-ring deal' always made me think you wanted nothing more than friendship."
She stopped, mid flow and just stood in the middle of the room again, looking down at him, her face filled with bewilderment and frustration. "I've cared very deeply about you for so long and never thought you felt even slightly the same. But now? I'm in the Batcave and you'd always said the Batcave was forever so I just don't understand any more, I'm so confused."
She started pacing again "Then two days ago I saw something and my world fell apart again. Here I was in the Batcave, with all that it could promise me and I thought I saw you with another woman. I lost it big time, Ranger! I was so quick to believe the worst. That you had lied to me. That you had a wife and a whole other life without me! What does that say? Why can't I seem to understand?"
"Because I don't tell you enough personal stuff? And I keep giving you mixed messages?" He replied, amusement flickering across his face.
"No! It means that I don't think I deserve you! You have spent the last God-knows how long protecting me, guiding me and giving me cars and Merry Men to break and yet I still can't bring myself to believe that you care for me."
She started running her hand through his hair absentmindedly and Ranger nearly lost it, he was all set to cart her off to his bed and show her just how much she meant to me when she whispered "I just don't how you can still have any faith in me." Which stopped him in his tracks.
He grabbed the first part of her he could reach, her legs, and pulled her towards him as he gathered his thoughts. Steph waited nervously, her heart pounding somewhere near her stomach so that the butterflies could use the rhythm to dance to, her hands gently resting on his shoulders as he rested his forehead just above her knees.
"Babe. I know I've always told you the truth, but sometimes I've omitted to fill in the gaps so the truth gets a bit distorted, no wonder you thought Leo was me." He nuzzled her leg playfully and sniffed in her eau de Bombshell deeply before continuing. "But I love you. Probably have for a long time, but my life has not always been my own and I didn't want you to be a widow or single parent because I was in the wind... I couldn't bear to think about the pain you would have to go through. Too many of my brothers in arms have left behind shattered families and believe me when I say I wouldn't wish it on any survivor. Well OK, maybe one or two..." he chuckled at his little joke before becoming serious again.
"I know I don't use words but actions to live my life – from how I feel to how I run my business, but with you the only way I could handle our connection was to do the one thing I am good at, actions. These days my resources are often deployed to protect you before I've even been aware that you needed my help. My team have always known my feelings for you, even when I didn't.
"Watching you walk down that aisle was the hardest thing I have ever had to do and believe me when I tell you I've had my fair share of difficult situations to deal with. But I will never, ever let you go again. I love you too much."
He looked up to see tears shining in her eyes "Babe. This time, let me use actions to show you my feelings, ok?"
She nodded tentatively as he shifted his position so that he was on his knees on the floor then he gently tugged her down next to him so that they were facing each other. Reaching into his pant's pocket he pulled out a small box.
"Marry me." He said simply as he opened the lid.