Sensitive subject matter... read at your own discretion. Also.. SMUT warning at the end of the chapter.

Tank and Ranger headed out with two of the new guys around 6. That gave me 4 hours to run home, grab a few things, and cuff myself to Rangers bed. Yes, I was actually going to do it. It anyone else had asked me, and Morelli had, my answer would have been no. But I trust Ranger more than I've ever trusted another person and, honestly, it was exciting to play into one of his fantasies.

When I pulled into my parking lot I spotted Joe's truck and groaned. Why today? First my mother and now Joe. Deciding it was best to play it safe I made sure the panic button Ranger had given me was in my pocket and headed up the stairs. I had expected him to be waiting in my apartment; instead he was leaning against the wall opposite my door, arms crossed over his chest.

"What's up Joe?" Leaning against my door I mimicked his position. He stared at me for a few minutes before answering.

"You can't invite an old friend in?"

"After the way you've been acting lately, no."

He pushed away from the wall and stood, toe to toe with me, "Open the door Stephanie. We have things to discuss."

He was right. We did have things to discuss, but I wasn't about to do it here and now. I could smell alcohol on his breath and it reminded me of what happened the last time he was in my apartment. Hiding the fear I felt I met his glare, "I'd like to discuss a few things with you as well Joe. But we aren't doing it here. Come by the office tomorrow and I'd be happy to hash all this out with you." I waved him away and turned to unlock my door.

In hindsight it probably wasn't the best idea to turn my back on him. He tore the keys out of my hand with his right and grabbed me around the waist with his left, effectively pinning me where I was. "If you think for one minute I'm going to have Ranger looking over my shoulder when I say what I have to say to you, you are sadly mistaken." He had unlocked my door at this point and pushed me in. I caught myself on the wall to keep from falling.

Every instinct in my body told me to get out. He wasn't here to discuss anything and for the first time I was truly scared of Joe. Sure, the night he stumbled in drunk he had frightened me, but I didn't actually think he would ever hurt me. The look in his eyes said different.

Maybe if I play along everything will be okay. "Okay Joe, your right. Let's go sit down and talk about this." I started to walk into the living room but he caught my arm, throwing me back into the wall. My head hit the corner and I felt a sharp pain in my shoulder.

"No we do this my way." Pushing me into my room he threw me onto my bed. He paced back and forth, hands on hips, mumbling to himself. I took a moment to look around the room and found it had been ransacked. Clothes were all over the floor; my night stand had been turned over, the contents emptied onto the floor. Had Joe done this? I glanced into the bathroom and saw a similar mess. What was he looking for?

Letting my Italian temper get the best of me I sat up and narrowed my eyes at him, "Did you go through my stuff?"

He stopped pacing and turned to me, he eyes cold and hateful. "I got bored waiting for you to come home the last couple of weeks." He'd been waiting for me for weeks? Maybe Ranger was right and I should have called and filed a restraining against him. He crept over to the bed and loomed over me. "You've been staying with him haven't you?"

As good of a liar as I used to be, I just couldn't come up with something believable so I just nodded. "You fucking him?" He crawled onto the bed and I tried to scoot back, to get out from underneath him but he was a lot bigger than me and easily held me where I was. "You think you can replace the baby you killed with one of his?" Is that what he was so mad about? He thought I was trying to have a baby with Ranger?

"No, Joe… that's not how it is. I swear.." His hand clamped over my mouth.

"Don't lie to me Stephanie." There was pure fury in his eyes. "You never wanted me, or my baby. It was always him. He always swooped in to save you. Don't think I didn't see the look in your eyes when your batman" he spit the name, "came to your rescue. Don't think I didn't know about all the times he would pull you into the alley and steal kisses from you. I saw Stephanie."

He had me pinned with his hips, one of his hands covering my mouth, the other ripping at my jeans. Terror flashed through me when I realized what he was doing and I tried to kick at him only making him laugh. He had my jeans unzipped and was working them down my thighs when I remembered the panic button. In a last chance effort I threw my arm down, making it look like I was trying to pull them back up. Instead I pushed the button and prayed Ranger still had the alarm activated on his end.

It was difficult to breath with his hand over my mouth and I tried to move my head gasping for air. My heart was flying and I could feel tears running down my face. "I can't breathe" I mumbled, hoping he could understand me. My pants were lying on the floor and he tore my shirt exposing my stomach and bra. "I can't breathe!" I screamed and frantically whipped my head back and forth.

He stopped undressing me, "If I move my hand I don't want to hear one sound from you." His threat was deadly and I nodded my understanding. When he moved his hand I gasped for hair, sucking as much down as quickly as I could. He was staring at my breasts, "You never wore this fancy shit for me either."

I let out a scream when he reached into his pocket and flung open a knife. "I told you to shut up." He growled at me. He wasn't going to cut me was he? He was working it under my bra and with a jerk of his wrist sliced through the material. He slid the point down my abdomen until he reached my panties "Cute," he said before cutting those off as well. "Do I need to show you what else this knife can do if you try to fight me on this?"

I shook my head, not able to find any words. "Do you want to know why I'm doing this Steph?" The anger seemed to seep out of his eyes for a second and I saw a flash of pain. "I wanted that baby so bad. You have no idea how broken I was when they said you lost the baby." He was kneeling over me, still pinning my hips to the bed while he worked the buckle on his pants. Silently I prayed I had hit the panic button. What if I didn't push hard enough? Please Ranger, please still have the alarm hooked up. He kicked his pants to the floor and stared down at me. "We're going to make another baby Stephanie."

I closed my eyes not wanting to hear or feel what was about to happen when the unmistakable sound a gun went off, and Joe fell onto me, blood smearing my body. I screamed and pushed at him, trying to get out from underneath his weight.

A dark arm pulled him off me and his weight was replaced with a blanket. "Get him out of here!" Ranger barked. Relief flooded through me quickly followed by embarrassment. I didn't want anyone to see me this way, especially not Ranger.

"Stephanie…" He walked towards me but I put my hand up, stopping him a few steps from the bed.

"I need a minute to myself please." I whispered. I could see that I had hurt him and he slid his blank face into place before nodding and closing my bedroom door behind him.

RPOV

She needs a minute to herself? Fine, I can give her a minute while I find that bastard and beat the rest of his life out of him. When her panic alarm went off I knew it was Morelli causing trouble. We had just dropped the FTA off at the police station and raced over to her apartment.

Tank and I took the front entrance and I had the new guys go through the back. I got to the door first, stomach sinking when it was unlocked. The sight before me made me sick. Morelli was running a knife down her stomach and cutting through Stephanie's panties, leaving her completely exposed. I saw red when he started to undo his pants. I had my gun in my hand and shot him just as I heard him say he was going to make another baby with her. Over my dead body you piece of shit.

Tank had Morelli secured to a kitchen chair, blood seeping out of his arm. Without acknowledging anyone I walked right up to him and introduced my fist to his face. The next was to his bullet wound and he let out a ragged scream that I cut off with another jab to his mouth. "You stupid motherfucker!" I screamed at him, letting my left hook connect with his side making him slide out of the chair. Tank grabbed him under the arms and pulled him back up, holding him in place this time.

Our eyes met and I saw the same pain and anger reflected in my best friends eyes that I knew were in mine. He silently asked me for permission to release some of his aggression as well and I nodded walking back over to Stephanie's door. I could hear her crying and it broke my heart. What was I supposed to do? She asked for her privacy but I just wanted to hold her and let her know it was all okay now.

I could hear the cops grunts and moans as Tanks fist met his body over and over again. It was either comfort Steph or kill the cop. I was only capable of two emotions at this moment, love or hate, and hate was winning. I turned back around and pulled my knife out of my boot. He wanted to play with knives I could play back. The image of him running the knife down her body enraged me and I pushed Tank out of the way slicing Morelli's shirt down the middle. "Do you think its fun to terrorize women with knives?" I pushed the point into his chest causing blood to trickle out.

"I wasn't going to hurt her." He stammered.

"You don't think raping her at knife point would hurt her?" I locked my hand around his throat, cutting off his airway. "You don't think tearing her clothes off her hurt her?" For years I worked special assignments for the army, sometimes requiring me to use physical means to interrogate. I was taught and trained to always be in control, no matter the circumstance. Never in all the years of my employment have I lost control, until tonight. "You don't think everything you did to her before tonight hurt her?" His face was turning purple underneath the black and blue bruises and I didn't care. I wanted to watch, to feel his life leave him.

Derrik, one of my new guys had been watching out the window and broke my tirade when he said, "Cops just pulled up. Ambulance as well."

He choked for air as I released him. As much as I wanted to finish this, there was no way anyone was getting to Stephanie before me. "Take him in the hall. Try to keep everyone out of the apartment until Steph is ready to talk." Three heads nodded at me and I walked back to her door, knocking before letting myself in.

She was sitting against the wall, opposite her bed, dressed in black sweats and a Rangeman sweatshirt. "Quierda, " I spoke softly as not to scare her, "let me hold you." She nodded and I slid down next to her, wrapping my arms around her shaking form.

"I didn't think the panic button was working." She sobbed. "And then he pulled out the knife. I didn't know what he was going to do Ranger. I was so scared!"

"I know amante." I rubbed her back trying to sooth her. "He can't hurt you anymore." We sat like that for a few minutes. I could hear Tank telling the police what had happened and then there was a knock on her bedroom door.

"Stephanie, is Eddie. I need to speak to you honey. Can I come in?" Eddie was married to one of Stephanie's cousins and I knew he was also a good friend of hers. "Steph."

I reached out and opened the door, keeping one arm around her so she stayed curled into my side. Eddie appraised us for a minute before scanning the bedroom, no doubt taking in the destruction and blood.

"Did Joe do this?" He asked.

Stephanie cleared her throat, "Yeah. He said he had been waiting for me to come home for weeks and got bored." She motioned to the mess around us. It infuriated me all over again knowing he had been waiting for her for some time now. I should have had a man following him.

"One of Ranger's guys said when they came in he was cutting off your clothes, is this true?" She nodded and picked at a nonexistent string on her sweatshirt. Eddies voice was compassionate and soft with his next question, "Did he rape you?"

She jerked her head up, "No. He was going to but… Ranger showed up." I saw fury flash across her friends face before he turned to me.

"You shot him?"

"Yes."

"And the cuts and bruises to his body?"

I gave a curt nod. There was a chance I could be arrested for what I did and I hugged Stephanie tighter to me, not wanting to have to leave her alone.

Eddie smiled at me, "Good." He looked back to Steph, "The ambulance is taking Joe to the hospital before he gets booked. I'm assuming you'll be pressing charges?"

"Yes."

He sighed, "That's a good call Steph. The captain is on his way to the hospital as we speak to let him know the charges. So far we have breaking and entering, destruction of personal property, assault, and attempted rape. Is there anything else I should know about?"

She scoffed, "I think that about covers it."

"Manoso? Anything else you can think of?"

"I want to make sure there is a restraining order put on him in case he gets out on bail. I don't want him near Stephanie, or my business." I knew this was the best way to keep him away from Stephanie but this was also the only way to ensure I didn't kill him.

"Consider it done." He turned to leave but stopped in the doorway, "I'll need both of you to come down to the station to make an official statement. Not tonight, take care of her. But in the next couple of days."

We sat in silence for a few more minutes before Stephanie finally spoke up. "Can you take me home Ranger? I'd really like to take a hot bath." It made me smile to have her call my apartment home.

"Absolutely babe. Is there anything you want to take with you?"

We both looked around her bedroom. Clothes, make-up, and papers were scattered all over the floor. "I wouldn't even know where to start looking."

I'd have a couple of my guys come clean her place up. Maybe just pack up everything and move her out completely. There really wasn't a reason for her to have an apartment anymore anyway, but I'd need to talk to her about it first. If she insisted on keeping it then we were adding a lot more security than an extra deadbolt. "We can go shopping for whatever you need tomorrow if you want."

I stood up and held out my hand to help her up. She took it and smiled at me as she stood, "You'd go shopping with me?" There was a time when I would have cringed at a question like that. But tonight I was willing to do anything for her.

"Anywhere you want Steph." We stepped out into the hallway where Tank was waiting for us.

"I had the guys follow the ambulance to the hospital. They have strict orders to follow Morelli until he is in jail." Good call, I thought. Tank never missed a beat; it was why I always trusted him to run things in my absence. I saw him reach out to Steph and she threw her arms around his neck as he picked her up. "You okay Beautiful?" She nodded as he set her back on her feet.

We arrived at Hayward just after midnight. On the drive over Stephanie's stomach called out for food and I made a stop at McDonald's. She inhaled her food and by the time we reached the garage had finished off two cheeseburgers, a large fry, and a coke.

While she was taking a bath I called the hospital to check on Morelli. He had a flesh wound from the bullet, only needing a few stitches. They bandaged up a few cuts on his face and the one on his chest from my knife before he was escorted back to the police station. My next call was to the captain who assured me Joe would be held until the morning when a judge would decide on bail. The last call I made was to Vinnie's voicemail letting him know if he bail Joe out of jail he would be joining me in the ring.

I stripped out of my clothes wanting to take a shower and stepped into the bathroom. Stephanie had her head rested on the edge of the tub, eyes closed. She looked like an angel and I reached out to tuck her hair behind her ear. Her blue eyes met mine and she patted the water, motioning me to join her. No asking me twice. I climbed in behind her and pulled her up against my chest, placing a kiss to her temple.

I felt her relax into me and said a silent prayer to God that she was safe and in my arms. "Thank you for saving me, again."

"I'm sorry I didn't get their sooner." I squeezed her closer to me and rested my chin on her shoulder. "Please move in with me." I felt her tense and quickly continued, "You don't have to, I know you like having your own space, and I'm not asking you because I don't think you can take care of yourself." I felt her relax again. "I love having you around, hearing you call this your home. Just think about it Hermosa."

She nodded and turned her head so our lips were almost touching. One small movement and she touched her mouth to mine passionately kissing me. She stood, pulling me to my feet. "Take me to bed, please."

Still wet from the bath I picked her up and carried her to our bed. Her hands were tangled in my hair, tongue exploring my mouth. She lay back pulling me on top of her. "Make love to me Ranger. I want to erase everything that happened tonight."

Our lips met again and I nudged her legs apart pressing at her entrance. I slid into her and set a slow but steady pace. In the past I would worship her body with my mouth but tonight was different. Tonight our mouths stayed locked together, eyes boring into the others. "Te quiero con todo mi corazón." (I love you with all my heart).

We moved together in a way I didn't know was possible. It wasn't just physical, I could feel our emotional connection envelop us and tears formed in my eyes. This was the first time I had ever made love to a woman and I couldn't control the reaction my body was having. Hiding my eyes I kissed my way down her neck, over her collarbone, and down to her breast.

Instead of pinching and sucking, I licked and kissed at her hard peaks inciting soft moans from her lips. She was perfect and I wanted to spend the rest of my life pleasing her. My hips continued to rock into her and when she whispered for me to go faster I obliged letting all of my love pour into my movement. I kissed my way back up her neck and I sucked her soft lips into my mouth.

We were breathing hard and I could feel her walls tightening around me. "No yet Quierda. I want this to last longer." I slowed down so I was barely moving inside her. We let our tongues dance with each other until she was begging me for more.

She pulled at my hair releasing a groan and sucked at the spot between my neck and shoulder. "Please Ranger, I want us to cum together."

I snaked my arms around her hips, lifting them and resumed gliding in and out of her. My balls tightened and I knew I was close. Not wanting to ruin the passion by pounding into her I gently rubbed at her clit. "Oh god… oh god… oh god…" she moaned driving me crazy.

As soon as her walls clenched around me I was done for. "Babe.." I growled spilling inside her, her walls milking me. There were no words to describe how it felt. Her mouth found mine and we caressed each other until our hearts slowed down. Rolling so she was lying on top of me I threw the blankets over us.

Her breathing evened out and I knew she had fallen asleep. I spent a few minutes stroking her back before nuzzling into her hair and giving into slumber as well.