I use them for fun and not for profit.

Chapter 19

Ranger's office was dark. Stephanie didn't know what she had expected. He was probably upstairs in his bed. He couldn't have had much sleep last night returning on the red-eye and she doubted he'd had any the night before. She passed by his office and entered hers, depositing her purse in the bottom drawer of her desk as she sat down to check her email. Her inbox was littered with a dozen or more new emails, but one drew her attention. She immediately clicked on the one with the blinking exclamation point beside it. It was sent with high importance and it was from Tank.

As the email opened she closed her eyes. What now? Did Ranger not make it back from Miami? She'd used up a year's worth of patience waiting for this to happen, and the thing was the longer they waited the more sure she was she'd made a terrible mistake in thinking she could handle a short term physical relationship with Ranger. Slowly she opened one eye and sighed in relief. A staff meeting, in the conference room, starting five minutes ago.

She hurried from her office and made her way down the short hall. She slipped inside unnoticed as a group of men were clustered at the other end of the long conference table. Ranger was absent. She noted that immediately. Tank was at the head of the table looking at the group of men. He looked up and acknowledged her with a slight nod.

"I'll take next Monday," Lester said to the other men.

"Damn," Bobby said, "Monday would work better for me. Can't you sign up for Tuesday, Santos?"

"No," Lester said, punching Bobby on the arm. "I don't want your sloppy seconds."

"What's going on?" Stephanie asked. "Do I need to sign up for something?" The room silenced.

"Everybody, sit down," Tank said. "I've got a couple of things Ranger wants me to go over." Stephanie and the men did as he instructed. The group consisted of Lester, Bobby, Stephanie, Hal, Cal, and Vince. Tank picked up the sheet of paper the men had been crowding around.

"As most of you know, Rock will be joining RangeMan full time. He was introduced as a new employee over a week ago, but he was working undercover. That op is over and so is his tenure with the DEA. Ranger wants him to work a full three months as a BEA and then he will move him to the PI sector. It is the plan for him to eventually head up RangeMan PI, as he has an extensive background in information gathering for the DEA. When he makes the transition into the investigation side he will work closely with Stephanie."

One by one, the faces of the men turned toward her. This shouldn't have been surprising news for any of them. She was head of research and the two departments would be closely intertwined. She had considered getting a PI license and hoped maybe she could do some field work, although her recent experience might have her rethinking that.

"Are you okay with this, Stephanie?" Tank asked. "Ranger indicated if you had major objections he would reconsider his offer to Rock. He wants to make sure everyone here is on the same page."

"I'm fine with it," she said.

"Give me that sheet," Lester said, pointing at the paper Tank was still holding. "I'm signing up twice. Rock's gonna know he can't put Beautiful in danger."

"What?" Stephanie was confused. "What is that paper?"

"It's a list," Tank said. "Rock wasn't forthcoming about all the aspects of his op. He forgot to mention his brother was a dead-ringer for Ranger. Ranger wants to give him a second chance, but he has to be taught a lesson. He put you and Julie in danger. You needed to know Naldo was Ranger's doppelganger."

"And the list is for teaching him a lesson?" she asked. She didn't know why she'd needed to know about Naldo. She thought the list probably had to do with teaching Rock a lesson about full disclosure. She shouldn't have figured into the picture at all.

"Yes," Lester, Bobby and Tank spoke in unison. She stood and walked down to Tank and before he could react she grabbed the sheet of paper from his hand.

"This is a sign-up sheet to spar with Rock!" She looked at the paper and saw that every day for the next two weeks was listed on one side of the page. Next to it were signatures of men signing up to, presumably, teach Rock a lesson.

"This is crazy," Stephanie said. "You can't sign up for a chance to take Rock to the mats. He could be hurt."

"I might be, but I might do some damage as well." Stephanie spun to see Rock, dressed in RangeMan black standing in the doorway.

"So you know about this?" she asked him shaking the somewhat crumpled paper in her fist.

"Yes," Rock said. "I do. I discussed it with Ranger and I agreed to it. I purposefully kept Naldo's appearance from people here because I was afraid it would compromise my, uh, investigation. I might be able to explain it better in private, Angel. Can I talk to you about it in your office?" He looked toward Tank and Tank nodded.

"Are you dismissing me from this meeting, Tank?" Stephanie asked. The color in her cheeks was high and she knew the men were surprised at her reaction.

"Yes," he said. "I think Rock has something he needs to say to you."

Stephanie turned and walked from the room not looking to see if Rock followed her. She had to stop and slow her breathing. She was getting herself so worked up she was ready to burst into tears and that wouldn't do. She dropped into her desk chair and watched Rock walk through her door.

"Shut the door, please," she said to him. She pointed at the chair across from her. "Sit and give me a minute." He did as she said and she made an effort to understand why she was so angry. After a minute of silence she looked up to see Rock staring at her with concern in his eyes.

"If I understand this correctly, the guys of RangeMan are signing up to take their turns beating you up because you didn't come clean and could have caused people to be injured. Is that right?"

"Yes," he said. "I agreed to it. It's necessary if I want the men to trust me. I need to be part of the team. And you are overlooking one thing. I'm not going to be injured. I can give as good as I get."

"Ha! You've obviously never sparred with Tank."

"Angel, I want to work here, and I want to work closely with you. If that's going to happen the air has to be cleared."

"And you think making yourself available to have the crap beat out of you is the solution?"

"I do, and so does Ranger."

"It's a Neanderthal, macho, barbaric thing to do," Stephanie said, "but my objection isn't because of those reasons. It's because Lester, Bobby and everyone else on this list have some half-baked chivalrous idea they're protecting my honor. I can protect my own honor."

"There is a reason I didn't tell anyone that Naldo was Ranger's double. I wanted him dead. I've researched it to the best of my ability. Naldo didn't just pick Trenton randomly, I'm sure of it, but I can't find any evidence he even knew of Ranger's existence. He knew I was nearby in Newark and he wanted to bring me into his life…because he wanted me dead. I thought if I told people about the resemblance it would get in the way of my killing him, and I, well…" His voice trailed off. She knew what he had been going to say. He killed his brother. Ranger knew, Lester knew, and probably Tank. Morelli had suspicions.

"Did you think his resemblance would keep RangeMan from letting you go undercover?" Stephanie asked.

"I thought it was a possibility. I wasn't prepared to jeopardize my plans, so I didn't tell people." He stood, "I need to get back downstairs. I'm a full time BEA now and Howdy and I have several skips to go after. I'm glad, Angel, that you got away from Naldo. I couldn't live with myself if he'd hurt you."

"And that brings us back to this damn list," she said. "I need to talk to Tank." They walked from her office together, Rock turning toward the stairs as she made her way back to the conference room.

Tank was still seated at the head of the table, but several of the men had left. The meeting had obviously broken up after her departure. He looked up at her questioningly.

"Where's Ranger?" she asked.

"Upstairs. He'd been up for almost forty-eight hours by the time he got back from Miami. He's sleeping in this morning."

"Not for much longer," she said. She turned and headed toward the stairs and with each step her temper grew. When she stood in front of his door she realized she had no key-fob. She rapped on the door and stood back to wait. Ranger was going to get a piece of her mind. His stupid punishment for Rock had undone years of effort on her part to get the men to treat her as an equal. He was going to pay.

There was no sound from the other side of the door. Stephanie doubled up her fist and turned her hand sideways to pound on the door with the heel of her hand. There was still no sound. She was turning to go down and retrieve her keys when the door opened and she swung around to face Ranger.

He was wearing only silk boxers. His hair was mussed and there were dark circles under his eyes. He had a way past five o'clock shadow and she forgot why she was there. Her eyes met his briefly and then dropped taking in the beautiful velvety skin. She slid her gaze over the ripples of his abdomen, past the ridge of his obliques, which were bisected by a trail of dark silky hair which disappeared beneath the low slung waistband of his boxers. She swallowed to keep her heart from jumping from her throat, where it was pulsing haphazardly, as her gaze continued downward to the well-muscled thighs showing beneath his boxers, all the way down to his feet.

His beautiful feet, with beautiful toes, ten beautiful toes to be exact. And then she remembered why she was there.

Stephanie pulled her gaze back to his face. There was the beginning of a smirk. He was enjoying her perusal of his body.

"Babe."

"Don't. Babe. Me." Her temper was back, all the sparks which had shot off like random fireworks had reconvened into one large bonfire, and she thought smoke might be coming from her ears. She waved the sheet of paper in front of him. "Where's the sheet for men to spar with me?" she asked.

She wasn't sure if it was due to lack of sleep, or if he was just ignoring her, but he remained motionless. She smacked him open-handed on the shoulder in an attempt to make him step back from the door. He was impervious. She hit him again, this time with a little more force. And then he sighed. Her temper bubbled over.

She didn't make a move, but her knee itched to rise. "Don't." His one-word warning stopped her thought of doing him any real harm. He reached out and pulled her into the foyer and swung the door shut behind her.

"You're upset," he said. "Why?"

"Because of this!" She thrust the sign-up list in front of him. He took the sheet of paper from her hand and looked at it briefly.

"This is none of your concern, Stephanie."

"The hell it isn't." She was standing in the foyer face to face with a nearly naked Ranger. She hadn't thought temper would be her primary emotion. She took a momentary mental time-out. Was she inventing this temper fit as a way to put distance between her and Ranger? Hell no! She was pissed and it was time he heard why.

"Ranger, how can you condone this? You're letting your men bully and beat up a new employee because of some misconceived idea that he put me in danger?"

"Many of the men have protective feelings regarding you. If I do nothing they will take out their feelings of anger toward Rock in a way that's…less healthy. This way they have the opportunity to face him in a controlled environment and it will ensure he is accepted as one of the team."

"That's asinine."

"It's not, and I repeat, it's not your concern."

"Fine," she spat. "Then where's my sign-up sheet? I disobeyed orders. I had been officially removed as Rock's partner. You were partnering with Rock until Montara was caught. I acted in a way that was counter-productive and I placed Julie in jeopardy…unintentionally, but I did it anyway."

"I believe you placed yourself in danger, specifically to protect Julie. I…appreciate that. I also think this is my company, my decision, and not your concern."

"You can't dismiss what I did so easily," Stephanie insisted.

"I can, but if you insist on taking the blame for something that wasn't your fault I'll have Tank put you on report and place a copy in your permanent file. I'm not going to encourage the men to take you to the mats."

"Ranger, this is important, and you're not taking it seriously. I need to be treated just like everyone else."

"No, you don't. You need to be treated equally, but not the same, because you are not the same. You are…unique." He was staring at her in a way that made her forget everything but his eyes. And when she looked at his eyes she saw the fatigue lingering there.

Her anger was gone, replaced by an unsettled feeling. "I should go," she said. "You're tired. You should go back to bed."

"I am going back to bed," he said, "but not alone." He reached out toward her and she let him pull her into his arms.

His kiss was tentative, testing, and she wondered if he was having second thoughts despite what he'd said about not going to bed alone. She let his mouth cover hers and when his tongue probed, she pulled back instead of letting him enter. "Don't you think we should talk first?" she asked.

He swung her up in his arms and started walking toward the bedroom. "No, I don't think we should talk at all." She wrapped her arms around his neck and turned her face into his chest. She knew they were heading to his bed, but she had no idea what direction they were headed in afterward and she decided just to give herself up to the moment. It was something she had been waiting for ever since she knew it was over with Joe. It was something she'd hoped for and despaired of ever happening. They would talk, eventually.

Ranger set her on her feet next to the bed and began undressing her, calmly and methodically. When she was left in nothing but her bra and panties she reached out her hand to stop him. "My turn," she said and she placed her hands on the waistband of his boxers which were straining over an erection she wanted to see. She tugged the silk fabric over his hips and let it puddle on the floor and she stared at him for long moments. He was beautiful. No other word did him justice. As he stepped out of his boxers he reached out to do the same for her.

"Naldo wasn't really your mirror image," she said. He laughed and she let her eyes move up from where they'd been focused.

"So you said," he replied. He leaned in to nuzzle her neck while his hands unclasped her bra. They were both naked and Ranger turned to pull her down onto the bed with him, but she resisted. He raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"There's something I want to do," she said.

"Anything," he said.

"When I came into your bedroom the day I had the report on Rock I saw this bed, and the curtains. I imagined us in this bed, with the curtains closed. The world was far away and it was just us and…"

Ranger walked to the far side of the bed and pulled the draperies until they met in the middle. He came back to Stephanie's side and did the same. He held the curtains open slightly. "Climb in," he said and she did.

It was like the first time. Fast, frenzied, and no time for finesse. She was as ready for him as he was for her. He rolled on top of her and slid into her with no foreplay, no warning, and she arched to meet him. His control was nonexistent and when he called her name in the throes of his climax she slipped over the edge of her own abyss.

Later, when they had recovered, he nuzzled his lips against her neck. "What about all day?" he asked.

"All day?"

"Yes. I said I was good for all night, but it's a long way 'til sunset. Is all day okay?" She laughed and rolled over on top of him. They stayed in their private cocoon all day, leaving only when it was absolutely necessary to do so and then they climbed back inside the curtains for more. Finally, they slept.

It was late in the afternoon when Ranger woke her with a gentle shake. "Go downstairs," he told her. "Get dressed and I'll take you to Jerome's for dinner."

"You want to go out for dinner?" she asked.

"I do. I want to sit across a table from you and remember this afternoon. I want to dance with you and anticipate the night."

"That sounds romantic," she said.

"I'm a romantic kind of guy."

"Not normally."

"It's my new normal. I want to go out to dinner with you, dance with you and come home and make love to you, all night. It's what people in relationships do."

She was still for moment, wanting to ask, but afraid of the answer. "Are we in a relationship, Ranger?"

"We've been in one since we first met. You said transitional, Babe, and we're transitioning."

Her heart fell and it showed in her eyes. He swooped his head low and kissed her. "We're transitional, Babe. Not me. We are transitioning into lovers. I won't be used to prime your pump for other men. There will be no other men. Just me." He wrapped his arms tightly around her and they lay together unspeaking for a few moments.

"Any questions?" he said softly into her ear.

"Yes. Does Jerome's have a nice dessert menu?"