Nine months later…

I'd been gone for close to a month - the details of my whereabouts were highly classified – but I was somewhere a place to shower had been non-existent and even though I'd cleaned up before I got on the plane to come home, the first thing I wanted to do was spend a great deal of time with my multiple shower heads and a bottle of Bvlgari. Actually, the first thing I wanted to do was see Stephanie, but I couldn't count on her being there, just waiting around for me to arrive – especially since she didn't even know I was coming home – Highly classified, as I said. Or as Steph liked to say – super secret spy shit.

I pulled into the Rangeman garage and headed to my apartment. I should have stopped on five to check in but the control room would already have picked me up on the cameras as soon as I hit the gate so I took the elevator right to seven. I let myself in and stopped dead in the entryway.

Something was different. A lot of somethings. My first instinct was to pull my gun and I actually reached for it before shaking my head. My brain was obviously still a little fried from lack of sleep because there was no way anyone could have broken in to lie in wait for me. I dropped my bag next to the sideboard and went to investigate.

The first thing I noticed was Stephanie's rat spinning on his wheel in the cage sitting on my kitchen counter. He stopped running when he spotted me and then raced into his soup can when I tapped a greeting on the glass. Twitchy little thing. I looked around the kitchen and saw some dishes in the sink and a half full bottle of water sitting on the counter. Curious. Apparently Ella hadn't been in to clean yet. I opened a few cupboards and found some things that normally would never appear in my kitchen. A box of Captain Crunch cereal, an entire case of TastyKakes, a jar of peanut butter and a nearly empty package of Oreo cookies.

I took a look in the living room before heading to the bedroom and saw a pair of tennis shoes that were way too small to be mine and a pair of four inch, black stiletto heels that definitely weren't mine. The latest issue of Cosmo was sitting on my coffee table and a blue hockey sweatshirt was draped over the back of my chair. Very curious.

I made my way into the bedroom. I knew I wasn't operating at a fully functional level yet, so I couldn't be sure, but it appeared Stephanie had been staying at my apartment in my absence. The only bad thought I had about that was she wasn't in my bed. I would have given anything to walk in there right then and find her in my bed. Preferably naked in my bed. However, it was close to ten in the morning so she was probably out rounding up FTA's.

I stepped into the bathroom and was nearly brought to my knees by the gentle scent of her perfume. Jesus, I loved that smell. Apparently my dick did too because it suddenly felt like granite behind my zipper. The counter in the dressing room was covered with make-up and lotions and several other things I didn't have the energy to define and I didn't really care because this seemed like way more items than necessary for spending a few nights. For the final test I entered my walk-in closet. I couldn't stop the smile I felt stretching my face.

Stephanie had moved in.

I needed to see her and the sooner the better. I took a quick shower and dressed in my usual black on black on black and headed out. I stopped on five to check the control room for her location and came face to face with Tank when I stepped out of the stairwell.

I knew he was surprised to see me – even he didn't know where I'd been this time – but all I got was a slightly raised eyebrow.

"When did you get back?" He asked.

"Just now."

"Any new bullet holes?"

I thought about a very close call and rubbed at my chest where I'd almost taken a few rounds. "I got lucky this time."

"I doubt luck had anything to do with it. I have some things that need your attention since you're here."

I looked at my watch and was calculating how much I was willing to give him when he said, "She's at Vinnie's as of five minutes ago. Make some time for me later."

I grinned at him and I think he almost rolled his eyes. I hit the stairs to the garage practically at a run and took the Turbo to the bonds office.

Happy's truck was parked right in front and I eased into the empty space behind it. I was glad to see she was still allowing him to shadow her. I locked the car and headed in.

Lula was standing in front of the filing cabinets and holding a doughnut in one hand while her other one was planted firmly on her jutted out hip. She was saying something to Connie who was sitting at her desk applying a fresh coat of nail polish. Happy was lounging on the couch flipping through Guns and Ammo magazine and Stephanie had one butt cheek propped on the edge of Connie's desk while she read a new file. Everyone but Happy looked up when I walked in – he had been watching when I pulled up and had gone back to his magazine when he knew it was me.

Steph was the only one I cared about and I zeroed in on her immediately, crossing the distance between us in three long strides. She was wearing her standard uniform of cat boots, blue jeans and a stretchy t-shirt and she was smiling at me. When I was within range, I yanked her to me by an arm and covered her mouth with mine, kissing her long and slow and deep. Her arms snaked around my waist and up under my t-shirt where the touch of her skin to mine sent tingles of electricity out every nerve ending including the one currently pressed against her pelvis. I squeezed her tighter to me so she could feel exactly what she was doing to me. A soft moan escaped her throat and only Lula's voice penetrating the lust induced fog I'd created got me to break away from her.

"Damn that's sexy. Is my shirt still on?" She patted at her spandex tube top with the hand not clutched around a doughnut. "That was so hot I thought my clothes might have melted right off."

Connie was too busy fanning herself with a folder to respond and Happy had disappeared into the bathroom.

"It seems like you missed me," Steph said, tilting her head up to look in my eyes.

"Like crazy, Babe."

"Awwwww – that was some sweet shit right there, Batman," Lula said while Connie nodded her head in agreement and I was over having an audience. I grabbed Stephanie's hand and tugged her outside.

"I bet they're gonna get naked in his car," I heard Lula say as the door closed behind us and I'll admit the thought crossed my mind. I nudged Stephanie into the alley between the buildings and pinned her to the wall with my body. I touched my lips briefly to hers again, ran my hands through her hair and that's when I noticed the dark circles under her eyes and the decidedly death warmed over pallor of her complexion.

"What's wrong?"I asked brushing my thumbs over the purple bruises.

"Nothing."

"Steph…"

She sighed softly and slid her hands around my waist. She pressed her face into my chest and inhaled a slow breath. "You smell great," she said trying to dodge my question again.

"What's wrong?" I repeated, this time with a little more demand in my tone.

"It's nothing, really," she said and I pulled back to look at her, giving my best 'stop bullshitting me' face.

She sighed again. "I haven't been sleeping well and I've had some stomach issues. Probably too many TaskyKakes."

"I did notice the unusual contents of my kitchen. Have you let Ella cook for you at all?"

"No. I didn't want to bother her and you're her boss, not me."

"So you make yourself sick on junk food, instead?"

"Ranger." She rolled her eyes and poked me in the chest. "You've been gone for a month, is my junk food addiction really what you want to talk about right now?"

She had a point. I actually didn't want to talk at all so I kissed her instead. When I felt her knees start to give I broke away. "Do you want to discuss how it appears you've moved in with me?"

"You noticed, huh?"

"It would've been hard to miss the explosion of women's' clothes in my closet."

She bit the corner of her bottom lip. "Are you mad?"

"You know I'm not. I've been asking you to live with me for months. I was actually so happy about it I blew off a debriefing with Tank to come see you."

"Really? Is he mad?"

"No. But I do have to meet with him soon. What made you decide?"

"Well, my lease was up and I knew I was going to eventually move in so…" she shrugged her shoulders and I kissed her again.

"Let's celebrate tonight."

"Will that involve one or both of us being naked?"

"Definitely both," I confirmed and kissed her one last time. "I gotta go, Babe. Be home by six and we'll have dinner – with real food – and you can tell me everything you've been doing the past month."

"Only back five minutes and you're already bossing me around," she called to my retreating back as I left the alley.

I was smiling when I slid behind the wheel of my Porsche, thinking about how bossy I would be later. When she was naked.

####

I ran into Lester when I got back to Rangeman and I guess I must have still been smiling because he was leering at me when I stepped out of the car.

"Only back a hot second and you already got some, huh? Where'd you do it? The storage closet in the back of Vinnie's? The alley? Shit. You did it in the Turbo, didn't you? Where'd she put her legs? Can you draw me a diagram?"

Christ. "Why do you say things that make other people want to punch you in the throat?"

"It's a sickness," he said. "I'm taking a pill for it."

"It might be time to up the dosage."

He grinned and fell in step beside me. "How was the mission?"

I opened the door to the stairwell and let him go in ahead of me. "Took longer than anticipated."

"Don't they always?" He asked as we made our way up the steps.

"Usually." He didn't ask any more questions because he knew I couldn't answer if he did and he managed to not say anything else offensive the rest of the way up to the fifth floor, which was a bit of a marvel.

"You see Tank yet?" He wanted to know as we entered the hallway that leads to the control room.

"On my way there now."

"So you don't know about Jeanne Ellen yet?"

Christ. I didn't want to know anything about Jeanne Ellen. "What about her?"

His only response was that stupid grin and he wisely darted out of my reach before I choked the smile right off his face. The last thing I needed was any sort of Jeanne Ellen drama.

Tank's door was open so I entered without knocking and closed it behind me before settling into the single chair facing his desk.

"That was fast," he said briefly glancing up from the payroll journal he was scouring.

"What's the story with Jeanne Ellen?" Might as well get the bad shit over with first.

Tank leaned back in his chair and for a second I thought it was going to tip over. "Remember at the end of Wolverine when Deadpool's mouth was sewn closed so he couldn't talk?"

I smiled at him. "That might be a little drastic for Lester. I'm sure we can come up with something to encourage him to keep his mouth shut."

"Nothing has worked so far. I got a call from Les Sebring last week. He has an undercover job assigned to Jeanne Ellen but she needs a partner who possesses certain…skills. She's insisting it be you."

"I am not working with Jeanne Ellen."

Tank worked a muscle in his jaw and then bent his head back over the paperwork on his desk. "It will net Rangeman almost two million," he said quietly.

"Fuck."

He didn't look up but I could see him smiling. I'd worked with Jeanne Ellen one other time. It was a job where we had to appear to be intimate and after it was done she decided she wanted didn't want it to just be a charade and spent several weeks trying to get into my bed. It was a fucking nightmare.

"I'll meet with Les, but that's all I am agreeing to right now."

"I'll set it up," Tank said with a smirk that reminded me too much of Lester. Assholes.

We spent the next two hours going over everything that had gone on while I was away and just as I signed off on overtime for additional men at a jewelry store that had been broken into, my phone rang. I pulled it off its clip and answered without checking caller ID. My heart dropped into my stomach when I heard Happy's urgent tone.

"Meet me at the hospital."