**Thanks to all of you for the reviews. I appreciate it. I'm excited to say I finally mapped out the rest of this story. Yay. Anyway, hope you enjoy the lake house, we'll be here for a while.**

October 4…9 pm

The last couple days have been crazy. Yesterday I went to my one on one appointment. Since I decided to go away with Ranger for the week I wanted to talk about that and make sure Dr. Westin really thought I would alright away from home.

He did his doctor thing and told me only I could be the judge of that. If it didn't feel right, if it was stressing me or causing me any anxiety I should stay home. He said Ranger would understand my reluctance, so it really was about me. I didn't need to try to please either of them.

Put that way, it was easy to decide that I was ready to go. I wasn't nervous about being with Ranger. I was excited. I didn't have any anxiety about it at all. I thought it would be nice to be with him, just him. So if I thought about what I wanted, not what I thought Ranger wanted or Dr. Westin expected of me, it was easy. I wanted to go.

My only hang up had been the security aspect of it, but Ranger showed me the video feed on the house. He showed me the blue prints he had in the safe, he'd mapped out the security system and installed it himself. Besides, he said that there was no record of him owning the house, it wasn't on any of the RangeMan systems, except his private security feed, and he'd never been traced out there. He always went with no GPS or trackers. As far as his men knew, he was in the wind, with the exception of Tank, and he'd never tell anyone.

He also said the location was very remote. No one would just happen upon it if they were looking for us. Sitting here at the house now, I had to agree with that assessment. We'd flown to Boston last night, spent the night in his Boston apartment, and then had a five hour drive from Boston to Beaver Cove, Maine this morning. Yeah, Beaver Cove! I seriously think the name amused Ranger too, he got that lip twitch thing going when I laughed at the name and the huge wooden beaver sign at the entrance of the tiny town. Seriously I think the population is like a hundred people or something, not that I'd see anyone way out here anyway.

Ranger's house was about twenty minutes away from the wooden beaver sign, down a dirt path, off the main dirt road. It was surrounded by forest on three sides and lake on the fourth. I had serious doubts that it even had a working toilet, but he assured me that we had plumbing and electric. I couldn't imagine how much it cost him to get it run from town out there, but I was glad. I love the man, but I didn't really want to share his outhouse. I mean, seriously, that'd be a mood killer.

Not that I was going for a mood. Okay, I wasn't opposed to a mood being set. This place had all the trappings of a romantic getaway. It was beautiful, quiet, and secluded. Peaceful, that's the best word for it. It was the perfect place for a lover's getaway.

When the SUV pushed its way through branches that hung over the dirt path that led to the house I didn't think I'd see a home like this. I was expecting a log shack. I should have known Ranger would own something like this though. It was very him.

The dirt road turned into a wide driveway that curved to the front of the house. The front porch looked out at the woods which was all kinds of yellow, orange, and red, like fall magic. And when the wind blew there was the prettiest shower of leaves that blew all around us. It was perfect. I just wanted to walk out there in wonder, but the trees were so dense that there weren't really any paths that I could see to walk around and explore the beauty better. Ranger told me that there were quite a few animals so I probably didn't want to explore without a shotgun anyway. When I started to look uneasy, he laughed at me and told me he was teasing, but I shouldn't wander off since it'd be easy to get lost out there. Ranger-humor.

Honestly, I almost forgot about the beauty of the trees when I went inside the house. From the outside the house looked like a two story log cabin. Inside, it was clear that the upstairs was a loft. There was a staircase against the right-hand wall, but aside from the railings I couldn't see what was upstairs. The downstairs, however, was a large open room which included a living room, dining room, and kitchen. It was decorated in dark green and chocolate brown, and looked warm and homey. He had bookshelves full of books, art hanging on the walls, photos on the mantel, and I swear to God, he had a puzzle half completed on the coffee table in front of the big leather couch.

I stood there, stunned. I always wondered why his apartment didn't look like this, but after a while I figured that he just didn't do homey. This though, this was really his home. This was where he let himself relax and was himself. And he invited me to share that with him. I think I had tears in my eyes as I looked around at everything.

He left me alone to look around while he carried in all the coolers and bags of food we'd brought along. I was drawn to the little framed photo of a chubby baby in a pink fluffy dress. I touched the frame and smiled. I recognized Ranger in her even at that age. "She was seven months old when that was taken," he told me when he walked up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist. I told him that she was beautiful and I meant it. I felt something inside of me that died long ago, start to long for a tiny little version of Ranger to hold and love. He kissed my hair and gave me a squeeze.

"I remember Scrog telling me that we were going to make a baby together," I whispered to him. He told me he knew, he read the letter I wrote in the hospital. "I wanted babies before that. I wanted your baby before that. Someday." His arms tightened around me, allowing me to relax back against him. "But I prayed that there would be no baby. I knew I'd never be able to handle that. I even decided to have an abortion if it happened. I decided I never wanted a baby. I didn't deserve one." He rubbed his hands up and down my arms soothingly. "Every time someone mentioned babies or getting pregnant I'd get sick, physically sick. I heard his words. I felt him touching me. I didn't want to remember any of that."

"Babe, we don't have to have children," he whispered to me.

"It was another thing he almost took from me, Ranger. If I wouldn't have gotten help I never would have been able to tell you any of this. I would never be able to look at Julie's picture and think about how much I want to hold our baby in my arms someday," I told him.

He rocked me against his chest and held me close. He didn't agree or disagree, he just said whenever I was ready. We stood there for a few minutes, enjoying the quiet, but I knew we had to unpack so I stepped away and took his hand. I led him over to the little kitchen.

The appliances were all black, the counter tops were black stone with green flecks in it, and the cabinets were a dark brown that matched the hardwood floors that covered the entire lower floor. We unpacked everything and filled the cupboards and fridge almost to capacity. I had no idea how much food was needed for a week, but it looked like a lot. I also worried about cooking without Ella, but Ranger assured me that he could take care of the food for the week.

Then we hauled the coolers out the garage and grabbed our suitcases out of the SUV. I followed Ranger up the open staircase to the loft area. The entire loft was a big, beautiful bedroom. The back wall was covered in windows with French doors in the center that opened up to a huge balcony. The left hand side of the room had a closet and bath, both behind closed doors. And the right hand side of the room was filled with Ranger's bed. A tall, padded, brown leather headboard was attached to the wall. Beneath it, the queen sized bed was topped with a dark green comforter and a bunch of pillows covered in ivory cases. It was simple and manly and so sexy looking.

He moved our suitcases over to the closet while I climbed into his bed and flopped down across it. He smiled as he turned around and looked at me. He crawled in beside me and took my hand. Then he told me that he used to dream about having me here with him. So I kissed him. When I pulled back I looked at him. He looked so turned on. He had that sexy smile on his lips and his eyes were that dark, fathomless black they turned when he wants me and, my God, did I wanted him too.

Neither of us made that move though. We just laid there looking at one another for a long time. Finally he said, "I always told you that you were the only woman I ever had in my bed, back in Trenton." I nodded, a little nervous about the rest of that thought. "Now you're the only woman I ever shared my bed with in Boston and the only women I ever brought to this house. We just have my bed in Miami left to make ours."

"Mm, so this is our bed?" I teased.

"I'd like this to be one of our homes, Babe," he told me. "I always figured I'd retire up here. Just grow old alone."

I stared at him. I was surprised he never saw a woman in his future. He was a handsome, charming man. Any woman would jump at the chance to be with someone like him. Yet he never let them in. He never brought them to his homes. He never shared his beds. He never loved anyone. I didn't want him to have that lonely, empty life. I didn't want him up here alone. I wanted to be by his side. If that's what he was saying. "What do you want now?" I asked him.

He rolled toward me and kissed me gently. "I want this to be our escape. Our place to be alone together. Maybe we'll bring our grandkids fishing here someday," he told me with a little wink.

I laughed at him. Ranger as a grandfather was amusing, but it'd happen sooner or later. Julie would have babies someday. I shook my head in wonder. He'd be a hot older man that's for sure. Then I sat up and leaned down so I could kiss him properly before I told him that I love him.

He told me that he wanted to show me the rest of the place. I didn't know what that meant, but I let him lead me back downstairs. This time we went out the back door onto a big deck that attached to a wooden walkway that led to the lake. There was a small private dock with a diving platform out in the water a ways. It was absolutely gorgeous out there.

I settled into one of the patio chairs while Ranger started the big gas grill and went inside for some burgers. Ranger actually grilled us each a burger. Yes, I think my mind had been blown. He ate red meat and a bun!

We ate in our lounge chairs, then just sat outside. It was incredibly peaceful here. I could easily see why he built this place. Even the air here smelled and tasted different than at home. It was just fresh and untouched, like nothing bad has ever touched this place.

I didn't want to go in, but Ranger said it was getting cold and promised to start a fire for me. So, here I am, curled up on the couch, listening to some classical music he started, and he is upstairs in the shower. I can smell the Bulgari drifting down from the loft already and it was doing things to my downstairs that scents shouldn't do.

Dang. The place just screamed sexy. The man just oozed sexy. There was no way I was going to make it back to Trenton without jumping his bones. Crap, I wondered if I'd make it the night.