Chapter 7 – I love you for real
Once the glass was replaced I went inside and said goodbye to mama and my sisters. Told them all I would see them tomorrow and left like my tail was on fire.
I was in my zone the whole way home barely noticing the heat of the blazing afternoon sun, the air in my car keeping me cool, the sky unmarred by any clouds and amplified by the smog that loomed over the highways. Upon arriving at Haywood, I went straight to the conference room to check up on the investigation. So far, they had found names for two of the men on the video. They still didn't know what names they were traveling under. I read the dossier of the men and it confirmed what I suspected. These were soldiers turned mercenary who did work for hire.
Jacque LeSerable was ex-French special forces, who did ten years of work for the French government when he was suddenly retired two years ago from a gunshot wound. Finley "Harry" Jamieson was Austrian, a demolitions expert for their army. Retired six years ago. I had never met either man before, but maybe if they were only in it for the money they could be bought. There were no leads on the hotel.
Hector had found pictures of a silver Ford Bronco coming out of my parent's neighborhood three minutes after the shooting and ran the plates. It was stolen two days ago, leading me to believe that the men hadn't been in the country very long and were just getting started. He searched around Fourth and Broadway through the traffic cameras there but didn't have eyes on the construction site. He did find a white Chevy truck coming up Broadway with a large ladder in the back. He was able to follow it for a few blocks but couldn't get clear pictures of the men inside, the plates came back that it was stolen yesterday. He told me he had the equipment I requested but was still setting it up and to give him two more hours. I told him I would come back after the 20:00 meeting.
Sybo was running all the different prints he got off the gun. They were all partial prints and he didn't have any matches yet. He could tell me the gun was last registered to Russian forces in Syria two years ago. I couldn't understand why they were being so careful with their prints on the ladder, bullets, and gun when they showed their faces on camera, breaking and entering, drugging people, hurting and killing that woman. They had to know the DVD would be turned over to the police.
Maybe the guys in the video are being used as fall guys for the men who are really running the show behind the scenes. I always thought Mukhtar was running the camera and that was why you didn't see him, but maybe there were other men there too. Men who are organizing this whole thing and are pulling the strings to get me to dance. I have a feeling that this is a Marionette puppet show.
Sergio has hired someone to pull these guys strings, they are doing what they are doing to pull my strings and see how I react, and the two-week deadline is just so I protect my women. Then I'll let my guard down and they take them and laugh at me while they are doing it. My gut was telling me I was close to the truth and whether the women liked it or not it was not going to be all over in two weeks unless all the threats were found and eliminated. This meant cutting off the head at the source. I could take out these two-bit hit men one after another but until Sergio was dealt with they would just keep coming.
I met up with Bones to see how the digital family album was coming.
"I have it all put together and cross referenced so you can pull each family up by the target's name and a diagram screen that shows the general relationship to you. What I am missing is pictures of all the husbands going. I need them for the family album and so I can make each their ID's. I need new headshots, in different outfits than the picture taken today, for everyone needing a passport." Bones explained.
I sighed internally, I needed to call everyone right now, this was too important to wait because Bones needed time to make the passports. I began the phone calls. First, I called my parents, explained to them the need for the head shot passport pictures with a different outfit and asked them to take them and text them to me with-in the hour.
I called Leyla, and explained that I needed an additional headshot for her and two pictures of Richard as soon as he got home. I called Isabella and she verified that Diego was going to go and I told her we needed for her to text headshots of him as soon as possible.
I called Rachel and Ron back. "Rachel, have you guys been able to discuss this plan and make a decision about going away with the family?"
"We have been debating it and we both think it is a good idea. We are just trying to get it Ok'd by his boss." Rachel explained.
"If his boss has any questions have him call me, I will explain the situation better. I want to let you know I understand you are losing money over this and I want to make sure all your bills are paid so I am going to send some money to your bank account. I am flying the whole family down to Miami tomorrow. I will have your protection detail pack you up and meet us for dinner. We are planning to stay around town overnight and then Friday, we are leaving for a private tropical island until it is safe for us to come home. Rachel, understand that I am going to make it safe for your family again." I promised her. "Now do you guys have passports?" I explained to her what was needed and disconnected.
Already my parents had texted me with their pictures and I forwarded them to Bones. I would have to wait till after 17:00 for my sisters to send pictures of their husbands.
I headed up to five to talk to Tank about personnel and logistics for the trip.
"Any problems with the personnel assigned to the case?" I asked him.
"I'm not sure you should take Santos. He might think he is part of the family and forget he is part of the protection detail."
"I'm taking him specifically for Oshanna. She is half in love with him, has had a crush on him for years and she will listen to him and won't be as likely to try to duck him. She will think they can go have fun together and he will make this as fun and friendly as possible while still keeping her safe. He is the best candidate to watch her. Anything else?"
"Everyone else is in line."
"Ok, just so you know I have Ella working on new uniforms for this job, embroidered tank tops and cargo shorts. The men have been approved to wear ankle boots. I want my family to feel as comfortable as possible around the men. With everyone in bathing suits the men would have been grossly overdressed." He just stared blank faced at me, but I can read Tank's blank faces and around the eyes this one was saying I had lost my mind.
"I want more armament than usual. The island is approximately ten square miles, two and a half wide and about four miles long. Any threat will have to come by sea or air. We need to be able to shoot further than a regular pistol. I was thinking the LSAT LMG's for the men to carry." (LSAT Light Machine Guns are a new prototype machine gun the Army is testing out.)
"You're going to have them wear shorts and carry a machine gun, because that will seem less threatening?" Now his eyes were laughing and his voice was touched with incredulous.
"It's a contradiction for sure but yes that is the plan. The machine guns should help my family feel safer because they know they are being carried to get any bad guys that approach the island. Plus, it will make up for the lack of a second ankle gun for the men. I understand that the full order has come in. Have they been tested?"
"No, they are still in the crates."
"Have Sybo pulled them out and test each one. I want to take all twenty-four plus five hundred rounds per man."
"Anything else?"
"I'm off to find Stephanie and talk her into coming." I gave him an almost smile.
"Good Luck." He said it but it sounded like he thought it was wishful thinking.
I went to my office on five and pulled up her trackers. She was at the police station. I knew that next she would be heading to the bonds office to turn in her body receipt. Quickly, I pulled out a current file on Ron and Rachel, dug up their joint bank account and transferred money to it.
I headed to the bond's office and watched while puffy white clouds congregated in the brownish blue sky. While my air conditioner blew at full blast keeping me cool, I waited around the corner for her SUV to pull up in front. When it did I pulled in behind her and watched her in her blue jeans, yellow t-shirt and cat boots go in, oblivious to the fact that I was here. I got out and followed behind her, talked briefly to her men, and dismissed them back to Haywood.
When I walked into the office, Stephanie was hands wide in the throes of reenacting the catch of her skip.
"Then he ran up the stairs and Ryan caught him half way up and he tried to pull away but tripped and came sliding back down to land at my feet. Then I stunned him and cuffed him and let the guys drag him back out to the SUV. On the way to the station he woke up and started hitting on Ramon, who was sitting in the back with him, trying to get him to go out on a date Friday night. He told him how hot his body was and what he would like to do to it." She laughed. She rubbed the back of her neck and continued with her story. "Ryan and I couldn't keep a straight face…" she started laughing harder unable to continue.
Suddenly, she realized that Connie, sitting at her desk in a tight red sweater and Lula in her spandex green pants, spotted orange and green shirt with pink curly hair were more focused over her shoulder, than on what she was saying and she half turned to see me and then spun back around acting like I wasn't there.
"Connie, your message said you have another file for RangeMan." I said quietly coming up behind Stephanie.
"Yeah, Laurence Yakcuman, wanted for money laundering and killing his neighbor, who became too nosy about where he was getting all his money from and tried to blackmail him out of some of that money. When he wouldn't pay up, his neighbor called the police on him, and was stupid enough to tell him to his face. When the police showed up they found his neighbor beaten to death with his living room floor lamp and bloody foot prints leading out the door."
"When they went to Yakcuman's house they found him washing off his shoes with bleach. All the evidence is very circumstantial unless they get some usable DNA off of his shoes; which is why he got bail. Now they have enough proof to get him cold for money laundering so of course he didn't show up for his hearing."
I stepped up to her desk and took the file she was holding out to me. I nodded at her and Lula, and turned to Stephanie. "Ready to go Babe?"
"Actually, I'm waiting for Connie to write me a check for the two skips I brought in today. I caught Emanuel Caudillink and so I am going to go car shopping. This is the first time in forever a car has lasted me six months and I am tired of it and going to replace it. I only bought it because I figured it wouldn't last and the heater worked, but now it is starting to get hot and the car keeps overheating, I can't keep fluid in the radiator. The air conditioner doesn't work and the breaks are squishy. It is a perfect car to get blown up and somehow it has survived."
She took the check that Connie was holding out to her and kissed it. "So, Saturday Lula is going to take me car shopping again. I have my eye on this little red Rav4 that is so cute. I loved the Rav4 I had a long time ago and I now have enough money to buy another one." She waved her check around.
"Don't you think that is tempting fate, to buy a flashy new car?" I asked, touched by her enthusiasm.
"Well it's not new, new. It would be just new for me. And the A/C and radio work!" she exclaimed. I am almost undone. I almost lost her last night and her unbridled enthusiasm for the simple things in her life with the unbelievable ability to put the bad things behind her and not get weighed down by them touches me. It is why she still seems so innocent, even with the huge bruise on her cheek and her swollen black eye.
"If anyone deserves a new car, Babe, it is you. Are you ready to go?"
She looked at me and then back at Connie and Lula and I was certain she had more exploits from the day she wanted to tell them, but knew she would come with me.
"My ride is waiting outside." She said simply.
"They had to go back to Haywood. I'll take you home." I told her, coming up behind her so I could smell her strawberry hair and whisper in her ear. "I told you I would help you pack. Tell Lula and Connie goodbye cause you aren't going to see them for a while."
"Bye." She stammered out. I almost wanted to take her hand and lead her away but I knew if I turned to leave she would follow me. I held the door open for her and she led the way to the Cayenne. I opened her door for her, let her get settled and then closed it. I liked taking care of her like she was mine when she wasn't. I was going to like it even more now, because she was going to be.
We drove in silence, stopping by her bank so she could deposit her check, and then on to her apartment, because I am always in my "zone" as she calls it. I call it being aware of everything on the road around me and working out things in my mind. I was strategizing my plan for the evening. Get her packed and back to Haywood for a few glasses of wine and then let it slip that I am in love with her. That I am ready to have a relationship with her. That I want her to dump Morelli forever and be my Babe for good.
I entered her apartment motioning at her to stay in the hallway. I pulled my gun and swept her apartment, checking everywhere a person could be waiting to grab her. I went back to the door and she was standing inside the apartment waiting for me. I holstered my gun and gave her my full attention. I wanted to start with the basics. "How is your face feeling?"
"It hurts. I just don't think about it and then I'm Ok." She told me.
"Did Bobby ever give you some bruise cream for your face?"
"No, I never saw Bobby today."
"When we get back to Haywood we will have to stop by his office and ask him. A little cream will help it heal faster and hurt less. Now we need to get you packed for this trip, are you still okay with coming away with me?"
"I guess. I mean I said I would, but I don't know anything about the trip. Where are we going? How long are we going to be gone? Why are we going away now?"
"You remember the note that was underneath you last night?"
"The one I couldn't read?" She said questioningly.
"Yes, that one. It warned me that what was supposedly done to you was just the beginning and that if I didn't hide my women worse things would happen to them."
"I remember you thought they did all those bad things to me."
"They got a woman who has hair like yours or wore a wig like your hair. They showed you being hit and knocked down. Then they tied her up face down and from the back in the dim lighting it seemed like they had dressed you up and were abusing you." I took her in my arms and looked deeply into her eyes. "Babe it was one of the hardest things I have ever had to live through, thinking those animals had you and were doing all those horrible things to you. But you are the strongest woman I know, and I knew you would survive and I would help you, in every way that I could. When I realized it wasn't you, that they did those things to someone else, I can't tell you how relieved I was, almost joyful that I got you back unharmed."
"Um, my face is all purple and black. I'm not exactly unharmed."
I put my hands on each side of her face. "Relatively unharmed." I couldn't help it I kissed her bruised cheek, then her black eye, then her cute little nose, and then her sweet, sweet lips. I pulled her into my arms and dove into her mouth. Tasting her, teasing her tongue to come and play with mine, stroking it in the oldest rhythm of time. I pulled her closer, molding her body to mine, my mouth slanting over hers. This is what I wanted, what I needed; to connect with her, to be in her, to be where I most wanted to be in her heart, forever. She pulled back, putting her hand on my chest, pushing me away. I had to regroup, I was getting ahead of myself and I needed to slow down. I pulled back and lowered my forehead to hers and looked into her eyes losing myself and all sense of thought and being.
"Stephanie, some things changed for me last night. I made promises to you and to myself that what happened would never happen again. That I would do a better job of protecting you and one way I would do that is by keeping you close instead of pushing you away. So tomorrow I want you to come away with me, with Julie and my family. The note said they were going to be searching for two weeks and then they would turn their attentions elsewhere. So, come away to a tropical Island with me until it is safe for you to be back in Trenton. I would do anything to keep what happened to that woman from happening to any woman in my life, but especially you. I don't want to ever see you hurt like that."
"Yeah the dead part really puts a kink in my plans." She said. I took a deep breath, breathing her in.
"Tomorrow, I will introduce you to my family. My mama, my papa, my sisters, even my pain in the ass brother. Just know now that he is going to hit on you relentlessly and try to take you away from me because that is his way."
"I'm going to meet your whole family?" She took a deep fortifying breath. "Is he as good looking as you are?" She asked me a mischievous look in her eyes.
"Would it matter? He doesn't love you. He could never love you like I love you."
She swallowed hard and I realized this conversation was supposed to take place after a couple glasses of wine. I was screwing this all up. "You love me. Like really love me? No qualifiers, no extra statements." She said quietly.
"Babe." Now I took a deep breath, she has never told me she loves me, so I don't know how much to reveal to her right now. "Last night I realized I have been a fool. I have told you I loved you and I have for a long time. Part of my world revolves around seeing you and being near you. However, I truly have a lot of enemies and I thought I loved you enough to protect you by keeping you at arm's length. But I don't anymore."
"You don't love me that much anymore?" Her voice getting a little wary, her eyes widening in horror.
"I love you too much to push you away anymore. I can't live with myself knowing that if you had been in my bed last night you would have been safe. That I can keep you safer from my enemies if I hold you close, rather than push you away."
"So, you really love me? You love me for real?"
"Babe I love you so much it hurts to let you out of my arms ever again. I want to wrap them around you and never let you go. I want to keep you safe from the world, safe from my enemies."
She just stood there unblinking and unbelieving. "Believe it Babe. I've gotten ahead of myself. I was going to wait to tell you all of this till we got back to my apartment. I'm not trying to push myself on you and I know you may not be ready for any of this, but I have something for you. Something I had made special for you that is in my safe. So, let's get you packed and have some dinner and I will get it for you. It's something that I want you to wear all the time."
She is looking rather excitedly at me and I saw her glance down at her ring finger, where there is no ring. I have a ring for her too but tonight I am going to give her the tracker watch I had made for her. She once told me it should have diamonds and I told her maybe if she was a very good girl. She has earned the diamonds and if I didn't already have it I would have one made for her after last night. After last night, I would move the world to keep her safe. Part of my heart broke last night and I promised her so many things when I thought they were hurting her and the least I can do, now that I have her back safe, is to keep those promises for myself and for her.
"Come on Babe, let's get you packed. It is already five thirty and Ella will have dinner waiting for us. It will go cold if we don't hurry."
This spurred her into motion and she pulled out the matching black suitcase set she bought to take to Hawaii. Hawaii was so memorable for me. I could sit back and play wedded bliss with her. Pretend that we were married and that she was still safe. Well I was going to make her mine and I would make it safe. I am going to bring the ring and when she is ready I would propose to her on another tropical beach. Then I will send a message with Sergio that all my enemies will take notice and no one will dare threaten any of my women ever again.
She started pulling out clothes and I went into her bathroom and packed up all her make-up and hair brush and ties, toothbrush, floss and paste in her travel toiletries bag. It was exploding out but I had ulterior motives. I was moving her into my place after this trip and the more she had at my place, the less reasons she would have for coming back here.
I gathered up some of the things that always has her smelling so good: her very berry strawberry shampoo and conditioner, her tangerine dream body soap, citrus body lotion, sun screen, hair gel, curl control serum, and a few more hair products that were in her medicine cabinet, her blow dryer and hair straightener. Not that I had ever seen her hair straight. I carried it all to her bedroom and started packing it into her suitcase.
"Oh, I can't bring all that." She told me. "There is not enough room in my suitcases, and it will be too heavy. I will just get some travel size bottles at the store-"
"Babe we are taking a private jet, so there is no limit to the amount of luggage you can bring, there is no size limit on bottles, there is no weight limit, and I want you to be comfortable while we are gone and have all your usual stuff with you." I explained away my behavior. "Just start laying out all the clothes you want to bring on the bed and I will pack it for you."
"What are we going to be doing? What should I bring? How many outfits? I need to pack some shorts and shirts and shoes and my wrap, underwear and some bikinis, are my bikinis modest enough to wear around your family?" She looked at me watching her in silence. "Sorry now I am rambling." She said. I could see her berating herself for her verbal diarrhea, but in a world where everyone is too closed lipped, I liked that her thoughts could spill so unfettered from her mind.
I grabbed her up in my arms before I spoke. "We are going to be gone two weeks. So, fourteen pairs of underwear to start. Do you want me to pick them out for you?" I offered.
"No," she blushed ten shades of red and started picking out some of her semi-revealing undergarments.
"Make sure you bring that black set that looks so sexy on you." I told her.
"Sure, like you are going to see me in my underwear." She gave me an 'in your dreams' kind of look but I knew we were going to be in the same cabin and I was expecting to see her in a lot less than her underwear but I didn't want to embarrass or upset her too soon.
"Ok, after underwear, night clothes." I told her. It was frustrating, she insisted on sleeping in something. "What do you need? Two or three sets of night clothes for two weeks?" As far as I was concerned this was a habit I was going to get rid of as soon as possible. Not only did I like looking at her naked, I liked feeling her naked body curled up sleeping next to mine. I knew how to get her that way was to make love to her till she fell asleep. This was something I was more than able and willing to do.
I was folding up her underwear and wanting her to go into the other room so I could pick out a few pair of my own choosing to bring. Maybe I would come back tonight. I knew hidden in the back of her drawer were a teddy or two and a body hugging red lace masterpiece that she would look great in. No, I knew better, I needed to buy some of my own and give them to her. If she knew I have been through her underwear drawer she would be mad at me and think I am the deviant that she doesn't know I am. I smiled to myself. This is going to be so much fun.
"Next you need several bathing suits and whatever you wear on the beach." I prodded, wondering if she still had the little black number she had in Hawaii.
"What about my wrap?" She questioned.
"Show me." She pulled out a red, mostly shear wrap that hugged her curves.
"Try it on, I can't imagine it on you." I told her lying through my perfectly straight white teeth. She just gave me a scathing look and threw it on the pile.
"Don't you have a bathing suit cover up that you like to wear?" I asked.
"Oh, yeah." She dug through a drawer and pulled out the royal blue cover up with a repeating black geometric pattern on it that she'd had in Hawaii.
I was packing as quickly as she piled the clothes on the bed. "OK, now you need just regular clothes to wear and whatever you want to fly in tomorrow."
"Of course." I could see the light bulb go on over her head. She turned around and pulled out a black pair of Pilates pants, that she doesn't wear any underwear under. A sports bra that holds her perky breasts up tight and an oversized ratty blue Rangers shirt that I know used to belong to Morelli. I was going to get rid of it as soon as she turned her back.
"Babe, you're going to be meeting my family tomorrow and some of my sisters are very fashion conscious. Can you wear something else besides that ratty old shirt? How about that black shirt you wore when you first started working at RangeMan? The one I told you to always keep covered. You would look good in that."
She hit me lightly on the chest and I reveled in the casual contact. I wanted her more now than I ever had before. Somehow, I had given myself permission to have her and it was all I could do to not throw her over my shoulder and cart her off to my cave.
"To meet your family, I do want to look nice." She picked out a dressy blue shirt that had three buttons at the neck and little lace down the front. That was my babe. Sexy, casual and classy. I set these clothes aside. I would pack them last so they were on top of her suitcase. Like I had packed her sleepwear on the bottom of her suitcase hoping she would just grab one of my shirts and wear it to bed, preferably with nothing on underneath it.
She started laying out different pairs of shorts, some that I recognized, and two pairs of jeans. She went into her drawer and pulled out several t-shirts, then went into her closet and pulled out a few more shirts. I started packing her jeans, shorts, and shirts, quickly filled up the large suitcase and started on the carry on.
"Why don't you bring a few more pairs of shorts, it's not like this place has a washer we can use, and a couple of sundresses? That will be comfortable in the sun." She dug out two more pairs of shorts and four sundresses from her closet and threw them on the bed. "You only have two pairs of jeans here and you may want some more to wear when it gets dark and cooler on the beach so a couple more pairs of jeans would probably be good." She looked at me funny but pulled out three more pairs of jeans and laid them on the bed.
"Ok, I only see six shirts and that is not enough for two weeks, you need a couple more." I knew the suitcases weren't going to hold much more, but that she had a large gym bag with a shoulder strap that we could bring so I went into her closet to dig it out, because I was going to get her to fill that up with clothes too.
"What about a dressy dress or two in case my family wants to go out, or I want to take you to dinner. That red dress you have would be a good one, then maybe that black one you have." She looked at me with a funny look, like she knew I was up to something, but couldn't figure out what.
She handed me the red dress, laid out the black dress, then she handed me a new deep burgundy dress that looked like it had a low-neck line and was tightly fitted around the hips. The bag was almost half full. "Now shoes. What shoes do you wear with these?" I kept up a monologue as she bent over in front of me to dig through her shoes. She came up with the red pair that matched the red dress, and a very high black pair that I don't know if I've ever seen her wear. "Don't you wear a specific bra with these?"
She gave me that funny light bulb look, and followed that with a 'how the hell did I know that?' look. I'm observant Babe, very observant about what you wear. She walked back over to her underwear drawer and pulled out two push-up bras, matching panties and I knew we were getting somewhere.
"Now we need to round out your shoes. Tennis shoes, socks, flip flops, whatever you wear on a plane." She pulled out a couple of pairs including several pairs of sandals and said, "How do you know what I need to bring?"
"Babe, I spent years packing for the military, they teach you what to bring, what to leave, and how to pack it tight and efficiently. It's the same process except I don't wear bras or dresses and I don't have quite the assortment of shoes. Now you need your passport." I gave her one of my big smiles and she smiled back at me.
I zipped up her suitcases and bag and hauled them out to the door.
"Now we need to vacation proof your apartment."
"Is this a vacation?" she looked taken aback.
"No. it's a flight from bad things we don't want to think about so I would rather call it a vacation and pretend there aren't any bad guys trying to hurt the women I love." I led the way into the kitchen and started looking for everything fresh to get it out of her fridge but suddenly she was standing in the way.
"Excuse me, I can clean out my own fridge. Go sit in the living room or something. I don't need an audience for this." She got her trash can and dragged it over to the fridge.
I walked to the kitchen doorway and leaned against the wall with my arms crossed as I watched her pull out a bag of carrots, grapes, half a wilted head of lettuce, some broccoli heads that were turning brown, three shrunken apples, two oranges that still looked good, half a gallon of milk, and an almost empty container of orange juice. She put the carrots, oranges and grapes in a plastic grocery bag, threw away the rest of the produce and dumped the juice and milk down the drain, throwing the containers away. I just stood there in the doorway watching. She dropped a carrot and grape in Rex's cage, then picked it up with the bag of food and her purse and said, "I got Rex if you can carry the rest."
"Let's take the trash out too, it doesn't need to sit here while you're gone." I said reaching for the can. She quickly set Rex down, pushed the garbage further away from me and changed it out quickly, tying a knot in the top and putting a new bag in its place.
"I can carry the trash." I told her taking the trash bag to the front door. I easily picked up the gym bag and slung it over my shoulder, grabbed the two suitcases, picked up the trash bag and turned to her. "Ready?"
She nodded to me, looking like she wasn't certain about this at all.
I opened her door and wondered for the umpteenth time why I didn't have her apartment wired with a monitored security system. This was something I was going to rectify as soon as we got back. I locked her door, picked up her suitcases again and led her to the elevator.
I was happier than I had been since this whole thing started. I was taking everyone away somewhere safe and I was going to get Stephanie alone for two weeks. I didn't want to rush her and I knew she still considered herself to be in a relationship with Morelli. I was going to approach this as delicately and stealthily as a covert mission. Planned out and executed with precision.
We walked out to the Cayenne under the early spring evening sun and I mused. Step one was getting her to go on this trip. Step two is getting her in my bed by telling her we needed to share a room. Step three is to wine her and dine her, to spend time having fun with her. Step four is to get her to make a commitment to a relationship with me. Step five is to make wild passionate love all night long. I needed to get condoms, a two-week supply of condoms.
As soon as we get back she was going to start on the pill or shots. I'm not going to be sharing her with anyone or seeing other people when we are "off" because we are never going to be "off" and she would never see anyone else ever again. She was mine now and forever, not that I was ready for marriage but I was ready to commit to her permanently.
To be continued…
A/N Thank you! Thank you! Thank you all for your reviews! They are all loved and appreciated. I have five more chapters for daily updates then it is going to go to weekly updates.
As always big THANK YOU to my beta Sassysaint who makes my story's more readable. You are AWESOME! THANK YOU! If you haven't read her stories they are worth your time and will give you something to read while waiting for the next chapter to post = )
OK this is going to be a Babe HEA, but can Ranger convince Steph that he is the right choice? Please read and review.