Saving All My Women

by Rangerbabe21

What can Ranger do when Stephanie is taken and the threat that comes in is for all his women: Julie, his mother and sister's too. Where and how can he protect them, when the bad guys can find them where ever they go? Babe HEA

12. Chapter 12 Fun on the Ship

Chapter 12 – Fun on the Ship

I climbed under the covers, and pulled her over to me. I turned her on her side facing away from me and tucked her against my body. My body responded instantly to her soft warmth and I kissed the side of her neck. I desired her physically more than ever before but now that I had decided to have her forever I could be patient and satisfied with just holding her. This was where I wanted her, in my life, in my arms every night starting today. Now I just had to convince her of this.

Saturday April 16

I woke up very alert when my watch beeped at 05:00 feeling fully rested and ready to face my family and the day. I got dressed in black shorts and a black RangeMan shirt for the gym and was very surprised when I found it. I knew that the ship held over 2500 passengers, but an expansive room with a long row of treadmills followed by a row of bikes, several ellipticals, and three rowing machines, standing apart from a selection of work out machines and a separate room of free weights exceeded my expectations.

Three of my men were already here working out on machines and free weights. Knowing half of my men were sharing queen size beds made me wonder if they had slept well. Being in the armed forces, like everyone on this trip had been, left one with the ability to sleep anywhere. But they, like me, were getting older and the body appreciated more comfort than when we were kids.

I got on the treadmill first to warm up and did five miles. Today would be my normal day for back and quads, but knowing there was no workout room on the island I wanted to hit my arms and chest more. I worked my chest out on several machines because it was faster than manually loading up a bar with free weights. After I did my arms in the free weight area I got on the floor and did one hundred sit ups and 100 push-ups. I wasn't really building any muscle but I was maintaining my pump and getting ready to face the day.

When I was done it was 06:40 and I knew Tank wasn't at his desk yet and didn't want to bother him knowing if anything concrete was found he would notify me immediately.

The ship started serving a breakfast buffet at 05:30, but they had one restaurant that was open twenty-four hours a day and I was betting would have French fries and coke. So, I went to the See-Food Café and ordered. Fifteen minutes later I gave the waitress a big smile for a tray, a small bottle of ketchup, salt and a promise that I would bring the dishes back later. In my adult life, I have always had a way with women and knew that my smile and a flex of my arms or chest could get me almost anything I wanted.

When I got back to the room it was almost seven and I wasn't sure as early as she went to bed when Stephanie would wake up. The night shift men were still on duty, and I nodded to them as I passed with my tray of fries and coke.

I unlocked the room and quietly closed the door. I repeated my actions from two days prior, this time talking quietly as I shook her. She groaned and pulled her pillow over her face smashing the fry I had been holding there.

"Stephanie, I have hot fries here but they won't stay hot very long." The pillow inched upwards exposing her mouth and nose, which sniffed. A wild hand came at me opening and closing, grabbing the air. I pressed one fry into it and she wormed it into her mouth.

Her wild hand came back around grasping as it searched for more fries. I caught her hand and laid it down to her side and put a fry up to her lips. They quickly opened, I stuck it in and she chewed. Now her mouth opened again repeating the begging baby bird routine and I fed her another fry. Several fries later I began talking to her again. "Babe, I have some coke here with a straw but no lid. You're going to have to sit up to drink it." Slowly the pillow moved off her face and a bloodshot eye cracked open. Then she sighed and pushed up on her elbows. "All the way up babe. The cup is full and it will spill if you tilt it."

She pushed up with her hands and opened her eyes more fully. Gasping when she realized she was naked and clutched the sheet to her breasts with her right hand. I put the extra-large coke, I had whittled out of the waitress, in her other hand and she drank from it deeply like a fawn that found a fresh water spring after searching for days, then she put it on the tray and reached for more fries. "Ketchup?" I turned the plate around where I had squirted a large dollop of ketchup and she mashed her fries into it. I set the whole tray on her lap.

"Got to take a shower Babe." And with that I got off the bed, and disappeared into a bathroom that was less than a quarter of the size of my closet.

Ten minutes later I left the bathroom with a small towel that had been folded and held on a metal shelf above the toilet, perched precariously around my hips. I bent over to get clothes out of my bag and the tiny terrycloth lost its battle and slid to the floor. I was already aware of Stephanie's eyes on me so I turned clothes in hand and gave her a full view of the goods. She was still staring at me as expected, and her tongue darted out and she licked her perfect pink lips. I physically reacted and she gasped again as I dropped my clothes on the bed and began getting dressed.

"We didn't…you didn't…I mean last night, well I'm naked." She stammered.

"Babe, you will always be coherent and interactive when we engage in those kinds of activities." I told her as I buttoned my pants and slid on my shirt. I bent down without warning and gave her a kiss on her sweet salty lips. I licked her lips and put my hand behind her head pulling her closer as I delved inside her mouth. Our tongues touched and a moan came from somewhere deep inside her. I stroked her tongue, teased her mouth, explored every inch making love to her with my mouth and then I slowly pulled back and looked deep into her brilliant blue, red rimmed, eyes.

"Good morning babe." I told her and she blushed. "Time for your shower." I said lifting the brown plastic tray off her lap.

"You have to leave. I'm naked."

"I'm the one that got you naked and put away your clothes. I wasn't sure what to do with them so I put them on top of your gym bag." I told her as I sat on the bed to put on my boots.

"You still have to leave I'm not walking around the room here naked."

"Babe you're already naked, you're going to have to walk to the bathroom naked unless you take the blanket with you."

"Naked in front of you! I can't walk around naked in front of you." She exclaimed exasperated.

"All right, I am leaving." I left the room with the empty tray in hand to find Marc standing outside my door.

"Report"

"Interesting night, your parents are already at the breakfast buffet on seven. I sent Ramon with them until Erik came online. Oshanna finally called it a night around three. She had some man she picked up at the bar she and Julio were at. Lester gave him a deterring look and sent him on his way, upsetting Oshanna. Lester told her she had to have your permission for something like that and it took him, Mario and Ryan to keep her from knocking on your door or waking up the whole hall. Lester texted that he is sleeping in since he didn't get to bed till well after 03:30."

"Fortunately, that means she will sleep late. I want hourly reports from everyone till we leave the ship. Have Zip cover for Lester till he is back on duty. Steph is in the shower. I don't know what she is going to want to do today but she has a salon appointment at 1:00. I will be with her all day and text you if I need coverage." I handed him the tray. "Would you return all of this to the See-Food café?" He nodded, took the tray and walked off.

I had an email from Tank, there were a lot of possibilities but no solid leads. 'Foreigner sightings all over Trenton and Newark but nothing was turning up positive for our bad guys. No more information on the rented airplane. The hotel had been paid in cash with no ID given, but when the men went back they found a signature of a Joseph Johnson. They are researching the name and found several Joseph Johnsons that flew into the US in the past two weeks, but one specifically flew in from France into LaGuardia on Sunday. Still waiting on picture confirmation to see if it matches any of our identified bad guys.'

Twenty minutes later we were headed to the dining room for breakfast. Stephanie was casual but breezy in jeans shorts, a white button up shirt and white sandals. I was pleased to see my men at two separate tables getting a chance for a sit-down meal. In security work, you have to scrounge meals when you can, not always getting to eat when the targets do. This assignment couldn't go that way because there was only one man to each target. If needed the four extra men could spell them for meals, but it made it much easier and efficient when they could eat with the families.

Stephanie ordered coffee for both of us, then got an omelet with cheese, bacon, and ham. She also got a side of hash browns and toast and I got an egg white omelet with spinach, red peppers, asparagus, broccoli, onions, mushrooms and tomatoes, topped with fresh sliced avocado. I liked that the vegetable options were very abundant on the ship. Most of my family was here getting breakfast already and the kids were excited with the options of chocolate chip pancakes, French toast, eggs, bacon and chocolate milk for breakfast. I was really pleased to see Becky, Maggie and Julie sitting together to eat. They were close in age and I was hoping this trip would give Julie a chance to get to know her cousins better since they grew up so far apart.

Leyla, Isabella and Rachel were all sitting at different round eight-person tables with their families, ship schedules in hand, pencils scribbling wildly, determining which kid wanted to do what, and how many activities could be fit in for the day. It touched me, and I think that this summer when the kids are out of school I should bring my family back for a cruise where we could all just have fun and not be worried about safety. Angelia looked like she was struggling just to get her kids to eat what was ordered and get some breakfast in herself as well. I turned to Stephanie.

"So, Babe, what do you want to do this morning?"

"Well, neither Oshanna or Julio are answering my texts. I don't have any specific plans I just want to have some fun."

"Oshanna and Julio are night owls and probably stayed up until dawn so don't expect them to be up any time soon. I brought the ship schedule with me so we could look at it." I pulled out a double-sided piece of paper that had been delivered to the cabin this morning with a pencil and laid them out in-front of her.

She looked it over. "There is a free facial workshop at noon that sounds like fun and Oshanna and Angelia would probably go with me… there are all kinds of seminars and games, miniature golf and a rope course, but really we are here with your family. Your nieces and nephews are really cute and I would like to get to know them a little better, and Julie; I would like to spend more time with Julie." I got her up and led her over to the table with Rachel and Ron.

"So, what are your plans for the day? We would like to spend some time with you guys and with Julie." I asked them.

"Well we are having a little trouble deciding. All the kids want to do different things except for family dodgeball at 10."

I stood up. "How about we get all the adults at one table and then we can decide what activities we can all fit in for the day."

Isabella and Diego, Leyla and Richard came over to our table and Rachel moved the eating kids to another table. Talk went up all around the group with what kids wanted to do what and it became clear that the boys and girls had different activities in mind and the different age groups also wanted to do different things.

"I have a crazy idea, why don't we split the kids up by age group and each set of parents can each take one group. That way the kids could get to know each other better. I mean like Julie, Becky, and Maggie; Freddie, Chris, Ricky; Shylia, Cassie, Shanna, Mikie; then Parker and Ricky. Stephanie and I would be willing to take the older girls, I would like to spend more time with Julie."

"That might work," Leyla said, "but Mikie is going to have to go with the boys. He maybe younger but he will not go play with all the girls. He is used to playing with Ricky and Chris."

Discussion started fervently again with the parents organizing the activities that each kid wanted and agreeing that many of the kids the same age had picked the same activities and that the boys all wanted to do the same things.

Diego and Richard offered to take all four boys, while Leyla and Rachel wanted to be sure I could handle the three pre-teen girls. I could put regiments of armies in the field and secure hundreds of accounts certainly I could entertain a few girls for a few hours, especially with Stephanie's help. She had two nieces, after all, that she occasionally watches.

"Is that Ok with you Babe taking the three girls?"

"Sure, hand me the schedule again and let's go sit by them and see what they want to do."

The girls were excited to get time to spend together scooting closer to Stephanie's chair so they could all see together. "I want to go do the facial thing at noon," she told them and they all agreed that sounded like fun.

They kept picking out different activities and I realized my error in judgement in taking all the girls after fifteen minutes here is the list of activities they all agreed upon.

8:00 Make your own jewelry

9:00 Zumba dance class

10:00 Family dodge ball

11:00 Ice cream sundae party – make your own

11:30 T-shirt decorating

12:00 Facial class

12:30 Make over class

1:00 Stephanie salon

1:30 Julie salon

2:00 Scavenger hunt

3:00 Battle of the ages

4:00 Game room/ Dance Dance Fever II

"You girls didn't plan any time for lunch." I noticed.

"Uncle Carlos, there are lots of buffets all over the ship. We will just run by one and grab a sandwich or something." Maggie told me and the other girls nodded in agreement.

I looked over the schedule again and reminded myself I was just the bodyguard for the day and could withstand days of torture, I could handle a few hours of girl time, especially because I would be spending it with my favorite two girls. The boys I overheard were doing the rope course, the rock climbing wall, family dodge ball, the gaming room, basketball, the Nintendo hall and the laser course. I love Julie to death, but I think if I have more kids I might have more in common with a boy. Considering the current danger my family was in the thought of more kids is something I can't even consider.

We said goodbye to the families after getting special permission from Leyla and Richard for the girls to have make overs as they weren't allowed to wear makeup, besides lip gloss, till they were fourteen. Stephanie argued convincingly that this was really a class about what colors to wear and how to wear them and that it was good for any girl to know and I, never paying much attention to makeup had to agree. Junior had been standing several feet from the table and I texted him that Julie would be with me for the day but to follow and watch our backs.

We were a few minutes late to the make your own jewelry class as we first went to the wrong floor. But the teacher Bethany welcomed us warmly and showed us each to a station. The gist was simple you put little decorative things in a plastic mold, then the mold was filled with resin and baked and voila you had a piece of jewelry. I watched each of the girls get excited and started making charms for necklaces. I knew immediately what I wanted was a ring for Stephanie. What you really made was an oval "gem" that was then glued onto a metal ring.

This was simple for me. I walked around the different stations picking out exactly what I would need, several miniature hearts, the miniature word love, some shining multi-colored sparkling bits, then I got the resin syringe from one of the assistants and turned my creation over to get cooked. I picked out a ring that had filigree carvings up and down each side and was the size six that would match Stephanie's ring finger. Then it dawned on me that I better make something for Julie and probably Becky and Maggie too.

So, I walked along some unmanned work stations and gathered up all the earing molds. I would make some for Stephanie too, and a necklace for Stephanie. I quickly went to work making multi-color creations for each of my girls, putting hearts in all of Stephanie's, using shining blue for Julie because I know that is her favorite color and looking over Becky and Maggie's shoulder to see what they were making so I could coordinate.

When I requested two tubes of resin the helper thought I was going mad, but I showed her the many molds and told her I was making something for each of my girls she got on board, helping me fill all the molds and cooking them for me. While they cooked and cooled I realized time was running out. I got four pairs of earing hooks to glue them to and one necklace chain for Stephanie.

The girls had all made necklaces and bracelets where they made charms for each other and added them to the chains. I presented all the girls with the earrings I had made as Stephanie watched and then I turned to her.

"Stephanie, you don't wear much jewelry, but I would appreciate it if you would accept these from me. The earrings were multicolored and in the shape of hearts, with little red hearts within them. The necklace chain was a duplicate because she had joined in with the girls all making charms for each other but again mine was in the shape of a heart and I added my charm to all of hers. Knowing that in the future I would buy her a real gold chain to put it on.

Then I took her left hand. "Babe, made something special for you." I told her and I slid the ring from my pocket and put it on her fourth finger as all the girls watched and ooohed and she was speechless. I leaned forward. "I love you, Babe." Then I kissed her lightly on the lips and backed off as the audience was glued to us. She just stared at it speechless.

"Time for Zumba." I distracted everyone and we walked out of the room collecting Junior as we went. I got the girls to the class just a few minutes late and took up position outside the door with Junior. A few minutes later Julie was standing there in her socks, jean shorts and a blue t-shirt with seven emojis, one for each day of the week on it. Friday's emoji had hearts for eyes and a big smile; she stood there trying to get me to join them. "Julie, this is not for me."

"Come on dad, it will be fun. You can stand in the back of the class where no one can see you. Besides it's like doing military drills to music. You can do it. I know you know how to dance."

"Darling I got up at five am and worked out already today. This is for you girls to work off that big breakfast you just ate and the ice cream sundaes that are coming."

"But Dad, you said you would come do things with us today." She pleaded.

"Jewels, you know I love you and I would do anything for you that you needed. Trust me, you don't want to see me doing this."

"Yeah Dad I would. It would give us all something to laugh at." And she cracked up a little bit unable to control herself.

"Go have fun Darling. I'll be right here." I told her and she finally disappeared back into the room where I could hear the pounding music play.

The class got over at 9:50 to give everyone a chance to put their shoes back on and make it to their next class. We headed down to the main gym to find half of the family already there, except Leyla and Isabella, who had taken turns with Rachel and Ron for the little girls and now had the next two hours for themselves. Ron and Rachel decided that this was too aggressive for the little girls and left but my parents were getting ready to play and both my grandmothers were here to watch the fun.

The gym was a regular basketball gym with the lines of a basketball court on the floor and two basketball hoops on each end. The game was played sideways across the gym, everyone lined up against the white walls, so that there was a shorter playing field and fewer balls would escape. We heard the rules and were divided into teams. I gathered my girls together to work out a strategy.

"Ok get a ball as soon as you can and use it to defend against incoming balls. Then when you get an opening aim at their legs and feet. It is harder to knock a ball away that is that low." I held out my hand so they could all stack on top of it and yelled "Go Team. "

The play was fast and furious but the girls were actually good at getting balls and using them to knock away incoming shots. They played aggressively against their little brothers ignoring the other participants that were in the gym to their demise. Maggie got out first with her pink shorts and matching patterned pink shirt, then Becky also got out walking away in jeans shorts and a grey shirt with lots of cool graphics and the words Nike. Stephanie was doing well at getting balls and had even gotten a few people out, but I realized part of her strategy was to stand beside me but one foot back behind me and use me as a shield when balls came her way.

I was gentle with the younger boys in the family but as they quickly got out, I started targeting the older boys that were taking out my girls. Julie was fierce, catching balls and aiming at the opponents across from us. The play started to get faster as there were more balls than people playing and two teenage boys across from us were slowly picking off everyone on our side so I targeted them and quickly got both of them out. One of my balls got returned and almost took Julie out, but she managed to catch it instead. Next her neighbor got hit, leaving only five people left along our wall. Stephanie still hiding behind me.

I kept taking out our opponents until just two boys remained who were not even able to throw the balls all the way across with any power or aim and I quickly took them out. It left four of us along our wall the winners and I turned to Julie and we gave each other celebratory high fives. I turned to Stephanie with a hand out for a high five, then I pulled her in and hugged her. Then in front of my whole family I kissed her like there was no tomorrow for just a quick minute tasting her lips and exploring her mouth and then I let her go.

I was wearing her down knowing she wouldn't struggle in front of my family. Not that she ever really stopped me from kissing her. It is the horizontal Mambo that I was working her up towards and I knew she was going to be in my bed every night for this trip and it was my personal goal to wear her down before I had to leave to take out Sergio.

After congratulations were given, we told the rest of the family we were going to the 'Make your own sundae' ice cream party and invited anyone that wanted to come. The boys all agreed that they wanted to and it was brought up by my mom that lunch was in an hour. When all the girls turned their pouty faces at me and Julie said 'please' I understood for the first time how I affect Stephanie that she can never say no to me when I say please. I doubled down on my efforts and I pointed out that the girls had appointments till two and this would hold them over till they could have lunch, besides we were on vacation and should be having fun. My mom gave me a disapproving look but said nothing else.

The ice cream party was a buffet line where everyone started with two scoops of their favorite kind of ice cream and then there was a line of toppings that just added sugar to sugar, with caramel, butterscotch, chocolate, hot fudge, and strawberry sauce. There were sprinkles in different shapes, colors and flavors along with gummy worms and bits from different candy bars. Finally the line ended with spray whipped cream and maraschino cherries.

The girls piled toppings on and I thought they were bad till I saw the boys had as many toppings on top as they had ice cream in their over-flowing bowls. I dodged everyone offering me bites and subverted a full out ice cream fight. Chris claiming, he was aiming at one of the other boys, shot a maraschino cherry across the table and hit Becky, who immediately returned fire and several cherries flew back and forth before I stopped it from escalating.

Now the girls were hopped up on sugar and I thought another physical activity to burn it off would be preferred but it was time for t-shirt decorating. The girls led the way back to the same craft room we had done the jewelry in. As we came through the door we were given a t-shirt, between every three stations was a group of fabric paints in every color of the rainbow and on the main bar there were neon and glow in the dark paints.

I declined a shirt when I came in the room certain they didn't have one my size, but Stephanie followed me in and handed me a shirt with a pointed look telling me I was not just going to watch this exercise. The shirts were white with a picture of our ship The Retreat on the back with Blue Island Cruise Lines in big letters underneath, so really, we were just walking advertisements.

The first step was to put a piece of cardboard in the shirt that held it flat and still, but my shirt was so large the cardboard only covered the main area. Personally, I would have liked to paint it an army camo color, but that would take too long and take up too much paint, plus the greens they had were different variations of spring green, and there was no tan. I wanted to make it into a night shirt for Stephanie, because I knew she liked to sleep in my shirts, but that was after I had been wearing them and they smelled like me. On the island I might like something that wasn't black so what could I put on this shirt that I might wear?

I thought about Ella's design for RangeMan and writing RangeMan on the shirt with a gun so it could be an unofficial uniform. I picked up the red and drew the RangeMan logo with an oversized R. Then I got the black paint and turned the R into a handgun with a little gold bullet coming out.

I looked over at the girls happy with my design, and they were drawing different girly designs like you would see drawn on their school folders or book covers: hearts, flowers, cell phones, sun shining, butterflies and just random paint splotches. Julie had a soccer ball, because she played soccer and a flute because she was taking band in middle school. Becky had a goldfish in a bowl drawn on hers and she wrote Buddy underneath it. Maggie had a big heart, with multiple little hearts inside it. Then they all started signing each other's and I knew what I wanted.

I coated each girls hand in paint and had them make a handprint on my shirt and sign underneath it. Blue for Julie, green for Maggie, purple for Becky. Then I made Stephanie do it in red and laughed because she was squeamish about the paint being all swishy and gooey on her hand and I thought of all the times she came home covered in garbage and food and smiled to myself. I got her a paper towel to wipe the paint off with and then held her still.

"Babe will you do something for me?" She nodded. I took the red paint and started applying it to her lips and she jerked away.

"Babe, it's not going to hurt you. It's non-toxic. It will wash off. I just want you to kiss my shirt, so I can always have your lips on me." She looked at me skeptically. "I won't wear this shirt otherwise." She sighed, so I pulled out the big guns. "Please."

"I've never seen you wear a white shirt before." She told me skeptically.

"If you kiss it I will have to wear it. I promise on the island I will wear it."

"Promise you will wear it in Trenton. I want you to walk into the Bonds office wearing it." She smiled big at me.

"Ok kiss it a couple of times and sign it and I will wear it into the Bonds office." I told her and she puckered up. I painted the red on her lips and pointed to the spot over the heart and she rolled her eyes but kissed it there. Then I reapplied the red and stood back. She looked the shirt over for a moment and kissed right near the collar of the shirt. The third time she kissed it between Julie's and Becky's handprints. Then she kissed it below her handprint.

"One more time Babe." I told her and held up the red paint. She puckered her lips for me again and I wanted to kiss them. Right then I knew who I would wear this shirt for. I would wear it to the station to see Morelli, with his arm still in a cast and his woman, I mean my woman's lips all over me.

The last time she kissed down low on the right of the middle, just above where my pants would be. Bethany was coming around getting everyone who was done to lay their shirts out on one of the tables lining the front of the room and encouraging everyone else to finish.

I took Stephanie in my arms. "Now you can go and get your face cleaned professionally." I told her and took her hand. "Come on girls beautifying time." I handed Julie the ship map and held my arm up for them to lead the way.

The whole way there the girls were whispering to each other and giggling. I knew what was up when we arrived and Julie and Becky each took one of my hands and Maggie got behind me to push me inside. Not wanting a fight in the doorway, I let them get me five feet inside the large room where at least eight long rectangular tables were situated in a horseshoe, in front of every chair there was a mirror, a different colored headband and several sample size packets. In the center of the tables was a fabulously perky blond with too much make-up on.

"Come on in and take a seat." She encouraged everyone and then her eyes rested on me and she got a big I could eat you smile. "Come on in handsome." She said walking over to me. "I already have each station set up for a woman, but I have a fabulous line of skin care for men that will do wonders for your skin and take off years."

I froze like a deer in the woods scenting a hunter, there was no way I was going to be talked into this. Over the years Ella has bought me a couple of skin care products that I never use. I don't have anything against men using skin care products but there was no way in hell they were going to get me to put on one of those little headbands and do it in front of a room of women.

Suddenly I heard laughter behind me and recognized Angelia's shrill voice. I bent forward thinking of how I could extricate myself from these three determined girls.

"Thank you, ladies, for escorting me inside. Let me take you to your seats." I offered leading them over to a table. I pulled my hands free and dragged out chairs for the three of them. I helped each one get seated and pushed their chairs in for them before turning around to face my sisters, knowing that if Angelia was here, Oshanna would be here too.

"You going to get beautiful hermano?" Oshanna asked me teasingly.

"Just escorting all my ladies to their seats." I stuck my arm out for Stephanie to take and she looked at me skeptically but placed her hand in my elbow and I led her over to the tables and sat her down next to Becky. Isabella and Oshanna followed.

"Have fun ladies." I told them and bent to kiss Stephanie on the head. I exited the room like a skunk had just sprayed and went to find Junior, Lester and Woody who were right outside the door.

I know if my men were all standing here by themselves they would talk amongst themselves, but with me here they would normally stand here silent, staring at the walls. I need them to take this threat and detail seriously but I wanted to hear the night's details before I had to face Oshanna again so I turned to Lester. "I hear you had an exciting end to your night."

He smirked, "If you mean stopping your sister from getting laid, getting my ass chewed and then three of us stopping her from banging down your door, then yeah it was exciting. I never thought to clarify my duties. I just assumed tucking her in at night meant alone." Lester explained.

"You did the right thing. I've only heard rumors but family understanding is that she has a boyfriend back home. She may think that going off-line means it doesn't count if she screws someone else but she's been with him for over a year that I know of. It's something she would have regretted in the morning." I agreed.

"I had heard of the boyfriend rumor as well, just didn't know if it was past tense. Getting rid of the slime was easy once I explained that it was my job to escort her to her cabin and put her to bed. But she was screaming so loud I thought it was going to wake up the ship. Mario and I literally picked her up and carried her into her cabin and I threatened to undress her and put her to bed. That finally shut her up but I think she couldn't decide if that frightened her or if she wanted me to." Lester worried.

"Until the threat is over she sleeps alone." I told him.

"Well just so you know Julio took someone back to his little room. He peeled one off a pack and talked her into going away with him."

"I don't care what Julio does as long as it doesn't affect security. I am actually glad, it will make him more bearable on the island knowing he at least got some on the ship." We stood there for the rest of the time in silence the only thing breaking up the monotony was a few women leaving after the first half and a few showing up for the second. I texted Marc that I would need coverage from 13:00-13:30 while Stephanie was in the salon and stood there debating the activities for the afternoon. I decided that we could discuss them over lunch. I paid for me alone to have internet while on the ship so I decided to check my emails.

Surprisingly I had an email from Skylar that looked like it was forwarded from the cruise line. 'Sorry about this.' She wrote. 'I just received this email this morning so they can't say you had prior warning. It includes the departure instructions which were to put all your luggage outside your cabins by seven this morning and meet in the Double Down lounge at ten for processing off the ship.'

I replied immediately, 'I'll work it out. It is better for the family because everyone wanted to stay on the ship today to explore and take advantage of their many activities. Thank you, Wonder Woman, you are spectacular and do fabulous things for us.'

I opened the link and scanned through the email. I would have to talk to the ship's steward to work this out but unfortunately the only numbers provided by the ship were extensions you had to dial from your room. I was going to wait for a little while to call the steward. Knowing the longer I waited to deal with it the longer we could stay on the ship. All the women had their salon appointments that would last till about four so we weren't leaving before then. We had already rented all the cabins on the island, I could line the walkway with my armed men it's not like they could stop us from getting off the boat. But if they haven't stocked the island and we didn't have food that could be a problem. I could fly food from the mainland, but really, we could stay on the boat for the five days and get off on the island on our way back.

I had another email from Tank. 'Photo ID on Joseph Johnson is a 43yr old white guy from Pennsylvania. Divorced with three kids traveling on business.'

At five till one the women started pouring out. Oshanna, Angelia, Stephanie and the girls made up like it was Friday night and they were hitting the town. I looked closer and saw that each eye and cheek had different colors on them as they had tried out all the options. I took a deep breath hoping I could get the girls to wipe some of it off before we ran into Leyla and Richard.

We all headed a few doors down to the salon. Oshanna and Stephanie checked in while Angelia tried to see if she could get in at the same time, but the third appointment was taken. She was told that if she waited they would see if they could work her in. Marc had been waiting outside the salon and with a nod to him I turned to the girls.

"We have half an hour till Julie has an appointment at the salon, do you girls want to go get lunch?"

"Well Uncle Carlos, we were talking and we want to get our nails done too." Becky said.

I shouldn't be shocked, but this thought had not crossed my mind. "Well let me check with your mother and then we will find times they can fit you in." I told them.

I texted Leyla: 'Julie has a 1:30 salon appointment to get her nails done. Maggie and Becky would also like to get their nails done. I wanted your permission before I made arrangements for them.'

"So, what do you girls want to do for the next," I looked at my watch, "twenty-five minutes."

"Let's go walk the decks. We've been inside all day." Julie said.

"Yeah, there is a rope course that is supposed to be fun the boys were talking about."

I looked at the map again and found that the rope course was on Deck 3. For the next few minutes, we walked and I listened to the girls talk, a touch of me missing having one on one conversation with Julie but most of me enthralled at the girl talk I would never before been privy to.

"Well Janice, that girl in my math and science class. She was, um, like challenging me" Julie was walking with Becky on one side and Maggie on the other telling her story. "She and Candice were like, 'You can't do that.' And 'I was like yes I can. My girl Jade and I can do anything,'

"Really?" Becky was enraptured by Julie's story.

"Yeah, we've been playing since third grade. So, we got my soccer ball out of my locker and like at lunch started in the back of the room kicking it back and forth between tables while they watched and got like almost to the front of the cafeteria when Mr. Baldsworth came over asking what we were doing and we told him it fell down and, well we told him it fell and we were like trying to pick it up like in soccer camp without using our hands."

"and he really bought it?" Maggie asked.

"Well, not really, he is a very strict teacher who will write you up for anything. I had him last year for English and he was so strict I got a C and had to work double hard and redo two assignments so I could keep my A. Um, so anyway, he wrote us a warning slip and sent us up to the office to talk to the principal. But the principal was in a meeting and after waiting for an hour we had missed one class and were going to be late for our next class so I asked the receptionist if we could make an appointment with the principal and she didn't know what we were up there for and made the appointment with my guidance counselor and told me I had to talk to her first before I made an appointment with the principal."

"No way!? Didn't you have a note from that teacher?" Becky asked.

"Yes, but like when we came in I just told the receptionist that we like needed to see the principal and she was like on the phone so she was like pointing to the waiting chairs. She never asked us why. So, three days later I had my appointment with the counselor and I gave her the paper from um, Mr. Baldsworth, and told her I dropped my ball and some kid kicked it back to me so he wrote me up. And she was like well you know you should have walked over there and picked it up and I was like well I know but I didn't really get a chance, and she signed my paper and let me off with a warning that my soccer ball should stay in my locker during school."

"Man, you are so lucky. I've never been sent to the principal's office but two of the boys in our room are like so disruptive they get sent up like every week and the next hour they are back in class and like nothing ever changes. I know they like keep getting detention and occasionally one-day suspensions, like for the day they were flicking rubber bands back and forth in class and hit Margery in the eye and it swelled up and she like had to go to the clinic. But they have been a problem like since sixth grade and they never seem to get any better." Becky said.

"Well like the best part was that I missed math both times and Mrs. Gregory was so nice I told her I didn't understand the homework because I missed class and she told me not to worry about it and didn't make me do it." Julie told them.

I kept listening as we got up on deck and could see the island we were parked in front of. About three hundred feet from shore there is the heavy wooden dock built for a ship, and off of it a small lined walkway that goes to the white sandy beach. There is a check-in shack that monitors everyone on and off the island for the day. Then it is just a sandy trail through the palmetto and palm trees with a bunch of wild grapes growing on everything.

I brought my mind back to the lounge chair covered deck that narrowed into a walkway to the back of the ship, and the bright sun and slightly cloudy sky that looked like it might think about rain this afternoon. The girls were talking about what a pain boys are and they were swapping pain in the butt brother stories. I know I want her to grow up, have a good marriage and kids but a father's greatest wish is that his daughter will think boys are gross and a pain until they turn thirty.

I know how I treated women over my lifetime and while I was a thrill in bed, never had complaints and always had them coming back for more, I never gave them the relationships they desired. I certainly didn't give them the emotional intimacy that most women crave. Now I have found the one woman for me, want to make a commitment to her and… I didn't know where she stood, it's been almost three days had her feelings changed? Is she getting worn down? Is she ready for a relationship with me? I wondered.

At thirteen thirty, after twenty minutes of sky climbing finished by zip lining back down onto the deck. I deposited all three girls at the salon, with sandwiches we grabbed off the deck cart. Stephanie was only half way done with her process. I left her with a turkey and cheese. She agreed to wait in the salon till all the girls were done and escort them to lunch. It took me twenty minutes to track down and get an appointment with the Steward and explained that I was in charge of the group and the situation.

He told me he was very sorry but our luggage had not been scanned and our passports processed, but admitted that all the food and personnel had been taken to the Island this morning, since they had to be in place to fix lunch for everyone on the island. I demanded to talk to the captain.

I explained that we were guarding ten women whose lives have been threatened and if we stayed on the ship I was going to have to arm my men. He became adamant that passengers have to be processed and off loaded in the morning and I was getting calmer and more determined with every word. There was a plan in place and I was coolly going to bend his jelly spine to my iron will.

To be continued…

A/N: Thank you! Thank you! Thank you all for your reviews! They are all loved and appreciated. This is your bonus chapter and the end of daily updates. When I started this story, I was going to write the whole thing before I started posting any of it. But with some encouragement I decided to start posting now and write one chapter a week. So starting Monday it is going to go to weekly updates. I can't promise to always post on Mondays but that will be my goal. Wish me luck. ; p

As always big THANK YOU to my beta Sassysaint who makes my stories more readable. You are AWESOME! THANK YOU! Couldn't do it without you!

Second Big THANK YOU to my sister, Jonelle. Who is giving my stories a thorough technical analysis (ie deep proof reading) Thank you for offering great suggestions and fixing all my comma's, apostrophes, and all my many other little mistakes.

A/N I hope you had fun with the girls on the cruise today. Cruises are so much fun they always have a ton of stuff to do on-board plus the destinations. I wanted to show the family having fun and pulled up several cruise line activities sheets on multiple websites so I could see what kind of activities were current. I really wanted to write Ranger really participating with all the girl's activities today. Getting down with Zumba, or putting on one of those little headband things and cleansing his pores. He crossed his arms and said no way in hell. Although he did mention if he was in Julie's room he might let her put some skin lotion on his face to have that father-daughter bonding moment but there was noooo way on this planet I could get him to put on one of those little headbands that push your hair back and do it in front of a room full of women, not to mention his group of men standing outside the door. But couldn't you just see Julie, Becky, and Maggie all standing in front of him making up his face. Bright blue eye shadow, red lipstick, bright pink blush. Trying to get him to hold still so they could apply mascara to his long black lashes. Sorry laughing so hard I can't keep typing. 😊 ; )

Ranger's Family Album

Mother's Mother – Abuela Rosa, Father's Mother – Abuela Sanja Manoso

Mother – Maria Father – Javier

Siblings and family in age order

Leyla (35) & Richard Gonzales– Rebecca (Becky) 12, Margaret (Maggie) 10, Richard (Ricky) 7, Michael (Mikie) 5

Angelia (34) & Jordan White – Shanna 5 – Kendrick (Ricky) 3

Ricardo Carlos Manoso (32)– Ranger

Julio Manoso (30) Ex Allysa – Jacob 2

Isabella (27) & Diego Diaz – Chris 8, Shylia 6, Parker 3

Oshanna Manoso (22)

Rachel & Ron – Julie 12, Fredrico (Freddie) 9, Cassandra (Cassie)6

Trenton Merry Men Assignments (20 Men)

Abuela Sanja – Vince

Abuela Rosa – Manuel

Maria – Erik

Leyla – Hal

Angelia – Woody

Isabella – Cal

Oshanna – Lester

Rachel – Eddie

Julie – Junior

Stephanie – Ranger, Marc

Extra's – Bobby, Ram, Zero, Zip

Night's – Chester, Chet, Gino, Mario, Ramon, Ryan