Chapter Four

Jeanne Ellen POV

Two hours later, the men had started arriving. A few came with their girlfriends, but most of them were single. With the two exceptions of Tank and Binkie, no one was married. Military life is hard on relationships, and most of the men weren't able or willing to balance a relationship alongside the horrors they saw serving in the military. Those that weren't in the military, either currently or as part of their past, had other reasons. If I weren't former Army myself, I don't think Tank and I would be married.

Tank had joined his close friend Ranger in his security business, Rangeman, and bought into the company along with two more of their fellow Rangers. They hired a lot of ex-military and ex-cons, really anyone who had special skills they could use. With a few years of hard work, they had expanded their company with branches in four cities and employed a couple hundred men.

Lester and Bobby came in, the two partners in Rangeman that had served with Tank and Ranger.

"Hey, Gorgeous!" Lester exclaimed, picking me up and twirling me around. "You're looking good."

I laughed. "You saw me two days ago in the police station, you flatterer."

"I don't know how you did it, but you did get more beautiful in the past two days," he said with a grinning leer. Lester was a big flirt, but I knew he was mostly trying to get under Tank's skin.

Tank growled. "Hands off my woman, Santos."

Lester smirked and released me. Bobby gave me a hug, kissed my cheek and said, "hey girl, you're looking good."

The rest of the men started arriving in earnest soon after that, followed by Luis and Ella, a husband-and-wife team who took care of the building maintenance and housekeeping for RangeMan. Tank got started on the grill and was happily grilling piles of steak and chicken. Despite the slight chill in the air, most of the men were in the backyard and Ella and I were sitting at the kitchen table chatting when Tank's partner Ranger entered the kitchen. He gave us a slight smile while greeting Ella and me, and I knew for him that was the equivalent of a belly laugh from someone else.

"Hey Ranger, glad you could make it this time. Everyone's in the backyard, but I imagine food should be ready shortly." Last time we had a barbecue, he was on a mission for the government. Ranger was one of only a few in the entire company who still accepted them, and the only one in Trenton. Ranger is a gorgeous Cuban-American man who is well aware of it, but as far as I knew, he didn't take advantage of his appeal to women. He had a fairly wild past, but he had outgrown that, probably as a result of the one-night-stand that resulted in a daughter. I'm sure he still picked up women, but I had never seen him with one and Tank told me even that was not frequent. He was married to his work, and Rangeman and the US government kept him busy.

"Thanks, Jeanne Ellen," he said and walked out the patio doors to the backyard.

Ella sighed. "I wish mi sobrino would open himself up to find love. I'd hate to see him alone for the rest of his life."

I smiled to myself. She says the same thing about all the men working for Rangeman and has appointed herself the "house mother" for all of them, even her actual nephews, Ranger and Lester. She was overjoyed when Tank and I got married, though we were together before we met her when Rangeman was formed. "Shall we go outside and see if the food is ready?" I asked her. She nodded and we headed outside to see how everything was coming.

The food was coming off the grill, so I grabbed the platters Tank had pulled down from the high kitchen cabinets and brought them outside. I arranged all the sides on the outdoor kitchen counters and began piling the chicken and steak onto the platters. I put them down and called out, "food's ready, guys."

Several hours later, most everyone had left with just our closest friends remaining. I was nursing a beer, sitting at a table with Tank, Ranger, Lester, and Bobby while the party wound down. Tank turned to me and asked, "did you and Steph decide when she's coming?"

I smiled and answered, "I'm going to pick her up after lunch tomorrow and bring her back with me. She's going to talk to her boss in the morning and take a couple of weeks off."

These men knew a little about me and my background, but I hadn't spoken much about my family. I did my Basic Training with Ranger and Tank and thus they knew more about my background than the others, but neither would talk about my past. I only really spoke to Steph and my dad, and my dad was a quiet former Ranger himself. My other half-sister and stepmother were very hard to live with growing up, and I avoided them as much as possible these days.

The men were all regarding Tank and me interestedly now. "Your sister is coming for a visit?" Bobby asked.

"She's the hot one, right?" Lester added.

I raised my eyebrow at him. "The hot one, as opposed to?"

"Uhh. Never mind," he said quickly.

"Mmhmm. Listen, you guys, she's going through a rough time and doesn't need to put up with any of you hitting on her or giving her a hard time, okay?"

Bobby frowned. "What happened?" Bobby is a medic, a healer, and despite his tendency to move from woman to woman without settling down, he has a caring personality.

"She found her husband cheating on her with their nanny," I explained simply.

Ranger, Lester and Bobby all looked angry at this. They may not be interested in settling down, but none of them would ever treat a woman like that.

"Does this cabrón need to be taught a lesson on how to treat a woman and the mother of his child?" Lester asked, cracking his knuckles.

I rolled my eyes. "No. He is a bastard, but he is the father of their daughter and what she really needs is a good lawyer who can take him on in court."

"What do you mean, take him on?" Ranger asked curiously.

"He's a lawyer and I'm sure will hire an absolute killer to represent his interests," Tank explained. "He's also an asshole and I have no doubt he will attempt to get out of his responsibilities to Steph and their daughter."

"How old is their kid?" Lester asked. You'd never know it to look at him, but Les adored kids. Maybe because he's a big kid himself.

"She's four, super smart and completely adorable. If I were going to have kids, I'd want one just like her."

"What's her name?" Bobby asked.

"Zoë."

"We call her Squirt," Tank added.

"Cute," said Bobby.

About half an hour later, the men stood up to take their leave. Ranger stayed behind to talk to Tank privately for a few minutes after that, then he left too.

We cleaned up the final bit of our barbecue, then went to our bedroom. "Ranger offered Rangeman's lawyer to help Steph in her divorce," Tank said as we got ready for bed.

"Really?" I was surprised. Ranger has never even met Steph.

"Yeah. He said she's family because of you and we help family."

"Aww. Despite being such a hardass, he sure can be sweet sometimes."

"Don't ever say that again, especially to him," Tank warned.

We got into bed and he curled his body around mine. "Love you, Baby," he said roughly, kissing me goodnight.

"I love you too," I murmured, before sleep overtook me.