All recognizable characters belong to Janet Evanovich, I'm just playing.

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Chapter 19: Stephanie

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"Oh my god!"

I burst into Ranger's office, feeling off kilter. He's out of his chair and around the desk in seconds. "Babe! What's wrong?"

Spots form around the edges of my vision and breathing's getting harder. I can hear Ranger still talking, but the words aren't making sense. His strong arms catch me as my legs give out and he gently lowers me to sit on the floor. I hear him yelling and almost immediately Bobby is next to me, holding my wrist in a way that lets me know he's checking my pulse. Somewhere in the background I hear a door slamming, too.

"Babe, look at me."

Ranger's strong voice pulls me back from the brink. "Talk to me, Steph. What's wrong?"

In a voice barely above a whisper, I admit that my biggest fear has come true. "I've turned into my mother!"

I try and stifle a sob, but it still comes out. Another follows, after seeing the confused look on his and Bobby's face. Taking a few deep breaths, I close my eyes and let Ranger stroke my hand to calm me. When breathing is a little easier, I blurt, "I always hated it when she set me up with every Tom, Dick, and Harry that had any semblance of a normal job and a house. Said I'd never do that to my kids. But it's exactly what I've been doing to the guys!"

"Babe."

"No, really." I turn to Bobby. "I'm so sorry!"

I can tell that Bobby's working hard not to laugh. He clears his throat and asks, "Did you ambush any of the guys?"

"What? No! Well, maybe. Tank would probably say yes."

That does get a smile out of him. "Did you browbeat any of them into going on the dates."

I look over at him, horrified. "No! But maybe they were afraid to say no?"

Ranger's eyebrow goes up at that. My head tilts toward him. "Are you saying you wouldn't call one of them to the mats if they upset me?"

"In many situations, but not this one." He looks from me to Bobby. "Don't tell them that, though."

Bobby finally laughs and lets go of my wrist before ruffling my hair. "None of the guys are mad or felt like they couldn't say no to you. Most of them are happier for your efforts. Don't worry about it... Mom."

My heart stops for a minute before he lets out a snicker. I'm sure I look a little crazed. I feel like it. But I have to admit, hearing someone, even a dude five years older than me, call me mom… doesn't completely suck. And now I'm freaked out for a whole other reason. When I look over at Ranger, he's wearing his thinking about smile, but there's something in his eyes that lets me know he noticed my reaction, and he's not freaking out about it. Of course he's not, he's Ranger.

They each get a hand under my elbows and lift me up off the floor. Bobby gives me a hug and whispers, "It's all good, Bomber."

The guys share a chin lift and Bobby heads for the now closed door. I hear him yell out, "False alarm, move along!" and some grumbling from the guys. I guess maybe I did cause a bit of a scene, but there's nothing I can do about it now. Still, I can feel the blush of embarrassment forming on my cheeks.

"Babe."

Ranger uses a finger under my chin to turn my gaze away from the door and onto him. That's not exactly a hardship. "I know. I bring the drama even though I promised to keep it out of the office."

"Have you heard me complain?"

I shake my head no. Ranger hasn't complained, even when the so-called after-action reports for the dates bleed into the actual Rangeman meetings. Luckily my man has infinite patience when it comes to me. And most things, when I think about it. I willingly step into the hug he's offering. He starts rubbing my back, and that has me relaxing. Maybe too much when I realize I'm edging toward falling asleep standing up. I might have actually drifted off when I hear, "The guys seem happy. You did that. You opened the door for them, and they made the decision to walk through and take a chance."

I feel compelled to point out, "Had some slip-ups, though."

He gives me a squeeze. "That's just life."

Reluctantly, I step back. Taking a deep breath and letting it out, I look up at him. "I guess I'm learning then, since I've been better at learning from my mistakes instead of making them 5 or 6 times."

That gets a small thinking about smile from him. He lifts my left hand and kisses the palm before releasing it and heading back to his desk. "Still going after Durban today?"

"Yeah. We have a pretty good plan to catch him when he leaves his penny-ante poker game later."

He nods his head. "Let me know how it goes."

I give him a half-assed salute that makes the thinking about smile turn into a closed mouth you're amusing me smile. Closing his door behind me, I see a couple of the guys look my way. Hating to be the center of attention again, I bulge my eyes out at them, making a few snicker, but they all get back to work. Time for me to do the same.

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Capturing Durban went as expected, so we went after a couple more mid-range bonds. Those also went well, so I'm feeling pretty good as Binkie pulls back into the garage. He stops by the elevator to let me out, but at my snort and hand motion, he parks with the other fleet vehicles. It's been a long time since I've avoided all physical activity, so my meltdown earlier must have made an impression. Ok, I still take the elevator on the regular, because stairs are stupid. Unfortunately, Binkie's in the middle of telling me about taking Maggie and her son Jack to Point Pleasant over the weekend and I have to hike to the fourth floor to hear all the details. Stupid stairs.

When we make it to the control room, everyone is giving me side glances and it puts me on alert. Lester smirks at me from the doorway of his office. Now I'm just paranoid. Ranger's door is closed. Seeing me look that direction, Lester tells me, "Tank's in with him going over reviews."

Ok. That still doesn't explain why everyone's acting weird. Mentally shrugging, I head to my cube to get started on some searches that Rodriguez sent earlier this morning. Looking over my shoulder, I see a few more guys milling about. What. The. Heck. I'm still looking behind me when I get to my cube. I'm stunned by the massive bouquet of roses sitting on my desk. There must be at least three dozen in there, in all shades of red, pink, orange, yellow, and white. Stuck in the middle is a vintage cupid Valentine-type sign. The whole thing is stunning, and I blurt out, "Oh my god, it's huge!"

From one of the cubes I hear, "That's what she said!"

Everyone, including me, snickers. Hands over my mouth, I approach. When I'm close enough, I reach out and gently run a finger along the edge of a yellow petal, willing the tears to stay away. "Where did these come from?"

"From us."

I turn and see most of my guys crowded around behind me. Even Bobby has come up from his office, and I even spy Hector toward the back of the crowd. "Why?"

Vince steps forward and puts an arm around my shoulder. "To say thank you. You went out of your way to do something nice for us and we wanted you to know that we appreciate it."

"Oh." I don't know what to say beyond that, except, "Well, thank you back."

That gets me a quick hug from Vince, and then I'm moving down a receiving line of Merry Man hugs. From the corner of my eye, I see Tank and Ranger at the edge of the room. Tank gives me a chin lift before disappearing and I get a smile from Ranger. The guys see who I'm looking at and quickly disperse; a couple of them even run into each other in their efforts to flee. Ranger ambles his way over and tucks a curl behind my ear as he takes in the flowers. "The guys making me look bad? That might be tough to compete with."

He says it with a smirk, and I poke his ribs. "You know there's no competition. You'll always be my number one speed dial!"

He kisses me on the forehead and we both take in the bouquet that blocks access to my computer. I have no idea where I'm going to move it. Ranger reads my mind. "One of Ella's carts should fit in the corner. Up to you if you want to leave them here or take them upstairs."

"Thanks. I think down here so I can look at them."

I get another quick hug before we both get back to work. Woody wheels in a cart and widgets it into the corner before moving the roses. He and Deanna have been on a couple dates and when I ask him, he says things are good. I know he's introduced her to Ram's wife, Kelly. That's big.

As the day goes on, I find myself turning to take in my flowers and the cute cupid nestled in the middle. I really only expected to set a couple of the guys up, not half the office. I'm pleased with the outcome of my efforts but think maybe it's time to retire my wings and bow and arrow. There's a shuffling behind me, and I turn to see one of the guys from accounting.

"Ms. Plum."

"Michaels, right?"

"Yes, ma'am."

We stare at each other for a few moments before I ask, "What can I do for you."

He shuffles from foot to foot, looking uncomfortable before blurting, "I was told you were the one to see about a date?"

Oh boy.