Chapter 8

Tank POV

I quickly exited Stephanie's office when it was clear that the two of them were lost in some sort of silent communication when neither answered my questions. I made my way to the conference room where the core team and the department heads were congregating before the full team meeting in 30 minutes. I must have entered the room in an obvious state because I was suddenly being asked if I was okay by more than one man in the room.

"What's up big man you look like you saw a ghost." Bobby asked, finally getting my attention.

"You're never gonna believe it but it seems that Stephanie and the Boss man have some kind of pre-existing relationship and neither one of them knew the other worked here." I responded to the room.

"Well in Ranger's defense he has been out of the country for the last four months." Vince joked. I glared at him from across the table.

"If they knew each other before, how did Stephanie not say anything? Ram asked. We all looked between each other and shrugged.

"How is it possible that none of us showed her a picture of him?" Lester added. "If we had shown her a picture she might have recognized him and told us."

"Well what was the atmosphere in the room? Was it long lost lovers, old friends, missing person, trying to figure out how I know you?" Bobby asked, listing off some types of scenarios that may explain the connection I witnessed.

"None of those really at the most it was surprise. Like they've met before but didn't expect the other to be here. At Ranger had this look in his eye one I've never seen before and he was completely unaware of his surroundings." I explained. We all sat in silence for a moment contemplating what was going on when Hector entered the room grinning like the cheshire cat.

"Woah what's got you so happy?" Lester asked him.

"My hermana is happy and El Jefe is back." Hector replied simply.

"What does that have anything to do with your happiness though? Wait Tank said they might previously know each other. Did you know anything about that?" Vince questioned.

"Maybe. That's not my story to tell." Hector answered. Before we could get any more questions in Ranger walked into the room.

Ranger POV

I left Stephanie's office needing a minute to get my head on straight before the meeting. I walked back to my office and locked the door so no one would interrupt. Once that was done I took to pacing in a circle around the space.

I wasn't sure how I felt about this. I mean on one hand I was ecstatic that the woman I couldn't stop thinking about since I met her in the grocery store was here and not just in the building for some type of client meeting either but here working for me. According to Tank she was the best damn thing to happen to him before I returned too.

But that was also the downside. I mean she was my employee there's gotta be some kind of rule against dating your subordinates. Although she didn't back down when I offered to cancel the date.

I was also concerned because I mean I haven't dated anyone in years. Not since my ex-girlfriend Rachel 5 years ago that ended in her telling me that she was pregnant, come to find out it wasn't even mine. Since then I've had an occasional hook up but nothing like I was offering Stephanie. Was I even capable of relationships and love anymore? I've spent the last seven years in an army career that kept me out of the country in dangerous situations for long periods of time only to then also start my own company that had me working off hours in sometimes very similar dangerous scenarios. I have gained many enemies over the years and some could very well come back to haunt me and the people in my life.

All of these things could make a relationship and dating complicated. Yet there was the unexplainable pull in my gut that told me that I needed to take this chance. There was just something in the spark that was created when I met her that told me that I would regret it if I walked away now. My Abuela Rosa had always told me that if it feels like there's a force pushing you towards something, trust your gut because that's fate telling you what's next. Her advice helped me get out of several FUBAR situations on my missions so if fate was finally trying to bring me some good karma who am I to turn it down. I supposed I didn't need to think too hard about this now though who knows the date could go awful.

I made one more loop around my desk slamming down my blank face and made my way to the conference room. As I approached the room I could hear the guys questioning Hector about his boss and his Hermana, Interesting. I'd have to ask Stephanie what her relationship with Hector is and more importantly I'd have to watch the tape back to see how much the members of the core team knew about my personal life. It wasn't that I was opposed to them knowing I just didn't want them to think any less of Stephanie and this wasn't something I normally shared.

I stepped in the room before they could continue to give a short briefing before the others showed up. I made my way to the front as the men sat up a little straighter and turned their attention to my presence in the room. "Men. Thank you for handling Rangeman while I was away. As you know this is my last year under my current contract before I enter renegotiations I will likely have at least one more mission and you will be updated when the time comes." The men nodded in acknowledgement.

"Tank walked me through the company progress from the last four months and the 4th quarter report. We are in a good position but our growth is starting to slow. We need to focus on finding ways to increase our current revenue streams, determine new ones, and cut our costs. While we aren't strapped for cash we need to optimize our operations if we plan to open our next branch next year. We will be having a meeting at the end of this week to review the annual report. Please bring your ideas then. Questions?" No one spoke up so I motioned for Hal to open the door so the other employees could enter.

Stephanie was one of the last to enter carrying a stack of files looking a little flustered, it was adorable. Hector stood up so she could sit down after taking the files from her. I pushed away the butterflies in my stomach that had broken my normally serious demeanor and called the room to order.

I gave a brief speech thanking the men for closing out the year on a high before going over this week's duty roster, skips, and updates from the other branches. I ended the meeting reminding everyone that myself and Tank would be scheduling performance reviews now that I was back so be aware they will be getting called in during one of their upcoming shifts. I dismissed the men and was hoping to get to talk to Stephanie again but she was talking to Hank about some reports he needed to redo so I just made my way back to my office. I needed to do some research for my date and watch the conference room tape from this morning.