PROBLEMATIC
Chapter 15
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Shower time. Bliss and relief. In Ranger's awesome bathroom with that wonderful shower gel of his, Bulgari Green. Washing away the mental filth from my middle of the night intruder, and the lecherous insinuations of those two misogynistic cops, was more than just a simple cleansing ritual. By the time I washed and conditioned my hair, I was feeling so much better. Having an endless supply of hot water made a huge difference.
As Ranger had indicated, in the drawers he had all my special things and toiletries, including Mr Alexander's special anti-frizz for my hair. A quick blow dry to take most of the moisture off, letting the rest dry and settle with a comb through, I felt almost human. I dressed in my work cargo pants and a black t-shirt, black on black. I walked into the bedroom, sat on the bed and put my socks and cat boots on. I was set for the working day.
My nose twitched. Mm-mm. I could smell food, breakfast food, as my tummy loudly expressed from the void within. Grinning I walked in to see the table set for breakfast, a lovely rose in a vase, with Ranger waiting, holding out my chair for me. Like my personal maître di, complete with the white serviette over his forearm, he stood tall and smiled. He placed the serviette in my lap once I was seated. He leaned in for a sweet kiss, before lifting the lid off my plate with a dramatic flourish. He was being playful. I liked it. A bit of levity and humour was just what I needed. This was so nice. So special. It was romantical.
"For milady: French toast with bacon, crème fraiche, cinnamon, maple syrup, and strawberries, with a light snowy dusting of icing sugar. Bon appetite."
I smiled, inhaling the delicious aromas and moaned. I looked at my plate and realised that Ranger must have cooked this, not Ella, as I first considered. Glancing into the kitchen, it was tidy but evidence of food preparations confirmed my suspicions. I smiled at him. "I might just keep you. You have valuable skills."
He laughed out loud. Such a lovely sound. "I have many skills," he smirked. Oh boy. Is it hot in here? I know first hand what some of those valuable skills are. Focus, Stephanie!
"Oh. Wow. This looks fantastic, Ranger. Thank you." I tried for deflection.
I glanced at his plate, expecting to see his usual bark and twigs granola breakfast. Nope, no egg white omelette, not even a bagel. He was having the same!
"Not a temple day, Babe," he grinned at my obvious surprise, while I observed his plateful of the same breakfast. He grinned at me as he sipped some orange juice.
I took a mouthful of bacon with a slice of the French toast and moaned as the maple syrup dripped down my chin. I licked at the corners of my mouth and his eyes went dark as he watched my tongue. I wiped my chin and licked my fingers. His eyes went darker.
"Omigod! This is divine!" I moaned in delight. Ranger made himself more comfortable, giving me that "Payback is coming for you," look. Oh boy.
I looked at his plate, since he hadn't started yet, "Go on. It's not gonna kill you. Try it," I encouraged.
He was amused and did the same, with a luscious moan. I stopped mid chew as I watched this sexy man, quickly checking my chin for maple syrup, er, drool, which might have leaked out. Be still my beating heart. A quick swipe and I wasted no time tucking in, eating heartily, enjoying every delicious bite. Meh. It was that kind of sinful drippy, flavoursome meal that it was unavoidable. Those strawberries were so tasty and I was surprised how tasty the crème fraiche was, so complementary.
As I wiped my hands on the serviette, I told him, "You are a very talented man, Ranger. That was superb."
I leaned back when my plate was empty, unashamedly licking the last of the cinnamon infused maple syrup off my plate with my finger. I know, not very ladylike, but I didn't like to waste any, to the dishwasher you know. Besides, I love maple syrup.
I went to grab the plates but he wouldn't allow it. He returned with coffee and water bottles. We sipped quietly watching each other. Sometimes words are not necessary.
"Babe. I meant what I said earlier, you know, before I had to leave so suddenly for that break in," he qualified.
"I know. Me too. From the heart."
"I'd like to see our relationship become a proper one, being together and going out. I like the idea of you by my side. I have to be honest with you, Stephanie. I have considered and visualised it, when I wasn't making lame excuses, or avoiding what has been in front of me all this time. I want to apologise for holding you back at arm's length. I have craved you, Stephanie. I can't help it. I am addicted to you, Babe. You are always on my mind."
His voice was soft and very sincere as his eyes held mine captive. His hands had reached across the table, rubbing warm circles on the back of my hand.
"The same goes for me, Ranger. I'd like that, very much. I think we were both too scared to admit how we felt lest we lose the best thing in our lives."
He stood up, pulling me towards him, his hands on my cheeks as he gave me a toe-curling kiss, to seal the deal. Whoa! That man can kiss! No one has ever been able to rev up my hormones just with a kiss, a scintillating kiss like that. He grinned.
"Good to know, Babe," he added, as he gave me a chaste kiss, while tucking a wispy wayward curl behind my ear. I love how he does that. How can such a simple action feel so nice, so special, making me feel so loved? I sighed contentedly.
I rolled my eyes but I couldn't stop smiling. Mute button. Where was it? I know what he's thinking: sharing intel with the enemy. He was anything but the enemy. Together we cleared the table, rinsed the plates and loaded the dishwasher. I sniffed the beautiful rose. So fragrant. How did he do that, make a beautiful rose appear, at this time of the day?
He grinned, raising his eyebrows cheekily. "You did call me the Wizard, after our first night." He laughed. I love hearing his laugh, so hearty and deep, and natural.
I bet he had Ella get it, somehow. At this time? So early? Batman, my man of mystery, moves in mysterious ways.
"You're welcome to join the morning meeting. The episodes of this morning in your apartment will be discussed and reviewed, as well as the usual agenda items."
"Okay. I am happy to be part of that. Later this morning sometime, I will need to go to the TPD to give my statement. I want to see Uncle Joe as well."
"I will come with you, seeing I drove you here. Hal will join us. We will arrive as a team, a formidable team."
"Works for me, Batman. I'll just go and brush my teeth and I'm ready to go."
Together we brushed our teeth, I smiled into the mirror at our reflections. It felt so domestic. He smiled too. I drew a heart on the mirror, writing our initials inside it. His eyebrow went up, in that whimsical way he does. Why can't I achieve the one eyebrow technique? He chuckled so I nudged him. I was practising in the mirror, not being aware of my surroundings.
"You know how to make me smile. That's what I love about you, Babe. C'mon. Let's go. Are you dressed?"
I rolled my eyes as I patted my hip holster, "With bullets."
Going down in the elevator, Ranger held my hand, fingers entwined, then raised my hand to his lips and kissed my knuckles gently. It felt nice. I smiled up at him which earned me a quick kiss with a sexy wink. As the doors opened, he led me into the conference room, sitting me beside him on his left, with Tank on his right as usual, facing me near the top of the table. Lester placed a fresh coffee in front of me. I smiled my thanks.
Part of the meeting report included Hal's photos and the offensive audio replay, and a display of my photos. The audio was received with scowls, grumbles and dark looks of disgust. Audible growls were clearly evident but they listened intently. Hal talked through the shots showing the damage. Lester made the subsequent repair report including the deep clean of my apartment. Bobby had photographed my wounds for evidence to add to my statement. There was a definite unified growl with that, especially at the amount of blood.
"Just a flesh wound," I joked, throwing their words back at them. Well, it was. Bobby added, "That may be true, but they were damned deep slices. Lucky for you that you were able to counter his moves with your own solid self-defence moves. Also, it was lucky that you were wearing your slippers, with all that glass." I nodded. He was right of course.
When the next shot popped up on the big screen, seeing the hog-tied Delgado had them laughing and cheering. Phew. The earlier gloom and doom atmosphere had me worried. I'm sure they were planning where and how to hide a body, or three. They congratulated me on my ingenuity with the sash. When I explained about the judo throw they were impressed and proud of me. With a chuckle, Hal told them about Rex, the guard hamster and the look of terror and relief in the skip's eyes when I said, "Good boy, Rex. In your bed.", and the confused cops' expressions looking for a big guard dog. The Rex ploy worked, Rex the ferocious guard hamster. There he was, up on the screen, standing up like he does when I talk to him, beautifully photoshopped with a spiky black collar, a black Rangeman t-shirt and a black cape! Hector winked at me shrugging his shoulders. These guys!
"One bite from those two incisors and they'd know about it," Lester chuckled, speaking from experience.
It was a good meeting with the agenda including the rosters and the usual business. Although, I think somewhere around there I zoned out. After all, it had been an interrupted night, with very little sleep, but a lot of adrenaline. I suppose it caught up with me.
Ranger gave me a gentle nudge. "Oops. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to drop off like that." I was embarrassed. "Not a problem, Babe. It was a busy night. Hal has already made an appointment with Chief Juniak for later this morning." I nodded and stretched as I stood up. Everyone had already moved out leaving just the two of us.
His finger trailed teasingly along my midriff as my t-shirt rode up. "Hm, nice," he purred.
"I might need a catch up snooze this afternoon," I said as I tried to stifle a yawn.
"That is a good idea. You probably only got a couple of hours sleep. Then you'll feel fresh and invigorated because I'd like to take you out for dinner, and then some dancing."
My face lit up, my mind already racing through my wardrobe for suitable dresses. Midnight blue. Yes! Connie and I had gone to lunch last Tuesday, and browsed in Macy's and this dress literally jumped out at me. We found some matching shoes, absolutely perfect for dancing.
"Earth to Babe? I think I lost you there," as he ushered me out of the conference room, grinning at me. "I was just thinking I had a dress that I haven't had the opportunity to wear out yet," I reasoned with a smile. "Dinner and dancing sounds wonderful." He stopped outside Tank's office.
"I'll go check my cubicle for any searches that might have suddenly appeared into my inbox." He nodded.
Parting with a sweet kiss, Ranger went inside Tank's office while I rounded the corner. Sure enough, my inbox was full. I got down to business.
A nudge from Hal two hours later indicated it was time to visit the TPD.
The three of us walked in, Ranger with his hand in the small of my back, with Hal bringing up the rear. My arm was just strapped to protect the stitches, so there was no need for the sling. I felt the tracking of eyes as we approached the main desk asking for Officer Eddie Gazarra to make my statement, and confirm our arrival for the Chief.
Eddie was pleased to see me, checking on my injuries first, even before greeting Ranger and Hal. Leading us to his desk, from one of the offices we could hear the Chief giving someone a blasting.
Once our statements were done, including Hal's witness account, and attaching Bobby's medical report with photos of my injuries - even the blood stains on my gown and little pyjamas as well as the stitched wounds, we signed. Eddie had already made his statement. The assault and B & E charges against Delgado had been upgraded to his rap sheet to go before the judge next week.
As we approached the Chief's office, the door slammed open and the two idiot officers emerged, heads down and embarrassed. Officer Mangano stopped, looked at me with regret clearly on his face. "I'm really sorry, Ms Plum. I should have known better. Once I realised who you were I knew my error."
I nodded but replied, "Regardless of who I am, you should have been more respectful and professional from the outset. I was the victim and you two were most inappropriate." He nodded in shame. The noob jolted in surprise, however, kept his head down, red-faced, more likely from the severe dressing down than from seeing me so unexpectedly. He said nothing but he did appear ashamed.
The Chief was pleased to see me, asking how I was. He apologised for the appalling behaviour of his officers especially the noob, the rookie, both of whom only recently joined the TPD team. They were both reprimanded, and demoted, with the rookie now on probation. The Chief confirmed that both had only arrived in the last week, which was no excuse. Part of their discipline involved courses in community relations, victim management and professional behaviours. He also added that Morelli had to appear in court in New Brunswick. Lieutenant Donna Benson was very thorough in her witness report. In addition, he was reprimanded, and demoted, charged with assault and a brace of other offences. Attending anger management sessions was a high priority. The two newbies were under suspension pending an internal investigation.
Driving away, I was staring mindlessly out of the window, deep in thought. What a morning. My door opened making me jump in surprise. Smiling, lightly, Ranger helped me out of the vehicle. I was so lost in my thoughts, I hadn't even realised where we were. While Hal waited in the SUV, Ranger walked me to the elevator and up to my apartment. He noticed I was really tired now. After he did the walk through, he showed me the clean up. I couldn't believe the difference.
"We added a movement sensor to your window, since it is too easily accessible from the fire escape into your bedroom. Here are the instructions to activate or deactivate it, as the need arises."
"Thank you. This is all so amazing. It smells nice and fresh too. Omigosh. My bedding. It's changed."
"Apparently, there were shards of glass on your bed and the floor rug. So, they were replaced."
"Wow. Thanks. How much do I owe for that?"
"Babe. If I had been here, it would likely not have happened in this manner."
Knowing my home and contents insurance was beyond me now, what with all the break ins, the fire-bombing and other damage, the rate had increased substantially. Hence the crappy furniture. One day, maybe… He silenced my protests with a kiss and a hug, before holding me at arm's length, looking directly into my eyes. "You being safe is the most important thing to me, Babe. These broken and damaged things can be replaced. Not you. You are far too precious."
That left me with a lump in my throat, and misty eyes. I'm not used to special comments like that. I couldn't contain the yawn that sprang forth. I quickly changed into just a Ranger Bulgari-infused t-shirt, which I had stashed in my drawers. Ranger lifted an eyebrow and grinned.
"Omigod! These are like your sheets. So divine and cosy," as I snuggled in.
"Nothing but the best for you. You deserve a bit of luxury too."
He tucked me in and kissed me, with a lot of passion, leaving me with a smile as he closed the curtains and departed.
"Later, Babe."
I sighed and rolled over, snuggled in my new one thousand thread count linen. It didn't take me long to give in to sleep.
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