Chapter 2

All right there is no need to panic, Ranger is not a bad person. And I hope to hell that he's not really all that big on my death. Rangers grip on my arm was vice like, cutting the circulation off making my fingers go blue. It wasn't hurting it was just annoying. We stoped at his car and he pushed me into the passenger seat, closed the door and walked around to the driver’s side.  Unless Ranger had gone insane in the past few days or so, I was pretty sure he wasn't going to shoot me, of course I've been known to be wrong on occasions. Ranger had done up his seat belt and was looking at me without expression.

"Have you got a passport?" Great he wasn't going to shoot me, just put me on a plane to some tiny undeveloped country where females probably had to be covered from hair to toe permanently.

"Why?"

"Yes or no?"

"Yes I have one, but I want to know why I need it"

"We're leaving the country." Of course, how stupid of me.

"Excuse me? Do I get to know why we're leaving the country? And I left my bag at Lula’s"

"We'll get it tomorrow, I've got more important things to do tonight"

"Like what?" As I said it Rangers cell phone rang, he ignored me and answered.

"Yo...Right...I'm on it...Meet you there in five." What a stimulating conversationalist. Ranger did a U-turn and floored it.

"Are you going to answer me?" No he didn’t even hear me, Ranger was in the Zone. Great, just what I needed. I relaxed back into the plush seat and wriggled trying to take pressure of my bruise. A few minutes later we pulled into a 24hour convenience store and stopped next to new black bronco. No need to guess who owned that. I got out of the car before Ranger could say anything and walked it the direction of the store.

"Where are you going?" Ranger asked. I ignored him for a change and continued, there was probably going to be something involving guns and bullets and I had to go to the toilet before hand so I didn’t wet my pants when this whole thing started. I deemed this to be information that Ranger or anybody else did not need to know.

The doors slid open in front of me and I followed the signs until I got to the toilets. I had just finished washing my hands when I heard yelling in the store. I did the smart thing and pulled myself up onto the bench and sat there while waiting for the commotion to die down. I was just sliding of the bench when Ranger walked into the bathroom, it also happened at that moment that my bruise scrapped on the edge of the bench. I grimaced at the pain and tried to look normal when I saw that Ranger had a grin on his face. Bastard, it was his fault in the first place. I got kind of cranky then.

"What?" I snapped "Haven't you ever seen a person with a bruise on their butt before?"

"Never thought I'd see Wonder Woman wince at anything"

"Very fucking funny" I snapped as I went to walk pass him. Ranger grabbed me by the waist and lifted me to me tiptoes and squashed me against him. His mouth clamped onto mine, his tongue was doing something amazing, while his other arm reached down around the top of my thighs and lifted my feet of the ground. Ranger took a few quick steps while I wrapped my legs around his waist and soon had me up against the wall. He pulled down the front of my costume and just barely touched his tongue to my hard nipple. Which if possible went harder still. His fingers on one hand were working at moving my costume in my crotch area. He succeeded and his fingers went to work on that spot.

"Ooohhhh...yes...Oohhh harder...Oohhh!" My god that was me! We're in a public place and I wanted more!

No, I had to stop this now. Shit, who was I trying to kid? I wanted this more and more every minute. I pulled Ranger’s head back up to my face and kissed him hard. Ranger lifted is head away from mine

"It's time to go."

"What?" The lust induced glaze left my eyes "Go where exactly?"

"Cop station"

"What the fuck for?" I asked rather peevishly, the cop station was the last place I wanted to go.

"Have to drop this skip off." I grunted, fixed my costume and stormed out of the bathroom. I was standing next to the locked BMW, glaring at Tank who was grinning from ear to ear.

"What do you find so amusing?" This was not turning out to be a good night. But hell, if Tank was finding something to laugh about why couldn't I laugh at it too?

"You'd make a much more convincing Wonder Woman if your nipple wasn't showing." Of course. I looked down, unsurprised. It was turning into one of those nights, where absolutely nothing was going to go my way. I could feel the tears gathering in my eyes. Damn.

I put my breast back where it was meant to be and wiped my eyes, I slumped against Rangers car, not giving a damn if the alarm decided to go off. Tank walked over and stood next to me.

"You know, it's never as bad as it seems"

"Of course it is." I sniffed and dramatically threw my arms into the air. I stepped away from the car and faced Tank. "Ranger’s pissed at me and is going to put me on a plane to some tiny little backward country, where my skin will never see the sun-light again all because I was dancing with Sally, but first he's going to take me to the cop station where, knowing my luck, I'll see Morelli or more likely, he'll see me. But the worst thing is I just missed out on a really good orgasm because some stupid idiot has to be taken to jail!"

"Where on earth did you get that idea?" I spun around to face Ranger.

"What do you mean, 'Where on earth did I get that idea?' What else would I need a passport for?"

"We're going to Australia." I stood there. Dumbstruck. I didn't move, I didn't speak, and I don't even think I was breathing.

"Well of course!" I said sarcastically. "I suppose I should have known that from your extensive explanation."

"I would have explained it if you had of answered my calls! But no, you avoided everyone of them!"

"I did not avoid your calls! I've been busy! I've taken in 9 FTA's this week! I'm just about had it with my job! And I don't want to discuss this here!"

Ranger walked around to the drivers side unlocked the car and got in behind the wheel. He powered down the passenger window and looked at me.

"Get in the car." I just looked at him. Did he actually think I was going to the station with him? Dressed like this?

"Will you drop me at home before going to the cop station? I really don't think I can handle the cop humour tonight."

"Just get in the fucking car and I'll drop you anywhere you want to go." I waved goodbye to Tank and got in the car. Quietly. I sat without moving for the ten minutes it took to get to my apartment. Ranger pulled up at the door not once looking at me.

"Are you going to speak to me?" I asked in a small voice. There was no reply. "I guess not" I closed the door to the car and walked into the building. As the door closed behind me I heard wheels spinning out of the parking lot. Ranger was incredibly angry and I had no idea what I had done wrong.

Chapter 3

I walked slowly up the stairs wondering what I had done to piss Ranger off so bad. I really couldn't think what it was. I let my self into my apartment and locked the door behind me. I turned on all the lights and did a cursory search to see if anyone was hiding in there. Luckily there was no one. Not that I was expecting anyone, it had just become a habit. I stood in the middle of my living room and stripped off the Wonder Woman suit. I headed into the bathroom and showered until the hot water ran out. I dried off, did a quick blow dry of my hair and got into my bed not bothering to put anything on. I woke up sometime later for reasons unknown.

All the lights were still blazing. Suddenly the kitchen light turned off, then the living room light. Ranger was standing in the doorway to my bedroom.

"Ranger?" My voice was rough from sleep, my eyes barely open. He reached around and turned off the bathroom light, then turned off my bedroom light. The room was pitch black and I had no idea where Ranger had gone or if he had even moved. "Ranger?"

I felt his weight sink into the bed as he sat down. "I'm here"

I reached out for him and made contact with his back. I felt the need to apologise for whatever it was that I did. I pulled the blanket up around my breasts and tucked it up under my arms. I knelt up towards him and put my hands on his shoulders.

"I'm sorry for whatever it was that I did. I don't want you mad at me."

"Because you're worried that I'll dump you in some far off country with no way of getting home?"

"No! I didn't really mean that, it was just my drunk overactive imagination making me say that! I'm sorry that you thought I meant it. I truly don't want you mad at me."

"If you didn't really mean that, why did you say it?" Ranger's voice had no emotion and he didn't move.

"I don't know. Probably because there is so much I don’t know about you and I think you could make bad things happen to people who piss you off." I was speaking from the heart. I didn't love Ranger but I respected him, trusted him and liked him a lot, enough to tell him the truth. This admission shocked me. I had thought that I loved Joe, but it was obvious to me now that I didn't as half the time I didn't even trust him enough to tell the truth. My eyes had adjusted to the dim light coming through the curtains on my window. About five minutes went by when I had to shift position. I hung one leg off the bed and had the other stretched out behind Ranger before he said anything.

"What do you want to know? Tell me what it is you need to know to be able to trust me."

"I trust you Ranger. Trust isn't an issue. It's just that I have an overt curiosity and an overactive imagination. I store all the comments people make to me and then in an instant I get a picture of what people are capable of. These pictures are usually way over the top and more than likely wrong, but I have a bad habit of putting my foot in it and it seems I've done it again." Ranger had his palms on his thighs and I reached and put my hand on his. "You don't have to tell me anything you don't want to."

I took my hand away and rested it on my leg. Ranger did nothing. Ten minutes later we were in the same spot, nothing had been said. I was getting annoyed, what was he doing just sitting there? Five minutes went by and I was no longer annoyed, I was pissed off.

"Say something"

There was no reaction so I gave him a small shove, then a harder one. He still wasn't doing anything. I gave him an almighty slap on the chest. "Do something for fuck sake! Don't sit there and fucking ignore me!"

Ranger got up and moved away from the bed and left the room. I sat on my bed and didn't move. I couldn't. I had no idea how much time had passed when I heard the toilet flush but I was so damn relieved that he hadn't left that I flopped back on the bed and swore when my hand hit the bed head.

"Did you want me to go?"

"No! Why would you think that?"

"Never mind." Ranger stripped off down to boxers and climbed in next to me. He laid down on his back and bent his arm around me when I put my head on his shoulder.

"That was a pointless fight. Lets not fight anymore."

"Well not tonight anyway." I replied, "Not that I'd call that a fight. Fight's have to be two sided and loud."

"You think?" I was slowly dragging my fingers across Rangers chest and stomach.

"Yes, that way it gets your blood going and the make-up sex is so much better." Ranger’s hand was massaging my lower back, his other hand was behind his head. I lightly drew my fingers over Ranger's nipple feeling it harden underneath. Ranger roughly grabbed my wrist. "Were you hoping to achieve this?"

"What?" I was totally confused. Ranger jerked my hand down and placed it on his erection. "No. This is a surprise to me, a nice surprise though."

Ranger rolled on top of me so fast that I didn't have time to move my hand, I still had hold of him but was now unable to move or breathe because of his dead weight on top of me. I tried to tell him get off but only expelled air. I pulled at his erection, but he grinned and kissed me hard thrusting his tongue into my mouth. By now I was sure that I was going blue in the face and I started to panic, I bit Rangers tongue. Hard.

"Ouch! What the hell was that for?" I didn't bother to reply, I was just trying to breathe again. When Ranger figured out what had happened he started to laugh. It didn't take long for that to get old. I went to slap him on the chest again but he caught my wrist and squeezed. "I don't think so."

He rolled back over the top of me and caught hold of my other wrist and stretched both my arms above my head holding them with his left hand. His right hand travelled down my body and started to slowly roll his forefinger in a circular motion in that precise spot between my legs.

"Oooohhhhh!"

"Do you like that?" Did he really have to ask? His finger slipped inside me. This time I was going to get what I wanted for sure. He stoped and quickly got up and got off the bed.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing!" This was outrageous! "Get back here now!"

"Just wait, I've got something." Ranger returned from the living room with a canister of something and a small box. As it turned out it was spermicide and a diaphragm. Great it was back to these. Ranger fiddled for a minute.

"Give it here." I said and expertly put the spermicide on and quickly fixed them in myself.

"How do you know what you're doing?" Asked Ranger curiously and I thought, kind of tightly.

"I used to use one when I was with Dickie." I used to take the pill too, I wasn’t taking any chance of getting pregnant to that ass. "There is one other thing though and I don't want you getting upset or anything, but condoms, cover all precautions, not just pregnancy."

"Yes, I realise that but don't worry. I have myself and my team tested regularly, and since the last one was clear and you're the only one I've slept with since it's OK."

"You have 'your team' tested?"

"Meaning the guy's I work with." He was on his knees between my legs scratching his shoulder. "You should see Tank. Passes out just about every time."

"Yeah, sure." This about a guy who throws people out windows without flinching. Ranger lent down and kissed me gently on the lips and then almost violently pushed his tongue into my mouth. One hand reached down between my legs feeling to see how ready I was, a second later he pushed my legs further apart and entered me hard and fast, His mouth never once leaving mine.

Chapter 4

I woke up the next morning and looked over to where Ranger had been sleeping. He was gone. I looked at the clock next to my bed and saw it was only 6.23am. I groaned and rolled over to go back to sleep. If Ranger wanted to get out bed this early he was welcome to, I just hope he didn't expect me to. Ever, if I could help it. I woke again a couple of hours later to the sound of my fridge door closing. Two seconds later Tank stuck his head in my bedroom door.

"Rise and shine, sleepy head!"

"What the fuck do you think you're doing here?" I was turning into a potty mouth. If my mother heard me swearing like this she'd wash my mouth out with soap. Well maybe I was a bit big for that now, but she'd done it before.

"I brought you breakfast" Hmmm... wasn’t that Rangers job?

"Rangers instructions." That didn't make me anymore comfortable or any less naked. I pulled the sheet up around my breasts.

"I've seen it before, why bother with the sheet?"

"Get out! Get out now!" I threw a pillow at the door as it closed behind Tank. I could hear him laughing through the living room and into the kitchen. Prick. I got up, had a quick shower and pulled on a pair of jeans and t-shirt. I joined Tank in the kitchen where he was pouring milk into two bowls of Frosted Flakes.

"I bet Ranger didn't instruct you to give me this for breakfast."

"Well his exact instructions were to make you eat something that is low in fat and something that would get you started for the day, hence we have low fat milk and sugar. I'm sure he was thinking of some kind of fruit and cardboard like cereal shit that he eats, but I bet your glad I did the shopping."

"Yes, I could kiss you, you saved me from a fate worse than death."

We both stoped talking and concentrated on eating as much as we could, as fast as we could. Two bowls and ten minutes later Ranger let himself in the door still sweaty from his run. He brought a small overnight bag in with him, I figured that he had gone home and picked up some fresh clothes before hand.

"What are you still doing here?" Ranger directed the comment at Tank while his hands came to rest on my shoulders.

"We just finished breakfast." I answered for Tank. "We had a delicious, nutritious, low fat meal as directed, Commandant."

"Smart ass." Ranger flicked my earlobe as he went to get some cold water out of the fridge. "Frosted Flakes doesn't fit into anyone of those categories you know?"

"The milk does and as long of at least half of it was healthy it doesn't matter." To me that was sound reasoning. "All the good stuff cancels out the bad stuff."

Ranger didn't look like he was buying into my theory and Tank's shoulders were shaking like he was having some kind of fit. I ignored both of them and reached behind me to get a glass for Ranger so he wouldn't drink from the bottle.

Fifteen minutes later Tank had left and Ranger was exiting from the shower. I was lying on the bed watching the Symphony and Metallica concert on an MTV special. Ranger was wearing a pair of army cams and hadn't bothered to get dressed any further. I sure as hell wasn't going to complain. He sat down next to me with his back against the headboard of the bed.

"Do you want to talk about this Australian trip?" Hell yes! I just hadn't wanted to be the first to bring it up. I turned the TV down and rolled over to face him, leaning on an elbow I propped my head up.

"What's the deal?" I sat up properly, curiosity beating out all other thoughts and emotions.

"A friend living in Australia is calling in a team of us to help him with a problem." I waited, but that seemed to be the only voluntary information he was giving out.

"What is his problem exactly?" There are some things a girl needs to know before she goes running of across to the other side of the world.

"His daughter has been kidnapped and held to ransom."

Ok, so I was about to go half way around the world to help catch a kidnapper? I don't think so.

"Who is he to be able to place a call half way around the world to call in a team of what... ex-army guys?"

"His name is John Crandall, he's an ex-pat living in the mountains out of Sydney. He is a major businessman, owns companies all over the world. Besides which he used to be in the Special Forces with us. His daughter, Lizzy, is 12 years old and got snatched three days ago on her second day of high school."

"What would I be doing there?" I was sure that it wasn't to make sandwiches.

"Well I'm am going over as Chris Du Shane, his wife Maria's brother, and if you come you will be Stephanie, my wife." Ranger pulled me down onto my stomach and sat on my thighs. He gently started to massage my back. "The other guys on the team will be spread out around the place while we'll be with John and Maria. They have been getting directions from the kidnapper which has them moving around."

This massage was so good I was nearly purring. It would seem that Ranger knew that I could be talked into anything when I'm getting a massage. "Alright, when do we leave?"

"One O'clock this afternoon." What! It was 11.30 now! This was impossible! I bucked up and Ranger landed with a thud to the side of my bed. "I can't! It’s not humanly possible! I've got to pack, go to the office, pick up my bag from Lula’s, take Rex to my parents house, I've got to call Mary Lou!"

Not to mention that I thought I should make some kind of effort to contact Joe, that however was the last problem on my list.

"Relax Babe, you don't have to pack anything, we'll go shopping before we leave in Manhattan, Chris and Stephanie are very rich, so we'll get new everything. I've picked up your bag from Lula’s and told her that you won't be around for a while. We will drop Rex off as we leave and you can call Mary Lou from the hotel tonight. We are flying out of JFK to Houston, transferring on to a private jet and landing in Sydney's International airport. We will then transfer onto John's helicopter and meet up with them where ever they are at that moment." That was the longest I've ever heard Ranger speak at one time. He had solved all of my problems aside from the one that I had not mentioned. How was I going to get around this?

"Ok what I'll do is head around to Mom and Dads now and drop off Rex, this will take a bit of explaining." Perfect, I could call Joe while I was there and maybe get a start on the marathon call to Mary Lou. "I can also leave the Buick there while I'm away. You can swing by and pick me up on the way."

Ranger agreed, finished dressing and quietly slipped out the door while I gathered all the necessities to take to Mom and Dad's house and all the stuff I thought necessary for any woman to have on an extended trip. I pulled up out the front of my parent’s row house and loaded up all the things I'd taken from my apartment. It was now 12.20 because I had the forethought to stop off and see Dillan my Super, and asked him to keep an eye on my apartment. I walked inside and put Rex down on the living room table.

"Stephanie! What is this I hear about you running off to get married to that Ranger character? I couldn't hear it from my own daughter but I had to hear it from that insufferable Effie Watts! I've been trying to ring you ever since I found out! Where on earth have you been?"

"Mom! Stop! I'm not getting married to Ranger. I'll explain it all in a minute." I rushed in when she stoped to take a breath. "Right now I need to use your phone. Is that ok?"

Mom nodded wearily and I stomped upstairs to use the phone in my old room. I went through dispatch and called Eddie first.

"Well congratulations Steph! About time you got married again." Was the comment I got before I even said 'Hello'.

"NO! I am not getting married! God what is it with this place? I need to know where Morelli is. Do you have any idea?"

"Yeah, he’s in his office. Do you want me to patch you through?" I hung up when I heard the tone signalling that Eddie had hit the buttons before waiting for a reply. I dialled Morelli’s home number.

"Joe, I'm going out of town for awhile with Ranger for work. I'll give you a call when I get back." Short and to the point. It was now 12.40 and I still needed to call Mary Lou and talk to my Mom. I called Mary Lou first. Lenny picked up on the 3rd ring.

"Hello?"

"Lenny, it's Stephanie here. Is Mary Lou in?"

"Sure, I'll get her. Oh, congratulations by the way."

"I'm not getting married."

"So you ain't going over sea’s with this Ranger guy? You should bring this guy around and let me check him out, I'll make sure he's on the level for ya." What a sweetie, at that moment I could see why Mary Lou saw more in Lenny than most others did.

"Thanks Lenny, but we just work together." And occasionally we sleep together, I added in my head. At that point Mary Lou came on the line.

"Oh my God!! Is it true? Steph? What’s happening?" Mary Lou was an excitable kind of person when it came to me having a life, particularly if that life involved sex.

"Mary Lou, I've only got a minute. No we're not getting married. We're going away on business." It occurred to me then that I hadn't told anyone where I was actually going. "I'm going to call you tonight from the hotel, Ok? We'll talk more then."

"All right, that was disappointing, I was hoping... Oh well. Talk to you tonight." It was 12.47 when I disengaged. Knowing Ranger he would be here a bit early. Knowing that I only had a few minutes left I went down the stairs to face my Mom.

Chapter 5

My mother was ironing furiously when I stepped off the last step. I sat down on one of the chairs in at the kitchen table and moved uncomfortably to take the pressure off my bruise. "What are you looking like that for? All screwy faced and wiggling?"

"I've got a bruise on my butt."

"How did that happed? You are always in some sort of scrape." Hmmm... to lie or not to lie. Definitely lie.

"I backed into the corner of the kitchen table the other day. It's nothing really." Even better, a half-truth. It really did happen like that the only part she didn't need to know was that it was Ranger who was backing me up to the table at dangerously high speeds, determined to have his way with me again. Not that I had minded at the time, hell, I still don't mind it now. A bruise was well worth the orgasm that I had on that table. I grinned at that particular memory.

"Ma...I really don't have much time, Hey where's Grandma and Dad?"

"Your father took the cab out and your Grandma is at the beauty parlour. I dare say that your grandmother will be home any minute." Damn. Hurry up Ranger. I love my grandma, but I certainly wasn't in the mood for her at the moment. Suddenly there was the heavenly sound of the door ringing. Ranger was here to pick me up.

"Ma that will be Ranger. I'll call you tonight and we'll talk some more Ok?" I gave her a hug and a kiss and opened the front door. "Shit!"

I very quickly slammed it shut again. Morelli! What the hell was he doing? I should have run as soon as possible. I went through the kitchen and out the back door. Damn, it would seem that Morelli knows me better than I thought.

"Alright, come in and we'll talk." We sat at the kitchen table. Neither one of us wanting to start the argument that was sure to come of this meeting. Damn, I had better do something before Ranger showed up.

"So..." I just didn't know what I should do. "What are you doing here?"

That seemed like a good place to start. Morelli however did not. "Why are you doing this?"

"What?"

"What’s going on with you and Ranger?"

"I don't think that’s any of your business." Well maybe I did a little, but I wasn't about to tell him that.

"Of course it's my business! You are my girlfriend and you're going overseas with another man!"

"Last I heard from you was that you weren’t interested in a relationship! As soon as I decide to do something about getting myself some kind of life you suddenly decide that I'm your girlfriend?! No! I don't think so! Jesus Joe, we barely get along at the best of times!"

All this yelling was giving me a headache. I got up from the table and walked to the door, I could see through the window that Ranger had just pulled up behind Morelli’s truck. He switched it off but didn't get out of the car. Joes voice came softly from behind me.

"Nothing good will come of this. You know that don't you?"

"Maybe not, but it's something I want to do, something I have to do." I walked back and gave my mum a kiss and hug. "Say hello and goodbye to daddy and grandma. Take good care of Rex for me. I'll call you soon."

I stepped over to Joe and gave him a kiss on the forehead. "Bye Joe."

I picked up my small overnight bag filled with girly essentials and walked out to Ranger’s car. We looked at each other for a minute or so. Ranger started up the car but didn't go anywhere.

"Are you alright Babe?" I gave him a tiny grin.

"I will be in a while." He reached over and squeezed my knee and drove off. For the 45-minute trip to Manhattan we did not talk, but his hand never left my leg either.

~~~~~~~~~~~

After 7 hours of exhausting shopping, another hour of eating dinner, Ranger and I returned to the hotel that we had booked into for the night. To tired to call Mary Lou, I had a five-minute shower, put on one of my new silky negligees, crawled into the large king sized bed and promptly fell asleep. I woke up the next morning with Ranger spooning me from behind, slowly rubbing circles around my stomach. I purred in contentment.

"It's time we got up. Do you want first or second shower? We don't have long so we only get 10 minutes each" I rolled over and kissed him softly on the lips.

"We could always share and have 20 minutes."

"That’s an excellent idea." I jumped up and quickly rushed into the bathroom and brushed my teeth. I turned on the water to let it run to hot, I stripped off and stepped into the shower while Ranger brushed his teeth. I closed my eyes and put my head under water to wet my hair. I used my hands to work the water through to the scalp and hair at the nape of my neck. I wiped the water out of my eyes and looked to see what was keeping Ranger.

Ranger was staring at me with dark eyes and a world record erection. His breathing was laboured and his hand were slowly clenching and unclenching. Hmmm... this was promising.

"Are you going to get in and do something about that," I pointed at his crotch area, "Or are you going to just watch." I knew which I preferred. Ranger got into the shower. He lifted me up and I wrapped myself around him. Ranger dropped my on to his erection and rammed home hard. Shit it felt to good to stop but I quickly pushed of him and got out of the shower.

"Hey! Are you OK? Did I hurt you?" Ranger followed me into the bedroom.

"No, no I'm fine just need to take some precautions. I forgot to put this in before I got into the shower." I held up the diaphragm. I quickly got it fixed and returned to the shower with Ranger in tow.

"We need to get you on the pill."

"Well I've started but they take about a month to kick in the doctor said"

"The sooner the better. No more of this running off when it's just started." Ranger was not quite as excited as he had been before, so I did a sexy little dance up against him. It wasn't long until he picked me up and rammed home again. And again. And again.

It was about 40 minutes later that we got out of the shower. We had spent way to much time in there to have a proper breakfast, so we rushed around getting dressed and decided to get something to eat on the run in the airport.  We parked the car in the long term lot and in no time at all were on the plane to Houston. A few hours later we had transferred to Chris Du Shane's private jet and sat in luxury. The plane was divided into 4 different sections as far as I could guess. The cockpit, the area for the onboard staff, the guest sitting room and the private quarters which included a lounge, a bed and bathroom. Ranger and I were briefed on the safety procedures in the 2 main areas. We strapped into seats for take off and were soon somewhere over Mexico heading for Sydney, Australia.

Chapter 6

According to Ranger this flight was going to take forever and I hadn’t even thought of getting a magazine or a book. I sighed and squirmed in my seat. I undid the seatbelt. I put the seat down and up again. I sat forward. I slumped back. I pulled the tray down. I put it back up. And all this time Ranger, who was in the seat next to me reading from a laptop ignored me. I coughed, I scratched, I tapped my foot to a beat in my head. I was starting to get antsy, sitting doing nothing. I started to tap my fingers on the armrest dividing our seats. Ranger grabbed my hand. “Do you have a problem?”

“I’m bored out of my scull. Why didn’t you tell me to get a magazine or 7?” I accused. It was Ranger’s fault, of course it was. There was no way it was mine.

“I figured you’d watch a movie or sleep.”

“They have movies?”

“Weren’t you listening earlier?”

“Umm, not really, I started to tune out after the whole exit door speech thing.”

Ranger reached into a side pocket on my seat and pulled out a list of movies, some instructions and some magazines. “Knock yourself out.”

He went back to his laptop. I’m sure there were better forms of entertainment. Especially since the plane had a bed and Ranger. But I guess I’d have to watch a movie or 4. I worked my way through the list and came to ‘Pitch Black’ I hadn’t seen it yet and I really like Vin Diesel. He was a babe of major proportions. He kind of reminded me of Ranger. I’m sure I drooled all the way through and when I stood up to stretch afterwards Ranger put the laptop down and pulled me onto his lap.

“If I were an insecure person I’d be worried about the way you were watching that movie. You didn’t even hear me when I asked if you wanted something to eat.” His hands were working their way under my shirt, stroking along my stomach. “Do you want something to eat?”

“Mmmm, no.” I wanted him. I turned my body into him and started to bite at his neck. His rumbling pur travelled though my stomach to between my legs. At that moment his laptop started to beep. He sighed and pulled his hand away from my breast. “I’ve got to check that.”

I leaned and picked up the laptop and held it on my lap. I slumped down so Ranger could see over my head and closed my eyes. I really wanted to know what he was doing but I figured it was none of my business and if I needed to know anything Ranger would let me know. I was about to drop off to sleep when I heard Ranger whispering in my ear. “Babe?”

“Mmmm?”

“Wake up. Have a look at this.” I stirred and stretched opening my eyes reluctantly. Ranger had the laptop open on my knees still and it was showing a picture of a family of 4. There was a man who looked to be in his early 40s, a woman also in her early 40s, a boy who was in his mid teens and a young girl who I figured to be Lizzy. I also guessed John was the man, he was blond with a deep tan, that suggested time out doors. Maria was dark skinned like Ranger, and she looked to be of some kind of Spanish descent, like Ranger. Lizzy was a tall rail of a girl, all gangly and ungainly. She had brown hair with blond highlights, dark skin and a gorgeous smile. She would grow up to be stunning. The boy Ranger hadn’t mentioned.

“Who’s the boy?”

“That’s Marco.” And that was it.

“And…”

“He’s Maria’s boy. She had him as a teenager. He was a baby when we all met her.” He smiled and frowned. “Now he’s a prick of a kid. Needs a good kick up the ass, but John and Maria spoil him because they don’t want him to feel like he’s not a part of the family.”

“How old is he?”

Ranger snorted, “16 going on 5.”

“He’s that bad?”

“Not so that you’d notice. He’s very manipulative, it’s not something that really comes to the fore at first. But give it time. Then again, I haven’t seen him for over a year, close to 2. Maybe he’s a very different person.”

We sat for a while longer looking at pictures of the family as Ranger hit keys. All of a sudden there was a picture of a bunch of men in army greens standing with their arms around each other with the biggest grins I’ve ever seen on a face. Ranger went to hit another key when I grabbed his hand. I leaned forward to study the picture closer. Ranger was hog-tied down on his stomach and Tank, John and Lester had their feet on his back.

“You wanna tell me about this?”

“Nope.”

“C’mon, tell me.” I had turned slightly and was grinning up at him.

“We were playing, I let them catch me.”

“Right. What was happening?”

“We had returned from the Gulf and we all decided to go play some games in the national park…”

“Where?” I interrupted.

“Blue Mountains. Where John is settled now. We went their cause none of us aside from John had anywhere to be. So anyways, we all…”

“Who’s all?” I interrupted again.

“Me, John, Tank, Bobby, Lester and 5 or 6 others that you don’t know. Now do you want to hear the story?”

“Yes.”

“Well don’t interrupt again. We all met at John’s home a few hours from Sydney and set out for fun and games. The rules were it was every man for themself. As it turns out they had all conspired to ambush me. We were playing with paintball guns, just to make it that little bit more interesting and realistic. So about 3 hours after we all started they finally made their move. Those who were left anyways.” He had a big grin and was looking pleased with himself. I could understand that, there were 3 of 10 men remaining standing above him.

“You look pretty happy with yourself.”

“I was, still am. 4 of those men were my superiors. Supposedly.” He took the laptop and shut it off, closing the screen he sat it on the floor. “Lets have something to eat.”

It sounded like a good idea to me. It was about 4 hours since I had eaten last. We ate soup and chicken salad and after that I had ice cream. Ranger didn’t. Ranger sat and watched as I did though, if I didn’t know better I’d think he was looking slightly jealous. But Ranger rarely does facial expressions. Right?

After lunch I was still tired so I went back to sleep on the bed, the big comfy warm bed. I stripped down to underwear and new silk pjs that we had brought in Manhattan. They were the most sensual things I had ever felt before. They slid coolly over my body at every movement. I climbed under the covers and was out like a light. I’m not sure how much later it was but Ranger had crawled in behind me and was wrapped around me. I desperately needed to go to the toilet. I was in too much of a hurry to be concerned about waking Ranger, so I struggled out of his arms and got out of the bed. Ranger woke and rolled on to his other side.

A few minutes later I had finished in the bathroom and climbed back into bed and curled up behind Ranger. My hands, feet and nose were cold and I stuck them on him. He jumped and swore at me. But I held on tight. I rubbed them on him and 5 minutes later I was warmed up. I let go and rolled on to my back. I snuggled under the cover to keep warm. I smiled to myself, “Thanks Ranger. I’m warmed up now.”

He rolled over and threw the covers off me. “Well, so am I. But I’m more than warm, I’m hot.” He kissed me then. Hard, with lots of tongue. His hands were everywhere and his body heavy on mine.

Ranger wouldn’t let me go to sleep. We still had a few hours until we landed but he told me that if I slept now I would be suffer from jet lag for a long time. I told him that was fine, I could handle jetlag, he didn’t believe me. I told him he had better find a way for me to stay awake then, and he kept his promise. He kept me entertained for hours. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to walk off the plane but I was entertained.

Eventually with less than an hour to land I fell asleep lying next to Ranger on the bed. He tried to wake me to get dressed when we landed, however he got minimal help from me. I didn’t want to wake up. He dressed me and carried me through customs and to the waiting helicopter. The sound was muted through headphones as the ‘copter took off. Ranger was carrying me again. Next thing I knew I woke up next to Ranger in time to see the sun coming up over a blue coloured forest.

Chapter 7

Thy sky was a brilliant blue with the light reflecting a incandescent pink off a few scattered clouds. What most amazed me was he trees were a blue grey colour. I had seen Australian trees before and they weren’t blue! I walked over to the window seat and sat down leaning against the wall cushions. Ranger got up and blurrily followed me to the window seat. He sat in front of me and leaned into my stomach laying his head on my shoulder. He was more relaxed than I’d ever seen him before and given the situation it didn’t seem right, but what did I know?

I stated my amazement at the colours. “The forest is blue.”

“Bush.” Ranger, loquacious as ever.

“What?”

“Its bush, not forest.”

“What’s the difference?”

“I’ll show you later if you want.” And he snuggled back into me. I wasn’t in the mood for this seated immobility. Ranger nearly fell off the window seat at my next statement.

“Lets go for a run.”

“You want to run? You?”

“I was cramped up all day yesterday. I need to move.” Ranger slowly got up.

“Its not like you didn’t get any exercise though.” He grinned lecherously at me.

I rolled my eyes at him, cant guys ever think of any thing else? I pulled on some sweats and Ranger pulled them off. He threw some shorts at me. I looked at him questioningly.

“Trust me, you’ll thank me later.”

“You sure its not just so you can perve at my legs is it?”

He looked at me askance. “Like you wont be behind me.”

He had a point, I liked looking at his ass. And I was slow. I watched as he finished getting dressed. He pulled on a tank top and a small pair of shorts. We both went down stairs and out what I presumed was the back door. We stretched and Ranger took off through the back yard. Well it was more than a back yard, it was like a paddock. It wasn’t fenced off but trees blocked it in. Ranger ran through a gap in the trees and suddenly we were engulfed by forest. No bush. Gotta get with the lingo here.

Ranger was right, 15 minutes later I was sweating, I hadn’t thought about it but it was the middle of summer here. It was hot even at 4 am. It had been cool in the house, here though, even in the shade of the bush it was hot. I’d hate to think of what it was like in the middle of the day. I slowed down and Ranger disappeared around a bend. I slowed to a walk. All the better to check out the scenery. Right.

The bush was alive with sounds. I hadn’t heard it before over my breathing and the pounding of feet. I could hear small animals rustling around on the ground, I could hear birds calling and swooping though the leaves. All of a sudden my blood ran cold. All through the bush I could hear someone laughing. It was a high cackling sound. Not the sound of someone laughing in amusement, more in mocking glee. Like they knew something you should.

Ranger came back into view and I jumped. He looked like he had been running hard and had enjoyed it. Weirdo. He looked at me, “What’s up?”

“What’s that noise?” Surely he could hear it!

“What?” he truly looked like he couldn’t hear it.

“Someone’s laughing!” All of a sudden he started laughing. He was clutching his stomach trying to breathe when he ventured an answer.

“It’s a bird babe. A kookaburra to be exact.” Smug bastard. It had scared the hell out of me. Here I was, the ultimate city gal, in the bush! Not even a forest and he was laughing at me. I smacked him in the stomach and we started to walk back to the house. We had been running in a big loop and only had about 15 minutes to the house. Ranger started to point out things as we walked along. He pointed out bird’s nest, sometimes telling me what birds they belonged to. And I got to see my first real live koala!! I was so excited that I was looking for a way to get to the tree it was sitting in.

“You don’t want to do that.”

“What? I see pictures of people holding them all the time!”

“Yes, domesticated ones. Pictures from the zoo and wildlife petting parks. Wild ones are vicious and will happily scratch your eyes out if you go near them. Don’t even think of going near anything you see here.”

“Not even if I see a possum?”

Ranger rolled his eyes. “No, they’re just as likely to scratch your eyes out as a koala.”

I was disappointed. Everything I had ever seen or read about Australian animals all pointed to them being cuddly! I was stomping down the track when Ranger came to a sudden halt and grabbed my arm. I was just about to walk through a spider web. I wasn’t scared of spiders, but this thing made me stop and pause for thought. Normally I’d have just grabbed one part of the web and stuck it else where so I could get past. But this spider was the biggest thing I’d ever seen! And it was hairy and ugly. Ranger was still next to me. I looked up to see what he was going to do and I saw sweat dripping down his temple. Now the sweat from running had long ago dried off us both. Shit! Ranger was scared of spiders! Well, well, well. This was something new.

I pulled my arm out of his grip and started to move the web. Eventually I had the track cleared and the spider had disappeared around a tree trunk. I gave Ranger a shove and he quickly took off. We both stepped out of the bush back into the back yard at the same time. I turned with my mouth open to ask him a question.

“Don’t even think about it!” I opened my mouth again and Ranger kissed me. His tongue was hard and insistent, brooking no resistance. He pulled away leaving me breathless and wanting more. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him to me. “Ok, lets talk about this some more.” And I kissed him slowly with lots of tongue I swayed against him, rubbing my stomach and pelvis against him. I felt him respond. He pulled me hard against him and deepened the kiss.

“Huh hmm.” Someone close by cleared their throat. I pulled away and turned to face Marco. The little shit looked like he was enjoying this. I smiled, best to put him off guard and pretend I didn’t care.

“Hey Marco, you’re up early. I’m Stephanie.” I’m sure he knew that but what was the harm in introducing myself? He sure looked off balance. I gave him another big grin.

“Marc. My friends call me Marc.” He muttered.

“Ok Marc. Have you had breakfast yet? Do you want to join us? We have to shower first of course but give us half an hour and we’ll be done.” Ranger was standing quietly with his arm around my shoulder. Marco looked quickly at him and away again.

“Sure. See ya there.” And he walked away. Ranger dropped his arm and looked at me with an eyebrow raised. I didn’t have an answer for what I had done so I stuck out my tongue and said, “Race you to the shower.” And took off.

Ranger was close behind me, but what I lacked in endurance I made up in speed. I beat him by a few seconds and collapsed on the bed. Ranger climbed on top of me. “Looks like you’ve been hiding something from me.” This was all said between kisses on my neck. I hadn’t been hiding it, I just hadn’t had any opportunity to show off for him. And that’s all it had been, me showing off. I sighed and pushed Ranger off me. He went willingly or not at all.

“We’ve got to shower and head down to meet Marco for breakfast.” I stood up and started to strip off my shorts and top. Ranger joined me in the shower. We took our time in there, eventually we dried off and went down stairs to breakfast. Never in my mind had I ever thought I’d find what I did when I got there.

Chapter 8

There were six or seven people standing in the middle of the kitchen yelling in a mix of Spanish and English. Marco was sitting at a breakfast bar watching with amusement. I went over and sat next to him. “What are they arguing about?”

“They’re not arguing.” Huh, could have fooled me. Usually when people are yelling it means they’re arguing. “There’s at least four different conversations happening here.”

I looked back at Ranger, he didn’t seem upset, he looked kind of like he was trying hard not to laugh. I was wondering how these people could be happy at a moment like this. I mean their daughter and sister had been kidnapped and they’re all laughing and joking! Marco had been watching me.

“Don’t be confused by thinking we’re a happy home. The two people in the riding gear are the next-door neighbours. They think that Lizzy is on holidays with family friends. They think that we’ll be joining her soon.” Marco was truly upset by the fact that his sister was gone. Not many 16 year old boys get along with 12 year old sisters, but I guess the fact that maybe she wasn’t coming home made a difference. Marco looked almost ready to cry. I decided to talk about something totally off topic, try to shock his system a bit.

“So what do you plan to do today? Do you want to go to the beach with me? How far is it to get there?”

Marco looked at me as if my head was on backward. “We’re leaving today. Dad got a call this morning. We have to be in Byron Bay by tonight.”

“Oh, can we make it? Do we have enough time?”

“Sure. Its only a few hours flight.” Ugh, more time on a plane and I bet I wont get entertained like I did yesterday. Also it seemed that my efforts in changing the topic didn’t work. Marco still looked ready to cry. Well damn. Suddenly the yelling and laugher died down and there were calls of ‘goodbye’ and similar things. The two neighbours left via a door that lead out the back and everyone kind of slumped.

A matronly looking woman with a dark Latino complexion started to hustle everyone towards the table. She gave them all platters of food to carry. Plates were on the table already and the food was placed in the middle. Ranger introduced me to everyone who was present and sat on the other side of me.

It was a snatch and grab affair. I got some toast and had decided to try vegemite. While in Rome and all. I buttered my toast and was about to spread the vegemite when Marco grabbed my arm. “No, no, no. What is it with Americans that they want to spread it like peanut butter?”

He took my knife and plate and spread the vegemite so that it was lightly spread with a very thin layer. I took it back and delicately took a small bite. It wasn’t too bad. It was a bitter taste and strong. I’d hate to think what it would have been like if I had spread it the way I had intended to. I had some more and felt Ranger shudder beside me. Guess he didn’t like it.

Marco was grinning beside me. “I have a friend who once had cousins visiting from Canada. They like the taste of vegemite all right, so they spread it like peanut butter on a sandwich. Half an hour they were throwing their guts’ up. He reckoned it was the funniest thing he’s ever seen. He’s sent them vegemite for every Christmas since.”

The little bastard. Now I felt like spewing myself. I must of turned green because Marco started to look kind of worried. “It’s ok though, they were only sick because they had so much and weren’t used to it. Like chocolate.”

Now I couldn’t agree with that, it’s not possible to ever have too much chocolate. I had some bacon and eggs and more toast. While I liked the vegemite, I steered clear this time round. Wouldn’t want to have too much now. Conversations were happening all around the table. Ranger was talking to John and another man whose name I forgot quietly at the end of the table and Maria was talking to the housekeeper who actually sat at the table to eat with the family. Weird I thought, but nice.

A few hours later we had been packed up and we’re sitting on a plane taxiing to land at a private airstrip in Byron Bay. Marco told me of his love for geography and started to point out interesting facts along the coastline. Byron Bay was the most easterly point in Australia. Mount Warning, which was not far away, was visible from the plane. It was the tallest freestanding mountain in Australia. The first rays of the sun to hit Australia hit the tip of mount Warning. The area of northern New South Wales was well known for its more liberal way of thinking. In fact one of the town’s ran a political party called, ‘The Party For Legalising Marijuana’

I had gotten to sit next to Marco because Ranger was at the back of the plane with John and the other guy making plans. For what I don’t know. For me, things just happened and I acted. Marco was nothing like Ranger had said. Sure he liked to stir but he wasn’t exactly the big manipulator. He was a cute kid who was worried about his little sister. He would grow up to be hot. Damn this whole family.

We landed and disembarked. I stood in the sun stretching the kinks out of my back. Ranger came up and wrapped his arms around me, kissing me softly on the lips. “So, babe. What did Marco have to say?”

“Nothing much, just gave me some info on the area.” I smiled up at him.

“Uh huh, like what.” Ranger started to kiss my neck running his hands up and down my back.

“Mount Warning, that big hill over there, was named by Captain Cook, before he even landed in Botany Bay. It glows like a warning light at sun rise.” Ranger was biting my neck, softly, erotically. I got distracted and started to squeeze his shoulders. “Or something like that.”

Ranger chuckled and the vibrations travelled right through to my doodah. I moaned and pushed against him pulling his head up to kiss him. The kiss was wet and wild. Ranger’s hands reached down to grab my ass. He squeezed pulling me against his hard length and I groaned. All I wanted was him, in me. Now.

Someone cleared their throat. I flushed a bright red. I had totally forgotten where we were. Everyone except Marco was watching and grinning at us. I buried my head in Ranger’s neck. He threw an arm around my shoulder. “Lets go then.”

We piled into 2 land cruisers. I was wedged between Ranger and Marco. Wedged because Ranger was a big guy and Marco wasn’t exactly small either. As it was I virtually ended up on Ranger’s lap. I was leaning over him to look out the window. I had never seen such lush bush.

“Rainforest.”

I looked at Ranger. “What?” was he reading my mind again?

“This is rainforest. Subtropical rainforest to be exact.”

“I thought you said it was bush!”

“It was. We’re in a different climate. This you see is subtropical rainforest.”

I humphed. Australia had to many names for bunches of trees. I caught my first glimpse of the ocean on Marco’s side, and I scooted over there and lent over him to look out the window. The water was a pristine blue. Bright blue like the summer sky. It was just gorgeous. I sighed, patted Marco’s leg and leaned back into Ranger. He put an arm around my shoulder and across my chest. I sighed again and snuggled in. this is nice I thought.

The next thing I know I’m being carried through a door into a bedroom. I figured we had to be at John and Maria’s holiday house. Ranger laid me on the bed and leaned over me. “So babe, you awake now? You want to play?”

Ranger was kissing my neck and pulling my clothes off. “Mmmm, playing would be nice.” I sighed. “But I’m all icky and sweaty. Why don’t we go play on the beach, in the water? You can actually swim naked here.”

Ranger pulled back. “I know babe, who told you?”

“Marco.”

“It’s a private beach, but its not strictly enforced. As long as there’s no mucking around John lets anyone use it. I don’t know if I’ll be able to restrain myself.”

“What? Restrain yourself from what?” Ranger was pulling my shorts off.

“From hurting guys who are looking at your wonderful self. From man handling you on to your back and having my way with you.” I sighed, Ranger was the sweetest.

I pushed him up and pulled off his shirt. “C’mon big boy. I’ll race you to the water.”

I was in a bra and undies so it didn’t take much for me to strip and wrap a sarong around myself. Ranger still had shoes, socks and shorts on. I ran down the path to the beach and came to a sudden halt. It was beautiful. Stunning. I couldn’t describe it. Jersey shore had nothing on this place.

I was still standing there when Ranger ran past naked as the day he was born. Omigod! His ass was sooo nice. What a treat to see all of him at once moving like that. He jumped into the water and ran with his legs cutting to the side to get past the dumpers. He dived and came up swimming. Ohh, wet and nice. I looked around. There were a few people around. All were naked and not paying any attention. I dropped the sarong just behind me where Ranger had dropped a towel and walked confidently in to the water. At least I hoped I looked confident. I hurried along, wanting to be in the safety of the waters masking colours. I could feel someone watching me and I turned to see Marco looking out a window at me thought binoculars. Eww, I felt creeped out and dove under water. Ranger swam over to me and I wrapped my legs around him. He planted his legs and we swayed with the current of the water.

“Can we turn around?”

Ranger grinned, “Why babe? You think anyone’s watching.”

I hesitated, should I tell Ranger about Marco watching me or should I just come up with something else? “Won’t you feel more comfortable with you covering me? So you don’t have to restrain yourself from hurting anyone watching me?”

I knew I’d feel more comfortable that way. Ranger frowned at me. “Was someone watching you babe? Can you give me a description?”

Oops, now he thought the kidnappers were watching the beach. I sighed.

“It was just Marco. It creeped me out a little to know that a 16 year old was checking me out.” With binoculars no less. A thought occurred to me and I smiled. “I guess I should feel good about it though. I thought I was long past the days when a 16 year old would check me out.”

Ranger smiled grimly. “Me and that boy are going to have words.”

“No! No Ranger, he’s only 16. Can’t you remember what it was like at 16? I bet your hormones were out of control too.”

Ranger smiled and pulled me closer. “I was 15 when my cherry was popped. A friend’s older sister got me alone at a party one night. It was a night I’ve never forgotten. By sixteen I had gone though most of the girls in the neighbourhood” He sounded proud of this. Men were such strange creatures. He started to kiss my neck. “Tell me about your first time.”

I tensed. “Probably you wont like this. Probably you’ll understand me a lot better.”

Ranger pulled back. “It was Morelli wasn’t it?”

“Yep.”

“Tell me what happened.”

I sighed. There was no getting out of it when Ranger talked in that tone. “I was 16, working in Tasty Pastry.”

Ranger grinned. I rolled my eyes. “Any way, not long after my sixteenth birthday, Morrelli was 18, he came into the shop and brought a jelly roll. 5 minutes after closing time I was on the floor with him naked behind the canolli case. He left for the Navy a few days later.”

Ranger was grinning. “Is that why you eat so much? You relate sex to pastries?”

“No!” I slapped his chest. “I’ve always eaten lots. I have a fast metabolism.”

“Ok, so what happened after that?”

“Nothing, I didn’t see him for three years. I was 19 when I saw him next.”

“What happened then?”

“I hit him with my dads Buick. Broke his leg.”

Ranger laughed long and hard. Having my legs wrapped around him as I did, I felt every little jolt. I tightened my legs and brought my mouth to his neck. He had a large muscular neck. I used my lips, tongue and teeth to touch him there. He tasted of saltwater and man. Ranger growled and dug his fingers into my ass pulling me against him. I pulled away. “We have to stop. We don’t have any protection.”

“You’re on the pill aren’t you?” Ranger’s mouth was now on my neck

“Yeah but it wont kick in for a month. I want to wait until after my next period to be safe.”

“When will that be?”

“In the next few days.” Ranger lifted his head and smiled at me.

“Well then babe, it’ll be fine.” He moved himself against my entrance. Pushing the tip just in. I pushed back off him.

“No Ranger. Lets go back to the house.”

“C’mon babe, it will be fine. I’m pretty much sterile.” He went back to rubbing against me.

“Really, how do you explain your daughter then?”

“I had been told when I was about 14 after I had the measles that I was sterile. After going though the neighbourhood with out getting one girl pregnant I believed it. I probably only used contraception on in every 10. My daughter was a 1 in a billion possibility. She wasn’t planned but she is loved.”

I pulled away in amazement. “Jesus Ranger, never mind that you didn’t get anyone pregnant, it’s a wonder you didn’t catch any thing!”

“I know, I realised when Mel told me she was pregnant that I was the luckiest son of a bitch alive. It was when Em was born that I entered the ‘my body as a temple’ phase.”

“So it’s a phase huh?”

“Yeah, a ten year phase so far.”

We left the water, body surfing the waves to the sand. I don’t understand how it happens but no matter what I wear in the sea, sand always ends up in my pants. I decided that the only way to swim was naked. No sand in my pants. I held Rangers hand as we walked up the beach to where we left our things. I wrapped my sarong around me and waited as Ranger wiped sand off his body with his towel. Mmmm, I loved the way his muscles moved under his skin. I moved away and stood on a patch of grass, the sand had started to burn my feet. Ranger stood on it unconcerned. Guess that was one good thing about growing up in Miami.

Ranger wrapped the towel around his waist and held his hand out to me. I took it and we started towards the house. “Your daughters name is Em? Is it short for anything?”

“Emily.” His face brightened a bit. “It was Emmy, but as she’s gotten older she’s kept shortening it.”

“Cute.”

Ranger snorted. “She’s a brat, but I love her. Her mother spoils her rotten. Good thing I’m rich. She reckons that she’d be running around in bare threads.”

I smiled, “So she likes clothes?”

“I sware if she wasn’t 11 and I didn’t know better, I’d say she had a fetish. Like you and food.” Ranger grinned and danced away as I swiped at his chest. Ranger picked me up and swung me around to piggyback me the rest of the way into the house. He dumped me on my back on the bed, swung round and landed on top of me, legs between my thighs. He kissed me hard. Pushing his tongue between my lips, using his jaw to open my mouth. I raised my hips, pressing against his erection.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Someone knocked on the door. I groaned, all I wanted was an orgasm, was that too much to ask?

Ranger sighed and stood up. “Who is it?”

“It’s Marc. My dad wants to see you. Can you come to the office?”

“Sure. Give me five minutes.” Ranger sighed and stood up, we heard Marco’s footsteps fade away. “Sorry Babe.”

“It’s ok. We can pick this up later.” I gave him a hot hard kiss and went to have a shower. I locked the bathroom door behind me and jumped into a cool shower. I came out half an hour later. Hair cleaned and dried. I searched for my bags and found all my new clothes unpacked, hanging in the cupboards and folded neatly into drawers. It surprised me how much it turned me on to find my underwear mixed with Ranger’s. I wondered what Ranger had thought, seeing our underwear mixed. I put on a little silk shift dress with black strappy leather sandals. The dress’s dye ran though blue to green. It felt cool and I looked fantastic. For the first time in my life I realised that sometimes money does make a difference.

Chapter 9

It was probably half and hour later, Marco and I were walking towards the business district of Byron Bay. Ranger had come to find me and told me I could go shopping so I wouldn’t get bored. John had offered a car but I didn’t have much luck driving my own in the states. What chance would I have driving on the other side of the road? Ranger had laughed when I declined the car. The walk down the shops took probably 20 minutes. It seemed to take longer because it was so hot, but we had a nice cool view of the ocean and the headlands. We could see Cape Byron and the old Lighthouse on the headlands. Marco informed me there was a nice little walk around it where I could see some native plants and animals. I decided to walk it later if I hadn’t done much shopping, and if I had I would just go later.

We walked down the main street towards Main Beach. An obvious name. I kept Marco talking to me about his friends, school, music and anything else he was interested in. We grabbed some fries or as Marco called them, hot chips for a late lunch and sat at a table in the shade at the beach. We ate watching various people around us. There was every kind you could imagine, hippies with firesticks, young people with surfboards, old people with surfboards, people smoking grass, little kids running around squealing with joy, women lying topless, people in suits eating, people in suits reading, large groups of Japanese tourists, people sitting around in circles humming and chanting and many more. It was a lot like the Jersey shore but it was a lot happier and carefree. A lot of these people, even the ones in suits looked like they hadn’t a care in the world.

I watched as a young father tumbled around with his daughter, while a young woman whom I assumed was the mother sat nearby watching. There was happiness and laughter on their faces. Suddenly I was jealous. It wasn’t that I wanted what they had, it was just I envied their carefree way. I sighed and turned to Marco.

“Have you finished?” I wanted away from the happy young parents and child. Shopping, shopping would fix it. Shopping always did. Marco nodded and we threw away the paper the chips had come in. We wondered back up the main street, me entering most every shop and Marco standing around looking bored. “Marco, you don’t have to wait around for me. Why don’t you go play video games or something?”

“Actually I do have to stay with you, my dad said.” He looked like he was about to die of embarrassment. I smiled.

“Well I wont tell him if you don’t.”

Marco grinned back. “Thanks!”

“No, problem.” I looked at my watch. It was close to 3pm. “Why don’t we meet over at 31 Flavours at say about 4ish?”

“Sure!” He gave me a great big smile and took off around the corner. I explored shops and brought lots. I decided that I loved shopping in Australia, it didn’t hurt that the exchange rate was good, but things were still really cheap! Or maybe it was just the things I was buying. I brought about a dozen sarongs in various shapes, sizes, colours and designs. I had put my purchases in a backpack Ranger had suggested I take with me. Marco met me out the front of 31 Flavours and we went in and grabbed a cone to take on the walk back with us. We were walking slowly back towards the path to the house and I was looking around watching the different kinds off people. The sun was still high in the sky and it was still hot. Suddenly I did a double take.

Across the road walking towards us was Lizzie. She was walking slowly not seeming in any hurry looking in the shops. I grabbed Marco’s arm. “Look across the street. Tell me you see her too.”

Marco’s eyes widened and he went to pull away, but I had to firm a grip on his arm. He opened his mouth. “Don’t yell!”

I pulled him across the street directly into Lizzy's path. Her eyes widened and she threw her arms around Marco. She was crying and Marco was trying to calm her suddenly she pushed him away. “You have to go!”

She was whispering fiercely, pushing against him as he tried to hold her. He stepped back but kept his hands on her upper arms. She was back in tears.

“Lizzy, I’m Stephanie. I’m a friend of Ricardo Manoso. Do you remember him?” She nodded, hiccuping with tears still streaming down her face. “Ok, honey, tell me why we have to go, tell me why you can’t just come with us.”

She showed me various items of her clothing, all had what I assumed were little trackers stuck on them. The clothes didn’t fit well. But without cutting the neck or the waistband on her shorts she wouldn’t be able to get them off. It looked as though they had been sewn on her. “Ok, so why do we have to go?”

“I have a minder, he fell asleep on the beach when he was supposed to be watching me. He’ll be here soon.” She was still crying turning every now and then to watch over her shoulder. A plan was forming in my mind.

“Ok, honey, where about are you staying?”

“In a unit over the headland.”

“Where did you leave your minder?”

“Just this side of the headland. Please you have to go!” Her eyes were pleading, tears rolling down her face.

“No, heres what we’re gonna do. Marco, I need you to run up to the house. Find Rang… Ricardo. Tell him to bring a car along the street that parallels the beach two blocks over. Tell your dad to be ready to leave immediately. Don’t run along the shore, try to stay out of view of the people on the beach. Can you do that?”

“Yes, but-“

“No time for buts, run, now!” I gave him a shove and he took of after one look around the corner he was gone. “Ok, Lizzy, come with me.”

She started to cry loudly. “Lizzy! Stop! I can get you home to your mum and dad, but you have to stop crying. Can you do that?”

The tears slowed and the noise stoped. She nodded and placed her hand in mine. I pulled her into the nearest shop. “Do you have a pair of scissors?”

The girl behind the counter looked at me with a funny smile. She handed me a pair. I pulled Lizzy into the backroom that had a sign on the door saying employees only. I apologised to the girl who was in there, putting price stickers on stock. She smiled and returned to what she was doing. I started to snip the clothes off Lizzy. “Why have they done this to your clothes?”

“They had to, the first time I wondered off I took most of them off.” She smiled a little smile and I grinned at her. “They sew me up every morning.”

“What happened today? The message your parents got was that you wouldn’t be here when we got here.”

“Missy is sick, Mike didn’t want to leave with her so ill.”

“You know the people who took you?”

“Yeah, Mike used to work with my dad, they’re friends. I thought it was a game at first.” Her eyes started to tear up.

“Hey none of that.” I wiped a tear off her cheek. I snipped the last bit of neck on her shirt. Whoever had sewn it up had used nylon fishing line. It had rubbed her neck almost raw. I pulled a Singlet top I had brought out of my bag. I slipped it over her head. Lizzy kept her underwear and after carefully checking out her sandals, them too.

I took her by the shoulders. “Did they hurt you at all Lizzy?”

“No, they were very nice. Mike and Missy are scared of my daddy.” I smiled on the inside, he shouldn’t be the only one they were scared of.

“Ok, honey let me just check out here. What does your minder look like?”

She giggled, “He’s like a gnome. Short, fat and bald with a big beard.”

He couldn’t be hard to spot. I poked my head around the door of the back room and couldn’t see anyone fitting the description. I walked slowly out of the room into the store holding Lizzy behind me. I scanned along the street, my field of vision widening, as we got closer to the windows and door. I opened the door and stood just outside, looking up and down the street. No gnome in sight. I took Lizzy’s hand and we quickly crossed the street. As we waited for a baby truck to pass I dumped Lizzy’s clothes in the open back part of it. Let her kidnappers think she was hitching a ride somewhere.

We went through a small plaza type thing and came out on the other side. I took a small breath and we started to wind our way though cars to get to the street I had told Marco to tell Ranger to meet us on. I was walking quickly, Lizzy was practically jogging to keep up. One of the land cruisers we had driven in this morning squealed to a halt beside us and I saw Ranger behind the wheel. I took a breath. Finally! I gave Lizzy a boost up into the back seat and climbed in behind her, happy because Ranger was here now and I could relinquish all responsibility.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

John and I had been going through his financial statements, trying to figure out which businesses could suffer the money being taken and which couldn’t, when the door to the office banged open. He was breathing like he had run a mile and talking at a mile a minute at the same time. I caught the words ‘Stephanie, ice-cream, Lizzy, track and get them’. Initially I thought he was telling us that Stephanie had been taken too, but I quickly realised that Stephanie had gotten Lizzy away from her kidnappers. I stood up and sat Marco down in the chair.

“Breathe.” I counted for 30 seconds. “Now tell me again what you just said.”

Marco took one last deep breath. “Lizzy was walking down the street and Stephanie sent me here to tell you that you have to go get her on the street 2 blocks over from the beach. The one that runs parallel.” I nodded and Marco continued. “She told me to tell you and dad to be ready to leave immediately. I think she means by airplane.”

I nodded again. John sighed and slumped in his chair. I gave him a quick slap on the knee. It wasn’t hard, just enough to bring him back to earth. “You can be the relieved parent in a little while. We need to get organised. Marco, go get your mother and Mrs Bandores. Pack everything we brought and get them into the Statesman and the land cruiser. Ok?”

He nodded. “John, you need to call Michael, make sure the planes prepped and ready to go immediately. Call Tank and get the rest of the team assembled in Brisbane. Who ever the kidnapper is will think we’ll be heading south back to your home. They’ll go north to the nearest big city with an international airport. We’ll be ahead of them. I’m going to take one of the land cruisers and pick up Stephanie and Lizzy. Any questions?”

The best plans were always the simple ones. There were no questions. “Right, move.”

I ran out to the dark blue land cruiser and got behind the wheel. I took a deep breath, hoping nothing had gone wrong at Stephanie’s end, as it so often did. I didn’t let all of the breath out until Stephanie and Lizzy were sitting in the back seat. Lizzy crying in Steph’s lap, her arms wrapped around her. Steph gave me a smile in the rear vision mirror. The smile was triumphant. I returned the smile and went back to concentrating on the road. We pulled into the driveway of the house, Maria came running out of the house and hauled Lizzy into her arms. She was slightly hysterical, laughing and crying, and though it was to be expected, it was unhelpful at the moment to say the least. John pushed a glass of orange juice into her hand and made her drink it all. The effects of the tranquilliser soon became apparent and Maria was safely seat belted into the back seat of the statesman.

We all piled into the two cars. John and I were needed to drive and Lizzy refused to leave Stephanie’s side, so she ended up in the back of the land cruiser between Marco and Lizzy. By the time we pulled up at the airstrip, Lizzy and Marco were asleep against Stephanie’s shoulders and Stephanie herself looked ready to fall asleep.

Marco was woken up to get on the plane but John came back and carried Lizzy after he had carried Maria on board. I wrapped my arm around Steph and held her until we both climbed on board. She was drowsy on take off and after the seatbelt sign went off, I pulled her into my lap where she fell asleep, not even waking when I put her back in her seat and re-belted her for landing.

Chapter 10

I woke up against a hard chest. I didn’t open my eyes but could feel that I was being carried along a hall or something like that. I nuzzled into Ranger neck and kissed him, open-mouthed.

“Umm, Steph?”

Wait a minute, that wasn’t Ranger’s voice. I woke in a hurry bucking out of Tank’s arms ramming into a wall. “Shit!”

Tank had a huge grin and was wiping my slobber off his neck. “Welcome to the land of the living.”

“Fuck you.” I looked around and took in my surroundings. I was guessing we were in some kind of hotel. An expensive one. “I’m figuring we’re in Brisbane?”

“Yep.” Tank walked around me and slid a card though a laser reader. The door clicked open and he pushed it open some more and stood aside to let me enter. Ranger’s and my bags were standing at the end of the bed. “Get freshened up and I’ll take you back to the others.”

Tank plopped him self on to the bed and flicked on the TV. After searching around he found some golf playing and settled into watch. I never pictured Tank as a golfing kinda guy, but hey… whatever. I searched though my bags looking for something suitable. Everything was a mess, like it had been thrown in, in a hurry. I guess it had been, it wasn’t as if anyone had much notice to get packed up. I went into the bathroom with my toiletries bag to freshen up. I decided to stay in the dress I was in. It happily didn’t wrinkle on the plane. I washed my face and applied mascara and lip-gloss, thinking I’d be more than likely to sweat anything else off. I sprayed some perfume and went to pull a sleeping Tank off the bed.

“So are we going home now?”

“Nope.”

“Why not? We’ve got her back haven’t we?”

“Yeah but now we have to catch the kidnappers. Its time to play.” He was grinning and I was mentally rolling my eyes. Boys are the weirdest.

We were walking down a soft-lit hallway when Tank pinched me. Not hard, just playful. I looked at him and kept walking. I was above such childish behaviour. He pinched me 6 times on the way down in the elevator, and I was over the ‘I’m to mature’ thing. We walked into the hotel lobby and right in the middle I tripped Tank over. He fell flat on his face. I looked up from pulling him to his feet to see Ranger shaking his head at me. I shrugged, he had deserved it. I was escorted between the two of them to a small conference room everyone, aside from Mrs Bandores and Lizzy, was there, even Maria looking none the worse for her drugged state before hand. I gave Lester a little finger wave and received a lazy grin in return.

Suddenly Maria was all over me, hugging and kissing, thanking me effusively. I shrugged her off, knowing my face was bright red. I stepped closer to Ranger half hiding behind him. I can handle a lot, but enthusiasm isn’t on my list. She was kind of like my sister Val when she had been high on cough medicine one time. Happy and not worried about who saw her. I suppose I could understand it, but that didn’t mean I wanted anything to do with it. Maria was crying again, but at least she was smiling this time. I looked at Marco and he rolled his eyes. I grinned and suppressed it when I saw John looking at me. John winked and I blushed again.

Damn that man was too good looking for his own good. Ranger pushed me into a seat between him and Tank. I scooted closer to Ranger, he gave me a look that I avoided. I knew Tank was going to make me pay for tripping him, I figured that I could avoid it while we were in Ranger’s presence. I hoped so anyways. Ranger sat back and Michael the man from breakfast the other day took over. I wasn’t sure what to make of this. I was so used to Ranger being in control. I listened as Michael rambled on about finding out who the kidnappers were.

“Have you even talked to Lizzy yet?”

Michael looked at me. One of those ‘what are you stupid?’ looks. “Of course not. We want to let her rest a little first.”

I sighed. “The kidnappers are 2 people named Mike and Missy.” I turned to John. “Mike was one of your friends I believe?”

Everyone was looking at me like stunned mullets. Finally Michael gave me a look that spelled trouble. “And you know this how?”

“Lizzy told me when I was bringing her back.” Ranger had a big grin and Lester and Tank looked ready to stomp on anyone who dared denied me. I liked this show of faith.

Michael humphed, shuffled some papers and sat down. Ranger stood up. He started to give out orders as to who was doing what. This was more like it. I listened as I was assigned to airport duty. I had absolutely no idea as to what airport duty was, I was guessing watching for Mike and Missy. I would wait and ask Ranger later. Tank, Lester and Ranger would be joining me, as well as two others who were yet to get in. Michael was the ‘touch point’ all information went to him. Radio contact was kept with him at all times. John was assigned all computer work. John was apparently the consummate hacker. Paid for and trained by the US government. Marco was set to guard Lizzy and Maria. Lizzy and Maria were to do what ever they wanted, with in limits. By the looks of Marco, he wasn’t sure to be proud of getting included with such a serious job or being upset at having to do anything at all.

Chapter 11

We looked at a few various pictures of the people who had taken Lizzy. There was even one with Mike and Missy with their arms around Lizzy and Marco. Mike was a lot like John, tall, blonde and classically handsome. Missy had curly blonde hair that looked permed and bleached. She had lots of freckles and a mole on her upper lip.

Everyone at the table stood up and left before I realised what was happening. Ranger stood next to me. “Babe, you ready to go?”

“Sure. You know you’re going to have to explain what I’m meant to be doing right?”

Ranger grinned. “Yes. I figured that when your eyes glazed over half way through what I was saying.”

I got up out of the chair. “So when do I start this shift thing?”

“I’ve got you and me scheduled for the graveyard shift. Tank and Bobby are on it now. Manny and the others will be in later and they’ll take the shifts after us.”

We were walking slowly to the elevators, not touching, but I felt close to him anyway. Just every now and then our shoulders brushed, every time it happened I shivered. His skin was warm, soft and hard. “So until then, what are we going to do?”

We stepped into the elevator and stood opposite each other, just watching. “First we’re going up to our room. We’re going to sit on the bed and I’m going to tell you about the job. The details. Then… Then its up to you.”

We stepped out of the elevator, Ranger scanning the corridor automatically. He slid the card though the magnetic reader and the door clicked open. Ranger stepped in, shielding me with his body from anyone that might be in the room. There was no one. Not that anyone was meant to be there. Just Ranger and his training I guess.

I sat on the edge of the bed and Ranger sat next to me after locking the door. He proceeded to go through what such a surveillance is like and took me step by step through the procedures and ways to do different things. “Most important is being creative and being able to make a move or change tactics in a minute. You’ll be good at that, I've seen you in action. You think fast and act even faster, it’s why I like to use you for distraction jobs. You seem to know people.”

I guess he was right, I just needed to learn to check the details and think before I leaped. Getting hit with a bag of trash wasn’t the greatest thing in the world, but when it got me smelly and dirty in front of both Joe and Ranger it was simply mortifying. Happily I had been able to cover the mortified with the righteous anger. That time anyway and I was hoping it never happened again for a next time.

“Ok. I can handle that. What do I do if I spot them?”

“First you call it in over your wire. Michael will inform the rest of us. Then if you can, you follow both of them. If not you follow whoever you can.” Ranger leaned back on his elbows studying me with lidded eyes. “Can you handle it?”

“Sure. Will we be able to hear each other?”

“Yes. Who ever is on duty is in constant contact with their partner. All you have to do is push on a button we’ll conceal somewhere and you can hear me and I can hear you. Anything else?” I shook my head. Ranger glanced at his watch. “We have a few hours before we have to go in for wiring and head off. What do you want to do?”

“Probably I should sleep, but I don’t want to.”

“Well what do you want?”

I sat up and straddled him. And between kisses I whispered against his skin, “You.”

~~~~~~~~~~~

I woke from a drugging sleep to the sound of Ranger’s watch beeping in my ear. He was kneeling on the bed grinning at me with his watch dangling in his hand. “Wakey, wakey, sleeping beauty.”

I groaned and sat up. The sheet that had been covering me fell to my lap and as soon as it happened I realised Tank was in the room watching us. I snatched the sheet back up and flopped back to the bed. Ranger was grinning.

“Its your fault you know.”

“How is it my fault?” Ranger was sounding amused.

“Every time he’s seen my breasts it’s been your fault.”

Tank was laughing and Ranger was still grinning. “And how many times is that?”

“I dunno, 2 or 3 times now.” Ranger snorted and Tank just continued to laugh. “And the time I kissed him it was your fault too.”

The grin disappeared and the laughter came to a jerking halt, with just small sniggers making it through. “You kissed him?”

“Kind of.”

“Probably you should be explaining now.”

“Why? It wasn’t my fault, it was yours. Haven’t you been listening?”

Tank interrupted. “You guys have less than an hour. I’m leaving now.” And he walked out the door.

“I was listening, what happened.”

“It was this afternoon, when Tank was bringing me up here. I thought it was you, it felt like you.”

“What do you mean, he felt like me?”

“He was carrying me. It wasn’t until he started to laugh at me that I realised it was him and not you.”

“Uh huh.” Ranger was sounding sceptical.

“If it makes you feel any better I almost killed myself jumping away from him.”

“Whatever. Come on, we need to wash.” Ranger pulled me out of the bed and into the bathroom where he had filled the spa. We both climbed in and I relaxed against his front.

I guess he had decided to ignore me admitting to having kissed Tank. Really it hadn’t even been a kiss, more like a slobbering on his neck.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I was sitting at a table sipping a super-charged coffee in the airport watching everyone around me. I had simply ordered the strongest coffee available and it was kicking a punch, I doubted I’d be able to sleep for a few days while this stuff worked its way through my system. I had a bag stuffed with newspaper beside me and a magazine in front of me. Every now an then I flipped a page but I wasn’t reading it.

I was dressed in long loose slacks and a loose long sleeve shirt. I had thought it would be to hot for such a thing, even in the middle of the night, however the air conditioning was giving me thoughts of bringing a sweater next time. Ranger and I had argued over the bag and magazine. He had been convinced I’d be to busy reading to do what I was supposed to be doing. We had argued all the way to the airport and he had given in. I’m sure it was my brilliant reasoning and not the fact that we had arrived that had him giving in.

Ranger had decided it would be best if we played it as a couple and I decided to agree. I had won one argument tonight and wasn’t in the mood for another. Besides, if we knew each other I could sit on his lap and whisper naughty things in his ear. And I probably would have if I hadn’t remembered that Michael could hear everything we said. No matter if I did or didn’t press the button concealed in my waistband on my hip.

So I was sitting here, sipping my coffee, waiting for Ranger to come back with his own coffee. I had offered to order it for him but he had said something about one of us watching at all times. That hadn’t made any sense then and it didn’t make any now. But whatever. Ranger came and sat at the little table with me, his knees touching mine under the table. I pulled away and got up to walk for a bit. My coffee had me bouncing with the extra caffeine in my system. I walked around, looking in the shop windows, using the glass to watch people’s reflection. Ranger came up behind me and I waited for him to say something.

“Babe, what do you think you’re doing? You’re meant to be paying attention.”

Hunh, this will show him! “Ranger, behind you to your left. Missy is ordering coffee.”

Chapter 12

Ranger turned and looked. His head turned back and he had a grin on his face. “Well damn babe.”

He bit my neck. “Good work Tiger.”

He turned and I continued to watch Missy’s reflection in the glass. Ranger pulled out a cell phone and hit the speed dial. “We’re go.”

Ranger’s phone manners left a lot to be desired. Ranger cuddled up to my back and watched the reflection with me. “You think you’re up to playing the ditsy American tourist?”

“I am the ditsy American tourist.”

Ranger snorted. “Hardly. Sure you’re a bit flaky at times, hardly ditsy though. I’ve never dated a ditsy chick in my life.”

I raised my eyebrows at him and he cocked a grin. “Flaky? Excuse me?”

“Well you are. Not always, but sometimes.” I decided to ignore him and concentrate on Missy.

“So what am I playing the ditsy tourist for?”

“I need you to distract her, run into her. You’re good at that.” Seems he thought I was good at a lot of things. Maybe I was.

“How long do you need her distracted for?”

“Ten minutes should do it.”

“Ok, brace yourself.”

“What?” I pulled away from him, giving him a good shove and screamed at him, “I hate you! I never want to see you again!! Bastard!!”

I half ran half scrambled across the floor in Missy’s direction. I knew her attention was focused on me. Most every one in the room had their attention focused on me. I had a blank look on my face, my eyes looked glazed over. It was a look I had perfected over many years of high school gym class. Pretending not to pay attention but being very focused on the guys who were in my class. I went to go around her, swerving in the same direction she did, knocking us both over. I started swearing and crying. Cursing all men in general. I let the tears flow and the sobs shake my body. Missy was looking kind of shell shocked sitting on her ass, legs akimbo.

“Why are men such bastards? Can’t keep his dick in his pants! This is the final time! I swear to god!” I let the tears flow and gave her my most pitiful look. She was still looking shocked but was looking with more and more interest across the room at Ranger.

“He your husband?”

“Yes.” I started to collect my bag and the things I had dropped. “Not for long though! I’m sorry, it’s just, you know…” I shrugged and let more tears roll down my face.

“Sure Honey. I know, men can be such wankers. But then every now and then you find one who makes them all seem like they are worth it. Sure, they make mistakes but it all works out alright in the end” Her eyes were shiny with love. She really loved Mike. I let the tears dry up.

“Well this one isn’t!” I started rummaging through my bag like I was looking for something. I started to pull everything out dumping it on the floor near us. I didn’t have a plan, I was just working this as I went along. “I’m going to kill him!!” I half shouted as I tipped my bag up emptying it all onto the floor.

“What’s the matter? What’s he done?”

“He’s stolen my passport!! How can I get away from him when I don’t have my passport?” Missy started to make soothing noises and started to puck up everything I’d dumped out of my bag.

“Now, now love. It cant be as bad as all that. Let’s go have a cuppa and let you calm down a bit. Then we can see about getting your passport back.” I wasn’t concerned about my passport. It was back in the hotel safe. I slowly nodded my head.

“A coffee would be lovely. Thank you. Australians are so nice. I didn’t want to come here at first you know, I wanted to go to the Bahamas, but Ran-dy had family here he wanted to visit. Stupid me! He meant family as in girl friend! He met her in New York when she was there on business. God I hate him!! I’m going to hurt him! First I’m going to take him for half of everything he owns. Then I’m going to spread rumours around his work that he has gonorrheae. Then I’m going to…”

“It’s ok, calm down a bit. Lets just have a drink and then we can talk about what you should do.” Missy cut me off. I had almost tripped up on his name, substituting it at the last possible moment. I chuffed and let myself calm down. I was really getting into this. Playing the scorned wife was my thing.

“Ok, you’re right. I’m sorry. He just infuriates me. I mean sure, he’s fantastic in bed! It’s just a shame he can’t keep it in our bed. Honestly, you’d think I was the worst lay in the world, when I’m not. I’m actually pretty darn good!” I pronounced this as three men wearing suits wondered by. They all grinned at me looking me up and down. I smiled back and bit back a scream when I heard Ranger’s voice in my ear.

“Ain’t that the truth.”

I shook my head and watched the men walk on by, I guess my back was pressing on the button and I was broadcasting. I noticed Tank and Bobby walk in over near the entrance to the shops. I turned to Missy. “You know what would be a good plan? I’ll do to him what he did to me. See them over there, the black guy? He’d be perfect.”

I let my voice go low. Missy glanced quickly from Ranger to Tank scooping the physical sizes. “Well sure I guess…” She sounded hesitant and I stood up heading directly towards tank, leaving my bag with her. I’d been standing close to Tank for about 2 minutes when she came over with Mike and my bag. “Oh! Baby, this is the wonderful woman who saved me! I’m sorry, after all you did for me and I never even caught your name!”

I looked at Missy with a huge smile while I wrapped myself around Tank. Bobby had disappeared into a newsagency when I had stopped right in front of them and told them what was happening. Missy smiled. “I’m Missy, and this is my husband Mike.”

“Hi Mike!” I did fake cheer with enthusiasm well after practice with Dickie Orr and his lawyer friends. “I’m Stephanie. This big guy here is Thomas.” I giggled. “They call him Tank. Cause he goes just like the Engine!” I giggled inanely while Tank slapped me on the ass. His real name was in fact Andrew.

“That’s right baby.” He winked at Mike. Who looked on bravely as Tank and I pawed at each other. Around us we were slowly being surrounded by ex-army guys. Ranger was watching me with hot eyes as Tank held his hand on my ass.

Missy caught the look and raised an eyebrow at me. “Looks like now would be a good time to am-scray from the usband-hay.”

“I cant!!” I acted kind of panicky. “I have to get my passport from him!!” Ranger had started to come towards us and the other guys were slowly moving in. Ranger pulled to a halt right in front of me.

“What are you doing?” He yelled it at me. Tank stood in front of me.

“Hey man, don’t yell at the lady like that!”

I stepped around to the left of Tank, Missy and Mike being on the right. “Yeah! Don’t yell at me.”

“She’s not a lady, moron, she’s my wife!” Ranger’s attention swung from Tank to me. “And you! What do you think you’re doing?”

Tank stepped half a step forward. “It seems to me like she doesn’t want to be your wife no more buddy, so why don’t you step off?” Tank wrapped his left arm around my waist sliding up my side until it was almost touching my breast. A look flashed through Ranger’s eyes and suddenly Tank was air born, crashing into Mike and Missy, knocking them both to the floor. Big muscly guys swarmed over them and suddenly they were standing in cuffs. Both looking a little shell-shocked. Mike started to yell.

“What’s going on? Security! Help! You can’t do this!” Ranger got right up in his face.

“Can’t do this? You think so huh? We can’t do this like you can’t kidnap a little girl.”

Mike’s face went deathly white, tinged grey around the edges. Missy just fainted. “What’s going to happen now then?”

“Well I’d have just handed you over to the police, but it seems John would like to talk to you.” Mike sagged and barely remained upright.

Ranger pulled me into his arms and whispered into my ear, “See, now we go back to the hotel and I show you that you’re a really good lay.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mike and Missy were confined in a small conference room back in the hotel. Guys were posted around the hotel, two outside the only doors leading into the room. Ranger, Tank and I were waiting with them until John arrived. We had taken the cuffs off them and Missy was lying with her head in Mike’s lap. John came in and stood, fist clenching. Mike and John stared at each other, Mike flinched when we stood to leave, and looked away from John. He waved us down. “Stay. I can’t help but feel that something unfortunate might happen should I be left alone with them.”

He spat out the word ‘them’ like it was excrement.

He looked on as Mike absently stroked Missy’s hair back from her head. Mike lifted his eyes back to John and half raised his hand before dropping it again. “I’m sorry. We’re sorry. We did the best we could. We never hurt her.”

“The only reason I’m not ripping limb from limb right now is because Lizzy told me you never hurt her.” There was silence. “Why did you do it?”

Mike shrugged and rubbed a hand over his head. “We needed the money. I didn’t know what else to do.”

“What did you need the money for?” Missy started to gag.

“I’m going to vomit.” Mike hurried her into the small restroom situated off to the side. There was no other way in or out so we all waited for them. I motioned to Tank.

“Go get some water and something light for her to eat when she’s finished.” He gave me a look but when both John and Ranger nodded in agreement he went with out a word. Mike and Missy came out of the bathroom at the same time Tank came back in. He sat the tray on the bench near Missy and Mike poured a glass of water for her.

“Why did you do it?” Silence had returned to the room and Missy was lying on Mike’s lap again. John was looking at Mike intently, like his face might reveal his inner thoughts. He sighed and slumped back, still smoothing Missy’s hair back from her face.

“There’s no reason that makes it ok, or acceptable. I’ve always been contemptuous of people who had to steal and cheat to make their money. It wasn’t until recently that I understood that desperate times mean desperate measures are necessary.” He paused and sipped at the water. “A myriad of things happened at once. Maybe if they hadn’t happened altogether I could have handled it. First I lost a great deal of money in the stock market. I told you about that. And I told you I’d be fine. I’d recover.” John nodded. “And it was true. But then I lost a great deal more with the stock market again. Still I might have recovered if I had concentrated on it. But something else happened and it was all I could do to go to the office day after day.”

“What was it?” I voiced my question before anyone could say anything. Missy opened her eyes and looked at me.

“I went into chemo. Bone cancer.” The room stilled as it sunk in that desperate times truly were desperate for these two.

Mike continued as if neither of us had spoken. “I borrowed from the bank and tried my best. Honest to god, I tried. But my mind and heart were with Missy. Through bad investments I lost that money too. By then medical bills were piling up and investors were clambering for their money. Then the bank was calling in the loan. I stopped all rational thought. I had no idea what to do next. Then Lizzy came to stay for the weekend. We were watching a video or something… Some kid was kidnapped in it and Lizzy made the comment that it would be so much fun if that happened to her. All reason left my mind. A few days later I grabbed her from school.”

Mike slumped further and John relaxed. “Why didn’t you ask to borrow money? I’d have given it to you no questions asked.”

Mike shrugged. “Like I said. I just stopped thinking.”

Silence descended. Ranger had one arm wrapped around my shoulder and I had moved into him more and more as the story had unfolded. “How long do you have left?”

Ranger’s arm tightened around me as I voiced the question. Tears fell down Mikes face. “It’s too advanced for chemo to help, it would slow the growth, but Missy said she’d rather not. The doctors said 6 to 9 months tops. Without chemo. She doesn’t want to be sick for the rest of her life.” ‘Life’ came out on a sob.

John motioned to Ranger and they left the room. Ten minutes later John returned with out Ranger. “I’ve arranged a room for you both. I’m not going to press charges. Though I should, but I think you’ve enough to deal with right now.” He handed Mike a key and helped Missy to her feet. “Come on.”

They left and Tank helped me up, wrapping a beefy arm around my shoulders. “May I escort you to you room milady?”

I giggled at his tone and manner. A little levity wouldn’t go astray right now. “Why sir, I’m simply not that kind of lady! But since you asked so kindly. I will permit you to escort me to my door. Upon which I may bestow a simple chaste kiss upon your cheek.”

“You sure you don’t want to suck my neck again?” I pretended to think about it. He had tasted good I’ll admit.

“You can’t think of somewhere else you might want me to suck on?” I was in the mood for light and flirty. Missy and Mike’s story had got me down and I wanted up. Tank growled at me.

“You’re going to get me into trouble.”

“What?” What was he on about?

“With Ranger. You’re his and putting thoughts like that in my head will do none of us any good.”

Was he kidding? Ranger and I weren’t in love, at least I didn’t think so. Lust, yes, love? I didn’t think so. “His? His? I don’t think so. I’m my own person here Tank. Ranger knows that. I don’t belong to him and he doesn’t belong to me.”

“Probably you should talk to him before propositioning other men.”

“I didn’t proposition you. I was flirting.”

“I’d be interested to hear you proposition someone then.”

I pushed away from him. “I’m no ones fool Tank. I belong to no one either. I’ll do what I want when I want.” I was around the corner before I heard him say anything back to me. Everything I had said was true. So what if I wanted what Tank had said to be true. In a liberal sense. I wanted to be Ranger’s. I wanted him to be mine. I let my self into my room and showered waiting for Ranger to return. I had just dried off and slipped into some pjs when Ranger came in. He kissed me long and hard before pulling away to shower. Not a word had been said. I climbed into bed and listened to the water run as Ranger showered. Would I say anything to him? I wasn’t sure.

Five minutes later, Ranger stepped out of the bathroom, dry and naked and slipped into the bed next to me. He pulled me into his arms so that we were facing each other. “I passed Tank on the way up here.”

“And?” I wanted to know what Tank had told him before I said anything.

“He thinks we ought to talk.”

“Sure.” There was a silence. “You want to start?”

“Why don’t you start by telling me what it is you want?”

“I want you.” Simple and true.

“Only me?”

“Only you. I don’t want marriage. Nothing like that. I’m not even sure if I’m in love with you. I do love you, but I don’t know if I’m in love with you.” Ranger nodded in the dim light of the moon coming through the diaphanous curtain. “But I don’t want to share with any one else. Other than that. I don’t know.”

“I’m the same. I love you but I’m not sure if I’m in love with you.” I nodded at him. I understood. “It would be very easy to fall for you, I’m already falling, but I’m not there yet. Maybe one day, maybe not. But or now it has to be just you and me. No one else. I’m not willing to share either.” I moved in closer to him and kissed his shoulder while his hand stroked up and down my back.

“Ok, that’s settled. Anything else and we can figure it as we go.” Ranger nodded again. “So what now?”

“Now we can either spend a few weeks travelling around or we can go home to Trenton. What would you prefer?”

“You have time to travel for a bit?”

“I cancelled all appointments that I could and delegated what I couldn’t. Wasn’t sure how long this would take. I did expect longer, but we lucked out with you and so I have a bit of time.”

“Can we go back to Byron?”

“Sure. We can go anywhere you want.”

I thought about Missy and Mike and the kind of love they shared. I hope that I got to share that kind of love in my life. I expected I might and it might just be with the man I was cuddled up to right now. I rolled Ranger on his back and leaned in to kiss him softly on his back.

“I don’t much care where we go. As long as we’re together.”

Ranger smiled against my lips and his hands ran down my spine. “Sounds like a good plan.”

And it was. For now anyway.

The End.