Disclaimer: The characters of the Stephanie Plum series belong to Janet Evanovich and are used here without permission. The song used here is "Cecilia" by Simon and Garfunkel No copyright infringement is intended.
Note: Just a little something that popped into my head. --- Babe story
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Questions And Answers
By TT
Stephanie hated stakeouts. It was a well-known fact throughout Rangeman. It was so well-known, in fact, that none of the men wanted to spend the time with her, they claimed she was too distracting.
In truth, Stephanie couldn’t disagree with them, she knew she was horrible on stakeouts. So, she shrugged it off and let them have their way.
Unfortunately for her, just because the men didn’t want to sit on a stakeout with her didn’t mean she could get out of doing them. It just meant that she had to do all of her stakeouts with Ranger. It was proving to be a blessing and a curse.
Currently they were sitting on a lightly shaded side street watching a white row house, waiting for their skip to come home.
It was a beautiful, sunny, summer afternoon, not too hot and not too cool, just about perfect.
That, and the fact that Stephanie had broken up with Joe five months ago were causing her usually low resistance to Ranger to drop to unheard of danger levels.
Stephanie rested her head on the back of her seat. She, honestly, wasn’t sure anyone truly believed they were broken up. Like on that one Seinfeld episode, it had been a completely acrimony-free, mutual breakup. Perhaps that was the problem, because there hadn’t been some sort of screaming match, no one would believe it. But it was true, one day they had been sitting watching the Rangers play the Islanders and during the break between the second and third periods had admitted that they wanted different things in life and that what they wanted wasn’t compatible.
It had been disturbingly grown-up and well-adjusted for them, but, oddly, it seemed an appropriate end and they had been able to remain friends ever since.
Five months was a long time and Ranger hadn’t kept his promise to be in her bed if it was empty. She had to admit, though, if he didn’t fill it soon, she might be tempted to find someone else to do so.
Glancing at her watch she nearly groaned when she saw they had two more hours left on their shift.
Stephanie stared back at the house, trying to ignore her dancing hormones.
After what felt like hours, but was more like eight minutes, she let out a heavy sigh looked at Ranger and asked, “You do know that Joe and I broke up for good five months ago?”
Ranger’s eyes widened slightly, but he said nothing, his attention on the job.
Since she’d started she decided to continue. “You know, you did promise that if my bed was empty too long you’d be back in it.”
Nothing.
“Is this about the ‘your life doesn’t lend itself to relationships’ thing? Cause, you know, mine doesn’t either, but I’m willing to give it a shot,” she babbled.
She witnessed a slight tensing of his jaw, but no other visible response.
“I know it wouldn’t be a traditional relationship, but I’m hardly a traditional woman.”
Still nothing.
Letting out a sigh, she looked out the window once more and changed the subject.
“You know it’s a gorgeous day. There must be tons of things we could be doing rather than sitting here,” she said. “I’d love to be at the beach, sitting in the sand in my new bikini, soaking up the sun and sipping an iced lemonade or something,” she expounded, her voice wistful.
Turning to look at Ranger, she asked, “Isn’t there something you’d rather be doing than sitting here?”
The silence lasted ten seconds before she continued.
“Oh, come on, Ranger. There’s got to be something. I mean sitting there all quiet and stone-like has got to be boring. You don’t even listen to music. So, tell me, what would you rather be doing?”
Obviously out of patience at the moment, Ranger reached over and flicked on the radio. ‘Making love in the afternoon’, managed to escape through the speakers before Ranger just as quickly flicked it off.
His dark eyes slowly rose and met Stephanie’s. She gasped at the heat, passion, desire, love, lust and need she saw there. She felt herself respond with equal emotion.
“You sure, Babe?” Ranger finally asked.
“Yes,” Stephanie replied. “For however long we have.”
Ranger flipped open his phone and requested replacements. Moments later they appeared.
Putting the car into gear, Ranger pulled out and headed down the street.
“Where are we headed,” Stephanie asked, more to distract herself than from any real curiosity.
“Like the song said,” Ranger replied. “To make love in the afternoon.” Then, turning to capture her gaze once more, he added, “Up in my bedroom.”
“Haywood?” Stephanie inquired.
Ranger broke eye contact and turned to face the road once more. He shook his head once and replied, “Bat Cave.”
Stephanie gasped and settled back in her seat, a smile spreading across her face.
End