Author's note: So sorry for just vanishing for so long! My dad had a bad fall in mid-March and was hospitalized for a week before transitioning to a rehab/ nursing home. He's doing better physically now, but mentally/emotionally is a whole different story. He's been diagnosed with dementia, and while he's okay about 85% currently, the other 15% of the time when he's not so okay has me worried. So I don't think it would be safe for my 79 year old, blind and diabetic father to live alone again. He's, of course, adamant that he can live alone immediately. We disagree, and he's always been one to hold one heck of a grudge, so he's currently not talking to me. But between trying to help him as best I can and about 40 million pieces of paperwork for the government, hospital and nursing home, plus the stress of managing all this plus a full-time job and the normal housework and stuff, and well, sorry, but I lost my mojo and had no time to help the RangeMen go on a search-and-rescue mission for it. But things are somewhat calmer now, so here's to hoping I can start writing again!

Chapter 5

We meandered slowly up and down the beach while the sun continued to sink over the horizon the following Friday, almost a week after our arrival at Point Pleasant. That was the downside to living on the east coast. Unless you were on an island or something like that, the sun set over land, not over water. And I'm not crazy enough to get up and watch the sun rise over the water that early in the morning.

Hal and I sat on our sandy beach towels as the last vestiges of light faded from view, and only the light from the moon and stars shone down on us in the ethereal twilight. I leaned my head against his shoulder as he wrapped his arms around me.

"It's been a great week, Steph," he said softly a few minutes later. "I had a really great time just relaxing with you."

I smiled to myself. "Yeah. Me too."

His arms tightened around me slightly in a hug.

"I could get used to this," he mused a bit later. "Gorgeous girl on a gorgeous night."

"Flattery will get you everywhere," I told him with a chuckle.

"Well in that case," he said as he turned me towards me slightly. "Have I ever told you how absolutely breathtakingly beautiful you are? Especially in the moonlight?"

I could feel my face flush slightly. "No."

His face tilted towards mine. "Well, you are. The most beautiful woman I've ever known. Inside and out." Then his lips were on mine and there was no more talking for quite a while.

We kissed, his hands on my hips after I'd turned so I was sprawled in his lap, until some rude teenaged boys with more acne than brains decided to interrupt our idyll by yelling "get a room!" at us with a couple of loud catcalls and whistles as they walked by.

Hal shifted me off his lap and stood to his full six and a half feet of incredibly imposing height. "What was that?" Hal asked in his badass SEAL voice. There was tension in his muscles, and since he was still sans a shirt, a quick glance was more than enough to see that he was muscular enough that pissing him off wasn't a good long-term plan.

I could practically hear the 'oh shit!' thoughts from the teens from here. I saw them gulp from where was I sitting on the towel. I slowly got to my feet, prepared to have Hal's back if necessary. Not that he'd need my help, but hey, you never know. I had been a teenager once, and while I'd never been stupid enough to piss off men big enough to make the Hulk look weak and anemic, teenager and smart don't always go together, especially since I saw that one of the teens had a bottle of some kind of whiskey in his hand.

With boozey bravado, the alcohol wielding teen stepped forward. "We told ya to get a room before you fucked your whore on the beach," he slurred, using his bottle to gesture towards me.

Dumb little prick. That was pretty much exactly the wrong thing to say to say to Hal.

His slightly less stupid friends tried to grab for him, but dipshit was too drunk to realize his mistake.

Hal stalked towards him, and the fair-weather friends cowered away. Dumbass tried to swing his bottle of booze at Hal, who easily dodged it and picked him up one handed by his shirt and dangled him in the air. "Are you really that stupid?" Hal asked softly.

Dipshit finally seemed to realize the gravity of his predicament.

"Uh," he stuttered. "Good job, man, she's hot!" he exclaimed.

Hal shook him like a puppy does a chew toy. I swear I heard rattling in his brain. Then Hal walked him over to the waves, carried him out until it was waist deep on Hal, and dropped the kid into the water. He held on to his shirt, and pulled the sputtering teen out of the water a few seconds later.

"Apologize," Hal demanded tersely.

"Sorry, man," the now wet and pitiful teen said.

"Not to me, you moron, to the lady you insulted!"

"What lady?" dumbnuts asked. "I just see the hot hooker."

I looked down. I was in a bikini, yeah, but how the hell did he figure I was a hooker?

Hal dumped him into the water again before pulling him back up. "Has that sobered you up any yet? She's not a hooker, she's a lady, and don't even think about insulting her again," he warned.

One of the other teens had circled around and tried to get behind me. "Steph, behind you!" Hal called out. I'd been aware of his movements, but I ducked nonetheless at his words. The kid flew over my head as he tried to grab me. I grabbed his arm, flipped him to his stomach and pressed my knee to his spine as I held his arm in a locked hold. The only way the kid could get out of this would be to dislocate his own shoulder, and I rather doubted he wanted to do that.

"How old are you?" I asked the kid at my feet.

He cursed a blue streak at me, so I tightened my hold on his shoulder until he stopped. "How old are you?" I repeated.

"Nineteen," he replied sullenly.

"So you're old enough to know better than this," I replied. "You guys are freaking stupid, on so many levels. We weren't bothering anyone, we weren't doing anything wrong. So why the hell would you try to start a fight that you can't hope to win?"

Pretzel-boy remained silent.

Hal drug the dripping drunk guy out of the water and tossed him at the side of the guy I had subdued. The others were all long gone already.

"Nice," Hal said as he saw my hold.

"Thanks."

"Call the cops," Hal told me. "I'll watch Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum."

I slid back and stood up quickly. Hal stood over the two drunks with his arms flexed and hanging loosely at his sides, ready for action at a moment's notice. I scanned the beach around us as I picked up my bag and called the cops.

They arrived seven minutes later. The drunk who'd tried to grab me had tried to get up once, but Hal very quickly sat him back down on his ass with a warning to stay put. He shrank back from Hal's glare.

Hal and I explained what happened to the cops, over the loud shouts of the teens that we'd accosted them for no reason. The cops rolled their eyes once they smelled the cheap bourbon on their breaths and did a field sobriety test, which both teens failed abysmally.

Apparently they'd heard of RangeMan even up here, since they eyed us both with more respect once we explained who we were and where we worked.

"Damned idiots picked the wrong people to provoke, didn't they?" one cop asked.

I just nodded. "Look at him," I gestured at Hal. "How drunk do you have to be to willingly piss him off? He's a Navy SEAL for God's sake, and like seven feet tall and eight feet wide!"

The cop grinned at me. "Good point. They're pretty damn drunk, that's evident. We'll book them with underage drinking and disturbing the peace at least, and let them call their parents and explain why they're spending the night in jail."

"Think that'll be enough to get them to stop?" I asked.

The cop shrugged. "Don't know. One brush with the law is enough of a deterrent for some kids, but not for others. We'll just have to see how it plays out for these two. I don't recognize either one of them, so they're probably not locals, so I really can't guess."

"Put the fear of God into them," I advised. "This could have gone much worse if they'd picked the wrong people to harass. They just got their pride hurt. They could've gotten dead if they'd tried it in Trenton!"

"Yeah, I plan on trying to scare them straight," the cop said with a grin. "Sorry that you folks were disturbed, but thanks for calling us. Have a good rest of your night."

I nodded and the cop headed towards the somewhat more sober teens. "On your feet!" he barked. "You're both under arrest for underage drinking, disturbing the peace, and being a public nuisance. You'd better thank your lucky stars that these two aren't pressing charges for assault! But there's still time for them to change their minds before you go before the judge tomorrow morning. Congratulations, you'll be spending the night in jail," the cop said.

The horrified kids stared at each other as the cops read them their rights and trundled them into separate cop cars.

"Well," Hal said as he settled a hand at the small of my back. "Tonight didn't end as I hoped."

I looked up at him over my shoulder. "How did you hope it would end?"

"More kissing, less cops," he said wryly.

"Night's not over yet," I said with what I hoped was a seductive smile as I turned to walk back towards the rental house.

I heard a snort of laughter before he caught up to me in a few quick steps. "And this is why I love you."

I grinned. "Feed me first, then we'll discuss kissing."

"Yes, ma'am," Hal said with a smile. "I know a couple of great restaurants nearby if you want to go out, or some of them deliver if you'd rather stay in."

I considered it for a minute. "Delivery tonight, maybe," I suggested.

"Sounds find to me," Hal said as he headed towards the kitchen as we walked into the house. "I think I saw some menus in the drawer here."

We rummaged around for a minute before finding them. We perused the menus and finally decided on an Italian place that promised fast delivery. Hal called in the order while I went upstairs to try to get the salt out of my hair.

Twenty minutes later, my hair was merely damp, I was dressed in some cuddly lounge pants and a cute novelty t-shirt I'd found on sale at Walmart. It had Slimer, the ghost from Ghostbusters, on it. I figured that was so totally me that I hadn't been able to resist it. I heard the doorbell ring, and then the soft murmur of voices, so I figured the food had arrived.

I eagerly traipsed to the hall, following my nose, and found Hal standing there with the biggest bag of food I think I've ever seen, and I've bought some damn big bags of food in my day.

"Smells great!" I told him.

Hal grinned at my excitement. "I think you'll be happy," he told me as I tried to peek into the bag.

I followed after him like a besotted puppy as he headed into the dining room with the bag of food. Somehow, while I'd showered and changed, he'd managed to not only shower and change but also set the table with a white tablecloth and napkins, china and lit candles.

"Wow," I told him. "I'm impressed."

Hal set out the food on the plates while I poured the wine that Hal had set on the table, and then Hal pulled out my chair.

I looked up to smile at Hal, and he moved as quick as lightening to drop a quick kiss on my lips.

I blinked at him in surprise and he grinned in smug satisfaction that he'd managed to surprise me.

I stuck out my tongue at him and he winked as he took his own seat.

While I'd never be a salad fan, two months of eating like a bunny with the RangeMen had acclimated me to the green stuff, so I didn't quibble when we started with a side Caesar salad with balsamic vinaigrette dressing.

Then we moved on to an antipasto tray that I didn't know he was going to order. I couldn't hold back a moan or two that the salad didn't elicit. Go figure, vegetables don't get that reaction from me.

Hal just grinned and shook his head, but he didn't say anything about it.

When we got to the entrees, the moaning went up to about a 9.3 on the Richter scale. It truly was that good. Whoever made this stuff must have either just gotten off the plane from Italy, or they had channeled my grandmother Plum when they made this for me. The manicotti tasted just like hers, and she'd grown up in a little village in southern Italy until she moved to the US with her parents when she was a teenager.

Even Hal was making the occasional happy noise in the back of his throat.

An assortment of Italian cookies completed our meal and I was one happy, and stuffed, half-Italian woman.

"Damn, that was good," I murmured.

Hal just nodded.

"So now what?" I asked.

Hal stood and held out his hand to me, and I took it without another word. He pulled me out onto the balcony, pausing briefly to turn off the lights in the house behind us. Then he wrapped me in his arms, my back to his front, and we stared off at the waves crashing on the shore.

After a couple of minutes of the hypnotic waves, Hal finally spoke. "Sorry about all the trouble tonight. I knew those guys were there, but I didn't expect them to be stupid enough to insult you."

"Not your fault they were drunk and stupid."

"Still, I'm sorry it happened. I know they were just kids, but I really wanted to beat the crap of them for calling you those names," he admitted.

"I know. I think you put the fear of God into them instead, and maybe this will keep them from being so dumb in the future when it really could get them in trouble. But I'm fine, and trust me, that was far from being the worst insult I've ever gotten. Hell, I've heard worse from my own mom! So don't worry about it," I reassured him. "I'm not going to let it bother me, so you shouldn't either."

"Still pisses me off."

I chuckled. The Merry Men were all very protective of me. "Noted."

Then I turned in his arms, wrapping my arms around his neck. "Let's see if I can do anything to take your mind off of it."

Ten minutes later, I let myself slide back down his body so I wasn't practically on ballet pointe. My toes were starting to hurt from standing on my tippy toes for so long.

"Damn, you're good at distracting a man," Hal murmured.

"That's why Ranger hired me," I quipped. "Thought I don't usually have to resort to quite that level to get someone's attention."

"Thank God," Hal breathed. "I'm pretty sure I'd have to beat up some bad guy if you got this close to him."

I busted out laughing, and after a minute, Hal joined me. "I'm going to have to get myself under control," he muttered.

"Why? Out of control's more fun," I teased.

He shot me a look of pure lust that caused me to step back slightly. "You have no idea how I feel about you, sweetheart. If I get out of control, neither of us will be walking comfortably for a day or two, at least. So I've got to get a grip."

I felt my panties go completely soaked.

Bad Stephanie reared her evil, and horny, head again. "Prove it."

Hal stilled. "Steph, sweetheart, do you know what you're saying?"

I stepped closer and wrapped my arms around his neck loosely. "Yes."

He swallowed hard. "Are you absolutely sure?"

"Yes."

That must have been enough of an answer for him, because then he was picking me up and wrapping my legs around his waist as he walked us both back into the living room. His lips were on mine as his hands supported my weight.

A minute later, he was laying me gently on the center of my bed.

"Is this really what you want?" Hal asked again. "I'm really who you want?"

He tried to move back slightly, but I followed him. "Yes. I want you, Hal. I want to be with you and I want to make love with you. Now."

He growled slightly at my declaration before I was pressed against the mattress by the weight of his big body. I hadn't lied. I did want this and I did want him, and more than just Biblically. I really hadn't thought about anything other than his surprising declaration since he'd made it on the beach, and I really couldn't come up with any reason not to try dating him.

He was a wonderful man, gentle with me when I needed it, but he'd push me when I needed that. He obviously cared deeply about me, and I knew I cared a lot about him too. Even before this, he'd rank in my top 5 friends, and was probably my best friend at RangeMan outside of Ranger. We could just sit in silence and be comfortable or we could sit and talk for hours. He was absolutely gorgeous and I found him devastatingly attractive.

Yeah, I definitely wanted this.

He rocked back on his heels and pulled me to a semi-sitting position to he could remove the t-shirt I was wearing. As soon as it was gone, his hands were on my breasts. I moaned at the sensation, and he sucked in a deep breath. "Ah, sweetheart," he breathed as his lips descended to nip and suck at my nipples through the lacy fabric.

I moaned again and writhed on the bed under him, but he was easily able to hold me mostly still. When my nipples were so hard they could cut diamonds, he finally eased back slightly and reached behind me to unclasp my bra.

The slight breeze on my wet, hard nipples made them tighten almost painfully.

"Hal," I whimpered.

"Yeah, sweetheart, I know," he said as he pushed me back slightly. I collapsed back against the bed and watched him with hooded eyes.

He reached for my hips and I lifted them off the bed slightly as he pulled down my lounge pants and the lacy bikini panties that matched my bra. Hey, it never hurt a girl to be prepared. I'd even shaved and trimmed and everything during my shower earlier.

I should have been a boy scout, although it was painfully apparent to me right now that I was indeed a girl, not a boy.

Hal ran his hand down my side, over my hip and to my outer thigh. "You are so beautiful," he told me as he hovered over me again to kiss me, a deep, drugging kiss that left me unable to remember my own name.

I ran my hands up and down his back, or as much as I could reach of him given our positions, and then I pulled at the hem of his shirt. He sat up and helped me to remove it. When I saw all those lovely muscles just waiting on me to trace them all with my hands and lips and tongue, I moaned again.

I started tracing the contours of his chest, running my hands over the battle hardened muscles I found. He shuddered slightly when I scrapped my nails over his flat, pebbled nipples.

"Ah, Steph," he said in a quiet, almost reverential tone.

My hands slid lower, over his abs to the waistband of his lounge pants. I untied the knot in the tie string and then pushed them over his hips. He lifted his hips to let me pull them down his strong thighs and legs.

Oh chunky monkey, but I was right. He was big all over. Really big. Freaking huge, really.

As soon as I started to reach for his obviously proud pride and joy, he grabbed my hands and eased me back on the bed. "No, sweetheart, I don't want this to be over too soon," he said with heat in his eyes and promise in his voice.

Then he was hovering over me again, his lips and hands driving me almost to the point of insanity as he worked his way down my body. I was just one big ol' nerve at this point, I was convinced of it.

But when his tongue darted in to lap at my core, I damn near levitated off the bed. "Hal!"

He made an mm hmm sound that shot from his lips through me to some special magical spot in the bottom of my stomach and I gasped out loud.

The rasp of his tongue against my clit had me letting out a short, and hopefully rather low, scream.

That seemed to please Hal, as evidenced by the fact that he immediately did it again. And again. And you get the picture.

I was writhing flat out now, bucking like a prize bronco at the Texas state rodeo, but Hal kept with me, his tongue darting to suckle at the moisture that was flowing like a Roman aqueduct and to sweep across the bundle of nerves that made me twitch like I'd just been juiced by a stun gun.

I was shocked when first one finger slid inside me, followed almost instantly by another. They pumped in and out in time with the swirls of his tongue and I felt the doomsday orgasm approach like a runaway freight train.

I was breathing in short little pants now, and my muscles were so tight from tension that I was positive that I was going to shatter into a million little pieces. And that I'd die from deprivation if I didn't find my release.

Then Hal bit down lightly on my clit as he thrust a third finger into me and my muscles clamped down on his fingers as I screamed again, this time an undulating moan that signaled that yes, Virgina, there is a Santa Claus, and his name is Hal.

My eyes squeezed shut so hard that I saw flashing lights as I came hard for what felt like forever. When I was finally able to un-lock my muscles enough to look up, Hal was already hovering over me again.

"You okay?" he asked tenderly.

I nodded, still too breathless to talk.

He stretched out beside me and gave me a minute to recover from what had to have been the most intense orgasm of my life. After about two minutes, I turned to face him. "Holy cow."

He got a gorgeous grin on his face. "Thank you, ma'am."

I reached out to caress his cheek. "No, thank you!"

His grin grew even wider as he turned to press a kiss against my palm. "You're most definitely very welcome, sweetheart. That was incredible."

"Oh we aren't done yet," I murmured as I rolled closer to him so I could start kissing my way down his neck.

"Just realized we don't have any condoms," he said with a heartfelt groan.

"I'm on the birth control shot and I'm clean," I said softly.

He turned to look with desperate hope in his eyes. "So we'd be safe?"

I nodded. "Just got my shot two weeks ago, so I'm good on that. Easier than remembering a pill. Are you... Have you been tested lately?" I asked. It was awkward but too important to not discuss.

"Thank God! Yeah, we're tested regularly and I haven't been with anyone since then, so I'm good."

My response was to scoot closer. He let me kiss and caress him for several long and very pleasurable minutes. When my hands swept down to cup him, he moaned. Loudly.

I can see now why the guys love it when I do that. It's sexy as hell.

He let me torment him for only a minute more before he groaned loudly. "Aww, sweet Jesus, Steph," he panted. "I can't take this."

Then he rolled us so I was lying spread eagle under him and his hips were cradled between my thighs. I could feel him lying hot and heavy against my entrance and I was about to explode just thinking about it.

"You're sure?" he asked as he stared me in the eyes.

"Yes. I'm sure. I want this. I want you. Please," I said with a quiver in my voice that match the quiver in stomach from having what I desperately wanted so close but not quite there.

He reached down and adjusted himself, nudging against me and slowly started to enter me. I moaned at the sensation of him stretching him. He was a very big boy, bigger than anyone else I'd ever slept with.

He gritted his teeth and continue to inch his way in slowly, his hips rocking gently as he worked his long, hard length into me. Finally, his hips met mine and we both let out a sigh.

Hal leaned his forehead against mine as he panted to keep control, but his lower body stayed completely still as my body adjusted to his. It didn't take long before I was ready for more.

I tightened my internal muscles and his hips twitched involuntarily. He sucked in a deep breath.

"Liked that, huh?" I said on a moan as I did it again. He twitched again before he pulled back a little and then thrust back into me.

I moaned louder.

Then he pulled back until he was almost out and then slid back in smoothly, the friction so intense that I nearly lost (what's left of) my mind.

I clutched at his back and just held on for the ride.

He grew extra arms, I'm sure of it, since he was somehow able to tweak my nipples and rub my clit while he kept up a smooth, slightly too slow rhythm that was about to make me scream for the wrong reasons.

He must have picked up on my frustrations, because then he picked up the pace. I was gasping every time his hips slapped against mine, and he was almost growling at the same time. It would have been a weird cacophony of moans, groans and flesh slapping if anyone had heard us.

Of course, I'd happily shoot anyone who tried to interrupt us now.

I could feel the burning in my lower belly that signals a coming orgasm, and my muscles went on red alert as they tensed for the impending onslaught.

Hal groaned, long and low, as he kept his rhythm steady as he continued to brush his talented fingers against my clit with each thrust.

It was only a few more thrusts before I was screaming again, this time into his mouth as he kissed me as I rocked to orgasm.

He followed after me, groaning his own release as he stiffened and then shook slightly with the force of his own orgasm.

I half expected him to just collapse on me, and I tried to muster enough energy to brace myself, but he caught himself on his arms and held himself up over me for a few seconds. I whimpered as he pulled out of me and then rolled to the side.

He pulled me into his arms and brushed my hair away from my sweaty forehead. I rested my head on his shoulder and my hand over his heart. I was trying to come up with something to say, but I fell asleep before I could get my brain rebooted.