Disclaimer: I'm not making any profit, just having some fun. The characters belong to Janet Evanovich as do any recognizable settings.

I try to edit closely but there will be mistakes. Since this is just a hobby I don't worry too much about small mistakes.

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From the Inside Looking Out

"Babe."

"Ranger."

"Tommy Sellars, wanted for armed robbery, and possession of a controlled substance," he read aloud over my shoulder placing his hand at the base of my neck. "Sounds like a bad guy Babe. You going to take this file?"

I shrugged off the contact and took a step away from Ranger. "Yeah. He's worth $3,000 dollars. I could use the money."

"If you need money you can always run searches at Rangeman. I can call Tank and have him set you up in your old cubicle.

"I'll keep that in mind," I said turning on my heel and rushing out of the office and hopping into my faded blue Ford Explorer.

A couple of minutes later I was driving through the streets of the Burg. The Burg is Chambersburg a section of Trenton, New Jersey. I grew up in the Burg. It's your typical suburb. Lots of middle class families living in cramped houses with small yards and American cars in the driveway. Children and housewives are held to high standards of etiquette and expectations. People know each other here and anyone who differentiates from those standards becomes instant fodder for the Burg grapevine.

I pulled into the driveway of Joe Morelli's house on Slater Street. His Tahoe is parked in the driveway so I knew he was still at home. I smiled and jogged to the door. I let myself inside using my key. I rubbed Joe's big goofy dog Bob behind the ears and gave him a kiss on the head.

Joe Morelli has been my on again boyfriend for a couple of years. Currently we're on again. This time it feels like it might stick. I'd known Joe my whole life. As a child my mother warned me to stay away from him. As a teenager I'd given my virginity to him. As an adult he was a cop with a solid reputation and an even more solid body. My mother saw him as my best chance at a normal life, and more grandchildren.

"Joe?" I yelled from the living room.

"Up here Cupcake."

I bounded up the stairs and ran literally into Joe wearing a towel and nothing else. He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me in for a quick kiss. Joe was sexy all the time, but he was sexiest when he was flirty. Today Joe was feeling very flirty as evidenced by his finger currently tracing the low-cut neckline of my purple t-shirt.

"Hi," I sighed.

"What brings you by this morning?" Joe asked.

"I picked up a new file from Connie and I remembered you were going in late today since you worked last night. I thought we could grab lunch at Pino's before your shift."

"That sounds great," Joe said leaning in to kiss my neck. "We still have a couple of hours before lunch."

Oh boy.

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A couple of hours later I was feeling very relaxed and content. I was sitting on the edge of Joe's bed waiting for him to finish getting dressed. I'd showered for the second time today and I was pretty sure everyone at Pino's would know what we'd been doing this morning. I felt a blush creep up my neck and my face broke into a big grin remembering just how good it'd been.

A few months ago if you'd asked me if I could be this happy with Joe I'd told you no way. It seemed like Joe and I were in completely different places. Joe wanted to get married, and start a family. I wanted to keep my independence. Then one day I while sitting in my latest clunker car on James Street waiting on a skip to stumble out of Tony's Tap Room; I started ruminating about the current state of my life. I was a thirty year old woman living paycheck to paycheck, in a crappy apartment. My car insurance premium was sky high, and I had no health insurance.

For the last year or so I'd been bouncing in and out of a relationship with Joe and secretly pining away for Ranger, a man who didn't believe in relationships. What neither man knows is that I've longed for security of stable relationship."

When Joe came by my place a couple nights later we agreed to try to make our relationship work. We decided to compromise. I would limit my interactions with Ranger and only take skips that fell into my skill set. Which according to Joe were harmless little old women arrested for shoplifting from the supermarket. I thought my skills were a little above that more like capturing drunks and prostitutes. Finally we agreed on the limits of my work. Joe agreed to be more understanding about my job as a bounty hunter and that he wouldn't consider dinner on his couch a date. All in all it's been working out pretty well.

"I was thinking about getting tickets to the Yankees game this weekend," Joe said between bites of pizza. "Do you have any plans?"

"Just dinner at my parents Friday as always," I said rolling my eyes.

"The game is Saturday, so you want to go?"

"Sounds like it'd be fun. I can buy my ticket."

"I've got it covered."

The waitress bought the bill and Joe picked it up reaching for his wallet. I excused myself to the restroom. After taking care of business and washing my hands I returned to the table to find Joe talking to Maria Piccoli. Maria was standing over Joe leaning forward pushing her surgically enhanced chest in his face. Neither of them seemed notice that I was standing only few feet away.

"But Joey," Maria said pushing her chest closer to my boyfriend's face. "You said that you'd call."

"Look, it's not a good time. Stephanie's in the bathroom."

"Oh geez, are you still chasing that train wreck?"

Joe looked up at Maria and gave her that sexy smile "Look I'll call you later I promise. Just don't cause me any trouble okay?"

"Sure Joey. Call me, I promise to take good care of you."

Joe gave her a sickening wink and turned back to typing something on his iPhone.

"Joe? Was that Maria Piccoli?"

"Yeah, she's been after me to call her for years," Joe said shrugging his shoulders like it was no big deal. My mom tried to get me to ask her out when we broke up the last time. Now every time I see her she throws herself at me."

Why am I not surprised that Joe's mom was busy playing matchmaker during our last break-up? Angie Morelli was not my biggest fan, but she'd never said or done anything rude to my face. Angie was a queen bee in the Burg colony. So if she wanted to fix Joe up with a potential wife I'm sure there were plenty of worker bees willing to offer their daughters up in sacrifice.

"I paid the bill. I got a text from the station so I need to get going," Joe said.

"Sure."

"Come on I'll walk you to your car," Joe said throwing his arm around my shoulders. We walked into the parking lot and over to my truck. I unlocked the door and tossed my purse into the passenger seat.

"Will I see you tonight?" Joe asked.

"Probably."

"I want to see you tonight Cupcake," Joe said tucking a finger under my chin so I would look at him.

"Okay," I said.

Joe gave me the same sexy smile I'd just seen him give Maria a few minutes before and pushed a stray curl behind my ear. "That's my girl."

I tried to ignore the black Porsche that pulled into the lot and hoped that Joe didn't see it. A second later two black Ford Explorers pulled into the lot and parked beside the Porsche. The Porsche I knew belonged to Ranger. The Explorers were a part of the Rangeman fleet. Although I didn't know which of Ranger's men were in the SUVs I was certain if we didn't get out of here fast lunch would end in a fight.

I gave Joe one last kiss and hopped into the cab of the Explorer. "Gotta go."

Joe held the door open and leaned inside for one last kiss. I was pretty sure the kiss was more for Ranger than me. But I allowed it knowing that pulling away would be a bad idea. "Be careful today. I'll call when I can."

Then he closed the door and walked across the lot to his Tahoe. Once I pulled the Explorer into traffic I let out a heavy breath. So far I'd been doing a good job at avoiding Ranger. The truth was I was able to avoid him because he let me. If Ranger wanted to talk to me he'd find a way. He is Batman after all.

Since I knew that Ranger was at Pino's I used the opportunity to go back to the office and do some research on Tommy Sellars.

"We was just about ta order some lunch," Lula said when I sat down in the chair in front of Connie's desk. "You wanna order somethin' from Melvin's Burger Barn?"

"No thanks. I had lunch with Joe."

"Alright then. I'll be back," Lula said throwing her fake Coach purse over her shoulder and swished her spandex clad behind out the front door of the office.

"So things between you and Joe are going good this time?" Connie asked.

"Yeah, things are good," I said. "We're both trying to compromise and not fight about silly things like bread."

Of course there's the little matter of Maria Piccoli, and the fact she called me a train wreck and he said nothing to defend me. But I wasn't going to tell that to Connie. I like her and she's been a big help since I came to work at Vinnie's but she was also a big gossip. Anything I say would hit the Burg gossip vine faster than a speeding bullet.

"Can I use the computer to do some research on Sellars?" I asked.

"Sure. I'll just go powder my nose."

I entered Sellars' name into the search program on Connie's computer and waited for it to finish the search. While I was waiting I decided to read through the paperwork in his folder again since this morning I'd been distracted by Ranger. Tommy Sellars was 34 years old, sandy blond hair, blue eyes and looked like Kirk Carmeron. Vinnie had bonded him out on charges of armed robbery and possession of a controlled substance. He had a string of prior arrests including domestic violence and assault. He'd also been arrested in the past for disrupting the peace and aggravated assault.

Ugh! I'd been in such a hurry to get out of the office to keep the peace with Joe; I'd once again ended up over my head. I needed the money, or at least part of the money. I could split the bond with someone. That way I could still pocket some of the money and not risk my life arresting this guy. That would be the best choice. Plus that might keep Joe from blowing his top at me when he finds out I took Sellars folder. I usually called on Lula for back-up but in this case she might make things more difficult. In the past I'd called Ranger when I needed back-up for a skip like this. Calling Ranger wasn't an option.

"Steph? Steph?" Connie was waving her hand in my face trying get my attention.

"Oh… Connie! I'm sorry I guess I zoned out for a minute."

"I noticed. Did your search finish?" she asked.

"Search? Oh! Yeah my ummm search…" I looked at the screen hoping that Connie wouldn't notice how out of it I was. "let me print it."

"Are you doing okay?"

"You've seemed a little jumpy today. First you ran out of here this morning like you were after the last box of TastyKakes left in the world. Now you were so lost in thought that I had to call your name like ten times to get your attention. Is something bothering you?"

"No everything is great."

Connie put her hands on her hips like she was sizing me up cocked her head towards Vinnie's office door. "He's not here; you can talk about it if you want to."

"There's nothing to talk about. Thanks for letting me borrow the computer. I'll see you in the morning."

"Sure Stephanie. Bye."

"Bye Connie."

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I hung my purse on the hook inside my apartment and kicked off my shoes. It'd been a pretty long day. I walked into my bedroom and fell back on the bed in my thinking position. I had a lot to think about.

First, there was Joe. What was up with him and Maria Piccoli, and why didn't he defend me when she called me a train wreck. Isn't that what boyfriends are supposed to do defend your honor? Of course Joe would rather just keep the peace. He let the guys at the station bet on my cars even though it upset us both because he said that it was easier to just let them have their fun than to rock the boat. Plus he's always asking me to try to stay out of trouble to make things easier. I guess I should be mad but then again I know Joe pretty well by now. He was always one to avoid causing a scene. It's just part of growing up in the Burg. Still it hurt my feelings.

Secondly, I need to come up with a plan to bring in Sellars. I had the basic information but to bring him i I was going to need some more digging. Tomorrow I'd call his mom. She put her house up against the bond. Maybe the fear of losing her house will encourage her to give him up. Of course that hadn't worked on Morelli's mom when he was FTA. If the mom wouldn't tell me anything I'd try the ex-girlfriend that he shares a lease with. Maybe she could give me some ideas. I also need to figure out a way to capture him without Ranger.

I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths. I tried to clear my mind so I could relax. After a few minutes I fell asleep. When I woke up it was almost dark, and I had an idea about how to handle Sellars.

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