AN: I guess that writing two stories at the same time wasn't challenging enough, so I decided to add a third. This is more alternate reality than AU. Ranger is Ranger, but Steph is a little different. She kept her job at E.E. Martin for a little longer than she does in the books, and her first job after her layoff isn't working for Vinnie…

Oh! There are some very adult words and situations here. Much of this chapter is told from inside Ranger's head. He has a very dirty internal monologue. There is no fading to black down there and it's smuttier than anything I've ever written, so if you're offended easily, or you are my sister, you should probably mosey on by without reading.

Hope you like!

Any recognizable characters or places are the sole property of their respective owners. No infringement is intended. This plot, however, is all mine.

RPOV

All I had wanted to do was sit in my little club and have a drink. It was a ritual I had observed since I had taken my first mission away from my private sector business. Coming back from Uganda was going to require some R and R, but this was the only free time I could indulge in. Thankfully this assignment, my toughest one ever, had been resoundingly successful. It also ended my obligation to the government. I'd never have to leave home ever again. I was getting too old to play universal soldier all the time. I pulled up to my usual watering hole and locked my back-up gun, holstered weapon and knife in the glove compartment.

What? I've made a few enemies in my life.

Jimmy the bartender nodded in my direction when I walked in the door of the small upscale club and made straight for my table in the back, already reaching for the Bowmore that he kept just for me. He silently placed the scotch in front of me and disappeared back behind the polished mahogany bar, striking conversation back up with his regulars. It was quiet for now as it was pretty early, but within the next few hours the dance floor would become crowded with hipsters and be too loud for me.

I sipped the smoky liquid and let the memories of the last two months slip away. I almost hadn't made it out alive this time, but it was over now and I had plans to execute for my business. I wanted to open some satellite offices in other cities and I had to woo some investors starting tomorrow. Hopefully Tank had hired an office manager in my absence. We needed all the help we could get with our expansion plans.

My thoughts were harshly interrupted by a group of laughing young woman spilling through the doorway. They stopped and looked around the dim room, one girl, with a riotous explosion of curly hair, stared directly at me for a second before her attention was pulled back to her friends. They lined up at the bar and ordered some shots for Curly in celebration of something. I leaned back in my chair and let their good mood wash over me. They had such an exuberance about them, Curly in particular. I couldn't help but focus on her. She was dressed casually, but sexily, in tight jeans, sky-high heels and a low-backed loose top. Her ass looked spectacular and I felt my fingers itch with the urge to grab it and smack it. I was watching her so intently that I didn't notice one of her friends had been watching me. She nudged her and nodded in my direction, Curly turned and we locked eyes.

Like I said, I'd been away for two months, and risking life and limb to overthrow a despotic dictator hadn't left any time to relieve any tension. The immediate hard-on I had just from looking at this woman made up my mind. I'd have her by the end of the night.

I nursed a second drink and watched her and her group for a while, she wasn't drinking nearly as much as her companions, but was none-the-less having as much fun as everyone else. A song came on that had them heading to the dance floor. I felt a smile tug at my lips. Curly, not being inebriated like her fellow bon vivants, a little more subdued, but even more provocative. The way she moved was attracting attention from more than just me. She would look at me intermittently, catching me watching her and a flush would rise on her cheeks. She ended the song with her back to me. Watching that perfect ass sway not ten feet from me had me up out of the chair and moving in her direction, following her back to the bar.

"Hello." I said to her.

She turned and looked me up and down, "Hi." Fuck me did she have a sexy voice and those eyes, they were a really bright blue.

Fucking gorgeous.

"Can I buy you a drink?" I motioned to Jimmy to refill her glass.

"No thanks, big day tomorrow. I'm good." She looked me over again and turned back to her friends.

Well that didn't work out like I'd thought.

"Then dance with me." She turned abruptly, eyebrows pinched and mouth open to say something when her friend whispered something in her ear, her entire expression changed from kind of pissy to thoughtful. With a little elbow from her friend, she stumbled and Curly sent her a glare. Her friend winked at me over her shoulder and turned her attention away. "Dance with me?" I said with less of a command this time. She sighed and made her way to the dance floor without checking to see if I was following.

I caught up with her and put my hands on her hips, I turned her around to face me, pulling her close enough that I could feel her against me. I started moving to the music and she automatically moved with me, inching slightly closer.

"I'm Carlos."

"Stephanie." She said in that husky voice. With her shoes on we were nearly eye-to-eye, but I couldn't take my eyes off her mouth, she had such a pouty bottom lip and it was making me picture some really fucking dirty things. I seriously wanted to just skip the whole 'get to know you' routine. I wanted to fuck her. A point that was evidently clear as we were now so close together that my cock was basically humping her belly. She moved even closer and whispered in my ear. "I can feel that you know. Jesus, what do have in there?"

"Just me babe." I said with a smirk. She rolled her eyes at my cockiness and backed away a tiny bit. Giving me a great view down the front of her shirt.

Shit…I think she's bare under there.

She turned away from me and backed up until there wasn't an inch of space between us. My hand automatically migrating from her hip to her firm belly, pushing her back. She started to deliberately sway against me. The friction on my cock making my eyes roll back a bit. I lowered my lips to her ear and murmured, "You're so fucking sexy babe." I couldn't resist placing a kiss on her earlobe and really enjoyed watching her nipples draw tighter and press against the smooth material of her top. I moved my mouth down her neck, breathing in her warm scent. She raised a hand to my head and sank her fingers into my hair, anchoring me to her neck. Her other hand moved to my hand on her stomach and encouraged my fingers to trail across the silky swath of skin between her top and her jeans. The heat I felt course up my arm was disconcerting, but incredibly arousing. Every deep breath she took caused her top to gap at the neckline and the way she was holding my head had me looking directly down at those perky tits. I twisted her around again and crushed her to me, because her ass rhythmically rubbing my cock was making me feel like I was going to come in my pants like a teenager. She sank her fingers into my hair again and pulled my face closer to hers and placed a soft lingering kiss at the corner of my mouth. As she went to pull away, I followed her and cupped her face. Kissing her sexy mouth, once, twice, before she groaned deep and opened her lips and allowed me to kiss her properly. I could taste the fruity drink she'd been imbibing on her tongue and drew her in even closer. My hand leaving her face and tracing down the bare skin of her back. Her hands went around my waist, fingers working under the waistband of my pants, gently flexing against the top of my ass. It felt like we stood there for hours dancing and touching. It was all pure foreplay, her hand would graze against my fly and my hand smoothed over her ass cheek squeezing roughly, making her moan in my ear. My leg worked between her thighs and I rubbed her purposely against me. I was on fire for her and if I didn't get her in my bed very, very soon I felt like I would die.

I dragged my unwilling lips off of her and begged, "Tell me you'll leave with me? I want to take you somewhere private." She looked me in the eyes and assessed me for a second. "I promise you'll be safe."

"I know." She said quietly. "Let me get my things." I followed her back to her friends. They were watching us with huge smiles on their faces. Looking like they were just barely refraining from commenting on our "dancing". She grabbed her bag off the bar and I grabbed her hand and started to tow her towards the door.

"Steph, wait!" Her friend called. "I need numbers!"

"Oh crap, okay." She said back. "Umm, Carlos I need your phone."

"Sure, why?" I asked, digging it out of my pocket.

"I have to use it to call my girlfriend, that way if you turn out to be a psycho…well, she has your phone number." She said as she dialed a number and waited for it to connect before hanging up.

"You have a system?"

"We've been friends for a long time." She said with a shrug. She smiled and pulled me in for another deep kiss before heading out of the door.

"I'm parked over there." I said nodding towards my car.

"I'll follow you to…where are we going?" She asked.

"My place?"

"Sure, I'll be right behind you." She ran her hand down my chest and stomach and fiddled with my belt, making my heart thud in my chest. I shoved my fingers into her hair, bringing her face back to mine and thrust my tongue in her mouth again. I was really worried that she would think better of what she was about to do and not follow me home. I was a total stranger to her. I would never hurt a woman, but there was no way she could know that.

She backed away slowly and climbed into her car while I stood there, watching her. She made a hurry up gesture with her hands and I snapped out of my stupor and slid behind my own steering wheel.

I was living in a brownstone across the street from my new office. When construction was complete I would be moving in to the seventh floor of the building, but for now I had a pretty bare bones apartment. It hit me a while later that I generally kept my address a closely guarded secret, but for some reason I had no problem showing this woman where I slept. She pulled up behind me in the narrow driveway, quickly messing with her phone. She climbed out and glanced at the office building across the way before joining me on the front steps.

"Hi." She said almost shyly.

"Hey." I said, pulling her close and kissing her again. It did my ego something good to feel her melt into that kiss. Her hands slipped under my shirt and scratched gently at my skin. I shoved the door open and slowly maneuvered her into my little living room. Stopping at the couch, I forced myself to let go of her mouth. "I've been away for a while, so I'm not sure what I have, but would you like a drink?"

"No. I'm good, really." She seemed anxious all of a sudden, so I sat down and patted the cushion next to me, but she remained standing.

"You okay?" I wanted her badly, but I wasn't going to pressure her into my bed.

"Yeah, I've been off guys since my husband and I split, so I'm just really…fucking ready." She surprised the hell out of me by straddling my thighs and lowering her mouth to mine again. She picked up both my hands and put them around her neck where her shirt was tied together. She placed my fingers on the ends of the ties and gently pulled, showing me exactly what she wanted. I tugged slightly and the bow came undone, the soft material puddled around her waist. Her fucking beautiful tits, right in my face. I ran one fingertip around her taut nipple and her head dropped back, a long low moan slipping out. I gently pinched it and she ground her hips into mine.

I don't know what bozo let her go, but I guess it was my lucky day.

I could feel the warmth of her pussy through our clothes and got even harder at the idea that sometime really soon, I'd be inside her. I bent and sucked that little rosy peak into my mouth and pushed her down on me at the same time. I could feel the seam of her jeans pushing down on my dick and hoped that it felt good for her as well, judging by her harsh breaths I'd say it did. Her hands scrabbled down my back and started pulling my shirt off. I eased her off my lap and stood, taking my shirt off in the process. I held out my hand to her. She looked at me questioningly.

"I'm going to need more room than a couch allows babe. Come with me."

"Okay." She said shakily. She took a deep breath, kicked off her shoes and stood, now quite a bit shorter than me. I bent and kissed her again. She really was a fantastic kisser, the way her tongue slid against mine made me wonder if I would get to have those sexy lips wrapped around my cock before the night was through. Feeling all her warm skin pressed against me was making me crazy, so I nudged her in the direction of my bedroom. I flicked the light on and was relieved to see that Ella had come in recently and cleaned up a bit. I backed Curly up to the bed and got to work on her jeans, pushing them and the miniscule panties she had on, down together. Letting my palms run down her slim thighs as I went. As she pulled her feet free I was hit with the scent of her arousal, heady and musky, sexy as hell. My mouth watered and before I knew what I was doing, I was sliding a finger through her lips, finding her very, very wet.

"Oh god! Please!" I'm a sucker for begging, so I spread her lips apart with my fingers and licked her clit softly. Moaning at her taste. Her legs wobbled and I pushed her down on the bed, climbing between her thighs and got back to business. I'd always loved going down on women. I loved that they got wetter and louder the closer they got to coming. I loved making them shake and moan with just my tongue and maybe a finger or two. I loved the scent and taste and the delicate folds of their lips and how they swelled in direct correlation with how turned on they were, but most of all I loved how a tiny bundle of nerves when touched, kissed or sucked just right, could make a woman beg and plead both with her words and her movements. But this woman, here on my bed, had the most delicious pussy I'd ever had the pleasure of licking. I kissed and sucked and nibbled at her clit, her moans and whimpers turning me on so much I was practically humping the bed. I slid a finger into her tight, Jesus, fucking tight pussy and felt her muscles immediately clamp down on it. I worked a second one in and stroked her front wall firmly. Her hips shot off the bed and she screamed as she came. A tiny gush of fluid escaping her, making me feel like a fucking king.

I climbed over her, resting my elbows on either side of her face. Her eyes were shut and her breathing was ragged. Her hard little nipples touching me with every breath. My cock was straining hard to fight its way out of my pants and I rubbed it against her hip. Her eyes popped open and she gave me the sexiest, laziest smile.

"Wow." She murmured breathlessly.

"Yeah?"

"Mmmmhmmm." She said with a tiny nod. "I can barely move."

"You're not done are you?" I started to panic a little. It's not like I couldn't take care of myself, but my dick had been painfully hard all night and was incredibly jealous of my fingers for being inside her.

"Not hardly…just need a few minutes to get the feeling back in my arms and legs…Take off your pants, I want to see you." I didn't need to be told twice. I hopped up and made quick work of my belt and fly. She watched every movement avidly, like she was committing it to memory, whimpering when I pushed my pants down and my dick swung out, heavy and hard. She rolled close to me and moved to her knees. She reached out, her fingers grazing over my chest then trailing down and encircling me, squeezing gently. I froze, afraid to even breath, the hours of teasing had taken its toll and I felt like I was about to come just from the feeling of her soft hand stroking me.

"Easy babe, I don't want to come yet and you have no idea how good your hand feels." I said as I held her wrist, stilling her hand.

"I think you can manage to get hard again, no?" She asked giving me that sultry smile again.

"I'm positive it wouldn't be a problem, but…ungh!" She cut me off abruptly by licking the head of my cock, moaning and then sucking me in pretty fucking deep. I felt the tip hit the back of her throat and she swallowed around me making me cry out and bury my hands in her hair.

Goddamn, those lips felt amazing wrapped around me.

"Holy shit, Curly…your mouth! Fuck!" I could feel my balls getting tighter and tighter. She was all over the place, alternately sucking me hard and backing off and licking around my head. I made the mistake of looking down at her and the sight of her mouth on me and my cock deep, fuck, really deep in her mouth had everything drawing up really tight. "Damn…you're going to make me come babe…Fuck!" I roared as I came, watching as she swallowed every drop, slowly licking me as I shook and shuddered standing over her. I gently pulled her mouth off me and kissed her deeply, moving back over her again. Feeling a bit like a caveman tasting myself in her mouth. I lay fully on top of her, legs tangled and rapidly recuperating erection right between her thighs. She moaned as I rubbed the head up and down her still dripping slit. I was rock-hard and ready to go in minutes. Spurred on by her dirty mumbling.

"Please Carlos…Fuck me…I need to feel you inside me." I knew I should have had a condom on before I even went near her, but feeling all that slick heat on my throbbing cock made me lose it and I slid just the tip inside her, both of us moaning at the sensation, before pulling out and reaching in the side-table for a rubber. I was shaking with the need to bury myself balls deep in her as I rolled it on. She wasn't helping, though, she had sat up with me urging me to hurry, her hands all over me. She quickly rolled over and lifted her ass high in the air, giving me the best view ever. I smacked one of those beautifully rounded cheeks, like I'd wanted to all night long, and was rewarded by a long throaty moan.

"You like that babe?" I smacked the other cheek, grabbing a handful of her flesh and squeezed. She got even wetter and moaned louder. I bent and licked her from clit to slit and straightened up, lining us up. I slowly sheathed myself in her. She stretched around me, but she was like a fucking vice. Squeezing me hard. She was moaning loudly, making me want to lose control and just pound the hell out of her. The last thing I wanted to do was hurt her though, so I tried really hard to go slow. I gripped her hips in my hands and pushed in deep. Overwhelmed by how fucking good it felt.

"You're so fucking tight babe. Can you feel that?" I asked as I slid out and back in again. Her loud grunt was all I got in return. I kept the pace slow and deep and I could feel her start to push back against me.

After a few thrusts she started to really push back and moaned, "Harder. Please! Harder." I pulled almost all the way out and slammed back in, earning me a near scream from her. Holding her cheeks apart, I watched as I penetrated her over and over again, my attention on her other entrance.

Hmmm…I wonder what she'll do.

I very, very slowly moved my thumb closer and closer, giving her ample time to stop me if she wanted to, all the while pistoning in her. Her moaning intensified when I gently pressed down on her ass and her pussy clamped down on me, practically strangling my cock. She threw her head back and screamed as she bucked and came hard, ripping my climax right out of me. I collapsed to the side and she lay panting, face down in the sheets.

"Jesus Christ…babe, are you okay?" I'd really been pounding her at the end there.

"Yeah." She mumbled without moving her face from the mattress. I rubbed my hand down her back and knew I wasn't quite done with her.

"I'm going to get a drink babe, want something?" I said in her ear. She sighed and rolled over, giving me that smile again.

"Just some water?"

"Whatever you want."

I kissed her sexy lips and hopped up, hitting the bathroom to wash up and wandering into the kitchen. Thankfully Ella had stocked the fridge for me as well and I chugged a bottle of water before bringing one back in the bedroom for her. Curly was lying in the middle of the bed, completely bare, arm thrown over her face, looking pretty damn comfortable. She was so sexy without even trying. Despite coming twice in the last half an hour, I felt myself reacting to her again and slid into bed next to her. She lowered her arm and looked up at me.

"Hi." I said smiling down at her, handing her the water. She sat up to drink. I found myself entranced by the movements of her throat and the way her breasts swayed slightly as she guzzled her drink down. She finished it and recapped the bottle, reaching over me to settle it on the table. She laid back down, still slightly out of breath. She wiggled until we were spooning closely, my arm tightly around her.

"I just want to lay here for a second, then I'll go home." She sighed, contentedly.

"I'm not done with you yet babe." I ground my hardening cock into her backside.

She moaned quietly, "I have to get home Carlos. I'm starting my new job tomorrow. I have to be up early. What time is it now?"

I looked up at the clock. "Its 11:00, I think we can get another round in, don't you?" I murmured against the skin of her throat. I smiled when I felt her shudder, and let my hands wander. Lifting her leg, making her hiss when I pushed a finger inside of her.

This time when I slid inside her from behind, it was gentle and quiet. I thrust into her slow and deep, swallowing each other's sounds. I didn't stop kissing her the entire time and my heart was pounding out of my chest by the time we came. It was even more intense than the first time, the feelings she was evoking in me were a little scary. I was unused to actual intimacy when I had sex. I tended to distance myself from the women I slept with, but there was something very special about this beautiful woman in my arms.

I felt her shift out from under my arms a while later, she disappeared into the bathroom as sleep tugged me under and I woke hours later alone in bed.

So yeah, that happened…Don't judge them too quickly, we all know they're supposed to be together. They just don't know it yet.

How can we get these two back together again, Hmmmm?

EA xoxox