A/N: So I said that I wasn't going to write any FF for awhile, but I have to take a break from this damn original. It's killing me slowly, LOL. So for lack of inspiration, I was looking back over some of the past challenges, and Lisa's challenge of 'Lester, Stephanie and Chocolate on a Stakeout' spoke to me. Since Lester is my favorite subject as of late, here we are. Enjoy.

Death By Chocolate

By: A. Cosentino

I cut my eyes at her for the 10th time in as many minutes. She squirmed in the seat, pulling one of her legs up under her and heaving a sigh. Surveillance blows. Well usually. But I had heard many tales about surveillance with Steph; you could never be sure what would happen.

I shifted slightly and pulled up the night vision scope, focusing on the dilapidated row house we were watching. Steph fidgeted again and sighed. I don't know Stephanie that well. Everyone knows that she is Ranger's responsibility and sometimes Tank's. I had worked with her once before on a 'redecorating' job, and I genuinely liked her. She was a trip. Ranger was closed lipped about her. Never said a word. Tank on the other hand was a gossiping schoolgirl, so all of us felt as if we knew her.

It was the luck of the draw that I ended up here with her. Ranger was supposed to be here, but at the last second there had been a call on Ramon Ramirez. He was a scumbag wanted for attempted murder that Ranger had a boner for. Ramirez had almost beaten one of our CI's, a 'ho named Polly, to death. Polly had been around for years and was a friend of RangeMan. Messing with friends of RangeMan was never a smart move.

So here I am. Sitting next to Stephanie on Carlson Street, staking out Lenny Henderson, FTA on possession with intent and resisting arrest. I bet the jackass wouldn't even put up a fight. That was a shame. I was looking to have some fun.

I looked over at her again, taking in the litter strewn around her seat. Three tastycake wrappers, two empty coffee cups and she was currently digging in her purse for God knows what. I tried to imagine Ranger sitting here. Lord, she would drive him nuts. Ranger is the epitome of neatness and order. Looking at her mess just made me grin.

"What are you looking for?" I asked. She straightened up and looked over at me, her bright blue eyes catching the light from the streetlamp. She was hot, there was no doubting that and I could see why she was Ranger's responsibility only. Had she been mine, I would have been pretty damn hesitant to let her out of my sight.

"Something to eat," she grumbled and began digging in her purse again. Her curly hair fell down over her shoulder, blocking her face partially from my view.

"You're still hungry?" I looked down at her mess again and smiled. She shot me a glare that probably would have made a lesser man cringe.

"I didn't have any dinner," she grumbled and continued digging. "What time is it?" she asked suddenly. I glanced at my watch.

"2336."

"In normal people time?"

Normal people time? I smiled full on. "11:36."

"Thank you. How much longer are we going to sit here and wait for this bum?"

"Until he shows up."

"Sheesh," she said under her breath and reached deep into the giant black purse. "Ah Ha!" she announced triumphantly, pulling out a chocolate Hershey bar.

I watched as she opened the chocolate bar and offered me some. I declined and she shrugged, taking a bite out of the candy bar. I watched amazement as she transformed before of my eyes. Her eyes glazed over and she licked her lips, a soft moan of pleasure escaped her as she sank back into the seat of the Explorer. She closed her eyes and moaned again.

All that over a chocolate bar. Good God.

I made a mental note to buy stock in Hershey first thing tomorrow morning.

"That was just what I needed," she breathed, taking another nibble. I swallowed hard and looked out the window. I felt a twitch in my crotch as 'Big Papi' stood up and took notice. I shifted in the seat a little. "Are you sure you don't want any of this?" she asked offering me the chocolate bar again.

I cleared my throat before answering. "Uh, no thanks."

"You don't know what you're missing," she said waving it toward me. I could only imagine what I was missing given the display I had just witnessed. I smiled a tight smile and brought the night vision scope back up in an attempt to distract myself. This is work. This is Ranger's woman. Ranger's woman. I chanted this over and over in my head but my other head didn't seem to take notice.

"So are you a weirdo like Ranger?" she asked suddenly. I looked over at her in surprise.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that whole the body is a temple thing? Do you eat chocolate? I'm pretty sure that it should be in a food group all of it's own. I mean it's only the best thing on earth," she said looking at me with wide eyes, and licking a bit of chocolate off her thumb.

I grinned and thought of a hundred things sexually suggestive things I could say at that moment, but I quenched the urge. "No not so much."

"But you do eat chocolate?"

"Sometimes. If were talking candy, I prefer Skittles."

"Skittles are yummy too," she agreed and took another bite of chocolate. I couldn't seem to tear my eyes from her. She moaned again and licked her lips. My eyes were riveted on a small smudge of chocolate in the corner of her mouth. The image of leaning over and licking it off of her popped into my head. Damn. Shit. I have to think of something else.

"I thought you were probably into bark and twigs like Ranger," she teased, smiling at me brightly.

"I only eat bark and twigs when necessary."

"That's good to know," she laughed. Her laugh was almost magical and I caught myself staring at the small smudge again.

"Uh, you have a little something," I said and then reached out before I thought better of it and wiped it off the corner of her lip.

"Mmm, thanks. Did you get it?" she asked sitting up and pulling down the visor and checking herself in the vanity mirror.

"Yeah." Fuck. That was dumb. Stupid. This is RANGER'S woman. Christ. 'Big Papi' was at full attention now, and I let out a deep breath. I cut my eyes at her as she closed the visor and sat back.

"So tell me all about yourself," she said turning sideways in the seat and staring directly at me. I looked at her and blinked.

"What?"

"Tell me all about you."

"Like what?"

"Do you have a girlfriend? What do you like to do besides getting arrested and getting shot," she said teasingly, referring to our first conversation.

I smiled and sat back in the seat, willing my cock to just settle down. I was thinking about baseball, midgets, anything other than her sitting next to me looking good enough to lick. Lick chocolate off of. Oh crap.

"I don't have a girlfriend."

"Wow, really?"

"I'm what you would call an equal opportunity guy. I don't like to limit myself."

"Oh so the rumors are true? You're a player."

I grinned and shrugged. "Don't hate the player baby, hate the game."

She laughed again and smiled a smile that just raised my temp a few more notches. "I've met guys like you before."

"I doubt that," I said meeting her gaze head on. She looked at me and blinked a few times. "I'm one of a kind. I really am something special." I grinned at her and winked.

"Most guys think they are," she said with a nervous laugh. I noticed a blush creep up her cheeks, making her even more adorable.

"Wanna find out?" I asked with a predatory grin. God knows I would show her just how special I could be. I could rock her world.

"Oh boy," she said fanning herself. "I'll pass."

"To bad," I shrugged. "I could make it worth your while. Show you a few things with that chocolate bar."

"Oh good God." Her cheeks became a crimson color and I laughed. It was good to know that I still had it.

"So what about you?" I asked, continuing to stare at her.

"What about me?"

"Do you have a boyfriend?" I knew about her and the cop, but I also thought there was something going on with her and Ranger. It had never been said, but everyone on the street knew that she had Ranger's stamp on her.

"Not really."

"Ah, an equal opportunity girl huh?"

She laughed again and took another nibble off of her chocolate bar. "No, I guess you could say I have some commitment problems."

"Don't we all."

"Yeah." She fell silent as if lost in thought. I didn't push the issue. "Have you known Ranger a long time?" she asked after a long moment.

"Yeah."

"Were you in the Ranger's together?"

"No."

"Oh."

"You seem surprised."

"I just thought that you all were in the military with each other."

It was true the RangeMan only hired ex-military, mostly Special Forces. I was no different. "I was a SEAL."

"So how did you guys meet?"

I let out a long sigh. These were things that I hadn't thought about in years. My mind traveled back to Kuwait. I would have died in that godforsaken shit hole. It was bad business. We were to take out the Emissary and get out. Simple enough. We met up with some other Black Ops to get the job done. Our initial Intel had been wrong, and because of that I lost my swim buddy and took four hits. The fucking Ranger's had to pull us out of there. More specifically, Ranger pulled me out.

"I'm sorry. It's probably some stuff that you can't talk about," she said finally. I blinked a few times and glanced over at her.

"He saved my life. We got sent into a situation that we had no chance in hell of getting out of. Ranger pulled me out." I didn't go into it anymore than that. Truth was I had worked long and hard to forget that shit.

"Wow."

"Yeah." She let the subject drop and for that I was grateful.

"Have you been with RangeMan a long time?"

I grinned. "Yeah. I've been with RangeMan for almost nine years." I pulled the scope up and check the row house again. Still no activity. I wanted the skip to show up so we could get this show on the road, and I could get out of this SUV. If I stayed in here to long, the chance that I would lick Stephanie was increasing by the moment.

I chanced a look at her again and saw that she had another smudge of chocolate on her lower lip. She finished the candy bar and crinkled up the paper, shoving it in her purse. She smiled at me and sat back in the seat, the smudge still there.

"You've got," I said motioning toward her lip.

"Oh," she wiped the corner over her mouth with her finger, but the smudge still remained. I leaned over the consol closer to her.

"I'll get it." I heard her breath quicken and her scent invaded my senses at the closeness of her. My lips were a breath away from hers, I slowly kissed her, pulling her lower lip between my teeth and sucking, keeping my gaze fixed on hers.

A soft whimper escaped her as I moved my tongue across her bottom lip, enjoying the taste of her mingled with the chocolate. 'Big Papi' was primed and ready for action at this point, and I wondered for a split second just how far back this seat could go. I moved up slightly, sinking my tongue between her lips. She made that sexy whimper again and I brought up my left hand, grazing the outside of her breast on the way to her neck. I threaded my fingers up through her hair at the base of her skull, massaging her scalp.

She moaned again and melted against me, pressing her breasts against my chest. I knew at that moment I could have her if I just pressed a little further. I untangled my fingers from the soft tresses of her hair and traveled back down her side. Her tongue mingled with mine, causing my heart rate to jump. I've been with a lot of women, probably more than my fair share, and I couldn't remember a single one that I had ever wanted as bad as I wanted her at that moment.

I slid my hand up under her loose t-shirt and caressed the soft skin just above her jeans. I popped the snap and slid my fingers inside, brushing against the lacy band of her panties. Stephanie ran her fingers up and locked them in my hair, pulling my mouth against hers harder. She arched up against my hand as I slipped past her panties and felt her wetness.

I thought I could stop this at any time, but feeling how hot she was sent that notion right out the window. I broke the kiss and rested my forehead against hers. Her breathing was irregular and coming in short gasps. I slowly circled her clit with my finger, causing her to moan again. I wanted her. Fuck Ranger. Why should he have all the fun?

My cell phone chirped suddenly, causing her to jump, breaking the spell that had descended upon the SUV.

"Shit," I swore under my breath, pulling my hand out of her jeans and settling back into the drivers seat. I pulled my cell off of my belt and flipped it open. "Yo."

"I'll be there in 10," Ranger said. I looked over at Stephanie in the seat next to me. She looked thoroughly disheveled, her lips were slightly swollen and pink, her hair tumbled around her shoulders and her blue eyes were slightly glazed over.

"You catch Ramirez?"

"Affirmative. See you in 10," he said and disconnected. I snapped the phone shut. Stephanie was snapping her jeans and attempting to straighten herself.

"Ranger will be here in 10," I sighed, regret tingeing my voice.

"Good," she replied looking over at me. I raised my eyebrow and grinned slightly. "I know how to deal with him."

"I have a feeling that you know how to deal with me too."

She looked at me with wide eyes. "I don't know what happened. That was a mistake."

I smiled a slow smile. "Everything happens for a reason."

She cleared her throat and ran her fingers through her hair. "Well it won't happen again."

I laughed a full laugh. "It can happen anytime you want it beautiful. Just say the word. I promise it won't be something you would forget. You won't even remember who Ranger is afterwards."

Stephanie got quiet and stared out of the window. I knew how my touch had affected her, and honestly it had affected me too. I could still taste her on my tongue and that just served to put me in a bad position. I had a raging hard on, Stephanie had locked down on me and Ranger was going to show up in less than five minutes.

I let out a long breath. Tension filled the SUV. "Listen Stephanie," I started. She held up her hand and cut me off.

"No. This is the last thing I need right now. My life is screwed up enough. I don't need to complicate it anymore than it already is."

I nodded and saw headlights pull up behind us. Ranger flashed the headlights one time as he parked behind me. Stephanie grabbed her things, shoving her garbage in her purse. She gave me a look as she opened the SUV door. She stared at me for a moment, and I met her gaze. I could see the thoughts running through her head. She was thinking about just how good it could be. It was written all over her face.

"Another time, another place," I said. She smiled at me and shut the door. I watched in the rearview mirror as she hopped into the black Expedition. I rolled over the engine and pulled away, taking a block and heading back toward Haywood.

'Big Papi' was still throbbing in my pants and the image and feel of her was singed into my brain. I knew I couldn't have her, but I always did want things I couldn't have. I took a deep breath, willing my enormous hard on to go away, but he just wasn't listening.

I pulled into the garage on Haywood and killed the engine. I sat there for a long moment thinking about the night's events. Well at least I would have spank material for a month, I thought as I hopped out of the SUV and started toward the elevator. I knew that I wasn't mistaken in how she responded to me. She wanted me, and God knows that I wanted her. My mind began to formulate a plan. I could make this happen. I shook my head as I climbed into the elevator. This was crazy, but the seed had been planted. I tried to rid myself of the image of her sitting there with that damn chocolate bar. Christ it was killing me. I couldn't shake it. I hit the button for the fourth floor.

Yep, it was going to be a long night, and I had Stephanie Plum to thank for that.