I have always wondered why Ranger made that deal with Stephanie. He certainly isn't a man who would have to bribe a woman to sleep with him so I gave him a reason (sort of) and then of course, I changed what happened after to the way I wished it had been written in the actual book...

JE owns the rights to anything and anyone familiar - I did borrow several lines of dialogue from the book Seven Up. No infringement intended.

I checked my watch after dropping off my body receipt with Connie and collecting my share of the bounty. I had just enough time to get home and get cleaned up before I had to head to Newark.

"Anything pressing I need to deal with before I leave again?" I asked Tank as he eased the SUV away from the curb in front of Vinnie's bond office. My eyes found the side view mirror, but the car I thought I'd see didn't appear.

"Nothing that can't wait until tomorrow." He maneuvered his vehicle around a slow moving truck and turned at the next corner. "But I did hear something interesting a couple of days ago."

He didn't follow that up with anything so I turned to look at his profile. He was focused on the road ahead, but his hands were gripping the steering wheel tighter than normal and every few seconds he twisted his palms, making his knuckles tilt up. It was a nervous tick and Tank was never nervous. That meant he was having seconds thoughts about sharing whatever it was he'd heard or he was flat out regretting that he'd opened his mouth.

"What is it?" I demanded and his gaze flickered to mine briefly before his eyes were back on the road.

He pressed his lips together in a tight line before finally saying, "Stephanie got engaged to the cop."

Something dark and cold spread through my stomach and I felt my whole body come to a complete stop, as if all the blood in my veins had suddenly turned to ice.

I shouldn't be surprised, that's what normal people did. They got a dog and got married and popped out a couple of kids. But I'd never thought Stephanie was all that normal and she always got a terror-stricken glaze in her eyes when anyone even mentioned the M word. So what the hell had happened while I'd been out of the country?

And why did I care?

She wasn't mine and never had been. I wouldn't deny being attracted to her; there were many, many things about her that appealed to me on every level but she was a friend and nothing more and who she chose to spend her life with was none of my concern.

So why has she consumed every single thought you've had the past month? Why have you spent countless hours dreaming of ways to get her naked and into your bed?

I was normally a man of action. When I wanted something, I took it. I wanted Stephanie, I wasn't going to lie to myself about that, but apparently I'd spent too much time thinking instead of acting and now I was out of time. My moral code would be considered by some as landing in the ambiguously gray area but I drew the line at seducing another man's wife.

Although, she isn't married yet…Maybe I still had a small chance to get the one night I'd been fantasizing about for weeks - since the night I'd made the mistake of kissing her. Of course I'd kissed her again since then, several times, and now I didn't seem to be able to stop thinking about kissing her so I decided to put some distance between us - I even went to the extreme and accepted an FTA pick up in Puerto Rico, but I really should have known better. Stephanie isn't someone easily forgotten and not even being in another country could keep her out of my head so I'd have to find a way to have one night with her. One night to have my wicked way with every inch of her and then she could go off and marry whomever she pleased and I could get back to my world, unattached to anything or anyone, the way I preferred it. I just needed to determine what would be the quickest and least objectionable way to make that happen.

I guess I took too long to respond because Tank was shooting me tense looks while trying to concentrate on driving - or he was expecting an adverse reaction about his announcement – either way I didn't want him to kill us because he wasn't concentrating on the road.

"Well that's a disaster waiting to happen," I said with a forced laugh, "but good for them."

"Yeah," Tank agreed with his own false chuckle. "It's probably not true anyway, you know how gossip spreads around here; most of it is complete bullshit."

That was an outright lie. Tank knew as well as anyone that gossip from the Burg, while rampant and annoying, was usually true. Usually. Maybe this time is wasn't, but I couldn't count on that.

"Right," I agreed. "I should be back before five and you can bring me up to speed then." It was a complete change of subject but Tank didn't complain as he pulled into the underground garage of Rangeman Enterprises.

"Will do. Give Celia and the rest of your family my best," he added as he parked and then killed the engine.

"I'm sure they wouldn't mind if you came with me," I offered but he shook his head.

"No. I have stuff to do here. And you know those kinds of things give me a rash."

I laughed, this time genuinely. "I'll let you know when I'm on the way back."

Less than twenty minutes later I was in the Turbo and on the road to Newark. I kept my mind occupied with business while I drove, going over things I needed to get done now that I was back and things I wanted to do in the very near future, including starting to phase out of the bounty hunting side of the business. There were way more lucrative opportunities to explore and I intended to do exactly that. If I played my cards right, Rangeman could double its revenue in just under two years. Good thing I was excellent at cards.

Concentrating on my company on the way had done exactly what I'd intended – not let my brain wander into territory it shouldn't go. I hadn't thought about anything or anyone else, but then my mobile rang just as my foot came down on the first step up to the heavy wooden doors of the church. I checked the display and it was exactly who I thought it would be. I turned my phone to silent without answering and tucked it into my pocket.

A second later my pager went off. Why the fuck did I still have a pager? I knew it was her again and I knew I shouldn't respond but what if she was in trouble…or hurt? I reached the landing at the top of the stairs and stepped off to the side, pulling my phone back out of my pocket as I went.

She answered on the first ring and my stomach tightened at the sound of her voice. "Yo," I replied to her greeting.

"I could use some help with an FTA," she said without any further preamble.

My first instinct was to head back to my car and drive right to her. Stephanie didn't often ask for help so I was guessing this skip must be dangerous or insane or both.

"What's the problem?"

"He's old and I'll look like a loser if I shoot him." The laugh was quick and unexpected. Stephanie was one of the few people in my life that could make me laugh like that.

What's he done?"

"Everything. It's Eddie DeChooch." Shit. DeChooch had to be pushing eighty and from what I'd heard was half blind and half deaf. She shouldn't have any trouble bringing him in.

"Do you want me to talk to him?"

"No. I want you to give me some ideas about how to bring him in without killing him. I'm afraid if I zap him with the stun gun he'll go toes-up."

I laughed again. "That's always a risk. Tag team him with Lula. Bookend him and cuff him."

"Already tried that."

"He got away from you and Lula? Babe, he's at least eighty. He can't see, he can't hear, and he takes an hour and a half to empty his bladder."

"It was complicated," she mumbled and I sighed internally. There was more to this story but she wasn't sharing and I had to get inside before my Mother had a coronary.

"Try shooting him in the foot next time - that usually works." I disconnected before I could ask her if she was really engaged because I didn't care.

The baptism ceremony seemed unbearably long, but that was probably because as much as I tried to fight it, Stephanie kept creeping her way back into my thoughts. I needed to call Tank as soon as possible and find out if he knew anything about DeChooch. The guy was old but he'd been a bagman for the mob for a lot of years and you didn't get away with that kind of work for very long if you didn't have some skills. As soon as I was done here I'd put out some feelers and see what came back on his location.

I was confident I could easily capture the old man as soon as I figured out where to grab him and actually… this could be the perfect opportunity to get what I wanted from her with minimal effort. I would help her, and in exchange, she would spend a night with me. If she was desperate enough to bring in her skip, I doubt she'd even protest the offer.

A very large part of my brain was aware what a colossally bad idea that was but the part that couldn't stop thinking about her refused to be dissuaded.

Just as the priest was finishing, my phone buzzed in my pocket and I slipped it out to take a look. It was Stephanie again and I eased out of a side door to take the call, earning a glare from my Mother.

"I'm going to bail on the case," she said as soon as I answered. "I'm going to hand it off to you." I felt myself frowning. Stephanie didn't give up that easily on anything.

"You don't usually bail," I said carefully. "What's the deal here?"

"DeChooch is making me look like an idiot." There was obviously more to this but she was taking a page out of my book and only giving partial information.

"And?" I prodded.

"Dougie Kruper is missing and I think his disappearance is somehow tied to DeChooch. I'm worried that I'm endangering Dougie because I keep screwing up with DeChooch."

Shit. Kruper was a fucking idiot but somehow I didn't doubt he was mixed up in whatever this was. Much like Stephanie, Dougie and his idiot in crime, Mooner, seemed to stumble into the strangest shit. What I was most concerned about was the tone in Stephanie's voice. She was scared and that told me this was way more serious than she probably even knew.

I tried a lame attempt to lighten her mood. "Dougie Kruper was probably abducted by aliens."

There was a beat of silence and then I heard a small frustrated sigh before she said, "Do you want to take the case, or what?"

"I don't want it," I replied automatically. I would help her because she was afraid and DeChooch was unstable, but I didn't want it.

"Fine. The hell with you."

The connection was severed and I stared at my phone in disbelief. She hung up on me. I don't think anyone has ever hung up on me.

I headed back inside for a few minutes, still stewing over her abrupt end to our conversation and then escaped from the church after telling my sister something had come up so I couldn't make it to the reception. I ignored the death ray eyes from my Mother as I left through the front doors and sent Tank a text on the way to the car, requesting any and all information he could get on DeChooch.

I'd stopped once on the way back to Trenton to take down everything Tank called back with so it was around four when I pulled into Stephanie's parking lot and hit the stairs to the second floor. I didn't turn on a lamp after letting myself into her apartment; I'd been there enough times to know the layout without needing a lighted path and made my way to the living room with practiced ease. She wasn't home so I settled into the chair across from her couch, curled my fingers into the upholstered arms and waited.

I was feeling a little annoyed that she'd hung up on me and it certainly wasn't anything that should have caused me to drop what I was doing and head right to her apartment, but that was exactly what I'd done, and I think it pissed me off. I don't let people affect me this way and since I couldn't think of anything else she'd done to upset me, except give up on the DeChooch job, I was really beginning to question my sanity. Why did I care so much about her giving up? Because Stephanie wasn't a quitter, in fact she was one of the most determined women I'd ever met so why was she bailing without much of a fight on this one? Maybe because you blew her off when she asked for help, dumbass.

She wasn't the best bounty hunter, but she watched and she learned quickly and most of the time she figured out how to get her man all on her own. Granted, her methods weren't the norm and half the time she ended up covered in garbage…or worse, but she managed to get the job done and I was damn proud of her. It was rare for her to ask for help and it usually only happened when she felt she had no other option so when she came to me, I probably shouldn't have made her feel like an idiot about it.

Or I shouldn't have answered her call to begin with. I should have gone with my first instinct and stayed the hell away from her. Out of sight, out of mind. Yeah, obviously that worked out well since I haven't even been back a full day and I'm already in her personal space, ten feet from her bedroom, and I can't stop thinking about getting her into that room and kissing her until we both can't breathe.

The truth is, I want to kiss and bite and lick every inch of her from top to bottom. I can't stop wondering what she'll taste like, what sound she'll make with that first swipe of my tongue, if she'll scream when I bury myself as deep as I can inside her. I felt my dick harden inexplicably at that last thought. I needed to make the deal with her before self-combustion became a real possibility - but since when did I need a deal to get a woman into bed with me? Never. For some reason I couldn't bring myself to simply seduce her. I knew it wouldn't be difficult; the way her eyes darkened when she looked at me, the way her breath caught just before I touched her had not escaped my attention, so I knew it wouldn't take much effort on my part. I was holding back because Stephanie was the kind of woman who would want more than the one night I was willing to give her so I was dreaming up ways where she'd think she'd owed it to me just so I wouldn't feel guilty about it later. What a selfish prick.

I knew she would probably agree to the deal if I offered it and I'd sure as hell make her pay up…So what kind of asshole would that make me? A giant one. And why was I letting this woman have so much control over my brain? That wasn't me; I didn't let anyone get under my skin, especially a woman. I'd carefully avoided any kind of relationship exactly for this reason. I liked my life; I enjoyed the freedom I had to do the job I excelled at doing. I appreciated not having to answer to a single person except myself and I didn't need or want the complication a woman would bring into the world I'd so expertly crafted to my exact specifications.

Stephanie Plum was fucking with that…..and that's probably why I was pissed off.

So what the hell was I doing in her apartment, waiting for her in the dark like a fucking stalker? Because you want to see her. You've been aching to see her, to touch her, to kiss her since the second you left town. Jesus. I really needed to go home. I started to lift out of the chair when I heard her keys hit the lock.

Damn. I schooled my face into an expressionless mask and stayed where I was.

She let out a shriek when she turned on the light and found me sitting in her living room. Her bright blue eyes were as big as saucers and she clutched her hand over her heart. Her shoulders sagged and she blew out a breath of relief when she realized it was me.

"You hung up on me. Don't ever hang up on me." I said it quietly and as if I had a right to demand compliance from her.

She ignored my attempt to wield authority and treated me to a very thorough full body scan. It took all of my self-control to keep certain parts of my anatomy from acknowledging her heated gaze.

"Are you in disguise?" She asked after looking her fill. I wasn't surprised by her reaction, this was the first time she'd seen me in anything dressy. Stephanie probably thought I only owned street clothes.

I watched her without answering. She was clutching a small paper bag and trying to keep her eyes on mine but she kept sneaking glances at my excessively short hair and my black, cashmere sweater. When her tongue darted out and swept over her bottom lip, I pushed up and out of the chair to keep from thinking about the places where I'd like that tongue to touch.

"What's in the bag?" I asked as another distraction.

"Emergency cinnamon bun. What are you doing here?"

The cinnamon bun almost made me smile. I wish I had a plausible answer to her question that wouldn't scare her. As much as Stephanie was attracted to me, and she was - very much, there was a part of her that was also terrified and I couldn't blame her. I had a darker soul than the average man and if she looked too closely, I knew I wouldn't be able to hide my demons from her.

I thought about my plan again, but if I was going to get her into my bed, and I didn't have much doubt I would, it wasn't going to be like that. "How bad do you want DeChooch?" I asked.

She eyed me skeptically before saying, "What did you have in mind?"

She would be shocked at most of the things on my mind so I stuck to the safe one, at least for now. "I have some contacts that can be useful in finding people. I'll make some calls." Of course I'd actually already made the calls, but she didn't need to know that I hadn't blown her off completely. I didn't find where the man was hiding, but I did discover who was lending him a hand.

"You're going to help me?" Steph queried and I nodded, taking a step towards her. I'd been dying to touch her and I was too far away. "And what will I have to do for you?" She wanted to know and the question froze my forward momentum. I wasn't exactly sure what I was doing at this point but I knew the deal wasn't an option. I realized I respected her too much for that and she deserved that respect. Stephanie deserved everything she ever wanted and I didn't know if I could be the one to give it all to her, but I suddenly found that I was willing to try. Wait, when had that happened?

I opened my mouth to reply and that's when I heard a key being inserted in the front door lock. I reached for my gun but the door swung open and fucking Morelli strode in like he owned the place, nodding in my general direction.

He had a key? Something twisted in my gut at that thought. I heard Tank's voice in my head, reminding me once again that Steph and Morelli were supposedly going to be married. I'd brushed off the notion, not believing it could be true…or maybe only hoping it wasn't true, but now I was starting to rethink that denial.

"Game over?" Stephanie asked him as she set down her cinnamon bun and he gave her a death glare that had me reaching for my gun again. No one should be allowed to look at her that way.

"The game is over and the baby-sitting is over. And I don't ever want to see this guy again."

What guy? I thought just as Stephanie said, "Where is he?"

Morelli turned and looked and muttered a disgruntled, "Christ," before he went back into the hall. A second later he reappeared dragging the MoonMan into the room by his jacket collar.

"Dude," Mooner said and that was my cue to leave but I still had things I wanted to say to her. I grabbed my leather jacket from the couch where I'd discarded it earlier and slipped it on before latching onto her hand and tugging her outside.

"Excuse us for a second," I said, not addressing anyone specific but I did catch the slight narrowing of Morelli's eyes as I pulled the door closed behind us. Good. He should be worried.

Stephanie leaned her back against the closed door and looked up at me. "Ranger," she started and before she could get out another word and before I could stop myself, I crushed my lips to hers with barely restrained fervor. Her mouth opened with a surprised gasp and I took it as an invitation for my tongue to plumb every crevice.

She met each stroke, turning her head for a better angle, and the little erotic noises coming from her throat were making me insane with lust. I slid my hands around her waist, pressing them deep into the small of her back and drawing her closer to me as hers came up and she curled her fingers into the hard muscles of my shoulders. She arched into me, willingly, eagerly and every fiber of my being was responding to her touch. I broke the blistering kiss with a strangled groan when she rubbed her pelvis across the distinctive and unbelievably hard bulge behind my zipper.

My eyes locked onto her riveting blue gaze and the only thing I could hear was the pounding of my own heart and the rasp of our labored breathing. Her lips were puffy and red and I wanted nothing more than to taste them again. I forced myself to push away from her before we got really indecent in the hallway.

Taking a breath, I used every ounce of energy I had left to rein in the wildly spiraling heat coursing through every nerve in my body. That had gotten way out of control way too quickly. We would probably set the whole world on fire when we finally came together. And there was no doubt in my mind we would be coming together. Multiple times.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out a card with a name and address written on it and handed it her. "The owner of the white Cadillac," I said at her raised eyebrow. "I'll help you bring in DeChooch and in return..."

"I sell my soul to the devil?" She joked. At least I think she was joking.

"Dinner," I replied quickly and I was just as surprised as Stephanie.

"Dinner?" She echoed. "With you?"

"Yes, dinner. With me."

She swallowed slowly and couldn't hide the slight panic in her eyes. "Like a date?"

Shit. I don't even remember the last time I asked someone on a date. This was a bad idea. I didn't want to date anyone. I didn't want to even think about dating anyone, especially Stephanie but then I heard myself say, "No, not like one. An actual date. I am asking you to have dinner with me."

"After we get DeChooch?"

"Directly after." What the hell am I doing and why don't I want to stop?

"I'm sort of engaged to Morelli," she admitted on a whisper and I was right back to this morning. Ice froze my blood and I felt slightly nauseated but I was careful to keep my expression neutral.

"I don't think so, Babe," I said with a casualness I did not feel. Was I jealous of Joe? I wasn't familiar with the feeling, so I couldn't be sure.

She was perplexed at my statement. "What do you mean?" She couldn't marry Morelli, not when she so obviously wanted me. You don't marry a guy when you have that much explosive chemistry with someone else. Right? Even if I wasn't right, I knew there was no way in hell I was going to let her marry him.

I reached for her left hand and slowly brought it to my mouth. Her breath caught when I deliberately kissed her ring finger at the knuckle. The very bare ring finger.

"You don't kiss someone the way you just kissed me if you're engaged to someone else, Steph." I lifted my other hand and pushed a stray curl off of her forehead, letting my fingers linger just a little too long. "And when a man asks you to marry him, he puts a ring right here so the rest of the world knows she's off limits." I kissed the soft skin of her finger one more time, and she sucked in another quick gasp when I touched it briefly with my tongue. "DeChooch and then dinner," I reminded and then left her standing there. I could feel her burning eyes on my back but I kept moving.

Her voice stopped me just as I hit the stairs. "What if we don't get DeChooch?"

That was a good question and I wasn't surprised she asked. We hadn't discussed the terms if we failed to bring in the skip and most people would want to know if that voided the deal, but Stephanie wasn't most people. She was testing me.

"I'm pretty sure I should be offended that you think I would fail," I teased and was rewarded with a small smile but she didn't comment further. "Dinner, either way," I added and by the look on her face, it's what she wanted to hear.

I didn't know what the fuck I had just done but I was smiling when I slid behind the wheel of my Porsche. The cop, among other things, was going to be a challenge, but I was more than up for the task. Deal or no deal, I was going to make Stephanie Plum mine.

AN: Thanks to LilyGhost who read the original and horrible first draft of this, thanks to alix33 for fixing my perpetual grammar, spelling and punctuation errors and thanks to all of you who continue to read my stories and who motivate me to keep writing by all your comments and reviews. I look forward to each and every one!