JE created the characters below and I took them and ran.

Jenny (JenRar) thank you for the hours you spent working on this story as the beta. You have amazing skills and I count myself truly lucky to be able to work with you.

Chapter 20 – Paid in Full

I loved it when Ranger woke me up in the morning. Especially on days like this Sunday, when he'd gotten up and completed his usual sunrise workout and then showered and climbed back in bed with me for a nap. That gave us another couple of hours before he finally decided he'd wasted enough hours of daylight and gently attempted to rouse me into the land of the living.

Our triumph at the party last night had caused us to spend several hours celebrating when we got back to Haywood. Instead of champagne and noise makers, we'd locked ourselves in the seventh floor apartment and made a certain amount of noise of our own. I was exhausted, and even though the trail of soft kisses he was making down the center of my back felt heavenly, I was still reluctant to open my eyes. I guess he picked up on my hesitation to get up because he decided to up the ante.

"Come on, Babe. The sooner you wake up, the sooner you can get a look at the final installment of your payment for the work you've done," he bribed me, ensuring I would wake up after dangling that in front of me as bait.

"I'm awake," I grumbled, throwing an arm behind me with my palm open as though I expected him to put a credit card in my hand.

"Barely," he argued. "I'm not handing anything over until you're out of bed."

By sheer force of will, I managed to get myself standing and slowly stumbled my way into the bathroom. The temptation was to brush my teeth and then rush back out to get a look at the identities he had for himself, but I decided that I'd enjoy it more if I was fully alert, so I jumped in the shower, hoping the warm water would take away a little of the soreness I was feeling from last night's activities. Ranger was always thorough, but last night, he was riding a certain high, feeling like he'd restored his good name, and there were times it was all I could do to just hang on and enjoy the ride.

It didn't take long before I thought I could be considered a part of the land of the living. I shut off the water and dried off before slipping on Ranger's robe from the back of the door and brushing through my hair just enough to bring it from the edge of the Bride of Frankenstein look I had been sporting.

The smell of coffee was already floating in the kitchen, and when I walked in, Ranger turned around and handed me a cup with two sugars and a healthy amount of cream. It was perfect, and after a couple of sips, I started to feel as though getting up at the bright and early hour of nine o'clock might be okay.

When Ranger moved to sit on the couch, I brought my coffee and followed along, sitting next to him and propping my feet up on the coffee table.

"Nice robe," he said, pointing out that I was wearing his clothes.

The temptation to stick my tongue out was strong, but I resisted in order to remind him, "I don't have my closet here to pick out clothes, so I had to go with what was handy." He nodded, as though that made perfect sense, so I added, "Plus, if you don't show me what I want, then I want to see just how convincing me in a robe can be."

He laughed at my reminder of his comment that he wasn't sure if he'd spill his secrets quicker from tequila or me in a robe, but the combination of both might get just about anything I was after.

"You know me well enough that I'll show you what we agreed upon." Always the practical one, he brought me back to reality and the fact that we'd agreed he would show me two of his identities when I finished the assignment.

"I'm doing this on good faith, even though you haven't typed up your report from last night. I trust that even though you've been paid in full, we'll still get that final training log from you." He was trying to look stern, but the fact that he was enjoying this little game was evident on his face. For a guy that would never admit to playing, he certainly seemed to enjoy teasing me.

My hands rubbed against each other in anticipation, and I nodded quickly that I'd do his paperwork later. Right now, I wanted to see what other names Ranger traveled under. Instead of giving me a large manila envelope like he had for my personas, he pulled out a black American Express card and handed it to me. The name on the front read Marc Pardo.

"I already knew about this one because you set me up as Stephanie Pardo," I told him, feeling a little cheated by the fact that he'd technically fulfilled his end of the bargain because we'd never specified they had to be new names. I hadn't considered the loopholes in our agreement.

"When I'm not traveling under my real name, this is the alias I use most often," he told me, apparently willing to ignore my outburst. I guess that was something I didn't know already.

Then he handed me a second card that had the name Carlos Ricardo on it. "This is just your name switched around," I pointed out with my grasp on the incredibly obvious.

"Yes, but part of setting up a good cover is ensuring it's one you can respond to all the time. By keeping an identity that is basically a deviation of my real name, it increases the likelihood that I could maintain it with little time to prepare," he explained. I hadn't considered it that way, but it did make sense.

I couldn't help but feel disappointed that our agreement was now over. I'd actually enjoyed seeing my packages more than hearing about his possible escape names, but at least he'd explained the method behind the covers he used. Before I could get lost wallowing in the idea that we were done, he spoke once more.

"You actually did more than I expected you to, because in addition to challenging all the guys, you managed to slip in some work for me, as well, and then came to New York to follow up on it. I hadn't expected you to be as thorough as you were, so I feel like you're due a small bonus of some sort."

I was about to jump in and tell him he wasn't going to give me a penny more than he already had for what I'd done with the guys. Except for having to complete a written report, it was almost like getting paid to play, so I felt guilty enough for what he'd deposited into my account as it was.

Fortunately, I didn't get any of it out because he reached behind him and produced an envelope like the ones that had contained my cards that he'd shared earlier. I took it when he held it toward me, but he placed his hand on top of mine to keep me from opening it quickly.

"I had this one made about forty-eight hours after DeChooch." As he confessed, he held my eye for a moment, letting me know that in reality, he had it made after we had sex the first time. "When I walked into your apartment that night, I had all the swagger of an idiot who was used to having anything he planned work out in his favor. I assumed if we slept together, it would help us to manage the attraction better. It wasn't until I actually spoke the words aloud and told you that you should patch things up with Morelli that I realized I was a complete idiot."

"Why did you do that?" I wondered, suddenly not as interested in the package in my hands.

"I knew I would be called away soon for my contract, and it didn't make sense to have you waiting for me when there was a decent man ready to commit his life to you," he explained, looking down at our hands.

"But it didn't work out the way you planned it?" I pushed, wondering what part of his plan had failed in his eyes.

He laughed a little, but he didn't really sound amused. "No, it didn't. You and the cop got back together, and a little less than a year later, I found myself on assignment with Hector in a dingy bar in the bowels of Mexico City, splitting a bottle of homemade tequila. When I woke up the next morning, I had a raging hangover and no memory of the night before. Hector refused to talk to me for three days. He was never the most talkative, but this was well beyond just being quiet. After we got back to Trenton, he told me if I ever wanted him to go on assignment with me again, I'd better find a way to fix things between you and me. I was clueless what he meant, and the only clarifying clue he'd drop was that the little worm helped me talk, and he wasn't thrilled with what I'd said."

"You don't know what you told him?" I asked, trying to picture Ranger so drunk that he wouldn't remember what he'd said. I couldn't make the image of the man beside me now match the picture he was painting of himself in that bar with Hector.

"No," Ranger answered. "After a distraction one night, he rode back to Haywood with me and said that after hearing the whole story of you and me, he was convinced the only reason you were with the cop was because I'd told you to do it. He's never liked Morelli as anything more than a good view at a crime scene, and he hated the two of you together. So he didn't hold back in telling me it was my responsibility to fix it."

"What happened next?" I asked, feeling like this story had more to it.

"Scrog," That one word said it all. "Most of my justifications for us not being together had already been knocked down, but I'd been holding onto the fact that if we were in a relationship, my enemies would target you if we were together. Then an enemy targeted you anyway, so my nightmare was coming true, and I didn't have any of the benefit of having you close to me. I knew I either needed to move to Miami and make a clean break or give up the pretense and start letting you in my life little by little."

"Didn't you go to Miami right after you healed enough to travel?" I asked, trying to keep my mind from picturing him on my apartment floor with the blood pooling around him. Hyperventilating might not be the best idea if I wanted to keep this conversation moving.

"I did, but it took me about two days to realize that I'd made the wrong decision, so I came back and tried to spend more time with you," he replied, stroking the top of my hand in a comforting way.

He coughed before speaking again, almost as though he were nervous. "You and the cop were back and forth so much, I couldn't keep up, so I just tried to be consistent and give you what you needed without pushing for more than you seemed willing to give."

A laugh escaped my lips at that. "My memory is that you tried pushing the limit of what I was willing to give a few times."

"You were warned early on that I was an opportunist," he reminded me. "I may have pushed, but the first hint of you being uncomfortable would have made me back down in a hurry. I'd never force you."

"No..." I had to be sure he knew I agreed with him. "You'd never force me."

"After Hawaii, I pulled out the credit card I'd ordered after DeChooch and had a full alias developed around it – driver's license, social security card, marriage certificate, power of attorney forms, and passport."

The mention of a marriage certificate made me a little nervous. "It's not real, is it?"

"No, they're all forgeries," he admitted. "Damn good ones, but fake just the same. They'd easily get you out of the country, but they'd never hold up in a court of law."

Hearing that helped me to stop the panic I'd been feeling, so I squeezed his hand, which had stilled on top of mine, and then lifted the envelope to ask if I could open it now.

"Go ahead," he replied, his blank face slipping on and covering up what had been about as close to a nervous expression as I'd ever seen on him. I would have fussed at him for covering up what he was feeling, but I got the impression it was a habit and in this case, he wasn't even aware of doing it.

The paper tore beneath my hands easily, but it sounded as though it made twice the noise any of the other envelopes had made. It was like the contents of this package were more important and therefore deserved a greater announcement of their unveiling.

Deciding to just jump in, I dumped out everything into my lap and picked up the credit card, not the least bit surprised to see it was for Stephanie P. Manoso. All the other documents proclaimed me to be the wife of Ricardo Carlos Manoso. I was glad that he'd already told me nothing in my hands was real because it certainly looked convincing enough to make me glance at my left hand to be sure it was still empty.

"So this is the one you didn't want to share?" I asked.

"You've been pretty clear that marriage wasn't something you wanted," he replied. "I knew that pressure from Morelli was never well received, and I didn't want to screw things up between us now that we were together."

"But you wanted to show me," I pointed out. "Is this something you think about?" I lifted the marriage certificate as explanation for what I meant.

"Not often, but sometimes, yeah, I can see it," he leveled with me. "Are you saying it's never crossed your mind?"

Full disclosure was a lot harder in person that it was when we were typing notes back and forth, pushing each other out of our respective comfort zones. "A month ago, I would have said no."

"What about now?" He was searching for more, but it was being done with such vulnerability on his part that I couldn't stop myself from answering.

"I've thought about it more this past week than the last six months combined," I replied.

"What about marriage has been on your mind?"

I was beginning to regret answering that last question if it meant I had to offer more details.

"What it would be like to have everything settled. No question of where I'd be sleeping or where my extra clothes would be stored. How it would feel to not have to cringe when my mother suggests I'm not getting any younger. If I could stick my hand out when meeting a client and introduce myself as your wife and partner instead of just a woman who runs searches and sleeps with you."

"For future reference, I think you should leave off the sleeping with me part if you're meeting clients, and you are way more than just a woman who runs searches," he interrupted.

Deciding to give him a taste of how hard it was to open up on this subject, I turned his question around. "When you see marriage how does it look?"

"Easy," he replied. "It looks like this, only with a little more jewelry and legal joint ownership of that robe. I always said marriage wasn't important because it was the relationship that mattered, but now that I've got the relationship, I guess I'm getting greedy because I want more."

"You're not greedy," I corrected him, "because I feel the same way. The thing that scared the shit out of me a year ago makes more sense now that I'm picturing it with the right guy. It's not something I want to run away from anymore."

"But would you run to it?" he wondered.

"I'd run to you," I admitted, knowing it was true.

Ranger reached in his pocket and pulled out a little black box, lifting the lid and showing me the most exquisite diamond ring, big enough to sparkle but not so big that it was ostentatious. The sapphire baguettes on either side set it off perfectly and took my breath away. "Would you run to this?" he asked.

I shook my head no and watched the hurt come over his face. "I'd run to you," I repeated, hoping he could grasp what I was trying to tell him. "Not a ring or a cushy apartment – you. Is there a different question you want to ask?"

I couldn't tell if he was proposing or just testing the water to see if I'd accept if he ever decided marriage was the right step, but I wasn't going to guess and embarrass myself on something this important.

He paused and looked at his hand, holding the ring which was so beautifully framed in black velvet. I found myself staring at it and hoping he would keep talking instead of shutting the box.

My focus had been so intent on willing him to keep the lid up that I didn't notice he had reached over with his free hand to pick up the pile of documents in my lap until I felt them move.

With nothing between us, he slid off the edge of the couch so that he was on a single knee and asked, "Stephanie, will you marry me?"

Usually, the sound of my name on his lips put me on edge, but today, it was like music. A month ago, I never would have thought this was possible, assuming Ranger was never going to be available for a relationship and finally having admitted to myself that I would only be happy with him. Now, with the man of my dreams on his knee in front of me, I felt like every hope for the future was being fulfilled – even the ones I didn't realize I'd been holding.

"Yes," I whispered, moving my legs so that I could lean toward him.

He met me halfway, more symbolic than my mind could comprehend at the moment, and proceeded to kiss me. My body, which had been convinced an hour ago that it needed the day off to recuperate, decided that now was the right moment to heat up and start begging for attention.

If I thought the kiss in his New York office was different from all the stolen lip locks we'd shared, then the kiss between us now that he'd made it clear he wanted me in a real relationship, publically acknowledged, forever, was taking it up another notch. I honestly didn't think there was room for improvement, but the man of mystery had proven me wrong once again. By the time we pulled apart, my lips were tingling, and I'd forgotten completely about the box still in his hand.

Ranger pulled back just enough to slip the ring from its holder and slide it onto my finger. He moved the ring a little to help the light reflect in the diamond and then leaned forward and kissed my hand. He put his head in my lap and held my hand tightly in his. As much as I wanted to see his face and get back to what we'd started with the kissing, I felt like he needed this. I knew there was an overwhelming feeling to what we'd just agreed to, and it seemed like he needed a minute to process what happened. So I ran my free hand up and down his back, trying to comfort him and assure him I was here and I wasn't going anywhere. For a man who hid most of emotions, I took it as quite the compliment that he was so overcome that he had to take a minute to process what just happened, and the best place for him to do that was cuddled up to me.

When he lifted his head and looked me in the eye, I drew in a quick breath. The love pouring from him had never been so evident as it was in this moment. The blank face he'd attempted to hide behind earlier was nowhere to be found. I knew there would be times when he'd have to cover this up, so I tried to memorize everything about his face so I could remember how it felt when he looked at me with unveiled adoration. No matter what happened between us in the future, I knew the memory of this moment would sustain me through it.

Ever so slowly, he moved back to join our lips once more. In the back of my mind, it registered that neither of us had spoken in at least fifteen minutes, which seemed odd right after getting engaged. Most people probably began planning and rambling right away, but the silence was comforting and seemed to sum up what we shared much better than any words we might try to use.

Lost in the sensation of kissing him, I think he had to say my name twice before I realized he was trying to pull back slightly. I refused to release my grip on his neck, so he had to speak still close enough for our noses to touch. "Do you want to tell anyone?"

"Yes," I replied, moving to close the gap and kiss him again. I'd never had what I'd admit to as an addiction, but I could see now why addicts were so jumpy. The idea of Ranger trying to pull away from me had me desperate to keep us attached.

A warm, low laugh filled the air before he asked, "Today?"

"Sure," I answered, more out of habit than a well-formulated plan.

He allowed me to pull him back to me again. I thought he'd gotten the message that I was done talking when he moved his arms under my knees and behind my back and then stood, cradling me to his chest and moving us both to the bedroom.

"Yes," I said, hoping he understood I was completely on board with his plan to move what we were doing to the comfort of his satiny sheets.

He laughed again, which wasn't the response I was hoping for, before explaining, "I figured we both needed this to believe it was real so we may as well give in so that we can accept it and then figure out how to share it."

He set me on the mattress, and I motioned impatiently for him to join me. "Don't care why. Just get down here," I commanded.

"Oh man, are you telling me you're going to be one of those demanding wives?" he pretended to complain. I couldn't help but notice he also did exactly what I'd asked, so I wasn't going to hold it against him.

"Not in general," I attempted to assure him. "But I might be in the bedroom."

That earned me a growl and a soft nip on my neck. "I think I can live up to that."

"Are you sure?" I decided to tease him. "Most of the guys thought training with me would be easy, and every one of them fell short in some way so that they needed extra work to meet my expectations. Are you sure you can live up to my demands?"

Ranger pulled back enough for me to see his sexy smirk before replying. "There's a reason those men work for me and I'm in charge."

"Really?" I played along, letting my head fall back in the hope that he'd move his mouth to the front of my neck.

"I know when to take charge and when it's time to bow to a higher authority," he explained. "I might be able to literally sweep you off your feet, but I'm smart enough to recognize that you have the power to tell me where to take you after that. So, if you have a demand you want to make, I'm all ears. In the meantime…" His voice drifted away as he loosened the tie of my robe and opened it to see me lying naked beneath him.

The little voice in the back of my mind was yelling that now would be a good time to make a snappy comeback. To remind him that he'd just said he'd listen to any demand I wanted to make. But the louder voice seemed to be the one screaming for him to lower his head just another inch. He must have locked into that voice with his ESP because the second his lips touched my nipple, I could swear all the sounds in my head were silent. There was nothing rattling around, no stage directions, no desires for his next move...just me, completely open to anything he wanted to give me. And lucky for me, Ranger was feeling very generous.

A month ago, Ranger had come to me in need of help training his men and helping to clear his name with a client. I hadn't thought I was really qualified for the job, but I'd refused to turn him down when he'd asked for my help, so I'd tried to rise to the occasion. Then I'd realized that was nothing new for us. By seeing only the best in me, he had helped me to rise to the occasion more than once, and I hoped I had done the same for him. It was like a kid being able to behave so much better in December because they were living under the notion that Santa Claus was watching them so they make the best choices of how to act. The idea that Ranger might see what I was doing hadn't intimidated me; it had allowed me to make better choices and be that better version of myself. I'd like to think that by believing in him, I had done the same thing for him, as well.

Ranger laced our fingers together, and I could feel the ring on my finger pressing into my hand. It wasn't uncomfortable, but it felt different enough that I noticed it. That was all it took to remind me that I had promised to marry the man making my hormones dance with excitement. The panic I always thought would come with an idea like that was blissfully absent. In its place was a warm feeling that this was right. This man, this place, this company – this life was right for me.

As much as the eight weeks might have been about training the guys to open their eyes to a different way of doing things, I believed it might have taught me a thing or two, as well. I was a part of this company, even if I didn't have an official title. The guys listened to me and believed in me enough to follow my directions. And this man believed in me enough to make a place for me in his heart. I knew we both had a lot to learn about how to make a relationship – and a marriage – work. But together, I figured we'd be able to handle the real-life training days and come out even stronger for it.

A/N: I hate this part, where I'm at the end of another story, and even though I feel like it's complete, I'm still reluctant to say goodbye to the characters. Thank you so much for reading along with Stephanie and Ranger's latest adventure. Your reviews and kind words along the way kept me typing along. Knowing there were people with me made the journey that much more fun.

As usual, I plan on taking a couple of weeks to clear my head before jumping into something new. However, my family is taking its usual two week vacation at the start of next month, so I won't attempt to begin a new story until after we return. My guess is I'll be back sometime around the last week of August with a new story. After such a long break, I hope you'll come along for the ride. Thank you once again, and have a wonderful summer!