Not mine. Characters belong to J.E. I'm not making any money off them.

Lester the Matchmaker

Steph's POV

After showering and getting dressed, I made my way to the kitchen to start a pot of coffee. I tapped on Rex's cage and asked if he wanted a grape. He backed out of his soup can and his whiskers were twitching like crazy. I took this to mean he thinks grapes are the caviar of the hamster food pyramid and dropped the grape into his small silver bowl. I smiled as he latched onto it and scurried back into his can. "Hey, are you going to thank me or at least ask how things went last night?"

Silence.

"Alrighty then, I'll tell you anyway since I think you're just hiding your curiosity, but first let me get coffee."

I filled a mug with hot Dunkin' Donuts hazelnut coffee, added sugar and milk, then went back to lean against the counter by Rex's cage. "So, I went over to Joe's house last night, thinking I would surprise him. He's always complaining that he has to track me down in order to get to see me."

I took a sip of my delicious coffee and continued. "Anyway, when I got there, I could see through the window that the light was on in the living room and I could hear the TV, but Joe didn't answer when I knocked, so I let myself in. To make a long story short, I found Joe upstairs, pumping his cockus erectus in and out of Terry Gilman's un-safe deposit box."

Rex backed out of his can again and looked up at me, his dark eyes hard and unforgiving. Either he was royally pissed off or hopelessly confused by my choice of euphemisms. I wasn't sure how much Rex's tiny little ears and delicate sensibilities could handle so I tried to clean the story up a bit.

"I know, Rex. I agree. I'll never forgive him either. I guess you're wondering why I'm not crying or upset? Why I'm not stuffing my face with Tastykakes, donuts or Ben & Jerry's, right?"

I drained my coffee cup and put it in the sink. "I don't know the answer to that, Rex. Well, I sort of do. Anyway, I was shocked, of course, but I never got upset or all jacked out of shape. I didn't go into rhino mode or cry. My first thought when Joe jumped up and I saw he wasn't wearing a condom was that they deserved each other. They were two consenting adults, right? Terry was just swapping a batch of her herpes for a dose of Joe's warts. Who was I to stop them?"

I unplugged my cell phone from its charger and dropped it into my purse. "I'm telling you Rex, I feel so relieved, so free this morning. Like the weight of the world has been lifted from my shoulders. Suddenly it was so clear to me that Joe and I weren't meant to be together. I mean, if I couldn't even dredge up any hurt feelings over him cheating, I think that's all I need to know."

Rex wiggled his whiskers in agreement. He never did like Joe anyway.

"I'll tell you something else, Rex. It has also never been clearer to me that I'm in love with Ranger. I know he holds himself back from starting a relationship with me, but I'm convinced it's not because he doesn't want one. If he gives me one little sign that he wants me in his life, I'm going to go for it, Rex. I'm going to put my fears aside and take a leap of faith."

Ranger's POV

I'm sitting at my desk on the fifth floor of the RangeMan building, sorting mail. When I finish that, I'll start on the new contracts. I can see at least six of them in my in-box. I need to get them out of the way because I'm leaving for the Boston office this afternoon for a one day employee review and ass kicking, uh, I mean pep talk. I'll be back tomorrow night.

I'm in a pretty good mood even though I have a huge pile of work that needs to be done. An interesting thing happened last night. I was missing my Babe and kind of wandering around dejectedly in my apartment. I know it's my own fault I don't have her with me. Every time we start to get too close, I say something stupid to put more distance between us. I know it's a shitty thing to do, but I can't seem to help myself where she's concerned.

There's no question in my mind that I love her more than I've ever loved anyone, but I don't know what to do with those feelings. I've always told her my life is too dangerous for me to have a relationship. Over the years, I've slowly changed my mind about that. The truth is, she would no doubt be safer living with me in this building or in one of my secured houses than she is living in her shitty apartment with no one there to protect her.

Anyway, back to last night. I was thinking a lot about my Babe and wandered into the office in my penthouse. I opened my laptop to check her tracker. I don't do that very often. Usually I just depend on the guys in the control room to keep an eye on it and alert me if her car goes off the grid. Last night, I had a little voice telling me to check it, so I did. I blew out a long sigh when I saw her car was parked in Morelli's driveway. Shit, how I hated to think of them together. I want her to be mine. I want her in my home, my arms, my bed. And yet I continue to fight it.

My cell phone rang while the tracker program was still open and by the time I hung up with Tank and looked back at my laptop, her tracker had moved. I watched as it traveled across town and stopped at her apartment building. I figured they must have gotten into another fight and as much as I didn't like the thought of my Babe being upset and hurt, I was glad to know she wasn't in his bed.

I went to bed last night wondering if I would ever have the guts to tell her how I feel. Ever have the nerve to let her into my life. Let her know me. Not just bits and pieces at a time like I've been doing over the past several years. I want ... no, I need, to let her know the real me, but it seems so risky. I've never shared my life with a woman. Never been in love before. Never wanted to be tied down to one person. Until now.

She thinks I'm Batman and I know she loves Batman, but would she love Carlos? She loves Ranger too, but would she love Colonel Manoso, hired killer of the U.S. government? Could she love a man who accepts a million dollars or more to sneak into another country and take a life, just because a nameless, faceless person in Washington D.C. determines the person to be a threat to national security? Maybe, maybe not.

Of course I couldn't tell her about those things anyway. They were top secret. I think that's part of the problem. I can't tell her about the man she'd actually be getting involved with so it feels like I would be deceiving her. Letting her think she was getting one thing when she was actually getting something very different.

I finished up with the mail and by lunch time I had gone through all the contracts. I turned on my computer to send out some emails. There were things I wanted taken care of while I was gone, but nothing that warranted calling a meeting.

I tried to get into the email program, but nothing happened. I called Tank.

"Yo, what's up Ranger?"

"Tank, is the email program down?"

"Yeah, I was just going to call you about that. I would have emailed you, but ... ha! The email is down."

"Very funny," I said, disconnecting the call.

I grabbed a tablet to write a few notes.

Hector,

I want you to test out the new security cameras as soon as they come in. We have three clients already interested.

Ranger

Lester,

I need you to get the Vandervine search results from Rodriguez as soon as he prints them and put together a plan for a take-down. He's worth 50 Gs. Let's not waste any time on this one.

Ranger

Tank,

Get someone to fix the fucking email system.

Ranger.

I dropped off the notes to each person on my way out of the building for lunch. By the time I got back, Ella would have my bag packed and it would be time for Tank to drive me to the airstrip.

I drove past the bonds office, hoping to see Steph's car, but it wasn't there and I felt pretty bummed about that. I wouldn't get to see her before I left for Boston, but I'd only be gone one day.

As I ate my lunch at the diner where I first met her, I made a decision. I decided if she ever comes to me and tells me how she feels, I'll let her into my life. I won't make the first move and I won't ask her to choose between me and Morelli, but if she comes to me and indicates she wants to be with me, I'm going to make her mine and never let her go.

Lester's POV

Ranger walked past my desk on his way out of the building and dropped a note on it. I wasn't actually at my desk when he did it. I was in the control room chatting with Ram and saw him on the monitors.

After he left the building, I wandered back over to my desk to read the note. He wanted me to get a quick start on putting together a plan to pick up a high bond skip. Three weeks ago, I broke my wrist taking down a skip outside a bar. I so badly wanted to be in on the take-down of this new guy, Vandervine, but with my wrist in a cast, I wouldn't be allowed to do anything but the planning.

When Ranger came back from lunch, he stalked through the control room and then down the hall like he was looking for someone to yell at. Lately, he was always either in a pissy mood or a contemplative mood that bordered on sadness. I hated dealing with both those sides of his personality.

My office door was open and I saw Tank walk past so I called his name and told him to come in and shut the door.

Tank lowered himself into my guest chair and placed one beefy hand on each of his knees. "'Sup, Santos?"

"Nothing. I was just wondering what the hell is wrong with Ranger? Not that he's ever been a jokester, but he's never in a decent mood these days. The man needs to get laid."

Tank barked out a laugh. "Not going to happen unless he and Steph miraculously get together or he miraculously gets over her."

I shook my head in disgust. "What the hell is wrong with the two of them?"

Tank shrugged his broad shoulders. "They both have a ten foot wall around their heart and neither of them is willing to be the first to let the other in. They're chicken shits. Scared of relationships. Afraid of getting their heart broken."

"Okay, okay, Dr. Phil. Enough with the analysis." I looked down at my desk and bit my bottom lip, thinking about what Tank said. Suddenly I knew what I needed to do. The answer was right in front of me.

"What time are you taking Ranger to the airstrip?"

Tank looked at his watch. "We're leaving in about fifteen minutes, why?"

"None of your business. Just get out of here. I have things to do."

"Sheesh!" Tank said, rising from the chair and heading for the door. "And you think Ranger is testy?"

I didn't bother to answer. I was looking through my desk drawer for an envelope that didn't have the RangeMan logo on it.

I found a greeting card and matching red envelope I purchased a while back and never used. Perfect. I threw the card back in the drawer and took the envelope with me.

I walked down the hall to Ranger's office and knocked.

"Enter," Ranger growled.

I walked in and said, "I need a favor. Can you address this envelope to Steph for me?"

Ranger took the envelope I was holding and pierced me with his dark eyes. "Why are you writing to Stephanie? Can't you just call her?"

I shrugged. "Seems like she's been a little down lately. I'm just going to send her a funny card in the mail to cheer her up, but I can't write out the envelope because of my wrist."

"Fine." Ranger picked up his pen and addressed the envelope to Stephanie in his neat handwriting. He moved his hand to the upper left corner of the envelope, but I stopped him before he could write my name there.

"No!"

Ranger jerked his head up. "You don't want your name and address on it?"

"No, you can put RangeMan's address, but I don't want her to know who it's from before she opens it."

"Whatever," Ranger replied. He wrote the RangeMan address in the upper left and handed the envelope back to me without looking up.

"Thanks," I told him on my way out the door. "Have a safe trip to Boston."

"Right," Ranger replied, not really listening.

I went back to my office and scrambled the camera in the corner near the ceiling. I picked up the note Ranger had left on my desk earlier.

Lester,

I need you to get the Vandervine search results from Rodriguez as soon as he prints them and put together a plan for a take-down. He's worth 50 Gs. Let's not waste any time on this one.

Ranger

I took a pair of scissors and cut off the part that said, I need you, and slipped it into the envelope. I knew Stephanie would recognize Ranger's handwriting, she commented on it before, saying it was unfair that his handwriting was so perfect. I was betting she'd be shocked to receive this little note from Ranger, but she probably wouldn't be surprised at all that it was only three words. Three words was more than he said on most occasions.

I licked the envelope shut and stuck a stamp on it. I'd take it to the post office as soon as Ranger and Tank left the building. Since it wasn't leaving town, it should get delivered to Stephanie sometime tomorrow.

I heard Ranger's voice in the hallway speaking to Tank and quickly shoved the envelope and remaining part of the note in my desk drawer.

Forty minutes later I dropped it off at the post office. Now I would just keep my fingers crossed and hope that my plan worked.