Any Man Of Mine - sade meeks (top young adult novels txt) 📗

a big sigh. Being in the same air space with Joe and Ranger is overwhelming on a good day; after last night's realizations, it was suffocating.

"Thank you." I said to Ranger when I felt his gaze on me.

"For?"

"Not baiting him. Not making the situation any worse." I opened my eyes and sent a weak smile his way.

"Doesn't suit my purposes at the moment," Ranger was almost smiling again.

"And those purposes would be…?" I sent a grin his way. Honestly, I was just trying to lighten the tension. I wasn't flirting. I swear. Ranger walked over to me, and leaned against the door, an arm on either side of my shoulders.

"This comes to mind," he whispered before kissing me. I felt my toes curl and my back arch. I leaned into the kiss, forgetting my aggravation at Joe and the fear that Ranger knew about the flowers. I think I whimpered when Ranger finally pulled away. "Come on, dinner's getting cold." With a rumble, my stomach reminded me that my sandwich from lunch was several hours too long ago.

I followed Ranger into the kitchen and fixed a plate. Ella had made lasagna with what appeared to be a mixture of both meat and veggies. There was also a salad and garlic bread. When Ranger opened the fridge to get out some bottled water, I noticed a plate with a single slice of chocolate cake on it. I love Ella. I took my plate and the water Ranger had handed me, and went to sit down on the couch. Ranger followed. After a few bites, I came up for air enough to ask, "What Rangeman business?"

"None at the moment. I used that as an excuse to Morelli out of here. We need to talk about what happened earlier."

"Speaking of earlier, did you wake me up when you stopped by?" I took another bite of lasagna and watched Ranger's face carefully. He didn't usually give a lot away, but if I was observant enough, every so often I'd see something in his face before it was blank again.

"Yes." Damn! Not even a hint of something.

"Why?" I decided I'd try the one word thing and see if I got anywhere with that.

"Because I wanted to make sure you were okay. Lula was very upset when she contacted Tank. Something about mystery flowers and then she couldn't reach you." Ah! She had said something. Part of me wanted to scream, but another part could understand her concern at not being able to reach me. I do tend to get kidnapped on a semi-regular basis.

"Oh."

"Explain." I rolled my eyes at him. It wouldn't do to act like I didn't know what he was insisting I explain about. If he didn't already know it and I really refused to talk, he'd just call Tank and have him bring Lula over here to explain it. He was going to find out one way or the other.

"Fine. It's nothing. I was tired. I came home to get lunch, laid down for a minute and fell asleep. There was a flower delivery at the office today. Apparently they were for me. Lula's overreacting. It's nothing." I pushed away my empty plate and headed directly for the fridge. I was going to need that chocolate cake if I had to discuss the creepy flowers, even more so since I knew it would mean explaining to Ranger about song therapy and last night at the bar.

"Where's the card? Lula told Tank you took the card with you." Damn! I didn't think either of the girls noticed that. I got it out of my purse and went to hand it to him. Ranger indicated I should set it directly on the kitchen table, so I did.

"I'm telling you, it's nothing. Someone must be playing a practical joke on me. That's got to be it." I watched Ranger read the card. I thought I saw his hand clench into a fist briefly but when I looked back, it was by his side, like the other one. I must have imagined it. I backed away from the table, shoving a big forkful of cake into my mouth. I let out a contented sigh. Ranger looked up at me and smirked.

"Who were you sending a message to, Babe?"

"Morelli." That got me a raised eyebrow.

"Morelli sent you those flowers? Morelli doesn't seem like the anonymous flower delivery type."

"He's not. They aren't from him. You didn't ask who they were from, you asked who I was sending a message to." I said the last in a "duh" tone of voice and shoved more cake into my mouth. Not exactly a dainty lady thing to do, but hey, I need this chocolate. I was being a smart ass and I knew it. I couldn't help it. I did not want to have this conversation. Ranger wasn't going to let it go though so I knew this conversation was going to take place anyway. That doesn't mean I have to make it easy on him. Ranger simply stared at me. I tried staring back; I used to be good at staring contests with my sister, Valerie, when we were kids.

"Huh! Fine. Joe and I had a fight yesterday. Lula and Mary Lou took me to the bar. I got talked into doing Karaoke. I noticed Joe was there. I picked a song with him in mind. Mary Lou brought me home. Flowers were at the office this morning when Connie opened. I was taken by surprise. End of story." I put the last of the chocolate cake into my mouth and glanced down at the crumbs and frosting left on the plate. It probably wouldn't do to lick the plate. Darn! I got up to put the plate in the sink. Better to remove the temptation from in front of me before I licked it clean anyway.

"Anyone else there you know?" Ranger was going into protective mode.

"No, but that doesn't mean anything. I've been in the paper so often any number of people could "know" me. Before you even start," I said placing my hands on my hips, "I don't need a body guard and I'm not going to be locked up. It's one stupid vase of flowers and a note. No threat of injury or death. They weren't even delivered here. With any luck, this guy has no idea where I live."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because it's not a big deal. I've received worse, on multiple occasions."

"Promise me, you'll call me immediately if you receive anything else."

"It's nothing."

"Babe."

"Okay, fine, I promise. Happy?" In a heartbeat, he was in front of me. I felt my breath hitch in my throat as he moved his lips closer to mine. He gave me a soft gentle kiss and pulled me to the couch where we both sat back down. He put his arm around my shoulders and I leaned into his side.

"So, what was your fight with Morelli about?"

"Do you even need to ask?"

"Apparently not." Ranger reached over and grabbed the remote where Joe had tossed it on the table. I closed my eyes and let myself get lost in the scent of Bulgari and warm Ranger. Soon I was almost asleep.

"I could stay like this forever." I said on a contented sigh, almost like a whisper. I felt Ranger's lips brush the top of my hair.

"One day." He whispered. I was asleep before I could I try to analyze what he meant.

I bustled my way into the office the next morning, not wanting to think about the implications of how well I had slept last night. I found myself in my bed, changed into my usual sleeping attire of a roomy t-shirt, when I woke up this morning. I could tell from looking at the pillow on the other side of the bed that I hadn't spent the night alone. I smiled to myself. I never sleep as soundly as I do when Ranger's in the same bed with me - even with nothing going on. I was jarred out of my thoughts by the sight of a vase of tulips sitting on Connie's desk, next to the roses from yesterday.

Shit! I wanted to scream, but that would mean admitting there was something wrong, which I wasn't about to do. I greeted the girls as normally as I could and walked over to Connie's desk. "Got any new skips for me?"

"No, and Bombshell got more flowers this morning."

"I see that." I leaned over as if to smell the flowers. The flowers were beautiful and if I knew they weren't from a crazed person, I'd actually feel all squishy and have warm fuzzies over being sent flowers. I discreetly reached in and pulled out the card that was stuck in the display. Just like yesterday, the envelope read "Bombshell". I slipped the card directly into my bag; I wasn't about to give Lula another opportunity to point out how unlikely it was that the flowers were from Joe.

"You have another fight with Officer Hottie? More make-up flowers?" Lula asked with a skeptical look on her face. This I could answer quite honestly.

"Yes, as a matter of fact I did. Actually, I'm not sure you can call it another fight so much as a continuation of the one from the day before. Joe showed up a little after I got off the phone with you last night." I had managed to get in a quick apology call to Lula between my shower and getting ready for Ranger's visit.

"You still so sure these flowers are from Morelli?" Connie gave me a look like she knew better.

"Must be. I don't know who else would be sending me flowers." I said with a lot more confidence and pep than I actually felt. I remembered promising Ranger I'd call him if I got any more unexpected surprises but I couldn't do that in front of the girls. They'd never back down then. "I'm going to make a quick run to the Tasty Pastry. I'll be back in a few minutes." I said over my shoulder as I headed out the door before either of them could say anything else.

Once I got back in my car, placing the doughnuts on the seat next to me, I called Ranger.

"Yo Babe."

"Yo yourself. Guess what?" I tried to postpone the inevitable. Once I actually told Ranger about the latest flowers and handed this off to him, I would have no real choice but to admit that I had another stalker.

"Babe."

"Come on, you gotta guess." I got no response that time. I could hear him breathing so I knew he hadn't hung up on me. I rolled my eyes. "Fine. It's nothing but I promised so I'm calling. There was a vase of tulips left at the office. Still only addressed to Bombshell not Stephanie."

"What does the card say?"

"I don't know. I haven't read it. It's in my bag."

"Babe." I could hear the mild amusement in his voice this time. I sighed and dug into my bag.

"Fine," I opened the envelope and read it to Ranger. "Beautiful flowers for a beautiful woman. I'd love to hear your two lips say my name." I shivered. Ew!

"Where are the flowers now?"

"At the office and they are going to stay there for right now. There still haven't been any threats. They are just flowers. Let Connie and