When I was a kid, I was great at keeping secrets.  When I was a teenager, not so much.  Gossip was way more fun.  Now that I’m an adult, I’m back to being a great secret keeper.  And I had the greatest secret in town – I was the only one who knew Ranger’s birthday.

At first, I thought Tank or the other Rangemen would know it.  I asked around but none of them had a clue.  Next, I went to Ella but she didn’t know either, but she took a guess and said October. 

I emailed Julie to see if she might know.  She is his daughter after all.  Nope.  Even the kid didn’t know it.  I wasn’t exactly sure of the date.  It could be a few days before or after.  All he’d said was that he was two months older than me.  If we went by exact dates, then that would make it August 12, which is today.

I always seem to do my best thinking in the shower.  I’m not sure why.  Maybe it’s because there are no outside distractions and the streaming water washes away my unnecessary thoughts.  I don’t know, but that’s where I stood pondering today’s question.  I’ve been trying to figure out what I could get for Ranger to celebrate his birthday.  What do you get a guy who doesn’t want for anything?  Anything he wants, he has enough money to buy.  He doesn’t wear a lot of jewelry, except for a watch, a set of dogtags and occasionally earrings.  Either he wore a small hoop or a diamond stud big enough to choke my hamster.  I’ve never seen him wear anything else, although admittedly there isn’t much in the way of menswear in the earring department.  So, jewelry was out.  He had enough clothes, mostly black but a few weeks ago I did see him wear other things.  He’d looked like he stepped out of an Abercrombie & Fitch catalog.  Nope, no clothes either. 

I shut off the shower and grabbed a towel from the rack, drying off quickly.  I ran a gob of leave-in conditioner through my hair and combed out my mass of tangles.  I dropped the towel and sprayed on some vanilla-scented body spray.  Looking at myself standing naked in the mirror, I had an epiphany.  I knew exactly what to give Ranger for his birthday. 

I had a lot to do and not much time to do it.  I threw on some clothes and jumped in my Mini headed to the mall. 

*~*~*~*~*~*

Ranger was still recovering from injuries he received from a psychotic, crazed stalker.  While trying to rescue me and his daughter, Ranger was shot at point blank range in the chest and neck.  I…er, WE nearly lost him several times that night.  But he made it through and spent a week in the hospital.  He’s been out for 3 weeks now but he’s not completely healed.  He spends mornings working at Rangeman, running the business from his 5^th floor office, and afternoons he is on enforced rest per doctor’s orders.  Trust me when I tell you that “enforced” is not taken lightly at Rangeman.  Tank walks into Ranger’s office at exactly Noon every day and politely escorts him to the 7^th floor apartment and locks him in.  Ranger is about the worst patient in the world.  If he wasn’t so dang gorgeous the nurses would have liked to kill him.  But, it would have been a true tragedy to lose all that mocha latte goodness.  Anyway, I’m sure you can imagine how well this enforcement has been going over.  Like a lead balloon.

If my little birthday surprise works out, Tank is going to owe me. Big. Always nice to have someone the size of Mt. Everest in my debt.  With all of the crap that goes on in my life, it could definitely come in handy.

I ran my security pass through the electronic monitor and gunned the Mini into the Rangeman garage.  I pulled into the slot next to Ranger’s gleaming black Turbo and hopped out, grabbing the large, plain brown bag on the way.  The doors to the elevator opened and I waved at the security camera to thank the guys for sending it down to me.  I hit the button on my key fob that took the elevator to the private 7^th floor. 

I let myself into the apartment as quietly as possible.  Once inside, I set the bag on the sideboard table and pulled out the hat that I’d brought along.  Fluffing out my hair, I pinned the hat on and slipped off the knee-length rain coat I’d been wearing.  It wouldn’t surprise me to find out that the Rangeman crew was taking bets on why I was wearing a rain coat in the middle of August. 

“Ranger?” I called, since I didn’t see him in the entryway or living room. 

“Babe?  Back here.”

I straightened my clothes, picked up the bag and took a deep breath.  Here we go…  When I walked into his room, I couldn’t help the smile that crept over my face.  Ranger looked completely shell-shocked.  He was lying in bed, expensive cream-colored sheets were pooled across his lower body.  His ribs were bandaged, there was a gauze pad taped to his shoulder and one to his neck.  But even with that, he looked edible. 

It took him three tries to talk and I had to laugh.  This was the best idea I think I’ve ever had.  No one ever surprises Ranger.  He’s got eyes and spies everywhere and knows things almost before they happen.  But he obviously didn’t expect this.

The stunned look on his face morphed into a wolf grin and his eyes sparkled with humor and lust.  “Nice outfit, Babe.  What’s the occasion?”

I put a little sway in my walk as I stepped toward the bed.  “Well, you’re still healing from the shooting…and it IS your birthday.  I thought I’d surprise you.”

He looked me over appreciatively, “Consider me surprised.”  He fingered the black garter strap that held up my fishnet thigh-high. “I didn’t know you owned a pair of these.”

“I used to buy lingerie for a living, Ranger.  I’ve got all kinds of things.”  The wolf grin was back and his hand brushed the hem of the tiny white skirt I was wearing.  He moved his hand over my belly, lightly playing with the open buttons of the white shirt I wore.  His fingertips brushed the black lace bustier that was framed by the open shirt.  “This is interesting,” he murmured. 

I pushed a lock of his hair back from his face.  “So, you want to unwrap your present?” I teased. 

He shook his head and leaned back against the pillows with a sexy grin, “No, you go ahead and unwrap it.”

Yes!  I smiled and pulled a CD player out of the bag, set it on the dresser and hit PLAY.  A sensual bump-and-grind filled the room and I gave Ranger my best ‘I’m going to rock your world’ look as my body started moving to the rhythm. 

Ranger watched as I slowly unknotted the shirt at my waist and slipped it off.  I tossed it to him with a smile.  He picked it up and held it to his face, inhaling the vanilla scent I’d used earlier.  The heat in his eyes turned up a notch and my mouth ran a little dry in response.  I turned and gave him my back, flipping my hair over my shoulder as I looked back at him. The other thing I learned about Ranger during our only night together, besides that he liked to kiss, was that he was a definite leg and ass man.  He was looking at me like a starving man at a lunch buffet. 

The bed was a huge four-poster and I took advantage of the props.  I grabbed the post with my left hand and raised my right leg to set my foot on the mattress, showing about a mile of leg with the four-inch stiletto.  I writhed against the pole, arching my back and letting my hair fall toward the floor.  The grind of my hips was in synchronicity with the music.  I swung my leg off the bed and spun to put my back against the post.  I never took my eyes off of Ranger as I leaned against the post and lowered myself into a squat and then back up, putting a little wiggle in my hips. 

I unzipped the skirt, teasing him with some slow movements before I let it fall to the floor, leaving me in the black bustier, tiny black thong, garters with fishnet stockings and 4-inch FMPs.

“Madre de Dios,” I heard muttered from the bed and I had to grin because if Ranger was invoking the Virgin Mary, and I hadn’t gotten naked yet. then this was going better than I thought it would. 

I turned around and ran my hands from my hips, up my stomach and over my breasts while I stared into his hot brown eyes.  I stood at the foot of the bed and then crawled up onto it and across to straddle his lower body.  Can’t give a lap dance without being in someone’s lap, right?  And that lap was definitely interested in my little dance.  In fact, it was giving me a standing ovation. 

I rubbed and bumped against him, running my hands across his shoulders.  He reached up to cup my breasts but I grabbed his wrists to stop him.  “No-no-no,” I said teasingly shaking my finger at him, “This is a lap dance, so  - no touchy.”

His eyes turned dark and he made to bite at my finger and grinned wickedly when I yelped and snatched my finger away.  He winced, but laced his fingers behind his head. “Ok, I’ll be a good boy,” he said.  It wasn’t so much the words but the tone that made my insides go liquid.  Oh yes, Ranger knows how to be good.  Very, very good.

I bit my lower lip while I undid the hooks for the bustier.  When it came loose, I held it in front of me…just barely covering my breasts.  I saw Ranger’s hands twitch, as if he was fighting not to rip the cloth away from me.  I leaned forward and nibbled on his jaw while I slid the bustier away and dropped it to the floor.  When I sat back up, I noticed that Ranger had moved his hands and was now clutching the bed sheets so hard his knuckles were turning white.  With his dark skin, that was saying something. 

“Babe,” he whispered as his eyes roamed over my body.  Just me, with my garters and thigh highs and 4 inch heels.  Since he couldn’t touch me, I touched myself.  Cupping my breasts with my hands, I kneaded them slowly never taking my eyes from Ranger’s face.  I tweaked the nipples, tugging on the pink tips and smiled as I heard him gasp softly.  Slowly, I ran my hands down my body, sliding a finger along the edge of my thong.  Oops, there go the sheets.  I hope Ella bought extra sets because Ranger just ripped two foot-long holes in them. 

I leaned forward, brushing my nipples against his chest and kissed him.  Ranger responded almost violently.  He was kissing me like he was a starving man and I was the last piece of fruit in the world. His hands came up to my hair and he unpinned the white nurse’s hat from my hair.  He slid his hands into my hair, tightening gently into fists as he held me to him.  His tongue stroked mine as the kiss gentled and then he pulled away. We had a moment where we just stared into each other’s eyes as the song ended.  I kissed him again softly and then rolled off of him and stood up. 

Ranger looked at me in confusion as I picked up my discarded clothing and slipped the rain coat on, belting it securely.  “Steph?” he asked, “Where are you going, babe?”

“The doctor hasn’t cleared you for physical activity, Ranger.  If you can’t even drive a car, you certainly aren’t in any condition to have sex.”

“OK, so we’ll make love instead.” Leave it to Ranger to argue semantics.

I walked over to him and sat beside him on the bed.  Pushing a stray lock of hair from his forehead, I said, “I would love to do that but you’re not well enough yet.  Just think of this as foreplay.  When you’re all better, I give you another lap dance and it can be hands-on if you want.”

Ranger frowned at me and sighed.  “Promise?” he said. 

I had to smile.  He just looked so cute.  “Yes, I promise.”