Ranger
Ranger
R anger didn’t know if agreeing to what Millie wanted from him was a good or bad idea, but he was about to find out. She reached up and took his offered hand and he knew that he should put a stop to this whole thing from happening, but he couldn’t. If he was being honest with himself, he wanted her just as much as she did him—possibly more.
Millie was his walking wet dream with her curves and sass, but he wouldn’t tell her that. She was brave—probably too brave because she asked him for what they both wanted when he just cowered out. The only problem he could find with Millie was that she seemed like the kind of girl who’d get attached—fast. And that was the last thing he needed. He had no plans on having a relationship with her or any other woman, for that matter, but one night couldn’t hurt—right?
Her apartment was set up much the same as Ruby’s place, except she had more flowery, frilly, girly things than Ruby had. Hell, even the comforter on her bed had flowers all over it.
“You do like flowers, don’t you?” he asked.
“I do,” she admitted, “tell me you’re not one of those guys who refuses to sleep under a blanket with flowers on it. Are you secure enough in your masculinity to lay on my bed, Ranger?” she asked. She was teasing him; testing him to see if he’d follow through and there was no way that he’d back out of their arrangement now. Flowers or not, he was all in.
He looked the offensive comforter over and then smiled back at Millie, “I’m good,” he assured. He sat down on the bed and pulled her on top of his lap.
“Good,” she breathed. He carefully removed her glasses and she blinked at him as if letting her eyes adjust.
“Is this okay?” he asked.
“Yeah, I just can’t see much. I’m blind as a bat,” she joked. He thought that she was the sexiest bat he’d ever met, but he kept that to himself.
“Why did you agree to this?” she whispered.
Ranger shrugged, “Because I think that you’re sexy as fuck,” he growled. There, that was a truth that he could give her. She was sexy and wanting her wasn’t the problem.
“You do?” she breathed.
“Yes,” he admitted.
“I think that you’re sexy too,” she said, running her hands up over his pecks. Ranger tugged off his shirt, wanting her to touch him skin on skin and when she obliged, he moaned out loud.
“Do you like that?” she asked.
“Yes,” he hissed. “Your turn.” He pulled her shirt up over her body, revealing every curvy inch of her, and hiss out his breath when he realized that she wasn’t wearing a bra. “See now, that’s fucking sexy.” He palmed her breasts, loving the way that she filled his hands and she leaned into him. The little whimper that escaped her parted lips was nearly his undoing. Millie seemed to feel as raw and needy as he did.
She straddled his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck, and pulled him in for a kiss that nearly took his breath away.
“Where’d you learn to kiss that way?” he asked?
“A girl doesn’t kiss and tell Ranger,” she said. He rolled her underneath his body, covering her with his own, and kissed her until they were both panting for air. “More,” she ordered. Ranger was happy to comply with her order, kissing and licking his way down her body until he got to her leggings. He tugged them off, leaving her bare for him, and settled between her legs. He didn’t wait for permission because he wasn’t about to ask for it. He parted her folds and God, she smelled like heaven. His cock couldn’t wait to get inside of her, but first, he wanted to make sure that she was ready to take him. He licked his way through her folds, giving some extra special attention to her sensitive nub. She cried out and nearly bucked him off the bed. Ranger put his hands on either side of her hips, holding her firmly to the bed so that he could finish eating her. By the time that he finished with her, she was soaking wet and had cried out his name three times.
He stood and stripped at the end of the bed, feeling pretty damn proud of himself as she looked up at him and smiled. “That was incredible,” she said, her voice hoarse from crying out his name.
“That was nothing. Wait until the next part,” he insisted.
“What’s the next part?” she asked?
“This,” he growled, pulling her to the side of the bed. He slid into her body without any warning, and she cried out. He stilled, giving her time to adjust to his size and she squirmed underneath him.
“You keep doing that and I won’t last honey,” he warned.
“Good,” she sassed, “turnabout is fair play.” She continued to wiggle around, and he grabbed handfuls of her ass, pulling her up from the mattress. Ranger pulled out of her body and slammed back into her pussy, loving her breathy little sighs and moans that she gave him with each thrust.
“Ranger,” she shouted, “I’m going to come.”
“Good,” he growled, pumping in and out of her body until she shouted out his name once more. Ranger quickly followed her over, finding his release deep inside of her body and when they collapsed onto the bed together and Millie snuggled into his body, his whole damn world felt right. That scared the hell out of him too because what they had just done could never happen again. It was a mistake, and holding her now, he knew that. Losing his heart wasn’t part of the plan, no matter how much he wanted Millie again.
“I’d like to take that job that you offered me, Ranger,” Millie whispered against his neck.
“You would?” he asked. He wasn’t kidding that they could use someone like Millie on their payroll at McTavish. He and Luke were in charge of all of the company’s security, including cyber security, and that would be right up Millie’s alley. She’d be a perfect fit for McTavish.
“Yes,” she said. “I’d like to work for you, Ranger,” she said. Hell, that wasn’t a part of the job description that he had given much thought to. If she was working with him day in and day out, after they had just slept together, that might cause some problems. Namely the one about him not wanting a relationship with Millie or any other woman. Yeah, he really hadn’t thought any of tonight through, and now, he might be the one paying the price for opening his big mouth before thinking about what he was about to say.
Five Months Later
Ranger walked into McTavish Industries and turned the corner right into his office. It was his daily routine and this morning, he hadn’t planned to deviate from it, but he had. Instead of walking into his office and booting up his computer, he ran into sexy Millie—the only person at the company who he actually tried to avoid.
“Sorry,” she breathed, placing her hands on his chest to steady herself. “I didn’t know that you were here.” That was obvious since she was in his office. Millie never went into his office and that thought left him curious and a bit worried.
“What are you doing in here?” he asked.
“Um, I didn’t want to bother you, so I just left you a letter,” she said. “It’s over on your desk.” Millie pointed over to where she had put the envelope and he smiled down at her.
“So formal,” he said. “An envelope and everything.”
“Well, I thought that I should make my resignation look as professional as possible.”
“Resignation?” he asked. They had been working together for about five months now and he had to admit, it seemed to be working out, even if he spent most of his time avoiding her. He and Millie were able to work together, and she was damn good at her job. She had taken over their computer security network and she was the most talented hacker he’d ever met, and being in the military, he knew a lot of them. But now, she was thinking about leaving and it was all his damn fault. Ranger thought for sure that he’d be able to keep their work and private lives separate, but he was so wrong. Sleeping with her felt right at the time—hell, hiring her to work at McTavish felt right, but everything had fallen apart so quickly, he wasn’t sure how to fix any of it.
“You can’t leave,” he insisted. She sighed and pulled her hands from his chest as if just realizing that she was touching him still. He hadn’t forgotten since her every touch felt as though she had scorched his skin. He still had it bad for Millie Jenkins, not that he’d ever admit that to her.
“Listen, Ranger,” she said. “I want to say that I’m fine with the way things are between us, but I’m not.” Ranger’s finger’s itched to reach out and pull her curvy body against his, but he also knew that wouldn’t end well for either of them.
“What’s wrong with the way things are between us?” he asked.
“For one, I don’t like being ignored.” After they slept together, and he went crazy and offered her a job, he just about ghosted her, and for that, he still felt like shit. Millie was right, she deserved better than the way that he was treating her, but he couldn’t go back and redo the past.
“I’m sorry,” he breathed. “I should have done better, but I wasn’t sure what the protocol was. I mean, we jumped into bed together, I hired you, and then, I guess I freaked out.” There, that was as honest as he’d ever been with her and from the look on her beautiful face, she wasn’t buying his apology or his excuse for his bad behavior.
“Thank you for saying that,” Millie said. “But it’s just too late. I don’t think that we should work together, and well, I’ve already taken another job. In fact, I start next week, if you wouldn’t mind not holding me to the two weeks that I promised. I have to move since it’s out of state and well, I’d like to get settled in before starting my new position.”
“You’re quitting and moving to another state?” He felt as though he had been kicked in the nuts and honestly, he didn’t like any of this one bit. He wanted to protest, to tell her that he wanted a redo with her—with everything.
“I am,” Millie said. “Thank you for this opportunity, but it’s time for me to move on, Ranger.” She held out her hand to him and he looked down at it as if it offended him. He took hers into his own and shook it, trying to remain as professional as possible.
“Well, I’m going to head back down to my office. I’ll finish out this week,” she offered. Ranger couldn’t do anything but nod and smile, even if he felt like he was dying inside watching her walk out of his office.
Ranger walked into Luke’s office and slumped down into one of the corner chairs that he kept in there. “What’s up your ass?” Luke asked. “You’ve been in a funk since Millie left.”
“Shut the fuck up, man,” Ranger grumbled. He wasn’t in the mood to fight with his friend. The fact that Luke was right really rubbed him the wrong way. He’d been in a shitty mood for over a month now, ever since Millie moved two hours away to take a new job. He wasn’t sure how he’d take her leaving, but now that he knew, all he wanted to do was get into his pick-up truck and drive to her new place.
“Well, I’m just stating the facts here, man. Millie left town and you slipped into a full-blown drama queen. Why not just call her?” Luke asked.
“Because she won’t take my calls,” Ranger mumbled. He had tried to call her repeatedly after she left. The first week she was gone, he had called her cell phone every day. The second week, he backed off some and called her every other day, leaving messages every time to, “Call him back,” but she never did. Hell, maybe that was for the best since he wasn’t sure what he’d say to her anyway. Now, he was randomly calling her, practically begging her for a callback, but he knew that she wasn’t going to give him that courtesy.
“I take it you tried to call her then?” Luke asked.
“Yep, and she’s not returning any of my calls,” Ranger grumbled.
“I’m sorry,” Luke said. “What about if I get Ruby to give her a call? She can pretend to just be checking in and you’ll have peace of mind knowing that Millie’s okay.”
“That’s something, at least,” Ranger agreed. “I’ll swing by your place tonight on the way home if that works.” Ruby was almost seven months pregnant now and she had started working a three-day week.
“That should be fine,” Luke agreed. “Ruby will probably even insist that you stay for dinner. I swear, she’s decorated the house and the nursery, and every day she has off, she cleans the place and has dinner waiting for me when I get home.”
“That sounds very domesticated, man. You ever imagine that you’d be settled down with a wife and a kid on the way?” Ranger asked.
“Nope, but I wouldn’t change a thing. I like the way things turned out—all of it,” Luke admitted.
“I’m happy for you, man,” Ranger said. He was more than happy for his friend, but once in a while, he felt that little green-eyed monster show his face. A part of Ranger wondered if he’d find what Luke had with Ruby, but he wasn’t sure that he ever would. First, he’d have to figure out his obsession with Millie and then, he’d try to find a way to move on—hopefully.