Chapter One

I stood beneath the hot spray of my shower thinking about my lunch with Ranger earlier in the day. I was both happy and sad at the outcome of our talk. Sad because it was the end of a chapter in which Ranger and I had danced a dance of sexual innuendo; and happy because he and I seemed destined to become close and firm friends. But while that might be our destiny, I wondered if I would be able to cope with the journey.

I still had a major problem though; I loved three men. Each one had a piece of my heart. Both Ranger and Joe could both lay claim to a small part, but I’d given the rest of my heart, plus my body and soul, to Diesel.

Thinking of Diesel made me go warm in a way that had nothing to do with the temperature of the shower. We had been living together for a month now, and believe it or not, I was very happy and comfortable with the situation. A feeling I’d never had when trying to co-habit with Joe, or even when I was married to the Dickhead.

As if my thoughts had conjured him, I heard Diesel’s voice calling me.

“I’m in the shower!” I yelled back.

I poked my head around the shower curtain as he entered the bathroom. “Is your job finished or are you just home for the night?”

Closing the lid on the toilet, he sat down and I went back to my shower. “Finished. Do you have plans for this evening?”

“Apart from spending it with you? Nope.”

“Great, hurry up and finish your shower. Get dressed up, we’re going out.”

Turning off the water, I opened the shower curtain and took the towel that Diesel handed me. “Out? As in out on a date? Or out as in work?”

“If we’re living together, can we still go out on dates?” Diesel smiled at me. “I’m not sure it would be called a ‘date’, but I’d really like to take you out to dinner and maybe dancing afterwards?” His eyes sparkled mischievously as they travelled up my bare legs, over my towel clad body, and seemed to stop at my breasts. "How much time do you need to get ready?"

I stepped out of the tub. “An hour?”

Diesel leaned down and, placing a feather-light kiss on my lips, ran a finger along the top of the towel just above my breasts. “Perfect. You’re perfect. Now hurry up.” I skipped away from him, narrowly missing a playful whack on the butt.

A couple of hours later I was nuzzling his neck as we swayed to the music on the dance floor of a small jazz club. Diesel had one hand on the small of my back and the other was firmly holding mine against his chest. My free hand was curled behind his neck playing with his hair as it spilled over his collar. It was nearly long enough to be tied back in a pony tail again.

I winced as Diesel kissed the corner of my mouth. Pulling back he looked at my still bruised cheek and lip; a reminder of the small confrontation I'd had with a skip the night before, while doing a distraction for Ranger. “Your cheek is a rainbow of colors. It still hurts, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah, it hurts, but I refuse to hide away because of the way it looks.” I shrugged. “Bruises are part and parcel of my job. Next time I’ll try to remember to ‘pop’ away when someone tries to hurt me, I promise.” I finished with a smile that promised a lot more.

He held me close again, and as we continued dancing, I realized that I really wanted to be alone with him. Diesel and I were obviously in tune with each other because as I finished that thought he bent his head, nibbled at my ear and whispered, “Let’s go home.”

Unable to speak, due to the fact that his voice and teeth at my ear had overloaded my senses with desire, I simply nodded. Within ten minutes we were outside in the parking lot walking down the sidewalk. We didn't stop until we’d found a dark alleyway, and then we stepped into the darkness and seconds later we were in our living room.

Diesel pulled me into his arms and kissed me gently, careful not to hurt my wounded lip. “If you want the same thing I do, then we’re in the wrong room.”

Again I nodded, and holding on to him I teleported the two of us into the bedroom. Materializing next to the bed, both of us stark naked, Diesel chuckled. “I love it when you do that.”

I laughed. “At least this time our clothes are in the same room as us.” I stroked his naked ass and pulled him against me, the obvious sign of his arousal pressing against my abdomen. I gasped as he lowered his head and sucked on the sensitive skin where my neck joined my shoulder. I clung on to him as my legs suddenly felt like they'd turned to jelly.

Diesel moved his lips to my ear, gently sucking on my earlobe and grazing it with his teeth, while at the same time lifting me up in his strong arms and laying me on the bed. He released my ear only to move down to my chest giving me little open mouthed kisses along the way. When he reached my breast, he took my nipple into his mouth sucking it into a taut peak and biting down gently.

I arched my back in pleasure as he continued to lavish attention on my breasts. Without giving it conscious thought, I opened my mind to him and immediately felt his emotions. All encompassing love flowed from his mind to mine and seemed to shimmer behind my eyes like a warm winter’s fire. I wished he could feel my love like I could feel his.

Wanting to show him how much I loved him, I pushed on his shoulders until he turned and lay on his back. I held his face in my hands and kissed him deeply. My tongue stroked his slowly and sensuously. Reluctantly I pulled my lips away from his and kissed my way down his neck to his chest, and then further.

When I reached my goal, I took him into my mouth caressing him with my tongue. My lip hurt as I stretched it, but at that moment pleasing Diesel was more important than any pain I was feeling.

I kept my mind open the whole time, even though his feelings, as they touched my mind were so intense, they were almost painful.

At the edge of my awareness I heard Diesel groan. “Steph, please, no more hon.”

I released him and slid up his body, letting my breasts brush his erection before sitting astride his hips. Slowly I lowered myself onto him until he was buried deep inside me. In an instant he flipped us over and I found myself underneath. He picked up the pace, thrusting into me and I could feel the beginnings of an orgasm curling around inside. And then, as if a dam had burst, it came crashing over me. I was unable to even groan let alone scream as wave after wave hit me, rushing through my body and my mind.

Diesel arched up as his eyes closed, and he came. “Oh dear God!” And then he went totally still. Raising his head as he clung to me, he opened his eyes wide and stared at me in disbelief. “What just happened, Steph?”

“Umm... do I need to give you the ‘talk’ about the facts of life?” I chuckled.

He withdrew from my body and lay down next to me pulling me over so I half lay on his chest.

“I meant when I came; I could feel your mind. I could feel your emotions, your love for me. It was incredible. I was inside your body and inside your mind at the same time.”

I nodded against his chest as I caressed his fine blond hairs with my fingers. “That’s how I feel every time we make love. It’s like I’m making love to your mind as well as your body.” Then it hit me and I raised myself up on my elbow to look at him. “You’re not an empath, how did you do that?”

“I honestly don’t know. My powers are supposed to be fully developed, so I shouldn’t be getting any new ones.” His fingers were slowly making figure eights on my back. “I think it might be connected to the other night when I felt your fear and pain. I think our love has amplified our powers. It’s as if we now have an almost physical link, which kicks in when we're feeling very strong emotions.”

“Well, that’s good isn’t it? I mean, it brings us even closer.”

“For us yes, it’s definitely better. It’s like the old cliché of two halves making up the whole.” He smiled at me and kissed me on the tip of my nose. Then his face became serious. “The ‘Powers That Be’, however, might think very differently about it. To them this connection of ours will seem dangerous. For instance, if you were in trouble somewhere while I was working, then I could easily be distracted.”

I grimaced. “It could work the other way too. Neither one of us have, what could be called, safe jobs.”

“Yeah.” He smiled that killer smile of his. “We’ll have to try and keep this connection, or whatever it is, just between us. Okay?”

“Sure.” I laid my head down on his chest again. I couldn’t stop thinking about being connected at the hip... er... I mean connected at the mind, to Diesel. I thought it was wonderful. Wonderful and totally cool. However, I wasn’t so sure that Diesel thought it was. “D, would they try to split us up? You know the ‘Powers That Be’? Your bosses?”

“They might. I’d rather not test it, so let’s keep it quiet.”

With my head on his chest I could hear his heart rate slowing back down to normal, and the sound calmed me. It relaxed me enough to allow me to ask a question that had been bothering me all day.

“D.” I waited until I knew I had his attention. “Last night, when Ranger kissed me, you said you weren’t jealous, that he was a good man. Why weren’t you jealous? Joe would’ve been shouting at me within fifteen seconds of that kiss.”

“I did and do trust you. I instinctively know that you won’t cheat on me. That what we have is real and forever. Now I know where that instinct comes from. Our minds have touched, and we just know things about each other without having to think about them.”

“Good answer.” I smiled and kissed him lightly, then changing position slightly so that my head was nestled on his shoulder, I closed my eyes. “Good night Diesel.”

Kissing me on my forehead, he held me close and whispered, “Night my love.”

oooOOOooo

I awoke the next morning to the smell of fresh coffee. I rolled out of bed and grabbed a robe. It was Diesel’s so it was kind of big but it was so soft that I kept it on. I was still rolling up the sleeves when I entered the kitchen.

The first thing I noticed was the white bakery bag on the counter. Donuts.

He’d already gone out and bought donuts.

Diesel was sitting at the kitchen table reading the newspaper. I went over to him and kissed him on the lips. “Have I told you lately that I love you?”

“Not this morning you haven’t.”

“Well I do. Fresh donuts. Who wouldn’t love a man who brought them fresh donuts first thing in the morning?”

I poured myself a cup of coffee, added cream and sugar, took a donut and sat down opposite the man in my life. “What are you doing today?”

“Paperwork. I have to write up the report on the job I finished yesterday. Even superheroes have to do paperwork.” He got up and poured himself another cup of coffee. “What about you?”

“I have a skip to bring in. I spent three hours at RangeMan yesterday running him through their search programs. Connie had nothing on him.” I realized I hadn’t told Diesel about lunch with Ranger. “Oh I forgot to tell you, Ranger invited me to lunch yesterday. He wanted to talk, to clear the air, to make sure I was happy.” Okay so it wasn’t the whole truth but it was pretty close.

“And did you? Are you?” He watched me steadily, but there was a twinkle in the depths of his eyes, almost as if he already knew the answers.

“Yes we did. We’re good, and we’re friends. Am I happy? After last night, you have to ask me that?” I rolled my eyes at him and took a bite of my donut.

He leaned across the table and thinking he was going to kiss me, my eyes began to close of their own volition. But then I felt his tongue. On my nose. My eyes flew open as I glanced at him curiously. “What...?”

“You had some powdered sugar on your nose, and some more, just here...” He licked my lips and then kissed them.

Diesel went back to his seat and we both sat in silence for a few minutes. Me contemplating my coffee and him reading the sports pages.

“Diesel. About that skip. I’m going to have to call Morelli, I’ll need his help.”

“Tell him ‘hi’ from me.”

“You don’t mind?” How can a man be so laid back about his girlfriend spending time with her ex?

“Steph, I told you last night, I trust you. Joe’s a good guy, he won’t try anything.” Smiling at me he stood, picked up his coffee and another donut, and went into the living room to boot up the computer.

I finished my coffee and went to take a shower.

An hour later I was ready to leave. I leaned over Diesel’s shoulder to kiss him goodbye, but instead of kissing him I licked the powdered sugar off his lips and sucked his bottom lip into my mouth.

Diesel actually growled at me. “If you don’t stop that – you’ll need another shower before you go out.”

I reached down into his lap to cop a feel, but he slapped my hand away. I giggled and turned to go. “I’ll call you during the day.”

“Be careful, Steph. And don’t forget you have gifts you can use. You don’t have to get hurt or dirty anymore.” I nodded in response, and gave a little wave of my hand as I headed out of the room.

Once I was outside and sitting in my car, I took out my cell phone and called Joe. His phone rang twice and then he answered with a gruff “Hello.”

That didn’t sound promising. “Hello Joe.”

“Stephanie,” he sighed my name. “What do you want?”

He really didn’t sound happy with me. He hadn’t even called me Cupcake. Guess we still have a long way to go before he calls me that again. Then again, I’m not surprised. I wouldn’t be happy with me either if I were in his shoes. “I was given the file on Steven Kavanagh yesterday. I thought you might want to help me bring him in, with a minimum of fuss.”

“I’m not sure I can deal with you yet, Cupcake. But I’m prepared to look at the file. Come down to the station and we’ll talk.” He called me Cupcake that time, guess things weren't as bleak as I’d thought.

I was about to say bye when I realized he’d disconnected. I should sign both Joe and Ranger up for a class on proper phone etiquette

oooOOOooo

I found a space in the parking lot right near the entrance to the police station. Perhaps the parking fairy was smiling on me at last. Now, all I needed was the personal relationships fairy to be nice, and let me get through this meeting with Joe, hopefully without either of us causing a personal injury to someone.

Robin was at the desk as I walked in. “Hey Steph, haven’t seen you in a while. How are you?” Her eyes widened as she saw my cheek and lip, although it was a lot better this morning, it was still discolored. “Who did that to you?”

“A skip of Ranger’s. I did a distraction job for him a couple of nights ago and the skip didn’t exactly co-operate.” I smiled lopsidedly. “It’s a lot better today.”

“So, what are you doing here? You didn’t bring in an FTA?” She asked, looking around for any sign of a skip.

I shook my head. “I’m meeting Joe. Is he in?”

“Yeah he’s around. Go on back; you know where his office is." She beckoned me over. "You don’t mind if I stay far away do you?” She lowered her voice so she wouldn’t be overheard. “He hasn't been very nice to be around since you two broke up.”

I smiled weakly at her. “I’m sorry for that Robin. I’m hoping things will get better after today.” I lifted my hand in farewell as I went through the door to the offices.

Making my way to Joe’s office I noticed a lot of the guys were avoiding making eye contact. I suppose I deserved it. I really was in the wrong that day when Joe walked in on me and Diesel.

I mentally shrugged. I couldn’t change what had happened that day; all I could do was try and make the future better than the present.

Joe was sitting at his desk, a mass of papers spread out in front of him when I arrived. I knocked and he looked up. He almost broke into a smile, then obviously thought better of it and waved me in. From the look he gave me it was obvious that he’d seen my bruised face, but decided not to comment on it. Quietly I sat down in one of the chairs in front of his desk holding my skip’s file on my lap.

“Joe, I...”

He cut me off. “How did you find out that Steve was my cousin? That information isn’t exactly public knowledge.”

“Connie didn’t have any information on him, so I ran him through Ranger’s search programs.”

“I know you cheated on me Steph, but I didn’t think you’d cheat on the weirdo so soon.”

I went into rhino mode instantly. “How dare you Joe. Ranger and I are friends. All I did was use the computer in the RangeMan offices. I’m living with Diesel. I have not and will not cheat on him.” I was clenching my teeth so hard I thought they might just shatter. I forced myself to relax; I knew he was angry and hurting but there really was no need for him to be that spiteful. I took a deep breath and started again.

“Joe. It’s my job to bring Steven in. I could do it the hard way without your help, and it would cause your family a lot of embarrassment. Or, you could help me to bring him in with the minimum amount of fuss. Your choice.”

Joe’s shoulders slumped and he sighed. “Steph. I don’t think I can do this.”

“Try Joe. Please. If not for me, then for your family… for your cousin.” I spoke quietly, hoping that he would hear the sorrow in my voice at what I’d done to him. “I’m sorry about what happened. But I can’t change the past. Can we at least try and work together?”

Joe stared at me for a few seconds, and then he gave a small nod. “What do you want to know?”

“Well first, this Steven Kavanagh is your first cousin. His mother is your father’s sister. How come I’ve never met him? I thought I knew all your cousins.”

“My aunt married a man my father didn’t approve of.” He smiled wryly. “Her husband was Irish and not Italian. He never spoke to her again. By the time my father died the family had totally lost contact with my aunt, and no one even thought about getting in touch with her and her family. Steve only moved to Trenton about four months ago after my aunt passed away, and decided he wanted to get to know the rest of his family.”

I nodded in understanding. Joe’s family was very Italian, and wanting to marry someone the family didn’t approve of, was the ultimate taboo. “Well, according to the file I have on him, he was caught in a sweep at a club. He had about a hundred Ecstasy tablets on him. I have an address, will you come with me? He might listen to you.”

“I haven’t spoken to him since the first week he moved here,” he sighed and then shrugged his shoulders slightly, “but I’m willing to give it a try.”

We walked out of the station, not exactly friends but at least we weren’t shouting at each other. Robin caught my eye as we went past the front desk and raised an eyebrow. I shrugged my shoulders in answer.

We climbed into my car, and I drove to the address I had listed for Steven Kavanagh. I pulled up across the street from a neat apartment building. Not fancy, but still nice. Not a word had been said during the drive. Joe’s silence was making me nervous. I kept thinking he was going to blow up at any moment. He got out of my car shutting the door a little too loudly, and crossed the road to Kavanagh’s apartment.

I caught up with him by the mailboxes. Finding Kavanagh’s, I noticed it was full to the point of over-flowing with mail. “It doesn’t look like he’s home, or he would’ve taken his mail in.”

Joe still didn’t say anything to me as he pushed open the front door and started up the stairs. I would have preferred to use the elevator but for the sake of peace, I trudged up behind him.

I was glad that I did because I had a wonderful view of his butt, just level with my face as he walked a few steps ahead of me. I shook my head to clear it of thoughts that shouldn’t have been there. “His apartment is 3C.”

Joe nodded and continued up the next flight of stairs. Coming out onto the hallway, I noticed it was carpeted and clean. Joe led the way to Steven’s apartment and knocked. Silence. We waited a minute and then I knocked. Again silence. Joe tried the door knob. The door didn’t move; it was definitely locked.

Joe took a small metal tool out of his pocket and started to insert it in the lock. I reached out and put my hand on his to stop him. He looked up at me and then down at my hand. His hand jerked as if trying to shake my hand off.

I shook my head slightly, but removed my hand. “Let me do it Joe,” I glanced at the lock. “I can open the door.”

“Oh so you’ve been studying breaking and entering 101 now, have you?”

“No Joe.” I placed my hand over the lock and heard the tumblers move. “Try it now.”

Joe turned the handle and the door swung open. “How...?”

“We did tell you, that day in Pino’s, that I was special.”

“What else can you do? You know what, I don’t want to know.” Shaking his head he entered his cousin’s apartment.

We quietly made our way from room to room. Everything seemed normal until we reached the kitchen. On the table was a plate with moldy food and half a bottle of flat beer. The sink was full of dishes. It looked like someone had just gotten up and left everything. But we knew that wasn’t the case because everywhere else in the kitchen there were signs of a struggle. Chairs were knocked over, papers and even cutlery were on the floor. Steven had not left willingly.

Joe picked up one of the chairs and sat down heavily on it. “Gone. And by the looks of things, not of his own free will.”

I sat on one of the few upright chairs and rested my elbows on the kitchen table. “Joe. Please. If we’re going to work together to bring Steven back into the system you have to talk to me, to look at me.” I sighed. “I’m not a monster. I made a mistake, and I’ve apologized. I know it doesn’t make what I did right, but it shows that I know I was in the wrong. Aside from our physical relationship, we were friends. I miss you.”

Joe looked me straight in the eyes and when he started to speak, it was obvious that he spoke straight from his heart. “Steph, I love you. I will probably always love you. But you hurt me and right now I’m having a lot of trouble getting past the anger I feel. We need to find Steve but I can’t treat you as a friend. The most I can do right now is try to treat you like a work colleague.”

“Understood.” I nodded. “Colleagues; that’s a start at least.”

We sat there for a moment or two. I didn’t know what Joe was thinking, and right now I wasn’t in the mood to find out. What I was trying to do was work out who’d had a fight in this kitchen. And where was Kavanagh? Had he run off or been forced to leave?

Joe stood up, and looked speculatively at me. “I’m going back to the station. I’m going to ask some questions about the sweep that Steve was caught in, and then I’m going to ask my family, see if anyone knows of a girlfriend or anyone that might be hiding him.”

“What about the club where he was caught? What if I go there this evening, ask around, see if I can find out anything?” We walked out of the apartment as I was talking and I did my party trick on the door to lock it again. Joe raised his eyebrows, but didn’t say anything.

“Don’t go alone.”

“I won’t. I’ll get either Diesel or Ranger to go with me.” We had reached the mailboxes by this time and I wondered how I could take Kavanagh’s mail without Joe blowing his top. Tampering with the U.S. Mail was a federal offense after all, but picking up mail from the floor wasn’t.

I put my hand on the lock of the mailbox and... “Oops, did I do that? I still haven’t quite got the hang of these powers yet. I’d better clear all this up.” I knelt down and started going through the mail. Looking up briefly at Joe, I couldn’t help but notice that he was grinning.

“I didn’t see that. I’ll go wait for you in the car while you pick up that mess, give me your keys.”

Handing him my car keys, I went back to sorting through the mess on the floor. Bills mostly. Nothing personal. Nothing that could be of use. Except, oh yes, the phone bill. If I struck out at the Blue Stocking Club tonight, then the phone bill might give me some information. Stuffing the envelope in my purse, I put the rest of the mail back in the box and locked it. I then headed out to join Joe at the car.

I drove Joe back to the station and then went home. Diesel was still sitting at the computer, tapping away. He looked up as I came over to him and I bent down and kissed him full on the mouth, with just the tiniest bit of tongue. “Mmmm... missed you.”

“Missed you too. How’s Joe?”

“About the same, but at least he’s talking to me, so there’s some improvement.” I walked into the kitchen and got myself a cup of coffee. Bless him, he’d made a fresh pot. “I need a date for this evening. I’ve got to go to the club where my skip was originally arrested and do some snooping. Can you come with me?”

“I’m sorry Steph, not tonight. I have a meeting at ten.”

“That’s a bit late for a meeting, isn’t it?”

“Unfortunately time doesn’t mean much to the ‘Powers That Be’.”

“Oh. Problem?” I got a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. I knew things had been going too well between us for there not to be a problem. “Is it because of you and me?”

“I don’t know hon. I hope not. Perhaps it’s just a new assignment.”

“D, you won’t hide anything from me will you?” I put my coffee cup down next to the computer monitor and leaned against the table. “I mean if they give you an ultimatum or anything?”

“I promise Steph, I’ll tell you everything as soon as I know. Okay?” He grabbed my hand and pulled me down onto his lap. “Now about tonight. Ask Ranger to go, if he’s with you, I know you’ll be safe and I won’t have to worry about being distracted during the meeting.”

Putting my arms around his neck I leaned down and kissed him softly. “I can take care of myself, you know.”

Diesel tightened his hold on me. “I know you can, love, but I’ll be happier if Ranger’s there to watch your back, especially since I’m meeting with the head honchos.” I shivered as he nuzzled my neck. “I wish we could continue this, but I’ve got to get this report done. It’s taking a lot longer than I thought.”

Reluctantly I slid off his lap. “No worries. We’ll make up for it tonight. I should get over to RangeMan and speak to Ranger anyway.” I leaned back down and kissed his cheek. “Good luck tonight.”

Diesel winked and gave me the full dimpled smile. “I’ve got you, that’s all the luck I need.”

I couldn’t keep the grin off my face as I headed back out of the apartment.