A/n: I'm warning y'all now, lemons in this chapter. It's not my forte and there are several writers who are so good at writing steamy scenes (Mrs. Fraser) that it really just feels like, why bother? So while this chapter has some naughtiness, it won't be an ongoing thing in my story. And public thanks to my Beta; she was a great cheerleader when I was waffling about including the smut.
As Lester Santos sat in the surveillance vehicle and reflected on his life, he had to admit – it was pretty fucking sweet at the moment.
In addition to a small handful of official dates, he and Giana had seen each other almost every day for the past four weeks. When their schedules proved too difficult to coordinate, they'd grab small snippets of time together – she would bring lunch to Rangeman and spend it with him at his desk or in the break room, or he would meet her in the well-manicured lawn at the rehab center and they'd spend one precious half-hour talking and connecting while sitting close together on the grass.
Tonight, for example, he'd been called last minute to take a surveillance shift. When he phoned to tell her and ask for a rain-check on the movie they'd rented with no intention of actually watching, she had met him for a quick 15 minutes in her car. They had sat and held hands, perforating their conversation with frequent kisses, and he'd piled into the SUV with his fellow Rangemen, feeling happy to be hers and unhappy to be leaving her. But after the fiasco with having hired Roy…well, suffice to say that Ranger's new vetting process was extremely thorough, and they were once again short-staffed.
Their budding relationship was on track to be truly great…and therein lay the problem. He'd put so much pressure on himself to make their first time together magical and memorable that now, it seemed an insurmountable task to get past, rather than a milestone to celebrate. So it was with these thoughts clouding his mind that Lester sat, silent and still, inside the SUV with Vince.
The two men hadn't spoken the entire night; come to think of it, they hadn't spoken much at work lately, either. Lester surmised it was sour grapes; even the most oblivious of men could've figured out that Vince was after Gia until she'd committed to Les. Because Vince was a Rangeman, Lester remained civil; because Vince lusted after the woman Les was increasingly certain that he loved, Lester let a silent loathing boil just under the surface, waiting for Vince to step out of line.
After an hour plus of Vince's brooding quiet, the passenger door was wrenched open and Stephanie stood in the space between the car and the sidewalk.
"Cal wants me to switch with you, Vince." She said.
Without a word, Vince grabbed his travel coffee mug and hopped from the car, skulking toward the other hidden SUV. After Steph climbed in, Lester gave her a side-eye glance and asked, "Was that true?"
Stephanie snorted. "Not even a little bit. Cal must've eaten a pound of red beans and broccoli for lunch, topped off with a slab of cheese; he's noxious and I had to escape. Besides, you know you're my favorite and I wanted to hang out with you."
Lester returned her snort and raised her an eye roll. "You wanted fresh air and fresh gossip, Beautiful."
She grinned and said, "You know me too well. Now spill; how are things? Are you guys crazy about each other? I know she brought you lunch a few times; it's so sweet it makes me want to puke. Tell me everything."
Lester wasn't able to stop the dopey, satisfied smile that appeared when he thought of her. The past month was like something otherworldly, some achingly beautiful sonnet come to life that he just so happened to get to live every moment he was in her presence.
"It's…perfect." He said. "It's better than perfect; there needs to be a word bigger than perfect so I can use it to describe her. I feel like everything is going better than I could've hoped, and I can't imagine it veering off this course."
Stephanie may not have a lot of academic letters to follow her name, but she was an acute student of humanity; she smelled the '…but' coming a mile away. When Lester didn't continue, she nudged him along. "And you're afraid of what, exactly?"
Lester shrugged and stared out the windshield, not willing to look Stephanie in the eye when he spoke again. "What happens if it does veer off course? It's so perfect right now, everything is perfect. She's…ah, geez, she's perfect, Beautiful. How long do I have before she realizes I'm not?" The last sentence surprised him; he hadn't been consciously aware of having had it until he vomited all of his insecurities on his friend's lap.
"Ah, I see. You are worried that when the perfect 'new relationship' glow wears off, she's going to see how human you are and bail." When Lester only shrugged, Stephanie sighed and said, "Les, she's the first woman you've seriously dated in years, right?" When he only shot her a dirty look, she raised her hands in mock surrender and said, "Hey, I'm not belittling it, I'm just trying to get a frame of reference."
When he nodded grudgingly, she said, "May I offer you some advice?"
When he only shrugged again, she decided to give it to him straight. "As someone who consistently tried to self-sabotage my relationship with the man I was crazy in love with, I will tell you this – she's human. And as perfect as you think she is, there are bound to be things you find out about her that you won't be crazy about." When that didn't elicit a response, she tried a different tactic.
"Did you know that Ranger pees in the shower?"
Les let out a snort of laughter and glanced at her with an arched eyebrow; where the hell was this going?
She nodded while grimacing. "Yeah, he does. The first few weeks we were serious, right before we got married, we were spending all our time together. One day, we were showering together and he turned away from me and peed! In the shower! While I was in it! Totally didn't see anything wrong with it!" She lowered her voice in a poor imitation of Ranger's dulcet timbre and said, "'Babe, it's just you and me in here.' I was so skeeved; my perfect, sexy mocha man practically peed on me!"
When Lester's shoulders started shaking with repressed laughter, she gave him her best 'Burg glare and said, "It's not funny, it's gross! I'm all for trying new stuff in the bedroom, but I wasn't expecting a ninja-style golden shower." By now, Lester wasn't even trying to hide his laughter.
Stephanie, seizing the opportunity, placed her hand on his forearm and smiled wistfully, saying, "Now, knowing that he's mine and his little idiosyncratic tics are mine as well…it's intimate and it's something that only we two share. It's a weird thing to bond over, but when you let your guard down and really start to share everything…that's the good stuff, Les."
Lester hesitated only a moment before deciding he was already in it up to his neck. "There's…something else. We haven't, um, been together yet."
It took Steph a moment to catch up, and when she did she openly gaped at him. "But…but, you're so…well, hot, and she makes me question my sexuality sometimes." It was Lester's turn to gape at her; she cringed and said, "Out loud?"
Regrouping, Stephanie asked, "Are you two, ah…compatible?" and recoiled while she waited for the answer.
Lester sighed and rubbed his hand over his short, blond-tipped spiked hair. "I haven't tried. I wanted to wait for it to be right; I wanted to show her that she was special enough to wait for. Now I feel like I've built it up to be this huge thing and it's just a lot of pressure and I can't figure out how to approach the…situation."
Stephanie placed a hand over her heart and whispered, "Wow." When Les shot Steph her own favorite Italian hand gesture, she shook off her stupor and said, "That's seriously the most lovely thing I've heard a man say about a woman, Les. Hell, even my first time with Ranger was because I lost a bet. I just…I guess I can't believe there are men who still do things like that."
Les sniped, "Oh, awesome, just what every guy wants – to be called 'lovely'. That's so hot." before huffing and slumping down in the driver's seat. Stephanie patted his arm sympathetically and said, "Be honest with her. Tell her how you're feeling and why you're putting it off." When he started to shake his head, she said, "Better she know the truth than think you don't want her."
"Oh, she knows I want her. I think I've had a visible erection 85% of the time for the past month."
Stephanie snorted and was about to prod him along when she spotted their skip. Motioning to Les, she called it in and within minutes, they had him cuffed and secured in the backseat of the SUV. Not wanting to continue their previous conversation in front of the skip, Stephanie resolved to keep her nose out of it…unless, of course, opportunity knocked.
Opportunity, as it turned out, was a loveless bitch. Two more meals (a hasty shared bearclaw and cup of coffee before his break was over and her shift began, and a more leisurely lunch at Pino's) and a movie night interrupted by a residential break-in when Les was on call were all the opportunity he got to spend time with Gia. If Ranger didn't loosen the reins on this hiring freeze soon, Les was going to seriously miss him after he was found beaten to death by his own shoes.
Thankfully, it was only a scant week after his surveillance shift with Stephanie that he found himself on the couch with Gia, dinner eaten and wine glass in hand. They were past the stage where flirty repartee was used to work up to kissing, and past the stage where tender kisses were used to pave the way to a passion-filled lusty make out session. As soon as she sat down next to him, Giana balance her wine glass on the coffee table and straddled Les.
The last coherent thought Les had for the next few minutes was 'yesssss!' before he was consumed by her, moving over him. Her taste and her body served to set every nerve in his body on fire, and he gripped her hips as though she might float away if held too carelessly.
Slowly, sensually, they explored each others mouths. Gia pulled back, severing their connection, but before Les could protest the loss her mouth covered a spot on his neck that left anything other than the ability to moan out of the question. With one hand gripping his shoulder for balance and the other buried in his hair, she continued to lick and nip his tender exposed neck. Reflexively, Les tightened his hold on her hips and held her in place while he ground his rapidly growing erection into the warm cleft between her thighs, searching for some relief.
Her moans joined his, the delicious friction causing her to throw her head back, eyes closed, as they rubbed and writhed against each other. Lester leaned forward and captured her nipple, erect and visible through her shirt, in his mouth before biting down gently. Her moan turned into a gasp, then a cry of "Oh! Please…" as he nibbled and kneaded her heavy bosom.
Abruptly, he swung her around and lay her down on the couch, settling himself over her, resting his body between her legs. Their passionate kisses and desperate touches were reaching a crescendo, the clothing they were wearing proving too great a barrier for them. Reaching between them, Les slipped his hands under her blouse and slid it deftly over her head, pausing a moment to gaze at the pale lavender lace that covered her breasts.
Gia's breath was coming in short, shallow bursts now, and she arched her back, urging him forward. "Please…" she moaned again.
"Baby, I think I like you begging me." Les whispered as he peeled one cup down to expose her creamy breast, topped with a perfect rose-colored nipple. Entranced, he murmured, "So beautiful," before taking the taut pink bud in his mouth.
Her cry of pleasure was accompanied by her thighs squeezing his hips, desperate for relief. If he hadn't been bordering on frantic for his own extrication, he could have spent a happy hour just drawing these sounds from her delicious mouth. As he raised his head, intent on exploring her other breast, they were interrupted by a cell phone ringing.
"Ignore it." He muttered as she raised her head. Returning to her exposed chest, he did indeed ignore his phone…up until it rang out and the caller immediately called back.
Refusing to be deterred, Lester continued his exploration of his very beautiful, very naked girlfriend, letting his cell ring out again. Immediately, Gia's cell started up and she finally stilled his head with her hands.
"You've got to get rid of them." She panted breathlessly, a fact that Lester noted with smug satisfaction. He snatched her phone up and snarled, "WHAT?!" into the receiver. After listening for only a moment, Les snapped "Send someone else." before hanging up on the caller. It started ringing before he could even toss the damn thing down, and he groaned. Ranger was dead. So dead. He made a mental note to send flowers and condolences to Stephanie before answering again.
After grunting a "Fuck you." to a now chuckling Tank, he settled back down next to Giana on the couch, face to face on the small space. She had straightened her bra after Les answered the phone the second time, and now lay gazing into his eyes while he pouted.
"Your cousin has impeccable timing." She teased, trying not to let her frustration show. They were finally – finally – enjoying the sexual part of being a couple and they were, again, interrupted by work. She wasn't sure what was worse, the sexual frustration or the irritation of never getting an opportunity to spend the night together.
Lester shared her grim look for only a moment before his slow, sexy smile spread over his face. Leaning forward, he kissed her, hard, and pulled her leg over his hip before sliding his hands down her stomach toward the waistband of her shorts.
She gasped and stopped his hand. "We don't have time!" she whispered, her voice filled with longing.
He kissed her again before saying, "We don't have time to make love. When I take you, finally, I'm going to need a lot longer than the hour I've got. But what I do have is enough time to make sure at least one of us goes to bed happy."
Nudging her to roll back a bit, he again peeled the cup of her bra down and sucked her pert nipple into his mouth, eliciting another low moan from her. The hand that had slowed his decent a moment ago fisted in his hair and she squeezed her eyes shut, any objection abandoned. Lester again slid his hand down her svelte body, feeling the glow of possessiveness burst into flame. As he reached her pelvis, he paused for only a second – long enough to growl, "Mine." before sliding his long fingers fluidly under her waistband and along the seam of her panties, wringing another gasp and moan from her.
Slowly, torturously, his fingers breached her lace undergarment before sliding into her soaking folds; the next moan came from Les's mouth, muffled by Giana's breast. "So fucking wet." His voice, a primal rumble, only urged Gia on. Her hips began thrusting upward, so desperate for release that her staccato pants were now accompanied by soft, urgent cries of "please, please" and "oh, Les".
Just as he felt her body begin to coil, Lester raised his head and gave a command, his voice guttural and commanding. "Eyes."
Beyond rational thought, Giana obeyed him and opened her eyes. As soon as they met, her violet to his moss green, her voice rocketed past the quiet moans she'd been whimpering and with a loud, "LES!", she exploded.
After showering down the most painful case of blue balls in existence with freezing water, Les had kissed Gia soundly before striding from her porch to the RangeMan SUV parked in her drive. He slammed the door, glaring at the three waiting men, all of whom returned his animosity with mirth.
The ribbing continued as they headed north, toward the city, where a high-bond skip had been spotted. Bobby and Tank were having an especially merry time of it, while Ranger just let his almost-smile rest on his face and refused to take part in the teasing.
Finally, Les told them if they didn't knock it off, he'd tell Giana, who would likely tell Hector and, well, the ride was fairly peaceful after that.
With a resigned sigh, Les relaxed his shoulders and tilted his head back to rest on the seatback. Closing his eyes, he tried to block the images of Giana as she came on his hand from his mind; if he got a hard-on in a car full of guys, especially these guys, he would never hear the end of it.