Three nights. Three horrible, hard, uncomfortable sleepless nights. Tim rolled again, and punched the pillow with a little more vehemence than was actually necessary.
Between the days spent with Raylan, and Raylan's suspicious glances. And the nights with Raejeanne Givens, who was sex on legs and driving him crazy, Tim Gutterson thought it was a miracle he hadn't suffered some sort of nervous breakdown.
He was being good. The gentleman. It was in the unwritten rules of dating etiquette that a man did not jump the bones of another man's sister after only a couple of nights. You just didn't do that. No matter how long her legs were, or how she did that sexy little thing with her hips as she sang along to the radio while flipping eggs. Tim liked his eggs sunny side up. But if the price of those slinky hips was flipped eggs. Well Tim was a convert and leave it at that.
The crazy part, the way Raylan moved sometimes, Tim could see those slinky hips and that was fast turning him into a basket case.
He rolled again. Dammit. Dragged the quilt right up over his head.
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Raejeanne Givens had not reached the grand old age of thirty-four without knowing a thing or two about herself. She had liked the look of Deputy Tim Gutterson from the moment she had laid eyes on him, and then watching him interact with her brother, Jeannie felt she could easily love the man.
She was an immediate sort of girl. She liked a guy, he liked her, find out if this liking had anywhere to go. For two days, they had been swimming in a sea of hormones, and Tim had been a perfect gentleman. So sweet. And so unnecessary.
She lay there in the dark, and listened to the sound of couch springs, until she could stand it no longer.
No thinking, just doing. She got to her feet and slipped out of the bedroom. It was mostly dark in the hallway, but she had a good grasp of the geography, and excellent night sight.
The couch was a dark shape, the cream-coloured quilt a mound upon it. "Tim." She called quietly, just in case he was asleep. She didn't want to give him a shock by touching him without warning him of her presence.
"Uh!" The mound of covers moved a little, and a hand emerged.
She took hold of his hand. "C'mon." she muttered. Gave it a little tug, and he was on his feet, his arms wrapped around her. They were nose to nose. "Hello." He whispered.
They were the same height, his lips were tantalizingly close, all she had to do…
His lips brushed hers. Soft, sensuous, the tip of his tongue poking gently at her bottom lip. Her lips parted, and he needed no further invitation.
They were really getting into it, shuffling their way back to Tim's bed, shedding their sleep clothes as they went.
He paused as they reached the bed. "Are you sure?" he said between kisses, his fingers exploring her back like a blind man reading Braille. Jeannie moaned, "sure?" Her knees were against the mattress, and she let herself go, dragging Tim down on top of her.
Those incredible, long, sexy legs wrapping around his hips were all the encouragement Tim needed. God she was beautiful, endless legs, an ass that wouldn't quit, a long, lean dancer's body, her breasts perfect and lush like two ripe peaches. Tim nuzzled her neck gently and nipped a little.
He was gorgeous, light dusting of hair on his chest, good she was not into excessive hair, lean, well-muscled body, enough softness in all the right places, her hands edged down to cup his perfect, firm ass and squeeze a little as he arched against her.
His hand slid down into her moist place then, and Jeannie writhed against his touch, moaning "please."
So much for waiting, her sexy little moans in his ear, begging for all of him snapped Tim's control, he tried to retain enough sanity to ease into her, but Jeannie's legs wrapped his hips again, and she pushed downwards with a small cry, he slid inside and then there was only need and want and the sensation of flying.
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He was in a daze and he knew it. He was smiling to himself, which was going to raise some alarming flags with the rest of the office, but damn…
The first time had been rough and ready and so hot and needy he'd almost expired from sheer excitement. He came like an express train. They'd come together, and for a moment he swore he actually blacked out.
The second time was slow and sensuous and burning memories into his skin, like he could take a blueprint of Jeannie away with him that would last all day. The second time he had blacked out. For at least a minute.
The third time shouldn't have been feasible. He was young and fit, true, but three times, each more mind blowing than the last? His bathroom was tiny, but the hot water cascading over their skin, and her hands, and her incredible body, the bathroom floor had proved perfectly satisfactory, and then they had had to shower all over again to clean themselves up, and letting go of each other was actually really, really, difficult. And damn… Raylan was staring at him. Suspiciously.
Tim was smiling. He really couldn't help it. He tried to think of something sad and terrible, but his memories and his body were just tuned into Jeannie.
Then Art was calling them into the office, and Raylan slunk past him, and damn… this was going to be awkward because almost every move that Raylan made reminded Tim of Raylan's sister.
Art Mullen had not reached the advanced age of 55 without being aware of the hormones of younger men. Normally it was Raylan's hormones overwhelming his judgement which gave Art headaches; one look at the ear to ear grin that Tim was trying without any success to control, and Raylan's dark and suspicious glances and Art knew that his troubles had doubled.
He managed to keep his briefing on target and dismissed them, holding Tim back for a word.
"Is there something you should be telling me?" Art leaned over his desk.
For a long moment he didn't think that Tim was going to answer, and then his laconic sniper looked up.
Troubles definitely doubled. Probably tripled.
"We… uh… we…" Tim's eyes skittered sideways, and Art sighed. He had never seen that look on his deputy's face before, but he recognized exactly what it was. How Raylan was going to take it was another question entirely.
"You slept with Raylan's sister."
Tim actually blushed, and had the grace to jump when an incoming message announced itself with a soft beep. He pulled his phone out of his pocket.
Art took in the sweet flush on his boy's cheeks, the soft look in the restless blue eyes, and the soppy smile on his face as he read the message. Damn.
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Raylan burrowed into the paperwork like an Alabama tick. He couldn't understand why he felt this way. Tim was a good guy, he wouldn't mess with Jeannie and hurt her intentionally. But what he did for a living was dangerous and he was messed up from the war. However he tried to cut it, Raylan was growing a clue how Winona's sister felt, and he really wasn't sure that he wanted to do that.
It was a slow day, paperwork was more than usually dull, and hiding behind it was getting him nowhere.
Every so often a distracting beep would sound from the other side of the cheap ass wobbly partition between his desk and Tim's. Raylan tried not to notice. Like he tried not to notice the soft look in Tim's eyes, or the particularly sweet smile and little chuckle as he read the message.
Dammit. He wanted to be mad at Tim. Or maybe even mad at Jeannie. But all he could think was how damn cute it was that Tim Gutterson was in love.
Raylan put his elbows on the desk and dropped his head in his hands with a groan. He was losing it. He'd been alone so long, he'd forgotten what it was like to be a brother.