The Sheriff (Men of the White Sandy Book 5)

by Sarah M. Anderson

  And it felt right. It felt good, being here with him. She wanted him again. More.

  Luckily, she was going to have him. “You, me, significantly less clothing? Something like that?”

  With a groan, he lifted her over the console. Her sundress bunched around her waist as she straddled him and she gasped as her clit came into contact with his erection.

  “How about this?” he growled, pulling the sundress over her head and throwing it over his shoulder. With nimble fingers, he undid her bra and tossed that aside too.

  “Something like this,” she said breathlessly as he cupped her breasts and lifted them.

  “Yeah, this will do,” he said as his lips closed around her nipple. Her hips begin to shift of their own accord, grinding down on to him. She was wearing the cutest pair of panties she had packed, a lacy pink pair that were no match for his jeans and zipper.

  “God, Summer,” he said, switching to her other breast.

  It felt dangerous to do this on the side of the road. Exciting, even. “One day,” she gasped as he pinched her left nipple between his thumb and forefinger and pulled lightly, “I’m going to get you in a proper bed.”

  “I’d like that,” he said, his other hand stroking down her back and over her bottom. His hand slipped underneath the edge of her panties and squeezed, rolling her hips forward, driving her against his hot erection harder, faster.

  She sank her fingers into his hair and tilted his head up so she could kiss him. Even kissing him was something different, something new. The taste of coffee, with a hint of vanilla ice cream. Strong, with just a touch of sweetness. That was Tim Means.

  But he was still too in control, still holding himself back. He was still in charge of things and she wanted to strip that away and drive him just as mad as he drove her.

  So she ground down on him at the same time she bit his neck, right where it met his shoulder. She tugged with her teeth—hard, but not hard enough to leave a bruise.

  Probably.

  It worked. “Out of the car,” he growled, throwing open his door. “Now.”

  Yeah, it might take a lot to make him lose control—but right now? He didn't have a single bit of it. She grinned as he stood, carrying her with him. Her legs went around his waist and the humid night air brushed over her bare skin.

  She didn’t care that they were on the side of the road, where anyone could see them. All she could feel was this aching need to have him inside her. She needed him, needed the freedom that only he could give her.

  It wasn't wrong to want this. She had to believe that.

  “Do you see what you do to me?” Tim asked, his voice low and raw. It set every one of her nerve endings on fire.

  Darkness touched him with deep shadows, but there was no missing the hunger in his eyes. The intensity she saw there made her body shiver with anticipation. She was in too deep and there was no going back now.

  “There was a music video when I was growing up,” he said, backing her up until his body had hers pinned against the hood of his car.

  She arched her back, thrusting her breasts up toward him. “Do you want me to dance for you?” She was breathing hard and she knew if he asked, she would. Nude, in the middle of the road, she’d climb up on the hood of his cop car and give him a hell of a show.

  She was a long way from the mild-mannered high school English teacher Ms. Collins right now and she’d never felt better.

  “No time.” He did away with her panties and pulled back only long enough to grab a condom out of his pocket. “Later, I’ll make sure there’s foreplay and kissing. But not now. I need you too much right now, babe.”

  She moaned and writhed underneath him, clutching at his shoulders and arms for balance as she slid over the smooth surface of the car hood.

  Then he was against her, inside her, thrusting into her wet heat. Summer cried out his name and he managed to pause, staring down at her. “Jesus, you’re so beautiful,” he moaned before leaning down to capture her lips in a kiss. He thrust forward again and the orgasm ripped through her. All she could think was there he is—the man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with.

  Then a new emotion shot through her—one she didn't want but didn't know what to do with because he was still buried inside her.

  Fear.

  Because she might damn well love this man—but how could it work? How could any of this work?

  “Stay with me,” he murmured against her chest before he flicked his tongue over her nipple.

  She gasped. Was he saying—

  “Just stay in the moment, love,” he went on and she didn’t know whether to cry or laugh. “Don’t overthink it. This ain’t no thinking thing.”

  At that, she did laugh, a sated, happy sound. Sex with him was a joy, one she didn't know if she'd ever get enough of. She stroked his cheek, her body still shimmering with the aftershocks of the orgasm. “I’m right here with you,” she told him, threading her fingers through his hair. “Nowhere else I’d rather be.” Then she lifted her hips up, pulling him deeper.

  He took hold of her hand and held her palm to his cheek before kissing the inside of her wrist. Through it all, he stared down at her as if he were trying to memorize every detail—just in case.

  The sadness in his eyes stole her breath away. “Tim?” Summer tried to push herself up on her elbows. “What is it?”

  But he just shook his head and hauled her against his chest, holding her tight. She locked her legs around his waist and for a perfect moment, they were together. She wasn’t lonely and he wasn’t, either. It made her eyes water with joy, with sadness. What only made it worse was she could feel waves of emotion rolling off him, too.

  God, she’d miss him when she left. But there she went again, thinking. He was buried inside her and she was nude on the hood of his car and now was the time to feel, dammit. But she couldn’t ignore their connection.

  So she skimmed her teeth over his neck. “It's all right,” she whispered in his ear, her heart bursting with a whirlwind of emotion. “Because I feel it too.”

  “Right here, right now, you’re perfect,” he said as he laid her down on the car hood again. This time, he didn't hold back. He pounded into her body and nipped at her lips, her neck, tugged on her nipples until her cries of pleasure filled the night as he pushed her body over the edge again and this time, he followed her.

  They lay locked together, panting hard, for a long time. Oh, holy hell, she just didn't have any words, dammit. All she had were feelings and she didn't have a clue how to describe them out loud. So she said nothing while he held her and gloried in her holding him.

  Finally, when she was sure she could say words that weren’t I love you or I want to stay with you, she spoke. “That was a pretty good fantasy. Whitesnake, right?”

  He pushed himself off her chest, grinning wildly. She did that. She made him look so happy. “Right.”

  Finally—almost reluctantly—he pulled free of her. She sagged against the car hood, her mind feeling like it was coated in a thick layer of mud.

  He lay on top of her, both of them breathing hard. Summer held him against her breast, staring up at the night sky and its dazzling stars.

  Even when she had imagined the summer fling, it hadn't been this good. This perfect. Because it hadn't been Tim Means.

  He leaned back enough to stare down at her, his lips quirked into a smile that looked shocked. "I can't believe we just did that."

  She arched against him, stretching her arms over her head and putting her breasts at their best advantage. "It was rather amazing, wasn't it?"

  "You’re amazing," he said, cupping her breasts and brushing his thumbs over her nipples. "I want you in my bed tonight. I want to wake up with you in the morning."

  She gasped at the sweet words, made all the sweeter by how damn serious he sounded.

  "Even though you're not exactly a ray of sunshine first thing in the morning," he added with a smirk.

  She swatted at his arms and they bo
th laughed. But then she remembered what sleeping in his bed would mean. She could wake up with his arms wrapped around her—but in the very next room, Georgey would be on the couch. "But…"

  "I don't care," Tim said, pushing back and helping her sit up. She needed the help, too. After that orgasm, her muscles felt like jelly. "He already knows there's something going on between us. He's protective of you, but then, so am I. I just want to hold you, Summer. We don't have to have crazy sex when he's around. We can always come out here." He looked up, where the night sky twinkled in what seemed like amusement. He took a deep breath and looked at her. Even in the darkness, she could see the want in his eyes. She could feel her body answering with the same desire.

  It only got worse when he stepped back between her legs and cupped her face in his palms. "I know we don't have much time, babe. I don't want to waste a minute of it simply because of what the snot-nosed teenager might say. I want you for as long as possible."

  Summer wasn't sure if she had ever been in love before. Lust, yes. She had cared deeply for a few of her boyfriends. But this?

  This was so much more. Tim wasn't a boy playacting at being a man. He didn't duck responsibility—either in his job or in bed.

  Or on the car.

  He cared deeply about his people, about Georgey and, it seemed, about her.

  All of that would've been enough to make her fall for him. Because she was falling for him. But that wasn't solely who he was. He was still a man who could take a girl for ice cream and take silly pictures with giant statues of imaginary creatures.

  She touched her forehead to his and covered his palms with hers, holding him close. "When I'm with you, I'm not lonely anymore." That was the truth.

  She was perfectly fine being by herself. But she knew what it was to feel alone even when she was out with a group of friends. Especially when she was visiting her mother.

  "You feel it, too?" he murmured, sounding awe-struck and nervous and hopeful, all at once. “Something more?”

  Something more. That’s what Tim was. “I do.”

  “Stay with me tonight.”

  She sighed as she kissed him. She shouldn’t want more than a night or even a summer at a time. All she could ask for was what he was offering.

  So she took that—and nothing more. “I will.”

  “Good.

  ***

  After that, they settled into something that felt like a routine.

  Three days a week, Summer took Georgey with her when she drove out to Sinte Gliske community college. She didn't exactly have a lesson plan for him—he needed help in everything, so she tutored him in whatever she was tutoring another student. It wasn't the most educationally sound way to approach things, but he was making progress. At the very least, he was trying and that was more than she'd been afraid he might be able to do. They listened to audiobooks in the car and went over the graphic novels during dinner and talked about life in Minneapolis.

  Tim was right. She couldn't stay. And if Georgey wanted to have a shot in hell at an education and a life, he couldn't stay either.

  Two days a week, Tim took Georgey on a ride-along. The kid seemed honestly excited about the idea of being a cop. And there was no denying the bond between him and Tim. Georgey was basically an unpaid deputy intern at this point and frankly, having a goal and a mentor was good for him.

  How long had it been since there'd been a man Georgey could look up to? Their father had died so long ago… Had her brother had anyone since then?

  Those afternoons, Tim would drop Georgey off at the childcare center to help after nap time until Summer got back from either the community college or a grocery run. She bought a lot of groceries. She could see Georgey growing and filling out before her eyes, putting on muscle and growing into his hands and feet.

  But for his sudden size, he was still a kid at heart. When she came to get him at the center, he was usually out running around the makeshift soccer field, coaching his team with lots of cheers and high fives.

  Sometimes she would sit in the car and watch. Little kids would tackle him when something exciting happened, nearly knocking him over with their exuberance. There was something so familiar about that. She remembered Georgey as a toddler, running into her at top speed because he was happy to see her and how she would pick him up and spin him around, trying not to drop him while he squealed with delight.

  She wished they didn't have to go. She wished she didn't have to take him away from the only family he'd known. She wished her mother hadn't kept her away from this, either.

  But that was in the past. In the future, there wasn't any other way forward.

  Through it all, she enjoyed her time with Tim Means. Because he made time for her.

  One night a week, Jack, the other deputy, would take Georgey for a nighttime ride-along. Tim was training someone named Ezra to be a third deputy and on those nights, Ezra was the backup. For one night of the week, Summer had Tim all to herself.

  Sometimes they drove to Wall or Rapid City to see a movie and eat out. Or they did silly things like play miniature golf or go to a bar to throw darts or play pool. They even caught a concert one weekend, all the way up in Sturgis, surrounded by bikers. And it was fun. Crazy, exciting – all those things she'd wanted out her summer fling, she got with Tim, and more.

  And then, on the way home? Tim would find some deserted back road and make every single one of her fantasies come to life. She rode him in the back seat, pinning his hands over his head and nipping at the skin along his shoulders until he groaned with the best kind of pain. He bent her over the hood of his car, landing a playful swat or two on her ass as he buried himself inside her. Once, she had his zipper down and his shorts shoved aside before he even got the car in park. She’d blocked his attempts to pull her mouth off him until he had spurted his release down her throat.

  Then, as punishment, he’d all but thrown her onto the roof of his car so she was right at his eye level. When she’d shattered under his tongue and his fingers, he hadn't let up. Instead, he nipped and sucked and licked harder, faster, making her cry out and then scream as she broke again and then a third time.

  The house, they shared with Georgey.

  But the night sky was theirs and theirs alone.

  She had to leave. But how was she going to? How could she walk away from a man like Tim Means?

  She didn't know. But she needed to figure it out, and quickly.

  The pow wow—the unofficial end of summer and her time on the White Sandy—was less than a week away.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “Hey, there’s Circle!” With that, Georgey was off like a shot, cutting through the crowd.

  “Georgey? Come back when you’re hungry!” Summer yelled after him.

  Tim chuckled. “That’ll only be ten minutes, babe.” He wasn’t holding her hand and that drove him nuts. But it was her choice. After an initial awkward week or so, where she’d tensed any time Georgey acknowledged she and Tim were sharing a bed, she’d relaxed a bit. At the very least, she’d stopped flinching every time Georgey smirked at her, which counted for a lot.

  But somehow, Tim knew she wouldn’t be comfortable advertising their relationship to the tribe at large. So he hadn’t touched her since he’d handed her out of the car fifteen minutes ago.

  That didn’t mean she wasn’t the focus of his attention. Summer Collins walked around the pow wow with a look of joy on her face that was both familiar yet entirely new. “It’s so much more than I remember,” she said softly.

  “Yeah?” To him, the pow wow was the same as it’d ever been.

  The dance circle was open underneath the wide blue sky. Along one half of the circle, a semi-permanent shelter had been jerry-rigged and the drummers sat in the coolest part. The group of men—mostly older grandfathers—were still squabbling over who was drumming when. Children in their fancy dance outfits darted among the crowd and under a stand of pines, a group of grandmothers were cooking up fry bread. Women and men in their o
utfits smiled and preened, adjusting their horsehair roaches or feathers.

  Tim stood in the middle of it all, breathing in deeply. This was his place, his people. He belonged here, among the chaos and laughter and noise. It was familiar and comforting. No matter what shit went down during the week, the pow wow was when they all came together.

  He looked down at Summer. Eyes wide, she took everything in. He only wished she belonged here, too.

  “I guess I just remember playing with Georgey,” she explained. “And listening to the drums while my dad told stories,” she said in that quiet voice as a grass dancer pushed past her to line up for the opening dance. “I don’t really remember all the dancers.”

  “Hey Sheriff, Summer,” Jenna, the nursing student at the Clinic, said as she hurried to her place in line, her dress covered in tinkle cones that jingled softly with every move. “Having fun?”

  Summer’s mouth about fell open. “Jenna! Your dress is amazing.”

  “Thanks!” Jenna called over her shoulder, jingling louder as she hurried.

  “Jenna competes in the women’s fancy dance category at the state level,” Tim told Summer. “When she’s not working at the Clinic, that is. She won scholarships that helped pay for her nursing education.”

  Summer looked up at him. “Do you dance?”

  He snorted. “Only the opening dance these days—it’s intertribal. Anyone can dance.”

  Her mouth rounded into a nearly perfect O as she inhaled sharply. “Anyone?”

  Tim didn’t like to think he was a stupid man, and only the stupidest would miss the obvious excitement in her eyes. He bowed at the waist. “May I have the honor of escorting you in this dance, Summer Collins?”

  “I’d love to, Tim Means,” she said, a pretty blush darkening her cheeks.

  “Then let’s get you outfitted.”

  He led her over to where the Tall Trees and Thunder families had laid out their blankets. Anyone would have loaned him the necessary stuff, but he knew Summer would be most comfortable with Tammy Thunder. The two women had become friends while Georgey played with the kids at the Child Care Center.