Changing His Mind

Suddenly they heard voices as a group of kids came down the sidewalk, just in front of the house. Todd cursed and jerked back, breathing hard. The rush of cold air after the heat of his touch made goosebumps form on Beth's skin. For a moment, all she could do was breathe. Then she moved quickly, pulling her bra back down, the fabric dragging awareness from her very sensitized nipples. Without a word, he turned and stalked back inside. She followed, her fingers touching her lips absentmindedly.

Once inside, they removed their coats and went straight for Shawn's kitchen to grab a much-needed drink. They were both electrically charged, yet neither spoke. Todd's anger was evident on his face, although he tried to hide his feelings.

"Don't be angry with me. You wanted me as I wanted you," Beth said bitterly.

"I'm not angry at you," he said shortly. "I'm angry at myself."

"Why, Todd?" she implored, "What am I missing?"

He pinched the bridge of his nose, exasperated. "Jesus, Beth, I am trying to do the right thing here."

"Fuck. You're so damn cryptic. It can't simply be the guys because, well, fuck the guys. And if you care, this isn't just about you. You have been playing this cat and mouse thing for too long now. You're hurting me. and I'm about done trying,"

Beth chugged the last of her beer, waved at the guys as she walked past the living room. She slipped on her shoes and grabbed her jacket but left without putting it on and walked out into the cold, driving rain to her car.

Todd was calling to her back, "Beth, I, just...," his voice falling on deaf ears.

----------------------

Over the next several days, Beth had been working as much as possible to keep distracted. And although on this particular day, once she got home and was done cooking dinner and cleaning the kitchen, she couldn't escape her thoughts, so she decided to go downtown for a run around the lake to clear her head.

She circled the lake and headed back to her car at the car park when she saw Todd leaning against it. It startled her for a second before she identified who he was and that he was safe. She parked alongside a building. It was next to a pathway that led to a subdivision at the end of the parking lot. From the road, you couldn't see her car. She immediately regretted parking in such a vulnerable position. She was thankful she was a fast runner but shook her head as she made her way around the building.

As she approached, he stood up and turned toward her. She paused and leaned against the cool brick crossing her arms.

He took a deep breath.

"Hey," He said, walking toward her.

"Hey,"

"You're still mad, huh?" he was almost at her now.

Beth extended her arm in front of her and stepped sideways along the building. "That's far enough, Todd,"

"What the, I can't even?" He left the thought there.

"No, I think it's best if you keep your distance. I don't want to make you uncomfortable by touching you," Beth clearly was making a jab, and the truth of the matter was that she needed him to stay far away so that she wasn't tempted.

He closed the gap and put one arm on the one side of her head, and when she made a move to go in the other direction, he put his other arm up, effectively trapping her against the wall. Beth sighed in defeat with a huff.

"That's ok, Sweetness," he rasped, and a ghost of a smile touched his beautiful mouth. His voice slid over her like warm brandy.

"This time, I'm going to touch you; I won't stop,"

His words caused instant heat to flood her body, and between her legs, she began to pulse. He lowered his head, and she shuddered slightly at the sensation of his lips on the side of her neck. The soft pillows of flesh trailed along the underside of her chin as his mouth closed over her flesh, lifting it and sucking gently. Beth's hands clenched into fists at her side, and she closed her eyes against the sight of his broad shoulders poised above her.

She breathed deeply.

She could smell him and the clean scent of mint and soap. Beth realized she had only to turn her face, and her lips would brush along the smooth bulge of his bicep, where he bent his arm against the wall.

He stopped sucking on her neck and soothed the area with his tongue. She knew she would have a mark, she was sure. His mark. On her flesh.

The thought caused lust to cramp her midsection as she realized this was what she had wanted for a long time. For Todd to need and want her.

Desire, hot and fierce, lashed through her. Somebody whimpered a slight, desperate sound of need. With a sense of shock, she realized it had come from her. Todd's hair brushed her chin as he dipped his head and trailed kisses along the line of her collarbone, pausing at the base of her throat, where she knew her pulse beat frantically.

He smiled against her neck, and then he bent lower. He skated his mouth along the smooth skin of her upper chest and then lower still, over the fabric of her sports bra. Beth's breath was coming faster now. He had both hands on the wall but slid them down slightly as he bent toward this new exploration.

Beth gasped as his mouth closed over her breast on top of the stretchy fabric. The combination of heat and moisture caused her nipple to harden. He made a grunting sound of approval and drew harder on the distended nub, and the exquisite sensation shot all the way to her groin. Beth's limbs loosened, and she pressed her palms against the wall to keep herself from falling to the floor. She also was trying to keep from clutching his head and begging him not to stop. It was a struggle to maintain control but relax enough to enjoy what was happening to her body thoroughly.

Dropping to one knee, Todd released her breast and continued his downward journey, lightly biting her rib cage until he came to the smooth, bare skin of her stomach. Her muscles contracted beneath the heat of his mouth. When he dipped his tongue into the whorl of her navel, Beth moaned. It was too much, yet not nearly enough.

"Please," she gasped.

The sight of Todd's dark skin against her abdomen as his lips touched her was a perfect contrast. So to was the feeling of exciting lust and serine openness. She was willing to give all of herself to him. She was open to his ministrations. She wanted to urge him to go even lower, and as if he could read her very thoughts, his hands covered her wrists, trapping them beneath the wall and his palms. His face dipped lower until his stubbled jaw brushed against the sensitive skin of her inner thighs. Beth had never before realized just how traitorous her body could be, how her thighs could fall open from no more than the touch of a fevered kiss against that rarely exposed skin.

"That's it, Sweetness," Todd crooned.

His breath was hot and moist, dampening the thin satiny fabric of her tight running shorts where they covered her. Beth was thankful she didn't add another layer by forgoing any panties this evening. He pressed his mouth against the warm crease where her thigh met her groin, and she whimpered again, Beth tried to free her hands, but his steel, hard clamp-like grip on her wrists and held them captive. She was throbbing with need. When his mouth covered her whole mons, she almost wept with relief and frustration.

"Yes," she moaned.

The heat from his breath, the sight of his face buried between her splayed legs, nearly pushed her over the edge. She was dangerously close to climaxing. He must have sensed how close she was because his fingers tightened around hers in silent understanding. His tongue became insistent, shaping the contours through the thin material. And beneath, she was slick with desire.

When Todd pressed his tongue hard against the swollen nub of her clitoris, it was more than she could take. She held her breath helplessly and pressed her body against the wall, bracing herself against the orgasm burning through her body. As she shuttered in his mouth, he finally released her hands.

After a moment, he stood and pressed his body against hers knowing she needed him to keep her from collapsing when her knees buckled. Beth could feel his arousal pressing against her, and she kissed him passionately as she came back down to earth.

Todd dropped his hand and absentmindedly stroked her lips through her shorts. Beth was very damp and still sensitive. She rocked her hips to his rhythm as they kissed. Her body still thrummed with sexual aftershocks.

When they parted, Beth asked with trepidation if Todd was interested in going back to her place? She was sticking her neck out but figured it was a fair assumption that he might be up for more.

"I'd love to, Beth. It's all I've been able to think about. For quite some time,"

She smiled, "Oh ya, how long," she said with a teasing giggle.

Beth started walking toward her car now that she had her faculties about her.

"Well, since about the first day we met," Todd said as he sat in his car. She spun around just as his door closed.

He made eye contact as Beth digested his statement. Slowly she turned, typed the code into her door and sat down.

He waited patiently for her to reverse and take the lead back to her place. He was contemplating what he was going to say or do next.

Beth's head was spinning as she drove around the lake back to her apartment. 'All this time?' she thought, but. Her thoughts trailed off.

CH.4

Beth hopped into the shower as soon as they got to her place. Todd was no stranger to this space and made himself at home, putting on the stereo and grabbing a beer from the fridge. As he stood on the balcony taking in the warm evening, he heard Beth close her bedroom door.

He couldn't wait any longer. He had held back long enough. If their first date a couple of years ago had gone well, this might not even be an issue, but as it were, he felt nervous and new. Since the previous night, he had done some real soul searching, and after evaluating his prior year's feelings and behaviour, he had to acquiesce to the fact that he was in love with Beth. He wanted her and needed her. She felt like home, and he, more than anything, wanted her to be his soft place to land at the end of a hard day. He also realized he hadn't been considering her feelings and had been selfish. He hadn't once asked her what she wanted. And it was pretty clear she was interested in something. They definitely had chemistry and magnetism that kept bringing them together in a way that always felt easy and right. It was him and his thoughts that were making things difficult.

Todd knocked on the door.

"Just a sec," she said in a sing-song way.

Todd didn't wait and walked in. Beth turned from her closet with a towel strategically covering herself. He stared at her for several moments, saying nothing. Then Beth decided to drop the pretense and her towel. After what had just transpired at the lake is seems rather silly to try to cover herself.

He stood staring at Beth completely naked and wanted to say something reassuring, but the words wouldn't come. She walked to the bedside table and turned on the light, then nodded to Todd to turn the light off on the wall.

"No," he choked out. "You are so unbelievably beautiful. I want to see you. All of you. Is that ok?"

"Yes, of course," she said as she approached him. He stumbled as he backed against the wall. Feeling the vibration of sex running through his veins, and he was saturated by desire.

Urgency compelled him to drag her close and feast on her mouth, but his nerves were getting the better of him as he had finally given into the fact that he loved Beth, and this night was going to mean something more than previous encounters. Uncertainty clouded his mind, but 'now' drummed insistently through his bloodstream.

Beth was inches from him, looking into his eye so tenderly. He wondered how she could look so confident and vulnerable all at the same time. He felt her cool hands touch his skin slightly as she worked his t-shirt up and over his head. Beth breathed in and out deeply as she took in the sight of his exposed chest. Of course, she had seen it before but never in this context, never this intimately. Her hands warmed as they slide up his chest and over his defined shoulders, trailing down his biceps to his forearms. She leaned in and licked his nipples lightly, travelling between them with hot kisses.

Then her hands slid down to stroke his thighs. He could feel the heat of her fingers through the denim of his jeans. Beth pressed her naked body against him, straining for warmth for her bare skin.

Now, he thought. Nothing mattered but that he should silence the desire that was slowly driving him mad. He quickly unfastened his belt and shimmied out of his jeans, kicking them away and reaching to remove his socks.

Her hands never left his body. The smooth planes of his chest quivered under her fingers. It was irresistible. He was naked before her, and she wanted to touch all of him. She could feel him shuddering against her palms. Wondering what it would feel like to make love with him made a jolt of anticipation run through her. Knowing that his desire for her had brought them to this point was intoxicating. Soon, she thought, almost unable to breathe for the desire clogging her lungs.

Todd's arm wrapped around her to pull her close in front of him, pressing his warm naked body against hers. His solid manhood was hot and firm against her mound.

She'd thought about sex with him for ages, even urging him on, but he continually resisted. However, it seemed his inhibitions were gone, and she was finally going to have him. Gone were any attempts to hold back. Instead, his hands were firm and urgent on her, his mouth demanding a response. Todd slid his hands around and down Beth's back and settled hotly on her ass. He squeezed and pulled at her ample cheeks as his fingers probed in her crack and fondling her tight rosebud.

Beth couldn't speak. She felt like she would self-combust. She wanted him more than she wanted her next breath. In fact, breathing seemed highly overrated at the moment. She'd completely forgotten how to do it.

And then he kissed her, and the air she'd been holding leaked out in a sigh of utter and complete pleasure. He made a soft growl of masculine pleasure as his lips brushed lightly, almost reverently, over her mouth. It was as though every minute of her life lead to this particular second, to the mating of their mouths, culminating the instant he kissed her. Sound receded. Sensation reigned. Happiness and joy, the likes of which she'd never known, rushed through in waves of euphoria so intense she could scarcely believe it. His tongue tangled around hers in a thorough exploration of the soft recesses of her mouth. He tasted like mint and coffee, like rain after a long drought. Like heaven, Beth thought dimly.

Todd lifted Beth by her ass, and her legs instinctively wrapped around him. He walked to the bed and gently laid her on it taking his position between her legs. His large arms bracketed her head as his thumb stroked her cheek in an achingly tender gesture. He fed at her mouth, suckling, tasting, deepening the kiss until her legs shook and her core melted. She absorbed the hot, rigid feel of him against her, then carefully entwined her arms around his neck.

She loved the feel of his fade against her fingers. She slid the pad of her thumb on the patch of soft skin just behind his ear. Soft, vulnerable. Descriptions that should have been at odds with such masculinity but were perfect just the same.

"Do you have any idea how long I have wanted to do this?" He asked a hint of desperation in his gravelly voice. His hands slid purposefully down her waist and settled hotly over her ass.

"Not nearly as long as I've wanted you to, I'll bet," Beth told him, her giddy heart giving a slight jump in her chest. She sucked his bottom lip, wanting to kiss other parts of him.

"Todd? I want to taste you. I want you in my mouth," Beth said almost in a whisper. Her request made her bashful but had made Todd's cock jump. He slowly rolled, propped his head up on a pillow as she maneuvered to a position between his legs. She was on all fours with her ass in the air when she took his rigid member in her hand. Laying it against his stomach, she began her cock worshiping on his balls. Finding that spot just beneath his sack, she swirled and licked with a flat tongue. He closed his eyes and lay his head back. The sensations caused his toes to curl.

Then Beth took one of his balls into her mouth, sucking and swirling gently. Her moans vibrated inside of him. Todd tangled his hands in her hair.

He tightened his stomach muscles and clenched his ass cheeks.

She recreated her technique on his other testicle. Beth buried her face in his sack, and she breathed in his sent. She dragged her nails up from the back of his ankles to the back of his knees. And then on to the back of his thighs.

Beth took hold of his penis and traced long languid stroked up his shaft from beneath his sack to his crown. Over and over again, she repeated her strokes slow and steadily. Each trip causing Todd to clench all his muscles on the way up then release everything as she began again. Beth was definitely driving him wild.

Then when he thought he was close enough and couldn't get higher, she stopped. She re-positioned herself over top of him. Her hot box hanging right above his face.

"Oh, Fuck yes, sweetness," he said as he pulled her hips into the correct position.

Todd wasted no time sinking his tongue into his treasure. Her labia were puffy, and as he probed further, he noticed her clitoris was also erect, so he wrapped his lips around it and began to suck gently.

Beth returned his favour in kind and took his fully erect penis into her mouth. Taking it entirely to the root first, then sucking up its length to tip. She wanted to savour him, and not wanting to make him cum too soon, she took her time with this particular motion. Again very slowly and methodically, she repeated taking time at the tip to minister to the ridge of his head. While her lips maintained suction, encapsulated within her hot mouth, she traced the underside of his ridge purposefully. He signalled his pleasure by moaning loudly into her sex. Then lapping at it slowly, causing Beth to rock against his lips. Her moans were assaulting him. When she took the time to gently lick the particular spot where crown dips, he just about cried out. It was intense and gentle but also a powerful sensation.

"Fuck," he muffled between her legs.

He didn't want to cum in her mouth. Todd wanted to know how she felt inside.

"I need to be inside you,"

They spoke no other words. Beth took her position and eased herself down onto him. Giving herself time to stretch and adjust to his size. His hands griped roughly at the flesh of her hips as he began to fill her. It was as good as he imagined. Her tight pussy causing exquisite friction for her and him. Beth's sounds were like music to his ears, and as she started to grind her hips, he knew he wouldn't last much longer. He was taking in the whole image of her, his dark hands on her pale breasts and the small of her waste leading to a swell of her ample hips as her tan legs straddled his hips. Beth's head was back, and her eyes closed as she brought herself closer to climax. Her long hair was hanging down her back so far that the ends were tickling his balls. That was it. He couldn't take anymore.

"Oh fuck, Beth, I'm gonna cum,"

"Yes, I'm ready, cum with me, Todd,"

Their moans and grunts crescendoed until their unison climax. They shuttered together.

Beth leaned forward and kissed Todd deeply as they both struggled to catch their breath. Then she collapsed on top of him as his arms held her firmly. Their hearts were beating in unison. This confirmed to Todd that this was the right thing to do after all.