Beth's Dilemma Page 3

  "Handled it very well? It was like I said, I didn't think you could handle it at all, and I was right."

  She closed her eyes. "I'm sorry. Can we just start over from the beginning?"

  "Start over?"

  "Yes, like you just told me?"

  He deadpanned, "I'm not sure what that's going to accomplish."

  "Please."

  He shrugged, his tone slightly flippant. "Fine, I just told you. Your keys are over there if you want to storm out of the house again."

  She coughed. You're being a dick, though I guess I deserve it. "I won't storm out."

  "That's a shock."

  Dick. Dickdickdick. She sighed, but she loved him. She nodded and said, "So, was I supposed to have any sort of input in your fantasy?"

  He slumped back a little in confusion, studying her face.

  The silence made her uncomfortable. Damn it, we're talking about your fantasy. Talk! "Well?"

  He blinked and frowned, then leaned cautiously forward. He lifted his wine glass without thought and twirled it in his fingers. "Uhh, well, yeah."

  She felt as if his answer had just stubbed her mental toe without really answering anything. She drained the last of her white wine and set her glass down. "What kind of input?"

  He shrugged in confusion. "I don't know, any of it? What do you mean by it?"

  She took a deep breath. "I have this nightmare of some stranger on me…"

  He frowned.

  She said, "If anything like that ever happened, I would never want it to be some stranger." She shuddered.

  He blinked and sat back, still twirling his glass in starts and stops. "Oh. Well, of course it wouldn't have to be. Though I wouldn't want it to be my brother."

  Her eyes popped. "Tim? Um, no."

  Bill chuckled. "Thank god for that."

  "I…don't think I'd want any kind of family involved."

  He shook his head. "Me, either."

  She felt a flush of satisfaction at the ease of communication, no matter how rocky the beginning. She rose. "Well, that's all I wanted to talk about." It's all I think I can handle.

  He looked disappointed, though there was an eager curiosity on his face as well. "That's all?"

  She nodded. "I just wanted to know it wasn't all about you and nothing about me. Something for me to think about."

  He nodded slowly, though his look told her he didn't understand.

  CHAPTER 5

  Beth walked confidently into the Coffee Kitchen. "Hi, Candi."

  The girl's eyes crinkled with her bright smile and, just like that, they were back to normal.

  She put a ten on the counter. "You know what I want."

  Candi started to look around.

  Beth stopped her. "Sell me the coffee or I swear I'll put you over my knee and spank you."

  The girl giggled and poured the two coffees.

  Beth made her way into the back office with them. "Hi."

  Lynne's pencil was placed down carefully but without any attention. "Hey, girl. You look…happier today."

  She let out a small smile and then quickly hid it again. "Maybe. We talked." She sat and placed the other coffee on the desk.

  Her friend's eyes lit up conspiratorially. "I won't ask details, but I assume it went well?"

  Beth twisted her lips in thought. "Uh…"

  Lynne came around and stood behind her. Her hands came down and began working Beth's shoulders. "Please tell me it went well."

  She sighed, relaxing to the wonderful feel of what stress remained being stripped away. "I talked to him about the stranger-thing - making sure he thought I should have input."

  Lynne's voice elevated with encouragement. "Good."

  "That was all."

  The hands froze. The tone of let-down was evident. "That's all?" The hands began again.

  She shrugged. "It was the biggest thing on my mind—"

  "It's a start."

  Beth blinked. "What else should I be talking to him about?"

  Her friend leaned down, her breath teasing her ear. "Let's say you don't want to indulge his fantasy, but there are other ways of exciting him with it."

  "What? How?" Her heart began thumping in her chest; the heat of Lynne's breath was tickling her ear.

  The touch of her friend's lips on her neck made her close her eyes. What is she doing to me? Why does this feel so good? A minty feel of thrill suffused her limbs and her breathing became shallow.

  Lynne whispered, "Get him talking about his fantasy when you…do things together. Maybe even play like it's happening."

  And I don't have to actually do some guy? That sounds perfect…

  Her friend placed more kisses on her neck.

  A wave of dreamy delirium spread through her and she felt a shifting and moving like the gentle rocking of a boat in water. She let out a long, lingering sigh that signaled the last ship out for the stress she had been carrying. Yes, her suggestion sounds good. Talking about it and pretending might satisfy his desire. "That feels so good…"

  Lynne laughed low. "Try it with him. Come back tomorrow and I'll massage your shoulders again. You already feel a lot less tense."

  "You want me coming back here every day?"

  "It's not like you're any trouble, and there's not much for me to do here except crossword puzzles or covering Candi on her lunch hour."

  For the first time in a week, Beth began to feel the return of peace and confidence. "Okay."

  A quick last kiss on her neck preceded Lynne's approval. "Good girl."

  ~ ~ ~

  Beth watched Bill pull the bullet out of the nightstand with some amount of eagerness. Will it be the same? Or will the novelty have worn off?

  He was smiling, looking eager. They normally didn't do things on the weekdays.

  But she had another surprise in store for him and she looked at him with some amount of uncertainty. She waited until he touched the buzzing bullet to her clit. She gasped and then settled back. "So about your fantasy…"

  He sounded surprised. "Yes?"

  "What is it you imagine me doing?"

  His pause of the bullet was brief. He began moving it again. "I suppose everything you do with me."

  At least it wasn't like being tied down and raped or something. "Oh…" Twirls of tingles spread and spiraled as the bullet gave her pussy a buzz.

  "You've been thinking about it?" His voice sounded hopeful.

  "I was just wondering." She went silent for a moment. "Everything I do with you?"

  "Yeah. I'd love to see you stroke a cock."

  "Even though you can see me stroke yours?"

  "Mm hmm. But watching you stroke someone else's? Even better."

  "Why?" She was spinning slowly, comfortable with the talk and that she was with her husband and not actually doing any of these things. This is almost as good as Lynne's massages.

  "It'd be hot seeing another man become erect under your hand. Very sexy."

  She reached over and grabbed his hard shaft. "Stroke him like this?"

  The bullet froze and her husband let out a ragged sigh. "Ah…yeah."

  She stroked and played with the head. "You'd really like seeing me do this to another man?"

  "You have no idea."

  I guess not. She slipped her hand up and down his shaft faster. Could I really do this to some other man?

  Her husband's moan vibrated through her ears down into her soul where it met the tingles from the bullet coming up. She gasped. Her words were shaky. "What else would you like to see me do?"

  "Oh… I'd love to see your lips on him. Sucking him."

  That's my cue, right? She slipped down, breaking contact with the bullet. But right now, this was about him. "Like this?" She lowered her mouth over the head of his cock.

  He moaned louder, his body tensing. "Oh, fuck yes."

  She sucked on him, twirling her tongue around the head and sucking down on his shaft.

  His words were whispers of lust. "Yes, suck him. Suck him, Beth."

>   Heat rose in her in response to her husband's excitement. A flush of moisture wetted her pussy as she felt his stiff cock throbbing in her mouth.

  He pulled her head off with an urgent groan and tossed her back.

  She gasped with expectation. This was her Bill, in total control. He was going to take her and it was going to be good. It always was.

  He was panting, positioning his pole for penetration. "And I'd want to see you open like this as he gets ready."

  She tilted her hips up, widening her legs.

  A look of dizziness came over his face and he stabbed his cock hard into her, filling her with one forceful thrust that ripped the breath out of her. He fucked her hard, like he always did, taking her so completely that she was paralyzed with the repeated filling of his thickness into her aching pussy. He panted, saying, "I'd want to see him fuck you like this."

  His slapping hips to hers and the grind of his pubic bone against her clit had her high on the wave already. "Like this?"

  He growled, forcing his erection into her with brutal love. "Yes. Fuck. Deep."

  She cried out, tossed over on a torrent of passion and pleasure. Her pussy spasmed, clutching his cock in strong grips of need and greed.

  The flooding spurts of searing seed splashed within her as he groaned loudly on the creaking bed.

  She panted breathlessly, riding the waves of release and satisfaction accompanied by the moving bed during his orgasm. So perfect…

  He collapsed into her arms and they lay together, catching their breaths and relaxing in the aftermath of the sexual hurricane.

  She held him tight, mindless of their combined heat making a fine layer of moisture between them. Lynne was right, that was good.

  ~ ~ ~

  Friday's lunch hour brought some relief to Beth. One of the technicians had been acting dodgy lately and word had circulated he was into meth. After a two week-review of his performance following the written warning, today was the day she had to fire him.

  She had looked down at the date of the written warning, just two weeks prior, and realized so much had changed and could change without warning. For his part, Meth-head Dean looked alternately upset and indifferent – as if his mind was shifting in so many directions it left him incoherent. He had shown flashes of his old self, but the other periods were getting worse. His skin had begun to look sallow and drawn.

  She walked into her refuge and left that mess behind.

  Candi dispelled the last of Dean. "Hi, Beth."

  She let out a long sigh of satisfaction and then inhaled the aromas. "Hi, Candi." She put her money on the counter and gave the girl a stern look.

  The little blonde rolled her eyes with a twisted smile and poured two cups of cinna-cocoa coffee. She carefully set them down. "Thank you sooo much, please come again." The sarcasm was lit with a fruity playfulness that made Beth laugh.

  She carried the cups into the back office. Lynne was not at her desk and Beth heard the water running in the bathroom. She sat and relaxed in the padded chair. The gold vinyl was the buttoned, stuffed, cushy kind that was stiff until you settled onto it. All it took was a slight shift to settle her butt-bones just right into the button-dimples.

  "Hey." Her friend's greeting was not surprised. Her smile was sincere and welcoming.

  Beth took another deep sigh and wondered if things were finally going to return to normal. She hoped so.

  Lynne leaned against the desk to Beth's side and took up the coffee. "You look chipper."

  "I feel chipper. Mostly. Had to fire a meth addict today. Used to be a solid employee."

  Lynne's face scrunched up. "Ew."

  She shook her head. "Why do people get so caught up in drugs?"

  Lynne shrugged. "Peer pressure. Friends. Lack of hope, maybe. The escape from reality."

  "But it just makes things worse."

  "You don't need to tell me that." The change in her face signaled a change of subject. "So…"

  She smiled. "Rather talk about something not so depressing?"

  Her friend laughed lightly. "Well, I don't think your issue is depressing."

  "Huh. I sure thought so."

  "It's just how you were looking at it."

  "I guess so."

  Lynne stood behind her and began massaging her shoulders. "Ah, yes. Much better. "

  Beth relaxed to the finger movements and closed her eyes. Her hum of satisfaction was low and long. The cup clasped in her two hands provided warmth in her fingers that spread into her wrists. She began floating, dreamily.

  Lynne's voice near her ear was soothing. "So, anything happen at home?"

  A little chuckle bubbled up from her throat and broke her lips. "You could say that."

  "Oh?" Interest was in her friend's voice, but she didn't pry.

  Beth knew Lynne would let her tell her on her own, only coaxing if she thought it was necessary. "We did things last night and I used your suggestion."

  Lynne's giggle was quiet and intrigued. "How did that turn out?" Her hands worked deep delight into Beth's shoulders.

  She hummed happily and said, "Um, very fun." She covered her embarrassment with a nervous laugh.

  Her friend's hands stopped.

  Beth frowned, wondering if she had said something wrong.

  But Lynne's hands started again, if feeling slightly warm and clammy to the touch. Her voice drifted closer to Beth's ear. "I'd hoped you would find it so."

  Beth twisted her neck a little, letting the muscles stretch and relax. "You were right."

  The fingers hitched a little, then resumed with more certainty. "Are you going to try that again?"

  "Definitely. You don't think he'll get bored of it?"

  Lynne's voice was a whisper. "No."

  "I want to make him happy."

  "Of course you do, Beth. Let go of your worries." Her fingers massaged her clavicles where they met under her neck. "Your husband will love you all the more for it."

  Beth smiled. And that's what I want, isn't it? We can play together, talking about his fantasy. It was actually fun. She hummed her consent.

  Lynne's whisper was close in her ear, sending wisps of hot breath tickling into her insides. "Bill wants to fantasize about sharing you. You should let him. Help him." Her hands trailed down the center of Beth's chest, in between the small swell of her breasts. Her fingers rubbed the bone all the way down, then past her sternum until her hands rested on Beth's thighs at the hem of her jeans skirt.

  Beth's heart began thumping faster and her breathing accelerated. Her eyes were still closed in that dreamy state of relaxation and satisfaction. What is my friend doing?

  Lynne said, "Indulge his fantasies. Inflame them." Her hands drew up and in between Beth's thighs. "He worships you…" Fingers drew up and stroked across Beth's panties.

  She gasped, her eyes opening.

  Lynne kissed her neck, moist and hot touches that sent shivers spinning down her back and arms. "If he likes you fantasizing with him, then do it. He wants it." He fingers brushed up and down Beth's panties over her clit.

  She trembled, the shaking growing until she thought she'd break the chair. She tensed and gasped.

  Lynne removed her hands and brought them back to Beth's shoulders.

  CHAPTER 6

  Beth Crawley, personnel manager for a major web-hosting company, had never felt so confused. She tried to focus on the applications file, scanning the work histories and qualifications of men and women who had applied in the last year.

  It was generally a pointless exercise. Even if she found one, who waited around for up to a year to see if they would be hired? Applicants didn't stick around waiting – they needed a job and they often took the first to come along.

  However, as simple and pointless as the review was in Beth's mind, she couldn't focus enough to finish. The memory of her friend's touch, whispers and kisses had her turned around inside and left her not knowing left from right.

  Beth wasn't a lesbian and had never wanted to be one. Was
yet another secret of her friend's something along that line? Lynne a lesbian? But she had never come on to Beth before and her friend was married to a handsome man. Roger was an architect who bicycled to work every day on his mountain bike. Once a month he'd be out mountain biking: he had the body that went with it.

  Lynne had told her long ago that she couldn't keep up with him. Beth had assumed she meant the biking thing which is why she didn't own one. But in the back of her mind, she had wondered if Lynne's sly words had implied more than just biking.

  If she had also meant in bed, was there anything neglected in Lynne that would cause her to be lesbian? Was that how it worked? Or am I so straight I don't know what being a lesbian is? Images of angry butches hating men flashed through her brain. She had one lesbian friend on Facebook who was forever posting man-hating rants. She was an acquaintance, really – not a friend.

  Lynne didn't hate men, though. Did that mean she was bi?

  Beth twisted her lips in thought, staring at the application held in her hand without seeing even a single letter of it.

  "Any luck?" The voice made her drop the application. Gary Gore was a pasty, pear-shaped man. His belt created a huge indent around his expansive flab. He wore heavy glasses and had a pretend mustache on his upper lip. He was also the owner.

  "Oh…" She scooted the application that had fallen around on the others in the open file. "Not really, and these are so old…"

  A slight scrunch of the face the girls in the company called Scary Gary told her he had figured as much. "Place ads, then."

  "That was my next move."

  Scary Gary never missed an opportunity to look the girls in the company up and down at least once. He didn't linger, but they all knew he was looking them over.

  Beth shuddered. Gross. I feel slimed. She pursed her lips and turned away to avoid seeing his gaze. But he was already turning to leave. Even if the looks were fast, she always felt as if she had soaked in gross.

  ~ ~ ~

  The weekend afforded her much time to think and most of it was about Lynne. Had her friend come on to her? Or had her touch merely been accentuating her encouragement to fantasize with Bill? And what of the kisses? Her friend had never indicated once that she was bi or had those kinds of feelings for another woman. Her indications had been all hetero.