If You Ever Change Your Mind

by B. Love

  “I honestly don’t care how your family feels about me, Hali. Their opinions mean a lot to you, but at the end of the day, you’re the one that has to be with me. As long as you’re good with me… I’m good. You’re the only person whose opinion and approval means anything to me. The rest of the world can hate me; as long as you, my son and Ana love me… I’m good, angel.

  I’m sure your family will have a lot to say to me and I will give them that chance briefly and respectfully, but family or not, you know I’m not going to let anyone disrespect me.”

  That was true. For the most part, Lucas was able to maintain himself. But after years of growing up angry and feeling unloved… he valued life less than most people. It was nothing for him to cause anyone bodily harm in the past, and had Luana not begged him to stop being so volatile, there’s no telling where he would be today. Which was all the more reason for Hali to worry. The last thing she needed was for her brother or father to trigger something within Lucas that took him back to his old days.

  “Just promise me that you won’t let them pull you out of yourself,” Hali requested, lifting herself from his chest, “If things get too crazy I will make them leave, or we can go to your place. But I’m begging you, Luke, maintain your composure.”

  Lucas nodded in agreement.

  “I’m not going to act crazy with my son and pregnant sister here, Hali. I give you my word. As long as they don’t put their hands on me I’m cool.”

  That was good enough for her, so Hali left it at that. They returned to the living room with Jaxon, Luana and Luca, and they hadn’t gotten comfortable in their seats good before light knocks tapped against her door.

  Hali stood and headed out of the living room, caught off guard by the sight of Lucas standing to go with her. He took her hand into his and kissed it, then led her to the door. Hali took a few deep breaths, then nodded for Lucas to open it. He did, and the sight of her family made Hali smile, even if she wasn’t sure how their visit would go.

  “Momma’s baby,” Miranda spoke first, stepping inside of the apartment and hugging Hali.

  The rest of her family filed in, and Harris was the first to approach Lucas.

  “You only get one chance to correct the mistake you made and do right by my daughter. If you hurt her…”

  “Daddy please,” Hali interrupted, trying to step between the two men, but Lucas quickly pulled her out of the way, and if Hali was crazy she would’ve sworn she saw a soft smile lift her father’s lips.

  “I give you my word, Mr. Davison, I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure Hali experiences nothing but peace and love for the rest of her days. I’m in love with your daughter, and I have absolutely no intentions of hurting her. It may have taken me a while to get to this point, but now that I’m here, I’m here forever.”

  Harris looked from Lucas to Hali then back to his family.

  “Hug and accept him,” he ordered, heading towards the dining room.

  Miranda was the first to embrace Lucas as she asked, “Where’s my new grand baby?”

  Even with all of the delicious food left over from dinner, Hali was eating plain Lay’s chips with hot sauce and a Coke when the sound of thunder caused her to leap out of her bed. Thunderstorms had always gotten the best of her. It didn’t matter how many she lived through and how much she pepped herself up for them, she was always a ball of nerves until they were over. Not waiting around for the second round of thunder to make her jump so hard she almost ripped the skin from her bones, Hali tossed her late-night snack onto her bedside table and scurried out of her room and down the hall. When she made it to her front door, the roar of thunder had Hali dropping her keys and yelping so loud she covered her mouth and slid down the wall.

  “Hali,” Lucas called, knocking on her door gently, “Let me in so I can get you.”

  She crawled over to the door and unlocked it, then returned to her position on the wall. Lucas opened the door and smiled bitterly at the sight of her.

  “I was… coming over…” she managed to get out through chattering teeth.

  Lucas picked her up and tossed her over his shoulder. He took her keys from her and locked up behind them, then carried her into his apartment. If anyone was aware of how fearful thunderstorms made her... it was Lucas. Her siblings teased her about her fear when they were younger, so she would often go into her closet and cry until they were over. But it was at Lucas and Luana’s home that she was able to freely express her fear and receive comfort.

  “It was my intention to have you over here before the storm even started, but me and Luca were knocked out after all that food from earlier,” Lucas replied, closing his door behind them and locking it.

  “Is Luca still asleep?” she asked, tightening her grip around his waist.

  “Yea, he won’t be getting up any time soon. Unlike you, rain and thunder relaxes us,” Hali smiled, already feeling her nerves ease up… just a hint. Lucas placed her in the middle of the bed, chuckling when she grabbed his hand and kept him from walking away from it, “I was just going to cut the light off, baby,” he assured her.

  Hali thought it over for a few seconds before shaking her head and pulling him until he slid out of his shoes and joined her in bed. Lucas laid on his back and placed her in the center of his chest. His fingers alternated between massaging her scalp and running down the length of her hair.

  “You remember the first time you were at our house during a storm?” Lucas asked, and for the first time Hali noticed the relaxed, sleepy tone of his voice.

  He must’ve jumped out of his sleep and came to get her. That thought had Hali kissing his chest before she answered.

  “Yep,” she smiled and stroked his stomach softly, “That one was even worse because it was with a tornado warning and they were doing the siren. I was so scared I tinkled on myself a little.”

  “Tinkled?” Lucas repeated through his laugh, “Tinkled, Hali? How old are you? Three?”

  “Shut up, Lucas! What do you want me to say? I pissed myself a little?”

  He laughed harder before saying, “That’s better than tinkle.”

  “Whatever,” Hali laughed quietly for a few seconds as she bit down on her lower lip, “I was so embarrassed. It wasn’t a lot, though.”

  “Crazy ass. You almost scared the life out of me when you screamed. I thought something was seriously wrong with you.”

  “It was! You just don’t know what thunderstorms do to me. I was so freaking scared, Lucas. But you were there for me,” her voice softened as she recalled that night, “You came running down the hall and into the living room in the dark so fast you bumped your toe on the table and broke it. You didn’t even let on that it was hurting you that night. I felt so bad.”

  “I honestly didn’t feel it that night. My only concern was making sure you were straight. The only reason I went to get it looked at the next morning was because it was swollen and changing colors.”

  Thunder rumbled, and she jumped, but not as much this time.

  “You held me… on that pallet I’d made… until I stopped shaking and crying and found enough peace to go to sleep.”

  “Yep. With your pissy panties and all.”

  “Lucas!” she yelled through her smile, only to cover her mouth when she remembered Luca was asleep, “I think that was the night I fell in love with you,” she confessed, tightening her grip on him, “And it was such a strange coincidence… it seemed like almost every time it was a bad storm I was at y’all house.”

  Lucas was quiet for a few seconds before saying, “That wasn’t a coincidence, Hali.”

  She lifted herself and looked into his eyes.

  “What do you mean?”

  Lucas pushed her hair out of her face and smiled when it came right back.

  “I…” he shrugged and shook his head, “I would check the weather every day, and when I didn’t have to work, I would tell Ana to invite you over to spend the night when it was going to storm.”

  Thunder ro
ared, and rain hammered against the window, but none of that registered in Hali’s ears.

  “You did?”

  “Yea,” he shrugged again, as if what he was telling her meant nothing, “Didn’t think your folks would want me crawling through the window trying to hold you every time it stormed, so I made sure you were at our house as much as I could,” speechless, Hali ran her fingers down the center of his chest as his confession replayed in her mind, “The whole time I was in New York… every time it stormed I thought about you,” Hali smiled softly and closed her eyes as they watered, “Who was holding you. Protecting you. Making sure you felt safe.”

  “You really love me… don’t you?”

  Lucas smiled with a nod.

  “You just now realizing that? I’ve always loved you, Hali. Might not have known the best way to show you or had the courage to try to figure it out, but I’ve always loved you, angel.”

  It didn’t matter if Lucas was watching her, slowly and seductively, Hali’s eyes slid down the length of his body. Hali was tired of fighting the overwhelming need to be closer to him. To be connected to him. They were past that now.

  Hali lowered herself to his lips and connected them with hers. His lips were warm. Sweet. Gentle enough to make her want more. Enough pressure to make her feel captive and under his spell. In no time, Lucas was flipping her onto her back and covering her body with his. His hand slid from her stomach to her hips. Her thighs. After wrapping them around himself, Lucas allowed his hands to continue their exploration of her – searching for pleasure points along the way.

  Lucas pulled away from her, giving her time to pull in a few breaths to save.

  “I don’t know how much of this I can take tonight, Hali,” he warned her, trying to lift himself from her, but she locked her legs around him.

  Her pulse began to race, and although she was fully prepared for what she was about to say, Hali still chewed on the inside of her cheek for a few seconds in nervousness before telling him, “I was hoping you’d take it all.”

  Lucas smiled softly before it turned into a full blush. He lowered his head briefly then returned his eyes to hers.

  “Are you about to give Luca a baby brother or sister, or do I need to get a condom?”

  Hali chuckled as she ran her fingers down the length of one of his dreads.

  “Luca doesn’t get a baby brother or sister until his father proposes.”

  “That’s fair,” Lucas agreed, stretching over her to go into the drawer on his nightstand, “You know that’s coming soon, right?”

  That’s what she’d wanted all this time – a husband. A family. Children. But she was so content with what she had with Lucas and Luca that marriage hadn’t even crossed her mind. Marriage at that point was an even bigger blessing. One that she would patiently wait for and wholeheartedly cherish when Lucas was ready.

  Lucas returned to his place in bed and on her lips. She wasn’t sure how much time she’d spent fighting the dizzying currents of pleasure his kisses sent her on, but when he eased the cup of her bra to the side and palmed her breast Hali trembled under his touch.

  “Tell me if I move too fast,” he ordered, unsnapping her bra.

  Hali nodded as she bit down on her lower lip, resisting the urge to snatch her shirt from over her head. Part of her wanted to savor this moment that she’d waited so long for. To let him have his way with every inch of her. The other part of her wanted to tell him to skip the gentleness and the foreplay and just… go deep in it. But she held her tongue, and was glad she did when Lucas removed her shirt and bra and teased her nipples with his. His lips lowered, and Lucas whispered his reverence for each part of her body that they touched.

  As if that wasn’t enough on its own to send her spiraling out of control, he stared into her eyes with the right amount of lust, love and passion as he removed her panties. She could tell by the way his jaw clenched and he mumbled under his breath that he wanted her just as bad as she wanted him, but surprisingly, his restraint turned her on even more.

  Finally, he took her thighs into his hands and placed them on his shoulders. Again, he found her eyes and held them as he spread her bottom set of lips with his tongue. Briefly, his eyes closed in uninhibited satisfaction as he moaned at the taste of her, and Hali’s composure fragmented as he hungrily devoured her. His eyes opened as hers closed. She surrendered herself completely to his seduction.

  He alternated from slow, soft licks with the tip of his tongue to long, fast strokes with the entire length and width of it. From sucking her clit into his mouth and putting enough pressure on it to stiffen her entire body and keep her locked in place to licking from one hole to the other, eliciting a warmth that had her legs shaking. And when he dipped his tongue into her and moaned, Hali felt the hysteria of her pending orgasm building within her.

  She took hold of his dreads with one hand and his shoulder with the other, trying to prepare herself for what was soon to come. His name fell from her lips quietly, motivating him to harden the flicks of his tongue against her clit. Her back arched off the bed. Lips parted, though nothing could come out.

  Hali cursed him as he inserted one finger inside of her. It took him no time to find the ridges of her swelling G-spot and massage it just as gently as his tongue did her clit. Her walls began to heat just as they clenched his finger tighter. Tremors shot through her toes, legs, walls and hips and before she could stop it, Lucas drew her into a pit of passion she’d never had the pleasure of experiencing before.

  Her back flew back down to the bed as her breathing normalized, but Lucas gave her hardly no time to recoup. Her eyes were low as she watched him remove his shirt and boxers. Never had she ever desired to taste a man as much as she wanted to taste Lucas in that moment. All she could think about as she watched him roll the condom onto his long, wide shaft was how good it would taste on the tip of her tongue. Hali would have to wait to find out because as soon as he was done Lucas placed his crown at her opening. His forehead rested on hers, and she lifted herself to kiss his lips.

  “I love you,” she whispered, running her fingers across his cheeks.

  “I love you,” he returned, sliding himself into her slowly.

  She never dreamed he’d be so gentle. So attentive. So selfless. So patient. But as he stroked her he was all of those things. Slowly pleasuring her most sensitive spot with the tip of his crown, then plunging into her deeply to cover himself with her completely.

  Hali lost herself in the feel of him inside of her. Filling her to the hilt. Introducing her to places and pleasures she didn’t know existed. She lost herself in the feel of his breath on her face, like gusts of unspoken satisfaction that he fought to keep inside. She lost herself in the sight of his eyes fluttering closed and open as he bit down on his lip and groaned.

  Everything he gave she returned just as passionately. Fighting between her eyes closing in ecstasy and trying to keep them open to watch every satisfied expression he made. Switching between moaning and whimpering. Gasping and losing her breath from the deepness of his strokes. Digging her nails into his back just as deeply as he dug into her… unraveling herself to make more room for him.

  Her walls began to throb… and so did he inside of her… and they both gave in to the orgasmic tide that was taking over their bodies. She expected to feel him soften and shrink inside of her; he didn’t. He stayed just as hard. And long. And thick. And curved.

  “Can I fuck you now?” he asked, breathing just as labored as her thoughts were.

  Afraid her voice would crack, Hali nodded rapidly as she bit down on her lip. What tiredness filled her because of her orgasm was quickly replaced with arousal at the sound of his question.

  Lucas pulled himself out of her and ordered her to, “Turn around.”

  With a smirk, Hali turned around and positioned herself on her knees, but her smile quickly faded when Lucas stretched her legs out and laid her flat on her stomach. The pillow that she had her head on was pulled from under her, and Lucas p
laced it under her pelvis. He spread her legs just a few inches apart, then entered her so swiftly and deeply that her fuck vibrated off the inside of the walls louder than the rain on the outside did.

  “Don’t wake Luca up. I don’t plan on stopping no time soon,” he cautioned, getting nothing but more curses and quiet grunts in return.

  He lowered himself to her, brushing his nose against her cheek as he slammed into her even deeper. Arms outstretched, their fingers linked together, and Hali squeezed his hands tightly… trying to send all that was building up within her there, but when her eyes began to roll into the back of her head she knew that wasn’t working. Her moans were replaced with silence as her mouth opened widely… trying to pull in air to replace that which his soul snatching strokes were taking from her.

  “Breathe, baby,” he reminded her with a smile in his voice, like that’s not exactly what she was trying to remember how to do.

  Hali’s arm wrapped around his neck. She pulled his lips to hers. Inhaled him just as deeply as she did that day at his counseling session. Breathed him in until she was able to breathe for herself. And when she was, those involuntary tremors started rising up again.

  His name fell sweetly from her lips before she cried softly, “I feel you all over me,” and she did. Her entire body began to heat and shake under him.

  Lucas bit down on her shoulder, stifling his own moans. There was no use. His strokes became less rhythmic just as he began to throb inside of her again. And before she knew it, they both succumbed to the waves of orgasmic ecstasy that exploded in every inch of them.

  12

  Lucas

  Lucas wasn’t looking forward to public speaking, but he promised himself that when he was able, he would use his life to influence others. When he first made that promise, Lucas thought his influence would come strictly from his business. He thought he’d be able to tell men that it was possible to make something out of themselves legally. That it was possible to be comfortable financially and still have the time to enjoy the people in life that mattered most. He wanted to teach them how to be wealthy, not rich.