Chapter Two
Elyssa, substantially shorter-legged than her prospective lover, lost that competition and, once they had found the perfect sheltered bank, overhung by trees that obscured them from the rest of the shores, she wriggled out of her jeans and blouse and kicked off her deck shoes.
“Are you coming in?” she asked breathlessly, padding barefoot down to the reeds, feeling the soft, warm mud squelch between her toes.
“Er, excuse me.” Jay held up a lean finger and lowered his sunglasses to the bridge of his nose, glaring at her with mock-severity. “I think I said, ‘strip off.’ You’re still clothed.”
“Jay!” she whispered. This was real. Actually happening. Jay expected her to get naked in front of him. “What if…?”
“Nobody will come here. Nobody except you and me, that is.” His lip curled, irresistibly devilish. “Now get those undies off and get in the water, because I’m coming to get you.”
Elyssa squeaked and, crouching in the reeds, removed her bra and knickers, escaping backwards into the water, which was chilly but not unbearable, watching Jay throw off his jeans and shirt to reveal that long-limbed body, still pale but freckled and without a pinch of spare flesh on it. He had been, she recalled, self-conscious about it as a youth, and had loathed sports and games as a consequence. But now he seemed to care nothing at all for his excess height and leanness. He was confident, comfortable in his skin, and so very much more attractive for it.
She lay back and floated, letting the water lap over her skin, basking in the dappled sun that penetrated the willow branches. She felt so free, it seemed ridiculous that she had never done this before. She thought back to all those years in Oxford, bumping into Jay on the street or in the pub, and never trying to rekindle their awkward youthful passion. She must have been stupid.
The splash of his entrance into the water reminded her that she was supposed to be trying to elude him, and she darted off, letting waves ripple in her wake. But there was no way she was going to allow herself to escape, and it was with a delighted shriek of laughter that she felt his arm grab her around the waist and pull her back against his chest.
“Mmm, look at you, all wet and naked,” he murmured into her dripping ear. “What shall I do with you, hmm?”
“You’re the rocket scientist, you tell me,” said Elyssa, which made him laugh and swallow her smart mouth in an all-conquering kiss.
“I think showing beats telling,” he told her, coming up for air, his hands all over her beneath the surface of the water, snaking down her back to her bottom, then up her belly to her breasts, like water creepers. “God, you’re gorgeous. Why did I leave it this long?”
“I’ve been wondering the same thing.” She lifted a leg to wrap it around his hip, pressing her exposed centre against his crotch. The invitation was honest and unmistakable, and he kissed her again, squeezing those mounds of flesh he’d found, holding her in a tight octopus grip.
The water streamed around their bodies and through the gaps between their flesh, warming in the sun. Jay pulled Elyssa down so that they both knelt on the lakebed, the surface lapping around Jay’s chest and Elyssa’s collarbone. Beneath the sunlit blue-green ripples and the floating fronds of lakeweed, the lovers were free to do as they pleased with each other, and they did, causing waves to roil around them until the water was choppy.
“Perhaps we should get back on the bank,” whispered Jay. “I’ve heard of drowning in passion, but I don’t really want to know if it can happen literally.”
Elyssa kissed his neck, lingering over the soft flesh, wanting to consume every inch of it. “You’re sure nobody can see?”
“I’ve been around this lake from every angle, and I’m sure this is the blindest spot on the shore.”
“Oh, so you’ve done your research then.”
&n
bsp; “Of course. Come here.” He gathered her against him and strode with her out of the lake, emerging onto the shore like a triumphant naked Trident with his captive mermaid.
She was tipped unceremoniously but gently onto the picnic rug, spread in the dappled shade of a clump of weeping willows, and there she lay, looking up at her rocket scientist. She could see how he was very much like the supercilious, glamorous eighteen-year-old Jay he used to be, and yet, how very different. Some of the youthful arrogance was gone, replaced by self-deprecation, almost humility—and yet the wit and charm remained, in a more polished form. Now, as he dropped down beside her, blinking myopically in the sunlight yet still looking as intensely focused as any predator, she could see that he had real desire for her, way beyond the need to win a foolish contest. She hoped he saw that reflected in her.
His mouth hovered over hers for a moment, then it zoomed downwards, to the base of her throat, and began to kiss a trail between her breasts and beneath their mounds, careless of the rivulets of lake water that streamed from them down her body and onto the blanket. He buried his face in the soft curve of her belly, rubbing his nose gleefully until she had to push him away in ticklish protest.
“Lower then,” he ordained, and his mouth was at the triangle of her pubis, his fingers untangling the short matt curls of hair, parting them to reveal the victor’s spoils —Elyssa’s offered sex, waiting for his attentions, ready and prepared for him. He tested its readiness with fingers and tongue, so that Elyssa squirmed and sighed deeply, pushing upwards to beg for more, which Jay happily bestowed.
Crouching over her from the side, one palm flat beside her hip while the fingers of his other hand plundered and explored, Jay feasted on her fattened clit like a man possessed. He licked and tongued her as if this was his ultimate end, as if it gave him as much pleasure as it gave her, which made the sensation even more piquant. Eventually, almost unbearably stimulated, she came once then twice on to his enthusiastic tongue until she felt exhausted and had to beg him to stop.
He raised his head, his face all lazy wicked smiles, and reached into the picnic basket, where a pack of condoms nestled amongst the strawberries.
“Stop, eh? I thought you were just getting into that,” protested Jay.
“You certainly were,” she panted, watching him sheathe himself, both excited and scared at the prospect of what would inevitably happen next.
This is it. Jay and I are going to fuck. Will it be as good as the fantasies? In the fantasies, for some reason, Jay had always been wearing a burgundy smoking jacket and drinking brandy prior to the Grand Seduction, so in that respect, it wouldn’t be at all the same. But she had a presentiment that it would be just as good, if not better, this way.
“What do you expect? I’ve wanted to get a taste of you since I was a schoolboy. And you’re even more delicious than I thought. Salt and sweet and creamy.”
He rolled on top of her, elbows clamping her arms to her sides, knees together in the haven of her thighs, and he silenced her response with a long, distracting kiss until she felt the tip of him at her entrance, nudging, jostling, ready for the off.