Free Musical Beds by Justine Elyot Page A

us?”
    “I wouldn’t go if it wasn’t urgent…sorry.”
    “Five letters, Italian city famed for leather goods, M-something-L-something-N,” said Ben laconically.
    Lydia shook her head and waved perfunctorily before turning and heading back to the gate through which they’d entered the park.
    “I think a nail was hit on the head,” remarked Vanessa, watching her friend disappear. “Damn him.”
    “Well, it can’t be helped,” said Ben, picking up a chicken drumstick with an air of practicality and biting into it. “Dig in, come on. The sooner we finish the feast, the sooner we can start…the other feast.”
    “You really think I’m up for some al fresco fun, don’t you?”
    Vanessa sipped at her prosecco. The bubbles were already going to her head.
    “Of course. What could be nicer than the fresh air on your naked skin?”
    “Or ants in your pants?”
    “Warm sunshine bathing your body.”
    “Nettle stings on your arse.”
    “The sensual mingling of nature and man—and woman—in erotic harmony.”
    Vanessa burst out laughing.
    “Wasps where no wasp should ever go.”
    “Ah, come on, it’s too early for wasps.”
    “Bees, then.”
    “Try not to look too much like a flower and the bees will leave you alone.”
    Vanessa picked up a strawberry and bit into it, sinking her teeth provocatively into its soft, pink flesh.
    “Tell you what. If you can find a spot that’s totally and utterly invisible to all passers-by, even the deer, I might consider it.”
    “Yeah?” Ben clapped his hands. “That dress you’re wearing—it’s nice, but all I can think about is lifting it up and getting underneath.”
    “All right, well, let’s eat first. Get our strength up.”
    They fell upon the cold chicken and the slices of quiche, the hard-boiled eggs and the jam tarts with a will, finishing up the prosecco between them before it had a chance to go flat.
    Then they packed the hamper and shoved it under a nearby hedge for safe keeping, before Ben took Vanessa’s hand and began stalking with her through the park, hell-bent on finding a place where privacy could be maintained.
    Despite the park’s size and range, unpeopled areas were surprisingly hard to locate, and the pair wandered for some time until they found a woodland thicket, some way off the main path. Vanessa had almost reconciled herself to failure, with a sense of some relief, but now her heart began to hammer double-time again.
    The foliage was dense enough to make them invisible to passers-by yet, once in the thick of it, it was dry underfoot and the trees allowed enough dappled light in to carpet the floor with patterns of shadow and brightness.
    “I still don’t know,” said Vanessa, wrinkling her nose. “Is it clean? I’m worried about getting wood bark everywhere.”
    “Forget your obsession with cleanliness, just this once,” said Ben, wrapping his arms around her from behind and putting his lips to her neck. “Clothes can be washed. So can skin.”
    “It smells a bit damp.”
    “It doesn’t. Feel this tree trunk. Dry. It hasn’t rained in over a week.”
    “What about, you know, sap, or whatever it’s called? It could stain.”
    “There’s one thing I know about sap, and that’s that it rises. Like mine is doing right now.” He nipped the back of her neck, ostensibly playful, but with serious intent behind the gesture.
    “Ben!”
    “Come on,” he growled in her ear. “I want to rumple you. You’re always so immaculate. I want to see leaves in your hair and grass stains on your skirt.”
    He sat down on a tree stump, pulling Vanessa onto his lap, and started devouring her lips, silencing her complaints about possible mess in the most effective way imaginable.
    She relaxed into the kiss, enjoying the mingling of Ben’s scent with the ferny, loamy aroma around her. They were in a secret place, an enchanted wood of their own, remote from the world. There was no need to think about anything but each other.
    Vanessa