‘So that’s what I’ve become. Part of the horde of women always willing to satisfy your needs.’
He stares at me curiously. ‘Don’t you think we’d be real good together?’
‘I have not thought about it,’ I lie.
‘I think we’d be earth-shatteringly good together,’ he says softly.
My heart thumps in my chest.
‘You know you want me too.’
I open my mouth to protest and he raises his hand. ‘There’s no reason to be ashamed of your body’s urges, Snow. When you’re ninety you’re never going to think oh hell, I wish I hadn’t slept with that Shane guy. You’re going to regret every opportunity you didn’t take.’
‘So sex with you has become an opportunity, has it?’ I scoff.
‘Don’t knock it until you try it, sweetheart.’
‘Just because you’re handsome—’
‘First I’m sexy, now I’m handsome too …’ he says, a playful glint in his eye.
‘In an obvious playboy sort of way, of course,’ I say.
‘Of course. What other way is there?’ he drawls.
Before I can respond, Madam Chaumbond appears at the door, her demeanor, formal. ‘Etait-il bon?’ she asks, her voice carrying over the vast space.
Shane turns to me. Madam would like to know if you enjoyed your food.
‘It was incredible,’ I say sincerely.
He turns to her and translates.
And in the small smile of satisfaction that she permits herself, I realize that Shane is right. She does have a soft spot for him. It was there all along in the big portions, the care with which she served him, the details she lavished on the food.
‘Bon,’ she says with a dignified nod, and withdraws, her black clothes swallowed by the shadows that have lengthened around and inside Saumur.
Shane picks up his wine glass and turns to me, his eyes glittering. ‘Are you ready to go into the forest with the big, bad wolf, Snow?’
‘You’ve got your fairy tales mixed up, but yeah, I’m ready.’
Fifteen
SNOW
The air is fragrant with the smell of flowers. Carrying torchlights we set off for the dark forest. It feels cooler under the canopy of leaves.
‘It will rain later tonight,’ Shane says.
‘How do you know?’
He glances at me. ‘The weather forecast.’
‘Right,’ I say embarrassed. I got caught up in the idea that we were in a magical place far away from civilization. Besides, there are, after all, people who can tell it is going to rain by the ‘feel’ of the air or by looking at animal behavior or observing the sky.
We take a path that is so narrow it will only accept one person at a time. I follow Shane’s broad back until we come upon a clearing with a spooky log cabin. It’s exactly how I had imagined the witch’s hut that Hansel and Gretel found in the forest would look.
Shane opens the wooden door and we are standing in a rectangular room roughly about fourteen feet by ten with a wooden board floor. The planks make a creaking sound as Shane walks on them. A large blackened stone fireplace is set into the back wall. A fire is lit, but it is low with bits of charred wood and plenty of ashes.
‘What’s up with that?’ I ask shining my torch towards a huge black cauldron hanging to one side of the fireplace.
He grins. ‘Authenticity. You can’t have a witches hut and no cauldron.’
‘Right,’ I say with a smile and shine my torch all around the room. There is a single bed with a blue and yellow bedspread at one end, and a small wooden table and four chairs in the middle. The wooden shelves have stuff on them, an axe, nets, knives, tin boxes, bowls, worn books, mortar and pestle, wooden spikes, dark gunny sacks. I guess they are a hunter’s utensils.
Shane opens a box of candles and lights some. There are windows, but their shutters are closed. Strands of mushrooms are drying from a string hung across the firewood. There is the smell of earth and burning wood. In another corner there are bunches of herbs hanging from the ceiling. There is a large rocking chair next to the fireplace. It has an old cushion on it.
‘Monsieur Chevalier uses this cabin a lot during the truffle hunting season,’ he explains with a smile. ‘I think it gives him a break from Madam.’
I chuckle quietly.
He takes a brown bottle from a shelf and hands it to me. ‘Mosquito repellent made of herbs.’
I rub it on my hands and legs and it smells pleasantly of lavender.
He snatches a couple of blankets and a basket and we set off again. We reach another clearing where there is a round flat surface with a green plastic covering. Shane flicks the covering off it and reveals a round bench with a flat round mattress and lots of cushions on it.
‘Go on. Climb aboard,’ he urges.
I get on the mattress and lie back. The sky is alive with stars. He switches off the torches and lies next to me. I can hear sounds in the forest, foraging animals, insects, and I can hear him breathing next to me. My whole body tingles with hyper awareness. He turns his head and looks at me. His eyes are gleaming in the dark. I inhale suddenly.
We’re going to have sex in the forest.
And then it happens. A tiny light comes on close to my head. Startled, I gasp and jerk my head around. Why, it is a firefly. The little creature flashes and then goes dark. And then flashes again. Magical.
‘Look Shane,’ I whisper in wonder.
‘Look, mate. This one’s taken, go flash elsewhere,’ he tells the firefly.
I laugh, a laugh of sheer joy and enchantment and reach up with my cupped hands.
It darts away.
‘Oh,’ I say disappointed, but I realize that others are dancing into view. They glow and flicker in trees and in the air, and slowly they light up the whole forest like a Christmas tree giving enough light that I can make out Shane’s features. Between the blades of the tall grasses and dandelions, hundreds of lights twinkle as if all the stars in the sky have fallen to earth.
‘It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve seen. I’ll never forget this night as long as I live,’ I whisper in an awed voice. ‘Thank you, for bring me here.’
‘The show’s not over yet, honey. I’ve still got a bit of flashing to do myself,’ he says lazily.
The words die in my throat when I see his shadowy face loom over me before warm soft lips are kissing me.
SHANE
We Irish believe in faeries. The Irish fairy is not like Peter Pan’s Tinker Bell. An Irish fairy can take any form she wishes, but prefers the human form. Our elders claim that they are beautiful, powerful and impossible to resist, which really, is a crying shame, because most Irish faeries love to bring misfortune and bad luck to the mortals who come near them. At that moment in the glow of the fireflies, Snow looked like an Irish fairy.
Beautiful, powerful and impossible to resist.
And I don’t resist. The air is laden with sexual longing, I have a raging hard on, and her white skin and luscious black hair are spread out before me like an irresistible siren’s call. Come misfortune, treacherous rocks, and bad luck. I’ll deal with you later. Her mouth is warm and sweet, scented with honeyed apricots she ate earlier. Her top has a metal hook, a hole and four little buttons at the back. All in a row. Piece of cake to undo.
I pull her towards me so she is lying on her side and unbutton them. I slide my hand in and stroke her silky back.
SNOW
The fireflies are still twinkling and shining around us, but I cannot look at their magic. I can only look at the beauty of Shane’s face. My blouse whispers as he tugs it off.
I smell him, his cologne, his sweat, his desire. It is all male. I can’t help but look at his cock. It is so massive, so thick, and the tip is already dripping.
‘My God! You are so big,’ I whisper.
‘Yeah, and it’s all going into you. Every last fucking inch.’
Between my thighs I am wet and aching for the feel of his hard cock deep inside me.
In a daze I reach out a hand and curl it around the thick shaft and I open my mouth. Because it’s him. Because I want that liquid that’s dripping from the tip. He puts his hands on my shoulders and I wrap my mouth around the shaft and slide down the smooth shaft. His hands are strong and aggressive. Nothing like Lenny.
He strips me quickly until I am buck naked. He pulls back and looks at me with hunger in his eyes. His fingertips slide over my body, possessively. It feels good. I want him to know that it feels good so I moan.
He stops. ‘I’m nearly ready to explode, but first I will take care of you,’ he says assertively.
He slips his hand down my hips and opens my legs, but my body knows what it wants. I lift my hips and offer my wet pussy to him.
He sinks a thick finger into me. I gasp with pleasure.
‘You’re so swollen and wet,’ he says, his eyes dark with desire.
The smell of my own desire floods my senses making me flush with excitement.
His huge cock pushes against me before slowly, inexorably pushing in. For a moment it hurts so much it feels as if I am tearing apart and I claw at his shoulder. But this pain is different from any other kind of pain I’ve endured. It’s a … good pain.
‘You’re too tight. The pain will pass,’ he tells me. His face is rough with a mixture of lust and concern.’
‘I know,’ I gasp.
‘Want me to stop?’
‘No,’ I growl. I want him inside. My body is not too tight to take him. I grasp his firm buttocks and pull him hard towards me. His cock breaks me open. The shock of the pain steals my breath and makes me freeze as he slides in.