“Actually, I’m off until Tuesday. I’ve been doing a few extra hours to get the weekend off.”
They came to the fork in the roads.
“I’ve got to go. I promised a friend I’d meet them,” she told him.
Peter nodded and Laura waved at him. She ran the last few yards to Dean’s house, not bothering to look back. Laura enjoyed the breeze on her face.
Dean waited for her outside. Disappointment surged through her.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
Dean
chuckled and cupped her face as she got near.
“You’re becoming insatiable," he told her. "I don’t want to spend all of my time stranded inside here. I bought you something.” He picked up a bag and instead of showing her what he’d brought, took her hand and they walked down through the garden.
She recognized the path to the stream with the boulders she loved. She didn’t talk and waited until Dean stopped and looked around.
“This is such a beautiful place,” he said and pulled out some scraps of material from the bag he’d brought with him.
“What have you got?”
“I want you to wear this for me.” Dean held up a deep purple bikini top and bottoms. Laura burst out laughing.
“What’s so funny?”
“There is no way you’re getting me into a bikini. I won’t even wear a full swimsuit,” she told him.
Dean stared at her and then glanced down at his purchase.
“All right. If you don’t wear this, I won’t show you my swimwear and anything else will be off the menu. We’ll go back to the house and work on your story,” he said. He replaced his purchase in the bag and made to move back up the path.
“Wait. Are you serious?” she asked.
“Do I look like I’m telling some kind of joke?” he said.
“No. We can still do other stuff. You don’t need me to be wearing a bikini for that.”
Dean was shaking his head. “Not good enough. I want you to wear the present I brought.”
“But I’ll look awful,” she protested.
He cupped her cheeks and laid a gentle kiss against her lips. She tried to deepen the kiss but he wouldn’t let her.
“You won’t look awful. I want you to see how beautiful you are to me,” he said.
Laura hated him and loved him all at the same time. She didn’t want to wear the small scrap of a bikini. Taking a deep breath, she walked around him and began undoing her blouse, button by button.
Dean stood away and she felt his eyes on her. She placed the blouse on the boulder, followed by her bra.
“Wait. Take your skirt and panties off first,” Dean instructed.
She unzipped the skirt and it fell to a pool at her feet. Next she dropped her panties.
“Turn around,” he told her.
Laura turned around and gasped at how close he’d come.