A/N: sorry for the delay in updating this.
Part 9
.
When Donna opened Jocasta's front door just after six o'clock she was confused to John standing there under the glow of Jocasta's porch light in his previous dark coat, black jeans and dark grey jumper ensemble. "What happened to the suit?" she wondered.
"Mum made me take it off; said it's for best and I have to keep it for tomorrow night," he grumpily explained. "Anyone would think I'm a bloody child with the way she carries on."
"Aren't mums supposed to do that?" she teased, and then placed a consoling kiss on his cheek.
"Is that all I get?" he asked as he stepped inside the cottage and looked around the living room with great curiosity. It was just as he'd expected: ornate, expensive looking and like some photo-shoot out of a magazine like House Beautiful. Not that he tended to look at such things unless he was forced to; like when waiting at the dentist's.
"Well… this is our first official date," she argued.
He immediately managed to huff a laugh. "I suppose it is." Funnily enough, he felt as nervous as though it was their very first date too. So many questions buzzed around in his head. Things like: what would be the best place to take her, would he bore her to tears, was there going to be any chance of continuing what they had started the day before? That last one in particular had played endlessly in his mind when he'd been alone in the intervening hours. Not that he was going to own up to that fact in a hurry.
Feeling the awkwardness that had suddenly fallen upon them, Donna thought to ask, "Did you want some tea before we do anything?"
John hurriedly nodded. "Yes, tea would be nice." It seemed a logical thing to do in the circumstances. It also meant that he had to follow Donna into the kitchen, which he did willingly. Watching her bustle about filling the kettle, getting out mugs and hunting for the milk was an unexpected pleasure, and he settled himself by leaning against a kitchen worktop in order to do so.
She could feel his eyes observing every movement, and wondered why he never seemed to say very much but tended to fill in information in short rapid bursts. It would take a bit of getting used to but she was sure she could. "Do you take sugar?" she asked as the kettle began to boil.
"No thanks," he replied, and edged nearer. "I was erm… the thing is, I'm not sure where you'd like to go tonight," he stammered.
Aw, he looked so sweet and adorable as he gazed expectantly at her, and Donna felt herself melt. "I don't mind. What do you fancy doing?"
Ooh, now that was a leading question! "I er…" Lowering his gaze meant that he was peering right at the buttons of her blouse and that enticing cleavage underneath. When she shifted a little bit he was sure he could catch a glimpse of the fine lace edging her bra, and that was a very exciting thought.
What on earth was he playing at? Couldn't he keep his eyes out of her cleavage for five seconds?! Bloody typical. "I'm up here, John."
The sound of her voice brought him out of his revelry, and he blushed at being caught fantasying about her body. It was an extremely lovely body, in his opinion, that needed some careful attention from him; attention that involved kissing every visible freckle for starters.
"Sorry. It's just that… that is a very nice blouse you are wearing," he blustered, and allowed his gaze to sweep down her body. "Your whole outfit is… You look lovely." He really hoped that he sounded sincere rather than sleazy to her ears.
"Thanks," she tightly answered as she realised Jocasta was standing in the doorway. "Hello Jocasta. Would you like to join us for tea?"
Rats, she'd been noticed! And just when their flirting had become useful. "Yes please, dear," Jocasta replied and entered the kitchen properly. "How are you, John?"
"Fine thanks," he politely answered. "And yourself?"
"The usual aches and pains," she responded and took the offered cup of tea from Donna's hands. "Are you two going anywhere nice?"
"We were just trying to decide that," admitted Donna as she took a healthy gulp of her own tea and gazed at John as he finished off drinking his own cup.
The phone went off in John's pocket. There was a frantic search for it before he peered at the screen to answer the ringing mobile, clearly puzzled that it had. "Hello, Dad. What's the problem? Okay, I'll do that, don't worry. Speak to you later. Bye."
"Anything the matter?" Donna immediately asked.
John sighed. "It was Dad being worried he left the door open in the barn in the top field. The latch was acting up, he says. Do you…" There was some anxious scratching of his head. "Do you mind if we go up there and make sure everything is okay?"
"Of course I don't," she readily agreed.
"You'd better take my gumboots again," Jocasta advised. "It might be muddy."
"And we can't have you walking across the mud," John deliberately smirked in Donna's direction.
In reply, she playfully pushed at his chest. "Give over, you! You'll have your own problems in that getup."
"I've come prepared." A smug grin appeared on his face.
"I bet you say that to all the girls," she retorted. "Come on then, farmer John. Let's go and check on this barn of yours. I'll see you later, Jocasta."
"Have fun," Jocasta called out to them as they both walked away; her mind was already half on the notes she wanted to quickly write down for her next book. The pair of them had provided plenty of information to dally with. Deliciously so.
The lane they drove down was pitch black, and the main beam of the Land Rover they sat in illuminated lots of grass on the edge of the road and not a great deal more. Every now and then a tree loomed out of the gloom or some small creature with luminous eyes like something out of a horror film.
The whole experience was more than a little frightening for Donna, so she kept up a constant tale to fill the silence and pretend that everything was perfectly normal. Why couldn't they have street lights and buildings and people, like normal places?
"…So I said to Alice, 'Why did he do that?' and she just shrugged. I think he might be gay, if I'm honest," Donna waffled on, and turned her attention to John's profile in the subtle light given off by the dashboard and reflected back by the landscape. She was pleased to note that he was dividing his attention between driving and looking at her with a distinct smile on his face. At least he had cheered up considerably since their phone call. "You don't say much, do you?" she couldn't help commenting.
The expression on his face went thoughtful. "I suppose I don't. Sorry. Sheep don't tend to answer back, no matter what you try to discuss, so I don't get much conversation as a rule."
"But you must talk when you are lecturing at the college," she reasoned. "You wouldn't be able to do that without opening your mouth."
"That's different," he countered. "My students want to hear what I have to say; I'm passing on knowledge."
"I don't see the difference," she admitted. "Talking is talking, surely."
A chuckle escaped his lips. "No, it isn't, I assure you. When it comes to small talk, I just can't do it."
She leant across and kissed his cheek, pleasantly surprising him. "Honestly, you are doing fine. All you need is a bit of practice."
"I get the feeling that I'll get plenty of that with you."
"Are you saying I do nothing but talk?" she questioned.
"No," he hurriedly answered, and wondered why she then laughed.
"That makes a change because I've often been called a chatterbox. Always got into trouble in school for talking," she confessed. "I was forever being told to keep quiet."
"I had the opposite; got told off for not speaking up," he declared. "You just can't win."
As they giggled together at their opposing problem, she felt the need to reach out and caress his shoulder, offering comfort and acceptance. "Don't worry; I'll do the talking for the pair of us."
It completely coincided with him stopping the vehicle. "I like the sound of that," he breathily replied. "We're here. The barn is on the left." He pointed towards a large black object in the generally dark and windy landscape.
She turned her head to peer out of the window, not quite seeing it. "Oh yeah," she pretended to agree.
When she turned back he had eased himself across the small space to be within millimetres away. It didn't take make effort to lean into the kiss he offered. Soft touches of cold lips that gradually warmed up.
The strong wind outside suddenly buffeted the car; causing them to stop and stare out the window for a moment.
"I really don't fancy going out in this to check that latch," he murmured. "Oh, I know!" he suddenly cried as an idea hit him. This was followed by him frantically fumbling in the glove compartment before he triumphantly held up a pair of binoculars. "I knew these were in there. Right, let's have a look." Placing them in front of his eyes, he took care to adjust the focal length as he gazed out of the car windscreen. "Ah huh! That's got it. Nice close up of the drain pipe into the water butt... And there is the latch, safely closed. Good! I don't need to set foot out on the mud at all."
"So you can keep those jeans of yours clean," she commented.
"And the rest of me," he agreed with a pleased smirk. "Although you might be more pleased that I won't get frozen."
"How would that affect me?" she wondered. "I'm not that altruistic."
"Maybe, but I think you'd care if I put my freezing cold hands on you."
"Getting a bit ahead of yourself, Sunshine," she admonished him; and then noticed his guilty glance as he hastily shoved the binoculars back into the glove box. "What are you hiding?"
"Nothing!" he instantly and inevitably replied.
"Prove it," she dared him, and opened up the compartment. "Oh!" Inside was a small packet of condoms.
John looked adorably sweet as he hid his embarrassed face, she decided. Who was she to criticise him after their snogging session the day before and their obvious mutual attraction? It was quite logical in the circumstances. At least he was making some effort to be prepared; so she deliberately kissed first his cheek and then his lips.
After some seconds, he pulled away, and told her, "I have a nice surprise for you when I turn the lights off."
"What's that…?" she began to ask, but he turned the dial and they were plunged into absolute darkness.
Hearing her gasp, he instantly took hold of her hand and whispered, "Look at that."
"Oh wow!" The constellations in the clear sky had never been so vivid, and she eagerly scoured the view to take in as much as possible. "Gramps would love this."
"I was hoping you'd like it."
"Like it? I love it!" she proclaimed, and threw herself on him. "Thank you."
He let her kiss him in gratitude, and considered his next move in the time it took to adjust to the darkness.
As they sat staring at the stars, John rested his head next to Donna's and remarked as casually as he could, "I'd have said that technically this is our fourth date."
"How did you make it four; and isn't the fourth date when things get heated?" she openly questioned, and then blushed. "Not that I'm suggesting, or anything."
A waggle of eyebrows made her swat his arm.
"Technically it's four," he argued, and brought up a hand to count them on his fingers, "because the first one was when I sat in your car with you. The second was our meeting in the pub. The third one was our… shall we say… little tête-à-tête in my office; and number four is today."
"Ah, yes, the tête-à-tête," she remarked as the vivid memories of their embrace came to mind; their very heated and veering into dangerous territory embrace. "I'd have argued it was three at the most."
His hand rested on her hip, rubbing small circles with his thumb, egging her on; so she lunged at him, capturing his lips in a searing kiss. Then he kissed back more sensually, holding her close whilst running his hands over her body. As their open mouthed kisses deepened into tasting and sliding tongues together, his hands eased their way under the bottom hem of her blouse, to smooth across her soft skin. It wasn't as though her hands were idle, because the bottom buttons of his shirt were undone and the shirt pulled out from being confined beneath the belt of his jeans. Her hands explored the hair on his surprising well-toned chest, his shoulders, his back, and downwards to below his belt and on to his firm bottom.
The only sound within the car was wet lips smacking together, drawn in breaths, sighs, moans and groans as they clasped each other tighter. Should he take this further? Any question of ceasing completely disappeared from his head when he felt her fingers caress him. Oh yes, oh yes! He really wanted this!
Using his best seductive voice, he whispered into her ear, "The rear seats fully recline in this, did you know? Let me demonstrate... while we get comfortable."
Normal speech wasn't needed for quite a while after that.
A/N2: you probably won't be surprised to learn that I had to fight off the inclination to write a full sex scene here.
