Ch 20
The sun and the wine, combined with seeing John half undressed in front of her combined to make Rose than just a little bit warm and the drying shirt she had wrapped around her was completely unneeded now. But she also knew that if she gave it back to him, John would slip in back on and deprive her of the lovely sight of his bare chest.
Looking over the rim of her glass she tried to see if there was a nearby trysting place. Not that they were really out in the open but seeing how easily Derrick the butler had been able to sneak up on them earlier, she figured a more private venue would be better.
John hadn't touched the second glass of wine she had poured for him, apparently still fairly cautious around anything alcoholic. He instead seemed intent on pulling every grape off a bunch he had selected and was laying them out in front of him, smallest to largest.
"I don't suppose anyone's ever told you," Rose smiled, "never to play with your food?"
"Nope," he smiled back and continued until the stem of the bunch of grapes was completely empty. He rearranged a few of the small fruits, obviously deciding some were not in the correct order before sitting back to admire his handy work.
"Is this how it's going to be, every meal you're going to pick stuff apart or arrange it in some pattern before eating it?" she teased, "no wonder you're so skinny!"
At this John frowned slightly, "is this unacceptable? I just like to see what I'm eating before I do..."
Rose made a mental note to be a bit more clear about when she was only poking fun, she didn't want to come off as a nag like her mum could be. She reached out and put her hand on his knee, "it's OK, I don't mind, but promise me if we go to a posh restaurant you'll keep that to a minimum?"
He nodded in agreement and selected the smallest grape, turning it around in his hand before popping it into his mouth. He repeated this until he had eaten the last one, the whole time Rose found she couldn't take her eyes off of him. The careful way he examined the fruit, the manner in which his long fingers caressed the lucky grapes made her slightly envious of them. And made her wish she was on the receiving end of such tactile exploration.
It wasn't until he had finished the last grape that John noticed she was staring, "surely you've seen someone eat grapes before?" he asked.
"Well, yes," Rose agreed, "but never like that." Decision made she stood up and offered her hand to John, "I have something I want to show you," she wiggled her fingers invitingly.
Taking her hand John let himself be led.
Truth was, however, Rose didn't exactly know where they were going. She hadn't really been back to this part of the estate and didn't know what was around them. After a bit of wandering, she spied a small tool shed just off to one side of the edge of the garden.
John had been too busy taking in all they were passing to realise where they were heading. He finally saw what Rose was leading him towards, "are we going to do some gardening?" he asked clearly puzzled by their destination.
Rose laughed, "not exactly," she opened the door and peered inside. Clearly whatever had been stored in the shed was no longer there. Aside from dust and some abandoned spider webs it was empty.
She stepped inside but John didn't join her, he walked around the outside of the shed, peered in at Rose and did another circuit before stopping in the doorway.
"What?" she prompted.
"This isn't bigger on the inside," he announced gravely, "in fact it's..." he started to say but was cut off by Rose pulling him in by his belt, and planting a kiss on his lips as she reached behind him and pushed the door to the shed shut.
Taking a moment to catch her breath, as her eyes adapted to the dim light of the shed, she noticed a small bench built into it along the back. Maybe it had been meant for shelving but she figured it would work for her purposes. Putting her hands on John's narrow waist gently moved him along until the backs of his knees hit the bench and he sat down with a surprised grunt.
As soon as he was in position she climbed up on his lap and wrapped herself around him with a delighted chuckle.
Her fingers reached for his belt and even in her worked up state it finally dawned on her that the clothing he was now only half wearing, was not at all familiar. She looked at the shirt draped around her shoulders, then at his jeans, "where did you get those?" she asked.
"Pete got them for me," John replied wondering why all of a sudden the origin of his clothing was important.
Finally getting the belt unclasped and pulling it out of the jeans she grinned wickedly, "better not just tear them off of you then," she mock growled before opening the trousers and sliding her hand inside.