Country Pleasures (24 page)

She heard a chortle from above. When they weren't talking about sex, she and Sally had worked hard on the cottage. With Sally working to Janie's orders –another about-turn in their normal roles – they had transformed it from a cute but tired house, stripping off all the old chintz to unearth a modern yet rustic look; stripped the wallpaper and colour-washed the
walls. They'd thrown out the sofa covers and replaced them with plain linens, but kept the rugs and colourful cushions to add brightness to the pale, woody interior.

‘Yeah, and let's get the little photographer back here as well!' Sally shouted.

Janie laughed then frowned. She glanced out of the tiny landing window at the road that wound away from the cottage.

‘After that I must start selling my wares,' she said. ‘I'm supposed to be persuading people like Jonathan and Jack that their houses need redecorating.'

Sally bounced out of her bedroom and down the winding attic stairs. She had tamed and curled her blonde hair so that it flew round her face, and wore the wispy dress with some Gina silver sandals. She looked like the old Sally – a demented angel.

‘What are we waiting for, then,' she whooped, jumping down the last stair into Janie's arms. ‘Let's hit the town!'

Jonathan's house was a white Art Deco affair perched on the edge of a cliff, and at first the place looked deserted. The sun was just beginning to set over the sea, bathing the house in an orange glow. One or two lights had been lit inside the house, but there was no one in the drive to greet them. Sally and Janie walked round to the garden. There was a circular swimming pool at one end, already floodlit from under the blue water, and in front of them two rows of iron braziers had been lit, the flames standing straight up and barely flickering in the balmy air, making a fiery path across the lawn towards a little gate which was propped open.

‘So much for being
femmes fatales
,' muttered Sally, untying her sandals. ‘Look how steep this path is!'

They clambered barefoot down the sandy path
towards the sound of rushing waves and low voices, and tumbled out into a tiny cove. Jonathan was standing behind a vast barbeque, which was laden with steaks and virtually hidden by the aromatic smoke. Behind another table heaped with salads and bread were Sam and Tom, both tipping beer down their throats from chilled cans. They wore pristine white shirts unbuttoned to their brown waists, and baggy surfer jeans.

‘Gimme, gimme,' breathed Sally, fluffing up her curls and stepping over the sand towards them. The boys nodded politely at her as she approached them, but they both looked over her head towards Janie. She smiled, a knot of remembered pleasure forming in her stomach, but they were not who she was looking for just then. She basked for a moment in their admiration, and then Sally must have said something outrageous, for they both grinned down at her and started fighting over who was going to ladle the salad onto her plate.

‘Good evening, Jonathan,' Janie said, holding out a plate for some sausages and glancing around restlessly. ‘Beautiful place you have here. Shame it's only rented.'

‘That was a lie, actually,' he replied, plonking sausages and a juicy steak on her plate, as her stomach rumbled. She was constantly hungry when she was down here by the sea. She picked up a sausage and started chewing the end of it.

‘A lie?'

He was also restless, and he glowered at Sally flirting with his sons.

‘Didn't want Sally to think I was too keen,' he confessed. ‘I wanted to make it sound temporary. I love the way you do that, by the way.'

She raised her eyebrows, the sausage wedged into her cheek.

‘Gobble that sausage, I mean.' He dolloped some mayonnaise onto her plate then looked up at the rocky cliff. ‘It isn't rented at all. This is my own. I've just bought it.'

‘But Tom and Sam said –'

‘My sons said a lot of things. Mostly extremely complimentary about you, I may say, although I had to tick them off for rampaging through the local fauna and flora the minute they came off the M5.'

Jonathan walked across to another table and handed her a glass of champagne. Janie sipped greedily, the bubbles popping on her tongue and going straight to her head.

‘No ticking off necessary, I can assure you. I can't remember when I ever had such a good time,' she remarked, adopting his formal tone. ‘They are a credit to you.'

They both laughed in low, dirty chuckles, and clinked their glasses.

‘But they seemed to think the house was rented, too,' Janie went on.

‘Well, it
was
rented, but it's come up for sale while I've been here,' Jonathan explained. ‘Jack and I had a tussle over it but I won. It's back to the drawing board at that old wreck of a farm for him.'

‘Jack.' Her stomach gave a flutter. ‘Is he here?'

‘Not tonight. He was called back to London. Some medical emergency at his practice, but he'll be back in a day or two.'

‘Oh, thank goodness,' she said, but still her stomach plunged with disappointment.

‘Old love, is he? Asked Jonathan. ‘That's the impression he gave me.'

Janie eyed her host, remembering Sally's harsh
words about him. It was so easy to be charmed into opening up to him. She decided to play it cool.

‘No, childhood playmates, that's all. I just wanted to talk to him about renovating the farm. It's what I do.'

‘No need for any of that here, is there, Jono? This place is like a new pin.'

Janie felt something soft pressing up against her arm and looked down to see a very large round breast encased in scarlet lace nudging at the crook of her elbow. Her eyes travelled upwards to see the olive skin and flashing black eyes of a woman she hadn't seen before. She looked exotic and dangerous as she stood on the beach in her scarlet lace mini-dress. Next to her Janie suddenly felt, in her long floaty dress, too demure and dreary.

‘Mimi! I don't recall inviting you!' Jonathan exclaimed, looking flustered. He glanced across the gathering at Sally, who was glaring over at them from between the two golden boys. One of them raised a curl of hair that was stuck behind her ear and whispered something. Sally's mouth crinkled into a smile, though her eyes remained fixed on Janie's group. The brothers nudged each other and pulled Sally further along the beach.

‘No offence taken,' Mimi replied, then took a champagne glass out of his hand and drained it. Her voice was gravelly, the result of several cigarettes a day, Janie reckoned. ‘I rarely get invited to posh do's like this. Maddock hates them, but you're glad I pitched up, aren't you? Admit it. You're always glad to see me.'

‘Jane, this is Mimi,' Jonathan explained. ‘The local barmaid.'

Jonathan walked off abruptly to talk to another group of guests who were dressed as if they'd just
climbed down the rigging of their boats. They made Sally, Janie and this Mimi look like dogs' dinners, Janie thought. Over by the water's edge Sally turned her back to the crowd, lifted her little pink dress right up to her bum, and started paddling.

‘What's his problem? You don't look like a barmaid,' Janie remarked, nearly choking on her sausage as the dark woman watched her. ‘Except for the impressive cleavage of course.'

She had no idea why she had said that, apart from the fact that she couldn't take her eyes off the tits spilling out of the lace. Mimi was standing close enough for them still to be touching Janie's arm; almost nudging her own breasts, in fact. Her stomach tightened as she saw how close both pairs were, the exposed nut-brown pair and her own pale ones, the dark valley between them visible beneath the thin fabric of her dress.

Mimi tipped her long neck back and laughed, and everyone turned to watch her, except Sally, who had waded into the water up to her thighs and was holding her dress right above her waist, oblivious to the party and deafened by the rushing of the waves. The two boys stood on the beach and watched her.

‘You're right there. They're my best feature, I reckon, and get me jobs you wouldn't dream of.' She draped an arm round Janie's neck and pressed her mouth against her ear. ‘My name's not really Mimi. It's Mary, but that's too … well, prim, don't you think? Doesn't suit. And I'm only a
barmaid
–' she mimicked Jonathan's scathing tones ‘– for the summer. Jonathan likes to emphasise that as if it's an insult. His problem is, he fucked me last week and now he's embarrassed about it. I guess he thinks I'm beneath him. He's a mummy's boy. No balls, these city types.'

Janie felt a heat spread across her cheek where Mimi's lips still rested.

‘You're only a barmaid in the summer, you said? What do you do in the winter, then?'

Mimi took another glass from the tray and wound her arm around Janie's waist. They started walking on bare feet towards the rocky steps. It was dark now, and a stiff breeze was coming off the water. Quite a few of the guests had already gone up to the house, and Jonathan had also disappeared.

‘Darling, your pretty hair would curl if I told you,' she said, somewhat theatrically. ‘Let's go up to the pool.' Mimi laughed, pulling Janie after her. ‘Jono won't mind. I've been coming up here quite a lot to cool off. Can't stand all that salt water. Your friend OK back there?'

Halfway up the steep path they turned. In the twilight the tips of the waves gave off flashes of foamy white light, and Sally was pulling off her dress as she waded back to the shore. The boys darted forward and lifted her out of the water. The three of them looked like triplets in this light, tousled yellow heads laughing together, but where the boys were tanned golden, Sally's petite body was pale as it dangled between them. They carried her like a doll over to a bonfire they had made, and tried to sit her down in the flickering light, but Sally wouldn't stay still. She was crawling across the sand, pulling at the buttons on the shirt of the older brother. Behind her, the younger brother already had his shirt off and was frantically unbuttoning his soaked jeans.

‘That's Tom, I think,' remarked Mimi. ‘Or Sam. Can't tell the difference, though they're both equally tasty. You have to take the youngsters for a ride, don't you, just to see what they're like?'

She turned Janie's chin towards her, and Janie felt that weird heat flooding through her whole body this time, not just her face. She was glad the sun had set so no one could see her blushing.

‘Want to join them down there? You look as if you're straining at the leash. Could be fun, I suppose.'

Janie turned back to look at the beach scene. Sally had undressed the older boy and pushed him onto his back. She continued crawling over him until she was poised over his face. The boy grabbed her buttocks and Sally hung over him, balancing on her hands and knees. Then, very slowly she lowered herself until her pussy was against his mouth, and rocked herself gently back and forth so that the soft curls were brushing against his lips. His head jerked up to try to lick her, and Janie could see that she was teasing him, but she'd be teasing herself more by holding herself away like that, and, sure enough, she sank down, tossing her head back with delight as he started to lick at her.

The younger boy scratched his head for a moment, and Janie really was tempted to run back down to the beach and give him something to do with the aching erection he held in his hands. She glanced at Mimi. Janie reckoned the pair of them could show him a thing or two. She felt a kick of desire in her and was about to suggest it when Mimi nudged her and pointed. The boy who Janie had straddled and suckled the other day was getting the idea, and he came and stood above his brother's hidden head, his knees slightly bent. The way Sally was kneeling, she was on a level with his young, erect penis. He thrust it towards her face, and she took it in one hand, balancing herself with the other on the ground, and guided the length towards her mouth.

‘Been there, done that, haven't we? So perhaps we
should leave well alone tonight,' Mimi murmured, reading Janie's mind. Janie nodded. She and Sally had reached such an easy harmony over the last few days. She didn't want to rock the boat by muscling in on Sally's latest conquest. In any case, her encounter on the beach with those two was far more erotic than this. For a start, it had been lovely and warm out there, hidden amongst the dunes.

‘You're right.' She chuckled quietly. ‘Anyway, I'm afraid I have the satisfaction of knowing I got there first.'

‘I know,' Mimi answered, equally quietly.

Janie allowed herself a delicious quiver as she remembered leaning over the younger boy's face and dangling her nipples into his eager mouth.

‘Maybe we could join them – later,' she said quickly, pretending that it was the evening air that made her shiver. ‘Let's go and find our host.'

‘A swim, I think, in his lovely pool. You like swimming, don't you?' asked Mimi.

She walked ahead of Janie towards the little gate and the low hum of voices wafted across the lawn. Janie watched the barmaid's wide hips swaying, the tight red dress slipping higher up the brown legs with each upwards step.

‘Yes,' she panted. She didn't realise she was so unfit. Why was she out of breath? ‘But how do you know I like swimming? And come to think of it, how do you know I got there first with the two boys?'

Mimi waited for her at the gate.

‘I saw you the other morning, in the sea. Wonderful body you have, Jane. I'd never have guessed you were a city girl. You look like you were born to frolic in the waves like some kind of goddess.'

Janie laughed and tried to push through the gate,
but Mimi laid her fingers lightly on Janie's arm, and her skin shivered again.

‘Superb, I thought. You don't know how good you look, do you? One of my winter jobs is as a nude model. Artists' studios as well as magazines. I know a sensational body when I see one. I expect those boys thought all their Christmasses had come at once!'