Annalise looked at her watch. He was forty-five minutes late, at least. She checked her backpack. The wine, the candles, the food were all there. What did she forget? There must be something...the blanket!
She ran into her bedroom, grabbed a big stadium blanket out of the closet and, sprinting out of her room, ran right into John, almost falling over. He caught her around the waist, kissed her cheek, and held her close for a moment.
"Are you ready?"
"I am! I just realized I forgot the blanket and grabbed it. Why were you late?"
John kissed her forehead. "I'll explain it in the car. Do you have everything I told you to get?"
Annalise nodded. She knew that there was a picnic in her near future, but she wasn't positive where. John had asked her to trust him, that this would be an afternoon they wouldn't easily forget. She already trusted him.
John took Annelise's hand and propped her backpack up on his shoulder. "Take the blanket." She nodded again. He pulled her out the front door and locked it with his key.
They slid into his jeep, throwing the blanket and backpack into the back seat. Annelise felt her tension from a hard week of work melt out of her as he drove out of the city and into the mountains. John put a CD in, and Annelise smiled at the opening notes to Dvorak's New World Symphony.
The smooth motion of the car twisting through foothills quickly put Annelise to sleep, and she knew nothing until the car stopped. John hopped out of the car and swung a gate open, jumping back in, driving through, and jumping out again, closed the gate.
Now bumping through a well packed dirt road, Annelise paid close attention to the scenery. Trees surrounded the jeep on every side. Fresh air assaulted her senses, and she could hear rushing water on her left side.
The road ended in a densely wooded glade, and John squeezed Annelise's knee. "We're on foot from here."
She hopped out of the vehicle, stretching, feeling more tension melt from her body. John grabbed a picnic basket and handed the backpack to Annelise.
They hiked through a mile of trees, no path easing their way. Annelise couldn't figure out how John knew where to go, but he looked like he knew what he was doing, so she followed unquestioningly. The trees opened to a meadow, and a spring bubbled into a wide pond. "Are we there yet?" she teased. At John's nod, she smiled, turning around, and inspected her surroundings. "How did you ever find this place?"
"Magic."
The air was cool on Annelise's skin, but the spring looked divine. "Shall we swim?", she asked. John smiled, and nodded once more. Annelise bit her lip and checked to make sure John was watching her eyes.
She pulled the tail of her shirt from her shorts, and started unbuttoning her shirt from the bottom up. One button, two, three... checking to see if John was watching still (he was!) four buttons, five, six. The shirt opened, revealing soft, full breasts encased in silky white satin. John's gaze wasn't going anywhere.
Leaving her shirt around her shoulders, Annelise unbuckled her belt and unbuttoned her khaki shorts, which, when released, fell to her ankles. White panties, matching the bra, covered her.
Annelise turned away from John and bent over, showing her satin covered ass to him, and kicked off the shorts, unlacing her boots, taking plenty of time. John noticed that the panties tied on the sides, keeping that information handy for an appropriate time to take advantage of the fact.
So caught up in Annelise's show, John stood, fully clothed, with a picnic basket on his arm. He heard a splash and realized he had missed her entry into the slowly rippling pond.
Quickly undressing, he jumped into the pond, relishing the cold as it swept through him. Annelise floated on her back on the other end of the pond, staring at a deeply blue sky. He entered stealth mode, and taking a deep breath, swam underwater to her.
The strings from the panties dangled in the water. Taking a string in each hand, John untied the left side without coming up for air or touching Annelise. Deftly swimming to her right side, he untied those strings, as well.
Given the necessity of oxygen, John wisely decided to surface for air between Annelise's spread, floating legs. Slightly less wisely, he grabbed her around the waist, pulling her from her reverie. She screamed, surprised, then dunked John under the water and swam to the side of the pond she'd jumped into, her untied panties floating to the surface of the water.
"This is war!"