Her shoes were not red. They were, however, little—too little for the feet that swelled over the satin tops and blistered deep inside the glossy, black toe. They made skipping an excruciating business. Still, one must skip, and skip she did, limping a touch on the downbeat and trying not to whimper around her forced smile.
She swung the basket to distract from her insteps, forward and back in her left arm, forward and back. The wretched thing weighed a ton. Her mother's gift for Grannie lay heavy inside the hamper. She'd peeked at it already. One had to peek, and her special places heated at the sight of the neatly wrapped present.
By the time she reached the woods, her shoulder ached and her nipples rubbed against the corset under her peasant blouse. Grannie's treat had her aroused enough to run a finger over them through the material. Her buds tingled in response. She stopped at the fringe edge of the trees, thumped the basket to the ground and rubbed at each nipple in turn.
She pinched and rolled them through the fabric, and didn't stop when the woodsman appeared in the pathway. Red pretended not to see him. She let him get a good, long look. One had to look, after all.
He cleared his throat a few moments later, and she started, dropped her hands to her sides and managed to blush. The blushing, she knew, was important. The woodsman took a step closer. He wore a fuzzy, plaid shirt that stretched over broad shoulders. His face bore a shadow of stubble about the jaw.
"Oh," Red said. Her lashes waved at him.
"It's a bit close to the forest for a young girl to be walking alone."
"I'm taking a basket of goodies to my Grannie." She picked up her basket and her grandmother's treat from her mother. Not much love lost between those two, but then Grannie was her father's mother, and never had condoned his choice in wife. Still, one had to send a basket when the old woman complained. Red frowned and rolled the kink out of her shoulder. Of course, one didn't have to send it themselves.
"You shouldn't go in there alone." He had to say that.
"I'll be fine." She smiled at him and puffed her chest out enough that his eyes bugged. "I've done this lots of times." She took a step in his direction.
"I'd be happy to guide you."
"You have quite the shaft," she said.
"Excuse me?" His face bloomed crimson.
"Your axe." Red blinked. "I'm sure it's effective, but I need to go on alone." One always went in alone. The coming out was another thing.
The woodsman accepted her answer. He shifted his big axe to the other shoulder and continued past her, only following her with his eyes for now. Red smiled and waited until he'd gone. Then she turned to the forest and watched the darkness inside shift and beckon. Her feet still hurt. And the hunky stranger hadn't exactly relieved the tightness in her nipples. She tweaked one as she stepped on down the path.
Goosebumps lifted along her arms. Still, one must enter the forest if the path led there, and here in front of her blistered feet the path twisted and disappeared into the trees. Red followed it until the branches blotted out the sun and the sound of a wolf whimpering stopped her feet. There had to be a wolf, she knew. She set the basket down again and watched the dark. He didn't have to be late, however. One of her glossy toes tapped. He didn't have to, but he was.
She could hear him not too far off, but he didn't appear. The quiet of the woods echoed his whimpers, and they took on a rhythmic quality. Damn. She pinpointed the sounds, crossed to the thick brush and pulled aside a few branches. Behind these a clear pocket lay under the trunks, and in its middle the wolf squatted, his furred paws wrapped around the waist of Farmer Dell's collie, and his tail wagging merrily as he humped.
Red blushed for real this time. She shifted her weight to the other foot and leaned closer. The wolf's tongue lolled between his fangs, and his hind end bounced against the dog's. Between her thighs, a new heat flared. She listened to the panting and felt her panties moisten until she couldn't keep her own breaths quiet. Reluctantly, she stepped back, frustrated and itching to be on her way even more so now
She reached her hamper in time to hear the wolf's final howl of pleasure. Not long now, and though she debated skipping him, she decided against it and sat down on top of Grannie's goodie basket to wait.
The collie ran off first. Red watched her go and sighed. The branches rustled and out stepped the wolf, late, still lolling, and completely unrepentant.
"You're late."
"One doesn't have to point it out."
Red yawned. She wiggled against her sticky panties and turned a bored look on him. "I'm taking a basket of goodies to my Grannie."
"Again?"
She stared him down.
"Fine, fine. What a fine day for it. Mind if I peek?"
"Whatever."
She stood up and watched him hunch over the basket. He lifted the lid and let out a long whistle. "All this is for Grannie?"
"Mom says she's really hungry."
"Damn."
"So." Red waited, but his nose remained pointed at the treat, fascinated. "So, I'm just going to take this path here on the left." She practically had to shout to pry him away.
"Right. I mean, wrong. Don't take the left path. It's much too long. Go right, young mistress."
"Can I have the basket back?"
"I suppose."
She snatched it up and glared at him. "Don't be late."
"One is never late."
"Right."
She took the right path on his orders, but her steps stomped as much as she could bear in the nasty shoes. She couldn't get her mind off the image of his collie coitus, and the idea that they were heading for a rendezvous at Grannie's little cottage didn't help. She used her free hand to rub herself, lifting her red skirts and stroking over her panties until she stumbled and had to focus on walking again.
