by Robin Wirth
TWENTY-FIVE
About an hour or so later, Lance and
Felicity came to the entrance to the Mundane
campsites they’d been looking for. A tired-
looking man took the money required for their
admittance, and told them they had the pick of
the park, since only a few other guests were
there.
“Mind you be quiet, however,” he added
as he recalled them laughing as they approached.
“It’s the middle of the night, and some folks
don’t like it when you disturb their slumber.”
“Of course, sir,” Lance agreed. “I’m
certain that I wouldn’t like it, either.”
As they walked, hand in hand, down the
dirt road, they glanced here and there at some of
the sites, but it was not until they reached one
beside a creek that bubbled along its way to the
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lake just beyond that they finally chose a spot.
The moon shone down, making the idyllic scene
even more inviting.
“All right, Lance, you go and gather
some wood while I clear the pit, and then we can
make a nice little fire.” There was just enough
light for Felicity to see Lance pull a face as she
said this, making her chuckle. “What’s wrong
with that idea?”
“You mean as in rub a couple of sticks
together?” he said with a mock cringe.
“Oh, that’s right,” she giggled. “You did
say that you wanted to be the one who rubbed
the sticks together, didn’t you?”
“Imp,” he grumbled as he tweaked her
nose. “Don’t think that I’ve forgotten about
owing you a swat or two on your sweet backside,
witch. And I fully intend to collect.”
“Well hey, you never have been able to
catch me to administer them, that’s hardly my
fault,” she answered with outrageous bravado.
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“Now go find some sticks and I’ll show you how
to rub them the right way.”
“Really?” he asked as he pulled her into
his arms and nibbled at her lips. “So, you think I
don’t know how to rub things the right way, eh?”
“Lance!” she squealed, though she tried
to keep her voice low as she did so. She pushed
at his chest, both attempting to get away and not
to at the same time.
“Mm, have I finally caught you then, or
is it just that you’ve decided to surrender?”
“Neither!” she answered bravely, then
chuckled. “Both,” she amended, and leaned up
to give him a kiss. “Find wood.”
Then she pushed him towards the trees
and swatted his arse again.
“Ha, you just wanted to lure me into your
evil web of deceit, didn’t you, Felicity?” he
called back as he went. “I’ll know better than to
trust your more tender advances after this.”
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With a merry laugh, Felicity turned away
and did a quick assessment of the campsite. She
cleared debris out of the area near the fire pit,
and then pulled the sleeping bags out of their
packs.
Biting at her lower lip in indecision,
Felicity could not make up her mind whether to
pile the two sleeping bags one on top of the other
as she wished, or set them apart from one
another.
If she put them together, would Lance
think that she was being blatantly forward?
Would he think it was an invitation to show her
his rotter, or would he think the gesture was
simply the attempt at being romantic she
believed it to be? She had no idea how the minds
of males worked concerning such things.
To compromise, she decided to drop the
two sleeping bags and some blankets into a pile
so they looked like she hadn’t gotten around to
arranging them yet. But then she thought this
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through. She was always known for being
thorough and efficient, as Lance well knew. He
would see right through something that lame.
She next laid them side by side, close but
not quite touching, and gave a dissatisfied
frown. She didn’t really want to put them that
way. She really wanted to create a cozy little
nest that the two of them could share. Would it
be so wrong if she did?
After all, it was just the two of them
alone out here, wasn’t it? And it wasn’t as if she
was trying to deter him from being naughty with
her, either. She rather liked the thought that he
would be willing to try.
Before she could make up her mind to
move the sleeping bags together, however,
Lancelot returned from the woods with his sticks
in hand. He glanced down at the two bed rolls as
he dropped the wood, and casually stretched as
he went to stand beside them.
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Pretending that it was an accident,
Lancelot used one of his feet to flip one sleeping
bag on top of the other. Felicity laughed at him,
and he cast her an innocent smile.
Then she stepped over and plopped
down on top of the pile. She wriggled around a
bit until she’d found a comfortable spot, and
burrowed into it with a satisfied sigh.
“Hm, this seems much comfier this
way,” she commented dryly. “Guess we’ll just
have to leave it like this, eh?”
“Undoubtedly,”
Lancelot
agreed,
winking at her. Then he hunkered down beside
the fire pit and began to pull up tufts of grass
from a nearby patch.
Felicity watched as he gathered the grass
along with some moss that he’d found in the
woods into a pile, pleased to see he’d thought of
it on his own. Not every witch or wizard knew
about the usefulness of kindling when making a
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fire. It was refreshing to keep company with
someone who did.
But next she had to shake her head and
suppress the urge to laugh. The way he went
about rubbing the two sticks together was a
deplorable waste of time. He would never get
enough friction between them to make a spark
the way he was doing it.
“That’s not the right way, silly,” she said
helpfully, and then moved behind him, taking
one of his hands in each of hers. She leaned into
his back as she showed him the correct method.
With her body pressed so closely against
his back, it was easy to feel precisely when his
heartbeat sped up. Felicity’s breath caught when
he turned his head to look back into her eyes, and
she suddenly became much too aware of just
how intimate their proximity really was.
“Do you know something?” he said
huskily as his green eyes began to
smolder. “I
think we’ve got plenty of heat at the moment.”
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Felicity sucked in her breath, and her
own heart suddenly went into overtime trying to
keep up with his. Lance tossed down the sticks
he still held, and twisted around to come up onto
his knees.
Trembling with need, Felicity scrabbled
backwards a bit to allow room between them,
but he was having none of that. He grasped her
by the shoulders and drew her back in, melding
their upper torsos together as he gave her a
searing kiss that was hotter than any fire ever
could have been.
“Lance!” she gasped softly.
He gathered her up into his arms and
moved with her on top of the sleeping bags,
covering her body with his own. Felicity’s
breath quickened as his lips reclaimed hers,
tasting her with a wild need.
“Lance!” she gasped again.
His hands tangled into her mass of tawny
curls, and a moan tore its way out of her throat
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without her permission. She found herself
running her hands down his arms as he leaned
more fully against her.
“Gods, you taste good, Felicity,” he
whispered into her mouth. The tip of his tongue
grazed her bottom lip, and then delved inside her
mouth for an even sweeter taste.
“You, too,” Felicity managed to get out
between more kisses. Their breaths mingled
together as the heat they shared climbed slowly
up to a blazing fire between them.
“So sweet,” Lance muttered as his hands
ached to explore further. He kept himself under
control with an iron will, not wishing to frighten
the poor girl with the true depth of his desire.
“Lance!” she whispered, her voice
almost pleading.
“We need to get some more sleep,” he
grumbled as he moved off of her and reached for
a blanket.
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He arranged the covers over the top of
them, and then pulled her to his side. Felicity’s
ear rested against his ribs, where she could still
hear the wild beating of his heart.
For the next few hours, they lay there
like that, with Lance cradling Felicity in his
arms. Sometimes, his fingers slid up to play in
her hair, and sometimes they drifted off to sleep,
but never for long.
With a contented sigh, Felicity turned
slightly as the sun began to rise. She gazed up at
the blaze of colors as they changed and
brightened in the sky, painting the entire world
beneath them in their shifting hues.
“Did you ever see anything so
beautiful?” she asked.
“Never,” Lance told her, but he wasn’t
looking at the sky as he said it. He was looking
at her.
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TWENTY-SIX
“Well, I suppose we’re going to have to
find some breakfast,” said Lance as he stretched
beneath her.
“What kind of breakfast?” Felicity
smirked.
“I’ll have my eggs poached, and I want a
bunch of those little sausages filled with cheese,
and—”
“Lancelot Jones, is that what people call
roughing it these days?” Felicity admonished
him. “If we want breakfast in true Mundane
camping fashion, we have to get it from off the
land itself.”
“As in?”
“Well, I think we’re supposed to pick
berries and try to catch some fish,” she said.
“The only problem is, I tried to tie on a hook to
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my fishing line, and the knot won’t stay. I’d hate
for my hook to come loose and fall off while the
line was in the water.”
“When exactly did you try to tie on a
fishing hook while we’ve been sleeping?” Lance
inquired. “That would have been quite a feat.”
“You don’t remember when I needed to
go find the bushes?” she said with a smile.
“Ah, I see. So you went into the bushes
and did some surreptitious, albeit unsuccessful,
line tying attempts in the dark, at well past
midnight, and therefore think that somehow you
have failed?” he asked with some amusement.
“How about trying again in the light of day,
sweetheart?”
“I don’t see what possible difference that
would make,” she grumbled. “I should have
been equally able to do it then as I am now. I
have never failed to do whatever I set out to do
before this.”
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“Indulge me, my dear,” Lance said with
a chuckle.
“If you insist,” she agreed with a heavy
sigh. She stood up and went to retrieve the hook
and pole, bringing them back to their bed with
her.
Felicity tied the knot again, and this time
it held. Her lips twitched with irritation that she
had been so weak as to require light to aid her,
but she didn’t say anything about it.
When Lance saw Felicity’s scowl he
knew better than to say anything about it, either.
He remembered what Laenos had told him in his
dream, and thought he would do better to leave
well enough alone.
Instead, he asked, “So, I take it that when
you catch this fish you’re so keen on, you’ll
know how to clean it and prepare it properly?
Because trust me, my darling, learning how to
do anything of the sort was not on the list of
priorities I have been following in my lifetime.”
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Felicity chuckled. “You mean to tell me
that in over two hundred years you never
bothered to scale a fish?” she teased him.
“Hardly, imp,” he said as he squeezed
her arm, then decided to give it a kiss instead.
“Maybe we should just pick some
berries,” Felicity answered circumspectly, and
the two of them started to laugh.
“You do know which berries to pick, I
hope?” Lance added as they headed for the
forest.
“Of course I do,” said Felicity, a bit put
out now. “I’m a bookworm, remember? I saw
their pictures.”
“Oh yeah,” he said as if he’d only just
remembered. Felicity swatted him on the arse.
“Woman!” he grumbled as he tried to
swat her back. Felicity spotted a berry bush, and
dove behind it. She picked a few berries and
chucked them in his direction, hitting him on the
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bridge of his nose and leaving a big splat of juice
there.
Seeing the state of Lance’s face made
Felicity laugh so much she didn’t even realize
he�
��d picked some berries of his own until she felt
some hit her upside her head.
“Hey! How dare you throw berries at a
lady?” she chuckled, gathering more ammo and
eating some as she went.
An all-out berry war broke out, and soon
the two of them were covered in juices and
debris. Felicity laughed so much her sides were
hurting, and Lance was not far behind her.
“Mm, I just thought of something
interesting,” Lance said as he captured Felicity
and wrapped her into his arms.
“What’s that?” she wanted to know.
“I’ll bet you taste even better now,” he
said, and then he proceeded to nibble on her
wherever he could reach, sucking off berry juice.
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He avoided any areas she had not yet permitted
him to taste, of course.
Not to be outdone, Felicity nibbled
Lancelot’s delectable body as well. Finally, they
nibbled each other’s lips, and that was all it took
for the game to be over and the real fun to begin.
Felicity lost her balance and crashed
backwards against a tree. Lance crushed her
against it and continued to kiss her, groaning
softly when she reached up to drape her arms
around his neck.
“So good,” he whispered softly against
her lips, and he started to lap at them with the tip
of his tongue. Felicity opened her mouth, and his
tongue slid inside, making her moan as well.
Before long, the pair of them were
kissing each other desperately, wanting and
needing. Lance’s hands smoothed down
Felicity’s arms. His fingertips came so close to
brushing the tips of her breasts that he might as
well have actually done it.
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Felicity could barely breathe, but not
because his mouth prevented it in any way, just
because what he was doing with that mouth was
making her so breathless. She melded her body
to his, and no matter how close she held him, it