… If she could take all her clothes off.
Fine, fuck it, let’s try.
“Time to actually be one with nature,” she said and laughed, nervously. She tried not to think but her heart picked up pace, thumping blood through her body. Her hands reached up and pulled the tab on her hoodie. The soft metallic whisper of the zipper sounded out of place in the woods. She shrugged the hoodie off and placed it on the least-dirty looking patch of ground.
She pulled her tank top up over her body and folded it in half, placing it on top of the hoodie. Blocking out the reality of what she was doing, she undid the single button on her shorts and slid them down her pale-skinned legs. She stepped out of them, bent over to pick them up, and added them to the small pile of clothes.
Linda’s fingers trembled as she reached behind her back to unsnap her bra. She undid it after a couple of moments of fumbling. The cups came loose off her chest and she shrugged her shoulders, letting the straps fall forward. She pulled the bra off her body and dropped it on the ground. Her arms immediately flew to her chest to cover herself.
“What the hell am I doing?” she asked herself. She felt the heat from blushing flood across her chest, up her neck, to her face. She looked down at the tops of her breasts, somewhat concealed by her arms, and saw her skin flushed deep red. This was crazy. Wasn’t this crazy?
She peered around her, staring into the woods, still hearing nothing but the flutter of wings and the call of birds high in the trees.
Linda dropped her arms and reached for the waistband of her underwear. She peeled the elastic band over her hips and down her legs. She stepped out of her underwear with a quick move and straightened up, somehow more than naked while still still wearing her socks and tennis shoes.
Thoughts tumbled through her mind and her body screamed at her to get dressed, cover up, someone might see. Her body shook and it took everything she had to not dive into the pile of clothes and get dressed.
Why the hell am I doing this? she thought to herself as she fought to keep her hands at her sides. A branch cracked somewhere in the distance and she immediately dropped to the ground behind the fallen tree, her hands flying to cover her body. Her heart thundered in her chest and her stomach rolled. She strained to hear footsteps.
Nothing.
Linda counted to 300, daring herself to stay undressed, mentally demanding she stop shaking as hard as she was. She channeled her yoga class mantra, focusing on her breathing, and let herself calm down.
Her heartbeat and breathing came under control. Unwilling at first, she started to pay attention to more than just her nakedness. She focused on the sensation. Her breasts, already sensitive enough to Bill’s touch, tingled with the light breeze coursing through the woods. Goosebumps prickled across her body as she looked down at herself. Unused to seeing her own body in natural lighting, she smiled. It was novel to say the least, seeing her skin dappled with sunlight. The breeze felt nice, slipping in between her legs and touching her whole body at once.
“Dammit,” she said, “I kind of like this.”
She stood and started getting dressed
Now to share with Bill
“Turn here, right here!” Linda said.
Bill turned immediately, accustomed to Linda navigating directions when they traveled. His face registered confusion as the truck pulled into the small parking lot. There were no other cars and the trail looked to be empty. Linda noted with delight there wasn’t so much as a scrap of trash. The park was abandoned.
“Here?” he asked.
“Yes,” Linda said, “It looked like a nice walk. It’s beautiful outside and I thought it’d be different. I like the quiet.”
“We drove 20 minutes to go for a walk? We could have done that at home.” He stopped for a second. “I’m sorry, that sounded more critical than I meant. If you want something different and new, great. Let’s go enjoy something different and new.”
“Yes,” Linda said, laughing on the inside, “Let’s go enjoy something different and new.”
They stepped out of the truck. Twin pistol shots sounded in the mid-morning quiet when they slammed the truck’s doors closed. Bill came around the bed of the truck and took Linda’s hand, leading her to the park sign board.
He looked at the sign, evaluated the route and looked about them.
“It is quiet out here,” he murmured, nodding in appreciation. Linda agreed with a nod. Bill looked at the left and the right paths, then at her. He cocked his head, asking her which direction she wanted to go. Linda led him to the right without saying a word. He walked just behind her on the narrow path. Neither spoke a word.
Here we go, she thought.
They neared the tree ten minutes in. Linda’s heart was in her throat and she tried to be as nonchalant as possible. She wore her favorite sundress, a calf-length green sleeveless number that had strawberries patterns. She loved it because it felt light as air when it swished around her knees while she walked. Bill raised an eyebrow when he saw her dressed that morning.
“You’re hiking in that?” he had asked earlier. She said it wasn’t an especially challenging trail. Little did he suspect her true motives.
Now Linda led the way to her spot. Her heart picked up pace in anticipation. She would channel her inner sex fiend in an attempt to break away from their normal, traditional routine. Bill had no idea what was going to happen and she thrilled at dropping this on him. He’d be so cute when he panicked!