Elizabeta Brooke: Never: an erotic retelling of Peter Pan

She needed to think this through first.

So not caring to wait for the end of the prayer, Dee edged past the family in her pew and stepped out into the dappled sunlight of the tree-lined carpark. There was no urgency in her now. No rush to escape.

Her black Jag waited patiently, but the thought of her empty house held no appeal. Voices from the church, now raised in song, drifted across to her and on impulse she offloaded her purse and jacket on the back seat and relocked her car.

Picking a direction, she strolled off down one of the bush paths, not for any reason other than that she simply felt like a walk. In her present mood, that was reason enough.

Taking deep lungfuls of the sweet air, still dewy and redolent with the crushed-green fragrance of decomposing leaves, she wended her way into the native forest. Cooler air touched her bare arms and budded her nipples into prominence, creating a delicious abrasion as the sheer silk of her camisole top adjusted to the movements of her body. Her breasts themselves, although not large, felt heavy and sensual.

She became aware of herself in a way she'd long forgotten. The gentle swaying of her hips as she strolled along and the rubbing of her inner thighs created a tingle that wormed its way upwards through her body like little internal fingers stroking her skin from the inside. She ached to be out of her clothes, to lie naked and still in the sun. Then to glide through silk-smooth water, feeling it caress her like a lover. A lover who would know how to please her.

She smiled, hugging her shoulders, feeling inordinately strong. That lover was herself. She'd do all those things later when she returned to the privacy of her home, but for the moment she was content simply to walk a while longer.

In the deepest section, where the sunlight was all but blocked out but the thick eucalypt canopy she paused to breathe the fragrance of a gum blossom, fingering the hard nut case that housed the delicate puff of yellow strands. It was sweet, almost cloying, and she closed her eyes the better to capture the scent. But as she opened them again, her eye caught a large brownish shape moving in the underbrush a few metres away.

A wombat? She'd never heard of one in the campus grounds before, but the movement she'd seen had been nothing like the lope of a koala or the scurry of a possum.

Leaving the track, she ducked under a branch, her high heels spiking into the leaf-litter as she skirted a pair of eucalypts to reach the bracken fern under which the shape had disappeared. Cautiously she reached forward and lifted a frond, then screamed in shock as a large, ugly feral cat poised to spring at her. It hissed loudly but Dee was already back-peddling, slamming into the tree and making loud fear-noises as the animal bolted in the opposite direction.

She was winded, panting, but trying to quieten down when Billy appeared out of nowhere and grabbed her shoulders. She screamed again.

"Dr Williams. It's me. Billy," he was saying, staring into her wild eyes, looking almost as frightened as she was. "Did something hurt you? Are you all right?"

Her breath came in short gasps and she couldn't think how to answer him. Her knees were buckling and he was leaning in to support her — then she smelt him, the fresh, golden smell that drifted off his skin and the decision was out of her hands. She plastered her body against his, throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him, letting him taste the fierce emotions swirling inside her.

She'd remember later that there was no hesitation on his part, as though he'd been ready for anything she might do. But at the time she was only aware of him kissing her back, groaning against her lips, his body — the body she'd imprinted in her brain — imprinting itself against hers.

It was pagan, almost brutal the way she groped at him, without finesse, and she was on fire with it. Her hands were on his shoulders, then in his hair, cradling his head, holding it so she could plunder his mouth. And she felt his big hands on her back through the cool silk, pressing her against the length of him.

His erection was hard against her belly and she longed to touch it, to touch and taste every part of him. She was delirious with greed, wanting all of him now, but not wanting to move away from the mouth that was giving her so much pleasure.

And yet she did. She pulled back and leant against the tree, panting, her hands on his chest, her eyes meeting the bewilderment in his. "Kiss me, Billy," she said. "Kiss me and touch me the way you've been wanting to."

He shook his head slightly, seeming to come out of it, but Dee merely grabbed handfuls of his shirt and tugged. "Anything you want. Everything you've desired," she promised, her voice husky with her own needs. His gaze moved to her lips and so she licked them provocatively. But it was her hair he touched first, his eyes going wide with wonder, then closing in a sort of primitive ecstasy as the long strands slid through his fingers.

"Do you like my hair, Billy," she whispered, straining to keep herself still as he explored its softness and texture. "What else do you like?"

She watched his face, eyes still closed as his hands drifted down from her hair to her shoulders, then eased down to cover her breasts. She could feel the slightly rough grain of his skin through the silk and it drove her mad with its gentleness. Her own hands released his shirt and kneaded the firm flesh of his chest, rubbing her thumbs over his nipples until they too were erect. She wanted him to mirror her action but he was content merely to rest his palms over her breasts.

That wasn't enough. Blood pounded inside her temples, driving her, inciting her, and she pushed her breasts against his passive hands. Dizzying pleasure spiralled through her then like nothing she'd ever experienced, and in that moment she knew they'd make love. No analysis. No moral considerations. Only lust and fulfilment.

Her hands on his chest moved downwards, pressing hard against him, feeling the muscles tense. She was breathing heavily, watching his closed eyes as she slid one of her hands down past the belt at his waist to cover his erection, grasping it firmly through the fabric of his trousers.

His eyes snapped open then and stared into hers, his fingers squeezing convulsively over her breasts as he groaned. Dee felt warm stickiness against her hand.

Her eyes must have widened. She must have evinced surprise. Her experiences with James had been the polar opposite of this… enthusiasm. But in her shock she hadn't time to articulate her thoughts. She merely stood there, her hand falling away as they stared at each other.

And Billy took her silence as a condemnation. He turned away from her and crashed blindly through the undergrowth before she could think to stop him. Perhaps she should have called after him — should have tried to reassure him. But she closed her eyes and leant back against the tree, listening to the sounds of his distress as he ran from her. Her breaths were deep and even now, her mind clear.

Had Billy not run away, she would have lain on the forest floor and made love to him. She would have committed adultery. And she yet would. In her mind, the deed was as good as done and the guilt already laid to rest. She'd have to be careful, but James need never know.

After all, a sexual relationship with Billy couldn't go anywhere. Someone of her own rank might be a threat to her marriage, but not Billy. The revelation she'd experienced earlier had shown her what she wanted from him. Sex and control. She might feel compassion for him, but there was no companionship, no meeting of the minds. Take away the sex and they'd having nothing in common. But Dee didn't intend to take away the sex. She was going to wallow in it.

The next morning James arrived back but Dee barely noticed, filled as she was with the euphoria of her own desires. Her hair was down, literally now, and she took to wearing no underwear. Whether the people around her discerned any change in her behaviour was unimportant. She was too engrossed in her seduction of Billy to care.