When taken on top of the day’s tasting (and the wine that was of course served with lunch), sharing two bottles of very good wine is more than enough to make a couple quite merry.
“I think…” Nick began. “What was I saying?”
“I think we might have had enough.”
“That’s what I was going to say,” said Nick. He looked at the label on the now empty bottle. “You’d think we’d be sick of wine by now, but I’m really not.”
“I think if we have any more,” slurred Zoe, “then sick is exactly what I will be.”
Nick stood up unsteadily and offered a hand out to Zoe. “May I escort you to your room?”
Zoe took his hand, almost pulling him off-balance as she stood. “Thank you. That would be wonderful.”
They tottered up the stairs, weaving from bannister to bannister as they went.
“Which way is your room?”
“I think it’s that way.” Zoe pointed.
“This way?”
“No, wait that a way.”
“Okay,” said Nick, trying to find his sea-legs on the landing. “Let’s make base camp here at the top of the stairs and we can push on for your room in the morning.”
“No! We should push on now, before the weather changes.”
Against the odds, they made it to the door of Zoe’s room. Given their state of drunkenness, a poignant moment of fleeting connection seemed unlikely but they did look into each other’s bleary eyes for longer than was necessary.
“Today was fun,” said Nick.
“Yeah,” Zoe agreed. She suddenly felt very sober, even though she knew she wasn’t.
There was a long moment of silence, though their eyes never parted.
“Well…” Nick spoke again. “I should be looking for my room. It’s around here somewhere.”
“Sure.” Zoe turned to her door, fumbling the key from her pocket and trying to fit it to the lock. “That’s weird. I know it went in earlier.”
“Let me try.” Nick leant over Zoe, one hand against the door to try the key himself. “There we go.” He turned the key, and the door – against which both were leaning – unlocked and opened, sending them both tumbling to the floor, one on top of the other.
They laughed and laughed and laughed until, exhausted and out of breath, the laughter seemed to dry up. Zoe looked down at Nick’s face, suddenly very aware of his body beneath hers, and kissed him.
Nick was not slow to respond, eagerly kissing her back.
Zoe was not altogether sure what was going on in her head right at that moment.
Very little of what was going on was conscious; there was a lot of alcohol and a lot of long pent-up desire finally finding an outlet, neither of which made for clear thinking or good decisions. And she was fine with that. If she stopped to think this through then no doubt she could come up with about a hundred objections to it, a hundred reasons why this was a bad idea, but sometimes you had to go with your instincts and with what felt right. And boy did kissing Nick feel right.
She reached between their bodies, her hands making for Nick’s belt, lifting up slightly so she could undo it.
Gently Nick pulled back from kissing her. “Are you sure about this?” he asked, not wanting her to do something in the heat of drink that she would regret in the morning.
“I’ve never been more sure of anything,” replied Zoe. And, as if to prove the point, she sat up astride Nick and pulled off her blouse.
Nick looked at her body with wonder and hot desire, then his gaze flicked behind her for a moment. “Maybe we should close the door first.”
Zoe started around just in time to see a couple walk past the still open door to their room – trying and failing not to look at the half-dressed pair on the floor. It was the sort of thing that in normal circumstances would have sent Zoe dying of mortification, but instead she just giggled uncontrollably, rolling off Nick to lie on the floor. Nick swiftly got to his feet to close the door and lock it.
“Now, where were we?”
Zoe held up a hand which Nick took, pulling her to her feet and into his arms. They kissed again. Suddenly and without warning Nick swept Zoe off her feet and up into his arms.
“I’m not too heavy for you?” Zoe whispered as their faces drew close once more.
“You don’t weigh a thing.”
He laid her down on the bed and slid up her body, kissing as he went, finally arriving at her face. Zoe tugged at his clothes and was thrilled to feel his hands, on her drawing her skirt down her legs.
It was going to be a very good night.
When she woke the next morning, Zoe was facing the open window of her room. They had not had time to close the curtains last night, there had only been time for each other. The bright morning light spilled into the room, accompanied by the rich, fresh country air, delicately scented by the vines that grew outside by the acre.
Zoe realized that she had no hangover. Was that even possible, given the amount that she had had to drink? Maybe good wine didn’t give you a hangover? Or maybe she was still drunk from the night before? Or maybe she had happened upon the only truly effective hangover cure: happiness. That was all she could feel right now. It seemed to wash over her like the cool summer breeze that slipped through the open window. She turned over to find Nick lying beside her, his eyes open, watching her.
“You’re awake already. Why didn’t you say something?”
“I didn’t want to disturb you.” He kissed her and they folded into each other’s bodies, so relaxed and easy, with none of the awkwardness that usually attends the morning after the night before. There was no hint or suggestion that this had been a drunken mistake, or that either of them regretted what had happened between them. It felt like the culmination of something long in the coming, something natural and inevitable, but none the less wonderful for its inevitability. Truth be told, they had both probably had some expectations about last night, and all those expectations had been surpassed.
The tiredness of morning swiftly slipped away as their kissing became more heated, more passionate. Zoe reached for Nick and found him ready
for her. She lay back, drawing him with her, pulling him down on top of her and gasping as he entered her once more.
Last night had been… amazing. At first it had been frantic, though not rushed, and hard, though not rough. It had been an intense explosion of passion, answering a deep need in both of them that neither had previously been able to admit. With that first need for release answered, the second time had been less desperate, but still wild, intense, passionate and athletic. It had also lasted much longer; fired with desire and the mutual drive to satisfy each other and be satisfied themselves. Stamina of an almost superhuman level had come when it was needed and it was in the early hours of the morning that they finally collapsed in an exhausted sweaty heap and admitted that that was probably it for one night.
This morning was different.
This was not wild and furious, it was slow and intimate. Without the distancing of alcohol they were both more present than they had been the night before. Their eyes locked and never let go, they explored each other’s bodies, gently, carefully – stroking and caressing, as if each wished to touch every square millimeter of the other. There was no rush, no scrambling race for satisfaction, they both knew that satisfaction would come. And for Zoe it seemed to come time and time again. To her, Nick seemed impossible; so handsome, so strong, so dominating and yet so gentle, so aware of her body and awake to her needs. Under his firm but sensitive ministrations she reached peak after peak, while he remained it control of his own body – a well-honed machine, capable of bestowing such depths of pleasure on the woman lucky enough to be with him. And right now that woman was Zoe.
Zoe had no idea how long they made love that morning. It seemed a long time – it seemed like a beautiful eternity. But finally she had reached a point where it seemed that her body could take no more and Nick, seeming to sense this, went with her. They dissolved into each other. Nick rolled off Zoe and lay, chest heaving for breath, beside her.
“You’re amazing.”
Zoe rolled her eyes. “I think you deserve most of the credit for that one.”