“What?”
“Currants and plums,” he said seriously.
I burst out laughing. “No! I don’t taste that at all. I taste red wine.”
Alex shook his head at me and tutted. “Oh, Val, you’re not trying hard enough. Take another sip.”
“Fine.” I sipped and suddenly Alex was up and standing behind me. He placed his hands over my eyes and whispered in my ear.
“Think about eating a sweet, juicy plum,” he said, his breath caressing the side of my ear.
I giggled at this and he shushed me. “You have to take this seriously,” he urged in a stern, yet teasing voice.
“Next you’ll be telling me to imagine myself running through a field of lavender in Tuscany and dancing in the sun.”
“No, that’s only with the Merlot,” he said. I laughed again. This whole thing was cheesy, and funny and there was also something so damn cute about him getting so into his wine.
“Fine. Fine. I’ll be serious,” I said. His hands were still over my eyes and this seemed to make all my other senses sharper, especially my sense of smell. I could smell Alex’s cologne now. It was slightly woody. It had an earthy quality to it, fruity, mossy, maybe even a little citrusy. It wafted into my nose and as I sipped, the smell somehow heightened the flavor of the wine. I concentrated hard, the warmth from his hands on my face made me more relaxed. Relaxed and in tune.
“Plums?” he asked again, softly, right into my ear. I could feel his breath on the side of my face like thousands of tiny ant footsteps rushing over my skin. His smooth face slowly grazed my neck and a warm sensation set my skin ablaze. And then suddenly, I could taste it.Plums!It was so subtle you could almost miss it, but it was there.
I turned around and looked at him. “Plums!” I nodded, excitedly. “I taste them. It’s amazing. Delicious.”
Alex smiled at me and went back to his seat. He looked so pleased with himself right now.
“I told you. You’ve just being doing it all wrong. You just needed to be in a dusty cellar, surrounded by old bottled and barrels—”
“And in the right company.” I cut him off.
“Yes.” He nodded.
I felt a tingle rush through me as the wine warmed me from the inside.Or was it something else warming me?“Clearly, I’ve just never been with the right person before . . .until now,” I said softly.
His smile faded a little and he looked at me seriously. “Until now,” he echoed, and then he broke eye contact with me and fiddled with the green ribbon around his finger.
I looked down at mine too, and suddenly it felt tight and so did my throat.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
“This place doesn’t seem real,” I said. We were standing on the hotel balcony upstairs sipping our wine together after our meal. The view was incredible from up here in this little mountain town. The island of Réunion was full of surprises, that’s for sure. A couple of hours away were the warm, tropical beaches, and a little way inland was this. Suddenly, a white trickle of cloud started rolling down the side of the mountain, bringing with it a cold mist.
“Look at that.” I walked over to the railing to get a better look. Alex joined me.
“That mist,” I said as a massive wall of ghostly whiteness started creeping noiselessly over the top of the mountains and came towards us. Where had it all come from so quickly?
“It’s kind of creepy,” Alex said. He was standing next to me now.
“Don’t say that.” I nudged his shoulder playfully with mine.
“But it is.” He turned and leaned against the balcony railing, turning his back on the mountains and looking straight at me. He was holding a glass of red wine in his hand. “It’s like the start of a horror movie,” he whispered. “Two lonely travelers get trapped in a small, mysterious mountain town when a strange, thick mist rolls in, blocking all the exits in and out.”
“Stop it.” I smacked him on the shoulder this time. “Don’t say stuff like thaaa—” My eyes widened as I looked at the mountain. The thick fog was moving even faster now. Flowing smoothly and quietly, a faceless creature eating up the mountain as it went. I swallowed hard. He was right. This was creepy as hell.
“Do you think it will come all the way up here?” I asked, crossing my arms around myself. The temperature had definitely plummeted.
I fixed my gaze on the foot of the mountain, where the row of brightly colored houses sat. In my mind, they became a kind of boundary, as long as the mist didn’t make it that far, we would be fine. Only, within minutes, the thick white veil began to flow over the roofs of the houses, almost as if it were a liquid, dribbling over them. Coating them, until finally, even the almost luminous lime-colored house had disappeared completely. I shivered.
“I guess we know the answer to the question then: itiscoming for us,” he said in a creepy horror voice.
