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From: Victor Echo <victor.echo@gmail.com>
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Subject: {ASSM} The Vineyard (MF, Romantic)
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Date: Tue, 02 Mar 2010 21:10:03 -0500
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(c) 2010 Victor Echo

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents
are either the product of the author's disturbed imagination and are
used fictitiously.  Any resemblance to actual persons, living, dead,
undead or mostly harmless, business establishments, events, or locales
is entirely coincidental.

Author's note: Thanks for reading and thank you for your comments.  I am
also online at http://storiesonline.net/auth/Victor_Echo


"Where are we going?" she asked, the wind blowing her short brown hair as she
looked around at the gently rolling countryside flashing by.

It was a beautiful day.  The sun was bright, the air was dry and the sky was a
brilliant blue in stark contrast to the several days of rain that had forced
them to stay inside.  They did not mind  being inside.  There was more than
enough to keep them entertained, but this was supposed to be a vacation and a
chance to get out and play.  Samantha looked over at Alex and smiled, running
her hand through her hair again before settling back against the seat to enjoy
the ride.

Alex had risen early and slipped out to run a few errands.  She had found him
later in the kitchen of their rented suite working on taking a whole chicken
apart and adding it to a collection of bowls and dishes that he had arrayed
around him while on the floor at his feet was a large picnic basket, already
filled with the wine cooler.  All he would tell her was they were going on a
picnic and she should go and get dressed.  He was dressed in a plain yellow
t-shirt and jeans.  His feet were bare as he moved around the kitchen and she
had kissed him before going off to get ready for their outing, already elated by
the idea of a day in the country.

"Alex, where are we going?' she asked again as he turned the little roadster off
of the main road and onto a side road barely wide enough for two vehicles to
pass each other before crossing over a rickety wooden bridge.  Then he
accelerated, shifting gears, his attention wholly on his driving, despite the
teasing grin on his face that showed he had heard her and had no intention of
answering her, at least not yet.

"You are as bad as Monique, you know that?" he said as they rounded a corner.
"She always has to know where we are going and what is around the next corner
before she gets there.  It drives me crazy.  Why not just sit back and be
surprised?"

"I don't do surprised," Samantha grumbled.  "That is why she and I get along so
well."

"Fine.  We are going on a picnic and doing a little business as well.  But the
business should be quick.  The picnic, I think, not so quick.  Unless you have a
hot date you haven't told me about."

Samantha swatted his right leg and sat back to admire the view.  There were
farms on either side of the road now.  She had to admit that it really was
pretty country.  Very unlike Provence, Burgundy or the other regions she had
seen in the two years she had spent in France.  Today she was not in France, nor
had she been in France for several weeks.  Alex had come to the Salon on a rainy
Tuesday to tell her he needed to go to the United States and asking her to come
with him.  She had hesitated.  There was still so much work to do and Monique
was unable to do much of it herself anymore.  In the end, both Monique and Alex
had convinced her that the trip would be good for her and Alex had added a side
trip to visit her parents as a treat which resulted in her not talking to him
for half the flight.  Virginia was completely different to her.  She had gone to
France and in return, she had ended up seeing her own country.  She was still
completely amazed at how far she had come in the last two years, and how far she
still had to go.  Learning the business beside Monique, even with the help of
the rest of the staff left her exhausted most evenings which left her struggling
to learn the man most responsible for her transformation.

The car started to slow as Alex geared down, getting in line behind a couple of
cars making a slow right turn into a gravel driveway that wound up the side of a
hill covered with vines, grass and a few trees.

"So this is where you get Remy's wine?" she said, suddenly putting it together.

"Actually, no.  Remy's wine comes from a winery a little more to the south, but
they suggested I look here and set up the invitation."

"Is that what you were doing yesterday?"

"No, I did that a couple of weeks ago."

Samantha looked at him sideways as he turned into the driveway, following the
other cars up the winding road knowing that pressing Alex would not get her any
closer to finding out what he had been doing yesterday.  The cars ahead of them
were kicking up dust and obscuring the view of some of the vines as they passed
storage buildings and equipment along the side of the road.

"What are we hoping to get?" she asked, this time generally curious.

"Remy likes a dozen or so cases of each of the varietals, depending on quantity.
 That generally gives him enough to serve and mark up steeply.  The last deal
was 24 cases of each varietal, and if I remember correctly, it was about fifteen
hundred bottles.  Trivial by what he gets locally but it is good for premium
labeling and he likes that and so do the wineries."

"How do you get it to him?"

"We have a shipper in DC that handles all that good stuff from vineyards on the
East Coast and a separate firm in San Francisco that handles the West Coast.  We
keep talking about buying them out and doing it ourselves, but so far it hasn't
been cost effective for us to take over and they help us with some of the
international wines making sure that all the taxes are paid and the bottles get
there without damage," Alex said as he pulled into the parking lot and turned
off the engine.  "Ready?"

"Ready," Samantha said getting out of the car.

Alex and Samantha walked the short distance to main building.  It was not large.
 On the inside there was a bar along one wall and a large picture window looking
out over a long view of the valley and the winding road they had just driven up.
 Alex walked over to the bar while Samantha walked over to look out the window.
The view was stellar.  Below the deck was a small lawn surrounded by trellised
vines that seemed to cover the hills around the building.

"Pretty isn't it?" said a man coming up behind her a few minutes later.

"It is," Samantha said, turning.

"Russell Wilson," he said, passing her a glass of red wine.

"Samantha Bowers," she said, smiling and taking the glass as Alex came up behind
him.

"Shall we go and see if we can find Jim?" Russell asked, and led them down a
small narrow flight of stairs near the door.

"Russell is the winemaker, Jim Gregory owns the vineyard," Alex said to Samantha
as they passed through a door marked 'wine cellar' at the bottom of the stairs.

"Jim and Henri were talking a couple of months ago and Jim got really animated
about the deal Henri had with you.  I guess the samples we sent over were
acceptable?" Russell asked as they walked along a small hallway.  On either side
were alcoves stacked floor to ceiling with oak wine barrels.

"Are all of those full?" Samantha asked, looking around her.

"Yup, a couple of thousand cases in each alcove," said a soft-spoken voice to
their left.  A man was hunched over a barrel adjusting a bung.  "Try this," he
said, passing each of them a glass with a bit of red wine in the bottom.

"Tannins," Alex said.  "Young.  Not a lot of structure.  Fruity."

"What he said," Samantha said.  "I don't know a lot about wines yet.  Fashion is
more my speed."

"It is going to be a good one," Russell said.  "Maybe one of our best, but not
for a few more years.

"I'm Jim Gregory," Jim said, stepping out from behind the barrels and Russell
did the introductions.

"I have to tell you Alex, Henri really made the deal sound sweet.  Whoever heard
of a Frenchmen serving wine from Virginia?"

"As I pointed out to Henri, there is demand in England for wines from Virginia.
Originally they were smuggled in by ex-patriots but several from around
Charlottesville have become quite popular.  Henri does not make enough to cover
all his markets now, so we thought a more boutique showing would be a better way
to go and if you can make it in Paris, you can make it anywhere right?"

"Henri is not running a boutique vineyard anyway.  We are considerably smaller
but have just as many accolades as he does," Jim said.

"I know.  I did my research.  I understand you don't even enter competitions
anymore."

"No, they got to be too much of an effort," Russell added.  We got distracted
from the main purpose which is making great wine."

"Gentlemen, I know we can find a market for your wine and then you will have
another accolade to add to your collection." Alex said, toasting them.

Samantha was wandering around the cellar looking at the barrels and trying to
decipher some of the things written on them.  Behind her there were giant steel
vats three stories tall and in front of her, at the end of the hall was what
looked like a store room with boxes stacked floor to ceiling.  She could only
imagine how much money was tied up in the barrels and cases.

"What's so funny?" Alex said, catching her chuckle.

"I was just thinking of something Rachel said.  She wanted Monique to automate
her inventory control and yet here I am, surrounded by millions of dollars of
wine and they track it by magic marker and sticky tape."

Jim and Russell both laughed at her comments.

"You're right.  Other than the crushing and bottling process, very little of
this is automated and we do keep track with magic marker and sticky tape,
although it is tracked in a database in the office.  When you get right down to
it, wine making is a very manual process.  It is all about the nose and the mix
and you cannot automate that."

"Very much like haute couture," Samantha said.

"Very much like it," Jim said nodding.  "So Alex, what do we need to do to make
a deal?"

Alex smiled and looked around the room.  "I would say we have to sign the
paperwork and then we can turn it over to the shippers.  Unless there were
changes you wanted to make in the agreement?"

"No, no, the agreement is fine and the price is more than acceptable.  Why don't
we go up to the office and we can put our signatures on the forms and with luck
the first load will beat you home."

"Oh, I am sure it will.  I am going west from here.  I won't be back in Paris
for another month.  By then the second load should be on its way.  Which reminds
me, would you be interested in discussing a deal for England too?"

Jim just laughed as the four of them ascended the stairs.




"This is beautiful," Samantha said as she rested against Alex, who had one arm
wrapped around her, sitting on a blanket on the lawn in front of the winery.  A
lone hawk was circling high in the sky, and the remains of their picnic lunch
were spread out around them, the better part of a second bottle of Jim's wine
resting in the shade of a tree to their left.

Alex and Jim had signed the paperwork and Alex had presented Jim with a couple
of bottles of a Grand Cru Remy had sent with him to seal the deal.  In turn, Jim
gave him a case of some reds and a couple of cold whites.  Alex and Samantha had
then retired to the lawn to relax, enjoy their lunch and the rest of their free
day.

"Think Remy will have success with the wines?" she asked as she took a small sip
from her glass, enjoying the fruity floral liquid as it slid over her tongue.

"He already has.  Jim sent him a few cases a couple of months ago mixed in with
Henri's order and Remy sold all of them in a matter of days.  He wants to sell
this white at the bistro in Nice and has standing orders for the reds already
from what he told me.  If Jim can meet even half of what Remy needs, he would
never have to sell another bottle in the US.  Of course he will but the demand
is pretty high at the moment from Remy alone."

"You stumble on some of the oddest arrangements, you know that?" she said,
tipping her head back and getting a kiss from Alex as he drew lazy circles
across her abdomen.

"Just helping out a friend," he said.

"Alex, how much do you get out of this?"

"I don't have to pay for dinner."

"No, I'm serious.  I know you are part owner in the Salon..."

"Silent partner," he said, correcting her.

"Silent my ass.  Monique told me all about it."

"I told you when we met that I dabble darling," Alex said smiling down at her.

"Yes, dabble.  Yet you seem to have access to a large amount of money."

Alex shrugged and sipped his own wine, considering his answer before he said, "I
have a number of friends that I have helped succeed and I have taken the return
on my investment in non-traditional ways.  In some cases, like the Salon,
non-traditional does not work.  Monique is a wonderful designer, but I just do
not look good in silk blouses, so she pays me horrendous amounts to keep her
technology running, which I am qualified to do and thus pays me back the small
advance I made her.  In the meantime, when I find things that she could use,
like the buildings in Nice and Venice, I let her know about it.  Sometimes we
close the deal, sometimes we let it drop.  Sometimes someone else needs it and
we transfer the ownership.  We have done well.  Monique is the one with the
money love, I am just a broker."  Alex swirled his wine before taking another
large sip and swallowing it.

"Well, I am sorry I called you pig."

"I'm not.  If you hadn't backed into me, we would not be sitting here enjoying
the sunshine.  You would have succeeded in making Rachel happy or at least
satisfied.  I don't think you can make that woman happy.  You would be in your
office in New York or the streets of Milan right now looking for the next big
thing and I would be wherever I needed to be.  Although most likely I would be
here.  Tomorrow I would be on a plane for Las Vegas instead of Des Moines."

"I really don't want to," Samantha said.

"Your mother would not forgive you if you don't introduce me to her.  I can
handle your father."

She pulled him close to her, the stone on her engagement ring digging slightly
into his hand as it was sandwiched between them.  They sat in comfortable
silence for a while, enjoying the day and watching the small animals move around
the grounds, or the cows grazing on the rise across the valley floor.  There
were a few people about, but it was a weekday and most of them were employees,
trimming the vines and doing the work that needed to be done in the large
vineyard.

"Tickles," Samantha signed.  Alex had wormed one hand beneath her t-shirt and
was lightly tickling the soft skin of her stomach.

"Oh?" he said, innocently as he let his thumb brush the underside of her bra
covered breasts.

"Alex," she sighed.

"Yes?"

Samantha put her hands on his legs and Alex took this as a sign to continue, so
he untucked her shirt and put both his hands on her abdomen, letting them wander
randomly across her stomach, occasionally dipping below her waist band or
teasing the underside of her breasts.  Samantha was squirming under his
ministrations but fully enjoying them and Alex was getting more than a little
excited as he teased her.

Samantha had let her head fall back against his chest, her eyes closed, and her
hands massaging his legs through the jeans he was wearing, enjoying the feelings
coursing through her body with the gentle teasing.  Alex had learned just where
and how to touch her over the last two years and had found those secret spots
that would excite her without being overtly sexual.  She loved the way his hands
felt as the moved across her lower abdomen, clearly trying to touch her mound
and falling just a bit short.  It was such a tease that she squirmed a little
more as she felt the prickling between her legs become more intense.

"Maybe," Alex said bending to kiss her ear, "we should go for a walk and inspect
the grapes."

"You wouldn't know a grape from an artichoke," she whispered, "but I will
happily go with you...ooooh."

Alex smiled as he gently but quickly squeezed her breast under her shirt before
sliding his hands out and pulling the hem down.

"We should put this in the car," he said, indicating the basket and wine, and
then tell Jim we are wandering around his vineyard, especially if there is
somewhere we shouldn't go."

Samantha reluctantly nodded, already missing the feel of his touch and together
they quickly gathered up the dishes and silverware and put them in the basket
and brought it back to the car.

"Pull out the camera," Alex said, "and I will be right back."

Five minutes later, they were strolling up the hill, arm-in-arm, the blanket
under Alex's other arm and the camera around Samantha's neck.  The vines were
laid out in neat rows, with bunches of grapes already starting to fill in
between the leaves.  Occasionally a scarecrow balloon would bounce off of its
post in the light breeze, but as they ascended the hill, they did not see a
single person around.

"Jim said his folks are working the lower valley side today, and if I wanted
some quiet places to take pictures, I should go up the mountain." Alex said,
answering her unasked question.

"What did you tell him?"

"I said I was going to take some publicity stills for Remy."

Samantha just laughed as they climbed a little higher the pitch of the ground
beginning to level off.

"How's this?" Alex asked as they found a flat spot near the crest of the
mountain out of sight in both directions from casual observers.

Samantha smiled and answered him by taking the camera off her neck and pulling
her t-shirt over her head and unclasping her bra.  Alex shook out the blanket
quickly before he turned to her and ran his hands up her sides, running his
thumbs across the underside of her breasts and taking one of the stiff nipples
into his mouth, sucking slightly.  Samantha moaned and held his head, running
her fingers through his hair.  Alex ran the nails of one hand up and down her
back, causing her to push her chest into him, which he took advantage of by
pinching and sucking her nipples.

Alex started kissing his way up Samantha's body, letting the rough texture of
his shirt rub against her until he finally kissed her hard on the mouth, their
tongues dueling for supremacy while Samantha fumbled at his waist, undoing his
jeans and freeing his shirt at the same time, before pulling him down with her
onto the blanket.

Samantha wound up underneath him and Alex just continued to kiss his way around
her shoulders and upper chest as she struggled to keep her focus and pull his
shirt over his head, neither of which was possible when he started sucking her
other nipple.

"Oh, so good..." she sighed.

Alex kissed his way across her abdomen, paying particular attention to her belly
button, a source of pleasure for Samantha he had discovered, while he undid her
shorts and pulled them off of her hips along with her panties, soaked from her
excitement.  She let out a deep sigh as he trailed kisses across her smooth
mound and along her lips, puffy, pink and ready for his touch.  A moan broke
free from her as Alex trailed his tongue teasingly along the slit between them
and Samantha tilted her hips, encouraging him to drink deeper of the liquid
escaping her core.  He took his time as he let his tongue wander back and forth
teasingly, tickling her until he could see her clit prominently pushing itself
out for attention.

"Is this what you want?" he asked as he gently sucked her clit into his mouth,
his tongue flicking it from beneath.

Samantha cried out, trying not to scream and attract attention to them but
barely able to control herself.  She had never had sex outside but the sun
shining down on her and the wine had inflamed her passions and Alex was hitting
all the right spots in all the right ways and she could barely contain herself.


He felt her muscles clench a moment before she started shaking, her hands
clenching the blanket as she tried to drive her hips into his face, shoving her
clit deeper into his sucking mouth, her back arched in tight arc of desire, her
mouth open in a soundless scream as he flicked her clit with his tongue.  It was
only another moment before she collapsed, completely spent, her breathing coming
in short, quick gasps as she tried to regain control of her body.

Alex kissed tenderly up her side, avoiding her sensitive spots for the moment,
until he was lying next to her looking down at her pleasure ravished face.

Slowly her breathing returned to normal and she turned her head to look at Alex.
 "Wow, that was good," she whispered.  "But you are still dressed and you cannot
make love with me with your pants on...no, wait, never mind, just take them off."
Alex was laughing as they both recalled a time when he did leave them on.

Alex kissed her then finished the process of undoing his pants, pushing them off
his legs to join her clothes on the edge of the blanket.

"Where do you want me?" he asked as she reached up to slowly stroke his cock,
rampant and ready.

"Inside of me," she said.  "Deep inside of me."

Putting action to words she raised her knees and put her feet flat on the
ground, opening herself to him.  Alex looked along the length of her body before
he slipped between her legs and slowly into her warm, wet depths.  Samantha was
moaning and cooing with desire before he was fully seated, but once there, she
wrapped her legs around him and squeezed him tight, tipping her hips to rub
against him before encouraging him to pull back and thrust into her again.  They
set up a slow, languorous rhythm, in no rush to finish, letting the pleasure
build back and forth between them.

Alex smiled down at Samantha and bent down to kiss her, his pace picking up
slightly, his orgasm building.  Samantha pulled him close, encouraging him on
with little tugs on his nipples, enough to send him over the edge, pushing
deeper into her and being rewarded with several tight squeezes as a small tremor
passed through her body.  He caught his weight on his forearms as he kissed her
long and tenderly.

"We should get dressed," Samantha suggested reluctantly after a while, truly
enjoying the warm sun on her naked body.  "We should make plans to go to the
C�te d'Azur"

"Oh, why is that?" he asked lazily.

"Because I think I really like this nude outdoors stuff."

Alex laughed and sat up, looking down at her naked body.  "Then we will do that.
 I know a place north of Perpignan, I think, which is supposed to be perfect."
He reached over and pulled her clothes to them, before grabbing his own things.
"But I think you are right, we should get dressed and then take some pictures
quickly so we have something for Remy and then head back to the city."

"Samantha pouted at him, but started getting dressed, stopping to hug him.  "I
love you Alex.  I am so glad I met you."

"I love you too, Samantha."

They finished getting dressed before taking a stroll, shooting pictures here and
there of the scenery, the grapes, and each other before making their way back
down to their car.  Russell was just coming out of the main building when they
arrived.

"Get everything you need?"

"Couldn't have gone better," Alex answered as he passed the blanket and camera
to Samantha who put them into the car.

"Well, you are welcome to come back anytime," Russell said, shaking Alex's hand
and then Samantha's.  "Safe trip back!"

They watched him walk down the path towards one of the outbuildings.

"I think I would like that," Samantha said softly, hugging Alex before walking
around to her side.  "Home my good man, and don't spare the horses!" she said,
putting her sunglasses on and sitting down.

"Your wish is my command my lady," he said, taking his own seat and steering the
little roadster back to the main road.  They were both laughing like little kids
as he accelerated onto the Interstate.


-- 
Victor Echo
Author
PGP: 958F 0E92 87B2 3AD6 0C07  3D5A 9480 1307 E89D FC70

-- 
Pursuant to the Berne Convention, this work is copyright with all rights
reserved by its author unless explicitly indicated.
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