The following is a true story, well mostly true at least, as much of it is a little foggy in my mind for reasons that will become apparent as you read onwards.
I'm a nature lover, which has always been one of my main interests ever since childhood and indeed I studied biology at university. Every year I go on a nature focused holiday, either flying abroad from the UK, or sometimes making an adventure of it by driving my Jeep across the continent of Europe.
That particular year, I had booked a flight to the wilds of Romania and the rugged Carpathian Mountains. I was due to stay in a remote mountain chalet, joining a small group of fellow nature lovers to explore the area for just over a week. The Romanian wilderness is a sparsely populated place of small peasant villages, ancient castles, but mostly snow-capped peaks, rocky escarpments and dark forests. These mountains hide wolves, brown bears and lynxes along with their prey, such as chamois and ibex - not the usual type of critter you find here in Scotland.
One evening, our Romanian wildlife guide invited our group to a local tavern where they served local dishes, played folk music and drank copious quantities of ridiculously strong spirit. We all had a great time eating, drinking, chatting and dancing. As we had an early start the following morning, as is the case with nature trips, all of the group left for their beds at about 10pm, just leaving myself and the guide, who regaled me with scary stories of vampires and mysterious happenings in the forest whilst we both downed shots of fiery local liquor. As we were chatting, I couldn't help but notice a sultry, olive-skinned, raven-haired woman sitting with what looked to be her brothers in the corner of the room. She kept glancing in my direction, which put butterflies in my stomach as she looked amazing, womanly curves in a traditional, burgundy-coloured, gypsy dress with a pattern of white roses sewn beneath her ample cleavage. Once I caught her eye, she smiled and wow, what a sweet smile and her wonderful eyes, dark brown and deep.
My heart dropped later as I watched her leave the tavern with her brothers, but noted her glance and smile at me as she passed our table in a flirtatious indication of her attraction to me. In turn, I could smell her light perfume and my groin swelled a little as is natural for a guy close to such feminine charms.