Waking, she found two things; first that she was naked and exposed to the hot morning sun; and second that there was someone else in the room. Then she identified the woozy indifference as not only the pleasant stupefaction of heat, but a hangover. Nora tried to remember last night: a bottle of wine, two bottles? Who had she been with? Was the other person in the room now someone she should be concerned about? Involuntarily she closed her eyes again, lulled to somnolence by the twin baths of warmth. A footfall.
'Oh it's you,' she said when she looked over and saw her brother Tim. There was a tent in his pyjamas indicating how he felt as he scanned her body. 'Did you put me to bed?'
'We were both pretty wrecked. You said you slept naked.'
'I do. You undressed me?'
'You weren't really able to consent to that, but I thought it was harmless.'
'Do anything else to me?'
He shook his head. 'Like I said, no state to consent.'
'Did you want to?' Nora asked with a smile. Until now she'd been resting on her side, the pale expanse of her hip closest to him, large breasts folded under her arm. Now she moved onto her back, giving him a clear view of all her front. The tent around his groin became sharper and he moved forward. She wondered why he was wearing pyjamas and whether her hangover needed a pill.
Tim knelt at the bedside and bent down slowly to kiss her nipple. She admired his brown curls and glanced down appreciatively at her other one, rosy and soft. She touched this, waking its tingly sensitivity as Tim licked around the first one and began to suck it in.
'You're so expert.'
'Would you like a cup of tea?'
'Yes, love one. What's the time? Oh gawd, it is Saturday, isn’t it?'
'Yes!' Tim laughed as he went to fill the kettle. 'You won't have to tell the mad old codger you're too drunk to come in.'
'I should get up anyway. I was going to do something today, what was it?'
'Shopping? There's not much in the fridge.'
Nora stood naked beside her brother at the sink and drew the kitchen window curtains. She was as tall as he was and statuesque where he appeared slight. The hair on her head was a ruddy auburn, a close to impossible colour, and Tim looked down again at her pubic curls like his own. His erection had faded but this enticed it back.
'Do you think of dyeing yourself down there? If I was your boyfriend I'd think it looked better if they matched.'
'Haven't had a boyfriend since I did it,' she said, wrinkling her nose in minor annoyance. 'Haven't had sex for two months, except once with Chris, who's known me for years. It was so good to see you last night.'
Having lit the gas, Tim tossed the match into the bin and held his sister by both shoulders. They looked silently into each other's eyes, with faint smiles and seriousness. They kissed, long and full, with tongues, and withdrew with slurps. Tim did several butterfly kisses across her cheek, which she turned up and aside for him, then began to lick her shoulder, flattening the golden fuzz that glistened over her body.
'I love you so much,' he sighed at last.
'Darling,' Nora whispered, full with love. She slid one hand under the elastic of his pyjama trousers and rubbed his tumid penis. With the tip of her index finger she felt its wetness, then took her hand away and smelt it, as luscious as ever.
'I'm here if you want me,' he told her. Her smile faded into his earnestness and she nodded, letting the wet finger glide across his lips. She admired their graceful curve and the faraway grey-blue of his eyes. They kissed again and he stroked her bottom.
'We probably will one day,' she whispered. 'All very well saying we won't, but it'd be so easy to get carried away.'
'I wouldn't regret it.'