Rachel sat impatiently in the car, watching the satnav count down the minutes until they arrived. Fifteen minutes . . . ten minutes . . . five minutes. She just wanted to get him inside and take him straight to bed. She could barely contain her tension. Finally, Eddie pulled up the car outside the cottage and cut the engine. They unloaded their bags, went into the house, and locked themselves in for the evening. Eddie loaded the food into the fridge while Rachel took her suitcase upstairs, refusing to let him help her carry it. Eddie came into the bedroom just a few minutes behind her. Before he could even put down his case, she wrapped her arms around him and began kissing him. He was more than happy to go along with this, he lifted her off the ground and carried her over to the bed.

Later, Rachel sat up and looked out of the window at the field of sheep. She looked back at Eddie, sprawled out naked on top of the covers. "I think I'm going to enjoy this holiday," he said, smiling.

"Me too," she said, "but now, I don't know about you, but I've worked up an appetite."

She took the dressing gowns from the back of the bedroom door, threw one at Eddie, and put the other one on herself. He reluctantly dragged himself out of bed and followed her down to the kitchen, where they made dinner together.

The following morning, Rachel awoke to the sound of the sheep. They had not managed to stop for long enough to close the curtains last night, but that did not matter, since no one passed by to see in, apart from the sheep. She lay watching them for a while, skipping around the field. She rolled over to face Eddie, slid her hand over his chest and kissed his cheek as he slept. Her touch was enough to wake him, and she sighed deeply as she felt him wrap his arms around her and hold her tightly against him. She kissed his lips and felt like she could lie like this with him forever.

In the shower, she felt the warm, soothing water beating down on her back as Eddie rubbed soap into her body. She closed her eyes and remembered the way he had held her, touched her, made love to her during the night . . . three times. She watched him dry himself off and felt a sense of disappointment when he began to put his clothes on. But as they found themselves in such beautiful surroundings, they felt they had to go out and make the most of it. And they would have to wear clothes for that.

By lunchtime, they found themselves back at the cottage, in bed. In the afternoon, they lay together on the sofa watching a film. Rachel felt Eddie's hand slide inside her dressing gown. At first she made to pull his hand away, but before she did so, she realised she actually quite liked it there. By the following morning, Rachel realised she could not quite work out how many times they had slept together on this holiday. She felt a sense of disappointment, knowing that this time tomorrow, they would be getting ready to head home, back to normal, and she would have to prepare for her imminent return to work. She knew that things would be very different once she returned to work full time, her energy levels for one. But she did not need to think about that for now. They still had one more day here. And most importantly, one more night. Rachel intended to make the most of it while she could.

Rachel could not help but smile as she moved around the cottage, packing up their things. The bedroom was where they had spent the most time, but then there was also that time on the sofa, and the dinner table, the picnic bench, and also up against the old oak tree at the end of the garden. In the car on the way home, Rachel was still smiling. "Thanks Eddie, it's been a lovely holiday."

"It was," he replied, "I'm not sure it was quite the restful break I was expecting though."

"No," she admitted, laughing, "I think those poor sheep saw more than they were expecting!"