Snowbound

I had just about had it. My boyfriend had cheated on me and I'd gathered all the evidence. And it was pretty damning. It had, of course, involved me snooping into his non-password protected iPhone while he was in the shower one morning.

And what an idiot, I had thought silently to myself. Because who, in this day and age, doesn't password protect their electronic devices?!?!

The evidence was easy to find, too. I didn't have to look very hard; the aforementioned texts to her were right there, pinned to the very top of all of his texts.

They were even pinned before mine.

I frowned as I quickly opened, then skimmed down the text thread. She was some girl named Amber, and according to my boyfriend's texts to her, she had perfect titties.

I clutched my chest at that. I was not a small breasted girl. But he had never said one thing nice to me before about my breasts.

My frown deepened as I scrolled down a little bit further, and bingo - this bitch's text thread included racy photos. I squinted my eyes and brought the phone closer to my face. Ha, I thought. Her boobs were considerably smaller than mine. I pursed my lips together as I looked. Ok, maybe they were a little bit more symmetrical than mine were, but whatever.

I threw his phone down onto the bed. To hell with slut shaming. If Jared wanted to send nasty dick pics to some skank with perfect tits, more power to him.

That was only emotional cheating, true, and it was bad enough - but then the physical cheating had begun. He started spending all his weekends at his great-grandmother's house to help her do chores and general things she couldn't do for herself anymore. At least that was what he'd told me.

What a joke.

And in the beginning I'd been such a fool that I'd believed him.

Judging from the content of the text messages exchanged between Jared and Amber, spending time with his old great-grandma hadn't been the case. Instead, Jared and this girl had met several times at some sleazy motel off of the highway where people only went for quickies and... for God only knew what else.

At least he hadn't spent loads of money on a nice hotel for her. He'd gone the cheapest route possible, short of fucking her in the back of his car behind a stinky dumpster at an abandoned rest stop.

At first I had been loathe to believe that he was cheating on me, and I'd kept the information to myself. But finally, one night after a particularly heated argument over whether or not we were ever going to get engaged, I got pissed at him and I presented Jared with my evidence. But he, like always, tried to talk me into thinking I was crazy.

"That's not what you saw," he scoffed, when I accused him of what he'd done. "She's just a coworker," he'd said. "Those were work texts."

I had just stared open mouthed at him for a few seconds.

"What?!" I finally said angrily. "Work texts?!" I growled. "Her name is Amber and you told her that she has perfect tits! She even sent you pictures of them!" My eyes narrowed and my finger pointed at him. "Since you sell cars, Jared, and you're not a plastic surgeon, I wouldn't think talking about boobs or getting boob pics on your cell phone would be a part of your job!"

But Jared had just waved me off dismissively and had turned to walk away.

"And, you've been spending your weekends with her!" I added, closely following him. "At that sleazy motel off the highway just south of town!"

He'd narrowed his eyes back at me. I could sense the gears turning in his little cheating head. He was thinking. Hard.

Then Jared surprised me and changed tactics altogether. He told me stories and spun ridiculous tales about my trust issues and had even implied that it was I who had been unfaithful to him.

"Whatever," he'd said. "You know, Ruthie, if I had a dime every time you cheated on me, I'd be a rich fucking guy."

"What?!" I'd screeched. He couldn't have any evidence of me cheating on him because I hadn't. I knew I hadn't done anything wrong... hadn't I?

I immediately shook that last thought out of my head. His manipulation had sometimes made me question the truth and he had convinced me in the past that I'd been the one in the wrong and not him.

Well, this trickery of his had worked on me in the past, unfortunately, but with this undeniable evidence that I had seen, he was now taking things a bit too far.

I had finally reached my limit.

I squared my shoulders and I took in a big breath. "Get out," I said.

His face morphed into an expression of absolute disbelief. "Of the apartment?" He said. "You can't be serious!" He scoffed.

"Oh, yes, I am," I said. "I'm leaving for awhile. And when I get back, I want you gone," I said, my voice quavering just a tiny little bit. But mostly I was proud of my resolve and strength.

Then he had frowned at me. "You want me to leave?" he said. "Why? You're the one that's pissed," he said.

I narrowed my eyes at him, and then I moved. He watched me, neither of us saying anything more. I could feel my face heating and my armpits prickling. I knew I was about to cry and I needed to put some space between us or... or... I didn't know what I'd do.

In righteous anger I had then stomped over to the front door coat closet, grabbed my jacket, and I'd stormed past him out the door and into a steady and cold November rain.

I heard the door open behind me. "Hey! Where do you think you're going?" He yelled after me.

I couldn't respond. I needed to run. Wordlessly, I got into my car, squealed the tires as I backed out of my parking space, and I quickly sped off.

I didn't even pay attention to the scenery or to the road signs as I angrily drove. I meandered around for a long time, and didn't even really pay any attention to where I was going. I did know, however, that I was getting deeper and deeper and higher and higher up into the mountains.

Then the tears began to fall.

I was embarrassed and humiliated, and crying about it was all that I knew to do. I sniffed loudly. I had invested so much of myself into this goddamn relationship - a good five years - and Jared had tanked it like it was nothing.

He'd torpedoed us just like a Navy submarine under heavy enemy fire.

I wasn't even aware I was ready to stop, but I finally ended my drive deep inside a nearby national park.

I slowed and parked my car at the deserted trail head. My eyes wouldn't focus on the scenery. Instead I sat in my car and I watched the rain run down my windshield in rivulets as the tears ran down my cheeks.

After several minutes of heavy sobbing, my tears finally slowed down to an errant tear dropping off my chin here and there.

"Enough," I choked out. "I can't cry over that asshole anymore," I said out loud to myself.

I dug around in my purse and I found a couple of tissues. I wiped the tears off my cheeks and chin, and then I blew my nose several times. I took a deep breath and I blew it out in a big huff.

I opened the lighted mirror in the visor and I put my hands back onto the steering wheel. Staring at myself with my red-rimmed eyes I said: "I am a modern woman. I am better than this," I said. I took a deep breath that ended in a deep sigh. "I also need a drink," I murmured. But since I had no alcohol in the car, that was impossible. "Okay," I said. "Instead, I need a walk," I mumbled.

Then, my heart still very much hurt, I'd snapped the visor mirror shut, gotten out of my vehicle, and I had determinedly set off on a mountain trail that I'd never been on before.

I sighed as my legs worked to propel me along. Walking was my go to. Whenever I walked, it always made me feel better. I did it whenever I needed to clear my head. And if ever there was a time to clear out my jumbled thoughts, now was that time. Unfortunately, I hadn't thought about what a walk right now actually meant.

I glanced up briefly at the sky. Thanks to the steady rain, I was soon both soaking wet and cold. I put the hood of my jacket up, but it didn't really do any good as my jacket was made out of very thin material and wasn't water resistant.

But nevertheless, I continued. I walked and walked and the trail climbed and climbed. Suddenly, and from seemingly out of nowhere, it began to spit snow. I looked up at the sky again and I shivered. I was really regretting now not grabbing my winter coat instead of my thin jacket.

I blew hot air into my cupped hands over and over, trying to keep my chilled fingers warm. I finally paused in my walk, glancing around at all the trees that surrounded me.

My eyes finally focused on the scenery. The views were beautiful: rolling green mountains with deep, picturesque valleys, the closest one even sporting a river that lollygagged on its slow journey to some far-away sea. But the sheer emptiness around me was starting to concern me. "I'm really out in the middle of nowhere," I said out loud to myself.

And in fact, I hadn't even seen any other hikers on the trail. I made a face at that thought, though. It was most likely because of the hinky weather.

I took a second and I glanced upwards again. The sky was a hard, steel gray, and it was now snowing even harder. The snow was even beginning to stick to the ground around my feet. The wind had steadily picked up since I'd begun my hike. Even worse, it was now starting to get dark.

I questioned the sanity of my choices, and so I turned around a few times and I trudged on, in the direction that I thought was taking me down the mountain and back to my car. But the trail had split a little while back, and the path I now took somehow didn't look familiar to me. The terrain was rougher. Small pebbles and rocks caused me to slip and then to slide sometimes on the trail's steep grade.

Even worse, I had left the house in such a rush I hadn't even brought my cell phone with me. Most likely I couldn't have made a call, given the probable lack of cell phone service out here, but this also meant that I had no flashlight. Minutes passed by and it got steadily darker. The snow kept falling and I kept shivering.

All of a sudden, I stepped into a small hole full of water. My right ankle twisted horribly, and I went down immediately to my hands and knees and onto the wet ground.

"Ow!" I cried out on a gasp, my eyes suddenly widening. I'd never felt pain like the pain I was in. It was sharp. It was blinding. I panted a little as the pain slightly abated. I groaned loudly as I tried to move my ankle. Clearly it was better if I didn't move it at all.

It took me a second to stop seeing stars from behind my eyes. I angrily brushed the accumulating snow off of the top of my jacket's hood with my bare hand. It had already partly melted and sloppy ice and water had gone right down and had glooped right into my face.

I sat there and I debated over what to do. I had no choice but to walk to get back to my car. I glanced around at my surroundings. Slowly I crawled to a nearby tree with a big, dipped branch, and I used it to help me to stand. Stand I could, putting all my weight on my good foot, but it was evident that I wasn't going to be able to walk. It hurt too much to put any weight on my damaged ankle. When I tried, the pain that erupted from that act took my breath away.

I sank back down onto the cold and wet ground, the seat of my pants and my knees now completely soaked. A warm tear slipped down my face. "Help!" I whispered. But it was ridiculous. I was ridiculous. I was as alone as a person could be. Nobody was anywhere around me, and no one could hear me.

I was pretty much fucked.

"Help!" I cried out again, this time a little bit louder.

The wind only blew harder and whipped the still-falling snow into my face.

Realization of just how dangerous the predicament I was in began to dawn on me. "I'm going to be out here all night, aren't I?" I said out loud to myself. Even worse, nobody knew where I was. Hell, even I didn't know where I was.

Those horrible thoughts settled like a lead weight inside of my chest.

"What if it gets so cold out here that I freeze to death?" I mumbled to myself, shivering. Or even worse, what if a wild animal came by? Like a hungry wolf? Or an angry bear?

I suddenly felt a rush of determination flow through me. I had to try to help myself. I couldn't just give up. I refused to be wild animal food. I tried again to stand, but the lightning bolt of pain that shot through my ankle cured me of that fantasy, and fast.

I was now back on the ground. The tears fell more readily now. I couldn't help it. I was a sniveling mess. I was alone, stuck right where I was, and with no way to get home.

It had now gotten very dark. I shivered again in the quiet of the snowfall.

Time passed very slowly for me. I clutched my thin jacket as tightly around myself as I could, but I still shivered intermittently. I wasn't sure how long I sat there. An hour? Two hours? Time seemed to be running differently than normal. Despite wearing a watch, I couldn't see it in the darkness. And it was cold. So very cold.

Eventually, I just sat with my eyes closed. I soon caught my head doing a quick bob downward. I shook my head and blinked my eyes. Had I just dozed off for a second? I was no expert, and I couldn't really be sure, but I figured going to sleep out here was probably a bad idea.

What I did know was that just then my slitted eyes flew open as a sound caught my attention. Suddenly, I was hearing noises other than any that were coming from me. I listened hard. It didn't sound like an animal moving. It sounded like human footsteps crunching loudly on loose gravel and wet snow. I began to look around for the source of the sounds, but it was too dark for me to see anything.

Suddenly, the light from a flashlight approached along the path, then the footsteps abruptly stopped. The flashlight shined right into my eyes. Instantly my hand shot up to block the very bright light.

Yes... it was... someone!

I'd been found!

Bless Jared! He'd called the park service having somehow figured out where I was and through his actions I was now going to be saved!

"O-over here! H-help me!" I cried out, waving my arms around. I could barely get the words out, my teeth were chattering so badly.

A rough-looking man in hiking boots and wearing a bulky parka approached, stopped, and then knelt down in front of me. He looked absolutely dumbstruck to see me sitting there on the ground.

We couldn't have been dressed more differently. He had on thick, leather work gloves, and he had his hood up and secured tightly so that just his face peeked through the hole that it made. His nose and lips were red, but he mostly looked toasty and warm in his long, olive-colored winter coat.

"What the fuck are you doing out here?!" He said in great surprise. "Don't you know the temperature is going to go way down below freezing tonight?" He scolded me soundly in his deep voice. "Damn city campers," he muttered.

Probably this guy wasn't a park ranger, I thought, realization dawning.

"I... I, um, I'm n-not c-camping, but I do h-have a p-problem," I said, my teeth clacking together in the cold as I spoke.

"You mean you have a worse problem right now than freezing to death?" He asked me, astonished.

I flushed but nodded. "Well... yeah. It's m-my ankle. I think I t-twisted it," I said. "And I can't w-walk."

The man narrowed his eyes at me. "Twisted it?" He confirmed.

I nodded as a full-body shiver wracked me.

"Fuck," he muttered quietly. "Okay. Well, here, try to stand up," he said, helping me by first standing up himself and then by hauling me up from under both my armpits. At once I was standing on my good foot and leaning against his strong body for support. "Can you put any weight on it?" He asked me.

I tried, but the pain was another lightning bolt to my ankle. I even doubled over, the pain was so bad. "Ow!" I cried. "No, I c-can't. It hurts too b-bad!"

"Hum," he said thoughtfully. "Well, I can't really carry you," he decided, looking me over. I was a normal sized girl, nowhere near a svelte 110 pounds. Besides, he had several thick logs of wood just barely sticking out of a pack on his back. I assumed he'd been out cutting or gathering firewood, and that meant he was already carrying something heavy. Even if he ditched the pack he wouldn't have been able to carry me. "We don't have a lot of options here," he went on. "Do you think you can hop on your good foot?" He asked.

I nodded with a sniffle. "I t-think so," I said, knowing that I had no other choice.

"Here," he said, turning me around, "this way," he said. He wrapped an arm around the back of my waist and I was able to use his body for support.

We moved slowly along the trail with me having to hop. I'd stop every once in awhile to catch my breath and to rest my good foot. I wasn't sure where we were going, but even I could tell after a short while that the trail we were on was going uphill.

"W-wait. We're not going d-down the mountain?" I asked him, glancing around, confused. "That's w-where my c-car is."

His eyebrows rose and he shook his head. "No. No way. This is gonna turn into a big snow squall, the roads are already wet, temperatures are going to drop, and everything's going to freeze. My cabin is a little ways up here and just off this trail," he said. "That's where we're headed," he added.

I hesitated, but nodded.

He steadied me with one arm around my waist as we trudged on.

Because I could only hop, it took forever to reach his place. I drew some semblance of warmth from where our bodies touched at my hip, but it wasn't nearly enough. My lips were chapped and snot was semi-frozen to my upper lip by the time we got to where we were going.

But when I saw the small log cabin emerge through the trees, my eyes went wide and I forgot myself for just a second.

"Oh!" I gasped.

The little one story cabin was all lit up on the inside, and it looked like something out of a wintery fairy tale. The new falling snow had stuck to the roof and also to the grass in the front yard. There was a porch that held a decent sized wood pile along with two oversized wooden rocking chairs. I would have found the cabin charming even if I hadn't already been lusting for its warmth and shelter.

The man helped me hop up the front steps and pretty soon we were inside.

The first thing I noticed was the heat - if the cabin was anything, it was warm. The air inside smelled like food, like someone was right now cooking something tasty in the kitchen. The sheer heat of the cabin surprised me. I hadn't realized just how very cold I was.

The man tossed a throw blanket down over the seat cushion, and then he helped me to sit down on a 1970's, yellow-flowered, overstuffed chair. He handed me a box of tissues as he frowned at the snot that had collected on my upper lip.

He then went over to stand by the dying fire. He grabbed the poker and he stabbed it into the smoldering hot coals. As he did this, the fire suddenly came back to life, small red flames jumping and casting strange lights and shadows in the otherwise small living room. He added some more dry wood from a pile next to the hearth to the tiny blaze and it jumped even brighter.

He grunted satisfactorily. He glanced back at me. "Be right back," he said.

He quickly left me and I heard him drop off his wood pack out on the front porch. When he came back inside, I shivered as he brought along with him a gust of freezing wind.

He took off his gloves and unzipped and shook his parka down his arms as he eyed me suspiciously. He hung his coat on a wooden peg by the front door. Then he untied and toed off his boots.

"You're not from the government, are you?" He suddenly asked me, his eyes narrowing.

I blew my nose into the tissue and I wiped at my upper lip with numb fingers as I barked out a laugh. "The government? Well, I work for the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, renewing drivers licenses and stuff like that," I told him. "So, yeah. Kinda," I said.

His eyes narrowed even further. "Fuck," he muttered.

I snorted. "Aw, you don't need to worry too much. The Bureau of Motor Vehicles doesn't have an attack force anymore, so you're mostly pretty safe," I chuckled.

He just looked at me for a long second and grunted unhappily.

"Wait just a minute!" I abruptly said. "You're not an anti-government nut, are you?" I asked. "Do you have a bunch of DUI's?" I asked him.

He huffed, and he put his hands on his hips. "Well," he said, "no to the DUI's. And I'm not really anti-government, per se. I just don't like people telling me what to do."

I raised my eyebrows in surprise. "Oh?"

I thought for a second and then I told him something that my mother always used to tell me as a child. "Seems like life is basically a whole series of people telling you what to do," I said.

He shook his head. "Listen," he explained, a bit exasperatedly, pointing to himself with a thumb. "I'm my own man. I want to live in my own cabin, by myself, with no neighbors, and with nobody to worry about but me," he emphatically said.

"O... kay," I said slowly. I blinked up at him. This guy was somewhat of an odd duck. He probably was the type that had a huge stash of nonperishable food in a bomb shelter somewhere, or maybe a crazy-large collection of evil-looking hunting knives that he was just waiting to break out whenever the zombie apocalypse came.

He stared at me for a minute, shrugged, then he chuckled. "Sorry if that came off a little bit... pushy. I'm just pretty opinionated about some things," he said.

"Hum," I said.

He turned away from me awkwardly and absently poked at the fire again.

I took that moment to really look at him.

Though he thought that a man was an island, there was something about him that made those words he had said not ring very true. He really didn't strike me as a nut. I wasn't sure, of course, but at first meeting he didn't seem like somebody who disliked people, who had to live alone because he didn't fit into society. Not really. After all, he'd had no problem conversing with me out on the trail. And he'd been nothing but helpful.

And he was nicely put together and quite good-looking. He was probably in his early 30's, putting him a good seven or so years older than me. Under his parka he was wearing dark jeans and a red plaid flannel shirt. He placed yet another log on the fire that he took from his stash by the fireplace.

"This ought to warm things up for you," he said, when he was satisfied with the size of the flames. He brushed his hands off on his thighs and then turned and walked over to me. He was hovering over me as I glanced warily up at him. I had to crank my neck back to look up at him - he was a big guy, with a substantial dark brown mustache and a full beard. There was even still a bit of snow in it. He looked like the quintessential mountain man. His dark brown eyes assessed me as he ran his fingers through the surprisingly short and tidy hair on his head.

He didn't say anything more, but he abruptly knelt down on one knee and started untying my wet walking shoe on my hurt leg.

"What are you doing?" I asked, looking down at him.

He whipped a quick glance up at me. "Checking your ankle. Gonna see what damage you've done to it," he said.

I scoffed. "Oh. I didn't know you were a doctor," I said a little sarcastically.

He paused for a brief second, and then his lips broke into the tiniest of grins. "I'm not a doctor, smartass," he said. "But I do know a little bit about first aid," he said with a chuckle.

I bit back a scream once the laces were loosened and he gently but firmly pulled my running shoe off of my foot. He rolled up my wet pant leg and pulled off my soaked sock and I gawked at the size of my ankle. It was swollen, and it was huge!

"That doesn't look good," I mumbled.

He shook his head. "No. No, it does not." He took my other shoe and sock off and we both examined my normal ankle. My hurt ankle was twice the size of its mate. I wiggled all my toes as they started to warm. Coming directly out of my wet socks, my poor toes were pruny and positively icy.

He grabbed the toes of my good foot in his warm hand and more gently the toes of my other foot. Immediately I felt his delicious body heat transfer to my feet. He sighed and stood up. "Well, all of your toes work. That's a good sign. Here, let's get you a little bit more comfortable. Hand me your wet jacket," he said.

"Oh," I said. The inside of the cabin was so warm I had forgotten that I was still wearing it. I took it off, handed it to him, and he hung it on another peg by the front door, right next to his parka.

"Now," he said, with his hands on his hips. "Take the rest of your clothes off," he said.

My eyes bugged wide. "Wait a minute. What?!" I gasped.

He grinned a big grin that caused the sides of his eyes to crinkle. "Relax. It's just so that you can get warm. I know you're freezing because you keep shivering. And warming you up won't be possible while you've got all those wet clothes on," he said.

"O-oh," I said, glancing down at myself. Reluctantly I admitted silently to myself that he had a point.

"One sec," he said. I watched him as he disappeared down the nearby hallway and soon came back with a big, fluffy, blue flannel blanket. "Here. Strip, then wrap up in this," he said, tossing it to me. "I'll give you some privacy while you undress," he said.

I held the blanket, not speaking, just watching him.

But he left, heading down the hallway again, and shortly I thought I heard him peeing in a toilet somewhere. I sighed. He was right, though. Wet clothes did not equal a warm body. I quickly got to work, knowing he'd be back probably very soon.

I also took stock of myself and my situation. I glanced at my jacket where it hung on the wooden peg. It was completely soaked from the rain and the melted snow, and it was dripping water into a rug. My shoes were both soaking wet from puddles I'd walked through. My jeans were wet, especially on my ass and my knees and at the bottom of both of my pant legs. I was cursing my jeans because they were a bear to get off, given the state of my ankle. I checked and my shirt wasn't much drier than my jeans.

With a sigh I took my shirt off too, but I left my underpants and bra on just to spite the man. And then I did as he'd said - I wrapped my body up in the big blue blanket's warmth. The blanket was one of the softest things I'd ever felt. I now shivered in delight, burying my toes into the blanket's folds as my entire body slowly began to properly warm.

"You decent?" He called out from somewhere down the hallway.

"Yeah," I answered him.

He came back into the living room but continued on into the tiny kitchen and he washed his hands at the small sink. He then came into the living room and grabbed up all my wet clothes that I'd dropped on the floor, even my shoes. "I'll put these in the dryer for you." He said. He turned to go but then he paused, turning back to look at me. "Given the time of evening, I suppose you're probably hungry?" He asked me.

I paused a second, but then my stomach growled - loudly. Hopefully he couldn't hear it. "I could eat," I said with a small shrug. I glanced at my watch. It was a little after 7:00pm.

He left the room quickly and returned without my clothing. "Here," he said. "Why don't we move you over to the couch? It's where I always eat," he said.

He helped me hop a few steps over to the couch and he got me situated there. I was amazed that I was able to keep the blanket from falling from around myself, but I managed it.

I then watched him as he brought over two ancient, red metal TV trays. He set them up, and then he went back into the kitchen. There was a big pot of something on the stove, I noticed. A minute later, he came back into the living room with two bowls of hot chicken noodle soup and two glasses of ice water on a tray. He placed my bowl of soup and water on the TV tray in front of me and he handed me a spoon.

"Wow. Thanks," I said. "This smells great," I added, sniffing the bowl's contents.

He looked at me and he nodded only once, his lips partly upturned into a small smile.

He sat down beside me and immediately started eating. "Careful. It's hot," he said.

I focused on my soup, blowing on what was on my spoon and I took a small bite. The soup was indeed scalding, but it was delicious. Who was this guy that he could cook like this? The noodles looked thick and homemade and the broth was creamy and wonderful.

I glanced around the living room. It seemed strange to eat off of TV trays when there was no TV, but I didn't say anything about it. I watched the flames jumping in the fireplace instead.

Before I knew it my bowl was empty and I was pretty much warmed throughly from the inside out. My face even felt flushed from the heat of the soup.

He looked over at me. "Want some more?" He chuckled. I glanced over at his bowl and suddenly I felt like a pig; he'd only eaten about half of his.

I nodded embarrassedly with a grin. "Oh!" I said. "It's so good! Sure."

He grabbed our bowls and balanced my empty glass of water between his forearm and his torso, "Hey, do you want some pain pills for that ankle?" He called out from the kitchen.

"Um... yeah. That would be great," I said.

He refreshed his soup and brought me a fresh bowl, as well as a refilled glass of ice water along with two little ibuprofen pills.

We continued to eat in comfortable silence, the only sounds were the crackling of the fire and our spoons as they scraped along the bottom and sides of the bright orange plastic melamine bowls.

I sat quietly, but eventually curiosity got the best of me.

I glanced over at him. "You know... you've never told me your name," I said.

He chewed thoughtfully for a second. "No. I guess I never did. But you didn't tell me yours either," he said, pointing at me with his spoon.

I grinned at him. "Touche," I said. "So," I went on. "Since I brought it up, you get to go first. Your name, please."

He chewed for a few more seconds. "Name's Gideon," he finally said.

"Yeah? That's a nice name."

When he didn't answer I went on. "And what's your last name?" I asked him.

"Oh. My last name..." he said as his voice trailed off. "Well, I don't think I know you well enough to tell you that," he said in all seriousness.

I busted out laughing, but eventually I nodded. "Afraid I'll report you to the BMV attack force?" I said knowingly.

He looked at me somewhat in surprise, but then he just chuckled. "Something like that," he said.

"Fine. Ok, first names only, then. I'm Ruthie," I said.

"Aha. Well. Nice to meet you, Ruthie," he said. I held my hand out for him to shake it. He looked at it for a second, and then reached his hand towards mine.

"You too, Gideon," I said as I shook his hand. He had a nice, firm grip that I immediately liked.

"And I want to thank you for bringing me here into your cabin," I said. "And for saving me from a freezing cold night in the snow," I added. And quite possibly from death, I thought grimly to myself.

He glanced down at his soup and he smiled. "Yeah. You're welcome," he said.

I turned back to my soup and I ate until I was full. I didn't think I had ever had a dinner that had tasted so good.

As soon as I finished eating, he glanced down at my swollen ankle. "You know, we need to get that ankle elevated, and soon," he said.

I raised my eyebrows. "Oh, really?"

He nodded.

The next thing I knew he had me lying down on the couch with a pillow under my head and several pillows under my damaged ankle. It was above the level of my heart now which was where it should be, he had assured me, so that some of the swelling might go down.

I sighed. "Thanks for doing all of this for me. I know I've screwed up your evening. And this is all so totally embarrassing," I admitted.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"Well, me getting stranded out there on that trail," I explained. "I don't know what I was doing. Hell, I'm not really even an outdoorsy person. I don't know what I was thinking, going on a hike in the dark and in the rain and the snow," I said. "I should have just gone somewhere like an office supply store and looked around. I might have spent some money on some fancy pens, but it would have been a lot safer," I said. "So thanks again."

He frowned down at me as I laid wrapped like a mummy in his blue blanket. He had draped a towel over my ankle, and he had laid an ice pack made from a ziploc bag filled with ice cubes over the towel so as not to freeze my swollen skin.

"Don't worry about it," he finally said. "It's what anyone else would have done," he said.

"Well..." I said.

Not everybody would have, I thought to myself. Would Jared? I let that thought linger and the answer in my head displeased me.

"I think this is all that I can do for your ankle right now, anyway," he said, hands on his hips and looking at it with satisfaction. "We'll be able to get you down the mountain in a day or two, give or take, and then we can get you some medical help."

"Wait. What?! A day or two?!" I gasped, raising my head from my pillow to gawk at him. I immediately started thinking of all the stuff I needed to do within the next two days. I needed to grocery shop! I needed to go to work! I didn't have two free days to just fuck around in the mountains!

He just nodded. "Yeah. The snow isn't supposed to stop for at least 24 hours, and the temps are to stay around freezing. The mountain roads and ruts I use to get up here are terrible. Snow and then the freezing water will make them crazy slick and muddy and easy to get stuck in. I won't be risking our lives to bring you down the mountain until it's safe," he said.

My head fell back down against my pillow. "That's just great," I grumbled.

He chuckled. "Think of it as a... a very, very short mountain vacation," he said with a grin.

I groaned unhappily.

"Give me a few minutes. Let me get the dishes cleaned up, and I'll bring you a book to read so you're not just lying there staring up at the ceiling," he added.

I watched as he went into the tiny kitchen with both our now empty soup bowls.

I heard him turn the water on full force in the sink and saw him squirt dish detergent into the spray.

No TV, and no dishwasher, either, I thought to myself. This guy was really roughing it, as far as I was concerned.

A few minutes later, our dishes now clean and drip drying, he dried his hands on a hand towel and he came back into the living room. He folded the TV trays and removed them from in front of the couch. He turned and then perused his bookshelf that was right next to the fireplace and in turn pulled out four books.

He handed them to me with a grin. "Try one of these," he said.

"Thanks," I said.

I quickly looked at the titles. He'd given me: The Picture of Dorian Gray; Black Beauty; 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea; and Little Women.

"Wow," I said. "You like the classics," I said to him matter-of-factly. The books were old, hardback copies, and judging from their ratty appearances, they looked like they'd all been read through many, many times.

He nodded. "Classic books are great," he said. He sat down on the 1970's overstuffed chair - that exactly matched the pattern of the couch - and he grabbed a book off of the side table. The long envelope serving as his bookmark showed that he was about halfway through it.

"So..." I said. "This cabin. How is it that you live here? It seems like it's kind of out in the middle of nowhere," I observed.

Gideon paused but then nodded. "Yeah. Well, that's kind of the point. And it's kind of a long story," he said.

I just shrugged. "I got time," I said.

Gideon grinned. "Well, this cabin belonged to my grandfather," he said. "He wanted to build an off-the-grid place on the little edge of his land here that butts up against the national park."

"Off-the-grid?" I asked.

He nodded. "Yes. There's no water line out here. No electricity. Nothing. Gramps lived a pretty sparse existence. After he moved here he grew a garden and hunted for his food. He dug a well for the water that the cabin still uses."

"Yeah?" I asked.

Gideon nodded. "Then as the years passed by, Gramps subtly updated the place to make it more modern. He put in solar panels a few years ago on the back side of the roof for electricity and for warm baths. He brought a toilet into the bathroom and knocked down the old outhouse," he grinned. "But this cabin has no address. I get no mail here; I have to pick it up at the post office in town. There aren't really even official roads that lead directly up here - just a rough path in some places with only my tire ruts."

"Wow," I said.

Gideon nodded. "And as for the books, Gramps loved to read too, but only the very old stuff," he chuckled. "And I agree with him when he once told me that most books written in the 20th or 21st centuries are crap," he said.

I grinned at him with a chuckle. "Oh, really?" I said. "Wow. Your grandfather sounds like he was a real character," I said.

"Yeah. He was," Gideon said, grinning and also looking a lot wistful.

"I take it you and your grandfather must have been pretty close?" I said.

Gideon beamed. "We were. He was an extraordinary man. This cabin was Gramps' retirement home after he had lived his working life as a reporter in the city. I used to spend summers as a kid here at this cabin, just me and him. My dad was an only child and so was I, so as the only grandkid, I got Gramps all to myself," he said.

"Aww, a little boy and his grandpa - how fun!" I said.

He nodded, grinning. "Yeah. It was great here. I ran all over this place as a little kid. There's a creek behind the cabin and I used to catch crawdads there and play with them," he said with a half smile. "Gramps taught me how to shoot and hunt and chop wood and how to live off the land. My dad and Gramps never really got along, so when Gramps died, he left the cabin and everything in it to me."

"Wow! That's amazing!" I said. "So," I went on, "what book of your grandpa's are you reading?" I asked him.

"Around the World in 80 Days," he said.

"Another classic," I said. "Is it good?"

He nodded with another grin. "I've read it four times this year," He said. "I read all those books on the bookshelf in succession, one right after the other," he said.

"Seriously?" I said, glancing over at the book-packed bookshelf.

He nodded. "Then when I finish, I start reading them all over again."

"I did notice you don't have a TV," I said.

He snorted. "Yeah. Gramps would be turning over in his grave if I got a TV. It's bad enough I need an internet connection for my work," he said.

"Wait - you have internet here?!" I gasped.

He nodded sheepishly. "Yep," he said. "Have to; I've got satellite internet because I need high-speed."

"Oh?" I asked curiously.

"And even worse there's some cell phone service in the park now," he went on. "I watched them erect the damned cell phone towers on the mountainside just a few years ago."

"Wait - there's cell service out here?!" I gasped. "So if I had brought my cell phone with me, I could have called 911 for help?!" I exclaimed.

Gideon shrugged. "Yeah, the service is sporadic, and sometimes calls get dropped, but you probably could have. In any case, it's pure luck that I came across your path when I did," he said. "It could have ended badly for you if I hadn't."

I shuddered hard. Because he was probably right. There was nobody out on that trail except for me... and Gideon.

"What were you doing out in tonight's bad weather anyway?" I asked him, changing the subject. I couldn't think of me being stranded outside in the elements all night long like that anymore. It frightened me too much.

He chuckled. "I was just out taking a walk. The cold doesn't really bother me."

"And all that wood you were carrying?"

"I always find wood that I pick up as I go. Saves me from having to chop a bunch more of it later," he said.

I nodded. "Hum," I said.

Our conversation comfortably died off. I refocused my attention back to the books he'd given me and I selected The Picture of Dorian Gray. He reached over and took the others from me when I handed them back to him. Dorian Gray was actually a favorite of mine ever since I had to read it for English class in high school.

Silence settled in around us as Gideon picked up his book. I thumbed through the book I'd chosen for a good minute, but eventually I sighed. I was suddenly starting to feel a bit ancy. And I wasn't sure why. And come to think of it, I didn't really want to get into reading this book again. I had enjoyed it once, sure, but I remembered now that it wasn't exactly an easy read. It was kind of a horror story, about a young but very vain guy whose artist friend's portrait of him aged while he did not. He could do all sorts of evil, horrible things and the results would show up on the painting. But his face remained unblemished and unaging as the years passed.

I frowned. Reading this book was going to make me think too much, I decided. And I wasn't in the mood to think about a book. I was much more interested in the man whose cabin I was now inside. The man whose cabin I had unintentionally invaded. The same man who carried on his grandfather's legacy by living in the old man's home in much the same way his grandfather had.

The fire crackled in the fireplace and Gideon turned on a lamp on the side table beside his chair, its yellow light now just barely making the living room fit for reading.

I watched him read for several silent minutes. He seemed totally at ease, one white, sock-covered ankle slung over the other knee. But I was still feeling a little self-conscious and jumpy, lying on a stranger's couch in just a blanket and my underwear.

My words finally broke the deep silence. "So... what do you do besides sit and read classic books all day?" I abruptly asked him.

He glanced up at me. He looked thoughtful for a second. He shut his book but kept a finger in it to keep his place. "Well," he said, "I'm a consultant. I help small businesses design and manage their websites."

"Oh! So that's why you need the high speed internet!" I said.

He nodded. "Yes, that's why," he said. "I also cook a lot," he continued. "I chop a fuckton of firewood for the autumn and winter," he grinned. "I work to keep the cabin in good shape by fixing what breaks," he said. "And, of course, sometimes," he paused, "when the situation is right," he said, "I... fuck," he said, ending with a small smirk on his lips.

My eyes widened and I blinked at him.

I wondered if I desperately needed to clean out my ears, because surely he hadn't said what I thought he'd just said!

The room was now completely silent as he looked at me and as I just looked at him.

"Uh... you what?!" I finally said, absolutely astonished at his previous words. Not much came out of me, though. My voice was nothing but a tight little squeak.

His voice, however, was deep and smooth as velvet. He blinked slowly once, and stared right at me, his expression smooth. "Yeah. You heard me," he said softly.

I paused a beat. Then I cleared my throat loudly. "I... well, um... that's..." my words eventually trailed off and I chuckled nervously.

While never taking his eyes off of me, Gideon put his envelope bookmark back into his book and he closed it, placing it back on the side table. Then he stood and started slowly moving towards me.

My eyes nearly bugged out of my head like in a cartoon as he slowly approached. He was completely focused on me, and he resembled a hungry animal slowly stalking its prey.

"Wait! What... what are you doing?!" I asked, absently dropping my book to the floor and then pulling the blanket tighter around my body. I didn't know whether I liked being or even wanted to be the prey of this wild human animal.

I instinctively shrank away from him the closer he got. Finally he knelt down on the floor beside the couch right next to me. However, I was now scooched tightly into the bend of the couch, as far away from him as I could get.

He didn't seem to notice. "So..." he grinned, his eyes bright and penetrating. "Do you want to?" He asked.

I just looked at him, more than a little flummoxed. I knew my face was now flushed bright red with embarrassment. "What?!" I said again.

"You know what," he stated.

I just stared.

"Do you... want to fuck... me?" he asked me, slowly enunciating his words.

My mouth dropped open. He had said those words to me loud and clear; there was no mistaking them. He was definitely propositioning me for sex, something that had never happened before. Not like this!

"Well, I... I..." I stammered. My eyes darted frantically around the room. "W-what about r-reading our b-books?" I stuttered lamely.

His eyes bore into mine as he shot me a grin. He licked his lips once. "Fuck the books," he chuckled, putting his hand on my book that was already on the floor. He gave it a push and he sent it skittering clear across the living room's hardwood floor. I watched as it bumped into the bookshelf and then just laid there.

My eyes then flitted back up to his. "F-fuck the books?" I repeated.

He slowly nodded. "Fuck the books, and fuck me instead," he added.

I blinked furiously and I cleared my throat. "Um... I have a boyfriend?" I finally hesitantly said. It came out wrong, and it sounded like a question.

He threw his head back and he laughed, the deep sound filling the small room. "You don't sound very sure of that. Do you have a boyfriend, or don't you?" He asked me once he had mostly sobered.

I huffed out an irritated breath. "I do have one!" I stated.

He thought for a second. "Well, that's great. But I gotta tell you: I don't really care," He said, looking at me intently.

I shook my head again. "Wait. What do you mean, you don't care?!"

He shrugged. "It makes no difference to me whether you have a boyfriend or not," he said.

"But... I mean, you... and... and..." I spluttered. I was truly at a loss for words.

"Yeah, it doesn't bother me," he said. "Because," he continued, "I have no problem with taking what I want," he said, staring intently into my eyes. "Boyfriend or no."

My eyes widened even further.

I watched in disbelief as his hand moved slowly towards me. He took hold of the blue blanket where it was tightly wrapped across my chest. I don't know why I didn't smack him on his hand. Instead, I moved my hands from the blanket altogether when he shooed them away. My hands now at my sides, my heart hammered as I watched his long fingers move. He slowly pulled the blanket away from the front of my body.

He looked down at my white sports bra and grinned. "We'll need to get rid of that," he said. "And those," he said, as he glanced down at my now partly exposed white cotton panty briefs.

I flushed a deep red color. I was obviously dressed for comfort. I was definitely not dressed as a sexy sexpot looking for some sexy sex.

But, inexplicably, evidently Gideon was looking for some sexy sex. His touch was feather light as he dragged his fingers slowly down the side of my neck. The act caused my body to burst forth in strong tingles. I gasped loudly in the otherwise silence of the room. I wondered if he could feel my pulse at my neck, because I knew it was pounding hard.

He then shocked me by leaning down and placing a soft kiss on my now bared belly. His mustache and beard tickled at my skin. My abdominal muscles happily twitched under his warm touch. He looked up at me as he rubbed his soft lips against my flesh.

I exhaled a quivering breath. Good God, I couldn't believe this was happening!

"You smell good," he mumbled softly.

"Oh?" I squeaked.

He nodded. "And you know, fucking is great for your condition," he murmured.

"My condition?" I whispered.

He nodded. "You can just put your leg over my shoulder and bingo, your sprained ankle's still elevated," he said.

"Wait. Why would my leg be over your shoulder?" I asked him innocently. It sounded like some kind of advanced sex position that I wasn't really familiar with.

He just gave me a long, pointed look. "Because... when I eat your pussy," he said slowly, "you'll need someplace to put that injured leg," he said.

The image of his face between my legs burst into my head. My mouth fell agape. I was silent for a few beats, and then I... I chuckled. "Is... is that right?" I asked.

He nodded. "Absolutely," he said with a tiny grin.

I just looked at him. His lips returned to dropping those maddening soft kisses onto my stomach. And his eyes continued to stare up at me.

I let out a shaky breath.

This was insane!

Bonkers!

"I do have a boyfriend," I said again.

He grinned. "Didn't I mention before that I don't care?"

I paused for a second, but then my anger spiked and I let him have it. "What do you mean, you don't care?! Don't you respect other people's relationships?!" I asked him indignantly.

He just chuckled. "Sure I do. Of course I do," he said. "But, I do only when respect is warranted," he added.

I frowned. "What the hell does that mean?" I asked him.

"Hum. Have you ever heard the saying: 'actions speak louder than words'?" He asked me.

I rolled my eyes. "Of course I have!"

"Well, it seems to me that your relationship is in big trouble," he said.

I silently agreed, but I wasn't going to admit to that. "What do you mean it's in big trouble?!" I scoffed instead.

"Well, riddle me this: What were you doing on a mountain trail all by yourself right before a big snow storm?" He asked me.

I just looked at him, blinking.

"Seems to me like you were running from something," he said. He looked thoughtful. "And it also seems like your boyfriend is a fucktard to let something like that happen to you: someone he should care the most about."

I frowned some more.

Well.

That was an interesting take on the situation, considering the argument with Jared was what had driven me up the mountainside in the first place. My boyfriend had been neglectful of me at times and was anything but faithful to me. So why in the hell did I keep bringing him up with this man?

I frowned, though. In Jared's defense, however, it was true that he wouldn't have known a bad weather report from a good one. We both lived down in the city. Weather didn't really affect us, or so we thought, no more than we paid any attention to it. Weather meant the difference between having to carry an umbrella for the day or not, not life or death.

But still. I huffed out a breath, my lips in a straight line.

"Come on," Gideon said, kissing my belly again. "Let me fuck you," he urged, his eyes glittering. "I come highly rated on Yelp," he added with a hearty laugh.

"On Yelp?!" I exclaimed loudly in disbelief.

He just grinned and nodded slowly. "Sure," he said, his smirk dancing on his lips. "And believe me when I tell you this: You've never had anything like me before," he added, his eyes big and smoldering.

I couldn't help but chuckle at his astoundingly large ego. "Wow," I said. "I'm surprised those humongous hairy balls of yours aren't pooling down by your feet," I said.

He threw his head back and he laughed again.

I figured two could play at this game. "So," I then said with a grin. "What, is there a website or an XL sheet that I can look at that compares your sexual skills with the skills of other guys?" I asked him with a smirk.

His eyes danced. "Maybe," he grinned.

I laughed. This guy was a piece of work! "So you're, what, like, very good at the sex stuff, huh?" I asked him.

He nodded. "I'm extremely good at the sex stuff," he countered. "Some might even say that I'm a goddamned sexual phenom," he whispered, his breath nice and warm against my skin.

I just snorted and rolled my eyes. "Uh-huh. Sure you are," I said.

He grinned widely. "Well, why don't you at least give me a try-out before you jump to any false conclusions? Take me for a test drive, so to speak," he said. He started drawing imaginary figure eights on my belly with a pointer finger.

I frowned again.

"My mouth and tongue are fantastic," he said. "I won't stop until you come," he said. "Scout's honor," he said, now holding up three fingers.

"Wow. That's a pretty impressive claim," I said. "By the way, were you a Boy Scout?" I asked, figuring an outdoorsy little boy like him would definitely have been.

"Nope, not even a little bit," he smiled.

I rolled my eyes. Evidently little boys with granddads with mountain cabins didn't need the Boy Scouts.

"So... since you're a self-claimed expert, I take it you know where a woman's clitoris is?" I asked him. Sometimes I wondered if my boyfriend did, because he rarely paid any attention to it during sex. He mostly treated it like it wasn't even there.

Gideon now rolled his eyes at me, but then he did a double take when he saw my serious look. "What?! Of course I know where a woman's clitoris is!" he said.

"Great. Do you know how important it is to a woman?" I shot back angrily.

He paused for a second, his mouth falling a little open in... confusion at my sudden outburst. But when I didn't say anything else, the realization dawned on him. I could see it in his face.

"You've been neglected during sex before," he murmured, with a knowing nod.

I frowned, but I didn't reply.

Because he was right.

His look became serious. When he licked his lips, my eyes darted from his brown eyes down to watch his slippery pink tongue as it quickly shot out of his mouth. Then just as quickly it slicked over his full lips, and then it disappeared back inside. "You think I'm joking? That I'm just telling you tall tales?" He asked me.

I didn't answer him.

He barked out yet another laugh, shaking his head. His hand went through his short hair. "Yeah, Ruthie, I know where a woman's fucking clit is. And I damn well know how important it is to a woman, as well as what to do with it," he stated.

I paused a second, then I scoffed. "Yeah, right," I said. "The problem with you is that you sound too good to be true," I said.

He chuckled. "Phhht," he spat. "Like it's all that hard to know how to pleasure a woman," he scoffed.

"Evidently it is," I grumbled.

He grinned. "So, how can I convince you? What, are you gonna need references? Phone numbers?" He laughed. "Photocopies of driver's licenses and Social Security cards?"

I paused. "No. Especially not if you keep those things as souvenirs from your kills," I said, shaking my head and frowning.

He laughed loudly again. "Well, they do call a good orgasm 'the little death'," he mused.

I snorted. Indeed they did.

His hand started to gently stroke my belly. The rough pads of his fingers next slowly migrated down towards my crotch. He was making my abdominal muscles jump again.

"I'm still..." I said, my legs snapping shut. I grabbed his wrist to halt its movement.

"Need some more convincing?" He asked me, his eyes bright and intense.

I paused a second, and then I nodded briefly. "Um," I said with a nervous exhale.

"Come here," he whispered. He wriggled his pointer finger for me to come towards him.

"What?" I whispered back, leaning up a little bit.

He leaned in towards me. "First thing's first," he said softly. "You need to kiss me."

My eyebrows shot up on my forehead. "Oh?" I whispered.

Gideon nodded. He inched a little closer, and then he paused for just a second. When I didn't object or pull back, his face moved in impossibly close, and God, did he smell good! It was a crisp, clean, manly smell, the remnants of some good-smelling body spray or an amazing smelling cologne that had probably been on his body for hours. It had worked its way into his pores, and now the scent was combined with his natural smell. It was heady, and it made my head swim.

He paused again, his face now very close to mine. His eyes were half closed, and he was silently gauging my interest. My breath caught at his hungry look. My lips instinctively parted on a breath. And then his eyes closed, he leaned in, and his mouth very gently touched mine.

I held mostly still, but my eyes fluttered closed and after a couple seconds, I moaned softly into the kiss, our lips still just barely touching. When his tongue peeked out to just barely lick at my lips, I immediately met his tongue with mine.

And then we were off to the races. His hands grabbed my shoulders and my arms went around as much of him as I could grab. God! It was amazing! He was amazing! It was like my heart was trying to thrum itself out of my chest. At the touch of his tongue, my heartbeat had spiked, and it had spiked hard. I was starting to feel sweaty. And hot. And a little more than just a little bit bothered.

I squirmed and let out a desperate moan that conveyed to Gideon that I craved a little bit more.

He growled at my taciturn acceptance of his kiss. Our tongues then began dancing together, and he snaked his big hand behind my neck. He held my head steady as his mouth opened and he began to absolutely ravage my mouth.

I felt my pussy wet and clench in anticipation, but the power of it all frankly scared me. "Mmmph, w-wait, wait!" I said breathlessly, pushing at him and pulling away from him slightly.

He immediately stopped kissing me.

"What? Why?" He asked. His lips were red and wet and a bit swollen from their recent use. His look was slightly irritated, but very wild and very feral.

I took in the confounded, sexually frustrated look on his face as he tried to hold back his need. It was... wow. I liked that look on him. Yeah. I liked it a lot.

"I... I just need a minute to... to..."

His eyes were dark and heated. He caressed my cheek with a finger as he shook his head. "You just need to keep going," he said. "Don't think. Just fuck," he whispered with a grin.

I whimpered as his head moved in again towards mine.

He kissed me again and I forgot why I had said no to him in the first place. I finally just surrendered to the feeling. I closed my eyes and let this man's big essence surround me.

His lips dominated mine, bringing out a feeling of utter lust in me that I hadn't even known existed. He rubbed the backs of his fingers over my nipples. They immediately puckered and I shivered.

"You can't still be cold," he whispered.

"No," I said, with a little head shake.

He smirked at that. "Still, this bra is pretty damp. We need to fucking take it off," Gideon muttered.

He wrestled my sports bra off of me and then he just stared at my large naked breasts. "Goddamn, Ruthie. Those are fabulous," he breathed, seemingly impressed.

I smiled as his head went down and he licked over a very hard nipple.

"You must be a boob man," I gasped in pleasure, placing my hands on his shoulders.

He chuckled. "Sure am," he said. Then he became thoughtful. "Actually, boobs, legs, ass, pussy, whatever, I love it all," he said, licking my other nipple.

I laughed and then groaned at the amazing things his tongue was doing to me. His tongue curled around my nipple and then he deeply sucked on it. I moaned loudly in surprised pleasure.

"What about you?" He asked.

"Um... what?" I asked, my brain now slightly scrambled.

"What do you like?" He asked. "Besides a focus on your clit?" He asked.

I cleared my throat. "Well," I thought. "I also kinda like... with you just now... when a guy... sort of loses his control," I said.

He just looked at me. "I lost control? When?!" He glanced down a little comically at the front of his jeans.

I laughed again. "No. Just before. When I asked you to stop. I mean you did stop. But you were pissed off a little bit as well as very turned on. I kind of liked that," I said.

He shook his head. "You like it when a guy's pissed off during sex?" Now he looked confused.

"No," I said, shaking my head. "I don't know how to explain it. It's like when a guy's so gone for a girl all he can think about is getting into her pants," I said. "The desperation to it... I-I've never experienced it like that before," I said, shaking my head again. "That kind of a look was just on your face, and it turns out there's a huge rush to that," I said.

Realization dawned on him. "Ohhh," he said. "You want to be wanted," he said simply.

I paused. Yeah. He'd kind of nailed it.

Right on the head.

"Yes. Yes, I do want to be wanted," I said.

"Let me guess. You haven't felt enough of that, either, have you?" He asked me.

I thought for a second, but then I shook my head. Boy, I hadn't. And I had evidently greatly needed it, without even realizing it.

All of a sudden he grinned wickedly at me. "Well, here's a not-so-big-secret for you, Ruthie: I want you," he said with a loud swallow. "Badly. Wanna feel my hard cock as proof?" He asked me with a smirk.

I chuckled.

"In fact," he went on, "I think I could use it alone to lift up this end of this couch," he mused. I watched as his big hand slowly moved until he was palming the front of his crotch. "Here. Give me your hand," he said.

I chuckled again, but I could feel my face heating. I was a bit embarrassed at his touching-his-dick offer. Nobody had ever said anything like that to me before. "Maybe... I'll feel it... later?" I said.

He suddenly laughed loudly.

"Gonna hold you to that," he said, grinning. "And hey... just so you know... you're not alone. Guys want to feel wanted too," he said, his head coming towards me, his forehead now touching mine.

"Yeah?" I asked him.

He nodded. "Oh, fuck yeah. Like with lingerie, for instance. Flit around my cabin wearing something frilly with half your ass and most of your tits hanging out. See how fast that gets you some of my dick," he said.

Now it was my turn to laugh.

"Now, speaking of lingerie," he said, his eyebrows dancing on his forehead. He started to tug my white panty briefs down my hips. "Love me some smokin' hot, white, granny panties," he said.

I laughed yet again, my hands going up to cover my face in mortification.

I'd never laughed so much during sex before. The undeniable heat was there, no doubt. But then also there was laughter. Gideon was funny. He was fun. I wasn't just about to have sex, I was having fun with him.

The best kind of fun.

Gideon tugged my panties down and carefully took them off of my sore ankle. He then tossed them across the room, but he put a little bit too much heat behind the throw. My panties shot across the tiny living room, and we both watched as they promptly landed right into the open fireplace.

Immediately they caught fire and burst into bright flames.

"Oh, my God!" I gasped as we both stared in disbelief.

At his surprised look, I burst out laughing.

"You did not just do that on purpose, did you?!" I asked him, my laughter now close to hysterics.

He laughed loudly also, while shaking his head. "Um... I'll never admit to anything."

"Uh-huh!" I chuckled.

He leaned a little more towards me, mirth in his eyes. "But let's just both agree that those granny panties weren't doing either of us any favors," he said.

I tried to suppress more giggles as he urged my legs apart with his big hands.

At his incendiary look, I sobered quickly.

"Wow. You're so absolutely fucking sexy," he said, just looking down at me, my legs all spread open for him. He glanced up at my face and he smiled. His gaze then returned down between my legs. His fingers slowly moved through my tight curls, and then my body jerked when his thumb brushed right over the top of my very sensitive clit. "Bingo," he whispered, glancing up at me again. "I told you I could find it," he said with a self-satisfied little grin.

"Yes! Good job! You even found it on your first try!" I joked.

He good-naturedly rolled his eyes at me. "Now. If you don't object," he said, "I'd like to spend some time here just eating you out. Can I taste you?" He asked me.

I put a finger in my mouth and I gently bit down on it. I nodded, my body suddenly feeling feverish all over. "Yes... please!" I said earnestly.

It was my favorite thing in the world, a mouth on my clit.

My favorite thing ever.

He nodded. "Maybe put your hurt ankle over my shoulder like I said before," He said. "Because I plan to be down here for a while," he murmured.

"Oh, fuuuck," I groaned happily.

"But hang on. Wait. It's hot in here. Let me get a little bit more comfortable first," he whispered.

His eyes were sparkly and they were on me. I watched him and it was as if he were in slow motion as he unbuttoned and took off his red plaid shirt, slipping it slowly off of each of his wide shoulders. Then he took his time taking off his white, short sleeved T-shirt he had on underneath. He did this sensuously, pulling the tee slowly up his chest and then over his head. As he worked, his eyes never left mine.

Was he intentionally stripping for me? It seemed like he quite possibly might be, like he was my very own erotic dancer. It was hot watching him. He was supremely confident, which meant he was scorchingly hot. I took in his beautiful body: His pecs were nicely developed, his stomach muscles looked strong, and his biceps both had a good-sized bulge to them.

It was even better than watching porn.

Much better.

Because he was here with me. A man in the actual flesh.

When he was finally shirtless, he helped me move my leg up and onto his shoulder as promised. The skin of his back was warm on my bare calf. I swallowed hard as he slowly kissed the inside of that thigh. Then he very slowly leaned in and he rubbed his closed lips lightly all over my pussy, his nose buried deep in my curls.

"Yes, yes, yes!" I whispered, the anticipation of it all nearly killing me.

"Fuck me, you smell good, he murmured. "Now, hang tight. I'm diving in," he said.

I whimpered, the thought of what was imminent still exciting me greatly.

I suddenly felt his tongue flutter against my clit as he caressed my nether lips with his thumbs. His tongue then was suddenly flirting with my entrance. I arched my back, scooting down and slightly thrusting myself even more towards him. When next his mouth closed around my clit, I cried out in pure pleasure.

He grinned up at me. His tongue and his lips then got busy, licking and sucking. He was silent at first, but then he growled deep in his throat at my moans. The sounds eventually coming from him were absolutely feral.

"Oh yeah," he mumbled. "Fuck it, just look at you!" he said as I writhed under his tongue. "Has it been awhile? Is that boyfriend not fucking you on the regular? You're acting like you really needed this," he said.

I nodded. "Yeah. I need this so bad," I said.

His eyes burned up at me from between my legs. I felt desired. Wanted. It was as if he was enjoying this almost as much as I was.

Then he flicked his tongue against my clit at a speed that I wasn't sure was even human.

My hand flew out seemingly all on its own and my fingers landed in his short brown hair, delightfully messing it up. I made a fist in the strands and he only snuggled his face up closer to me, his mouth more firmly attached to my pussy.

"G-Gideon!" I gasped.

His mouth and tongue only moved faster, my orgasm racing towards me. Soon I felt that tell-tale tingle, the sign that my orgasm was inevitable.

"Oh, oh, good God!" I gasped as I went off. I then throbbed and throbbed and I throbbed.

"Yeah," he nodded. "You fucking come for me," he said darkly from between my legs.

My body undulated under his mouth and tongue. I cooed and groaned at the exquisiteness of the pure bliss of a fabulous, toe-curling orgasm.

I opened my eyes a few moments later. He was standing up. He looked hotly down at me as I watched him slip his jeans and his boxers down his legs. His hard cock bobbed as he moved.

"Good? Yeah?" He asked me, nodding, seeking my approval.

"Yeah," I nodded, stretching luxuriously. "Wow!" I said.

With another nod he grinned at me, and he grabbed his wallet from his back jeans pocket. I watched him open and roll a condom on, my legs still splayed haphazardly open for him.

He gently placed my damaged leg in the crook of his elbow as he climbed between my legs and onto the couch.

He stared deep into my eyes as he rubbed his cock up and down my very wet slit. I arched my back as he then, with an open mouth and a long exhale, slowly and gently pushed himself all the way inside of me.

His eyes burned into mine as he slightly smiled and began to slowly thrust. "Goddamn," he said. "You feel fucking good!" he said.

My eyes rolled closed and my mouth fell open as he gently kissed up my neck to my chin. Finally his lips fell on mine.

We kissed passionately as he fucked me, his thrusts strong and sure. I grabbed his muscular ass and I just simply hung on to him as he did some of his best work.

We moved together like that for some time, and Gideon whispered little dirty things in my ear, like: "I love your big breasts and those rock-hard little nipples. They're just aching for my mouth to suck on them again, aren't they?" And: "You've got the tastiest little pussy; it's so fucking good!" And: "This feels so... goddamn... you underneath me, right now... fuck!" And: "I'm so glad the weather is bad, because that means nobody in their right mind will fucking bother us." And: "I could just fuck you like this all night long."

I watched his face, his searching eyes, and I was amazed at the intense focus on me that he had, even as he chased down his own orgasm.

I'd never seen anything like it before.

"Gonna come," he eventually mumbled.

"Oh, yeah," I said. "Do it," I whispered, nodding, still holding on to his bare ass cheeks.

Usually I was disappointed when Jarod came, because it meant that the sex was over.

But this man's orgasm? Gideon's?

This I had to see.

I watched as he suddenly froze above me, his body trembling in place. "Fuck!" He said hotly. I watched his eyes roll back into his head and his mouth fall slack. He gasped a couple times, then he shuddered greatly once, then again, then again.

I blinked up at him in awe. This was a man who was living in the moment. He was here. He was present.

Even better, he was absolutely exquisite to watch as he came completely undone right before me.

When he finished trembling, he grinned a huge smile. His eyes slowly opened and he looked down at me.

"Hi," he said, rather shyly.

"Hi," I said back, along with flushed cheeks and a chuckle.

"That was..." he said.

"Yeah," I said.

******************

He slipped his jeans back on without his boxers, going commando. We sat on his couch and ate another bowl of his soup. I clutched the blanket around my bare shoulders but he shook his head. "Don't bother," he chuckled. "I want to see you," he said.

"I don't know. I feel kind of weird sitting here topless and eating chicken noodle soup," I said, looking hesitantly out the bare, dark windows and then down at my equally bare boobs.

"Why? I'm eating my soup topless, and I don't feel weird about it at all," he said in all seriousness.

I smacked his thigh with a smirk and he chuckled.

"But seriously, what if somebody sees me? You don't have any window shades or any drapes over your windows at all."

Gideon leaned in towards me, his eyes bright. "Ruthie, the park closes at dusk," he said. "The only things that can see in at this time of night are the trees and night birds... and maybe prowling animals," he added with a grin. "Nothing that cares."

"But having no drapes or blinds on your windows at all...?" I said.

He slowly shook his head. "Don't need 'em. Except for maybe sometimes when the moon is full, because it can be really bright when it shines down onto my pillow, but other than that, nope. Don't need any window coverings out here."

I shook my head. Living in the city I wasn't used to this level of privacy.

"Anyway, though," Gideon said, glancing down at my ankle, "we do need to get you to a doctor as soon as possible," he said. "I don't think your ankle is broken, but you need to at least have it looked at, and probably x-rayed," he said.

I nodded.

"How does it feel now?" He asked me.

I shrugged, looking down and moving it just a tiny bit. "It still throbs and it hurts," I said.

He frowned. "You could take some more ibuprofen if you need it."

"Oh. Yeah. That would be great," I said.

He brought me some more pain pills from the kitchen and I took them. When he took the glass of water from me, our eyes locked.

Then I couldn't tear my eyes away from him, from his bare chest, from his tiny brown nipples that I wanted to lick. I could not deny that I wanted him again. I wanted his jeans back off.

I wanted him back inside of me.

And I wanted him now.

"Jesus," he said, his eyes amused yet his look scorching hot. "You're looking at me like you want to eat me up," he said.

"Oh!" I said, shyly ducking my head behind my hand. "I guess I was," I mumbled. "I thought I was being sneaky about it, but evidently I was not," I said, cringing.

"Nope. You weren't hiding it even a little bit," he chuckled, sitting down beside me again and pulling my hand away from my face so that he could see me better. "But seriously," he leaned in a little bit and he grinned at me widely, "Ruthie, if you want to eat me up... you fucking go right ahead and do it," he said with a sudden intensity.

"I... well..." I said.

"God knows I'm hard for you again," he mumbled quietly.

"Yeah?" I asked.

He nodded. "Oh, yeah. Wanna feel me this time?"

"Um... okay," I said.

Sex had always been serious business for me. I wasn't used to playing around and exploring when it came to sex. Neither was I used to asking for what I wanted. Clearly, I had been conditioned to accept and to be happy with sexual scraps. I could see now what a pity and a huge error that had been on my part.

But was it all my fault? It took two to tango, so they said. Jared had never been interested in the lighter side of sex. He wanted it when he wanted it, and sex was always perfunctory. Thrust in and out a few times and then he'd cum and it was all over. I never even remotely approached orgasm because Jared's face never spent more than a minute or two between my legs, if he even went down on me at all.

In fact, Jared always made it seem as if he was doing me a huge favor when he performed oral sex, sighing greatly and making a face whenever I hinted that I wanted it. It was exactly as I had thought a few seconds earlier: I had been living on sexual scraps. And even worse, I had grown accustomed to existing on those scraps: I had just accepted and adjusted to them. Jared wasn't open to changes in our sexual repertoire, and, even worse, he was my first and only lover. I hadn't even been aware that there could be more. And there was more.

So much more.

I watched Gideon as he stood up and let his jeans fall down again to his ankles. And he was right. He was hard. Hard, and girthy, and all mine.

He wanted me. Even better, he wanted me to touch him. So, I reached out and gently wrapped my fingers around his hot cock. It jumped once in my hand. He exhaled stiffly and then grinned. "Lie back and spread your legs. Let me finger you while you stroke me," he said.

Well, that was new! So I did, and he licked his first two fingers, getting them very wet. He knelt down on the rug, my hand still around his cock. He easily found my entrance and slid both of his fingers slowly inside of me.

"Mmm," I said.

He sighed. "Fuck," he said. "You feel so dirty good!"

I skimmed my fingers along his length. "You do too," I said. He really did have a pretty cock. It pointed out nice and straight, with a little bit of an upward curve to it.

"Ruthie, I want to get inside of this sweet pussy again," he said.

I nodded quickly. "Oh, yeah! Please!"

His eyes widened a bit at my enthusiasm. "Fuck. Okay. Don't move," he said.

"I won't. I'm kind of stuck here on the couch, remember?" I chuckled.

"Oh, yeah," He laughed. Grinning, he kicked his jeans the rest of the way off and he quickly held up a finger. "Uh. One sec." Then he dashed away, naked, down the hallway. He had a fabulous, fleshy ass that I watched intently as it disappeared around the corner. I was already committing it to my memory.

I smiled to myself for the few seconds while he was gone. I was feeling so... so horny, for lack of a better word. I ran my fingers over my breasts, playing with them. My nipples hardened as my fingers dragged over their tips. I tugged on those nipples, and I moaned softly. I then slid a hand down and I rolled my clit between my thumb and forefinger. I moaned again.

Gideon soon returned with a condom and a smile. My hand immediately left my clit as he approached.

"No! Don't stop because I'm here. Keep playing with yourself," he said, nodding.

I flushed with happy embarrassment at his words. My hand went back down and I slowly rubbed myself while he watched me and I watched him watching me with barely contained excitement.

He shook his head as if he couldn't believe what was in front of him. In moments he had his condom on and was ready for me. Slowly he climbed on top of me.

His lips came down on mine and he kissed me like he meant business. I spread my thighs so his body could rest easily between them. I hooked my hurt leg over the back of the couch. His eyes closed as he found me wet and ready. He slid inside me and he immediately started his slow thrusts.

"God... damn," he said. "This feels..."

"Oh, yeah," I finished. "So good..." I said.

He slowly rolled his hips into me and I met him thrust for thrust. We kissed deeply, our tongues thrashing wildly together, our breaths coming fast and hard.

Suddenly the blanket underneath me was too much. I was hot. It was absolutely scorching in the little cabin now. I was going to die of heatstroke. Somebody needed to turn down the fire before I went up in a puff of sooty smoke.

Gideon's skin was even hot. He was starting to sweat in the warmth, and his torso now slid easily over mine, the sparse hair on his chest stimulating my nipples, keeping them hard. The sharp, clean, crisp smell of his deodorant wafted to my nose every once in awhile. Who knew the scent of a man's deodorant could be so sexy?!

I watched as Gideon soon came on a soft whimper, his body trembling from where he hovered above me. He then collapsed on top of me, his head resting on my chest between my breasts. My hands immediately went into his dark hair. I ran my fingers through the silky strands.

He was quiet for a minute. "I can hear your heartbeat," he eventually said. "My heart is beating really fast too, actually," he added.

I chuckled. "I imagine it is," I said. "You were working pretty hard there," I said.

He snorted, and started kissing down my chest and stomach. "And I'm not done," he murmured. He continued to kiss down my belly. When his mouth landed right on top of my clit, he sucked it inside his mouth and his tongue danced around on the tippy top.

"Oh!" I breathed.

Watching Gideon eat me out was a feast for the eyes. He grunted and groaned, his intense eyes gazing up at me were hot and full of fire. This was something he obviously loved to do. He was almost getting off on it as much as I was.

Eventually, between his sexy sounds and looks of passion, I stiffened below him. "Gideon!" I shouted. "Oh, now!"

He didn't stop his mouth nor his tongue, but he watched me come, his eyes encouraging me as I absolutely let go and exploded.

When I was finished, he slowly kissed up my inner thighs, licking and lightly nipping at the tender skin there.

He then slowly crawled up my body.

He grinned down at me and I grinned up at him.

"Damn. Where have you been all my life?" He blurted out.

Then he froze. His eyes widened. He seemed truly startled at what he'd just said.

I grinned and I flushed at that.

Because I was thinking the exact same forbidden thing about him.

****************

"Seriously, though. You don't need to stay," I said, though inwardly I knew my voice had a note of pleading to it. Hospitals always made me nervous. I was no fan of needles, either... though I couldn't name one person I knew who was.

God, though, but I wished he would stay.

Gideon snorted, frowning. "Well, I was thinking I would wait for your boyfriend to get here. But since you can't reach him, I'll happily stay with you," he said. "You don't need to be alone for this."

I smiled gratefully at him, but he still frowned.

The weather had improved after the last day and a half, the temperature rose, and the snow and the thin layer of ice mostly melted. It had finally gotten to the point where Gideon could safely get us both down the mountain on the rutted road in his dark green Jeep Cherokee.

I was embarrassed to admit that we'd fucked several more times on the couch before our departure. Gideon was always conscientious of my injured ankle and it always seemed to end up over his shoulder, on the back of the couch, or the inside of my knee found the crook of his elbow, my legs spread widely apart for him no matter what.

And in fact, I hadn't even put my clothes back on until we were ready to leave the cabin. I'd laid around on the couch naked the entire time I was there.

However, one time when we were getting hot and heavy on the couch, I'd suggested we take things into his bedroom. His bed would be wider and probably more comfortable for us both, I reasoned.

He looked at me hesitantly. "Um. My bedroom is... kind of... my personal space," he said, flushing.

"Oh?" I said, surprised.

He nodded. "Yeah. I don't let anybody in there," he said.

I had blinked up at him, taken aback and feeling a little bit hurt. "Um. Okay," I'd said.

The quiet after that had seemed sort of loud. I'd then let out an uncomfortable chuckle.

And as accommodating as he was, while I was at his cabin I slept nightly on the couch, too. He was adamant about keeping his bedroom only for him. He even kept his bedroom door closed so that when I went to the bathroom in the same hallway I couldn't see inside.

Even still, that weird quirk aside, Gideon was a tantalizing drug that I thought I was quickly getting addicted to. And it wasn't just his fucking. The way he looked at me was something I really enjoyed, and now was even beginning to crave. His eyes were always bright and glowing as they looked up at me from between my thighs or when they gazed down at me as he hovered over me. One time I caught him looking at me from across the room. His gaze had been so careful and so soft.

I'd never felt so wanted or connected to a man before. Never.

Ever.

We had stopped at my apartment first before he ran me into the emergency room and I had grabbed my cell phone that I'd left there on the kitchen counter. I had no messages or missed calls from my boyfriend which was... kind of weird.

Although, I reasoned, maybe it wasn't so weird, because he probably had noticed my phone was there in the kitchen. Calling or texting it wouldn't have mattered if I wasn't with my phone to get the messages.

Once I had my phone, I started texting and calling Jared. I wasn't sure where he was at the moment, but as the time passed, he didn't answer my calls or any of my texts.

"You'd think he'd be concerned since he hasn't heard from you in almost two fucking days," Gideon grumbled.

I frowned, staring at my phone's screen. Still no messages. Gideon was right, of course. Where the hell was Jared?

The emergency room thankfully wasn't busy and we hadn't had to wait very long. I now sat in a room in the emergency room triage area in a hospital bed with my leg propped up on several pillows. My ankle was wrapped up tightly with a stretchy bandage and I had a cold pack on it. I'd just been wheeled back here from x-ray and was awaiting the results.

Gideon paced nervously around the room, something obviously bothering him. He got a tongue depressor out of a glass jar and began tapping a complicated rhythm with it against his thigh as he walked from one end of the tiny room to the other.

"It's okay, Gideon. Why don't you sit down?" I said to him.

Gideon frowned at me but he sat down in the blue plastic chair next to my bed.

"You seem..." I began.

He just looked at me.

"What's wrong?" I finally asked him.

He shrugged and an embarrassed look came over his face. "Well, three things, actually," he said, running a hand through his hair. "I'm angry that your piece-of-shit boyfriend won't answer you," he said.

I frowned.

"And I also really want to believe that that ankle is not broken," he said. "And I hope because treatment was delayed it didn't make it worse," he frowned.

I nibbled at my bottom lip. I was wondering some of the same things.

"But trust me when I say we wouldn't have been able to get you down the mountain safely when it was still that icy," he said.

I nodded. I believed him. When we'd finally left, I'd seen just how rudimentary the road down from his cabin was. It was just a path with two ruts up near his cabin. Then it became muddy gravel. Only at the very bottom was it even slightly paved and it was steep and curving. I wouldn't have wanted to set out on any of it during the icy snowstorm we'd just had.

It turns out I didn't have to worry about the state of my ankle, though. The doctor breezed in next with a big smile. He was young and full of nervous energy. He glanced at me, then nodded at Gideon, then focused his attention back on me.

"Ruth, yes?" He said.

I nodded.

"Well, I've seen your x-rays and you're in luck. Nothing is broken and it's only a bad sprain."

I nodded, brightening. "That's good, right?" I said.

The doctor nodded with a smile.

"So... what now?" I asked.

"Well, as far as treatment goes... basically just keep doing what you were doing. Ice it, keep it elevated, keep it wrapped up tightly in a bandage. Ibuprofen if you need it. We'll get you set up with a boot. That will help stabilize everything so you can walk easier," he said.

"What?" I gasped, glancing at Gideon. "A boot?!" I groaned unhappily.

But Gideon just smiled in what looked suspiciously like relief. "Better than hopping all the time," he said.

The doctor nodded with a grin. "Better than a cast and crutches, too," He said.

I thought for a second. "Well, that's true," I said.

Once the boot was on, my ankle felt more stabilized and considerably better. I was able to walk on my own a little - slowly - while Gideon still held my arm for support.

We finished up at the hospital and he helped me gingerly climb into his vehicle. He grinned at me once his door was shut and his seatbelt was on. "Where to now?" He asked me happily.

I sighed. "Well... I guess take me back to my apartment," I said softly.

Gideon's bright smile slowly faded. "Right," he said. He turned his head and stared out the windshield for a quiet second. Then he started the Jeep, put it in reverse, and backed out of the parking space.

We rode in silence. I wasn't sure about Gideon, but though things were quiet between us, my head was being very, very loud.

Would this be the last time I ever saw Gideon? What had the past two days meant to him? Was he at all interested in me, or was I just another fling to him, another possibly good Yelp review?

What was he thinking as we rode together, both of us not talking?

I had to put my wonderings on hold because it wasn't long until we both were back at my apartment. As we slowly pulled up and parked, I noticed that Jared's car was there. When I pointed it out to Gideon, he nodded silently, but I watched a muscle angrily twitch along the side of his jaw.

I opened the front door, and I first noticed that Jared was on the couch watching TV. He had one hand down the front of his pants and the other one was holding his cellphone while he stared at it. Clearly he'd been ignoring my efforts to get in contact with him. In fact, he didn't pay any attention to me entering the apartment until he saw Gideon walk in behind me. Then immediately Jared sat up ram-rod straight and his hand came out of his pants.

"Who the fuck is this?" Jared said, pointing, his tone one of disbelief.

"What's it to you?" Gideon snapped.

Jared ignored Gideon and he looked at me as he stood up. "And where have you been?" Jared said, with his hands now on his hips.

He watched as Gideon helped me to the other end of the couch and helped me to gently sit down.

"I asked you a question, Ruthie," Jared said stiffly, when he hadn't gotten his answer.

Finally I sighed audibly. "Actually, you asked me two questions," I said.

Jared's eyes became two slits.

I rolled my eyes at him. "Don't be an asshole, Jared. If you had checked your phone anytime in the last hour you might know the answer to at least one of those questions," I said, irritated.

Jared's eyes blazed. "Fine. But your texts didn't say who the fuck this guy is. What, are you sleeping with him?" He demanded offhandedly.

I paused, anger suddenly rising to the surface. "What?!" I gasped. "Why do you always go there?!" I said. "Despite what you think, I'm not sleeping with every single guy I know!"

"Oh, sure. Right," he said slowly, clearly not believing me. "But are you sleeping with this one?" Jared asked me darkly.

I blinked up at him. "Um..." I said, glancing over at Gideon.

I had never been a very good liar.

No, I was a lousy liar, indeed.

Jared's mouth fell open in astonished disbelief, like he hadn't actually thought I could have been sleeping with another man. Now that the truth was out, Jared's face slowly morphed into a deep scowl.

His reaction caught me a little off guard. He'd blamed me for his own cheating. Evidently it was a completely different issue now when he was the one being cheated on? Suddenly now he cared about us? Cared to the point of anger? Or was he still just thinking of himself, and how my cheating on him made him feel inadequate and that was where his anger was coming from?

"You're actually sleeping with him?" Jared asked me again, disbelief and fury in his tone.

But before I could answer, Gideon yawned loudly. "Well, actually, Jared, we haven't been doing very much sleeping," He said.

Jared's eyes widened as he looked at Gideon.

"But, yes," Gideon went on, "I am fucking her," he said. "And unlike with you... she absolutely loves it," he added.

My mouth fell open at Gideon's words. They were all true, of course, but they weren't exactly helping the situation.

Jared stood there fuming, his hands slowly balling up into two closed fists. I could see the flush of anger as it spread up his neck and to his entire face. Jared never was one to hold his anger in, so I knew an explosion was imminent. I silently braced myself for the impact.

But before Jared's tirade happened, the room seemed to crackle with furious testosterone. It might have been a turn-on - two men fighting over me - if the situation were different. I looked at each man in turn, waiting. Both men were similar in height, but Gideon was a bit bigger and more muscular than Jared was. They stood just looking at each other in a silent face off. They both seemed to be sizing each other up with just their eyes.

"You guys. Now don't do anything stupid," I said.

But both ignored me.

"Want to tell me why you're fucking my girlfriend?!" Jared finally asked.

Gideon just stared and made a one shoulder shrug. "Well, somebody needed to fuck her right," he said.

My hand went over my mouth in shock. I knew Jared would now be incensed.

Jared took a shaky breath. "You son of a bitch!" he blurted out, and Jared suddenly took a step forward and he swung on Gideon.

But Gideon saw the punch coming and he easily evaded it.

"Jared! Goddamn it, no!" I called out from the place where I was on the couch. I tried to stand but I moved too fast and my ankle screamed at me so I quickly sat back down. "Jared! Calm down!"

"Woah!" Gideon said. "Why so angry, huh?" He said, putting his palms out in front of him. "Do what Ruthie says. Calm it down!"

But Jared advanced on Gideon again and swung. And Gideon reared back and dodged his punch for a second time.

"Hey, I don't want to fight you!" Gideon said.

But Jared didn't look like he shared Gideon's desire for peace.

Jared kept moving forward and intermentally swinging. Gideon kept dodging Jared's fists and backing up. Pretty soon Gideon's back was up against the living room window. He had nowhere else to go.

"I'm warning you. You'd better stop, and you'd better stop it now," Gideon said.

"Or what?" Jared taunted, his fists both still raised.

Gideon finally put both of his hands straight out, made contact with Jared's approaching chest, and he pushed on him hard. Jared wasn't expecting that move. He lost his balance, and went down hard on the living room floor right on his ass.

I yelped in surprise as Jared crashed down to the floor. In the fall his arm knocked off a heavy glass candy dish from our coffee table onto the floor. Individually wrapped little poofy peppermint candy went everywhere.

Jared glared at me from where he sat, but he immediately stood back up, stepping on several of the candies. "You son of a goddamned bitch!" Jared seethed at Gideon.

Gideon shrugged and smiled another fight-provoking grin.

Jared went at Gideon again, but Gideon pivoted and was able to get Jared quickly wrestled into a tight headlock.

"Fuck!" Jared squeaked. He fought the hold he was in, but it was no use; he knew he was done.

"Jared. Listen to me," Gideon said. "Ruthie is your girlfriend. She's been gone for almost 48 hours. You haven't been acting like someone who cares about her at all," he said.

"You fucking let go of me!" Jared bit out, clawing at Gideon's arm that had him pinned.

Gideon glanced over at me. "Pack a bag, Ruthie. I don't want you staying here alone with this jackass," he said.

He returned his attention to Jared. "Stop fighting me and I'll let you go," he said.

Jared unhappily went still. Gideon loosened the headlock and Jared wriggled free.

He distanced himself from Gideon, but Jared still stood seething, out of breath and panting in the middle of the living room.

"Come on," Gideon urged me.

Jared then turned his angry eyes on me. I just blinked up at him. "What, you're gonna leave with him now?" He asked me angrily.

I looked at both men in turn and I nodded. I sure didn't want to stay here.

"If you leave with him, don't you bother coming back," Jared warned, pointing at me.

I looked at them both in turn again.

When I hesitated, Jared went on: "Besides. You're delusional if you think you'll ever find another guy like me, Ruthie," he warned.

I thought for a couple seconds, and then I chuckled and shook my head. "I... I don't really want another guy like you, Jared," I said.

Jared's look was one of astonishment.

He'd treated me badly and thanks to Gideon, I knew now that I deserved - and could find - better.

Much, much better.

"Oh, yeah? You think you can do it without me?" Jared asked me with a sneer. He nodded when I didn't answer. "Fine, then. Since you know everything. Just go. Get the hell out of here," he said.

Gideon helped me stand and helped me hobble into the bedroom. I grabbed my backpack from the closet and we both began stuffing it with some of my clothes.

"Don't you dare take any of my shit!" Jared shouted at us from the living room.

"She wouldn't dream of it," Gideon yelled back.

When Gideon and I came out of the bedroom, Jared was standing by the front door with his arms crossed over his chest.

Gideon wore my backpack slung over one shoulder and after Gideon mock saluted him, Jared watched us both leave with slitted eyes.

**********************

We rode in mostly silence for a few miles. I stared out of the passenger window and into the darkness. Every once in awhile Gideon would glance over at me and ask, "Is this okay with you?"

I finally looked at him and I hesitantly nodded. "Yes, this is okay, Gideon. If I know anything, I know Jared. And I know now that he didn't treat me like I deserve to be treated," I said. "I'm done with him, and I'm not going back there. Although..." I thought, frowning.

Suddenly I slapped myself on my forehead.

"Shit, Gideon, Jared's name and not mine is on the apartment lease!" My words became almost frantic. "Shit, shit, shit! I'll have to move out ASAP, and I'll have to find another place to live..." I said. "Oh!" I suddenly gasped. "Maybe I could stay with my parents for awhile, or then I'll have to -"

"Hold on, hold on," Gideon calmly interrupted me.

I glanced over at him worriedly.

He stole glances at me as he drove. "Yeah, you have a bunch of big changes coming up," he said. "In the meantime," he continued, "while you get your next steps all figured out... why... why don't you just stay with me?" He said.

I paused and I blinked at him. "Wait. What?!" I said in disbelief.

Gideon grinned slightly. "Yeah. You'll need a place to stay. Just move in with me," he said.

I shook my head. "In the cabin?" I said.

He nodded. "In the cabin."

I shook my head. "But wait. You said... I mean... what about all the 'I'm my own man... I do my own thing. I'm meant to live alone', blah, blah, blah stuff?" I said.

His grin got sheepish. "I... um... well, that was before."

"Before?" I asked.

He nodded. "Yeah, before. I've really enjoyed having you around for the past couple of days," he said. "So much so that... I could stand... having you around... for a little bit longer, even," he said, fumbling a little bit for the words.

I paused, and then I shook my head at him, still a little perplexed. "Well, maybe you should think on it a little bit more," I said. "My parents honestly don't live too far away, and -" I said.

Gideon shook his head emphatically. "No," he said firmly, grabbing my hand as he steered the Jeep with his left one. "I don't need to think about it," he said as he drove. "I am my own man, but I also know what I want," he said, looking over and right at me.

"Oh," I said, a bit distractedly. But at his intense look, I suddenly realized that he meant that what he wanted was me.

"Oh," I then breathed softly.

At his hesitant smile, I felt a slow smile curve the edges of my lips upwards.

******************

Gideon pulled up to his little cabin and immediately got out. He grabbed my backpack from the back seat and he put it on. Then he was at my door.

He helped me get down from his vehicle and he just looked down at me. "I, um..." he said hoarsely. He cleared his throat. "I've been thinking."

"Yeah?" I said. "There seems to be a lot of that going on around here," I added.

He nodded. "And I've decided that I wanna... show you my bedroom," he said.

I looked up at him. "Your bedroom?" I clarified, not sure that that was what I'd just heard him say.

He swallowed hard and just nodded.

"Your private bedroom? Your personal space?" I clarified. "The place where you don't let anybody else go?" I said.

He hesitated, and then he nodded, with a small grin.

My mouth morphed into a smile. "Well... that sounds like fun," I said. "What's in there that you want to show me, huh?" I asked him cheekily. "A dead body?" I said.

Gideon rolled his eyes. "No. Believe it or not, there's not a single dead body in there."

"Really?"

"No," he shook his head. "What I really want to show you in there is my hard dick," he said. "What else?" He chuckled.

I laughed.

We slowly made our way into the cabin. This time he didn't settle me on his living room couch where I'd spent the last couple days. He took me right down the hallway and into the master suite.

I'd never seen his bedroom before, of course. He'd very carefully kept the door closed the whole time I was there. His bedroom was his most sacred space, I knew, and I got it that he didn't let just anyone see it. So I felt very honored as he opened his bedroom door for me.

I took a few steps inside. Surprisingly, it was... nothing all that earth shattering to look at. I don't know what I was expecting, but this was not it. It was pretty sparse and manly looking. There was a wooden rocking chair in the corner. A desk with a laptop on it sat in another corner. He had a dark wooden dresser with a mirror. A handful of change was on the dresser next to an old and faded yellowed photograph of a young man whom I assumed was his grandfather back in his heyday. There was a simple king sized bed that dominated the room, with a plain but beautiful, dark wooden head and footboard. I noticed that he had a black comforter and red sheets that were just perfect for a guy.

I walked further into the room. "Did you make the bed frame?" I asked him as I ran my fingers over the footboard, because it was gorgeous and looked hand-hewed.

He took my backpack off and tossed it to the side. He shook his head. "No, Gramps did," he said. "He was such a jack of all trades. But you know what?" He asked me.

"What?"

"I'm hoping it's super sturdy," he added, his eyes dark and intense.

I laughed out loud.

Minutes later, except for the wrap that was still around my ankle, I was naked on his bed. He crawled up my body, his eyes unwavering from mine. He was naked too, and he was glorious. His bare skin felt so good and warm against mine, the brown dusting of hair on his chest tickled at my oh-so sensitive nipples.

His mouth kissed down my throat and over my collar bones. He spent a few minutes licking and sucking on those same nipples until they were hard and pointy and aching.

He continued down my stomach and belly. His nose finally nudged my clit right before he sucked it into his wet mouth.

"Shit!" I squeaked. It felt so goddamned good I could hardly think.

He licked and sucked and flicked his tongue over and around my clit. I squealed when I came, my eyes shut tightly.

When I was able to open my eyes again, Gideon was there, looking at me. "Good?" He asked me.

My eyes rolled into the back of my head. I moaned as I nodded. "Yes. So good!"

Gideon grinned. "Good. And now it's my turn," he said.

I watched as he opened the drawer of a rustic-looking side table that his grandfather also probably had made by hand. He brought out the foil square and stroked his glorious hard cock a few times in preparation.

"Wait. Before you do that..." I said, sitting up and taking the half-opened condom from him.

"Yes?" He asked, pausing, looking at me quizzically.

I reached out and gently took hold of his hard cock. I looked up at him and I stroked it a couple times. I grinned at him widely.

His breath caught. "Ruthie," he breathed. And then I began to lean slowly down.

"Ruthie. What are you-" he asked me, but he lost his voice when my lips closed around his swollen cockhead.

"Oh, Ruthie," he breathed. "Oh, shit. Goddamn it. Fuck!" he said as I suckled on him.

I hummed happily as I did.

"Yes. Oh, God. Suck it! Yes! Taste me. Um, use your - that's right, use that slippery, wet tongue on me," he groaned on a broken whisper. I even reached down and gently cupped his balls. "Oh, God, that feels so fucking good... fucking fantastic!" He said.

I sucked him for a few long minutes, working him over, and letting my spittle run down his shaft and over my fingers. He made little grunting sounds that were interspersed with nothing but praise for what I was doing. And as for how he tasted? He was absolutely delicious - manly and salty and sexy.

"You'd better stop, unless you want..." he said. I stroked him a few more times with my hand after I pulled off of him.

He opened his eyes and I enthusiastically licked at my lips, his taste still on them. For a moment he just stared at me and watched me licking his essence from my mouth. As I did, his eyes nearly went black with desire.

"Fuck. I gotta fucking fuck you. Right fucking now. I can't fucking wait any longer," he said, shaking his head.

I grinned at that.

I laid back down and I watched as he rolled the condom on. Then his body and mouth were fully on mine. He kissed me hard until he'd sucked nearly all the breath from my lungs.

He then nudged his cock at my entrance.

"Mmm! Yes! Do it," I whimpered.

He nodded. "Yeah," he said.

Slowly his cock entered me, deliciously spreading my inner walls to perfectly accommodate his length and his girth. I sighed in contentment at the feeling of being so completely and perfectly filled.

"Hang on to me," he whispered with a sly grin.

I grasped his upper arms, doing as he'd told me to. "Okay," I said.

Gideon began slowly pumping his cock back and forth inside of me, each thrust harder than the last one. "I love fucking you. Wanna just pound my cock into this sweet, tight pussy," he mumbled. He slowly increased the power of his thrusts so much so that I, grunting with each one, started inching up the bed.

"Yikes!" I said, finally looking around, my head getting dangerously close to hitting the headboard.

"Oops," he whispered with a grin. He grabbed my hips and pulled me back down the bed a couple of inches. He didn't stop fucking me, but he backed off a little on the sheer power of his strong strokes.

"Better?" He asked.

I nodded.

"Hey. Do you hear that?" He suddenly asked me as he pounded his cock into me several times in quick succession.

I listened, hesitated, and then shook my head. "No. I don't hear anything, except our heavy breathing," I said.

"I know. Not a squeak or a creak. Told you this bed was goddamned sturdy," he chuckled.

I laughed.

We kissed again, our tongues sloppily dueling between our meeting mouths. Gideon abruptly made a deep grunt as he came, his thrusts becoming erratic and much slower, his hips then rolling his softening cock slowly in and out of me until it eventually fell out of me entirely.

When Gideon finally collapsed down onto me, I chuckled.

"What? Am I crushing you?" He mumbled.

I shook my head. "No. You feel real good, your weight lying here on top of me," I said.

He nuzzled my neck, his mustache and beard lightly scratching it.

"I... I want to know something," I said.

"Yeah?" He said, glancing up at me.

"Was... was this the first time you've ever had sex in this bed?" I asked him.

Gideon grinned sheepishly at me. "I think I'll take the fifth on that," he chuckled.

I laughed too. But his previous comments had kind of given him away.

I felt somewhat - honored? - to be the first one in his bed. It felt good. It felt right.

We laid in silence for a good minute.

"Ruthie?" He asked.

"Yeah?"

His look was now serious. "Don't think about it anymore, just do it. Move in with me," he said.

I paused a few seconds, still a little floored at what he was asking me. "Wow. Gideon... I... I don't know..." I said. "We haven't known each other all that long..." I said.

After all, I'd known Jared ever since high school. Maybe that wasn't the best example, because just look at how we had turned out.

Gideon looked down at me, his expression a little hurt at my reluctance. "Well... at least move in here until you get another apartment?" He suggested.

My lips pursed together. "Well..."

Gideon gave me a hopeful look.

I could not resist that look on his face. It was full of future promises that I quite honestly wanted to be around to experience.

It was at his look that I decided to stop thinking... and to just go for it.

"Okay," I whispered.

"Yes?" He confirmed, his face more than a little bit surprised.

"Yes!" I nodded with a smile.

I watched the edges of his lips turn up into a self-satisfied little grin.

*********************

A few weeks passed and my ankle was slowly healing. But I still had to wear the damned boot. My toes poking out of it were always freezing no matter how many socks I wore.

"It's too cold out here!" I squealed from the yard.

"Yeah. Duh. It's winter. That's why we need that wood chopped ASAP!" Gideon amusedly called out from where he sat in a rocking chair on the sheltered front porch.

We were outside, and it was, indeed, freezing. The big hunk of wood was placed perfectly in the middle of the chopping block and I swung the ax down as hard as I could, just as my sexy teacher had recently shown me how to do.

And I missed the wood entirely, the ax striking down on the chopping block instead.

Gideon and I both laughed.

"Aww, almost. You're doing good, though. Keep at it," he called to me.

I adjusted his big leather work gloves that I now wore on my much smaller hands. "You think I'm doing a good job?" I asked.

"Yes!" He confirmed.

I shook my head. "You're such a liar!" I yelled back at him.

He laughed again.

"Good luck trying, but you're never ever going to turn me into an outdoorsy girl," I warned him.

"We'll see about that," he answered back.

The wind suddenly gusted and I shivered. It was mid-winter now and it was very cold outside, despite my heavy parka. I had lived with Gideon in his cabin ever since I had moved out of the apartment I had shared with Jared. Most of my stuff was in storage as the tiny cabin was already perfectly stocked.

After I first moved into Gideon's place, I honestly was still seriously searching for an apartment to move into. I saw the cabin as just a stepping stone to a different living situation.

But it turns out that Gideon had been right.

The experiment had now been run, and we were pretty good together.

We immediately fell into a good rhythm of life at his home. I washed the dishes and he rinsed and dried. I made spaghetti with store-bought sauce and he made the meatballs from scratch. He read to me 19th century erotic poetry as I slowly sucked his cock while we luxuriated in his king sized bed.

And the sex - ah, the sex! It was the most delicious sex I'd ever had. My ankle kept us from doing anything too acrobatic, but Gideon already had a list of positions he wanted us to try once I was all healed up.

I hadn't mentioned it to Gideon, but I had paused my apartment search for the entire past week. And in fact, I was honestly about to abandon the search altogether.

"That's it!" Gideon said as I swung the ax down again.

And I - for the very first time - split the wood miraculously right down the middle.

In happy surprise, I dropped the ax on the ground, and it just barely missed my sock-covered toes. I quickly sidestepped the ax with a little painful hop. I looked over at Gideon. "Oh, my God! I split the wood!" I said, clapping for myself.

Gideon got up from the rocking chair and walked towards me from the front porch. When he reached me he hugged me tight and we kissed. "You about cut off your toes in the process, but yes, you sure did!" He said, chuckling. "Now, do that another thirty times," he said with a smile, glancing at the many short but thick logs on the ground around the chopping block.

I looked at them too and I frowned.

He laughed. "Ruthie. I'm kidding. There's enough firewood already chopped. But let's get that wood you just split onto the wood pile, STAT," Gideon said, "and then let's go inside. My dick has crawled up into my body, I'm so cold," he said, shivering.

"I thought the cold didn't bother you?" I said in a teasing voice.

He flushed but didn't respond.

I just chuckled.

Back inside, Gideon added dry wood onto the dying fire. The flames jumped and cracked and sparked at the addition of the new fuel.

When Gideon sat down next to me on the rug in front of the fire, he shivered, his body finally warming up a little, and then he kissed me. "Mmmm. Hey," he growled, nuzzling his nose against the shell of my ear, "let me finger you," he murmured.

I laughed loudly. "Oh my God, no way! Your fingers are freezing!" I protested as he ran his icy fingers across my bare neck. I shivered at his touch, though. Gideon giving me the shivers was a common occurrence. And when I got them, it usually didn't mean that I was cold in the slightest.

"Yeah, I know my fingers are cold. But I was thinking that your pussy will warm them up nicely," he said with a cheeky grin.

With a laugh I gave him a smack on his thigh, but then I had an idea. "Hey. Warm up those fingers first, and then maybe I'll let them inside," I said with a sly smile.

"Yes, ma'am!" Gideon said. He held his cold hands out to the fire, then he blew hot air in his cupped palms and rubbed them together to create some warming friction. He looked excited - eager even - to touch me.

It was such a rush!

We tumbled on the rug in front of the fire that afternoon. This time I pushed him down onto his back. Naked, he watched me with wide eyes as I straddled him and rode him for once. It was delicious. It was blissful. And when we were done, Gideon rolled me underneath him and he laid his head again on my bare chest.

I was... happy.

Yes, I was happy.

I was content.

I felt where I was right now... was right.

"Stay," Gideon mumbled.

I chuckled. We both had been thinking the same thing at the same time, as we often did.

Yes, we did that a lot.

"Stay here?" I asked. "I can't move from the rug! How can I get up when your heavy body is crushing mine?" I joked.

Gideon laughed, but then he sobered, rolled off of me, and leaned up on his elbow. "You know what I mean, Ruthie. Stay here... at the cabin... with me," he said looking down at me. "Don't move into a damned apartment," he added. "I need you here for good. To stay," he said.

I grinned, looking up at his face. He had such a hopeful look there.

"What about all your five star Yelp reviews? What about those?" I asked with a grin.

He flushed deeply and chuckled. "Sometimes I like to bullshit. To get what I want, you understand," he added.

I giggled. "Uh-huh. Understood," I said.

But in the end, I listened to my heart and it agreed with Gideon's.

"You know what, Gideon? I believe... I believe I will stay," I finally whispered.

I heard him chuckle as he hugged me tight. I could tell he was smiling. "Yes! I've won you over! You've finally succumbed to my will!" he said.

I laughed. "It's because I just happen to like your will," I said.

But it was true. Gideon had won me over. He'd won me over with his caring, his conscientiousness, and most of all, with his love.

I wrapped my arms around him and I hung on tight.

Yes, I didn't think I'd ever let go.

********************

The End