"Whiteout" (closed)

[WatchingCloud]

"Certainly," Ross said with no hint of disappointment. He handed her the washcloth and retreated behind the curtain without any further ogling. "And I should get those veggies finished up."

He absent-mindedly hummed along with the radio while Liv finished up. He might have been worried that he'd overstepped, but her could tell she'd been touched and aroused. He just didn't know if she was more a tease or genuinely interested in him. Maybe she was weighing many of the same things he had been about her and their situation.

No sense rushing. He'd sent a signal back. Now he just needed to get his own hormones to take a breather.

"I'm going to hazard a guess you've never had rabbit stew before," he said while she finished. "And before you rush to judgement, I'll assure you that no one who's had my rabbit stew has been able to resist a second helping."

 

[LoriDean12345]

Liv made no effort to hide herself as Ross retreated to his side of the divider. Only after he was working again did she return to bathing. This time, she remained facing him while he worked. They met eyes occasionally; Liv wore a serious expression, as if studying him ... which, of course, she was. He was such an interesting man. And he was so handsome. And he was so fucking hot! Or was that just a stronger way of saying handsome?

"Lapin a La Cocotte," she responded with a French accent that was very genuine. She laughed. "Rabbit casserole. La Grenouille, in Manhattan. Of course, the chef, an actual Parisian name Francois, I doubt very much that he took a walk out into Central Park and shot the rabbit. So, I can't wait."

Liv finished bathing and dressed. She donned her jeans again and a pair of flats. She snatched another one of Ross's button up shirts. She tied the front tails below her bosom as she had the tank the day before. With the top three buttons loose, a generous amount of flesh was visible between the lapels.



"That was incredible," Liv told Ross after they'd finished their late breakfast. "You could open your own restaurant on Fifth Avenue."

For a couple of hours, they chatted and laughed and flirted and once again played cards. Liv bundled all up again for another visit to the outhouse. She did much better on the snow shoes which was good. Again, her cell phone got only a quick flicker of one bar before showing no value to her at all. Liv typed a text to Leo, explaining her situation. She changed her settings so the phone would check for service every 10 minutes and try to send the message. It seemed like a good idea at the time; leaving it on silent with no vibration, Liv didn't have to worry about Ross hearing it. Seemed like a good idea anyway. What Liv didn't know was that doing so would nearly kill her battery. She had left the charger in her wrecked car. So now, if she ever was lucky enough to find enough of a signal to make a call, she might have a few seconds before it went dead.

"Give me some chores," Liv demanded before shedding her cold weather garb. "Any thing! I can chop firewood. Maybe. Well, possibly. I could carry it in, at least. Or, what, shovel snow? Don't you have, like, animal traps to check? Where'd the rabbit come from after all? Or, teach me to shoot. Hunt. You've got a rifle, a shotgun, too. I'm bored. And if you don't find something to occupy my time, I'm liable to rape you repeatedly until we finally get the hell out of here."

 

[WatchingCloud]

Ross chuckled and almost quipped back about liking to see her try. Rape a guy twice her size? Well, he wouldn't put up much fight. The word didn't sit well, though, so he let it go.

"Well, I've got plenty of wood chopped and you probably don't want to do that when it's frozen anyway. And no sense in shoveling more until the next round of snow that's supposed to start any time now is over and done with.

"No traps. Don't believe in using them because it's too easy for an animal to get hurt or suffer needlessly long. I did shoot the one we just enjoyed, but it's been in my freezer for a couple months."

He rose and smiled. "But teaching you to shoot? Yeah, we could do that. Don't take your gear off."

Ross caught her glance at the rifle and shotgun that were hanging beneath a couple of his old white-tail racks. "Oh, not those," he said. "They're old family heirlooms, enjoying their retirement."

He went to the middle of the room and pulled aside the old area rug, revealing a recessed latch in the floor. He pulled this, lifting a 2x5 foot section of the floor on a hinge, and beyond that his gun safe which laid on its back. Ross quickly punched the combination while obscuring it from his guest out of habit, not from any fear she would show an interest in going back into the safe.

"My cabin's been broken into three times already," he explained. "Probably looking for guns. Those up there aren't worth much and I've taken out the firing pins, so they didn't bother.

Ross withdrew one of his simpler rifles. "Ruger No.1 Varminter," he said. "Unscoped. Basic, accurate, and reliable. Good for learning and dealing with small critters that are causing trouble."

He snagged a box of ammo and handed both to Liv while he got his coat and boots on. "Now, have you ever shot before?"

 

[LoriDean12345]

"Well, I've got plenty of wood chopped..." Ross told her.

Liv tried to hide her thankful smile. Sounded like a lot of work.

"No traps. Don't believe in using them...."

That she appreciated, too. To this she did smile. Liv's first arrest -- on charges that were dropped -- had been for splashing red paint onto an opera going woman wearing a fox stole.

"But teaching you to shoot?

Liv was tickled to here that Ross was going to engage her in this! She'd always loved guns and shooting them. Her father had first taking her target practicing at 9, with a rifle and pistol, both .22 calibers. She hadn't been that impressed with the power, so he'd stepped her up to a .38 Special. And with that, Liv was in love. She'd owned at least one ever since.

Inside the cabin, she gathered some snacks and bottled water while Ross dropped to the floor and opened a hidden safe. Liv was entirely surprised to learn of it; she was a thief and a good one, and yet she hadn't even detected the changes in the floor's sounds and feel over the safe's location. Being a thief, she couldn't help but peek over Ross's shoulder to steal the combination. She turned fully away once she'd seen it. Liv didn't want Jake to have any idea at all that she'd seen it. If ever something was stolen from a locked location, the best way to prevent the owner from suspecting you was to have not a chance in hell of knowing how to get into it.

"Ruger No.1 Varminter," he said. "Now, have you ever shot before?"

"Single shot .22-250?" Liv asked with obvious knowledge. She took the box of ammunition from Ross, opened it, and pulled out a single round. "My daddy had one."

They talked about the weapon and more as Ross set them up for some target practice. When it was time, Liv waggled her fingers yet again. With a wide smile, she demanded, "Me first."

She thought she detected a bit of hesitation in Ross's reaction. Maybe. Maybe not. It reminded Liv of Paulo, one of her high school sex toys. She'd asked to drive his 1965 Shelby Cobra GT-350 once. He'd laughed. Not just laughed; erupted like Mount St. Helens. It had pissed her off so much that she'd told him he could start sucking his own dick. Then, later than night, she stole his classic automobile and took it for 600 mile sprint down the freeway.

The joy ride ended when she evaded a police roadblock on the freeway. She drove the Shelby through a three wire fence and 400 yards of corn field before dust and pollen gunked up the carburetor and the car sputtered to a slow death. Liv escaped with some corn husk cuts to her face and hands, as well as a sense of victory.

"Kind of bulky," Liv said tugging at the collar of the coat Ross had provided. She shed and tossed it over the firewood stack Ross had cleared as a shooting station. She shivered and giggled, wondering aloud, "Don't know if this is better or not. Might shiver so much I'll shoot myself in the foot."

Liv laid the rifle into the coat and leaned forward. She bent a little bit more at the waist than was necessary, showing off her ass. Looking back at Ross, Liv laughed, then took a proper stance. She took a couple of deep breaths, calmed her body against the cold, and squeezed the trigger. The gun kicked hard against Liv's shoulder. And the can 100 feet away atop a split rail fence shot back away into the snow.

But the shot wasn't the most impressive result to Liv. It was the explosion! The cold, crisp air allowed the sound to shoot across the countryside for more miles than Liv could even imagined. And it echoed back at them off the trees and rocks and distant cliffs. The explosion returned to them again and again and again. Liv stood tall and scanned the woods, listening.

"Amazing," Liv told Ross, smiling broadly. "You don't hear that at the range, or even in my dad's back yard. It's almost magical."

She took a dozen more shots, hitting her targets each time. Ross had set up a dozen cans farther back; 200, 250, and even 300 feet it looked like to Liv. She sighted on one of the nearer ones and shot. Miss. She reloaded and tried again. Miss again. She groaned, disappointed.

"So, I have a feeling that since you put them that far away," she began, a flirty smile on her face, "that you think you can actually hit them."

Liv handed out the rifle. When Ross grabbed it, she held it a moment longer, smiling. She released it and stepped back, gesturing him into place. She chuckled again, asking suggestively, "You're gonna flash me you ass like I did you mine, right?" Fair's fair."

 

[WatchingCloud]

Ross was impressed with Liv's shooting. She wasn't a professional, but she'd been taught by someone who knew what they were doing and took care to handle the rifle properly. He wasn't surprised she missed the further targets, but he suspected she could hit them with respectable frequency under better shooting conditions.

Liv smiled even as she failed. "So, I have a feeling that since you put them that far away, that you think you can actually hit them."

"Sounds like you won't just take my word for it," he said with a modest shrug.

Liv handed him the rifle and held it a moment before finally releasing it and stepping back. "You're gonna flash me you ass like I did you mine, right? Fair's fair."

Ross was reloading, but paused to give her a sly smile. "Since you clearly didn't need me to teach you anything, is that what this was all about? Giving me yet another way to admire your...assets?"

He stripped off his coat and laid it upon the wood stack, thereby giving Liv as good a view of his jean-clad backside as she'd provided. "I imagine you'll find something to pay attention to."

Ross calmed his breathing, went through the routine that was as ingrained as brushing his teeth and tying his shoes. Gun, sites, target, environment all became one, everything else vanished. Liv could have stripped naked and started sucking him off and he wouldn't have noticed. Well, he would have, but he still could have made the shot.

The closest target vanished as the report echoed through the woods. Just as the sound died, the second went down, and again the third.

Ross turned and gave Liv a wink. "And my shooting's not half bad either, eh?"

The wind began to pick up and the first few flakes of the next round of forecast snow began to fall. He handed Liv her coat and donned his own.

"Maybe tomorrow we can find something I can teach you that you don't already know. Although, to be honest, I'm not sure what that might be." He said it all with admiration and good humor, glad to be constantly surprised and impressed with his guest.

"You start dinner, I clean the gun? Or other way around?"

 

[LoriDean12345]

When Ross rose from his shooting position, Liv was wearing a pleased expression.

"And my shooting's not half bad either, eh?"

She feigned a lost expression and looked down field. "Oh, did you shoot already? My attention was elsewhere."

He was in profile to her, and she very conspicuously leaned as if looking for his ass again. Then she laughed at her obvious flirtation. She looked again down field. Each of Ross's shots had taken down a target at each farther away distance. That would have been impressive with a 9 power scope; Ross had done it with open sights, in 30 degree temperature, surrounded by 4 feet of snow.

"Yeah, not bad either," she said with an impressed smile.

The wind blew her hair into her face. A shiver surged up her spine. Ross noticed it; he handed her her coat, donned his own, and headed them back inside. The the question of who was cooking, Liv said she would be. She'd been eyeing some of the offerings from the pantry, if you could call an ice cooler, a crate, a cardboard box, and a narrow shelf such a thing. She had an idea for something that had been a favorite of her father's.



The frying pan's contents were sizzling and the pot bubbling with a thick stew. Liv looked to Ross and studied him as finished with the rifle.

"I knew a lot of hunters when I was little," Liv said as he leaned the gun into a corner and began storing the cleaning supplies. "The good ones, the ones serious about their firearms..."

She opened the cooler and pulled out a couple of beers. Popping the tops, Liv sat on a chair opposite Ross. As she handed out a bottle, she said with a knowing tone, "You're more than just a good hunter ... a man serious about his firearms."

She took a swig, studied him more, then finished, "You're military. We're, I mean."

She went silent. Liv had known a lot of Veterans in her life: Vietnam Vets who'd been friends of her father or grandfather. Afghanistan and Iraq Vets from a variety of backgrounds and relationships. She'd dated a few former military as well. One thing she'd learned about them was that they didn't always like to talk about their experiences.

 

[WatchingCloud]

Ross didn't mind Liv checking out his butt. It was flattering and another step into more open flirting. It had been too long, but he liked it.

Back inside, he tended to the rifle without cutting corners. The smell of gun oil mingled with the wonderful concoction Liv was tending to over the stove. He could get used to this - peace, quiet, and lovely companionship.

Liv spoke up. "You're military. Were, I mean."

Ross nodded. "Navy, eighteen years. SEALS for most of it. Saw a lot of the world, but most weren't parts of recommend."

He had a lot of memories in that service. There were some precious good ones to go with the nightmares. His brothers, the ones he'd fought beside and some who he'd seen die, were why he'd stuck it out as long as he had. Ally had been his bedrock of sanity for the latter half of that service. Without her...well, he was glad he'd been discharged. Still, he didn't think he'd ever be completely done with that life.

"My wife got me through a lot," he said. "Now I'm taking it easier. Most of the time, anyway."

He wished he was in a position to be retired, but bills didn't care how Ally's medical bills had run roughshod over their finances.

He finished his work and returned the rifle to his safe, then put the floorboards and rug back in place. He sauntered over to the stove, stepping up behind Liv. Ostensibly, he was peeking over her shoulder, but he allowed himself to brush against her at the hip and shoulder.

"That smells fantastic. What'cha fixing?"

 

[LoriDean12345]

Liv felt Ross against her. It was a soft touch, not overly conspicuous. But then, that was the way they'd been with each other thus far, wasn't it? She'd started it, of course, and Ross had been very cautious about leaving each next level of flirtation to Liv. She'd already decided that before they left here they were going to become lovers. But Liv knew it could wait -- and probably should wait -- until they had an approximate time of which to get out of this place.

But, no.

She couldn't take this anymore. Liv had been fighting off the urge to simply do Ross since he'd gotten his full frontal view of her bathing. She'd planned on fighting off that urge another day or two. But the feel of him against her now caused a shiver to run up her spine. She inconspicuously glance to the arm stirring the stew; it was covered in goose flesh, as the feeling had told her brain it would be.

Liv turned and backed away from Ross. She stared into his eyes for a moment. The nervousness was obvious in her own hazel orbs. It wasn't the right time yet. Still. She backed away from Ross some more.

"Pull those off to the side," she said, nodding to the pot and pan. "We don't want them to burn or boil over."

Liv turned her back on Ross and took the last two steps to stand before the bed. She hesitated, then turned to face him again. Then she unbuttoned her jeans and slid them down off her hips. She kicked off the slip on shoes she'd been using for indoors, then unbuttoned and shed the button up shirt Ross had provided her.

Trembling now from both the sudden exposure of skin and the excitement flooding her, Liv said softly, "Dinner can wait, can't it? I mean, unless you're that hungry."

She was hungry. But not for stew and seared pork. She pushed her panties off her hips and mounted the bed, now naked. Her legs weren't conspicuously spread wide, but her pink inner labia would still be on display a bit. Liv leaned back, putting her weight on hands placed behind her. And she waited.

 

[WatchingCloud]

Ross feared he might have misread Liv and overstepped when she turn and back-stepped away from his touch. There was a nervousness in her eyes he hadn't seen from this supremely confident woman. Was he making her afraid?

She asked him to set the pots aside, which he did, and then she stood beside the bed and began shedding her clothing, all while staring at him. First the jeans, revealing her lean, strong legs and that wisp of thong. Then she unbuttoned the flannel shirt she'd been borrowing, revealing the tantalizing flesh between her breasts and down her firm tummy, including that sparkling jewel in her navel. As the last button was undone, the shirt slipped from her shoulders, leaving her in nothing more than the thong. She looked vulnerable yet alluring.

"Dinner can wait, can't it?" She said. "I mean, unless you're that hungry."

Ross took in all of Liz as she slipped out of her panties. Such beauty in such a fascinating woman. His body responded to the whole package. He could pounce and devour her. Doing that might last for a flash, but what would it do for the next day and the next.

She sat on the bed, then leaned back, waiting. The faint glisten between her legs told him she was as eager as he.

Ross stepped forward until he was at the edge of the bed. As he brushed her knees she parted them just enough to accommodate his legs. He leaned down until his face was inches from hers.

"Famished," he said, soft but with almost a growling edge.

He kissed her. Liv's response was unhesitating, lips meeting his with urgency. Soon, their tongues met and lashed at one another as if starving. God, it had been too long, and Ross felt his pent-up need flood his body.

Ross helped lower Liv to her back. He continued kissing her, but this time on the cheek and behind the ear, down the neck and across her chest. Liv heaved her breasts up as his lips explored them, particularly teasing the pierced nipple. He intended to ask her, later, whether that changed the sensation of having it sucked.

He left his hands massaging her breasts as his mouth resumed its journey downward. Liv's legs parted wider, exposing all of her smooth pussy to him. Pink, glistening, and utterly inviting. He glanced up at Liv before diving in.

"Time to feast."

Liv's head rolled back as his mouth enveloped her. The smoothness, the taste, the warmth, the intimacy. Ross had the briefest pang of guilt, for this wasn't his one, his Ally. But, deep inside, he knew this was what she'd wanted for him, and she would be happy.

 

[LoriDean12345]

"Time to feast."

Liv's lips widened devilishly. She loved having a mouth on her pussy. Lips, tongue; fingers were good if the owner of them knew how to use them. Most mouths pleasing her in the past had been attached via a torso to a cock. But Liv had enjoyed the skilled work of a woman's mouth upon her, too.

Her head rolled back, her thighs parted, and her feet moved to Ross's back. They tightened around his neck and back as if to ensure he didn't leave until she'd gotten what she wanted: ecstasy. Ross knew what he was doing down there. Still, after he'd spent a few minutes testing her for what made her writhe the most, she directed him through quickened breathing, "Yes! Like that! Up'n'down, Ross. Oh god, yes."

Liv was very quickly rocking her hips to match the movement of his tongue up and down her clit. She told him faster; he sped up. She told him harder; his tongue pressed more firmly. She clasped one hand to his head and the other to the bed's frame as her cries got louder, sharper, and higher in pitch. And then, she was there. Liv drew a deep breath as her entire body tensed up. Her legs wrapped around Ross's head and back so tightly that he couldn't have escaped her if he'd wanted. The pleasure he'd been causing her peaked and exploded throughout her. She gave out a sudden, loud gasp; it was a scream and not a scream at the same time. Liv had seen herself orgasming on video before, and it had always made her laugh. How the hell does someone make that sound? she'd wondered. She'd faked a lot of orgasms early in her sex life. And yet not a single one of them had ever sounded like her real ones did.

Liv was lost to the euphoria for the longest time. She couldn't know how long it was; a minute, two, three? During that time -- once Liv had finally released the grasp of her leg's on him -- Ross had stood and undressed. She tried to shift her body from across the bed to following its length. Ross helped her, and Liv grasped his head when it was close to kiss him. She could taste her juices on his lips and tongue. She held him close for a moment, using her lips and tongue to lick up her lube.

"That was unbelievable," she whispered, kissing him again. "Thank you."

He hesitated as she tried to urge him onto the bed. He confessed hesitantly, "I'm afraid I didn't bring any protection. Wasn't exactly expecting company."

"I'm clean and protected," Liv reassured Ross. "I'm okay with going bareback if you are."

She didn't actually ask Ross if he, too, was clean. She had a good feeling about him: he'd only recently lost his wife, for whom he would have been loyal, Liv believed; and even since then, Liv doubted that he'd been bumping uglies with a bunch of nasty women. And he didn't actually speak the words I'm trust you concerning her own cleanliness. Instead, he crawled onto the bed and lay down, partially next to her, partially atop her.

They held each other close and kissed for a long time. Hands roamed, legs interacted; Liv's chest was still rising and falling dramatically from what Ross had done to her.

"On your back," she told him. She urged him onto his back. "I want on top."

No sooner was he below her, Liv rose to her knees. She bumped her head on the bottom of the top bunk. She laughed and rubbed her head. She looked to Ross's cock. It was impressive at full erection; long and thick and beautiful with a large bulbous head. She began caressing it with the tips of her long fingers. His balls twitched occasionally when she touched him just right.

"How long's it been?" she asked, quickly adding, "Truthfully."

His answer didn't surprise her. Well, if he had been any other man it might have. But from what Ross had told her about his wife, her death, and his loss, Liv wasn't surprised at all to find that he wasn't out on the town three or four nights a week ramming his cock into any pussy that was made available to him.

She leaned over and started pleasuring him with a skilled mouth. She was very good at this. She should be, considering how young she'd been when she began practicing it. When she saw that Ross was feeling good, she took his full length into her mouth. She didn't gag; she didn't hesitate. She just took all 8 or 9 inches of him into her mouth and throat. She remained there for a long moment, just letting him feel her warmth and wetness around him.

Then, she began bobbing her head up and down over him quickly, while one hand toyed playfully with his gonads.

 

[WatchingCloud]

Ross couldn't help but laugh in sympathy as Liv bonked her head on the top bunk. Sex with a sense of humor was so much better than turning it into a serious production.

"How long's it been?" she asked. "Truthfully."

The last time had been with his wife, on one of her few good days months before she passed. He'd had opportunities since, both quick pick-ups and half-hearted dates, but always shied away at the last minute. Ally had wanted him to move on, but everyone was measured against her and found wanting. Liv wasn't Ally, but she had a spark of her own and was an entirely different woman. Finally, it didn't feel like betraying his wife's memory.

"Over two years," he said, without shame. He'd shared enough of his story that she'd understand.

Liv simply nodded and proceeded to suck him off. She was exceptionally talented, not just in her ability to take his entire girth, but in the skill with which she quickly brought him to climax using mouth and hands. Between the very long drought and the inability to jerk off for the last couple days, he didn't last long at all. Liv took it all and swallowed with a smile.

Tension he hadn't realized he was carrying left his body with his semen. Liv had taken his hand and led him further down the path of healing, whether she knew it or not.

Ross would have been content with that, but Liv had other ideas. Before he'd had a chance to soften following his climax, she straddled him and guided his cock between her legs. She teased the tip across her folds until finally taking him inside and sinking deep. He was surprised by his ability to stay hard, but perhaps there was a benefit to having gone so long. Having an exceptionally attractive and eager partner no doubt helped, too.

Liv settled into a steady rhythm and soon was working her way toward another orgasm. She clenched him tight as it hit and he felt her body squeeze his cock with several contractions. The moans didn't quite reach the same level as when he'd gone down on her, but it was clearly still a powerful one.

After it passed, she resumed her ride. Ross gently touched her - arms, breasts, face. So young, so beautiful.

Liv climaxed twice more before she finally milked a second orgasm out of Ross. Spent, she collapsed atop him and they simply held one another, kissing softly, listening to one another's breath, feeling heartbeats return to normal.

Eventually, she rolled off him and snuggled into his side. He had one arm wrapped around her while her arms and legs draped over his. He pulled a single sheet up to cover them against the chill the neglected stove was letting seep in.

The sex had been amazing, but this was what his soul had truly missed - a warm body pressed against his. A ward against loneliness. The realization that he didn't have to stay away from others.

"I think," he said, voice soft, "that we both needed that in a bad way."

 

[LoriDean12345]

"I think that we both needed that in a bad way."

Liv laughed aloud, her hot breath flooding out upon Ross's chest. She tightened her grip on his torso. She asked playfully, "Ya think?"

Liv may not have gone totally without for two years as Ross had. But it had been a long time since she'd enjoyed sex as fully as she just had with the man she'd known for little more than a day. It had been over a year since she'd been with a someone who wasn't somehow part of one of her cons or thefts, either as a victim or a partner. Liv didn't orgasm with such people. Not because she couldn't but because she wouldn't. She had no desire to remember such men (or women, as had twice been the case during that time period).

This was different, obviously. And she had let herself enjoy every moment of it. That enjoyment only continued, laying here next to Ross. Just as he had missed the feel of a warm body next to him, Liv had missed the feel of one that she wasn't betraying or lying to in one way or another. But, of course, Liv was lying to Ross, in a manner of speaking. Her father had told her that an omission of the truth was still a lie. She couldn't tell him the truth, of course. He was a good man; she knew that. He wasn't going to react well to learning just who and what she was.

"I have to pee, again," Liv told Ross after they'd laid in one another arms for quite a while. She crawled atop him, kissed him with passion, then slid out to the floor. The chill hit her as she quickly threw on some clothes. She told him with the voice of a mother directing a son to finish his chores, "And you, young man, need to ... what was that word again, stoke the fire? I'll be back in a flash."

Liv slipped into the heavy coat Ross had given her and headed outside. She'd gotten pretty good with the snow shoes. The snowfall had once again waned during their hour long love making session. Liv headed for the outhouse rather than her private little peeing spot around the corner of the cabin.

She was almost finished when she heard an odd sound in the distance. She thought it was the storm once again building; a combination of wind and thunder maybe. Liv exited the little structure and made her way back. And that was when she realized what it was: a helicopter. Panic filled her. It could have been anything: the State Police's Search & Rescue looking for people lost in the the storm, such as a woman who'd spun her car off over an embankment. But it could also have been the Feds looking for a thief with a couple of million dollars of stolen cash and stones; or worse, could have been the people from whom she'd stolen the small fortune.

Liv searched the sky for a moment. She continued back to the cabin. But before reaching it, she looked up once again and caught sight of it. She pretended not to see it upon entering. But Ross was dressing to exit. He'd heard the helicopter as well and wanted to go check it out. Liv contemplated talking him out of it. She even thought about dropping to her knees to blow him again to keep him inside. But she knew that would be suspicious to him. And then there were the guys in the helicopter: if Ross's vehicle was seen from the air and he wasn't, they might send someone -- maybe on snow mobiles -- to check the little house and its occupants.

"I'll watch from the window, okay?" she asked tentatively. "It's frickin' cold out there. Hurry back. We're not done in bed."

After he was outside, Liv cracked the door to watch the activity. The sound told her that the aircraft was passing overhead, a bit to the right. (She had no idea whether it was north or south, east or west.) The sound began to fade a bit, which was a relief. But then it returned, to the left, and Liv wondered if maybe the pilot or spotter or whoever was looking had seen the cabin and pickup. Both were buried under a handful of feet of snow, but a skilled Search & Rescue person would have spotted them. Plus, Liv figured, the locals probably knew exactly where Ross's cabin was. If anyone had known he was heading out this way, well...

There was a sudden, dramatic stirring of snow before the door. Little crystals of the stuff sprayed Liv and the helicopter passed very close overhead. The beating sound of the helo's blades almost hurt Liv inside. Then, the sound faded significantly as the chopper moved farther away. Liv looked out for Ross, but he'd moved. She stuck her head out, but there was no sign of him.

Her heart leaped in her chest when a voice boomed from the heavens. "Are you Ross Stevens? Please indicate yes with one raised arm, no with two raised arms."

Liv slammed the door shut, as if afraid she'd be seen and ... what, taken into custody by a helicopter crew? Embarrassed by her panic, she opened the door again and listened as the questions continued.

"Do you have an operating satellite phone or radio or other communication device with which you can call out if you need help? One arm yes, two arms no."

A pause, then the next question: "Are you safe and secure?"

That was the first question asked for which Liv was uncertain of Ross's answer. She, of course, would have answered no. They were in the wilderness, surrounded by 4 or 5 or 6 feet of snow, with only 6 beers left. Was that safe and secure? But Ross? Fuck, to him, this was as scary and unsafe as going to the park for a picnic and learning you'd forgotten the horseradish for the roast beef sandwiches.

"Do you need any immediate assistance or supplies?"

Liv actually laughed. Yeah, another bottle of Tequila and a helo ride to a non-extradition country.

"Do you have anyone else with you?"

Liv's heart leaped again. The fact that the man in the chopper went on with his questioning told her that Ross had likely answered no to the question about needing assistance or supplies. Otherwise, the man in the aircraft might have tried to ask what kind of assistance or supplies. But what was Ross going to say about having a guest? And if he signaled that, yes, he had others with him, would the man in the helicopter ask about the identity of the guest? How would he do that over a radio, 150 feet up and away in the air?

Without even realizing what she was doing, Liv hurried to her back and pulled out her .38 Special. She held it tightly in her hands as she listened to the rest of the questions being called down to Ross. She had no idea what she was going to do with it, of course. But she was panicking. The man calling down hadn't identified himself as being a police authority. Why not? Maybe the department's name was obvious on the side of the helo? Or, maybe it was Liv's pursuers. Would they have known Ross's name? Didn't they ask Are you Ross Stevens? at the very beginning?

 

[WatchingCloud]

Ross was relieved and pleased that Liv had enjoyed their lovemaking as much as he had. Fate had thrown him a soft ball for once.

"Yes, I'll stoke the fire," he said, crawling out of bed just behind her. "Seems to be a lot of that going on around here."

He gave her a playful swat on the butt as she finished dressing and headed out. With fresh wood in the fire, Ross gave a quick check to the food Liv had started cooking. It looked like it had stayed warm and not burned.

A dull and very familiar noise came to Ross. Helicopter. They were unusual out here and he suspected it was part of the state of emergency that had been declared for this part of the state in the wake of the snowstorm. He wondered if someone might have been looking for Liv after she hadn't checked in with anyone. She said she'd been on her way to Duluth, but hadn't really answered as to whether someone was waiting for her. On the other hand, she hadn't expressed any concern or urgency with the situation, so he'd simply assumed...

Ross quickly pulled on his clothes, boots, and coat, and met Liv at the door. She had heard it, too, but said she would wait inside because it was cold...and that they weren't done in bed. "Yes ma'am," he said with a wink.

He quickly strapped into the snow shoes and hurried out past his truck into the open area beyond. The chopper crew must have been looking, because as soon as he was visible they circled around. It was military, presumably national guard.

They came to a hover about a hundred yards away and safely above the tree tops, then opened up with a truly impressive megaphone.

"Are you Ross Stevens? Please indicate yes with one raised arm, no with two raised arms."

Ross was startled at being addressed by name, but that soon changed to impressed admiration. The National Guard's role these days was largely disaster relief, so their resources presumably fit that role. GPS combined with a computer database on property owners could make quick work of guessing who he might be.

He raised one had to confirm it.

They then asked if he had a sat phone or radio to use for help. He had his cell and the ability to walk to range with some effort, but not ideal in an emergency. He raised two hands.

"Are you safe and secure?" He raised one hand. Stuck, yeah, but in no immediate need of help. Others certainly needed help more than they did.

"Do you have anyone else with you?"

Ross raised a hand. They would probably want to know who, but he wasn't sure how they could answer without landing...which might be risky in this much fluff unless in a genuine emergency.

"Raise you hand once for each additional person." He raised it once.

"Do you have resources for two days?" He raised one hand again. More like two weeks.

"Are you okay waiting one or two days for additional resources to make it to you?"

Ross considered that one. He was, but he was less certain about Liv. Again, she seemed in no rush and they had plenty of food. He certainly wouldn't mind spending another day or two with her...

He raised one hand.

"Okay, stay warm and safe. We will note your situation. Try to stay in place."

With that, the chopper veered off to check elsewhere. Ross headed back in and shed his outer wear.

"I'm sure you overheard all that," he said. "Just the National Guard looking for people in trouble. Since we are safe, I figured we could rough it another day or two and not waste resources that could help people in a worse situation."

(Assuming she isn't ticked at his decision...)

"If you need to get word out or arrange a sooner pickup, I can make the hike out tomorrow morning to get a call out. I imagine they could send someone by mid-afternoon if necessary."

 

[LoriDean12345]

"Raise you hand once for each additional person."

It was no surprise to Liv that Ross had indicated that he wasn't alone. After all, he had no reason to hide her presence here. Liv realized that her heart was beating fast, almost as if she was back in Ross's bed riding his cock again.

"Do you have resources for two days?"

Why was she so panicked? Simple: the guys in the chopper might be looking for her specifically. Not as the missing driver of a wrecked car, but as the wanted criminal attached to a multi-million dollar theft.

"Are you okay waiting one or two days for additional resources to make it to you?"

The last two questions sounded like good news to her. Liv didn't believe they would have bothered asking if they were planning on landing or sending in a swat team to take her down. She was thinking the same this Ross was about his lack of ability to identify her to the authorities.

"Okay, stay warm and safe. We will note your situation. Try to stay in place."

She moved closer to the window when the chopper's sound seemed to indicate it was moving away. She caught sight of Ross nearing, then remembered she was holding her revolver in her hand. She rushed to her bag and barely got it back inside before he opened the door.

"I'm sure you overheard all that."

He was looking her way, so Liv only nodded and smiled tentatively. He continued, then asked if she needed to get out of her sooner.

"A phone call would be nice," she said. As if to answer the question he hadn't asked, Liv told him, "No one's really expecting me, but you never know. Someone who knew I was traveling up this way and only gets my voice mail might begin to worry."

Ross had stripped off his foul weather gear and neared her, which -- in a cabin so small and cramped -- essentially meant that he walked from one place to the other.

"We should probably eat," Liv said when she thought Ross was about to embrace her. She'd hinted at sex once again. But Liv needed to contemplate her situation. She just couldn't know whether or not the helo had been out here looking for her specifically. She gestured him to a chair. She teased, "I'll serve, you can do the dishes again."

She scooped out two plates and bowls, filled glasses with milk so cold that it had ice chunks floating in it, and asked him if he wanted another beer. Liv wanted one. Hell, Liv needed one. She popped a top for him and was about to pop one for her. Instead, she went to the front door and got the Tequila bottle from a crate just beyond it. The liquor was cold when she lifted it to her mouth and took a swig.

"Don't suppose you asked them to drop you a case of this, did you?" Liv asked. She was only half joking. They sat and ate and chit chatted, about the National Guard, about Ross's impressive shooting, about the weather, and about how the hell they'd get out to a place with cell phone bars with only one pair of snow shoes.

"Tell me more about how you learned to shoot like that," she asked after another swig of the Tequila. She glared at the bottle; it only had about two swigs left in it. She looked to Ross, adding, "I mean, unless it's something you don't want to talk about."

 

[WatchingCloud]

When Ross asked Liv about getting in touch with anyone, she said a phone call would be nice. He felt guilty that maybe he'd overestimated her willingness to stay longer. She seemed just a little out of sorts, but not angry.

Whatever it was passed when he mentioned that they might try using the snow shoes and some cross country skis he had to head toward a point that usually got cell reception a few miles away - something they could attempt in the morning if the weather was good. She seemed receptive to the idea and then let it drop as they ate dinner.

He took the offered beer while Liv dug into the remnants of the tequila. He apologized for not asking the Guardsmen if they had any other hard stuff to leave with them. "Next time," he promised.

Dinner conversation spread far and wide, and eventually Liv circled back to his shooting. "Tell me more about how you learned to shoot like that. I mean, unless it's something you don't want to talk about."

Ross smiled. "I don't mind talking about my service," he said, "but thanks for asking. There are some things I'd rather forget. Training...had its moments, too, but nothing that keeps me up at night.

"No. Honestly, I'd never so much as held a gun before enlisting. Went through basic and had some aptitude that surprised myself and my instructors. Between being halfway intelligent and very fit, I was offered a chance at special ops training. Nothing like that to strip a guy of his sense of bad-assery. But you come out with a whole new perspective.

"The shooting? Hours upon hundreds of hours of training. Live fire drills, close quarters to sniper, more weapons than you can imagine. We had far more flexibility in picking our gear than your average grunt."

Ross paused to take a long pull on his beer. Then he looked around the cabin and waved his can. "All this? The outdoorsman thing didn't start until after I was in the SEALS. Buddy of mine was big time hunter and sucked me into in during our downtime. Between the shooting and survival skills, it was a pretty small step."

Liv asked a few questions and seemed to take his background in stride. No disdain for his service, at the least.

While he cleaned dishes, she asked him to warm up a couple extra buckets of water. When he inquired as to why, she suggested they could both use a little cleaning up after their earlier workout. He agreed.

This time, there was no pretense of hiding behind a privacy screen. Ross washed Liv from head to toe, being exceptionally thorough and attentive to the areas...most responsive. After shuddering from a finger-induced orgasm while standing in a bucket of water, Liv demanded a towel with which to dry before taking over with the washcloth and giving him an equally thorough washing. That one ended in a blowjob.

Between there and the bed, they made stops at the dining room table (with her bent over it, being taken from behind), atop the rug covering his gun safe (with her riding cowgirl and then reverse cowgirl astride him), and then in the open doorway (him holding her ass while she wrapped legs and arms around him) looking out at the now-clear sky and the faint glow of the Northern Lights on the horizon.

"Might have let out a bit too much heat with that last stop," Ross joked as Liv cuddled in tight under the layers of quilts. Her skin still felt hot against his, but he happily pulled her in close.

He turned to face her. "What are you thinking? Right here, right now?"

 

[LoriDean12345]

Liv was cuddled up tightly against Ross, enjoying his warmth, when he asked, "What are you thinking? Right here, right now?"

She immediately laughed. Sitting up to look into face, she responded, "Oh, where the fuck do I start?"

She kissed him and laid back down into his embrace. Where did she start? Her mind was jumbled with competing thoughts: about her career, about her last job, about how close she'd come to dying out here in this wilderness, about this Good Samaritan who had saved her life, about how good a lover he was.

Laying as she was, Liv's gaze was on the doorway leading out into the Minnesota wild lands. She laughed again, even blushing, though Ross couldn't see it. What in the world had they been thinking? It was barely over freezing; though the snow has stopped falling again, the world beyond that door was still buried in what could be a killer snow; and they'd made love in the portal?

"My ass is still cold," Liv laughed. She rolled away from him, pressing her still chilled bum into Ross's lower body, telling him, "Warm up them cheeks. They feel like their gonna crack."

Liv laughed as she thought about what they'd done in the doorway. Ross had been fucking her toward orgasm over the kitchen table; she'd been leaning forward, hands on the window sill, as she stared out upon the cold world beyond the glass; and suddenly, she'd pushed him away, moved to the door, and flew it open.

"Fuck you, world!" she'd hollered out over the seemingly endless white. Liv had listened to her words echo back from any object off which they'd bounced.
Then in a quieter tone, mostly meant to instill confidence in herself -- and reduce the fear that had been building within her -- she added, "Fuck, you. You can't hurt me."

Ross had given her a curious, maybe even concerned expression. But Liv had simply laughed it off. She lied about the source of her declaration, "Mother Nature tried her best and missed. Now, get over here."

Standing stark naked in the doorway, Liv had embraced Ross, grasped the door frame for support, and worked with him to get her legs up and wrapped around his waist. He'd fucked her to her fourth or fifth or sixth orgasm or the evening. All she'd been able to feel was Ross's breath upon her bosom and neck, his hands upon her waist and ass cheeks, and his relentless cock deep inside her insatiable pussy.

"I haven't been entirely honest with you, Ross," she began.

With her back to him now, Liv felt a little more able to tell him things about her she had hidden thus far. She paused for a moment for his reaction. But he said nothing. Liv wondered if he was simply searching for a proper response. Or if her statement had been one of those duh kinds of comments that Ross had been expecting to come out at some point.

"I'm not a good person," Liv continued. She hesitated a moment, then continued, "I earn my living by taking things of value from other people. I'm a thief. And I'm a confidence artist ... a conman. Or woman. Your choice."

She hesitated another moment as she felt her eyes welling up with tears. This was where she lost him. This was where he got out of bed, dressed, and began making plans to get her out of his cabin and out of his life at the earliest moment.

"I have over three million dollars in stolen diamonds and cash," she confessed. "I was heading for Thunder Bay, just beyond the border, to meet my partner and split the take when my car left the road and you found me."

A sob escaped her lungs, and the first tears began wetting her cheeks.

 

[WatchingCloud]

Ross happily spooned up against Liv, pressing his spent cock between her (yes, chilly) butt cheeks. He wrapped her in his arms and savored the pure pleasure of holding her.

"I haven't been entirely honest with you, Ross."

He could hear the tension in her voice. Deep down, Ross fretted. He it comes - she's married or has a long-term thing and is feeling guilty about letting things go too far.

Then she zigged where he expected a zag - thief and con-artist. Okay. He tried to wrap his mind around that. With three million in stolen diamonds and cash, here. Okay. Harder to get a handle on that one.

She let out a sob in his arms and he couldn't help but hold her tighter. Clearly the strain of the situation had become too much. What he didn't understand was why she was telling him. He hadn't suspected a thing. Once the roads cleared, she would've been able to vanish and he'd never have known.

And there he started to get it. With that much merchandise, someone as probably missing it, which meant the authorities could be on her trail. The helicopter. She'd been a little off following that and must have feared being caught. Same would be the case if or when someone came to get them dug out.

If she was being honest - and this would be an odd thing to lie about - he did have one thing to keep in mind. A con artist was good at deception and playing people. The last couple days could have been a good story just to keep in his good graces while she needed him. Granted, he had actually saved her (probably?), and she couldn't have planned for the storm. Was she playing him for something else? He didn't have anything of value as far as she knew, aside from a couple guns. Security? Maybe, but she couldn't expect him to protect her from the authorities. No, he believed she really did like him on some level. He needed to believe it.

"So, does that mean, now that you've told me, that I'm harboring a fugitive?"

There were some things about him he hadn't shared, either, for fear of pushing her away or scaring her off. When their relationship was nothing more than a short term rescue, there was no need. He was falling for her, though, and that truth would have to come out as well. But not now. This was about her.

He propped himself up on an elbow and gently guided her by the chin until she was looking at him. Her teary eyes hit him in the gut.

"Liv," he said, softly. "I'm not going to turn you in or kick you out. You've given me too much these last couple days - and I'm not talking about the sex...or, well, not just that - for me to ever consider that. We've saved each other in different ways, and with what I've been through in life, that means a lot."

He kissed her softly.

"Now, maybe you can tell me the whole situation, because I get the impression you're in trouble."

 

[LoriDean12345]

"So, does that mean, now that you've told me, that I'm harboring a fugitive?"

"Fugitive?" she mused. "No. Not literally anyway. I'm not on the run, per se. I'm sure that..."

She let the thought fade away. A moment later, Ross turned her head to face him. He reassured her that she wasn't going to find herself tossed out into the snow.

"Now, maybe you can tell me the whole situation, because I get the impression you're in trouble."

Liv rolled to her side to face Ross. She tried to start, but couldn't. Not laying here naked with him. She slid out of bed and donned the tee shirt and sweats Ross had dug out for her earlier. She sat, slipped on the thermal socks again, and pulled out one of Ross's dwindling beers.

"Several years ago, there was a diamond theft. I had nothing to do with it, just FYI. The theft wasn't reported, because, well, the stones were blood diamonds. They'd come out of West Africa someplace, I don't know where. They couldn't legally be sold here without laser etching tags identifying them as not being exactly what they were ... blood diamonds. They sat in a safe deposit box for a while, months, maybe years."

She sipped at the beer and continued. "I know a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy. And, that last guy had learned that the owner of the diamonds -- the guy who'd stolen them -- was looking for a buyer. So ... I gave him one ... me! I spent several months creating an alias and a background. I had everything: driver's license, passport with stamps, credit cards, Facebook page, Instagram, Twitter. A hacker friend of mine made all the internet stuff seem years old, as opposed to just weeks or months. To give me a deeper background. Hell I even had a bus pass, a library card -- expired -- and a coupon for a dollar off any foot long sandwich at Subway, just in case they checked my wallet."

Liv was starting to get feelings of pride over her work. And that was so wrong, at least at this moment in time. She went on, "We set a price, $700,000. The diamonds are worth two-point-four mil'. Sounds like a helluva price break, but without the laser tags..."

She didn't explain how the value of the diamonds dropped drastically without the tags that were undetectable to the naked eye yet ID'd ever diamond individually. Ross had probably heard of such technology before, so why bother explaining it?

"But ... my partner thought it would be nice to keep the cash and the diamonds," she continued, her tone a bit more solemn. She was lying to him now; the con to take it all had actually been Liv's call. "We set up a distraction, did a switch, caused an even more dramatic distraction. And I walked out with it all."

Liv laughed, sipping at the beer again. "And then, I put my car in a ditch."

 

[WatchingCloud]

Ross remained in bed as she shared her story, but sat up, wrapped in blankets. He listened politely until she finished with him finding her on the side of the road in dangerous weather.

"So, the seven hundred grand. Did you front that yourself?" She had mentioned trust fund baby, so maybe that part had been true. If not, then there would be someone very keen on not just the diamonds, but their initial investment.

"And this partner of yours? I'm guessing he or she is very keen to know where you ended up. Might even think you tried to pull a fast one and keep it all for yourself?"

He was trying to get a better feel for where she was in this mess. What risk she'd exposed herself to, and whether he was willing to invest himself further in her wellbeing.

 

[LoriDean12345]

"So, the seven hundred grand. Did you front that yourself?"

"It was mine and my partner's," she answered. That was more of less true in the sense that more of the money had come from Carl and less of it had come from Liv.

"And this partner of yours? I'm guessing he or she is very keen to know where you ended up. Might even think you tried to pull a fast one and keep it all for yourself?"

Liv hesitated before answering this question. Even more than the people she'd conned, she was concerned about what Carl was thinking right now and how he would react once he again found Liv.

"My partner ... his name is Carl ... he'll be wondering what happened to me, yes," Liv answered. "He won't think bad of me for a couple of days. But, after a week or more, he'll begin to wonder."

 

[WatchingCloud]

Ross felt an involuntary pang of jealousy over this Carl guy, Liv's partner, despite having never met him nor knowing the nature of their relationship beyond their heist. He knew it was probably best to leave well enough alone and stop asking questions. He couldn't.

"So, in a day or two we'll probably get plowed out and you're in the wind. Then what? Meet your partner, mark and resell twice stolen diamonds?"

If she was honest about her and her partner fronting all the money, and the diamonds were stolen to begin with, then the authorities may never get involved. Who she stole the diamonds from might be another matter.

"And why tell me all of this? Why not just vanish?" That, really, was the question he wanted - needed - answered.

 

[LoriDean12345]

"So, in a day or two we'll probably get plowed out and you're in the wind.

Liv diverted her eyes, looking down to the bottle in her hands. She'd been expecting this question from Ross, even before telling him about who she was and what she'd done.

"Then what? Meet your partner, mark and resell twice stolen diamonds?"

"That was the plan," she said softly, still not looking up. She had just admitted to being a conman and a thief to the man she'd only just met and begun fucking ... repeatedly and with great enthusiasm. What response had she expected from him? Then she realized the error in her response. She corrected, "That is the plan."

"And why tell me all of this? Why not just vanish?"

Well, as her grandmother would have said, That IS the $64,000 question. Liv had taken to nervously ripping the label off the beer bottle as they'd been speaking, trying to extricate it as a single piece of paper. If tore diagonally, disappointing her. She crumpled the scrap and tossed it onto the top of the wood stove, where over the next minutes it would begin to smoke, then burst into an inch high flame, then peter out into a miniscule clump of ash.

"I don't know," she said honestly, eyes still down on the bottle. "I guess..."

She hesitated a moment before continuing. "I like you, Ross. And ... I guess ... I guess I wanted you to like me, too. For who I am. Not for who you think I am. I'm a thief. A conman. A criminal. I've never hurt anyone, not in all my life."

That wasn't entirely true, of course. Once, when still just 15, Liv was about to be raped at a party of mostly young college men. She'd gotten her hands on something heavy and hard -- to this day she couldn't recall what it was -- and she'd clubbed a guy so hard he was in the hospital with a concussion and short term memory loss for weeks.

Another time in the middle of a con gone wrong, she'd feared for her life and shot a man with yet another of her .38 Specials, which now lay rusting away on the bottom of New York City's East River. The man hadn't died but it had been touch and go there for a few days.

Liv had justified her actions in that Mark's reaction had been way over the top. The con had only been for a few thousand dollars in untraceable bearer bonds. Yet when the Mark discovered the con, he'd beaten Carl to a pulp before (this time successfully) raping Liv, not just once but twice as he decided whether or not to involve the police.

She continued telling Ross, "But ... I am a criminal. A bad girl, and not in the way most men like their bad girls to be."

She tried to lighten the mood with that quip and a slightly devilish smirk, but even her heart wasn't up to the humor. She looked to her hands again before continuing, "When they dig us out ... I ... I don't expect you to want to see me anymore. I'm ... hoping that you won't turn me in. I'm too pretty for jail, if you believe what they tell you on TV."

Again she tried for a smile, but her eyes were about to explode in tears. "I just wanted you to know, Ross. Because..."

The first tear ran down her cheek.

 

[WatchingCloud]

Ross knew she was either a phenomenal actor or had really started to fall for him. His heart said the latter, but he just couldn't completely convince himself. It was her willingness to come clean now, with no apparently benefit to doing so if she was conning him, that swayed him most of the way to believing it.

He rose, still swathed in bedding, and wrapped her in his arms, letting her cry it out for a bit.

"I don't see a bad girl," he said. "I just see a good girl who did a bad, or questionable, thing. Or two. Maybe I'm wrong, but I can only judge you by what I've seen in your actions."

He continued to hold her, then continued.

"You wanted to tell me this, just in case things went further, right? I get that. Believe me, I get it, because I've been trying to figure out when to...uh...share some other things about me. Things you'd have to know if you were to ever have feelings for me."

Ross hadn't wanted to bring it up. He'd expected Liv would vanish after they were free of the cabin and he would just enjoy the memories of their brief time together. He hadn't dared to hope she would actually start falling for him the way he was for her. But, now that he knew otherwise and she'd opened the door...

 

[LoriDean12345]

Inside the cabin:

"Not now," Liv said, cutting Ross of as he seemed about to match her own confessions with some of his own. She stood and forced her way into the blanket wrapped around the man's body. Clutching him about the torso tightly, she buried one side of her face into the taller man's chest, her shoe-less feet now making her even more obviously shorter than him. She held him for a long moment, then repeated and expanded, "Not now. Not yet. Just ... just hold me and shut up."

She chuckled a bit, or was it a sob; it was difficult to tell. She told him she wanted to just lay in his arms, and soon they were again under the covers, clutching one another. Liv was exhausted -- by the sex, the weather, by life as a whole -- and she was asleep in under a minute, despite wanting to talk to him again before they called it a night.



Liv awoke to an otherwise empty bed. Sunlight spilled in from the windows, as did the sound of an unfamiliar motor. She immediately began to panic. Sitting up, she listened to what she assumed was a snow mobile. Too deep in tone; too big. She slipped out of bed and hurried to the window.



Outside the cabin:

The snowmobile trail groomer was idling about 150 feet away, where the driveway to the little cabin left the narrow forest road. The man in the driver's seat, Rich Charles, usually spent his days this time of the year grooming logging and park access roads, as well as horse and hiking trails for the snowmobilers. During this recent storm, though, he'd been coordinating with the State Police to open access to the full time and weekend properties where people were known to be, whether by choice or not.

Rich and Ross were not exactly old friends -- Rich had only started this two years ago -- but they knew each other well enough for conversation that went beyond the casual. Would Ross tell the man who was 20 years his senior that he'd been spending the last 24 hours fucking a criminal he'd only just met? Unlikely. But that didn't mean they didn't have something interesting to talk about.

"So, like I was saying," Rich continued about the most interesting story he'd heard in days, "this guy comes running out of the hotel down there in Minneapolis, stark naked and raving at the world. You should see the cell phone video on YouTube. It's hilarious! I wish I got service up here. Or that I'd save it to my offline Gallery, rather than my online Cloud. You'd die."

The radio in the grooming machine crackled. Rich tried to return what he thought was a call from Dispatch, but the radio didn't work well here in the lowlands between the hills and mountains in the distance.

"Anyway, this guy is drunk, and teetering, and about to fall on his face," Rich continued. "And the cops are already there, of course, 'cause this all started inside the hotel over an hour earlier. This guy...! He's carrying his pants in one hand and a briefcase in the other. It's open, dangling, nothing in it. He's ranting and raving, something about being ripped off and drugged or something. His cock's just dangling, long and lean. You know, kinda like that guy whose girlfriend posted that sex tape..."

He laughed. "Sorry, getting off track. Anyway, he ranting on, and the cops are trying to encircle him. You can see, I don't know, maybe two or three dozen people in every direction with their cell phones up. The recordings are all over YouTube. Anyway, this guy's ranting like I said, then all of a sudden he hollers out 'Where's ... my ... diamonds...? Where's my diamonds? She stole my diamonds!"

Rich started laughing hysterically. He mocked the video man's madness, laughed again, and asked Ross, "Have you ever seen anything so crazy? I don't know what the hell was going on .... good drugs, maybe ... but this guy was trippin'."

 

[WatchingCloud]

Liv crashed hard that night, nestled in his arms. Come dawn, she was still sleeping hard, so Ross slipped out as quietly as possible, pausing only to stoke the stove and don his winter gear so he could use the facilities.

He still didn't know quite what to make of Liv's confession and where that put them. Did he like her enough to want to risk the association? Was she in danger?

A low, growing rumble caught his attention as he tromped back toward the cabin. He detoured toward the road and spotted Rick in his trail groomer heading down the them. Ross didn't mind the guy, but did find him a little too chatty for his tastes. He waved and Rick stuck his arm out of the cab to wave back.

"You don't have the plow attached," Ross noted after Rick came to a stop and pleasantries were exchanged.

"My baby's not equipped for shit this deep," Rick said, clearly disappointed. "Foot and a half, sure, but not this three and a half. But she can ride up on it, so I've got the sled attached on the back in case anyone needs an extraction. Meantime, just checking in on people."

Once he knew Ross was okay, Rick broke into recounting the story about this crazy naked guy down in Minneapolis. Ross started tuning out, nodding appropriately. Then the word diamonds cut through. Shit!

It corroborated at least that part of Liv's story, which made him relieved in a twisted sort of way. On the other hand, the guy who'd been robbed had been naked, leading him to wonder if Liv's distraction had involved seducing him. That triggered a mix of jealousy and trepidation. Maybe he could get a clearer picture from her. If he really wanted to know.

"Yeah, crazy shit," he agreed.

"Say, what brings you out here? Wasn't expecting you'd be here until the Guard said they'd contacted you."

"Just a weekend getaway. Didn't expect the weather to make quite such a turn."

"Guard said you weren't alone." Rick leaned out of the cab conspiratorially. "You got a lady friend here?"

Ross just smiled.

"You dog! Go you! She hot?"

"You have no idea," Ross said.

Rick laughed. "Lucky man. Tiny cabin, snowed in with nothing to do but each other. Need another week before getting plowed? Er, plowed out?"

"I think that'd be pushing it."

"Well, I can't plow you out, but you can hitch a ride back if you need out. Otherwise, it'll probably be tomorrow morning. They're still focused on the major roads and emergency response. Or I can take you somewhere higher you might be able to get a signal if you need to call. Whatever you need, man."

"Got any booze?" Ross joked while trying to decide whether to accept any help or not.

Rick let out a sharp laugh and withdrew a flask from his coat. "Think I'd come out here unarmed? Sadly, though, it's just about empty. Yours if you want."

"Nah. We'd need more than that. Wait here a sec."

Ross walked back to the cabin and found Liv awake. He quickly explained Rick's offer to give them a ride to town or close enough to make calls. Or they could wait until tomorrow and get his truck out. He didn't mention the news story.

"I'm in no rush, to leave here or you. Whatever you need, though..."