by Lulu Pratt
“What do you say we watch another movie?” Graham asks. I nod. We settle in together on the couch, and Graham puts on Meet Me in St. Louis with Judy Garland. It’s one of my all-time favorites.
We cuddle again, and Graham pulls me tightly against him. It doesn’t take long before we’re so close, his face is right next to mine again. This time, when he kisses me, I know what’s coming. And I want this.
I’ve wanted it for so long I ache for it. I want to have sex with Graham. He’s been so amazing, a hero to me when I had nothing left, and I’ve gotten to know him well enough to know that I want to give myself to him. I also want to drive away the cold and the misery and find solace and comfort with him.
Graham kisses me differently this time. It’s more intense, deeper, and I sigh into his mouth when he slides his tongue between my lips. Tasting. Exploring.
His hand moves onto my breast, and my skin is on fire beneath my clothes. We move so that I lay back, and Graham drapes his body over mine, pressing the length of him against me. We make out on the couch, groping and grinding. I’m getting hot, desire growing between us. Our clothes are in the way, and I want Graham to take them off, to strip us both until we’re naked.
I push my hands under his shirt, and he makes a small growling sound.
“Your hands are cold,” he says.
“Then warm me up,” I say, not moving them. His skin is hot under my fingertips, and I can feel his muscles under his skin as he moves, grinding his hard length between my legs.
“I want you,” I breathe.
Graham looks me in the eyes. His blue eyes are so dark, and his pupils are dilated with lust. He nods and gets up, pulling me up with him. He leads me by the hand to his bedroom. Once we’re inside, he pushes me against the wall, pinning me with his body. He starts pulling off my clothes, and it’s exactly what I want. I do the same.
We’re naked in no time, and we collapse on the bed in a tangle of limbs. My thighs fall open, and Graham crawls between them. There’s no need for foreplay — I’m so wet. Graham positions himself at my entrance and pushes into me. We groan in unison.
Graham starts rocking back and forth, sliding his cock in and out of me, and the friction is heaven. God, I’ve waited for this for so long, it’s pure ecstasy. Slowly, Graham picks up speed, fucking me harder and harder. I cry out with every thrust. My breasts are mashed against his chest, and his breath is hot in my ear, making my skin tingle.
The first orgasm builds, heat rising in my core until it’s so intense, I feel like I’m going to explode. And then I do. The orgasm rips through me, and I cry out.
Graham doesn’t let up. His fucking is relentless, rocking my body back and forth on the bed. It’s urgent sex. It’s wild sex. It’s I’ve-waited-for-this-too-long sex, and it’s fantastic.
After a while, Graham pulls out of me, and I gasp.
“Turn around,” he growls, and I do as he asks, turning my ass to him.
He grips my hips and pushes his cock back into me, going deeper this time. I cry out, and he starts thrusting immediately. My breasts bounce with every stroke of his cock, and his balls slap against my clit as he hammers into me.
Graham leans forward, his front against my back, and he reaches around my body. With his fingers, he finds my clit. While he’s thrusting into me — closer and more intimately than a moment ago — he plays with my clit. I cry out, my moans matching his rhythm as he brings me closer and closer to another orgasm.
A moment later, I come undone at the seams and cry out his name. It pushes him over the edge, too, and I feel him release inside me. We come together.
Finally, when it’s over, Graham slips out of me. The whole thing started and ended so quickly, but what a ride. I don’t regret it at all. My body is spent, every inch of me deliciously used, and pleasure still throbs through my body. Graham lays down on the bed next to me, breathing hard from the exertion.
“You’re amazing,” he says.
I smile at him. “You’re not too bad yourself.”
He grins and pulls me closer to him. I close my eyes and let him cuddle with me, letting down all my guards with this man who somehow managed to get me to let go.
Chapter 20
Graham
I don’t sleep after we have sex. Sarah seems to doze off a little in my arms, but I’m wide awake, listening to her breathing, her hair draped on my shoulder, her hand on my chest. Holding her this close is something I’ve been waiting for ever since we met.
I can’t believe we’ve come this far. I can’t believe I finally fucked her. God, it was good.
After a while, Sarah rolls onto her back, away from me. She sits up, and she looks a little shy, unsure.
I watch her as she gets off the bed and finds a robe that she pulls around herself. Now that the passion has cooled for the moment, I know she’s shyer again. I half expected it.
To stop her from feeling embarrassed, I cover myself, too.
“How about we get out of this cabin for a bit?” I suggest. “We’ve been stuck inside for some time now. Some fresh air will be great.”
“You want to go out into the snow?” she asks.
“Unless you don’t want to.”
She shakes her head. “No, I’d love that.” She smiles at me, her eyes bright and her shyness forgotten.
She leaves to go to her own room, and I get up to get dressed. When we’re both ready, we’re bundled up, ready for the cold outside. As soon as I open the front door, an icy wind sweeps into the cabin.
“God, it’s colder than I thought,” Sarah says. We step out into the snow. The layout of the cabin prevented the snow from going up right against the door, but just a bit farther, the snow is thick and fluffy.
“How deep do you think this is?” Sarah asks.
“I would say about three feet, easily,” I say. I’m looking at my car, and it’s half buried.
Sarah looks around. I must admit, being snowed in aside, the place looks amazing with so much snow. It’s thick on the black, naked branches, and the snow is untouched and beautiful everywhere. In town, snow turns into a brown slush so easily from a combination of tires, salt, sand and dirt. Out here, there’s nothing to mess up the natural beauty.
“This is amazing,” Sarah says, and we start hiking as far as we can. In some places, there are drifts up to six feet deep, and it’s these places that keep us snowed in at the cabin. We can’t go anywhere past this, not even on foot, because it’s dangerous. We don’t know what’s beneath it. But it’s good to get out and stretch our legs, and Sarah seems to be an outdoorsy person.
I’m surprised by it. Every time I find out something about her, I’m surprised. It’s like I’m peeling back one delicious layer after another, revealing more of her amazing personality every time.
It also makes me feel that much guiltier about what I did to her, especially now that we had sex. It’s not just about us being friends anymore. It’s more than that now. It’s been more than that for a while, but with me holding back, I could convince myself that it’s nothing serious.
It’s serious now. I’m serious about her.
And I lied to her. I’m such a fucking dick. I have to tell her at some point. I need to let her know who I am and what I did to her. I feel terrible about lying to her now, on top of everything.
But if I tell her now, however long we’re stuck here for, I won’t have her. She’ll be angry, and I won’t be able to give her space or make it better in any way. Because the truth is, I did something horrible to her — I kicked her out of her home just before Christmas.
I watch her as we hike through the snow. Her cheeks are flushed, her dark eyes bright, and she’s beautiful. I can’t do this to her. Not now.
I decide to confess some other time — later, after we get out of here.
“So, what are we going to do about Christmas dinner?” Sarah asks when we head back to the cabin. “We don’t have anything special.”
I think about it. “Well, we have some chicken we
can do something with.”
“I can do veggies,” Sarah adds.
“And we’ll make a plan for dessert. It’s not amazing, but it will do.”
Sarah smiles at me. “I’m sure it will be great.”
We get back to the cabin and start our preparations. I find CDs with Christmas music in the attic, and we get busy in the kitchen. I’m preparing the chicken while Sarah slices vegetables for me. Spending time together preparing the food is so much fun. It feels comfortable and right, and I can see myself doing this with her in the future.
The thought stops me in my tracks. I’m falling hard for this girl if I’m thinking about having a future with her. But the thought doesn’t scare me. If anything, it excites me. Unfortunately, my excitement is overshadowed by the terrible thing I’ve done. Thinking of that makes me think of Britney.
“Are you okay to carry on here?” I ask Sarah after a while. “I’ll be right back.”
Sarah nods, and I pull a jacket on before stepping outside into the snow. I dial Britney’s number.
“Are you okay?” I ask when she picks up.
“I’m fine, Graham. Really. You don’t have to worry about me so much. I’m happy to be out of that place so that memories of James — if not James himself — can’t haunt me.”
I’m glad my sister is okay, but I still worry. I feel like I should be there. It’s why I put her up next door. It’s ironic that I evicted Sarah for the sake of having Britney right next door, only to be stranded on the other side of town in the cabin with Sarah.
“I can’t make it tonight,” I tell her. “I’m still stuck here, but I’ll let you know the moment I can get back.”
“Are you all alone?” Britney asks.
I look to the cabin. “Not exactly,” I say. “I’m with a tenant.”
“Male or female?” Britney asks.
I smile, but I’m not going to tell her anything.
“I have to go,” I say without answering her. “I’ll call you again tomorrow.”
“And then you’ll tell me all about her,” she says, and I can tell she is smiling.
“Bye, Britney,” I say and hang up the phone, but I’m smiling, too. When I walk back into the house, I take a moment to watch Sarah move around the kitchen. She’s elegant and graceful and everything I don’t want to lose right now.
Chapter 21
Sarah
On Christmas Day, I’m up at dawn to check the weather. It hasn’t snowed in the night, as far as I can tell. Our footprints from yesterday are still in the snow, leading past my bedroom window to the front door. That’s a good sign. As much as I enjoy spending time in the cabin with Graham, I want to get to Monica, Larry and Lindsay for Christmas. I’ve never missed a Christmas with my family.
I pick up my phone from the nightstand and switch it on, checking for calls and messages. I leave it off because I’m worried about the power going out or some kind of emergency, but until now, nothing has gone wrong.
I have two missed calls from Monica, so I dial her number. Lindsay always wakes up early, so I doubt Monica will still be sleeping. Sleeping in with a hyperactive seven-year-old child is damn near impossible — I’ve watched Lindsay often enough to know that this is a fact.
Monica answers her phone on the second ring, like she’s been waiting by her phone.
“Are you okay out there?” she asks right away.
“I am. Don’t worry. Merry Christmas!”
“I haven’t heard from you for days.”
I nod. “I know. I’m sorry. I was keeping my phone off in case of an emergency, so it’s fully charged. I didn’t know if I would lose power up here.”
Monica breathes out like she’s sighing in relief. I didn’t mean to make her worry, and I tell her that.
“Oh, it’s a mom thing, I think,” she says. “I never used to be this paranoid about everything before I had Lindsay.”
I chuckle. Monica used to be the wild sister, the crazy one who tried everything. Then she got married, and now, she’s the model of a good citizen. I know it’s for Lindsay’s sake, and a child couldn’t ask for a better mother, but Monica worries a lot more these days.
“Are you coping all alone up there?” Monica asks. “And with all this snow, do you have enough food?”
“I’m fine. I have enough food, and I’m keeping safe and warm. Really, I’m okay, Monica.”
“I just worry. Being alone for so long when you’re always around people just doesn’t seem like the kind of thing you’ll be able to deal with. You’ve never been good at being alone for long periods of time.”
“It’s only been a few days,” I say.
“I know, but with everything happening with the eviction…”
I hesitate for a moment. “Well, I’m not completely alone here,” I say.
“What? Who’s there with you?” Monica asks.
“Graham came over on Saturday to spend the day with me, and he got snowed in with me.”
Monica is quiet for a moment before she squeals. “You’ve been stuck in there with Graham?! That explains your radio silence.”
I laugh. “I told you, I was worried about—”
“Yeah, yeah, you said that,” Monica says, and I’m still laughing. “So, tell me everything. What have you been doing?”
I sit back on my bed and pull the covers over my legs.
“You know… board games, movies, cooking… sex.”
“Oh, my God,” Monica says, and I feel myself blushing, even though I’m not even talking to her face to face. “You’re stranded with the guy you’re in love with in a cabin in the snow.”
“I didn’t say I’m in love with him.”
“Sure,” Monica says. “I still think this is the cutest thing ever.” I laugh again because I don’t know what to say. “You and Graham, snowed in together… it sounds like a movie. It’s the ultimate love story.”
“You’re taking it way too far,” I say to Monica. “We just met, and it’s coincidence that we’re stranded together.”
“Or fate.”
“Monica!” I say, but I’m still laughing, and I hear her chuckling on the other side of the line.
“All jokes aside, though, Sarah. I’m happy for you. You deserve a good guy, a fairytale romance. I’m so happy for you. I know it’s just early days, but this could very well be your happy ending that you’ve been waiting for.”
“I’m going to wait it out and see,” I say. But deep down, I’m thinking the same thing. Of course, it’s only been a few weeks since I met Graham, but the last couple of days together has shown me what kind of person he is, and I can’t think of anything about him that I don’t like. Everything about him is just attentive, caring, sweet and fantastic. I feel like he’s the perfect guy.
“Are you going to be able to come over for Christmas dinner tonight?” Monica asks when we’re done discussing Graham.
“I don’t know,” I say. “I’ll have to ask Graham when he wakes up if we can leave. The cars are snowed in quite badly, but it hasn’t been snowing through the night. I’m hoping we can. I want to see you.”
“We have a lot of gossip to catch up on, face to face,” Monica says, and I agree. I’m not done talking about how I feel about Graham, but I don’t want to do it over the phone where he might be able to hear me.
“I’ll call you a bit later and let you know what our situation is like,” I say.
We end our call, and I get out of bed again to get dressed. When I walk to the little kitchen-lounge area, Graham is already up and making breakfast.
“Merry Christmas, I’m pretty sure today was my turn,” I say, coming up behind him and wrapping my arms around his waist.
He smiles and turns to me in my arms, pulling me against him. He kisses me.
“I heard you were busy in your room, so I thought I would start.”
I let go of him. “That’s very sweet of you, thank you,” I say. “I was talking to Monica.”
“How is she doing?” Graham asks.
>
“Well, thank you, she wants to know if we can get out of here later so I can join them for Christmas.”
After a delicious breakfast, we head out to Graham’s car. Graham doesn’t even check my car — he refuses to let me drive without snow tires on. I try to tell him I’ve been driving like that every winter, but he doesn’t want to hear anything about it.
His car is still buried too deep in snow for us to be able to leave in it.
“We might have to spend another day or two here,” Graham finally says. “It hasn’t been snowing, but it hasn’t been warm enough for the snow to melt yet, either. It should warm up later today.” He looks up at the sky. “If it doesn’t snow tonight, maybe we can give it another shot in the morning.”
I nod. “I have to call my sister and let her know,” I say.
In the house, I dial Monica’s number again and let her know. She understands, and she tells me to stay safe.
“Do you have enough food for the two of you?” Monica asks. “You didn’t exactly prepare to be snowed in.”
“Actually, Graham bought me groceries when he came. He was overzealous, but that means we have food now, which we wouldn’t have had.”
Monica chuckles. “He’s a keeper, Sarah.”
We banter back and forth a little before I end the call. Graham is in the shower, and I sit down on the couch, staring at the blank TV screen. It sucks that I can’t spend time with my family over Christmas, but I must admit that I enjoy spending time with Graham, and a part of me is thrilled that I get to spend more time with him still. I want to hang out with him, and being snowed in makes it socially acceptable for two people who just met to be this close all the time.
