Rugged

by Ava Bloom

  I started running towards the ravine before I even knew that I was moving again. Of course: the girls, whoever they were, would have been crossing the ravine, still calling for help. The ravine could avalanche even without that: with the way that the sun hit it, melting and refreezing the snow there over the course of the winter, so that when a lot of snow was suddenly dumped on us like this…

  When I got to the ravine, at first I didn’t see anyone – then, I caught a glimpse of a bright purple jacket. A jacket that I recognized only too well…

  “Mallory?” I asked in surprise. What the hell could she be doing out here?

  But that question died on my lips as I followed the path of the avalanche further down the ravine. It must have been a pretty big one, taking out rocks and trees as it went.

  “Are you okay?” I called over to them.

  Mallory nodded, looking for a second like she didn’t believe that I was actually there. “Yeah,” she finally managed. I could see her swallow as she looked around at her friends. She looked like she didn’t know what to say next.

  But I was already moving, tying a rope onto the tree beside me and throwing the end over to them. “Here, use that,” I called, trying to keep my voice down so that I didn’t trigger any further snow-spill. “The path of the avalanche is going to be really soft, but you should be able to make it over to me if you tie that around one of those trees there and hold tight to it while you walk over.”

  “O-okay,” Mallory stuttered, her hands moving clumsily to tie the rope. She fumbled it a couple times, and I wondered whether it was more that she didn’t know what she was doing, that she was still in shock, or that her hands were completely frozen. Probably some combination of all three, I was afraid.

  My concern continued to grow. The moment she was on my side of the ravine, I took her hands in mine, rubbing them between my gloves. “Come on, we need to get you guys inside,” I said, peering at her face for any signs of frostbite.

  Mallory shyly ducked her head. “We’re all right,” she maintained, even though we could both see that some of her friends were struggling to even make it over the snow to this side of the ravine, their feet frozen. Once they got closer, I could see that all of them had minor cuts and scrapes too.

  The final woman was limping badly as she tried to cross the ravine, and I finally made my way out to help her. There was something wrong with her ankle or her leg – that much was obvious. I quickly thought through my options, but I knew there weren’t many. I couldn’t risk taking off her boot here: if the injury was severe enough that her ankle would swell, I would never be able to get the boot back on. Besides, they were all half frozen. The best thing to do would be to help her back to my place and take a look at things there.

  I just hoped that it was something that I would be able to fix with my rudimentary medical skills. But as she continued to put more and more weight on me as we went along, until I was practically carrying her, I had a sinking feeling in my gut that she had broken something.

  “What are you doing out here anyway?” I asked as I led them back towards my house. I didn’t really like the idea of bringing them all there – I wasn’t much for house guests – but there wasn’t really any choice. There was nowhere else close by, and they would freeze by the time I walked them back into town.

  “We were skiing,” Mallory said.

  I frowned. “You shouldn’t have ducked out of bounds from the resort,” I scolded. “And what were you doing trying to ski on this stuff anyway? It’s one thing to let your friends take you on runs that you’re not comfortable with, but they could have killed you out here! If you’d hit a tree – “

  “Not that kind of skiing,” Mallory interrupted wearily. “We were cross-country skiing.”

  “Out here?” I asked incredulously.

  “Well, the Nordic center was closed today,” she said peevishly. Then, she looked contrite. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to snap. It’s just been a long day.”

  I draped an arm around her shoulders. “We’ll be there soon.”

  “Where?” she asked, looking suddenly curious.

  I blinked, realizing that she couldn’t know I lived out here. What did she think I was doing here anyway? I couldn’t help but smile a little. “My house,” I told her.

  “You live way out here?” Mallory asked incredulously.

  I shrugged. “It’s quiet,” I told her. “Usually.” I looked pointedly around at her group of friends.

  Mallory looked embarrassed. “Sorry that we’re crashing your solitude,” she mumbled.

  I shook my head and led them inside, automatically moving to put another couple logs on the fire. Then, I turned back to them, looking at their bluish hands as they peeled off their wet gloves. “I bet none of you checked the weather this morning, did you?” I asked angrily. “And you don’t have a guide – none of you probably knew how to nordic ski at all, did you?”

  At their sheepish looks, I made a noise of disgust. “Here, I’ll put out a drying rack,” I told them. “There are blankets in the cabinet over there – strip down, wrap yourselves up, and get warm. I’ll be in the kitchen if you need anything.”

  The six women all stared at me as I turned on my heel and stalked out to the kitchen to make some tea. “Irresponsible,” I muttered under my breath as I put the water on to boil.

  “We were,” Mallory agreed, sitting on one of the bar stools and watching me. She had a blanket wrapped tightly around her, and I had to wonder if she was still wearing anything underneath. My member stirred at the thought of having her, right there in the kitchen, with her friends right through the wall from us. But I wasn’t about to take things there, not when I was so upset with her.

  “You could have gotten yourselves killed,” I snapped.

  “I know,” Mallory said solemnly. She bit her lower lip. “If you hadn’t found us…” She trailed off, shuddering a little.

  “You should be in by the fire,” I bit out angrily.

  “I don’t want you to be mad at us,” Mallory said, her voice barely above a whisper. She paused. “Vicky twisted her ankle – she hit a rock and snapped her ski. Anyway, I think it might be fractured, I don’t know. And the rest of them…” She trailed off.

  “Frostbite?” I asked.

  “I don’t think there’s anything permanent,” she said, shaking her head. “We’re just cold, that’s all.”

  “Oh that’s all,” I said sarcastically. “You could have lost fingers – or toes. Or that pretty nose of yours. You could have – “

  “I know,” Mallory interrupted. She looked like she might cry, and I felt suddenly horrible. I knew that she must be shocked. I knew that she probably hadn’t even wanted to go cross-country skiing to begin with. She would have been perfectly happy curled up next to the fire as she waited out the storm. And here I was yelling at her.

  I took a step closer to her. “I’m sorry,” I said. “I know you’ve probably been through enough today without me yelling at you.”

  Mallory sighed. I stepped forward and pulled her into my arms; she laid her head against my chest. Like this, I could feel the minor tremors still running through her body, and I wanted nothing more than to take her to bed – nothing sexual about it, I just wanted to warm her up properly.

  “If Vicky fractured her ankle, we really need to get someone out here to look at it,” I said finally. “If it sets wrong, it might never heal up properly.”

  “Isn’t there too much snow for anyone to drive out here?” Mallory asked. “You don’t exactly live right in town, unless we were more lost than I realized.”

  “I don’t live in town,” I agreed, pulling away from her. “But I do have buddies on the ski patrol. They might be able to make it out here on a snowmobile still.”

  “Oh,” Mallory said.

  I picked up my phone and dialed the number that I had memorized – but there was no answer. I frowned, trying Craig’s direct number, but he still didn’t pick up. “Can’t get through to anyone
,” I muttered under my breath.

  “Where are you going?” Mallory asked worriedly as I pulled my coat back on.

  “Into town,” I told her. “If that’s the only way to get help, then that’s what I have to do.”

  “I’m sure it’ll be fine,” Mallory said. “Vicky was able to walk all the way here with whatever it was she had done. She probably just bruised it at the same time when she damaged her ski, and then she made it bruise even more when we had to run away from the avalanche.”

  “The fact that she walked all the way here is probably more to do with adrenaline,” I said dismissively. “And actually, the fact that she hobbled all the way here on a potentially fractured ankle is a pretty sure sign that she’s done some real damage to the healing process already. I don’t like the idea of letting it sit for any longer. Just to be on the safe side, we should have someone come check on it. And on those frost-nipped patches on all of your fingers and toes. Even if you’ve all got the feeling back in them, I don’t like how chilled you all looked when you got here.”

  “But you can’t go out there,” Mallory said, sounding worried. “It’s still snowing.”

  “Well, I’m hardly going to get lost out there,” I told her dryly. “I know the area around my house – whatever the weather, whatever the season – like the back of my hand. I was a soldier once, you remember. I know how to survive things like this.”

  “Even still,” Mallory said, shaking her head. “I can’t let you go out there. If something happened to you…” She trailed off, looking embarrassed. “I just don’t want you to get hurt.”

  “I won’t,” I promised. “I have the right kind of clothing for weather like this, trust me.”

  “If you’re such a smart wilderness survival guy, you must know that you should at least have one other person with you. Just in case. All the clothing in the world won’t save you from, I don’t know, bears. Or avalanches.”

  “I know what areas are prone to avalanches,” I told her. “I’ll be careful. As for bears, they’re all hibernating at this time of year. Unless you think you’ve woken them all up.”

  “Well, I don’t know what kinds of things might be out there in the snow,” Mallory said, rolling her eyes. “You could be running from the sasquatch, for all I know. I just don’t think it’s a very good idea for you to go out there on your own.” She paused and then took a deep breath. “I really like you, Derrick.”

  I stared at her for a long moment. She looked embarrassed that she had said that, her face turning bright red. “I don’t mean like that,” she said quickly. “I don’t mean like forever – I’m not saying I want to marry you or anything like that. But you’re a good guy. An interesting guy. And I don’t want you getting hurt on my behalf. Or because of one of my friends.”

  “I’m not going to get hurt,” I told her again, looking deep into her eyes so that she could see how serious I was. “I’ll be back in no time, I promise. With help.”

  “You can’t leave now,” Mallory said, glancing towards the windows. It was already getting dark outside, I realized.

  “The sooner we get help, the better,” I said, but I knew that she was right. “I’ll leave first thing in the morning.”

  “Okay,” Mallory said, nodding her head.

  For a long moment, we continued to stare at one another. I felt myself drifting closer to her, unable to stop myself. “I’m really glad that you’re okay,” I said quietly. “At least mostly okay.”

  “I’m glad that you found us,” Mallory said honestly.

  I leaned down towards her, pulling her close again. This time, my hands slipped beneath her blanket – and sure enough, they encountered nothing but skin underneath.

  I started to pull back, but Mallory pushed herself closer to me, putting her legs around me and pulling me in towards her. It was only natural that I lean down and kiss her, my hands roving across her skin.

  9

  Mallory

  Derrick carried me gently up the stairs, and I clung to his chest. Everything was happening so quickly – but on the other hand, there was no denying that we had been building towards this.

  There was no denying that I’d been asking for it too, with the way that I’d walked mostly naked into the kitchen. I hadn’t been sure that the two of us were on the same page, but now…

  As he set me down gently on the bed and started stripping, I got a good look at his body. He was in amazing shape, every muscle as chiseled as that of a Greek statue. He had tattoos that spiraled down his arms and spread across his chest, all done in intricate black ink that I wanted to trace my fingers over. He was already half-hard, his manhood curving up towards his chest as he walked towards me on the bed, his eyes dark with want.

  I reached for him, my legs automatically falling open to accommodate him. As soon as he was there, filling the space between my knees, I crossed my ankles behind his back, drawing him ever closer to me with a breathy “Please.”

  Derrick cupped my cheeks with his palms, kissing me gently. Then, his hands smoothed down along my neck, past my shoulders, along my breasts and down my sides. I couldn’t help but shiver a little at the teasing contact with my skin. His calloused digits slipped between my legs, working me over with soft strokes at my nub. Then, they dipped inside my wanting cavern, causing me to arch and cry out.

  Even at something so simple, such a gentle touch, I felt like I could come.

  Derrick continued to work his fingers inside of me, as I writhed against the sheets. “Please, right there,” I whimpered. He scissored his fingers as he plunged them deep inside of me, and I sobbed as I orgasmed, my vision flashing white.

  Derrick’s touches gentled even further, impossibly so. He lightly stroked down my sides, his caresses sending warmth ricocheting through my overwrought nerves. Then, he kissed me again, gently – before aligning himself with my opening and pushing inside.

  I almost thought I was going to come again, already. He was so thick inside of my tight hole, his member already pulsing with lust as he slowly began to rock into my body. I dug my fingers into his hips, urging him on, trying to get him to move faster. But he held back, watching my face carefully, cataloging my reactions.

  I dug my heels against the sheets, trying to meet his thrusts with movements of my own. He pounded me down into the bed, though, his body hot against mine. I couldn’t seem to stop trembling as my pleasure began to build again.

  “That’s it,” Derrick muttered under his breath, his lips finding the soft skin just below my ear. Slowly, he trailed a fiery line of biting kisses from my earlobe to my collarbone. I could tell he was being careful not to leave marks on my skin, but I almost wanted him to. Come what may, whoever might see – my friends, people at work – I almost wanted to have that physical reminder of what we had done together, of our time here, this night.

  But I couldn’t seem to ask for anything, not coherently anyway.

  I gasped in air, my eyes squeezing shut as I succumbed to the rhythm of his thrusts. I could feel my walls clenching around his girth, but he continued to push into me with rapid need. I could tell that he was right on the brink as well.

  We climaxed together, both crying out in ecstasy. For a moment, I didn’t care that there were other people in the house who might overhear us – none of that mattered. Nothing else mattered except for the way I felt, right now.

  My body fell lax against the mattress, my head lolling against the pillow. My eyes were shut so tightly that I could feel tears against my lashes. Wave after wave of ecstasy spilled through my body as I shook there against him – but with Derrick as an anchor, I wasn’t worried.

  He fell down against me, using his forearms to support most of his body weight so that he wasn’t crushing me. He pressed his forehead against mine, his breath tickling my ear. “Fuck,” he muttered.

  I couldn’t help giggling. But I was too tired to respond. I felt more settled than I had in a long time, more calm than I had ever felt before. I felt my eyes slipping shu
t, and I was helpless to stop them.

  Right before I fell asleep, I felt Derrick rearrange us so that he was curled around my body, his strong torso pressed against the line of my back. I hummed in contentment and let unconsciousness claim me.

  The following morning, I woke up feeling better-rested than I had in a while. I was loose and languid, comfortably nestled there in the soft flannel sheets. When I opened my eyes, I could see the snow falling softly outside the window. I wondered how much had come down over the course of the night, but I couldn’t see from this angle.

  I twisted around, already reaching for Derrick, wanting to curl into him and put my head on his chest. Normally after a one-night stand, I did exactly what I was supposed to do: get up, get dressed, and leave. I didn’t want to risk getting too attached. I knew that the kind of guys that I was sleeping with didn’t want me to be needy.

  But things were different that morning. Part of it was that I didn’t need to rush off to work. I was directionless. I should go downstairs, I supposed, make sure that none of my friends caught me slipping out of Derrick's bedroom. Instead, I wanted to linger, consequences be damned.

  The other side of the bed was empty, though.

  I sat up, pushing my hair back and looking blearily around. I listened for any sign of Derrick – maybe he was in the shower? I remembered that he had been out for that early-morning run, the morning that he’d taken me up to the overlook. Maybe he was just an early riser.

  But I couldn’t hear him, and when I wandered downstairs, he wasn’t there either. Finally, I found a message on the fridge that said he had already headed towards town. I swallowed hard, staring down at the spidery script. It was meant to be just a one-night stand, but I couldn’t deny that I was hurt that he hadn’t even said goodbye.

  Well, maybe not hurt – I was trying so hard not to feel hurt. But I was certainly disappointed.