The One I Love

by Mia Ford

  “Agreed,” Matt said, shaking his head with the others.

  “I want to be challenged,” I said, looking over at the more advanced slope.

  “May I remind you that you just got off the bunny slope on our last trip?” Amber asked, laughing. “Maybe you should take one step at a time.”

  “Meh, I’ll be fine.” I laughed. “I’ve watched that old Goofy cartoon on how to ski.”

  “Great,” Amber said, rolling her eyes.

  As we talked, the sky began to grow suddenly darker, and the wind whipped around us. We all stopped and looked around, realizing that it seemed to be getting darker pretty fast. I shook slightly from the chill on my cheeks and looked over at Austin.

  “The temperature is starting to drop,” he said. “It looks like a storm is coming in. I’m thinking that we might be out of luck for this outing. We should probably find the shortest route back to the bottom and get back to the lodge. If it clears up in a little while, we can just come back out and enjoy it.”

  “You, sir, are a worry wort,” I said, smiling. “I’m sure this will pass as quickly as it blew in.”

  “Hey,” Jason said, slapping me on the ass. “I don’t know about that. I think that Austin may be right. We should get down the hill and take cover for a while.”

  Just as the words came out of his mouth, the snow started to fall. It was heavy, wet, and starting to become a bit uncomfortable. I grabbed onto Jason’s hand, a little frightened and a little excited at the same time. Austin waved his hand to the left to a steep slope that would get us down the fastest. One by one, we started down the mountain, but as we got farther down, the snow started to fall faster, and the wind was blowing so hard that it was damn near a complete white-out. I looked up as Austin swooped around and motioned for everyone to stop on the side.

  “We can’t keep going down the slope if we can’t see,” he yelled as we bunched together closely, trying to see and hear what was going on over the sheering wind.

  “Hey, let’s all huddle under that big pine over there and see if we can wait out the storm,” Jason yelled, pointing over into the wooden area.

  We made our way off of the trail and skied over to the biggest tree that we could find. I huddled close to Jason as he pulled his arms around me and buried his face in my hat. The wind was blowing so hard it felt like I wasn’t wearing a jacket at all. Jessica tapped us on the shoulders and waved her arms.

  “We can’t stay here for long,” she shouted. “This is dangerous. Someone is going to get frostbite or hypothermia.”

  “Look, over there,” Matt yelled out, pointing into the woods.

  Off in the distance, there was a structure of some sort, just barely visible through the drifting snow. We squinted at it from a distance, all of us a bit timid to go tromping into a random house in the middle of the woods. Matt leaned forward into earshot.

  “We should try to reach it and see if we can hide out in there,” he yelled. “Maybe there is heat or a fireplace or something that can keep us warm while we wait out the storm.”

  We all looked at each other and nodded as a gust of wind almost blew me off my feet. Jason gripped tightly to my waist as we trekked through the trees toward the structure. As we approached, we realized that it was a small, rustic cabin. Amber climbed the stairs to the front door and knocked hard.

  “Hello? Is there anyone in there?”

  No one answered, and all the lights were off, so she tried the doorknob, but it was locked. She sighed and turned back to us shrugging. Austin handed Jessica his poles and took off his skis, walking up to the door and rattling the handle. He stepped back and kicked hard, watching as the door flew open, snow blowing inside.

  “Come on,” he yelled, waving everyone in. “I’ll pay the owner for the damages. We just need to get out of this weather.”

  The six of us walked into the cabin and closed the door behind us. We took off our skis and looked around, shaking the snow from our hair and arms. The cabin was expansive, with a large open room and a huge fireplace at the other end. Austin and Matt looked at each other and then back at the fireplace before racing over to see if they could get some heat into the place.

  “Thank God there is a huge pile of wood.” Amber laughed. “I am not feeling my lumberjack skills today, or any day for that matter.”

  I smiled and walked through the cabin, deciding that if we were going to be there for a while, I should see what the place had to offer. To the back right was a doorway into a large kitchen. I opened the fridge and the cabinets, relieved to find that whoever was here before had left the place completely stocked with food. No one wanted a situation where there were six hungry and tired skiers trapped together in the woods. It had the makings for a really bad made-for-TV movie written all over it. I glanced out the kitchen window, but it was nothing but a blanket of white, and the storm didn’t look like it was going to be letting up anytime soon. I wandered into the room across the hall to find a bathroom with two stalls with doors. Past those was one gigantic galley style shower room with multiple shower heads.

  In the hallway were several doors, but they all opened up to closets and one small area for the water heater. I furrowed my brow, realizing there were no bedroom in this place. I walked back out into the main room where the fire was already crackling in the fireplace.

  “Well, I have good news and, well, weird news,” I said, gathering everyone’s attention. “There is a large, very well stocked kitchen, so no one will starve.”

  “Sweet,” Jason said, rubbing his hands together.

  “What’s the weird news?” Amber was cautious in her question.

  “There is one really big shower with multiple shower heads and absolutely no bedrooms,” I said, shrugging my shoulders.

  “Well, that’s weird,” Matt said. “This room is huge and has enough chairs, couches, and ottomans to seat like fifteen people. Why would they not use part of this as a bedroom?”

  Jessica laughed. “Yeah, we could all comfortably lounge around all day, but where the heck do these people sleep? Maybe it is some sort of vampire cabin.”

  “You watch too many movies,” I said. “Seriously, there is a daybed right there that is large enough to fit several people. And then the hammocks strung up in all the corners. It leaves more than enough space to sleep.”

  “Who wants to go on a vacation to the mountain and sleep on a hammock indoors?” Austin pulled on one of the roped hammocks.

  “Why would anyone build a getaway cabin made for this many people and not put in somewhere for people to sleep?” Amber looked around suspiciously.

  I stood there staring around the room, feeling like I had been somewhere like that before. Then it hit me. It was just like the swinger’s vacation that Jason and I had taken to Bali several years back. This wasn’t a vacation cottage at all. This was something way more interesting and possibly even more perfect for my master plan than I could have thought of myself.

  “Guys,” I yelled to get their attention. “I know exactly what this place is.”

  “What?” Jason walked forward.

  “This is a swinger’s pad!”

  Chapter 6

  Matt

  My mouth immediately dropped open as Kristin’s words spilled from her mouth. This was a what? I had heard of swingers, and I knew that Kristin and Jason were more than cavalier about their sex life, but I had never seen a place where the more than daring went to escape and be more than taboo about their sex lives. I had grown up very sheltered and conservative, so the idea of sharing my wife had never really crossed my mind, not even for a second. Was Kristin actually serious that this was a swinger’s cabin?

  I closed my mouth and looked around the room, realizing that it, in fact, made a lot of sense. There was nowhere in the cabin that was private, and unless it was just you and your significant other, nothing would be left to the imagination in that place. It was obviously too big to be meant for just two people, so I was now thinking that Kristin knew exactly what she
was talking about.

  “Whoa,” Austin said, plopping down on the couch and then lifting his hands nervously.

  “Don’t be scared.” Kristin laughed. “The place looks immaculate. I would guess no one has been here all season, unless they are super clean people.”

  I walked toward the back of the house, wanting to see this for myself. The kitchen was huge, with even more seating at a large mahogany table. Across the hall was a marbled bathroom that looked like it belonged in the resort, not some small chalet in the middle of the woods. There were two, doored stalls with toilets, but to the back was a huge shower with multiple showerheads spread out and benches to sit down on. It was obvious that the entire place, even the bathroom, had been constructed as a shared space for more than just a couple of people.

  I walked back out into the main room where Kristin and Jason were talking quietly and everyone else was milling around. Instantly, the image of all of us arranged in different patterns of lovemaking, strewn across the cabin, seeped into my mind. I could feel my cock get instantly hard, thinking about Jessica and Amber getting fucked by each of us, hanging from the hammocks in the corners. I scooted over and sat down on the chair, crossing my legs in an attempt to hide the massive erection that I couldn’t seem to control. Just the thought of a bunch of people fucking like crazy, steaming up the cabin, made me want to get naked and lose all control of my inhibitions.

  I loved my wife more than anything in the entire world, and our sex was out of this world, but I was a man presented with the image of several hot women, naked and moaning in the same space as me. There was no way that I couldn’t immediately get a hard-on at the thought of it. On top of all of that, I couldn’t help but admire all of Amber’s friends and how free they were with their bodies and their sexuality. I had no doubt in my mind that they would be fucking already right now if it weren’t such a taboo conversation, especially Kristin and Jason. Amber, Jessica, and Kristin were all incredibly beautiful women, all with their own quirky sex appeal. My friends had always teased me about how I could be around all of them at once and not want to fuck each one of them. To be honest, how could I not want to savor the opportunity to enjoy each of them, or all of them at once, for that matter? The thought made me wonder what Amber would say if she could hear what was going on in my head right at that moment. I wasn’t sure whether she would be turned on or slap me right in the face. Of course, in my fantasy, she would be more than ready to hop on that idea, but wasn’t that the same fantasy every man had about his wife and her hot friends?

  I gathered my self-control and moseyed to the back, leaning against the wall. Jessica and Amber walked toward the kitchen, Jessica eyeing my package and Amber winking at me, unaware of the look her friend had just given me. I took in a deep breath, trying to remind my dick that it needed to stay in control of itself.

  “Let’s make some food,” Jessica said, walking into the kitchen.

  “I’ll help,” Jason said, almost skipping toward the kitchen, smiling big at me. “Well, look what we have here.”

  I peeked into the kitchen and laughed as Jason stood in front of a giant cabinet full of liquor. All of the bottles were extremely expensive, and I was starting to realize this was not the run-of-the-mill swinger hangout. This seemed more like a place for the rich to discreetly escape and fulfill their desires. I looked back in the living room at Kristin, who was staring into the fire, and Austin, who was looking out the window.

  “It looks like the storm is starting to get worse,” he groaned. “We are going to be stuck here for the night, at least.”

  “At least we won’t die on the mountain,” I replied, walking over to the fire.

  I picked up the poker and pushed it into the cinders, stoking the fire. The warmth blew right over me, and I turned, watching the room lighten up with the glow of the flames. If it weren’t for the fact that this was someone’s sex shack, it would actually feel pretty cozy on this blizzardy, late afternoon. All we would need would be some bearskin rugs and big, comfy pillows, and we could enjoy the mountain like we should have been in the first place, snuggled up in a cozy cabin, not an upscale resort.

  “Well, if we are going to be stuck here for a while, why not make ourselves comfortable,” Kristin said, smiling and walking into the kitchen.

  Maybe she was right. Maybe we should relax a bit and treat this as a welcome addition to our vacation, not a reason to feel like we were trapped in a blizzard. We all had different reasons to be here, but one of the main ones was so that we could all catch up and relax with each other. What better way to do that than to be forced into a situation where we had nowhere to go? I smiled at Austin and slapped him on the shoulder, looking out the window.

  “Try to relax,” I said. “This could be exactly what you need to get away from the craziness of your job.”

  “This could be a really good plot to a book,” Jason said as he exited into the main room. “Six people caught in a blizzard, forced to survive the elements in a cabin in the woods.”

  “Yeah, real tough survival.” Kristin laughed, walking in with an old bottle of Scotch and six glasses. “If this is survival, then I’m open to it anytime and anyplace.”

  “Whoa, crazy.” Jessica laughed, walking out behind her. “You do remember that despite the blizzard outside, it is still early in the day?”

  “Meh,” Kristin said, shrugging and setting down the glasses. “If you think about it, there are only two things that anyone could do in a place like this, and that is fuck and drink. I happen to have Scotch here in my hand and six glasses, unless you’d prefer the latter? Because, hey, I’m down for whatever.”

  “You are too much,” Jessica said, shaking her head.

  Jason laughed, and I smiled, knowing exactly which one I would prefer. Amber started passing out the glasses, making sure each one of them had at least two shots worth of Scotch in them. I handed one to Austin and smiled, wishing he would loosen up a bit, but understanding why he might be a little uncomfortable. This was probably the most amount of time he had ever spent with all of us in captivity, and it was probably the same for me, too.

  “Remember, folks,” Kristin said, smiling. “We are all on vacation, and that means that it is time to live a little.”

  “Well,” I said, taking a step forward and raising my glass. “This is, without a doubt, turning into one of the most interesting vacations I have ever been on. At the same time, though, I couldn’t imagine being snowed-in a swinger’s cabin in the middle of a blizzard with a better group of people.”

  “I don’t think I could imagine that at all.” Jessica laughed.

  “Very true,” I said. nodding my head. “So, here is to surviving the blizzard and to good friends and warm fires.”

  “And to rich bastards with huge liquor closets.” Jason laughed.

  “Here, here,” everyone said.

  We all took a big drink of our Scotch. Everyone except for Austin, who was still staring out the window, hoping someone would rescue him. I felt bad for the guy. He didn’t seem to be open to our group trip at all, and I wondered how Jessica felt about it. She was pretty stone cold with outward emotion, so I knew there was no way she was going to let on, but it still made me think about Amber and how lucky I was to have someone who could move and turn with the tide, instead of looking at the worst in a situation.

  Jessica glanced over at me, laughing, and then turned her attention to her husband by the window. She gave me a sweet smile and wandered over to him, turning and facing him. She tipped her glass back and emptied it, Austin watching her lovingly. She reached forward and clinked her glass against his.

  “We’re on vacation,” she reiterated, staring at him intently.

  He let out a deep breath and lowered his shoulders, nodding and taking a sip of his Scotch. I watched their interaction for several moments before Amber came up and kissed me gently on the cheek, drawing my attention back to the room. I smiled at her and leaned over, pecking her on the lips and clinking my glass with
hers, letting her know I was having a really good time. Still, even with the alcohol beginning to flow, the room was awkward and tense, and I knew that I needed to do something about that.

  “Since we don’t have television, I think this calls for a little story,” I said, drawing everyone’s attention. “I went on a ski trip in high school, something that my parents should probably have thought twice about before letting me do. My best friend Charlie snuck a bottle of tequila into his suitcase. Why tequila? I will never know. It was probably all that he could find in his parent’s liquor cabinet the night before.”

  “It’s always the right time for tequila,” Kristin said.

  “True.” I laughed. “Well, that night, we all passed it around the cabin we were staying in. We got absolutely and completely shitfaced. We were a bunch of high school dudes getting wasted on tequila, not looking to impress any girls because they were all the way across the resort. That afternoon, we all went out to go skiing, not to anyone’s better judgement. Charlie seriously left a trail of vomit from the top of the mountain, all the way to the bottom. I seriously don’t know how he stayed upright the entire time, not that I was any better. I ran straight into a snowbank and was too dizzy to get out of it. I am pretty sure if it weren’t for some random stranger, I would have just stayed there and passed out.”

  As the snow continued to pound the mountain outside of the cabin, the six of us sat inside next to the fire, having a really good laugh at my misfortune. Everything was starting to get a little bit more relaxed inside, and even Austin cracked a smile.