“Officials are warning of further avalanche danger in parts of Colorado’s high country because of heavy storms bringing in an extra three feet of snow and strong winds to the mountains. Reports suggest some slides haven’t run this large in twenty years. There is approximately a mile of Dogwood Pass covered over by snow. So that has been closed completely until further notice. There have been no fatalities reported so far, but avalanche watch is issued at this time as this winter storm moves into the mountains.”

“Oh. So, I guess that means we’re stuck here?” she said quietly.

“Yeah.”

“Well, for how long?”

“Long as it takes.”

“What about food? What are we going to eat?”

“Trout.”

“Trout? Oh, my God, I cannot eat trout until we’re rescued.”

I found it funny to see her flustered. She’d been acting cool, like this was some kind of weird adventure she found herself on and now the reality was setting in that she would not have her modern comforts and amenities for an indefinite period of time. No Facebook, no Google, no Tinder. It was kind of funny when she wigged out.

“What are you laughing at?”

I shrugged.

“Great. Just great. I’m glad you find this situation so funny. This is not exactly what I had planned for the weekend. Stuck out in the sticks in a one room cabin with someone who has been the most unfriendly rescuer since the Beast rescued Belle.”

“God help me, just my luck that I’ve got a damn Disney princess in my cabin. I bet that’s just what you’re after too. Girls like you want some kind of fairy tale romance. You go around looking for ‘the one’ because you think that’s what you deserve, a fairy tale perfect world. Well, listen up, little girl because I can tell you right now that isn’t how life works.”

Her eyes had become wide as she stood there taking in everything I said. I could almost see the cracks appear across her dreams as I shone a ray of realistic light on them. I remember seeing that hope and longing in women’s eyes before, yeah before it all went to hell. I never wanted to watch that again.

“You don’t know anything about me,” she muttered bitterly.

Then she came closer and squared up to me. She was much smaller than me, but she had the pop of a firecracker. My cock stirred. Fuck her. She got within centimeters of me. Her green eyes were blazing. She had a passion for something, I just wasn’t sure what yet.

“Don’t judge me just because I’m not from here because I can tell from your voice mister … that you aren’t either. Not many lumberjack, mountain men types going around sounding like they were educated back east at an Ivy League university. So, how long have you been out here, living off trout and wiping your ass with aspen leaves? Does it make you feel like you’re above everyone else just because you live off the grid? Is that it?”

OK, so she was a spunky spitfire of a princess then.

We stared hard at each other, the spunky spitfire Princess and me. I could see she wanted to scream to get something through to me. Well, I had completely different thoughts as I watched her delicious chest rise and fall.

The bubbling sound of the coffee percolator drew our attention out of the heated moment, which left a second longer could have led to either her slapping me or me kissing that delicious mouth. I wasn’t sure which. She stepped away towards the kitchen and opened the cupboard door. I exhaled. I needed to calm down. We were going to be stuck in this damn space for a good few days and I had already allowed the situation to become too volatile.

“There’s only one cup … sorry,” I said, trying to be less harsh with her.

“That’s OK. I’ll put mine in a bowl. I drink a lot of coffee. Plus, it was not so long ago that I was a student. I can drink out of anything. I guess you don’t have any milk?”

“I drink it black.”

“Of course, you do,” she murmured, handing me the coffee cup.

We drank in silence. She was looking at the snow outside the window. I watched her lips blow the steam from the top of the bowl, and how lovely the bend of her hand was around it. In a moment that was surreal, I realized I had run away from all the trappings of civilization, but it had come looking for me.

Because, I wanted her with an intensity I had forgotten I even had. I wanted her thighs around me, her nipples in my mouth. I knew why I was so tense. It made me tense to constantly keep pushing away my all-consuming desire for her.

“I suppose when I go out to use whatever kind of toilet set up you have I will not exactly be cleaning myself up with a quilted toilet paper,” she said, with a lift of her eyebrows.

“It’s not aspen leaves, but it’s not quilted either,” I mocked.

“So when will we be rescued?”

“There won’t be anyone coming out to rescue us. It doesn’t work like that. It’s kind of the point of living out here. I don’t need anybody. Nobody worries about me, and I don’t worry about anyone. Snow melts, roads get cleared, happens every year. You might as well find some way to occupy yourself for a few days.”

I stood and slipped my boots on by the door.

“Hey, Cade, wait.”

She came over to me by the door, pulling her hair around her to one side.

“If we’re stuck here together, don’t you think we should try to get along? Can’t we just be nice until I’m back on the road, and then you can go back to hating, or strongly disliking me, or whatever it is that you’ve got going on here?” Then she stepped closer with her hand extended for a shake and a dazzling smile on her face. “Come on, what do you say? Friends?”

I didn’t trust myself to touch even her hand. The rest of me might follow through with pulling her in, kissing that sexy mouth, and tasting every inch of her.

“Sure, whatever.” Then I turned away and headed to my workshop before I could change my mind about being such an asshole.