Cabin Fever - An Erotic Novel

Chapter 22 - Natural born skier (FINAL EDIT)

It wasn't the cold that got you, it was the wet.

Abbie had learned that at the teat, so to speak. Well, maybe not the teat, but at a young age. Both her parents loved being outdoors. That was how they had met in the first place, on a hiking trip in the mountains. Having a child didn't diminish their love of the outdoors – they had taken Abbie with them long before she could walk. They had carried her in a meis – a kind of backpack meant to transport children. When the snows came, they had put her in the pulk – a small snow sled that offered some protection from the elements.

As a result of her parents' passion, Abbie had spent more time outdoors before she turned one year than most people do in a lifetime. The trend continued into her early teens. That's when her parent's marriage begun breaking apart. After the divorce, there was a lot less hiking or skiing.

Truth be told, she had been completely fed up by the whole wilderness thing. She had used every trick at her disposal to make her divorced parents take her anywhere but the mountains. Since they were both guilt-tripping over the breakup, it had been almost too easy.

Looking back, she felt a little bad about it. She had certainly done her part in keeping that guilt alive and well for years. But it had worked. Every summer saw at least one trip abroad, usually two. And there was no shortage of dad-and-daughter weekends or mum-and-daughter shopping sprees. Good times.

Plus, she got to spend a lot of weekends home alone in her teens. The things she and her friends had done... she made a mental note to never allow any children of hers to stay home alone until they turned twenty-five. At least twenty-five.

Her teenage party days were a thing of the past. And upon reaching adulthood, she had rediscovered her love for fjord and mountain, of forest and field. She would never be like her parents – always outdoors – but she could enjoy a skiing trip or a weekend spent hiking. Since getting to know Felix, he'd taken Abbie into the wild on more than one occasion. Maybe if they had done it more. He was always so relaxed in the wild, almost at peace with himself and the world. Too late now.

You could get wet in so many ways. Precipitation of course – rain was the worst, of course, but you could get wet when it snowed too. Especially if the weather turned mild, which it often did when it snowed heavily. Like today, for example. The temperature was barely below freezing, maybe a little over, in fact. You could get very wet in weather like that.

Sweating was another source of wetness. Proper ladies didn't sweat, of course. Abbie was no exception. When at work, she hardly perspired. When Abbie hit the gym, she glowed a bit. And she definitely didn't sweat when out with her girlfriends. But this? Working her way through ankle-deep snow on skis? She was sweating all right.

Or she would have, had she not taken precautions. She was only wearing a bra – a lacy white one that should have been a sports bra, only she hadn't expected to be out here) and a thin woolen Tee under her jacket. Same with her legs: nothing but panties and socks under her skiing trunks. Her ski boots and gamasjer – spats – kept her feet dry and warm. As long as she kept moving, she wouldn't get cold, her own body provided the heat she needed. Her clothes kept the snow from getting in but didn't prevent moisture from getting out. If she had to stop, she'd pull dry, warm clothes from the backpack.

There is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing. And stupid people who don't know how to dress. That's what Abbie's dad always said. Abbie wasn't sure she agreed with that: there was a lot of weather that qualified as bad. This blizzard included. But he had a point: as long as you had the right equipment and the needed skills, weather alone wouldn't harm you.

She continued to put one foot in front of the other. It was hard work. Without the skis, it would have been impossible. The recent snowfall reached almost to her knees, but underneath it was reasonably firm. The snow wasn't too wet or heavy, but it wasn't powdered either. If it didn't get much worse than this, she should reach the cabin within a few hours.

She stopped to recheck her GPS. Not that she was a nerd or anything, but she knew how to read a map and use a compass. And more recently, Felix had introduced her to the world of modern navigation. He'd even given her a GPS for her birthday the year before last. It wasn't a very romantic gift – then again he wasn't her boyfriend – but right now she was delighted she had it.

Felix. Her perfect friend.

She put the GPS away and resumed skiing. One foot in front of the other. With all the snow, it was more like walking than actual skiing. No gliding, only step, step, step.

Felix. Who should have been her boyfriend.

She was going to get published. Quit her job. Kiss Felix and tell him how she felt. In no particular order.

With every step through the deepening snow, she became more determined. Felix belonged to her. Bella Blackheart could find someone else. If she didn't back down, Abbie would show her that she was no pushover.

And besides, if Felix knew she was in love with him... he wouldn't look at Bella again. Right?