Nature Girl: A Winter's Tail

Last winter was the first since I joined the Park Service full-time. Some parks close during the winter, but they still need people to keep things in working order and other things like that. Having the least seniority meant that my choices of location were limited. I chose one in northern California. My primary duties were four eight-hour shifts of fire watch per week, plus making sure we had supplies. Whatever else happened, we met once a week just to make sure no one went missing.

On one of my shifts, I got a call on the tower phone "Fire Watch Tower 2," I said.

"Sonya?"

"Yeah."

"Grant." Grant is the veterinarian who was assigned to the park for the winter. I guessed he's in his late 30's or early 40's. He was one of the two male staffers who didn't seem to come on to me at our weekly check-ins. The other was Colin, who was in his mid-twenties and so camp that Sean Hayes would have told him to tone it down a notch, but he was so likable that no one seemed to mind. Grant has that Mark Ruffalo look, the kind who's more likely to play Watson than Holmes, but also looking trustworthy when all is said and done.

"Oh, hi. What do you need?"

"I'm on my way back to the clinic with an injured wolf cub." My mind raced. Did he need an extra pair of hands while he prepped for surgery? After two months, I craved a closer personal interaction with someone, but this would be too intimate to hope for. "Anyway, I know you like photography. There's a place where the snow has hollowed out over by the Stoneman Picnic Area, and it looks like a building with arched walls. I've seen snow formations like it before, but I've never seen them photographed. I thought you'd like it."

I had to hide my disappointment. "Thanks, Grant! I can't leave for a couple hours, but I'll get over there after my shift."

At four o'clock, Rick showed up to relieve me. He's a geologist who usually works in Yellowstone, but he volunteered to come here this winter. When he showed up, saying his name reminded me that I need to catch up with Rick and Marissa, two friends I'd made in the Smokys a few years ago. I headed to the picnic area. We'd had a couple weeks of uninterrupted snow before Christmas, but temperatures since New Year's had been very mild, so the snow banks were melting, but from the inside out. I made sure my cell phone was fully charged and had a good signal before I walked under the opening. It was like a large snow fort, and I got pictures of the "walls" surrounding a picnic table that had a snow canopy. I couldn't wait to get to my cabin and save the pictures to my hard drive.

I was thinking about it when I heard a thud behind me. It wasn't loud, but during the off season, if the plow crew does their job, there shouldn't be anything on the road. My first thought was a flat, but that noise usually persists. I pulled over as quickly as possible and discovered a rabbit lying on the shoulder. Its right hind leg was nearly detached from the rest of its body. I got the blanket out of the back of my car and wrapped the rabbit, making sure not to let the leg fall off. I didn't stop to call Grant because that would mean not driving, or else not paying attention for the second time in one trip. Luckily, the clinic was only a mile away. Unluckily, it was closed. I had to drive another two miles to Grant's cabin, and it started to rain. I parked the car, gathered the rabbit in my arms and headed for his door. I knocked hurriedly. "Grant! Grant! It's an emergency!"

He answered the door in a bathrobe. "What happened?"

I pulled part of the blanket back to show him the rabbit. He probably didn't understand what I said beyond "ran over," but the injury was plain enough to speak for itself. I gathered myself enough to ask, "Can you save the leg?"

Grant had some basic equipment, and he examined the rabbit. "I'm sorry. The damage is too severe. Even if we attached the foot, she'll lose the use of it."

I lost it. "What kind of person am I? I love nature, and I've ruined this poor animal's life! He can't live in the wild. All because I was in such a rush to move a picture from one place to another." I don't remember how much of that I said out loud and how much I merely thought. I'm sure I haven't remembered everything I said.

While I said this, Grant was getting a cage. He put the rabbit inside and then put his arms around me. "If you hadn't brought him here, he would have been dead by morning. Don't beat yourself up. People like you are why I like the Park Service."

"Thanks," I said. I looked up at him, and our eyes locked. I'd never seen it before, but I knew this was the look of a kindred spirit. I put my arms around him as well and kissed him.

Grant didn't do anything, but he said, "I wasn't expecting that!"

I turned my head, embarrassed. "I'm sorry. That was beyond unprofessional."

Grant put his hand on my chin and turned me back. "I said I didn't expect it. I didn't say I don't want it. Now I don't have to hold back." He returned my kiss, harder than my own.

My hand slipped and ended up on his butt. That's when I realized the robe was all he had on. I rubbed it, and he rubbed mine. I could feel his bulge under the robe. "You've been holding a lot back," I said.

"Well, I've never measured it," he said.

I stopped him. "No, I meant holding back feelings."

He let me loose. "Yeah, that too."

I put my hands on his thighs and lifted the hem of his robe. I felt him getting harder. My sexual dry spell started a month before I left Yosemite, so I was a little eager, but I stopped myself for a moment. "Just so no one gets any hurt feelings, what's your relationship status?" I asked.

"I'm divorced," Grant answered. "And I haven't been in a relationship in a year."

I told him, "Totally single here too," and I palmed his thighs. I moved up to his butt and then brought my hands around to his penis. Grant dropped the robe. "You weren't wrong about holding back a lot," I said. I stroked it a few times.

"I want to do the same for you," Grant said, "and so much more."

"Well, I don't have to ask where your bedroom is, since all our cabins are the same," I said. I led him by the hand to the only room large enough to hold a bed.

"I had a head start, but I don't mind, because this'll be that much more fun," Grant said. Somehow I'd kept my coat on through all of this. He unbuttoned it and put it on top of his dresser.

I pulled on the hem of my sweatshirt, telling him, "There's a lot of fun to be had with this part." I thought I'd worn another shirt underneath, but I was down to my bra.

"I don't know about that," he said. He kissed me on the right shoulder and the neck. I didn't even notice that he'd reached behind me and found the clasps on my bra. As soon as I felt him let go of the last clasp, I slipped back to shimmy the bra off of my shoulders. Grant watched me, and I was able to see his form. He isn't muscle-bound, but he has no gut to speak of. Compared to the middle-aged campers that I was used to seeing in their swimsuits, it was impressive. Once the straps were off my shoulders, Grant pulled them forward and off. He cupped each breast, caressing it, and then he guided me to the bed. I lay on my back. Grant moved over me. He kissed me on the lips again, then moved down my chin and neck. He kissed a circle around each nipple and moved down until my jeans were in the way. I thought he'd unbutton them, but he went back up and kissed my nipples. I was getting impatient, so I undid the button. My belt was the metal-like kind where guys can't even see where it connects, so I spared him the effort and unfastened that too.

Grant kissed another line down, but this time when he got to my waist, he started pulling my jeans down. When he had them down to my knees, I stopped him. I sat up, took off my shoes and moved on top of him. He put his hands on my lower back. It made me arch my back. "You're as beautiful on the outside as you are on the inside," he whispered.

I blushed. "You're sweet," I said. After a beat, I added, "And you obviously take care of yourself." When I came back down, we kissed some and he rubbed my back a little. Maybe the difference in our ages was showing, or maybe guys are just so used to having something bounce around that they don't mind. "Tell me what you want next," I said.

"I like what I'm seeing now," he said. He eased me onto my back and kissed my right leg from the knee up to my pussy, then did the same on the left. He licked a circle around my clit, then zigzagged across my lips with his tongue. He caressed the fleshy lips with his fingers before he put his mouth over me. He sucked the left folds in and held them for a few seconds, then did the same with the right folds. I was waving my legs like a dog who's being tickled. He put his hands underneath me and caressed my butt while he probed deeper.

"I want you," I managed to say under my breath. "We connect."

Grant let me out and told me, "We'll connect for real, very soon." He reached down and stroked himself a little.

He put his tongue back inside me and ran his fingers up my sides. When he came back down, he touched a sensitive spot on my hips as well as my walls. "Yes! Eat me, Grant! Eat my pussy! I'm coming! And then I want you inside me."

"I will as soon as we're done with this, I promise," Grant said. He lapped my juices off my pussy as fast as I could produce them. As the last of it trickled into his throat, we heard a rapping sound on the window. I hadn't done much decorating in my cabin, but I was glad Grant had curtains over his windows. He put his robe back on and said, "You might want to cover yourself. Or not, depends on your comfort level."

"I'm not ashamed of my body," I told him. "God made me this way." As he turned around, I thought I saw him making a prayer of thanks in the air. I added, "But I know other people don't feel the same way."

Grant lifted the curtain and said, "I was right." He opened the window and said, "This is a bad time," to the person on the outside.

I recognized the voice. "Trust me, this is worth it." Grant closed the window and went to the back door. After he opened it, he called to me, "I won't tell you what to do, but get to whatever state you're comfortable in" I got off the bed, grabbed my coat off the floor and covered myself.

In the next room, I heard the voice saying, "So after he gave me the receipt, he asked me if I'm a pitcher or catcher. Well, I haven't played softball since junior high, so at first I didn't get it. It turns out he just now figured things out."

Grant told him, "Finish the story later."

A few seconds later, Grant and our co-worker walked in. "Colin! What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Meet my ex," Grant said.

I let the coat go loose. "At least I don't have to worry about you," I said with a laugh.

Colin let out a whistle and turned to Grant. "Whoa! I'd say I came at exactly the RIGHT time."

Grant told me, "You might wanna worry about Colin after all."

"You're not gay?" I asked Colin. "Not that I'd hold it against you, I mean."

"Gay, bi, pan, whatever you wanna call me. I don't worry about labels." Colin said. "I mainly like guys, but girls are fun too."

"I can't argue with you on that one," I said.

Colin turned to grant and practically squealed to Grant, "Holy crap, you got a live one! But you probably knew that."

"No, we were just getting to know each other," Grant sighed.

Colin put his nose in the air and sniffed. He turned slowly toward me. "I'd say you already got to know each other pretty well." Then he stopped and looked at me. "No, wait, you didn't get to know him as well as you wanted, did you?" He looked away. "Sorry, I just haven't had any dick in a couple months."

I looked at him sternly and said, "Try four."

"Yeah, but you've probably had some pussy."

I glared at him and said, "SIX months."

Grant walked between us. He still had his robe on, but he was ready for someone. "C'mon, there's plenty of me to go around!"

Colin pointed to the general area of Grant's bulge. "Get a load of him. He thinks he's the shit!"

"Right now he's all I got," I said, pretending not to be interested.

Colin sounded as dejected as I did. "Me too."

My hope for a romantic meeting of two soulmates was crushed, but that didn't mean I couldn't have some fun with friends. I pulled the belt off Grant's robe and rubbed his dick. "Guess we'll have to share."

Colin got up and pulled the robe off Grant's back like a trainer getting a prize fighter ready to enter the ring. Grant walked back to the bed and lay on his back. I lay on the left and Colin on the right. I ran my tongue up my side of Grant's shaft and Colin took one ball into his mouth; then we copied each other. "Time to answer the question once and for all," Colin said.

Colin backed up enough that I could take Grant's head into my mouth. I went up and down a couple times, then let Colin do the same. I nudged him to the side so I could lick Grant's balls while Colin was going up and down. After a minute of Colin's tongue, Grant called out, "Trade off!" Colin let Grant out. I took him back in my mouth, and Colin licked his balls again.

Colin backed off. He patted me on the shoulder and said, "Cover for me." I could see him getting off the bed and stripping below the waist.

Grant saw him too. "Come over here, Colin," he said. I continued to pleasure Grant with my tongue, and Colin leaned over Grant. "Yeah, fuck my mouth!" he exclaimed. Colin positioned himself with the ease that can only come from practicing a long time with the same partner. I'd watched a guy do this when I shared him with a lady friend, but I'd never seen two guys like that. It was a beautiful sight just for the rhythm they shared, but Colin's nice butt made it even better.

Grant warned me, "I'm gonna come!" I made my movements more deliberate so I could prepare to swallow, and soon I was rewarded with a salty treat. Colin picked up the pace while Grant came in my mouth.

When Grant's orgasm died down, I wanted to get a better view. All this time I'd still been holding my coat in front of me, so I dropped it and moved next to them. I ran my fingers up and down Colin's side. He turned to me and said, "Don't tease me unless you want this for yourself."

"Maybe I do," I said with a smile.

Colin moved from Grant's mouth to mine. "What about me?" Grant complained.

"I've got better plans for you," I assured him. I opened my mouth to surround Colin's crown, but I opened my legs anticipating Grant. Where Grant was sort of burly-looking, Colin looked more like a competitive swimmer.

Colin went back and forth, firmly but not violently. Once he got into a rhythm, I felt Grant penetrating me. I'd gone from no one in my life to getting and giving pleasure from two guys at once. Colin just loved sex, I could see, but Grant was really into ME. "Sonya's got the prettiest pussy I've ever seen," he told Colin.

"I noticed that too," Colin said.

"Yeah? What's it make you wanna do?" I asked.

I was talking to Grant, but Colin answered. "Well, your hair looks so soft, I bet it photographs like it's not there."

Between his thrusts into my mouth, I asked, "You like photography?"

"It's why I joined the Park Service," he answered. "It sure wasn't for the drink selection in the bars."

I was concentrating on my lovers, but I had a side thought that Grant had chosen two lovers at different times who both like photography. I guess it's true that we're really just attracted to people, and the genitals that are attached are just window dressing. Grant meanwhile was holding my hips so he could control which parts of my walls and my pubic bone he rubbed against. On one thrust, he hit an amazing combination of the two that sent electricity through my spine. "Oh, God, Grant! Yeah! Do that! Harder!" I could feel him getting engorged inside me. "Yeah! Come inside me, lover!"

"I'm ready, darlin'!" he answered.

"Me, too," Colin said, though not as loudly. I put my hands on his butt so I could feel my mouth and pussy being filled at the same time.

Colin climbed off me, and Grant leaned down to kiss me. "Satisfied?" he asked.

"You just made me hungrier than I was before," I panted.

"You have the same effect on me," Grant answered.

Colin pretended to be put out. "Fine, I'll pick up the slack. Besides, there's something I haven't had in a while, and only one of you can give it to me." He nudged Grant aside and got between my thighs. I was having too much fun to tell him what an ass he sounded like. Thanks to Grant, Colin had no trouble getting inside my pussy. "Damn, Grant, she feels as soft as she looks," he said.

"Yeah, I was hoping to find out for myself," Grant said.

"Hey, you've got all winter," Colin replied. "Besides, you're still not giving me what I said."

"Oh, that's what you meant about only one of us!" Grant said. He got behind Colin. Colin stopped thrusting while Grant worked his way into Colin's ass. Once Grant got into a rhythm, Colin went back to pleasuring me. Colin was yelling, "Oh, fuck! Yeah! You finally gave me what I asked for!"

"What?" I asked. "It was only a couple minutes ago."

Colin continued to fuck me. "My first birthday after we were married, I told him I wanted a threesome with a woman. He wouldn't go for it."

"I was insecure," Grant explained. "I was afraid you'd like her better."

I asked, "Do you two have any idea how rich the irony is in that feeling?"

"Trust me, he knows," Colin said.

Grant was thrusting hard, and he yelled, "Oh, FUCK, yeah!"

Colin kept pounding me, but he managed to tell me, "I'm told I've got a tight ass."

"He sure does," Grant grunted.

"That's why he married me," Colin joked.

Grant put his hands on Colin's hips. I think he was trying to pull him back so he could come. I put mine on Colin's back so Grant wouldn't pull him out of me, and now we were all in the throes of ecstasy. Colin managed to get Grant to slide off to the side, and then he slipped out of my pussy.

"I don't think you give Grant enough credit," I told Colin. "Or yourself."

"What do you mean?"

"You know him better than I do, but he doesn't strike me as the kind of guy who chooses a spouse over something that superficial."

"Thanks," Grant said.

I continued, "Plus, you make it sound like you don't have anything else to offer. In our meetings, you act the way I've seen people act who cover up their insecurities. You're a very likable person once you see past the mask."

"Really?" Colin asked.

"I don't think you have a malicious bone in your body," I told him, and I took his hand in mine.

"She's right," Grant said.

The three of us lay there silently, and then Colin sat up. "Hey, I just remembered I left a soufflé in the oven."

Grant sat up too. "Yeah, you better go take care of that before it falls."

We all put on enough clothes to avoid being arrested if someone else walked up to the door. After Colin was out, Grant told me, "I know you wanted to make love, and all we had was a wild night. I'll make it up to you tomorrow night."

I kissed him. "You don't have to make anything up. Colin's your family no matter what some piece of paper says." Grant looked disappointed. "But I'll stop by to check on the rabbit, and we'll see what happens."