Page 12 of Cabin Fever

I raised my face to the gray sky. Flakes tickled my cheeks as I made my wish under my breath. "Please let it stop snowing so I can take Olivia home safely."

"Who are you talking to?" The door opened. I snapped my head forward to find Olivia standing there barefoot. She had removed her pink coat and was now in the doorway dressed in my old jeans and a sweater with a hole in the shoulder that I stopped wearing when I was sixteen.

Something strange happened when I saw her. More than strange . . . disturbing. Heat grew in my chest as if she had just been pumping the gas to my heart moments ago and not my truck. It's where the warmth bloomed next that concerned me—between my thighs.

I understood that I had needs like any other man. And, every few months, I went several towns over and was lucky enough to make friends with a random pretty woman visiting from far away. One March evening, I had a great night filled with whiskey, sex, and a game called truth or dare with a lovely woman from France. She took tremendous interest in my beard and kept daring me to tickle places on her body with it.

I liked that game.

Those were planned moments. I never took these women back to my home. Opening my heart to someone always ended in tragedy. First my mother and sister, and then my dad. I had grown accustomed to living a life of solitude.

Kitty was all the companionship I needed. Our conversations may be one-sided, but she was a smart dog and loyal. As long as I had food to provide.

"Did you do something to my clothes?" I yelled up to her but stayed in place.

Her head lowered and she lifted the oversized sweater, allowing for a brief, yet mesmerizing flash of her belly.

Olivia tugged at the top until it molded to her shape before she turned. The more she groped at her clothing, the more pressure I felt against my jeans.

It was in the single digits out here and I was sweating.

"No. Is there a hole? I am sorry if I did something."

Waving my hands, I kept my head down as I jogged up the steps. "Never mind. Just seems odd to see someone in my clothes."

She moved aside and as I brushed past, I inhaled her intriguing scent. If I was confused before, the smell of my soap mixed with something uniquely Olivia had me utterly dumbfounded.

She closed the door behind me, and I snapped my eyes shut for a moment as another blast of her surrounded me.

"Want some cocoa?"

I went over and sat at the kitchen table, focusing on removing my boots as I willed the scent away.

"Cocoa? I don't have hot chocolate."

Her brow wrinkled adorably. "You live in a winter paradise. This place," she waved her arms around the room, "looks like something from a Nestle commercial. And you’re telling me you don't have cocoa?"

It was moments like this where Olivia became tolerable.

I tried to keep a straight face at her dramatic response from my lack of chocolate drinks and swallowed a laugh. "No."

She folded her arm and appeared in pain. "Why not? Are you allergic to chocolate? That would be the only logical explanation."

Taking off my other boot, I got up and placed it by the door. This woman was a puzzle. She knew almost nothing about everyday life and self-maintenance, yet was shocked I didn't own cocoa.

When she took a bath a few days ago, I had to show her how to plug up the bath so the water didn't escape. She explained someone always drew baths for her back home. I asked her what she did when she took a trip, like up here in Maine. Her response, "I bring my maid. Doesn't everyone?"

She was confused, and it was a little like watching a kid being told there was no Santa as I explained that most people didn't have servants. This woman led a very sheltered and spoiled life. If she was going to be with me for a while, I'd make it my mission to break her of that lifestyle.

"I'm not allergic. I never really thought about it when I go shopping."

She clasped her hands over her chest and sighed. "Oh thank God, uh, I mean . . . goodness. I thought you lived so far from civilization that you had to have your food dropped by airplane. When we get out of here, I must take you out for cocoa. There's got to be a quaint little chocolate shop in town." Olivia suddenly developed a French accent as she saidchocolate. Yeah, I got a lot of work ahead of me on bringing this woman back to Earth.

"I'm obviously near people if you were able to walk here."

Olivia moved to the lower kitchen cabinets which I had since restocked when she was unconscious the day she showed up. She pushed cans and boxes aside in search of something.

"But I was walking for a long time. Most of the day. I'm sure I covered hundreds of miles."

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