Snow Ch. 04

Author's Note: Sorry for the wait on this chapter. Real life took over for a bit. But it's the longest yet, to make up for the wait.

I struggled a bit about what category to put this in. It's a bit kinky for an entry in the Romance category, so if anyone is worried about turn-offs, check out the tags at the end of the last page for spoilers of what this chapter contains.

*****

I'm pretty sure it was the longest week of my life. And I'm definitely sure that Snow was planning it that way. I really should have seen it coming. Er... okay, let me back up.

I woke up Saturday morning with very sore hips and a very full bladder. The latter was easy enough to solve, at least. Well... that would require getting up. And it was pretty comfortable in bed right now. Somehow Snow had ended up spooning me during the night, and his arms were currently wrapped around my chest. I debated for a few minutes whether it was worth getting up, but eventually the pain in my bladder won out.

I was able to get up without waking Snow, thankfully. I needed some time to myself to think straight. I'd proven that I wasn't able to do that while he was in the room. Okay, let's go over things... Well, I came four times last night. Each time better than the last. And he promised to come back next week. And fuck my ass. For the first time.

I shook my head to push that thought out of it. I'd agreed to let him do it. I hadn't been coerced. I'd only had two beers, so I couldn't claim I was drunk. Though another two beers before we did it would probably be a good idea. Until then, I just had to not think about it. One thing at a time. Today was the morning after, so the traditional thing was for the woman (that is, me) to fret about if this is a one-time thing or if it might be the start of a real relationship. And in doing so, I'd scare off the guy (Snow) and thus ensure it won't turn into a relationship.

So. There was that to look forward to. Probably better to skip all that, and just focus on the sex. Unless he's actually looking for something as well, and he's hoping I bring it up, but I never do, and so he gets bored and I miss out. In which case I should talk to him about it. ...Okay, I think that qualifies as fretting. I'm driving myself crazy for no reason here. Hell, I've spent more time naked around this guy than clothed. Not exactly a good way to figure out how we mesh when sex isn't involved, which is what this really comes down to.

After I finished up in the bathroom, I decided on a plan of action. I knocked on my bedroom door as I headed in, hoping it would wake Snow up. "Snow, about Saturday..." I said once I saw his eyes opening up. "Want to maybe go out for dinner first? My treat. I still feel like I owe you for last night."

A soft chuckle came from Snow as he pushed himself up to a sitting position. "I had fun too, you know. But sure. It's a date."

The first text came Monday afternoon: "About Saturday: Good to pick you up at 6?" I was working at the time, but I could spare a moment to reply and say it was fine. A few minutes later, I got a reply back: "Good. Be back in plenty of time before 10. Hope you'll be ready for it." A brief image flashed in my mind of what we'd be doing, and I tried to suppress it. Work soon helped to distract me, but the thought nagged at the back of my mind. Would I be ready?

Tuesday morning, another text came. "Noticed a nice place downtown. How do you feel about Greek food?" At this point, I still hadn't caught on to what Snow was doing, so I replied seriously. It wasn't my favorite thing, but I'd give it a go if he wanted to try it. A few hours later, I got another text from him. "Gotcha. I'll let you know. Want you to enjoy yourself, then and later. Especially later." Another subtle reminder of what was coming.

I didn't have any plans that evening, so the reminder had a chance to bounce around in my mind as I prepared myself dinner. The whole thing was starting to feel just a bit unreal. What had happened the previous weekend seemed almost like a dream, with only the lingering soreness in my hips attesting to the fact that it was real. Well, that and the texts from Snow. That certainly made it feel a lot more real. And the prospect of what was coming was also starting to feel almost frighteningly real. Dammit, what did I agree to? I can't do this, can I?

I shuddered a bit at the thought. Maybe I could do it. I could do it. I just had to relax. I had to get in the mood. To help with that, I decided to have a beer along with dinner, and another afterward. I grabbed a third as well, to help steady my nerves as I sat down at my computer and decided to see just how easy it would be to get in the mood.

Long story short: Three beers in me made it pretty easy. It also made it pretty hard to resist texting Snow. The fourth beer made resistance impossible. I'm pretty sure that beer came about as an attempt to get myself to loosen up so I could try out my buttplug. That part didn't happen, but I did manage to send Snow a text saying, "4 dayd left till i fuck ur ass. O whops thats ur line!" I'm not going to pretend I'm proud of that. I have a very crappy sense of humor when I'm drunk, and I'm apparently too good to need autocorrect.

Mercifully, Snow didn't bother to reply to that text. I wouldn't have blamed him if he did. At the very least, I deserved to have him send a "3 days left" reminder the next day. I know I certainly had it on my mind. But no. I just got another inquiry about a restaurant - this time Italian, which I was much more favorable towards - and then another subtle reminder of what was going to happen afterward. It was like my drunk text had never happened.

I didn't hear anything from Snow on Thursday while I was at work, but I found a package waiting for me when I got home. It was a brown box, just small enough to slip through my mail slot, labeled for express delivery. I cursed as I picked it up, vowing to keep to a strict two-beer maximum to avoid anymore surprise purchases like this. I almost didn't open the package, but curiosity eventually got the better of me.

Given what I'd gotten into two nights previously, I was expecting to find another buttplug inside, but that wasn't the case. Instead, I found a quite realistic-looking dildo. Well, it was a realistic shaft, at least. It didn't have balls, like some dildos I'd seen. It did have an expanded base, though, and... Out of curiosity, I flicked the switch I found in the base, and the shaft started to move in my hand. It didn't vibrate, though - the tip of it bent outward and rotated. The motion was erratic, probably random, and certainly like nothing an actual cock could do.

I didn't know how I'd come across the idea of getting one of these, but I was kind of glad I did. I found myself getting wet simply from staring at it, wondering how it might feel to have it inside of me. I debated whether or not to try it out right away, but in the end I turned it off and put it away. I could use it to get myself in the mood later. The longer I waited, the more eager I'd be.

I suppose that was probably true for my plans with Snow, as well. The more I thought about our plans, the more appealing a prospect it seemed. I was still afraid it would hurt, but I was also getting more hopeful that it would feel damn good. Hell, that morning, I'd had to stop myself from fingering my ass in the shower. I wasn't going to spoil this. I was going to wait for Snow.

A bit later that evening, I got a text from Snow: "Hope it arrived by now; only time I'll do this. A little gift for you. Feel free to enjoy it; will use it Saturday for sure."

I stared at my phone for a good minute after receiving that text, trying to decide whether to be angry, flattered, aroused, or angry in the good way. If he hadn't mentioned it would be the only time he'd do this, I might well have decided on simple anger. It felt like a bit much, but the timing of this - two days after my drunk text to him - and the fact that I'd told him about the fact that I'd ordered myself something like this in the past while drunk, made me suspect that this might have been his own peculiar way of teasing me about the drunk text.

Well, if that was it, then I kind of did have some sort of tease coming. So... "anger in the good way" felt appropriate. I found myself texting back a quick reply: "Fucking asshole."

"That's the plan. 10 sharp in two days. No getting out of it," came the reply a minute later. I wish I could say I'd intended to set him up for that. Reading that sent a rush of heat through my body, and it was all I could do resist giving my new toy a test ride right then. I was going to wait if it drove me crazy. Which it was beginning to.

I waited all day Friday for a text from Snow. I'd picked up on his plan by then. By the time I'd gotten home from work though, nothing had come. It wasn't until later that evening that I finally heard from him: "24 hours left. Think I'm going to try to make you howl."

I closed my eyes as I read this, trying desperately to calm my libido. I really didn't need to hold myself off, did I? I mean, it wasn't like I'd promised him I'd wait. He'd even said I could try out the toy he'd sent me. But... No. I had to hold off. The more heat that built up before then, the more that would be released when I finally came. It would make it all the easier to get in the mood for anal this way.

To be honest, I was already in the mood. The waiting was going to kill me.

Somehow I managed to hold myself off. I bent the rules I'd set for myself just a little in the afternoon, but only during a shower to try to make sure I was clean and ready. Aside from that, it was all waiting on Snow. After our date, that was.

It probably didn't matter that much how I dressed up for our date. I'd met Snow while bundled up in winter wear, after all, so it wasn't like I had much of an image to maintain. But if we were looking at the possibility of something more, dressing for the occasion wouldn't hurt. After a lot of internal debate, I decided to go with a pair of tight-fitting white slacks and a sharp blue blouse. Underneath, I wore my matching pair of solid blue boyshort panties and a demi bra. Let's see him and try and resist. I cocked a grin as I stared at myself in the mirror, imagining how Snow might look at me. Oh yeah, this would work.

A few minutes after 6, I heard the buzzer for the front door. After letting Snow know I'd be right down, I grabbed my keys, coat, and purse, and then headed down to meet him. I forced myself to stop rushing as I reached the front door. I didn't want to look too eager here. I took a moment to catch my breath, and then opened up the door.

I'd already started to smile as Snow came into view, and my eyes lit up in pleasant surprise as I saw the bouquet of white flowers he held. "Good evening, Nathalie," he said, smiling gently at me as he held out the flowers. "How are you tonight?"

I chewed on my lower lip for a moment as I eyed him. "I'm doing pretty good. Though I must say... I wasn't expecting this from you." I reached out to take the flowers from Snow, taking a moment to inhale their fragrance. I closed my eyes briefly, smiling a bit more. A secret romantic, is he?

As I opened up my eyes, I looked up to meet Snow's gaze, finding him smiling back at me. "Well, I'm glad you appreciate it," he said. "Would you like to leave them in your apartment now? I don't mind waiting."

I shook my head. They'd keep through the night at least, and that was the important part. "That's alright. I can bring them in later," I said.

"Alright," Snow said. "Let me show you to my car then. It's a bit of a drive from here." Snow turned off, waiting for me to come up to his side before he started off toward his car.

We made small talk as we walked to the car. Part of me was expecting Snow to sneak in innuendo to what we had planned later that night, but it wasn't to come. That was probably for the best, I figured. I didn't want to find myself getting too hot in public, after all. But nearer the end of the date, some flirting was definitely going to be in order.

As we got into his car and Snow drove off, I asked him, "So, have you lived here all your life?"

"Just a year," Snow said, shaking his head a bit. "I moved here for the job. It's a pretty nice city, though. I'm starting to like it here. You?"

"It's not bad here," I said, glancing over at him and smiling. "Except when it snows and everything shuts down. Then it's a mix of crappy and awesome."

"Oh really?" Snow said, taking a quick moment to glance over at me before looking back at the road. "That's a problem."

"A problem?"

"Indeed. I haven't done enough to make you forget about the 'crappy' part. I'll have to fix that," Snow said. He wasn't looking over at me, but I could still detect a bit of a twinkle in his eyes.

"Oh? Plan to do a memory wipe on me? I might have to use my safeword," I replied.

"Huh. So a threatened memory wipe is a 'maybe' on your safeword," Snow said. He came to a stop at a red light, a took a moment to look over at me. "I'll have to keep that in mind so I don't inadvertently push that particular limit."

"Good," I said. "Though I must admit, you are doing a good job at outbalancing the crappy with awesome. So far."

Snow grinned in reply, turning back to road and continuing on to the restaurant. "Well, as for me, I don't really mind the snow."

"Well there's a surprise," I said, rolling my eyes. There was a reason I'd nicknamed him "Snow" after all.

Snow ignored my comment. "Well, if you don't need to buy anything, it's oddly beautiful when the city shuts down. Though if you do need to buy something, I imagine beauty isn't the first thing on your mind. In my case though, last weekend wasn't bad either way. And I managed to find even more beauty than I was hoping for."

I slowly looked over at Snow. Was that a compliment? Possibly the first one I'd gotten from him? Well, I was going to take it that way, even if he had left himself some plausible deniability. I didn't say a word in reply, but I did smile throughout the rest of the drive.

The restaurant Snow had picked out was an independently-run place called "Il Positano." Snow seemed to be on good terms with the maitre d', and he was able to get us a nice, secluded table off in a corner. As we sat down, I eyed Snow for a moment. As the maitre d' walked off, I said, "Take all your dates here, do you?"

Snow looked up at me from the menu and raised an eyebrow. "You'd be the first," he said. "Though I did come here once before on my own to check it out - I didn't want to take you to a crappy place, after all. And the host seems to have remembered how much I tipped him last time."

I narrowed my eyes a bit. It was quite possible he was telling the truth. That certainly wasn't anything any of my past dates would have done, but so far I had no reason to distrust Snow. "Well, thanks then," I said, looking down at the list of wines and trying to get my mind on something else. "Um, how about a bottle of white wine? My treat," I said.

"I think you're treating me to enough with dinner already," Snow said, putting his menu down for a moment. "And even then, I think that makes us more than even."

"Well fine then. I'm not doing it to make us even. I'm doing it because I want this to be a nice evening," I said. "So, white wine: In or out?"

Snow raised an eyebrow and was silent for a moment. "In. That is, as long as you assure me this isn't a plot to get me drunk so you can have your way with me."

"Pfft. Like I need to get you drunk," I said, cracking a grin. "But I promise." It wasn't long before the waiter came to take our drink orders. Once the wine had arrived, I held up my glass toward Snow. "Anything you feel like toasting to tonight?" I said, a slight suggestive tone to my voice.

"Hmm..." Snow picked up his glass and thought for a moment. He looked over at me, a slight smile on his lips. "Why do I get the feeling that there's a particular answer to that question you're hoping for?" he said, tapping his finger against his wineglass.

I tilted my head. "Probably because you're better at reading me than I am at reading you. Which is also why I want to hear some of your thoughts. Don't worry, there's no wrong answer tonight."

Snow's expression softened a bit. "Alright," he said, holding up his glass toward me. After a moment's thought, he said, "To a hopeful future, then."

I felt a soft fluttering in my stomach as I processed this. It seemed we were on the same page with our hopes after all. I brought my glass up to his and smiled at him. "To a hopeful future," I said. "Where even if things don't go perfectly, we can still have a lot of fun together."

"Fun indeed," Snow said, his lips curling up into a grin.

"...Hey. Stop imagining the fun and pick out your dinner," I said, playfully sticking my tongue out at him. "You're making it hard for me to stop wondering what you're thinking about."

"Hmm. You sure I'm the one having trouble keeping their mind on dinner?" Snow said.

"...Shut up." I blushed faintly and looked down at my menu. Okay, food... focus on dinner...

Snow thankfully had the good sense not to press the matter, and I was able to come up with something to order by the time the waiter returned. I gently coughed after I passed the menu off to him and looked back to Snow. I tilted my head as I looked over him, spending a minute thinking about things. Some part of my mind felt like I might be rushing things a little. At least, when it came to my own feelings. We hadn't really committed to anything but a possibility at this point. I didn't want to get ahead of myself here. I still barely knew this guy.

Well, it was far beyond time to fix that. "Alright, Snow. Time to talk," I said. He looked up at me and raised an eyebrow. In his place, I might have made a joke about asking what we'd been doing until that point, but I wasn't going to give him the chance to do so. "First things first... what's your last name? And you better not say it actually is 'Snaumann.' I checked, and that's not a real name."

Snow let out a chuckle as he leaned back in his chair. "Starting with the hard questions, are you? Well, I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours."

"Aren't we a little old for that game?" I said, with a slight grin. "But fine. It's Richardson."

"Daniels," Snow said. He held out his hand. "Nice to meet you, Nathalie Richardson."

I took his hand in my own. "And nice to meet you, Terry Daniels."

"...You can keep calling me 'Snow' if you want," Snow replied, giving my hand a quick shake.

"Good."

I made sure to grab the flowers Snow had given me earlier as we returned home from the date. I was feeling a delightful buzz as we walked back to my apartment, and it certainly wasn't from the wine. I'd made sure to keep myself to two glasses of wine tonight, and so this giddy buzz was completely natural. I'd been with my last boyfriend for quite a while before we broke up, and the thrill of a new relationship was something I hadn't experienced in just as long.

Okay, maybe it wasn't quite like this before. Well, it definitely wasn't just like this. We were doing a few steps out of order this time. In an order that was new to me, at least. I'd had a couple one night stands before, but never anything I particularly wanted to go anywhere. I'd felt an extra spark this time though, and tonight's date had confirmed that there really was something between us beyond just sexual chemistry. We'd managed to go most of the date without falling back to sexual innuendo to drive the conversation.

Plus, I finally felt like I was actually getting to know Snow. There were still a few pieces of the puzzle I had yet to put together, but his reticence was beginning to make sense. Apparently I wasn't the only one who'd gotten a bit defensive after a tough breakup; Snow simply expressed it a lot differently than I did. Though with the different circumstances in his case, that did make sense. If I'd been driven off and turned down for being too affectionate early on, I might well have found myself holding back like that as well. He hadn't quite said outright that this was what had happened, but from reading between the lines, I was feeling pretty comfortable with this theory.