The Ski Trip

He'd repeatedly heard that Spring skiing was superior to skiing during the middle of winter. However, until this past year, he had never experienced the difference for himself. As he and his wife drove up to the mountains from the airport in their rental car, they passed numerous SUVs with Texas plates filled with coeds on Spring Break. Although they were not that far removed from their own college days, they confided in each other that they were glad to be staying at one of the finer resorts in town; surely, their lodge would be out of the price range of most college students.

After a full day of traveling, by the time they checked in, walked around the grounds, located and tested the temperature of the hot tub, and had a drink at the lodge's timber-beamed bar, they were ready to go to sleep. They set the alarm for 7:30, so that they could have a leisurely breakfast in town before renting their skis and taking the shuttle to the base of the ski mountain. The liberation of a long-overdue vacation permeated their room, yet they shed their clothes somewhat self-consciously. In the dim light of their room, they stood facing each. He looked down from her eyes over the rest of her body admiringly. She felt her face grow warm as she stood in front of him, submitting to his inspection and offering herself to him unconditionally. She smiled to herself, pleased that she still met with his unqualified approval.

HER: Even after years together, his ego bruised so easily. She hadn't meant to hurt his feelings but for a period of time, she had been too tired and preoccupied with her career to put herself in that romantic frame of mind. She had wanted the intimacy, she longed for it. Yet, on those cold winter nights at home she just couldn't work up the motivation to return his subtle advances. When he had forced the issue most recently several weeks earlier, she succumbed, only to find his sex painful and unenjoyable. Although she hadn't said anything, he had known something wasn't right and withdrawn, quietly moving away from her to the edge of the bed. She felt terribly and wanted to pull him back on top of her. But no words found their way to her lips and instead she stared up at the ceiling until at last she dozed off.

And then, as recently as last week, she had started to wonder (for the first time in their relationship) if perhaps he no longer desired her. Two mornings in a row she had hoped to break the ice that was forming and reached for him, struggling for some feeling of intimacy. She had been rebuffed. The first time she thought perhaps she had been too subtle, maybe he had misinterpreted her signals. But on the second occasion, even as she reached into his boxer shorts, he had rolled over and away from her.

HIM: He approached their vacation is a potential watershed long weekend. Whatever other problems he faced at work or at home, she rarely denied him in the bedroom. It had been one of their marriage's greatest surprises. She had always benevolently allowed him to spend as long as he needed looking at or fondling her.

The cold exterior others saw (and the cold bedrooms his peers complained of with greater frequency) typically dissolved in the late evening privacy of their bedroom. And for that simple and regular act of unconditional kindness, he hoped to serve her in every other way and to make her life as easy as possible. In this way, they enjoyed a symbiotic relationship that others who did not share their bedroom may not have so easily understood.

Still, after several months of generally failed or aborted intimacy, nothing seemed certain anymore. She had begun wearing more and less inviting clothes to bed. She had seemed to cover herself more quickly after a shower. She gave him fewer invitations to advance.

HER: In many ways, she had dreaded this vacation, fearful what she might ultimately learn about their marriage without the distractions of their everyday life. But those doubts, like others that had appeared over the course of their life together, quickly evaporated as the heat rose from her defenseless, naked body. Without so much as a word or a touch, she felt herself begin to fill with a lost desire and a tingle that started in her stomach and spread downward.

HIM: His eyes glazed over as he silently looked her over. He knew every soft curve, every dark recess, every line on her exquisite body. He knew where to tickle her under her arm to give her goosebumps, where to kiss her on her neck to raise her nipples, and how to touch her to get her to lift her smooth hips, to draw her tapered legs into her body, and eventually to fall open for him. And still, with her standing naked in front of him now, he felt the same nervous excitement of their first night together run through his body again.

HER & HIM: In that moment, a moment they'd created and recreated literally hundreds of times before, he recommitted his life to her and she moved beyond the worries of inadequacy that had plagued her only hours earlier.

She put her hand out and he took hers delicately into his. She lead him to their bed, slowly pulling back the sheets and backing onto the bed and between the soft cotton sheets. He slid in beside her and drew her head into his chest. They laid side-by-side listening to each other exhale deeply. He began by slowly caressing her and she reciprocated. And together they set in motion a well-known sequence of acts which on another night might have stalled out as being too rote. But on this night, after the drought of desire they had experienced, the familiarity provided a very clear and necessary roadmap to forgiveness and redemption. They were reforged together through heat, rhythm, and ultimately release, symbolically renewing the vows they had made not that many years earlier.

She pushed up from him long after their breathing had returned to normal. She dangled herself in front of him, giving him a final gift, before slumping down beside him and into a peaceful, satisfied sleep.

HER: She awoke several hours later to the sounds coming through the wall from the adjacent room. At firth she thought someone was knocking on the door, but then the sounds became clearer.

"You awake?" she asked him quietly.

"Yeah."

They laid next to each other listening to the banging on the wall. Every ten seconds or so,she heard the gutteral groan from a male voice or an "mmm" or "Oh!" from a female voice. Under normal circumstances, it might have been an unwelcome intrusion. Tonight, she listened with interest as the sex played out next door. The headboard was hitting the wall with ever- increasing frequency and force. The groans of lovemaking grew more intense. She'd never been one for loud lovemaking; still, she found the sounds of their neighbors strangely arousing. For some reason, she envisioned the woman next door as some young maiden being ravished by a athletic brute. She placed herself into the scene and imagined herself the victim of some violent sex scene.

HIM:

He stroked her hair out of her face, luxuriating in the squeals of the woman next door. He wondered how old she was and what she looked like. Sounded like a young couple. He tried to envision their sex position, assuming that he was on top pounding her head into the headboard. They lasted several more minutes until as quickly as it started, they fell silent. He waited far more. He wanted to move his hands down through his wife's naked body but, already having exceeded his hopes for the night, decided not to push his luck.

HER: She bit her lip, waiting for him to reach out for her. When he didn't, and before the tingle left her, she reached over to him and took him in her hand. He flinched in surprise under her touch. She stopped. He quickly grabbed her hand and moved it back down over him. His hands were on her and she repositioned herself quickly so he could have complete access to her. He moved his hands down into her crotch. She reflexively lifted a knee and as he continued further down she found to her great amazement that her body was already anticipating more.

HIM: It had been quite a while since they'd gone back for seconds in the same night and he doubted his stamina. But as she manipulated him, he continued to rise. Confidence restored,he crawled on top of her and had her. Looking down, he watched her smiling face contort upon his entry. She started breathing through her mouth. He drove hard through her, grunting quietly in pleasure.

HER: As he slid in, she looked up and saw him purse his lips. She felt the full weight of his body on top of her. She always liked it better that way, although she knew he sometimes tried to "spare" her by trying to take some of his weight off her hips. He wasn't even looking at her now, his eyes slightly rolled back in ecstacy. She slid herself up towards the top of the bed until her head was just touching the headboard and whispered to him: "Give it to me!"

He responded and she lifted her hips ever so slightly to take him as deeply as possible. The headboard began to jiggle then knock lightly against the wall. As they progressed in tandem,it began slapping more loudly against the wall. Satisfied to be giving her neighbors a sample of their own lovemaking, she forced herself to call out as she'd heard her neighbor do only minutes earlier. He responded favorably to her uncommon emotion, watching her and adding his own uncontrolled sounds.

HIM: Having already released once earlier in the evening, he knew he'd be able to lastlonger this go round and that he could afford to give her all he had without holding back. She seemed to be enjoying his rough work and not to mind the fact that her head was now jammed against the headboard.

HER: She expected him to finish her off at any moment but he continued coming at her. She bucked under him to convey her appreciation, grateful that he felt no need for restraint. His hands clutched the top of the headboard. She clutched the small of his back. She clamped down on him and felt the waves of his climax under her grip.

HIM: He found himself calling out her name. When he slowly returned to his senses, he realized that her head was now awkwardly bent against the headboard at a 90 degree angle to her torso. He slid her down lower on the bed and off the headboard, then fell on top of her, listening to the fast beating of her heart. The room was silent but blood rushed through his ears. He heard someone clear their throat from the room next door.

She stroked his ass and blew cool air into his perspiring face. "Oh baby...baby... baby. I love you" she whispered. He kissed her and responded: "I love you too..very much," as he had so many countless times before.

Morning came quickly. They lay next to each other for several minutes after the alarm clock went off, trying to hold on to the magic of the night, if only for a few additional seconds.

As they returned to their room from breakfast, they almost ran into their neighbors who were now coming out of their room. They smiled and he mumbled a "good morning" to the bed-headed couple. After they had passed, he turned quickly to his wife, and gave her a small smirk. She raised her eyebrows in response.

"I'm just glad they didn't turn out to be sixty years old" he joked.

"Or two men" she added easily.

They craned their necks together to watch the couple walk off slowly down the hall. They each silently measured the couple against the images they had created in their minds.

HIM: He was immediately taken with his neighbor's girlfriend. Short, fairly small- breasted woman with a tight ass and well-defined hips. Light brown shoulder length hair cut in that Jennifer Aniston sort of way. Somewhere in the 20 to25 year-old range. He would have been concerned that his stare seemed inconsiderate to his wife but turning back for a moment, he saw that she was also watching the departing couple.

HER: She found that her expectations were exceeded. She was drawn to his broad shoulders and full ass. Although she loved her husbands lanky body, she was oddly attracted to other men who did not share her husband's features. Like this guy, who's thighs and ass filled his jeans and who's arms and torso pulled at his t-shirt. He held the door open for her and she walk inside their room. They dressed quickly and made it onto the chair lift shortly after it opened at 9:00.

HIM: She had taught him to ski years earlier when they had just started dating. He had quickly caught on and now, although still not as technically proficient as her, enjoyed skiing more challenging runs even if it meant he took a number of spills on the way down. They skied together cautiously at first, working on getting their ski legs back under themselves.

Following her down the mountain, he recalled the first time they'd skied together. He had traveled to the resort with her family and had had to share a bedroom with her brothers. Finally,alone with her on the slopes the day after they arrived, she was deliciously packed into a pair of jeans with her long dark hair flowing in the wind. She made it all look so easy. He'd loved her more, just watching her surprising athletic ability on skis. Now he raced past her, letting out a shout as he accelerated down the mountain.

HER: She'd first seen the couple from next door on their first day on the slope but it wasn't until the morning of the second day of their vacation that he'd finally recognized them. They were skiing in a group of six, men and women all of about the same age and level of skiing ability. There was a degree of camaraderie that was immediately apparent, presumably forged by shared experiences and prior ski trips together. The other men on the lifts always craned their necks to watch the attractive women in the group ski down the hills beneath them. Some of the younger women on the lifts would giggle with each other as the men from the group skied under them.

As the day progressed, they ran into the same group repeatedly. They were skiing many of the same runs and would pass each other on the slopes or be waiting in the same lift lines. She noticed that although the woman from the room next door was indeed very pretty, she was no more attractive than the other two women in the group, although they each had their own attractive features. One was a striking blond with long hair. The other was a brunette with a great smile and a girl-next-door look that she could tell he found irresistibly cute.

She discreetly watched the men in the group. In addition to the big boy from the next room, there was a handsome short-haired guy who was well over six fee tall, and another stereotypical frat boy of generally desirable dimension, although ski clothes hid too much for her to pass final judgment.

Just before lunch they finally met up with two of the members of the group on a quad lift at the bottom of the back basin--the tall guy and blond girl. At first the four of them sat quietly on the lift, but as they progressed they started chatting about themselves to pass the time. It turned out, the group of six had graduated from the same Texas university several years ago, the very college she had graduated from eleven years earlier. After college, the group of friends had all gone off in different directions, three still in graduate school, two of the guys living together and working in Texas, one of the women pursuing her career in New York. And in the span of ten minutes, they found themselves being drawn into this group of six strangers.

At the top of the mountain, Casey and Carrie (the two they had met on the lift but who acted like they were only friends) called out to the rest of their group and, pointing to their female liftmate, announced to the others that she too had graduated from ______ University. The others immediately said a hello, including the couple from next door who smiled a "hello again" when they recognized their neighbors.

They skied several more of the same slopes and, although not intentionally skiing together, they ended up in the same lift lines and shared rides to the summit with various members of the group of six as the late morning progressed. They formally introduced themselves to their neighbors from the lodge, Amber and Troy, and met the girl-next door (Kelly) and frat boy (Shaun) who seemed far cuter up close that she had expected. They stopped for lunch at about the same time and ended up sharing their long lunch bench with the group of six. They found common ground superficially, talking about old college professors and the ski runs, but then floated back into their own separate conversations. It being impossible not to overhear the discussion, they concluded that the six were currently just friends, although it seemed as though there had been past romances sprinkled in between members of the group at various points in the past. Shaun started good-naturedly ribbing Troy about disappearing with Amber to "get back that lovin' feeling." Troy responded quietly and a bit embarrassed to Shaun that: "it wasn't anything like that."

As lunch concluded, the group discussed where they would ski next. The guys in the group wanted to move on to more difficult runs with moguls. The women did not seem so inclined and dismissed the guys to go ski by themselves. As they were getting up, Shaun asked if they'd like to ski with the boys.

She looked over at her husband, reading his mind, and told him: "Go ahead, it may be the only chance you get to take on those black slopes. I know I'm only good for one or two a day."

"It's not a big deal. You sure?"

"Go. I'll be fine" she added.

Amber jumped in: "Oh yeah, she'll come skiing with us." Amber smiled at her and Kelly shook her head "yes." She nodded back in return, accepting the invitation. They set up a time to meet at the back basin lift and he kissed her lightly as he headed off, obviously pleased to be able to push himself on the moguls.

HIM:

The guys skied together over the next hour. But in that hour he learned and shared more than he would have ever expected. No sooner had they started the first black run than Shaun started back in with Troy about "disappearing with Amber." Troy demurred and refused to engage Shaun. However, he shot a quick glance to his newly-discovered "neighbor" who smiled back, but refused to "bust him" in front of his friends.

Appreciative of his new acquaintance's discretion, he skied by several minutes later and said: "They just wouldn't understand."

He didn't say anything in response.

"I used to date her and I've never found anyone to replace her, if you know what I mean. She'd been drinking; I'd been drinking. She's not dating anyone; I'm not dating anyone"

He just nodded understandingly.

Fishing for confirmation Troy continued slyly: "I hope we didn't keep you up last night."

Caught off guard, he paused, then smiled as he contemplated a witty double entendre response. Finally, he allowed: "I'm just glad you didn't hurt yourselves."

A laugh escaped through Troy's nose: "Yeah, we thought about calling the front desk to quiet you two down the other night."

He responded dryly: "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Oh really? I'm talking about someone screaming out "'Oh..yeah...yeah!' at 2:15 in the morning."

They fell silent as the rest of the group skied past them, shouting crude comments in their direction.

"How long have you ben married?"

" Just over ten years."

"One woman for ten years?"

"Yep."

"And you still can rattle the headboards like that?"

Pause. Then, "You have no idea." He turned and skied off, leaving Troy thinking to himself.

On the next run, the men were all resting at various points along a narrow run of enormous moguls, spread out in a chain across the otherwise vacant slope.

"Casey, why don't you ask him?" Shaun shouted.