The Necklace Pt. 02

Taking one last glance at her, I pulled the door shut and shuffled into my own tiny bed. As I pulled the covers up to my chin, I couldn't help but remember the feel of her warm body against mine. On a cold night like this one, I found myself wishing to recapture that feeling. My last thoughts that night were of Allie and how I wished she were right next to me.

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"Jim? Are you awake?"

My eyes popped open suddenly, blinking several times as my body steadily awakened. I covered my face to shield the light from blinding me but it was no good. I managed to look toward the door and squinted at my attractive cabin-mate.

"I am now," I mumbled groggily.

Allie crossed the threshold of my room and quickly sat on the middle of my bed. As I leaned up to face her, her intoxicating scent filled my lungs. She appeared to have already showered for the day, although I must have slept through the sound of running water. Her hair had been freshly brushed, and I really wanted to run my fingers through those blonde tresses. As usual, she took my breath away.

"I watched the news this morning," she said, a small smile forming on her lips. "We should have a brief respite from the cold today."

"Really? By how much?"

"It's going to get up to forty degrees by lunch time," she said while bubbling with excitement.

"How long will it last?"

Allie bit her lip and then shook her head. "It's going back down really low tonight but I figured there's no reason we can't enjoy ourselves outside a little bit, right?"

I had to smirk at that idea. "What did you have in mind?"

"Honestly? I just want to play in the snow a little."

"Play in the snow? Are you five?" I asked with a chuckle.

Allie's response was to swat my arm. "You're coming out with me, right?"

I held up both hands. "Why? So I can get all wet and cold and freeze my butt off? No thank you."

"Come on, Jim!" Allie gently bounced on my bed several times like a persistent child. "Please come out with me? I promise it'll be so much fun!"

My eyebrows raised in amusement. "You're being serious right now?"

She pursed her lips and nodded, doing her best impression of puppy-dog eyes.

I made a big show of pretending to weigh my options yet even the idea of getting cold and wet paled in comparison to seeing Allie enjoy herself in the snow. Despite the consequences, I knew I never really had a chance with this one.

"Okay, I guess you convinced me," I said with a huff.

Allie beamed in triumph and quickly stood up from my bed. "You get dressed, and I'll make us a quick breakfast." She quickly turned to walk out of my room.

I have to admit as soon as she turned, my eyes were glued to her rear end. It was really the first time I had checked her out from this angle and she didn't disappoint. Not to say that her butt was especially large or anything but it suited her perfectly. The urge to grab it and squeeze, as well as several other ideas, weighed heavily in my mind. I shook my head and tried to get a grip. These persistent thoughts about Allie were starting to take over my brain. I suppose it could be hard to blame me given how stunning she was but I always tried to put it back into perspective. She was going through her own struggles just as much as I was.

As I pushed the image of her tight butt out of my mind, I set about getting dressed. I fished out the heaviest clothes I could find for the trip outside. In no way did I want to be freezing the entire time while in the elements. After I was pleased with my thickest socks, layers of clothing, and boots, I stepped back out into the kitchen.

Allie was facing away from me and attending the stove. Although I couldn't see what she was cooking just yet, the smell of eggs hit me almost as soon as I left my room. I stopped for a moment to admire the sight of her in my kitchen, and I wished I could wake up to this every day. At that moment, she turned around and noticed me.

"There you are," she said with a grin while her gaze drifted over my choice of clothing. "Have you decided to dig your way out completely with that get-up?"

"Very funny," I replied, stepping into the kitchen. "I just don't want to be too cold."

Allie giggled and went back to her eggs. Breakfast went by so quickly that soon enough she was getting ready to go out. Even all bundled up, I couldn't take my eyes off of her. Her heavy blue jacket covered up much of her body and she wore a black hat that took in much of her blonde hair. Still, I never wanted to look away.

"Are you ready, iceman?" she asked, smirking once more at my attire as we neared the front door.

"Let's go, smartass," I said while gently elbowing her side. Allie laughed as we pushed open the door. Luckily my ramp from earlier was still present and we managed to get on top of the snow fairly quickly. The snow itself seemed to have set and was much firmer to walk on, letting me do without the snowshoes like the first time around.

As soon as we got outside, Allie took a deep breath of the cool air. "It feels so good to be outside again! It was starting to get overwhelming being locked up in there."

"You mean locked up with me?" I said with a sideways grin.

Allie fixed me with a coy look. "No, not you. But I did need the fresh air."

Her words caused me to stick my chest out a little further. It really did seem like she liked me.

"So what do you want to do now? We can walk around the grounds or we can—ack!" Out of nowhere, I was suddenly pelted by a snowball that nailed the back of my head and dribbled down my back. It was the worst place to get hit, and I shivered as bits of snow slipped down under my shirt causing me to dance around in an effort to wiggle them free.

I heard a faint giggle from a few feet away and looked to see a very guilty looking Allie with flakes of snow stuck to her mittens. Upon catching my gaze, her eyes tilted upwards and her lips pursed—the surest sign of guilt I've ever seen.

"That snow must've fell off that tree," she said, still failing to meet my gaze while both arms slipped behind her back.

"I suppose this bit of snow fell off the tree as well," I said, picking up a small handful and tossing it at her. Even the advanced warning didn't give her enough time to get away and the snowball exploded against her chest as she giggled in excitement.

Just like that, I was under attack again. The hands behind her back concealed two more balls and before I knew it we were engaged in our own mock battle in the front yard of the cabin. The sounds of Allie's squeals and my laughs filled the side of the mountain as we struggled to be the first to get the other to quit.

"I'll give you every chance to surrender," said Allie, raising her arm in position to throw.

"Surrender? I haven't even begun to fight," I roared in return while launching two more balls, both of which missed my target by a wide margin.

"Maybe you should save yourself the trouble since you couldn't hit water falling out of a boat," she said, taunting me as more snow fell around me.

That did it for sure. I grabbed up several snowballs that I had premade nearby, and I charged out from behind my hiding spot and quickly closed the distance between us. Allie was ready and despite her squeal of surprise, she quickly had me pelted several more times. It didn't stop me and as soon as I was close enough, I launched one that caught her square in the chest.

By now I was so close that I couldn't possibly miss. Allie ran out of balls just as quickly as I kept throwing. Soon enough she was out of ammunition and outgunned.

"Okay, okay, I surrender," she said, raising both hands while a toothy grin filled her face.

"I love winning," I said with a cheeky smile and quickly tossed my remaining snowballs down on the ground. My temporarily distraction at winning enabled her to try one last time, and I was hit with one final snowball. I shot her an angry look at violating our truce but she just squealed with laughter before taking my hand and walking back around the other side of the house.

"Come here, Jim. Make a snow angel with me!" Allie kneeled to the ground and laid flat on her back as her limbs moved to complete the task. I looked on in amusement until she figured out I hadn't yet joined her on the ground.

"Come on! Don't leave me hanging!" Her hand grabbed mine and gently pulled me down beside her. While our hands locked, we made our own snow angels beside each other. Despite the silliness of it all, I knew I was having an amazing time with her.

Allie continued to make several more angels but eventually the chill in the air seemed to slip past the layers of clothes, and we decided to make our way back inside. After climbing down the snow ramp to the front door, we slipped inside and shook off all the snowy remains from our jackets.

"That was so lovely, but I think we need to sit in front of the fire now," she said while her teeth clattered. I firmly agreed and went over to feed a few more logs into the fireplace. As much as I hated to lose my warm winter coat, I slipped it off and noticed I had quite the problem. All the fooling around outside in the snow had gotten considerable sections of my clothing wet. The entire backside of my jeans was wet from doing snow angels as well as portions of my front.

While I decided how best to handle this, Allie came into view and her situation was just as bad as mine if not worse. The way her teeth were clattering and how her arms wrapped her body let me know she was much colder than I.

"We have to get out of these clothes or we'll never get warm," I said as my hand hesitated around the hem of my shirt. Despite knowing what we needed to do, the situation was still a little awkward. Should we both just go to our rooms to change and save the privacy?

Privacy seemed to go straight out the window quicker than I thought.

"I'm too cold," said Allie as her hands made quick work of her jeans, pulling them down in a hurry. I caught a flash of yellow from her now exposed panties before I managed to avert my eyes. It didn't seem to bother her that I was right there and she continued by tossing off her sweater and the shirt underneath. If not for her underwear, Allie was almost nude.

"Hand me a blanket please?" Allie extended her hand as I tried not to gawk. I tossed her the nearest fleece blanket which so happened to be the biggest one I had. She wrapped it around herself and scooted as close to the fireplace as she could while still being on the couch.

I decided that since she was okay with her seminudity, I would be too. My wet clothing started to hit the floor in steady rhythm until all I had left were my own pair of boxer briefs. I needed a blanket as well and quickly.

The only problem was that the fleece blankets I had left were tiny and they barely covered my giant six-foot-three frame. Try as I might, I just couldn't get comfortable as too much of my skin was exposed at any one time. I should've kept the bigger blanket for myself and given tiny Allie one of the smaller ones.

She seemed to notice my dilemma right away. "Jim, your feet are sticking out," she said with a giggle.

"Blanket is too small," I mumbled. I wiggled my toes for emphasis.

"Here, we can share," she said and before I knew it, she had pulled open the side of her huge fleece blanket. My eyes quickly filled with the sight of her bare skin and I stammered for a lack of words.

"Quickly, Jim! It's so cold!"

I knew better than to turn down that invitation. I tossed the tiny blanket off to the side as I scooted closer to my blonde companion. My skin tingled as soon as it made contact with hers. It was the first source of real warmth I'd felt since before we went outside. Allie's breath seemed to catch as we made contact, and we moved around until my arms were practically wrapped around her. In that position, Allie was pressed against my chest.

"You're so much warmer than I thought you'd be," she whispered while she laid her head against my shoulder. I wondered if she could hear my heart beating out of my chest. Not that I didn't want to be in this position with her—I very much did—except I didn't know what could become of this or where it would go. Allie and I seemed to be drifting closer to each other, and now we were physically sharing the same space. Skin to skin. The only way we could be closer would be if we were—

My cheeks heated quickly at that very thought and my body flinched. It was enough to draw her attention.

"Are you okay?" Allie looked up at me with concern on her face.

"Yeah," I replied. "Just thinking."

She laid her head back against my bare chest. "What about?"

I knew I couldn't answer that truthfully and not reasonably expect to get slapped. Despite our current circumstances, Allie and I had agreed to be friends. Friends didn't think about having sex with other friends. In that moment a vivid image of Allie laid beneath me with legs splayed wide popped into my head. It was all I could do to control my thoughts, and I prayed that my body wouldn't start to respond to them.

But then something occurred to me that I'd almost forgotten. Allie was just as much in need as I was myself. Here I was taking advantage of the situation and seeing it sexualize within my mind. With a shake of my head, I forced the thoughts away. She needed me to comfort her in this time and that's what I would do. I temporarily forgot about our lack of clothing and just pulled her closer to me, earning a purr of content. It was then that I forgot that I didn't answer her question.

"Nothing, Allie. Nothing at all."

We stayed like that for almost the next hour. At one point Allie seemed to have dozed off judging by her deep breathing. Sure enough she awoke a short time later, and we parted only reluctantly. I could tell our new intimacy was blurring the lines between our professed friendship and something more. It was even more complicated when I considered the world outside the cabin. Despite those odds, I didn't want what was happening to us to end. Even at the risk of getting hurt, I wanted to keep moving forward but only if she wanted it too. The last thing I wanted was to be used and discarded as soon as the snow melted.

That evening after a brief dinner and after the sun had already set, I found Allie sitting on the couch once more, her gaze consumed by the flames. We were both clothed once more as our near nudity didn't last any longer than this morning. It was the perfect evening to be wrapped up near the fire and an idea struck me just then.

I fished around the pantry looking for just the right box before striking gold. A few minutes later I had my reward, and with two mugs in hand, I approached my stunning cabinmate.

"I figured it was a good night for hot chocolate," I said as I dropped off one of the mugs in front of her.

Allie rewarded me with a beaming smile and a shot of those lovely emerald-green eyes. "You must've been reading my mind." She scooted to the side of the couch, offering a generous space right next to her. I took the invitation without a second thought.

Allie inched herself closer and snuggled into my side. She turned her gaze to me and once more I felt that underlying tension between us. "It really was such a perfect day. I had so much fun today."

"Even when we got cold and wet from being outside too long?" I chuckled as I remembered the snowball fight from earlier.

Allie giggled. "Even then. Especially when you nearly freaked out from seeing me undress."

I coughed awkwardly and sputtered with my words. Neither of us had really acknowledged that situation out loud just yet so I didn't know what to say.

Allie continued on. "I have to say—it was rather cute."

"Cute?"

"Yes, cute. How you pretended not to notice but we both know you were looking."

She caught me red-handed. Since there was no talking my way out of that one, I just went along with it. "Can you blame me? I wouldn't change a thing about you, Allie. You're incredible."

Her cheeks flushed a rosy red color. My heart started to pound as she maintained eye contact with me. "I'm so thankful for meeting you."

I let out a little chuckle. "Are you sure? You weren't so happy at first."

Allie smiled and then turned serious. "Can I tell you something, Jim? And you promise you won't think worse of me?"

My brow furrowed in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Her face turned to gaze into the flames. An empty but serious look occupied the contours of her face. "I told you I was running away. Running away from my old life and my . . . fiance."

Hearing the word pained me, but I said nothing. Instead, I just nodded.

She continued on. "That's not exactly the truth. Yes, I wanted to get away, but I knew this storm was coming. I just felt so helpless at my options. I felt like there was no way out and that I was going to live a life that I hated. So I did the only thing that seemed like a solution to me. I drove into the storm and turned off my car once it got stuck. Luckily that just happened to be in your driveway. I didn't want to live anymore, Jim. I was ready to die that night."

Two tears descended down her cheeks and she quickly wiped them away. I pulled her closer out of instinct and offered no words. It boggled my mind how such a lovely creature could think that there were no other options for her—that death was the only solution. From my own experience, I knew death was just another set of problems.

"You probably think less of me now, don't you?" She asked, wiping her nose with a tissue.

I shook my head. "Quite the opposite actually."

Allie turned to look at me. Her mouth opened to ask the question, but the words never came out.

Instead I used my own finger to wipe a stray tear from her eye. "Let me tell you what I'm thankful for. I'm thankful that I just so happened to be looking out my window that morning. That I noticed your car. That I was able to get you out and get you conscious again. You deserve so much more than what you've been dealt. You deserve everything, Allie."

I received a magnificent smile in return and Allie pressed in closer to me. In that moment, I surrendered to instinct and did the only thing my primal brain could think to do—I kissed her. I pressed in home and tasted her lips like I wanted to do since I met her. In that same moment, I felt her hands rush to my head, holding me in place against her lips. She seemed to want this just as much as I did.

She was exquisite and I found myself slacking my thirst on her bountiful lips. When they finally split to let her tongue invade my mouth, I met it willingly and offered a caress with my own. She whimpered into my kiss and pressed the rest of her body against mine forcibly. The message was clear—she wanted to go further.

I'm not sure if it was guilt that made me cut the kiss short, or perhaps it was feelings of jealousy or potential abandonment, but I reluctantly parted from her incredible lips. Her eyes were on me instantly, a question forming behind them that begged for an answer.

"Why'd you stop?"

I steeled myself internally for my response. "Allie, I wanted to kiss you since the moment I saw you but as much as I hate to say this—you have a fiance. How could this ever be?" I gestured between us to emphasize my point.

Her look took on a pained expression before her imploring eyes fixed me again. "I don't love him, Jim. I'm not going back to him, and that's not the life that I want or need. I just . . . the thing is that I . . . I want . . ." She stumbled on her words, not able to complete her sentence.

"Tell me what you want, Allie." I watched her expression as she processed every little emotion running through her.

She looked at me with passion in her eyes. They looked down to my lips before flashing back up to meet my gaze. "I want you, Jim."