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.
