Ralph was at the beginning of a two-week vacation at a ski resort in Pennsylvania. He was coasting along with the momentum of a trip down a long slope and passing by the side of a rather steep cliff when another skier, evidently a beginner, sideswiped him slightly.
He stopped, as she did (he didn't know she was female then), and he started to bawl her out for being careless, when a car backfired out on the road. He looked up, realizing suddenly that this was not a good place to stop, and saw the snow above him start to shift.
To the right was a cave, and he grabbed her and ran for it (such as you can run, on skis). He could not easily tell how much snow was piled in front of the cave afterward, but it was over their heads and the volume was at least that of the inside of the cave. The rock was not going to cave in while the snow might well if they tried to dig out, so the thing to do was to wait for rescue. He had seen other skiers in the distance, who would have seen what happened and would send help.
Ralph now turned back to his involuntary companion for the first time, and realized that the long blonde hair he had already glimpsed went with a long body and large breasts. And, at the moment, a worried expression. Not that any of those could be seen clearly in the reflected light coming from above the piled snow..
"Do you think we'll get out of this alive?" she asked.
"I imagine so," he replied. "They know we are here, and they can bring a snowplow up if it's needed. We may not even get hungry in here, though we are likely to get cold."
"I already am," she said. "It is freezing in here."
"Well, to tell the truth, I am too. There is a wind in here, coming in with that daylight we can see up there, but that place is too high up for us to get out by."
Valerie -- she volunteered her name then -- wanted to explore to see if there was any other way out, but in that near-total darkness there was little hope of finding anything. (Ralph carried a pen-light on his keychain.) The temperature rise that had loosened the snow had reversed itself now and it got colder fast.
After a while Ralph suggested that they hug each other to conserve body heat, since there was no fuel for a fire or means of starting one anyhow. Valerie did not want to do it at first, since she did not know him and was afraid of him -- she almost seemed to think that he had arranged the avalanche as a means of picking her up. Ralph thought he had seen her back at the ski- lodge and admitted to himself that he might have pursued her, but under warmer circumstances.
But the longer she waited the colder she got, till eventually she agreed. He gently put his arms around her and she began to feel warmer. She decided to herself that she liked his touch and liked being in his arms. Their faces were close together and they were breathing into each other's faces. Valerie began to think about his kissing her, and then to wish that he would, since it would be so natural and right, somehow.
He moved his mouth closer to hers at that moment, then he touched his lips to hers. She tried to resist at first, while wishing again that he would kiss her after all. But she relaxed and let him kiss her. By now they had been in the cave for half an hour. His tongue darted between her lips and impulsively she grabbed hold of his tongue with her mouth and pulled it deep inside. His tongue explored her mouth, then her tongue in turn forced its way into his and reached for every corner of it as her breathing became faster.