Snow was starting to fall hard as the sun dipped below the mountain, draping our little camp in darkness. Jesiel shivered in her ranger's cloak and moved a little closer to the fire.
Though we were both in our early twenties, she had been patrolling the Great Forest since she was fifteen and was by now an accomplished ranger. When she shivered, that meant it was
cold.
We were closing out day six of an eight-day patrol along the northern reaches of the Great Forest. Though we both carried our bows and daggers, so far the patrol had been uneventful.
That's not to say the woods were safe, or that these patrols were always boring. Jesiel was a testament to that, possessing a long scar running from her eyebrow to her chin, the result of an encounter with a starved bear.
I glanced at our improvised shelter. It was long and low to the ground, with a single entrance on one side. It was narrow, smaller than I would have liked. But Jesiel had built it while I gathered firewood, expertly covering the sides in pine branches, leaves and topsoil, and with the snow coming down as hard as it was, the extra warmth of being packed in tight might be a matter of survival, not comfort.
I snuck another glance at her as I finished my part of the boiled rabbit. Somehow, Jesiel's scar did little to reduce her charms, and made her face even more striking. I had always thought Jesiel was extremely pretty, and though I never planned to make a move on a fellow ranger (especially on patrol), as the days went on I found myself staring at her more and more.
But she was by now an expert ranger, and I was determined to be professional, learn from her, and earn her approval as a superior, not as a pretty woman my age.
I hadn't erred too severely on this patrol, aside from two navigational mistakes she swiftly corrected, and catching us dinner tonight seemed to have got me in her good books.
She was smiling as she bit into the boiled rabbit leg across from me, her blue eyes bright in the firelight. Her smile faded as she looked up at the snowfall, the thick flakes getting caught in her long, dark hair.
I was a little nervous at the prospect of spending a night pressed up against Jesiel in a shelter that small. The prospect of a misunderstanding occurring in the confines of the shelter disturbed me greatly, if not for the likelihood, then for the potential consequences.
But we had no choice. The weather had been fair so far, and we had been able to sleep on our bed rolls under the sky, with plenty of personal space.
Tonight was too cold for that to be an option. Jesiel, for her part, didn't seem to be too worried about sleeping arrangements.
She finished eating her leg of the rabbit I had shot earlier, drank some water, and stood up, grinning.
"That definitely beat eating the rations, Garret. Who knew you could shoot straight? At this rate, maybe you'll become a real hunter someday."
I snorted. "Gee, Thanks. Maybe next time, I'll keep it to myself."
Jesiel faked a pout as she stepped away from the fire. She went over to the shelter, brushing snow away from the entrance, while I tossed the rest of the wood onto the fire, ensuring it would burn through the night. The fire was close to the shelter's entrance, and would hopefully provide a little heating. I was shivering too.
"Garret, I'm turning in."
"Okay," I said, stowing away the cooking pot, "I'll join you in a minute."
I heard a flutter of cloth, and looked up to see Jesiel fling her shirt over her head, cursing at the cold.
There isn't a lot of privacy on patrol, and stripping out in the open was perfectly normal. A professional wouldn't have paid it any mind. I guess I'm not quite as professional as I'd like to pretend.
She was facing away from me, and I couldn't help but watch, indirectly, like at a solar eclipse.
Under her ranger's tunic, she wore a tight cloth band around her chest. The firelight flickered on well-defined shoulders, though I was careful not to let my gaze linger directly on her for more than a half second.
Stowing her shirt in her pack, she unceremoniously yanked down her pants, exposing her undershorts and toned legs. I'd be surprised if there was a pound of fat on her anywhere.
She was fit, but there was a softness there...
Holy fuck,
I thought, shaking my head and looking back to the fire.
I've been in the field way too long.
But I am a weak man. A moment later, I dared a second glance up, and caught a fleeting glimpse of her ass (though clad in undershorts) illuminated by the fire as she crawled into the shelter. Her underwear, practical and form-fitting, didn't leave much to the imagination.
God damn.
I stayed at the fire a minute more, until I heard her stop shuffling around in the shelter.
When I knew she was in her bedroll, I got up and stripped down as well. Jesiel's unintentional display had left certain parts of me excited, but the exposure to the elements quickly cured that. I looked back at the fire, ensuring no gear was left out, before packing away my clothes and joining Jesiel in the shelter.
It was indeed a very tight fit.
Though the fire was close, none of the light made it into the shelter itself, so getting to my bedroll was a blind scramble. I had to partially crawl over Jesiel, who was already in her bed roll as I got to the opening of my own. There wasn't enough room to even sit up properly, so I had to awkwardly squeeze into my own bedroll, shimmying it up my body.
I was touching the cold wall of the shelter, but with Jesiel on my other side I didn't have a ton of room to maneuver. I rolled onto my side facing her, and found that position workable, my bedroll no longer touching the wall.
Finally getting comfortable, I let out a deep sigh, enjoying those first few moments of true rest after a long day on the move. I grinned in the dark. This wasn't so bad. Our little shelter had some warmth, or at least was an upgrade to sleeping outside.
Jesiel and I were pressed up against each other, sure, but being both in our thick bedrolls, there was enough personal space that I could relax.
Then Jesiel exhaled, and I felt her hot breath on my nose. I hadn't seen in the dark, but I had shifted to a position where her face was mere inches from mine. I tensed, but didn't move.
By this point I was too tired to worry about it. Her breath even felt nice, warming my face. I knew she was still awake, her breathing yet to reach the shallow rhythm of a sleeper. Neither of us moved, and I gradually relaxed, focusing on the warmth of her breath, as I drifted off into sleep.
"Garret."
A hand was on my shoulder, gently shaking me awake. I could still hear the fire crackling loudly outside, so I couldn't have been asleep for more than an hour.
It was colder now, much colder than when I had gone to bed, and I swore, as I realized that I was shivering. I had lost a lot of heat. If Jesiel hadn't woken me, there was a chance I might have frozen to death.
I propped myself up on my elbow and looked toward Jesiel, though it was still very dark. She whispered again, teeth chattering as she spoke.
"This is bad. We're going to freeze like this. We'll have to double up."
She began to climb out of her bedroll as she spoke, flattening it out, then guided me to roll myself over onto it, so that my bedroll had extra insulation below it.
I moved with her as she guided me, not fully awake, and wasn't sure what was happening until she pulled my covers down, and began to climb into my bedroll with me.
"... Jesiel? What-"
"Stop moving. We need to pool our body heat."
She finally slipped all the way in, laying down on top of me, chest-to-chest. I was on my back, and she was on top of me, her head by my neck, our legs tangled together.
I had thought I was cold, but Jesiel was even colder. She pressed herself to me, and the sensation was being submerged in a glacier river.
"Fuck me, you're freezing!"
"Yeah, that's why you're sharing body heat with me, genius."
I was now fully awake, and I realized that she was lying wholly on top of me, like one would a mattress.
"Jesiel, are you ... using me as insulation?"
She was quiet for a moment. "...Maybe."
I was suddenly indignant, irritated at her for making me even colder.
"You unbelievable asshole!"
She chuckled quietly next to my ear, the chattering of her teeth making the sound strange.
"I'm sorry, Garret. Give it a minute, and you'll warm up too."
I scowled, the expression lost in the dark, and muttered "Not if you keep stealing my heat."
She said nothing, and we both lay there for a few minutes, my teeth chattering, the occasional shiver going through one of us. But the added bedroll beneath me did help, and eventually I stopped shivering, though it felt like Jesiel was taking most of my warmth.
But she was right, and within fifteen minutes or so, I began to get properly warm, feeling returning to my body.
For a minute, I just lay there, enjoying the feeling of no longer freezing my ass off. But Jesiel's skin was still somewhat cool. I figured a smaller person like Jesiel probably retained less body heat than me, and decided that the whole point of this was to get us both warm.
I wrapped my arms around her in a hug, moving slowly, giving her plenty of opportunity to voice an objection. She didn't. I placed my hands on her shoulders, trying to warm them.
"Mmmmm" she hummed next to my ear, pressing herself a little more tightly to me. Her back was cold and slow to warm, and I busied myself bringing my hands down to my warm sides, then back up to warm the parts of her not touching me.
I did this a few times, starting at her shoulders and slowly moving down her back. As I worked, my hands ran over the muscles in her back, and I quietly admired them, squeezing her tight and pressing my hands into her, giving her all the heat I could.
She cooed happily, and relaxed, sinking deeper into my embrace. My hands continued to move down her back, warming her, until my hands reached the back of her breast band.
I tried to slip my hand under it to warm under the cloth, but it was very tight, and she grunted in discomfort as I did. I whispered "Sorry.", but she began to sit up. Had I crossed a line? She scooted up, sitting on my stomach, moving in the dark.
Then she crawled back down to where she was, discarding a piece of cloth down by our feet. I didn't know what she had been doing until she lay back down, her now naked breasts pressing into my chest.
I bit back a gasp, both in surprise and at how cold her chest was. I could clearly feel her nipples on me as she settled back down, her head in the crook of my shoulder.
I couldn't see them, but it was clear that there was a much nicer pair of breasts pushed against me than I would have previously suspected. Ranger's clothes aren't too flattering.
