The snow was relentless.
Falling like literal sheets upon the unsuspecting city. It had come out of nowhere, leaving many planes grounded. Many cars were stuck under heavy layers. Many people were stranded.
Hailee was one of those people.
She watched in dismay as the green ON TIME signs on the flight board at the airport all began turning to CANCELED.
This was just her luck.
If anything else could go wrong for her then it would. She could almost guarantee it.
With an annoyed flick of her hand she opened her phone, speed dialed Mara, and held the phone to her ear.
It rang and rang and rang until finally her friend picked up. "Don't tell me, you've decided to stay. You never want to leave. This trip was just too much fun for you," Mara teased.
"You guessed it," Hailee said dryly. "Can't get enough of you."
She really actually didn't like the city much, preferring her small quiet town. But alas, fate often intervened in annoying ways.
Hailee had only been in the city to see a lawyer. To accept an inheritance, spend a little time with distant family, hang out with Mara, her college friend, then leave.
In and out in under a week.
Her animals back on the farm would be missing her. Her horses and dogs. The chickens of course probably weren't missing her.
Ah, her farmhands would be handling it. They were quite skilled after all.
''I knew you couldn't stay away," Mara chided. ''You'd miss me too much.''
Hailee rolled her eyes. "Can you come back and pick me up?"
"What, you don't want to hail a cab?" Mara asked. "Or maybe the bus?"
This made her smile. "Maybe I should just find a hotel..." she teased.
"Turn around," Mara said flatly.
Hailee spun, her long, dirty blonde hair whipping.
Mara sat in her black Mercedes out in the pick-up lane. And she was flipping Hailee the bird with one long finger.
Despite Hailee's best efforts she couldn't keep a big grin off her face.
She snapped her phone shut and walked out front.
The cold hit her quickly, sneaking its prickly fingers up her sleeves and pant legs. She also became annoyingly aware of how uncovered her ears were.
She jerked the car door open and threw herself in, tossing her bag into the back seat.
"How did you get here so quickly?" Hailee asked, her teeth beginning to chatter.
"Heard it on the radio as I was stuck in traffic. They canceled pretty much everything going out. Of course, you could rent a private jet now, but I know that's not your style." Mara winked over at her. "I'm glad you're staying longer, we barely got any time together."
"We will be stuck inside, you know," Hailee reminded her, nodding out to the falling snow.
Mara eased them out into the lane, and they began their trek back to her apartment.
Hailee's friend was a tall girl. With long dark hair, a small, mousy nose, and large, brown eyes. Smooth cheeks ran down to a razor sharp she. Her body was skinny, with medium sized breasts, which she blamed for not getting more modeling contracts. Her ass was delicate but tight. She ate what she wanted and still kept a runway figure.
It annoyed the hell out of Hailee.
She arguably had an equally as delicious body, but it took all of her manual farm labor to keep it that way. It was one of the many differences between the two girls.
Where Mara had smaller breasts, Hailee's were large and firm. Where Mara had a slightly rounded ass, Hailee's was large, firm and well-muscled.
Hailee had a classic horse rider's body.
She loved every piece of it.
Though she didn't show it off like Mara. Her friend wore a tight black turtleneck that showed those medium sized breasts quite sharply. Even her nipples were showing through it. Below that was a pair of tan athletic tights. Tight enough to show a camel toe.
Hailee on the other hand wore a puffy dark gray Carhartt jacket. A simple white T-shirt. And baggy-ish tree green work pants. Her boots were worn, but not too badly.
She'd admit she did look like a cowgirl.
"Ah, snow," Mara said dismissively. "Who cares. We walk everywhere anyway. It's New York. There will still be places open."
Hailee raised her eyebrows. "You want to go out in this?"
Mara shrugged. "It's just a little snow."
"What if we get stuck or something?"
The other girl frowned. "Stuck where?"
The traffic was thick coming back from the airport. Everyone was pouring back into the white-covered city. They passed several crashes. Despite the ample snow the city received every year they never learned to drive in it.
Even Mara and Hailee themselves have a couple of close calls.
"I'll make you a deal," Mara said. "You'll at least be here for two more nights. We can stay in for one. And go out for one. How does that sound?"
Hailee acted like she was seriously considering it, scrunching her nose and staring out the window.
With all honesty, a night out might be just what she needed. The stress of the last few months had balled up inside and was threatening to burst. She'd only just barely avoided tears in the airport.
Maybe she needed a massage...
Or a strong man to hold her for a while, which she'd never admit to. On principle. It was also unlikely she'd find such a man in this city.
God, it had been even longer since she'd been with anyone. Her tryst with the farmhand had been furiously passionate for the summer. But that had ended and then it had been all about her father passing.
"Maybe we get a massage tomorrow or something?" she offered.
Mara looked at her with wide eyes. "Yes, girl. Yes. I know just the place."
"Stay in tonight. Go out tomorrow?"
"That's my girl," Mara said, slapping the wheel and almost sending them spinning off the road. She howled with laughter as she righted them.
"Let's just focus on getting home in one piece," Hailee said uneasily.
Her friend drives so infrequently, often opting for cabs, that she was basically dusting off the cobwebs each time she actually had to get behind the wheel.
"Oh, I forgot. My roommate is getting back tonight," Mara added.
"Ah, right, your roommate," Hailee said skeptically. "The mysterious, rich, handsome stranger who just happens to let you live in his apartment for half the rent it's worth."
In the week Hailee had spent at the very nice upper west side apartment, she had not seen the roommate. Mara had claimed he'd been traveling for work, though she didn't know what he did. It was a nice place, and well. Decorated but even so, she'd only seen a slightly blurry picture of him.
Mara smiled wickedly, giggling. "He likes my personality."
"And the stream of model friends you introduce him to."
Mara snorted. "Oh, stop it."
"You're like a feeder. Feeding these poor girls to him. Or a breeder," Hailee mused.
Mara slapped her across the boob.
"Ouch!" She complained, rubbing the spot.
"For your information, I haven't heard a single complaint about him. He's a perfect gentleman. If not an animal in other ways."
Hailee rolled her eyes. "You're disgusting."
"I like to think of myself as a connoisseur, of sorts."
Hailee smiled despite herself and said, "I know what you are: a pimp."
They both fell into a chorus of giggles.
***
The apartment was spacious to say the least.
With high ceilings, big windows and about four bedrooms. It took up half the floor of the building. The cabinets were all old, stained wood.
Rich charcoal colored granite countertops and stainless-steel appliances filled the kitchen, save for an old, bright red retro refrigerator with a small pink ribbon around the handle.
It was all so plainly expensive.
"You really don't know what he does?" Hailee asked, throwing her bags down near the gargantuan couch.
The living room was strange only because of its setup. One long couch, no TV, though there was a projector that would show on the long white curtains of the windows.
The weirdest were the two long, body sized mirrors on each wall opposite each other.
"I think it's family money, mostly. But he does work. Or at least he's gone enough," Mara said, flinging herself down.
"I hope I'm not keeping you from any of your model duties?" Hailee asked.
"Don't be silly, darling. I'm all yours this weekend," Mara said. "I have no duties if I don't want to."
Hailee let out a breath. "Good cause I need a drink."
Her model friend squealed, pulling her down onto the couch beside her. "Take your pants off, I'll make us drinks. We can watch Mean Girls and talk."
Hailee did as she was told, too mentally tired to argue. She slipped her jeans off, throwing them onto her bags, leaving herself only in the dark blue lace panties she'd packed as backup. There had been little time for her to do laundry.
Mara cat called her from the kitchen.
The apartment was slightly chilly, so she asked, "Blankets?"
"Hallway closet by my room," Mara directed, shaking a glass of ice and swirling it with a straw.
Hailee returned with ample cozy blankets, found the remote to the projector and started looking for the movie.
Mara joined her shortly after, margaritas in her hands and shoved them into Hailee's hands. Then she proceeded to take off her own pants, showing the thin, black thong she wore underneath.
The little thing barely covered her mound and showed, amply it should be noted, the folds between her legs.
Hailee had a realization while looking at the girl. "Couldn't your roommate walk in on us?"
Mara took her drink back and pulled some blanket over her. "Of course. Wouldn't that be fun?"
Hailee wasn't so sure.
"He always texts me before he gets back. Went straight to a dance, I believe. Something with ballerinas. Won't be home till late." Mara's eyes glittered. "We've got hours."
Hailee narrowed her eyes. "Are you sure you've never slept with him?"
Mara put a slender hand over her heart. "I would never. That would compromise the arrangement. I like this apartment far too much to give it up if something went awry."
Hailee grunted, starting the movie. "You seem so nonchalant about him."
"Ah, well, it's not to say he hasn't seen me naked." She dipped her head. "Almost naked."