Cabin Fever At The Lake

Two torrid weeks, an improbable pair. Can it last?

I woke up slowly, in the way one sometimes does from a dream, where the dream feels real until truth gradually intrudes to overwhelm the illusion. I was laying on my side. I felt the warm, welcome presence of a woman spooning me from behind, her arm wrapped around me. Soft breasts crushed up against my back. "Ellen," I thought, my wife of nineteen years. I was happy. Her touch was so comforting.

But Ellen's gone. The thought fought for consciousness. I tried to push it down, to revel in the moment. But the annoying thought returned. Yes, Ellen is gone. Cancer took her almost two years ago. But this bare arm wrapped around me is real. What the hell?

Where was I? I opened my eyes. I was in the master bedroom of our summer cabin at the lake. I could barely make that much out in the darkness. Was it one of my girls? They hadn't crawled into bed with me in years, not since they were little. Plus they hadn't come up here with me this vacation. I'd made the trip alone, just needing some time for myself and the healing balm of mother nature. A one-night stand? I hadn't had sex with anyone since Ellen. I didn't remember going to a bar last night. I don't even know of any bars within 30 miles of here.

The only remote possibility I could conjure then crossed my mind. Lisa? I gently rolled myself over to face her. There was just a crack of light coming in around the bedroom door. I saw her eyes open.

"Mmmmm," she purred contentedly. "I was wondering when you'd wake up." It was Lisa's voice, even if I couldn't see well enough to recognize her for sure.

"Lisa, what are you doing here?"

"Seducing you." She said it smoothly, then leaned in to kiss me, wrapping her arm around me again, and bringing her leg up and over mine. Her lips were soft, warm, so inviting. It was wonderful. I couldn't help but kiss her back. I could feel her bare breasts against my chest, her bare legs tangling around mine. I was wearing only boxers, and as she pressed against me it seemed like she was wearing...nothing.

"Are you naked?"

"MmmmHmmm. Wanna feel?" My hand was on her back, but she guided my arm down to her hip, and then to rest on her ass. She felt smooth, and soft. My cock was growing harder as the situation sank into my brain.

**********

It was a five hour drive from my house in the city up to the cabin by the lake. My grandfather built this cabin years ago. My dad made a few improvements, added a bedroom. I built a deck. It's still fairly rustic, but it's got hot water, electricity, even air conditioning now for those rare summer days when it gets hot even up here. I put in the AC myself. Our family has been coming to the cabin ever since I can remember. Mom and Dad are older now. It's mostly my sisters and their families, me, or sometimes my cousin that use the place.

Last year, the summer after my wife died, I came up with my daughters for a couple weeks. But this year they both had summer jobs that seemed more pressing so they'd decided to stay at home. And that was OK by me. It was mid-June, summer was getting started, and I really was looking forward to some time by myself.

Our cabin is about 200 feet back and maybe 40 feet up from the waterline. It's got a great view of the lake and the mountain beyond reflected in the water. Off to the side, and about half way down towards the water there is a neighboring cabin diagonal from us. The lots on either side of us aren't as easily buildable, so it makes for kind of a nice little buffer between those two cabins and any other neighbors. At night you can see a few lights through the trees, but in the daytime you can't see any neighbors at all.

As I drove down the shared driveway toward the two cabins she was out on their deck, wearing a blue bikini and reading a book. I saw her looking my way, then, as I got out of the car she recognized me. Immediately she dropped her book and started almost running towards me up the gently sloping lawn that separated the two cabins.

"Mr. Rice! Max!"

Clearly she knew me. Could this be one of the Smith girls? They had a piece of that cabin on a timeshare. We had crossed paths with them a few times over the years, but not every year, and not recently. Clearly this girl, whoever she was, had a knockout body, absolutely phenomenal. In that bikini there was no way not to notice. As she quickly closed the distance only to wrap her arms around me in a big hug, it hit me.

"Lisa?" Lisa was the youngest of the Smith sisters. There were four in all. I think she was six or seven years older than my eldest, which would put her at maybe 24, 25? The hug was a nice surprise. A 46-year-old man doesn't get hugged by a beautiful girl in a bikini every day. I returned the hug somewhat awkwardly, arms only, not sure where to put my hands.

"That's right! You remembered! I was just thinking about you, and then, like magic, your truck appeared!"

"You were thinking about me? Really? Wow! That is quite a coincidence."

"It's so good to see you!" Then her face turned serious. I knew what was coming next. "I was so sorry to hear about Mrs. Rice. My mom told me."

"Thank you."

Her face turned back to normal again. I was thankful to get through it quick. "So, you're up here alone? No girls?"

"Nope. It's just me this time. The girls are busy with friends and summer jobs. Peace and quiet was sounding pretty good, so I'm up here alone."

"Me too!"

"What? No sisters? No parents? No 'special friend' or whatever? How'd you manage that?"

"Just lucky I guess. Plus I think they kinda know I was needing some time to sort myself out. It's been a crazy last couple months for me. I broke up with my boyfriend...fiancee actually...I quit my job. I just needed some time to chill and think."

"Wow. I guess that can be a lot to think about."

"Yeah. But up here is good, you know. Gets you in touch with what's real."

"Amen to that."

"So how long you here for?"

"Two weeks. Then it's back to work, ready or not."

She laughed. "Same for me, except for the back to work part. I've been here a week already. Two more to go. It's nice to see a friendly face. It's been just me. We should have dinner sometime while you're here."

"Yeah. We could do that." I was surprised she'd offered, surprised that a beautiful young woman I didn't know all that well would want to have dinner with me. But shared time up here over all those years made us feel kind of familiar. It's weird how vacation time can just sort of connect people quickly, to a far greater degree than you seem to find in the regular day-to-day. Why not have dinner with her? "I could grill us some steaks," I volunteered, "or whatever. I know a lot of people, especially young women your age, aren't into meat these days."

"Not me. I'm still a carnivore."

I laughed. "Steaks it is then. How about tomorrow?"

"Perfect. What time?"

"Seven OK?"

"Seven would be great. What can I bring?"

"No need. This one's on me."

"Wine at least? You've got to let me bring something."

"OK, Miss Fancy," I teased. "Wine would be good."

"Wine is essential, Max." She smiled winningly. "See you tomorrow." She turned to walk back toward her place. Yes, my eyes did immediately drop to her ass. What can I say? I'm a guy. It was automatic. Her ass did not disappoint, either.

Seeing Lisa so grown up was a bit of a shock. I suppose it was OK she called me Max. She was clearly not a kid anymore, and had obviously filled out into quite the woman. As I thought back, the last time I'd seen her she'd probably been only about nineteen. Cute, for sure, but a little bit boney. I remembered that time very well. Lisa and two of her girlfriends from college had been at the lake with her mom.

All three girls had rather shamelessly flirted with me that summer—behind her mom's back of course. They wore practically nothing, always bikinis or crop tops with short shorts. It seemed like they came over to talk almost any time they saw me outside. They gave me compliments about my skill at chopping firewood, and about how fit I was when they saw me coming back from a run or a swim. Twice, they'd sunbathed topless on their deck and made no effort to cover up when they saw I was out or about. In fact, I was pretty sure that once they all stood up on purpose and walked around just to make sure I got a good look.

But I took it for what I thought it was, just young girls having fun pushing boundaries. Their efforts were not unappreciated. Ellen certainly noticed we had three hot young scantily clad neighbors, and she put in some extra effort to keep my eyes on the prize, so to speak. Or maybe she was just taking advantage of my extra stimulation. Either way, as I recall, my balls got quite a workout on that vacation.

Now here was Lisa, and Oh My God! Honestly I was having a hard time thinking of a woman I knew personally who was more gorgeous. Her dark, chestnut hair, shining pale gray eyes, megawatt smile, creamy skin, those tits, that ass, they all seemed just about perfect. When I'd turned to walk back to my truck after the quick hug and greeting I couldn't resist looking back. She turned too and caught me, and I saw her smile as she turned away again. Unloading and taking my stuff into the cabin I still couldn't shake her from my mind. Damn! That was one beautiful woman!

I admit the fantasy did cross my mind. I'm only human after all, and I hadn't had sex in well over two years, not since Ellen started getting really sick. But I was still more than twenty years older than Lisa. I really didn't dare to give any serious thought to the possibility of being with her.

My brain may not have given it serious thought, but I couldn't stop my dick from having a few ideas. As I lay in bed that night, they kept nagging until I finally had to do something about it to get any peace. I rubbed one out picturing that body and what I could do with it, watching those magnificent tits bounce as I plowed into her, sinking into her tight, silky depths, making her legs quiver like jelly. I felt a little guilty after it was over, using her like that, even if it was only in my mind. But it was only a harmless fantasy, I told myself. Nothing would ever come of it.

I thought about her quite a bit the next day too, as I got ready for our dinner that night. I'm not proud of it, but how could I not think about her? Like I said, she had the kind of looks that stick in a guy's head and won't let go. But did she have anything going for her besides her looks? Quitting a job without any idea of what comes next didn't exactly meet my old school ideas about sound decision-making. But perhaps, I thought, I should withhold judgment. At least talk to the girl first and then maybe form an impression.

Lisa showed up right at 7:00, with the wine. The wine was a welcome touch, and surprisingly good. We managed to finish it off just after dinner, watching the sunset reflecting off the still waters of the lake. The clear mountain air filled our lungs as we breathed in nature's beauty and took the measure of each other. We caught up on small talk, and family. We mostly avoided my grief. I learned a little about her failed engagement, but we didn't get too deep. We shared a few memories of an old shared enthusiasm for birdwatching, which for both of us, only seemed to kick in when we were up at the lake. We were both trying to move on, weirdly in places not that dissimilar, resetting, slightly adrift, trying to land.

I liked her. She was clearly enough of an adult now that I had no problem thinking of her like an adult, even if not quite fully formed. In some ways she kind of reminded me of me when I was her age. That's when I'd met Ellen and gotten my life on track, a track that lasted as long as the almost twenty years she and I shared.

Lisa seemed to remember a lot about the times our paths had crossed up at the lake, a lot more than I remembered of her anyway. There was the birdwatching thing, of course, but one other time we both remembered was that summer when she and her friends had teased me.

"We were bad," she said. "I'm embarrassed we acted like that. We were stupid and silly and immature."

Even though privately I somewhat agreed with that assessment, I decided to keep the conversation lighter. Since she was all grown up now, and we'd been hitting it off, I even felt safe enough to go just a little risque. "Don't be sorry," I told her. "On account of our hot young college girl neighbors, Ellen worked overtime to keep me happy that summer vacation. I remember it well. You may not have realized it, but you were doing me a favor." I wasn't explicit, but she definitely caught my meaning.

Lisa laughed. "Well then... Happy I could help."

I laughed too. We finished our wine and stared out at the still water as the darkness crept in. It was quiet.

"Thank you for dinner," she said. "It was lovely. Really nice. I enjoyed this."

"I'm glad you could come over. Honestly, I wasn't sure we'd have anything to talk about, but I think we did OK."

She smiled softly, and looked down for a moment before looking back up at me. "You're very easy to talk to. But I don't want to intrude too much. I know you said you came up here to be alone. I want to respect that. I'll try not to bother you."

"Thank you. That's very considerate. But you're really not a bother." As I said it, I realized that surprisingly I was not just being polite. I'm not typically a very social person, but I really meant it. She wasn't a bother. I don't even think it was because she was so beautiful. Her presence just felt good to me. "But I know you also were looking for some alone time to figure stuff out. I want to honor that, as well."

She still seemed thoughtful. "Do you remember that night almost ten years ago? When you found me at the picnic table down by the dock?"

I did remember. Honestly, I wasn't positive if it had been Lisa or her sister Lori I'd found that night, alone and crying at 2:30 a.m. I was only up because I'd set an alarm and stepped out to look for the Perseid Meteor shower. "I remember." She was upset that night because she learned her first serious boyfriend had gone out with another girl while she was up at the lake, away from him.

"You really helped me that night. You're a great person to talk to, Max. I like talking to you."

"Thanks. I remember thinking you were giving me a great opportunity to practice for father-daughter talks I might have in my future as my girls got older."

"Ha. And did you? Ever get to have those talks, I mean?"

"I tried a couple of times. Not sure how much good I did, though. Maybe it's a little tougher with daughters than it is with someone you're not quite as tied up with."

"Maybe. But I bet you did better than you think. I'm sure you're a great dad."

"Well...all I can do is try. It's all any of us can do, really." I knew Lisa didn't have a dad through all those teenage years. He'd left when they were little. Her mom used to bring the girls up to the lake. I suppose I had shown Lisa and her sisters a few things, taken them out in our boat and whatnot, but I did that for other kids we met up there over the years too. I was always careful never to insert myself. I was pretty sure I never crossed any lines, with any of the kids or their parents. Eventually, I recall that Lisa's mom remarried. I met him only once and he was not the social type at all. That must have been right around the time Lisa was off to college.

"They're lucky to have you."

It was silent for a moment. Then I surprised myself again. "So maybe we can do this again sometime, if we're not too busy re-examining all our life choices?"

"Yes. I'd like that." She surprised me by taking up my offer so quickly.

Lisa left soon after. I thought about her for a long while. I wondered what it would have been like for my girls if their situation had been more like Lisa's, and it was me that died instead of their mother. Life throws you curves, I decided, and also fastballs, sliders, and screwballs. You try to prepare for what's coming, but you never know for sure. Sometimes they freeze you and you watch 'em go by. Sometimes you swing for the fences.

Right then I wasn't sure what life was throwing at me. I had been out of the dating pool for many years, but unless I missed my guess it sure seemed like Lisa was showing me all the signs. That hug on the first day was only the start. At dinner she'd been laughing at my jokes, leaning in, twirling her hair, all the things I used to look for back when I was single and dating. But above all that there was the way she looked at me. She looked at me the way every man (or every woman for that matter) dreams of being looked at, like she was totally into me, like whatever I was selling, she was a willing and eager buyer.

But doubt crept in. Her being attracted to me didn't make sense. Was this all delusion brought on by loneliness and horniness? She was clearly beautiful enough to have her pick from an almost infinite number of guys younger, hotter, and richer than me. She didn't really even know me, even if the feeling between us was surprisingly comfortable and familiar. It made no sense at all that she'd be seriously interested in me, of all people.

I didn't talk to Lisa the next day. I did see her though. She was out on her deck again, sunbathing in that blue bikini. At one point, she stood up and looked over my way. She noticed I was watching. I gave a friendly wave, which she returned. Then I saw her pause, and square up to face me directly. She brought both hands up in front of her boobs and paused. It looked like she was curling her fingers under to lift off the cups of her bikini top and flash me. I saw her dig in, and then quickly she lifted her hands. I stood transfixed. But the top stayed in place. Her open palms were above her shoulders and pointed straight at me as she gave them a little shake, miming "jazz hands." I saw her smile, as if to say, "gotcha." I smiled back and had to laugh. She had me all right.

That night I read a book in bed before I felt sleepy and turned off the light. The book was good and kept my mind off Lisa pretty well until then. In fact, I didn't think of her until later that same night, when I woke to the biggest surprise of my life, finding Lisa naked in my bed.

***********

Her full breasts were crushed up against my chest. Her exquisitely soft lips were melting into mine. My hands were on her perfect ass, pulling her into my rapidly hardening cock. I heard and felt her gasp as she ground against it.

Part of me was struggling with what was happening. "Lisa, are you sure?"

"I want this, Max. I really want this." She breathed it at me in a low voice that sounded like it came from someplace very deep. I felt the force of her words in the middle of my chest. She moved in for another kiss.

I was reacting, not thinking. The arousal of a beautiful woman has a power that makes it hard for a man to think. Her lips were wonderful, the feeling of her body against me was overwhelming. But somehow a thought did form. I was still trying to piece this together. I broke away, barely catching my breath. "Wait. How did you get in?"

"Your spare key. The one on the hook by the door." She was proud of herself. She'd planned this, and she could tell by the way my body was reacting to her that everything was going according to plan.

"You took it the other night? At dinner?"

"I had an idea. I wasn't sure at first. It was a crazy idea, but then the more I thought about it, the more I liked it."

"Don't get me wrong. This is a wonderful surprise. Probably the best surprise I ever had in my whole life. But are you really sure you want to do this? Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"I am so sure, Max. It's weird. Like, I know I only saw you a few times over all those years, and it wasn't even every year, but those times are so vivid to me. You made me feel special. You made me feel alive. It wasn't just birdwatching. You taught me how to play chess. You taught me how to waterski. That night I found out my boyfriend was cheating, you found me and talked me down. At all these key points, you were there. My whole life, you just always seemed like this perfect man."