The rental car shuttle bus was not the place to begin second-guessing myself, but there I was. The bus lurched and belched smoke as it pulled out of the Denver airport terminal. I’d snagged seats, but the portly guy in the rumpled suit standing in the adjacent aisle was crowding in way too close. He swayed so much, I wondered if he was going to end up in my lap. I would’ve glared at him, but he had his face buried in his phone. Meanwhile, my cheeks were starting to finally feel like flesh instead of icicles. I could’ve sworn we hadn’t been standing on the curb long enough for them to freeze, but tell that to my screaming skin. Maybe I should’ve grown a beard.

As the bus rumbled along, I looked out across the plains at the distant mountains. Why the hell did they put the airport so far away? I still had several hours of driving ahead of me. I was not looking forward to that. Especially if it started snowing earlier than had been forecast. Not that I’d admit it to Natalie, but I sucked at driving on snow.

Speaking of my big sister…

She sat next to me, far more relaxed than I felt. Of course, she’d spent two hours hanging out in the airport bar between her flight’s arrival and mine. She stared out the frost-covered window, which didn’t give her much better of a view than mine. A few strands of dark chestnut hair had escaped from her knit stocking cap, which made her look exceedingly cute. Extremely cute. Not that I’d admit that either.

She sensed my gaze and turned.

“What?”

“Nothing.” I dramatically sighed. “I thought I saw a booger on your cheek, but I was wrong.”

“Brandon!” She playfully slapped me.

“Hey! I’m just looking out for you!”

“Uh-huh.”

“I am!” I grinned broadly. “How are you gonna pick up guys with a booger on your cheek?”

She rolled her eyes. “You’re a dork.”

“But I’m your dork.”

She snorted and turned back to the window.

I cracked a silly smile. If you couldn’t tease your sister, who could you tease?

But still… I couldn’t wait to get off this crowded bus and get on the road.

Maybe I’d made a mistake by agreeing to this trip. Honestly, I wouldn’t’ve, if it hadn’t been for Natalie. She was, well…

My feelings were jumbled, sitting next to her.

But it was too late. We were in Colorado.

Steamboat Springs, here we come.

Natalie made me drive, which I found mildly annoying. We had one of those nondescript compacts with barely any room and horrid maneuverability, but she’d paid for it so she said I could drive. As much as I hated it, I couldn’t fault her logic on that one.

I don’t think I would’ve minded so much if we’d had a bigger car. At 6’4”, I’d pushed the driver’s seat all the way back and I was still cramped. Not badly, but enough to make me already thinking about the first rest break. At 5’7”, Natalie would’ve been just fine.

We maneuvered out of the airport lot and Natalie asked the smart lady in her phone with the Scandinavian name to give us directions to Steamboat. I winced when I realized it would be over three hours. Having never been to Colorado, I’d underestimated the distances. So had Natalie, apparently. We’d definitely have to stop somewhere along the way.

Once we were on the highway Siri fell quiet. I briefly considered turning on the radio, but… well, it’d been a while since I’d seen my sister in person. Not that I was going to admit I missed her or anything. And it wasn’t like we lived that far apart. Driving to see her in Philadelphia would’ve taken less time than it’d take us to get to Steamboat. But… I never did it. And she never came down to DC.

“So…,” I finally said. “Looking forward to it?”

She snorted. “The trip?”

“Yeah.”

“No.”

“Brenda?”

“More Dad.”

I shrugged. I’d long given up on intervening when they decided to butt heads. “You like skiing.”

“I like having skied.”

I chuckled. “You like the guys at the après ski after.”

She scoffed. “Please.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Geez, Brandon. It’s the party, not the guys.”

I smirked but kept my mouth shut.

“I like hanging out, you know? Some good music, some drinks…”

“Some dancing, some flirting…”

“Ugh! You are impossible!”

I smiled sweetly. “But you love me anyway.”

“Yeah. Lucky you.” She smiled, genuinely, which warmed me.

We fell silent for a while. We hit a big curve in the highway which made me wonder exactly where we were going. What sort of east-west highway turns hard south?

“So, Dork,” Natalie asked, “how’d your Valentine’s Day go?”

“Oh, God. Nightmare City.”

“Really?”

I sighed. “Apparently I wasn’t the only one she was, um, dating.”

“Ouch.”

I shrugged. “I’m not sure I would’ve minded if she’d been honest. I wasn’t that serious about her.”

“That’s not the impression I got at Christmas.”

“Well, I, uh… may have exaggerated for Mom’s sake.”

“Ah.”

“Yeah.”

“So…,” Natalie asked, “why were you dating her then?”

“Why do you think?”

She snorted with amusement.

“Yeah. Like I said, I would’ve been fine with it if she’d been honest.”

“So… what’d she do?”

“Do you really want to know?”

“Yeah. Now I’m curious.”

I grinned. That was Natalie. Just like a cat, always poking into things.

“Well…,” I said, “let’s just say she played Engineer.”

“Huh?”

“You know, choo-choo?”

“What?!” Natalie laughed.

“Yeah.”

“She pulled a train?”

“Mmm hmm. Six guys.”

“Wow!” Natalie continued to chuckle in disbelief.

“Yeah. Like I said, I wouldn’t have minded if, you know, she’d talked to me about it first. Or, you know, let me be a part of it.”

“Really? You would’ve been okay with your girlfriend getting gangbanged?”

“I’m freakier than you think, Nat.”

“Ha!” She rolled her eyes but still smiled.

We pulled into Idaho Springs for a late lunch. Natalie had read about this pizza place that was supposed to make “Mountain Pies” that were really good. I was dubious. We’d been raised on Chicago Deep Dish and I hadn’t found anything out East that came even close. We found parking not too far away from the rustic building, but the wind had picked up and the temperature had dropped. Natalie shivered as we walked from the car.

“You okay?” I put an arm around her shoulder.

“Yeah.” She snuggled in as we speeded up our pace. “Just cold.”

“Do we need to get you a thicker coat?”

“No… this’ll be fine on the slopes. You know, when I’m moving.”

“Then let’s walk faster.”

She nodded. Still pressed together, we made it to the restaurant and breathed a sigh of relief when we entered the warmth. Reluctantly, I let me arm drop. Once again, my emotions were a swirling mess. Thankfully, we didn’t have to stand in the foyer by the open door long before they got us a table.

We talked mostly about our jobs as we looked over the menu. Natalie was having challenges with another insurance broker who kept making snide comments about Natalie under her breath. Never in front of their boss, though.

“Is anyone else ever around?” I asked.

“Mmm. Sometimes Eli. And Jason, come to think of it.”

“A-ha! She’s jealous.”

Natalie snorted. “Why?”

“Because you’re drop-dead gorgeous and she can’t compete for their attention.”

She narrowed her eyes. “Laying it on a little thick there.”

“Sorry.” I shrugged. “It’s true, though.”

She shrugged me off. “If she wants ’em, she can have ‘em.”

“Not your type.”

She sighed. “Jason… Jason’s an arrogant prick. One of those know-it-alls who has to mansplain everything. Eli… I guess Eli’s okay. It’s, just… well… he’s got this ugly beard. Way, way too long.”

“Yeah, I know the type.”

She shuddered. “Yech.”

“You’ll find the right guy.”

“Not at work.” She lowered her menu. “So what about you?”

I shrugged. “I told you about Cheryl.”

“Yeah. I’ll want to hear more about that.” She glanced around the crowded restaurant. “Later. How’s work?”

“Boring as hell.”

“I thought you liked it.”

I snorted. “I did, until January. I got reassigned to a new group and my boss in a major prick. He hates all my ideas. I swear, Nat, it makes me want to get out of politics entirely.”

“You could work on a campaign.”

“No.” I laughed. “No way. Lobbying’s where all the money is.”

“Money, huh?”

“Mmm hmm.” Not that I had much at the moment. But at least my credit cards weren’t maxed out.

“Well, if you’re in it for the money, then you can buy.”

She smiled as the waiter came over.

It started snowing shortly after we left the interstate and got onto US 40. Fortunately, it wasn’t heavy, but I still needed to focus and so I turned off the radio. Well, it wasn’t really radio. Natalie was streaming music off her phone when the mountains didn’t block reception. I was nervous as hell driving over the pass to Winter Park. Between the steepness and the curves and the falling flakes, I took it really slow. More than once, I pulled over to let cars pass.

But we got down the pass. The snow picked up after that, but it didn’t get heavy until we reached the Steamboat Springs city limits. By then my nerves were frazzled. Having grown up in the Midwest, maybe making me drive in mountains hadn’t been a great idea.

But we weren’t done.

Once in Steamboat, we loaded up on groceries and firewood. Then it was onto the AirBnB that Dad had rented. Which is where the problem was.

To be fair, the place looked nice on the website, nestled cozily into the pine woods. The owners had clearly updated and renovated the place, including adding an eight-person hot tub on a closed-in porch. Each of the three bedrooms was large, and the great room clearly would work well for entertaining or hanging out. There was only one downside.

It sat at the end of a long dirt road.

A dirt road that had been plowed, if you could call it that. “Packed” was probably a better description. I managed to navigate the rental car down the road, but… getting back out?

I didn’t want to think about that.

Because the big fat snowflakes were falling harder and faster by the time we got the car unloaded. Worse, enough wind had picked up to thoroughly freeze my face. After we got everything put away and I’d shed my winter gear, I sagged onto the sofa.

Natalie wandered off. I was too tired to ask why. When she returned, she had a huge grin.

“Hey, Dork. Hot tub’s warm. Get your suit.”

I found the towels while Natalie opened some wine. The enclosed patio with the hot tub was heated, but not nearly as warm as the main cabin. Which was fine. We weren’t going to be out of the water for more than a minute or so anyway.

I slid into the water gingerly. The heat felt great once I acclimatized to it, but that first bit—woo! I settled into a seat that faced the door to the house.

Natalie came in with two acrylic glasses of wine. She smiled and passed one to me before setting the other on the far side of the tub. Then she slipped off her terrycloth robe.

I tried not to visibly suck in my breath. My sister was hot.

Of course, I’d always thought so, but in her black bikini with the ties at the hips? It really flattered her tight stomach. The top was almost too small for her breasts. They threatened to spill out as she climbed over the side of the tub. I only peeked at them as they swayed, because I knew she’d give me shit if she caught me staring. Besides, I wasn’t thirteen. I could control myself.

Yeah. I could control myself. Uh-huh.

My sister took her time getting used to the water then sank down until her breasts were just at the water line. She lifted her glass and took a long sip. Then she smiled at me.

“Much better,” she said.

“Much,” I agreed.

She sighed happily and swirled her glass before taking another drink.

“So…,” I said. “What do you want to talk about? We covered most of the news on the trip up.”

She smirked. I raised a questioning eyebrow.

“You’re gonna make me say it,” she said. “Okay. Cheryl.”

“What about her?”

“She really got gangbanged?”

“Yep.”

“And you would’ve been okay with it? If she’d told you?”

“Yeah… we weren’t exactly romantic, or anything. More… friends with benefits. Wild benefits.”

Natalie chuckled, a delightful sound when she was relaxed.

“Just how wild?” she asked.

“Gangbang wild, obviously.”

“So? Gangbangs aren’t that wild.”

“Yeah… have you done one?”

“Not with six.”

My eyebrows shot up. “Really?”

“Well… only sort of.”

“Oh, come on Nat. You gotta explain.”

“We trading secrets?”

I grinned like a shark. “Of course.”

“I want to know just how wild these benefits were.” She returned the smirk.

“You first.”

“Mine’s not much of a story,” she said. “I haven’t done six. Only two.”

“Two guys?”

“I think that’s what I just said.”

“That’s not that wild.”

“They were both bi.” She waggled her eyebrows.

My eyebrows shot up.

“Yep. Crossed swords and everything.”

“Wow. I’ve… never done that.” I hastily added, “Never wanted to, either.”

She chuckled heartily.

“Yeah.”

“So. Cheryl.”

“What do you want to know?”

“Just how wild was she?”

I smiled. Natalie was leaning forward, obviously curious. And I had something she wanted. Part of me wanted to draw it out, but that’d just annoy her.

But my heart also raced. Maybe… this was it? The opening I’d been waiting years for?

“Really wild,” I said calmly. “I doubt there’s any sexual act or kink that she hasn’t done, or at least considered. Bondage, group sex, water sports, she’s pretty much done it all.”

“Mmm. But what’s the wildest?”

“That she’s done?”

“Mmm hmm.”

“Well… I don’t know if she actually went through with it.” I paused and grinned, just to make Natalie lean forward a bit more. “But she wanted to seduce her dad.”

“What?!”

“Yep. She was into incest.”

Natalie’s eyes bugged out and her mouth hung open as she stared at me across the bubbling hot tub. She laughed in disbelief. But not disgust.

“Yeah,” I said.

“Did she do it?”

“Do it?”

“Seduce her dad.”

I shrugged. “Not that I know of. But she didn’t tell me everything.”

“As proven by the gangbang.” Natalie leaned back and took a large sip of wine.

“Yeah.”

“So why’d she tell you?”

I shrugged again. “Pillow talk. She was constantly bringing up things she wanted to do.”

Natalie nodded knowingly. “But incest?”

“What can I say? She thought’d it be hot, and she was into anything.”

“I can’t imagine having sex with Dad.”

I chuckled. “Well, neither can I. Of course, I’m straight.”

Natalie smirked at that. “Did you ever meet her dad?”

“Once. He’s pretty good-looking.”

“But you don’t know if they ever did it.”

“No.” I sipped some of my wine. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they had… but I wouldn’t be surprised if they hadn’t, either.”

“Yeah.” I leaned back and let myself float a bit. My blood was racing thanks to the conversation. It’d gone much better than I expected. But still…

Natalie stared off into space, thinking. Her face was calm, actually. That made me a bit nervous.

“You’re not shocked?” I blurted.

“Oh, I am. Not that shocked, though.”

“Why not?”

“Reasons.”

“Reasons?”

“Mmm hmm.”

“Reasons. So why?”

She held up her mostly empty glass and grinned at me. “I’m not drunk enough to answer that.”

I grinned. “We can fix that.”

“Maybe. But after you get me some wine, I wanna hear more about this gangbang.”

I snorted in amusement. That was my big sister, always twisting things so I’d do her favors.

I rose out of the water. “I’ll be right back.”

I brought a full bottle back to the hot tub. I refilled Natalie’s glass and then my own before getting back into the tub. I placed the bottle within reach, though. Natalie waited until I was settled. To my relief, I was surprisingly calm.

“So,” she said. “Cheryl. Gangbang.”

I shrugged. “Like I said, I wasn’t there. I was working late that night. She went clubbing with a girlfriend and ended up back at one of the guy’s apartment.”

“With six guys.”

“Mmm hmm. Apparently, all six did both girls.”

“Wow.”

“And you’re okay with it.” She quickly added, “Or would’ve been, if she’d told you about it.”

“Well…” I briefly considered not telling the truth. But this was Natalie. My big sister. The woman who knew when I was lying, every time.

“Well,” I repeated, “it’s not like she hadn’t let me fuck some of her friends.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. You’re not the only one that’s had threesomes.”

Natalie smirked and swirled her wine.

“But,” I continued, “the agreement was, we’d do it together. You know?”

My sister nodded. “And she broke that.”

“Yeah.” I tried to keep the bitterness out of my voice, but it was hard. I was bitter. At least a little. Cheryl had proven I couldn’t trust her.

“I get it,” Natalie said sympathetically. “It doesn’t matter how good or wild the sex is if they can’t keep their promises.”

“Uh-huh.” I smirked. “And it did get wild.”

She laughed. “Duh. You were having threesomes.”

“And a lot more,” I chuckled.

“Like what?”

“You name it, we tried it. Well, except a few things. No scat or golden showers. Those were just disgusting.” I dramatically shuddered.

“But other stuff.”

“Yeah.”

“What was the wildest? That you did together?”

I laughed. “My big sister actually wants to know about my sex life?”

Her face reddened. “I’m just curious.”

“Because your sex life is so tame.”

“In comparison. Yeah.”

I tilted my head. “When was the last time you got laid?”

“New Year’s. It wasn’t very good. So what was the wildest thing you did with Cheryl?”

“Mmm. Why should I tell you?”

She shrugged. “Up to you.”

“Well… if I tell you, you have to tell me something wild about your sex life.”

“Sure.”

“Okay… well… the wildest thing I probably did with Cheryl was have sex at a concert.”

Natalie raised her eyebrows and waited for me to go on.

“In the middle of the concert,” I said. “Surrounded by people. We were packed, standing room only. She was wearing this really short skirt with no panties. So I stood behind her, unzipped, and we did it.”

“Wow. Really?”

“Mmm hmm.”

She chuckled and shook her head.

“Okay, your turn.”

“What do you want to know?”

I wanted to ask why she wasn’t shocked about the incest, but I chickened out. Instead, I said, “Your choice.”

“Well… I’ve never done it on a concert floor, but I did do it in a club bathroom once.”

“Okay… that doesn’t sound too wild.” I took a sip of my drink.

“It was with a girl.”

I nearly spit out my wine. Fortunately, I managed to clamp my mouth shut in time to avoid spraying the tub and my sister.

“I sat on the sink counter while she licked me. A couple of people came in, but they ignored us.”

“You’re kidding!”

“Nope.” Her smirk was so devilish I could almost imagine little horns on her forehead.

“You’re kidding.”

“I’m not. It really happened.”

“Wow.”

“Mmm hmm. Something for you to imagine when you’re alone later.”

My eyes went wide. Hers danced.

“So let’s talk about something else,” she teased. “Before you explode over there.”

“You are a cruel, cruel woman.”

“And you love me.”

I snorted. I certainly did.

Natalie wanted to change the subject, so we did. Mostly, we talked about dating. She really hadn’t done much since New Year’s and had even spent Valentine’s Day just hanging out with a friend. I had to admit my own love life had been dry since Cheryl and I broke up, but to be honest, I was fine with that. I admitted that I really wasn’t ready for anything serious, though I did miss the sex.

Natalie grinned at my hint but didn’t take the bait.

We talked a little bit more about movies and TV shows. The cabin had WiFi so I was looking forward to catching up on some of the shows I’d heard about. That is, when we weren’t skiing.

“You want to go to the hot springs?” Natalie asked.

“Hot springs?”

“Uh, Brandon, it is named Steamboat Springs. There are hot springs here. Some of them are clothing optional.”

I grinned. “Count me in.”

I had a hard time falling asleep. My thoughts kept turning back to my sister. As a result, I tossed and turned in bed and spent way too long staring at the ceiling.

The problem was, I wanted my sister. I hadn’t really been conscious of it before Cheryl. She’d figured out that I’d had a crush on Natalie. It was hard not to. My sister was beautiful, sexy, and smart. Even better, she was kind and clearly loved me. I’d looked up to her constantly when we were kids.

But Cheryl had been the one to suggest that maybe my interest was more than filial. She’d egged me on, even insisting I call her “Natalie” while we fucked a couple of times.

It’d been some of the hottest sex we’d had.

And now… Natalie hadn’t freaked out when I’d brought up incest. She hadn’t said she was into it… but she hadn’t freaked out.

It was… tantalizing.

But did I want to act on it?

Part of me did, I knew that. But that part of me wasn’t in charge.

I knew Cheryl would. It was just a matter of time before she got ahold of her dad’s dick. She could be persistent when she wanted something.

She was selfish that way, which was the real reason we’d broken up. After the gangbang, I’d realized that she had always placed her own pleasure ahead of me, and probably always would.

That didn’t make a good basis for a relationship, even if it was open.

If she wanted to screw her dad, nothing would stop her, even if it destroyed their relationship down the line.

Which I did not want to happen with Natalie.

As much as I lusted after her. As much as I might fantasize about her, there was no way I could ever hurt my big sister, or do anything to alienate her. She meant too much to me.

I’d raised the topic, expecting to get an “Eww!” or other freak-out.

But she hadn’t.

And now my dick was rock hard thinking about all the nasty, naughty suggestions Cheryl had made.

I jacked off twice before I finally was tired enough to drop off.

I awoke to Natalie knocking on my open door. She stood in the doorway in the oversized t-shirt and short-shorts she used as pajamas. As I stirred, she held up her phone.

“Dad called. Their flight’s been cancelled.”

“Huh?” I was still getting my bearings.

“Their flight was canceled,” she repeated. “Chicago’s shut down due to snow.”

“Chicago?” I groggily sat up.

“Yeah. It’s an arctic blast. You know, coming down from the north. Denver’s getting hit, too.”

I groaned. “How are we doing?”

She shrugged. “It snowed. I don’t know how deep.”

“Okay.” I rubbed my eyes and smiled at my sister. Her “PJs” showed off her toned legs and full bust, but I tried not to think about that. “Lemme get dressed and I’ll go check.”

She smiled. “I’ll start coffee.”

The snow wasn’t bad, but it was bad enough. The new snow had to be ten inches deep, or maybe twelve. The rental car didn’t have snow tires, which seemed almost criminal for Colorado. We could probably drive out the dirt road, as long as we stayed in the middle. But if we went too close to the side…?

Worse, I realized, I’d parked nose in, which meant we’d have to do a three-point turn in order to even get facing the right way.

I came back inside to find Natalie dressed in yoga pants and a thick sweater. She looked up from her phone and gave me a frustrated grimace.

“Weather forecast is more snow all day today and tomorrow. It’ll stop tomorrow night late.”

“Great,” I grumbled.

“At least we’ve got plenty of food.”

“Any idea if they’ll plow the road?”

“I called the owner and got her voicemail.”

“Great,” I grumbled again. I looked down at my jeans. They were soaked. “I’m gonna go change.”

“How about I make some eggs and bacon for breakfast?”

I smiled at her. “That would be wonderful.”

Natalie grinned in reply.

Natalie’s eggs were delicious. She’d scrambled them with cheese and added just the right amount of salt and pepper. When I made scrambled eggs, they were bland—something to wolf down quickly. But then, I rarely cooked anything that couldn’t just be heated in the microwave.

“So,” she said as we ate, “no skiing today. Not hot springs.”

“The owner called back?”

She shook her head.

“So they could plow it soon.” Except I knew as well as she did that a small back road wouldn’t be a high priority.

“Maybe,” she conceded.

“We could always make our own fun.”

She smirked. “Like how?”

“Weren’t there some board games in one of the closets?”

“I think so.”

“Better than nothing.”

“Eh. I suppose.”

“Well,” I said, “what do you want to do?”

She waggled her eyebrows. “Go play in the snow.”

I laughed. “You’re on.

We got on our snow gear and trooped outside. We started by walking around and then playfully throwing a couple of snowballs, first at trees and then each other. Nothing serious. Unfortunately, it was really cold. The wind sliced through our clothes and stung any exposed skin. We started a snowman but gave up before we’d even finished the first level. My nose hurt Natalie’s cheeks were deep scarlet from the cold.

Once we were back inside, we quickly started stripping off our coats and gloves. I did stop to watch as Natalie shimmied out of her ski pants. Her ass was too nice of a sight to not look, especially with her turned the other way so she couldn’t catch me.

“So now what?” I asked.

“Hot tub?”

“Deal. You get the wine?”

“No, you. My suit’s still wet from last night and I want to throw it in the dryer.”

I playfully leered at her. “You could just go naked.”

“Yeah, right. You’d like that.”

“I will if you will.”

She rolled her eyes.

I did the puppy dog eye thing that had worked so well when we were kids.

She laughed. “Nope. I’m not drunk enough.”

“Okay.” I grinned. “I’ll get the wine.”

Natalie was right—putting on a still-damp suit wasn’t fun, but if we were going to get in the tub right away, I could handle it for a few minutes. Apparently, she felt the same way because she came into the kitchen while I was still opening the wine. I raised an eyebrow when I saw her in her robe.

“Yeah,” she said, “I don’t know what I was thinking. It’s just going to get wet again.”

“And it’s not like it gets see-through when wet.”

She laughed. “I didn’t bring that one.”