Saturday's Storyteller: "The weather outside was frightful. And inside...let's just say I preferred my snow-covered tree house."

by Belinda Roddie

The weather outside was frightful. And inside...let's just say I preferred my snow-covered tree house. In fact, I decided to stay in there than in the main house with my parents, who were already busy cuddling on the couch in the living room and watching some kind of football game. I knew this because I had a solid view of them, their huddled silhouettes vivid behind the ice glazed window.

I wasn't alone, either. Anna was already nestled in the corner close to the stacks of books I kept here, swaddled in one of the blankets. I walked over to her and felt the planks of the floor beneath me creak. The wind seemed to howl in reply to the sound. She let me slip into the blanket beside her and bury my face in her chest.

"Cold as balls," she muttered, as I debated squeezing her hand.

"Are balls usually cold? I always figured they got warm and sweaty."

"I wouldn't know. Never touched 'em before."

"I heard they're fun to play with."

Anna shrugged and run a thumb across her lips. We couldn't get electricity in the tree house, but the light from the main house was enough for me to see her creased brow and full lips. I navigated my hand toward her waist and let my fingers dance across her stomach. She noticed and smiled.

"You sure you don't want to go back inside?"

I blinked. "We are inside."

"You know what I mean."

"They still can't know."

Chuckling, Anna put her arm around my shoulders. The kiss she let simmer on my mouth took the chill away.

"And what they don't know won't hurt 'em, eh?"

The blizzard gusts outside sounded like a god's loud, exasperated exhalations. Let it snow, I thought. Let it snow.

This week's prompt was provided by Paige Voorhees.