As I held back my unrequited love’s hair while she relieved her troubled stomach all over the icy pavement, I reflected that this wasn’t exactly how I’d hoped to spend my first Christmas in London. The previous year, after months of interviews in secret, I’d landed a new job in the City. I celebrated by taking my work colleagues out for a curry - a kind of Merry Christmas/Happy New Job/Goodbye kind of thing. I’d sure miss...

The road was bumpy, the carriage wheels jolted and hopped over stones and ruts as it made its way through the darkening wood. The professor and his mistress sat comfortably in the plush interior, warm with the glow of a tiny stove as snowflakes drifted past outside. The finely wrought springs in the undercarriage turned the hard jolts of the road into a gliding and swooping movement that Ilsa found exciting. In the warmth...

Come to me!on a cold dark nightwith a full moon howlingin a clear Alaskan sky. Walk with me,on the coastal trailwhere the footprints are fewin the woods by the shore. Talk with me,tell me secretsthat only lovers can knowin soft whispers to my waiting ear. Dance with me,our steps so slow and closewill snap the winter stillnessand proclaim our rising boldness. Come with me,to share the joyin a rush of hurried heaton a glist...

Charlotte’s eyes burned as she stared into the little video box on the laptop screen in front of her.  She watched a policeman extract a thin laptop from a safe in the wall, one of three Brumble had stashed.  In the study, another ran his fingers along a thin line of caulk on the drywall next to a bookcase, courtesy of Sersha last night.  Subtle beacons in a perfect house. The little clues had never failed.    Today Sersh...

Pearls of a winter’s day plash gently on open hands, Each snowflake a gem of melting opulence, Garnishing season’s moods with opalescent sheets. Purity celebrated in perpetual variety, With polished faces of ivory radiance; Their tender and alluring eyes abounding everywhere.   Shades of winter relax not in the hue of hope; Where love is blue sadness seeks sympathy, But blue is livid in my fleeting fantasies Where no warm...

The Bomb Shelter Virgin   Christmas Eve 1941, Kyiv (Kiev) Russia. Natalya was busying herself peeling vegetables for Christmas day by candlelight. She had not long returned from Christmas Eve mass at the church, the deep cold still in her bones. Dressed in her numerous layers of woolen clothing it seemed impossible to keep warm. It was ten below zero outside and the snow had been falling for many days. Everything was whit...

The frigid, glacial cold slithers in through every pore in her body as she steps naked from the Jacuzzi. Then it slaps her full in the face, a stinging blow that reminds her of a nasty little French godmother that didn’t tolerate sneaking Macarons past bedtime as a child. She welcomed it though, even spread her arms wide to embrace it. Ivalo, Finland and the Northern Lights were a desperate ploy to save a failing marriage...

“Come on now, don’t be a wimp!” Down the hill, the two gals that made up half of their small group stood positioned next to the side of the landing area. To the one still summoning up the courage to attempt the jump, one of them had shouted, teasing him. “You’re more than welcome to hike up here and try it yourself!” dared Jordan back. Chris stood next to him and studied the ramp, inhaling sharp. It wasn’t a jump differen...

“Don’t you fucking dare.” His vulgarity travels from the crown of her head to the soles of her feet. “Someone might see us.” He inhales her quiet protest. “Then hurry and come.” Emmett’s suggestion, laced with ascension, arouses Mila to the point of concern. Hand down the front of her snow-proof pants, she rises to orgasm as they stand in the snow, shrouded by a collection of green-needled trees. Her face in his coat. Emm...

As my wife and I arrived at the ski resort in Aspen, the concierge opened the double doors and welcomed us to the lodge. We stepped inside the large hallway, walking past an open fireplace and towards the reception desk as the porter took our bags. A lady at the desk smiled and asked for our names, "James and Carrie Quinn," I replied. After receiving the keys to our room, we followed the porter up a long winding staircase...

“Thanks again for coming.” I said as soon as we were alone in the hotel room. “It wasn’t that bad.” He said. “It’s also not your family.” I took out of my bag the bottle of wine that stole, snuck out of the cousin’s wedding reception, whatever you want to say. “Wine?” “Why not?” I found the two hotel provided glasses on the dresser and poured as each a too full glass. They weren’t wine glasses, but they would do. I handed...

Sonja stepped outside the lodge and took a lungful of cold mountain air. Behind her, the party raged on, seemingly oblivious to her absence. The haze of pot smoke inside was bothering her. It made her feel a bit dopey, even though she had never touched a joint herself. Or the spiked desserts, for that matter. The noise was an irritant, too, leaving her hearing dull and a ringing in her ears. Zipping up her coat, Sonja wal...