#skytrashh

Caroline stretched her work-weary feet out in front of the fireplace. It was nice to take a night off for once. The impending blizzard had forced her to cancel all of tomorrow’s meetings, which would make hell of her careful scheduling later, but for now… She hummed a few bars of “Baby It’s Cold Outside” and smiled. 

“What can I get'cha, kid?” Cave called from the liquor cabinet. “We got Jameson, Johnnie Walker, ol’ Jim Beam… some Smirnoff back here, and I think this is tequila but the label’s worn off… Campari, where the hell’d this come from…?”

She called back over her shoulder, “I’ll have what you’re having.”

“You got it.” He returned flourishing two glasses, their contents glinting amber in the firelight. She accepted one, and he took a gulp from the other. Then he plopped down on the sofa next to her, nearly sloshing both drinks, and stretched out his bare legs beside her own. 

Wearing nothing but an unbuttoned shirt and his underwear, her boss was the picture of comfort – yet as she cuddled up next to him, she could feel the tension coiled in his body. He’d been tense like this all day. She’d thought it was the usual work stress, but work was over now, and still he nearly vibrated with energy. “Are you alright, sir?”

“Oh, fine, fine. Love a good snowstorm.” He clapped her on the shoulder. "Don’t you love a good snowstorm, Caroline?“ 

"Yes, sir – ”

But before the words were out of her mouth, he was up and moving again. Abandoning his drink on the coffee table, he jumped to his feet and started to pace around the sofa. “It’s special, right? Cozy.  Chestnuts roasting, all that crap. People wait all year for this.”

She watched him over the rim of her glass. “You’re speechifying." 

"Might be. So what?”

“You’ve been bouncing off the walls all day. What’s going on?" He was never good at keeping secrets. Right now, he looked like a shaken champagne bottle. 

"What I’m saying is, wouldn’t it be something to have that anywhere, anytime?”

“We’ll get the lab boys on it.”

“Way ahead of you.” Grinning like a schoolkid, he pressed something into her hand – a remote control. It had two large buttons and a dial. He pointed to the second button. “Try it.”

She looked at him quizzically, but pressed it – and jumped out of her skin as a mechanical rumbling like thunder began overhead. “What the hell – ?”

“Watch this.” Grabbing her by the arm, he dragged her to the window. She looked up just in time to see the metal rafters slide back into the walls, revealing two huge industrial fans. And then…

Caroline gasped as it started to snow. 

“I figured you’d like it.” Her boss looked terribly smug. 

She pressed her face up to the glass, mesmerized. “Is it real?”

“Yep. One hundred percent real frozen water.”

“Must take an awful lot of power…”

“Not a problem for ol’ Cave. Had the boys patch it into the house’s power grid.”

“Will that overload the system?”

“Nah, it’s – ” All at once, the house went dark. “ – fine.”

They both looked up. Outside the fans went silent, but the snow continued to fall. 

“Shit.” Cave scrambled into action. “We got any electricians in tonight, or did they all go home? I know there’s a flashlight somewhere. Might be out of batteries, though. Do we have any candles? Caroline, help me out here, we got any candles?”

But Caroline was laughing. “Let’s leave it for now, sir. We can get it fixed in the morning." 

She did look lovely in just the firelight. "Might get cold,” he purred, sidling up to her. “We’ll have to huddle for warmth.”

“Wasn’t that the plan already?”

He pulled her close and kissed her coy smile. The warm light gilded her cheeks and glowed in her dark eyes. “Sweet Christmas, you are beautiful…”

They kissed again, and kissed some more, and sank to the rug in front of the fire. “Ohh, Mr. Johnson…” Caroline sat up. “So how does the slush drain out of here once it melts?"