Chapter 1: Julia goes to Alaska to live alone in a remote cabin

The bush plane shook as it flew into a current of air. Julia gripped the seat, the blood leaving her knuckles.

"Just a little turbulence," the pilot said cheerfully, as if in response to her unspoken fear. "These little planes get tossed around more easily than the jets you're probably used to, but don't you worry. I've been flying out in the bush for twenty seven-years and haven't met a current yet that I couldn't navigate."

That calmed her a little. Julia took a deep breath and loosened her hold of the seat enough so that the color returned to her hands. She gave a nervous laugh. "Oh I'm not worried," she lied, betrayed by her shaking voice. "Uncle Ray assured me that you're one of the best, so I know I'm in good hands."

The pilot eyed her curiously. "I must admit I'm a little surprised that Ray would agree to let his young niece stay alone at his cabin for an entire year. You do know you'll be nearly three miles from the nearest neighbor, and a good fourteen miles from town with no road to get you there? It could get awfully lonesome in that little cabin those long cold winter months."

"Believe me, it wasn't easy to convince my uncle. It took me three years to persuade him, and he agreed only under certain conditions," Julia explained. "He'll be flying out here in September to check in on me, and then he plans to return in January as well. He's also made arrangements with his neighbor to stop by from time to time.

"Uncle Ray stocked up enough firewood to last me the whole year, so I have plenty of fuel, and I intend to have enough food on hand at any given time to last me for months."

Julia continued, "Besides, if worse comes to worse, I can always take his snowmobile, I mean snowmachine," she corrected, reminding herself to use local terminology, "into town and rent a room if living off the grid ends up being too much for me to deal with. That was another one of my uncle's conditions, and he arranged a place for me to stay if it comes to that."

"Well, it sounds like you have put a lot of thought into it," the pilot admitted, "and it's good you have a backup plan. My apologies; I didn't mean to pry. It's just that a lot of folks get these romantic ideas about living here, and those who aren't properly prepared..."

He said no more, and didn't need to; she knew what he was going to say.

"I know it's not going to be easy," Julia acknowledged. "I'd like to think I'm a resourceful person, though, and I do have wilderness and survival experience."

"Well, that's good. You'll likely need to use those skills before your year is up."

Julia nodded her agreement and turned her eyes to the window, soaking in the Alaskan landscape as the plane's shadow skimmed along the undulating, tree-covered surface below, following their path.

Even now she saw a moose rising from the surface of a shimmering lake that was bordered by a thick swath of trees. Far in the distance the snow-covered mountains rose bold and majestic, welcoming her to her new home. This was the romance the pilot was talking about, Julia thought in awe, a giddy grin splitting her face; this place was amazingly, breathtakingly beautiful.

It was some time before the pilot finally spoke. "Well, we're coming to it."

Julia looked up, her eyes following his pointing finger. A wide ribbon of water came into view from behind the trees. In the distance she could see a small clearing with a cabin and other small buildings on it, and then another. Must be her "neighbor", she thought to herself with a smile. Beyond that, a little further in the distance, she saw the buildings and homes of tiny Eagle Eye, Alaska.

The cabins, and then the town, seemed deceptively close together from this vantage point, but Julia knew she would be effectively cut off from them. Never had she lived so far from a town, let alone the nearest house. She felt a thrill of excitement for the adventure looming, right now, before her, and her stomach flipped a little.

"Hold on tight, darlin'. We're going in."

Julia braced herself with her hands, her whole body tight. A soundless prayer formed behind her lips. Breathe, she reminded herself, don't forget to breathe. Flying made her uncomfortable, it always had, but the worst part was taking off. And landing. Damn, that clearing looks awfully short.

To her surprise and relief, they landed and came to a stop with plenty of room to spare. Used to runways thousands of feet long at major airports, it was hard to believe any plane could land in a space that tight. When they had come to a stop the pilot turned to the woman with a smile.

"Now, that wasn't so bad, was it?" he asked.

"Best landing I ever had," Julia answered truthfully.

He grinned broadly. "Thank you kindly. Well, little lady, what do you say we unload your things and get them to your new home?"

The plane had landed about a half mile south of the cabin, and after several trips back and forth between the two of them, all her things were off the plane and inside the house.

Julia took a moment now to look around her. Even though she hadn't been here for close to twenty years, not much had changed.

The sturdy handmade furniture was a little darker in places from decades of hands touching the same areas over and over. And the woodstove looked newer than the one she remembered.

But there was the old kerosene lamp on the middle of the little kitchen table, and the porcelain wash basin and the steel tea kettle with the wooden handle on the kitchen counter. She could also see from where she stood that the quilt on the bed in the tiny bedroom was the same one Aunt Shirley had pieced together the first summer Julia stayed with them at the cabin.

Julia opened the shutters to let the light in.

"I'll have us a fire going in just a minute if you'd like to stay for a cup of tea," she said.

"Well, just for a minute. I don't like to say no to a pretty lady," the pilot answered.

Metal pail in hand, Julia raced to the river and filled it with water. Then she grabbed an armful of wood from the lean to and had a fire going in the woodstove in no time. She heated some water in the tea kettle and shortly thereafter, the two were enjoying their cups of tea as they sat around the kitchen table.

"I assume the neighbor your uncle was referring to was Ben Anderson," the pilot remarked. "Fellow lives just short of three miles southeast of here, following the river. We passed over his place on our way in."

Julia nodded. "Yes, my uncle said he's a bachelor, been living out here year-round for many years. Good neighbor. Uncle Ray told me he'd gladly help me out, to just tell him I'm Ray's niece and he'd take care of me."

The pilot smiled into his cup as he took a drink. "Yes, I reckon he'd give you anything you need if you only ask for it, a pretty girl like you."

Julia could hear the edge in his voice and cocked her head, looking at him. What was he implying? She didn't have time to think more about it before the pilot spoke again.

"Yeah, Ben's a decent fellow, real hardworking. Quiet, keeps to himself, naturally, but he'd give the shirt off his back to help a person in need."

Everything he's saying about this guy is virtually word for word the same things Uncle Ray said about him, Julia thought with some consternation. Decent. Hardworking. Generous, but keeps to himself. Glad to know he's a good neighbor, but couldn't they be just a tiny bit more descriptive?

And as far as his physical appearance, the most Julia could get out of her uncle was that he was "sort of a big guy, tall, with brown hair." Not that it should matter what he looks like, she reminded herself, but still it would be nice to know a little something more about her nearest neighbor for the next twelve months. For all she knew he was some wild-eyed freak, decent and hardworking notwithstanding.

Julia started suddenly at the squeak of wood on wood and her eyes focused to see the pilot standing up from his chair.

"Well, young lady, it sure has been nice talking with you, and I thank you for the tea, but it's getting late and I best be heading off," he said.

"Are you sure you wouldn't like something to eat?" Julia asked quickly. She had been looking forward to the solitude, but felt a small jump of panic in her gut at the realization that her last human contact, perhaps for some time, was leaving.

The pilot smiled, but shook his head. "Thank you very kindly, but I've got a date with my old lady. Haven't seen her in a few weeks and we're anxious to see each other. We've got a lot of catching up to do and I'm already late in getting started," he explained with a mischievous smile and a knowing wink, the wrinkles creasing around his twinkling brown eyes.

Julia laughed and felt her face flush shyly.

The pilot's face grew soft and he said quietly, "Are you sure you're gonna be alright out here, darlin'?"

"I'm sure I'll get along just fine," she assured him. "After all, Uncle Ray was right about you. I'd like to think he has good judgment about other things too."

The pilot grinned. "Well, you're right about that. Ray's a sharp bastard and I don't suppose he'd agree to this if he wasn't sure you were up to the task."

He wished her well and they shook hands warmly before the pilot disappeared into the woods south of her uncle's clearing. Julia sat in one of the wooden chairs outside of the cabin waiting for the plane to disembark. Before long she heard the rumbling of its engine. Julia shielded her eyes from the light reflecting off the river as she glimpsed the small craft lifting into the air and disappear from sight.

"Well," she said to herself, breathing in the crisp air deeply, "here I go."

Julia worked in the garden patch, pulling weeds from around the tiny potato plants. Her black hair was glossy in the warm sunlight, pulled back in a ponytail. A loose strand kept getting caught by her sweating forehead, the hair tickling her flushed cheek. Her body was drenched in sweat, her clothes sticky. Living out in the wilderness was hard work.

"Ugh," Julia grimaced. "I wish I could just take off my clothes and cool off in my bare skin."

Suddenly, it occurred to her that she wasn't living back in Seattle. It was funny how, even though she had been living out here in the middle of nowhere for the past two weeks, she still often thought in terms of civilization. Of course she could take off her clothes! She laughed aloud delightedly.

Wasting no more time, Julia quickly stripped off her clothing until all that remained were her soft leather moccasins. The cool air flowed over her skin and she sighed with pleasure. "That's more like it," she said to herself with a smile.

Julia loved being nude. Even as a toddler she would run away from her mother in the middle of changing her diaper. Over the years she continued to display a free-spiritedness which alarmed her deeply religious parents, and they worked hard to replace her openness with shame and humility.

But their only child chafed under their strict directives, and over time Julia's relationship with her parents grew strained and eventually they drifted apart. Julia found herself more closely aligned with the quirky older brother of her father. Uncle Ray didn't share her love for conversation, but they did have in common a deep affinity for the outdoors and living life on one's own terms.

She hadn't seen her neighbor since she'd arrived—she hadn't seen anyone since the pilot left—and, well, she didn't expect to anytime soon. Julia knew the guy kept to himself and she figured she'd maybe stop by his place one of these days to introduce herself. But she wasn't ready to do that yet.

To be honest, Julia felt she had something to prove. She appreciated that her uncle had gone to so much trouble to make sure she had people looking out for her, but she wanted to do this herself.

She had to admit it was unnerving when she first saw the size of the woodpile behind the cabin, and had felt some embarrassment while recalling how stubbornly she had tried to argue with her uncle about the extent to which he insisted he help her before he would agree to let her stay here.

Nevertheless Julia did have the firewood she needed. After a few trips into town, along with the supplies she had already brought in with her, she would have enough food and fuel to last her through to spring at least. Julia didn't see any reason to be in a big hurry to meet her hermit neighbor. Besides, he probably had better things to do.

A bead of sweat dripped from her forehead, stinging Julia's eyes. She wiped her hand instinctively across her face before noticing that her fingers were caked with dirt. I could use a bath, she thought to herself. The solar shower was out around back, but it only held enough water for a three-minute shower and her fingernails were encrusted with dirt.

It'll be cold, but I'll take a dip in the river; that'll get me clean, she thought. She put the trowel in the tool shed and made her way to the water's edge.

Julia quickly dunked herself under the surface knowing that it would help her body adjust to the river's brisk temperature. She let the gently flowing water wash the sweat and dirt from her skin.

Ben hiked along the trees just shy of the river. He was coming close to his neighbor's cabin and planned to stop by before making a trip into town. Ben wanted to see if he could borrow Ray's canoe; his own boat had sprung a leak and needed repair. If worse came to worse he knew he could drive his all-terrain vehicle into Eagle Eye, but he preferred the quiet of the river. Motorized vehicles seemed intrusive out here, and he tried to avoid using his whenever possible.

Besides, he had to go check on the old man's niece anyway, make sure she was alright. He'd seen her plane come in a couple weeks ago and had agreed to look in on her from time to time; he figured it was about time he got around to doing it. Apparently she had some wild notion of spending the year in her uncle's cabin. Ben wondered if she knew what she was getting herself into.

It seemed a little foolhardy to him but he wasn't one to judge, and he wished her luck. He just hoped she was as self-sufficient as Ray had assured him she'd be. He had too much work to attend to at his own place for her to pester him about every little thing she had failed to take into consideration.

Just before reaching the clearing he heard a splash coming from the river. His senses alerted, Ben proceeded cautiously, just in case it was a bear or some other large animal and not his neighbor.

It was no bear. It was a woman. She was shorter than average, with tan skin, and had shimmering black hair that flowed in wet, wavy strands about her shoulders. And she was entirely, utterly naked. His eyes grazed over her dripping body, lingering over her full curves as she left the water.

Her dark nipples were tight from the cold. He shivered and moved his eyes to her face. Her face, like her body, was rounded, with high cheekbones and full lips. Her eyes were dark brown with a slight almond shape.

This was his new neighbor? Ben felt his cock growing stiff in his pants.

The woman bent down to pick up her discarded moccasins, rewarding him with a flash of her full bottom as she shared, just for a moment, a glimpse of her pussy lips peeking from the dark curls between her legs. Ben's mouth went dry, his eyes following her body's every movement as she walked, hips swaying, toward the cabin.

She went inside for a moment, but to his amazement she returned outdoors with only a towel. After drying herself off she sat down on one of the wooden chairs.

Ben stood transfixed.

Suddenly, without thinking, he stalked closer to the cabin, his years of experience as a hunter allowing him to slip silently and hidden among the trees until at last he was not far from where she sat. He could hear her talking to herself if he concentrated.

Julia stretched for a moment and sat down in the wooden chair that her uncle had built. She sighed with contentment. "That was cold, but God did it feel good," she said to herself, running her fingers down her slightly damp skin.

The moisture cooled her body, raising goose bumps as she absentmindedly stroked her arms and belly. Then her hands slid to her chest, and cupping her breasts, she felt her nipples jutting almost painfully with cold. Julia shuddered in reaction to her touch and felt a twinge in her groin.

"Mmm," she murmured, pinching and rolling her nipples between her fingers. The bad thing about being out in the middle of nowhere is having no one around to fuck, she thought. Maybe I should go introduce myself to my new neighbor after all; both Uncle Ray and the pilot said he would give me anything I need.

Julia felt a throb and a surge of wetness. Sliding one hand slowly down her abdomen she continued with her fantasy. "Oh I wonder if you'd like that, wilderness man," she said aloud. "I bet you have even more pent up sex than I do, out here in the bush all alone."

Ben's head jerked at the words tumbling from the woman's mouth. "Wilderness man"? He strained to listen more closely as his crotch flooded with heat.

Julia gasped as her fingers slipped down to the patch of dark hair between her legs. She felt her pussy pulsate as she reached between her lips, slicking the juice from her slit to her clitoris. Julia's back arched and she groaned loudly at the touch to her aching clit. She then spread her legs wide and hooked them over the chair's arms so she could work on herself more easily.

"Oh yes, baby, lick my clit, eat my pussy," Julia begged her imaginary lover, rubbing her slick fingers round and round her clitoris.

Ben stood hidden, just a few feet away, his cock tightening painfully. He had gotten hard the first moment he stumbled upon this naked woman. But to see her now, wildly stroking herself, maybe even thinking about him ... He was ready to throw her on the ground and take her, right now, and it was only by sheer force of will that he remained where he was.

If he didn't do something soon he was going to explode in his pants. Quickly, but quietly, Ben opened the front of his trousers, his cock head straining out the top of his underwear. Grabbing at its base he began to stroke himself, up and down, in time with her increasingly urgent rhythm.

Lifting her ass off the wooden seat Julia moaned, "Ohhh, please fuck me. Fuck me and fill all my holes with your hard cock," as she ground her clit more and more furiously.

Ben grunted at her plea as his fist slid up and down his shaft, faster and faster to match her speed. "I'll fuck you anyway you please, baby," he muttered, his eyes glued on her sopping cunt. He could tell she was close to the edge now.

Julia stiffened and screamed with her orgasm. She screamed so loudly it disturbed the birds perched in the trees surrounding her cabin and they scattered about in confusion. As Ben watched her chest heave and her cunt twitch, his own orgasm came rumbling from his balls, his semen spraying the tree trunk. It took great self-control not to roar as he released, he was so turned on.

The woman sat resting, waiting for her breathing and pulse to quiet, her legs still wrapped around the arms of the chair. After a few minutes she began to return to herself and it was then that she noticed the air felt a little cooler than it had before. Well, I better go put something on, she thought to herself with a wry grin. After all, this is Alaska.

Julia untangled her legs, got up and went into the cabin. She slipped on a pair of knit pants and an old long-sleeved T-shirt. After picking up a comb she walked back outside, combing her hair, thinking about dinner. She had worked up quite an appetite.

Her musings were interrupted by the sound of a broken twig. Julia looked up quickly, and to her shock saw, from out of the woods, a man striding toward her.

He was well over six feet tall and appeared to be in his early to mid-forties. The man had dark brown hair peppered with a few silver strands, loose curls resting on the collar of his shirt. His features were strong and masculine, and dark stubble covered his square jaw.

His skin was tanned lightly by the outdoors, his body tightly muscular without being bulky. A rifle hung behind his right shoulder and a knapsack was slung along the left.

Julia's breath was stolen by this man's rugged beauty and her body reacted to him at once. It couldn't be the neighbor—could it?

"Hello," he said, smiling at the woman.

Julia blinked, breaking her stare at the glorious man approaching her. Then she remembered he had spoken to her.

"Hello," she answered, returning his smile as he reached her position.

"I'm your neighbor from downstream a ways," the man said. "My name's Ben, Ben Anderson."

Julia sucked in her breath sharply. Oh my God, it is him! Blushing at her obvious reaction, she tried to recover. "Julia," she burst out. Calm down girl, stay cool. "My name's Julia Harkensin. Ray Harkensin's my uncle," she added, holding out her hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

Ben smiled broadly at her shy awkwardness, the skin around his hazel eyes crinkling with the beginning of laughing lines. "Julia, the pleasure's all mine," he said, taking her hand. He shook it twice and then lifted it to his lips. Before kissing it, he took a fraction of a second to subtly inhale.

This was the hand she used to play with her clit just minutes before, he thought; indeed, he could still smell her juices on her fingers. He wished he could suck them clean for her as he felt his loins stirring again.

Julia allowed him to kiss her hand for just a moment before pulling it away. She had just fingered herself with that hand and didn't want him to smell it.

The initial introductions over, Ben and Julia chatted about Uncle Ray, Alaska, and living off the grid.

"So your uncle tells me you'll be staying here for the next year," Ben commented.

"Yes," she confirmed. "I'm a writer. I'm writing a book about living in the wilderness. Uncle Ray tells me you live out here full-time, not just in the summer like he does. Maybe I could pick your brain for insight into what it takes to survive the wild," she added with a wink.

Ben's eyes glinted at her appreciatively. "You are welcome to use me for research purposes. I wouldn't want your book to ring false."

Julia froze briefly upon hearing his reply. The way he said it had an edge that seemed vaguely sexual. She shook her head. No, you're just imagining things, she thought.

"I was just getting ready to put dinner on the stove, would you like to join me?" Julia asked.

"I should be having you for dinner," Ben replied. "After all, it seems like the neighborly thing to do with you being new around here and all."

"You can make me dinner next time," she promised. "Will you stay tonight? For dinner, I mean," she fumbled.

Ben grinned, his eyes barely containing his desire for this beautiful woman whose cheeks flushed pink with embarrassment. "It would be my pleasure," he answered.

Oh God, Julia thought as she felt a jolt between her legs, it's like half the things he says have a double meaning. She pushed the thought aside again. It's probably just my dirty mind; I need to masturbate more often. I just had an incredible orgasm and still I have sex on the brain.

The two feasted at the tiny kitchen table on a simple but delicious meal of fresh trout with potatoes, onions and carrots. Their knees kept bumping until they worked out a way of staggering their legs.

"How my uncle's family ever fit four people around this table I'll never know!" Julia laughed.

"Well, I think Ben Franklin once said that conversations around the table are much livelier when knees are touching," Ben smiled. Frankly, he was rather enjoying the inadvertent contact with her legs.

Julia began to tell Ben about growing up loving nature. "My family has always been outdoorsy," she explained. "I learned how to fish when I was five years old, though I didn't put the bait on the hook myself for a few more years," she admitted. Ben grinned and nodded, encouraging her to continue.

She shared stories about camping trips with her parents and the summer they traveled throughout the western United States visiting national parks. She spoke of spending the summer with Uncle Ray and his family at this very cabin when she was fourteen and sixteen as well as a few winter trips when they vacationed here over school breaks.

Julia told about going on her first backpacking trip, and of taking a wilderness survival course where she was dropped off in the middle of nowhere with only a map, a compass, and a knife, and having to make her way back to the rally point.

I can't believe I've never met this woman before now, Ben thought as he felt himself growing rock hard under the table. He was grateful for its cover.

"I'm surprised I never saw you before," Ben said, speaking one of his thoughts aloud. "I've been living here on my land going on sixteen years and I'm sure I'd remember seeing you. Have you not been back here since you were a teenager?"

Julia shook her head. "Aunt Shirley and my cousins died in a house fire back home when I was nineteen," she explained, "and after that Uncle Ray only came here alone."

I wonder why that is, Ben asked himself. Ray had never talked about having a family, though Ben knew he had had one once from the old timers in town. Since the old man never brought it up, the younger one left things well enough alone. He knew what it was like to want to keep some things to one's self.

As if she had read his mind Julia continued. "I think this cabin became his refuge, both to remember and forget. His family spent so much time here, it's a little like pieces of their sprits are still tied to this land. Uncle Ray and Aunt Shirley built this cabin by hand themselves.

"He never talked about it, but I think he might have been afraid that if anyone else close to him came here, people who were here when his wife and children were still alive, that it would destroy his one oasis, the last place where his family still lived, or at least the illusion of it."

And it took him seventeen years to let go and start living again, she added to herself. Julia fell silent, feeling a little guilty sharing such intimate details about her stoic uncle. She doubted he came up here each summer to bare his soul to the locals, and would most likely be mortified at the thought of her spilling her guts to his closest neighbor.

"And yet here you are now," Ben observed, interrupting her train of thought. "Will Ray be joining you at any point?"

"Yes, he's planning on stopping by every few months to check in on me, but probably only for a few days at a time," Julia answered.

It was a woman who finally released her uncle from his walking coma. Uncle Ray wasn't quite ready to bring her here this year, but he was willing to compromise and spend the summer on her ranch in Wyoming. His favorite niece, however, was more successful in persuading him to allow her to stay at the wilderness home he loved.

Ben sat quietly thinking about the new found information he had learned about his summer neighbor. He hadn't realized...

"May I ask you a question, Ben?" he heard Julia say suddenly.

"Of course," he replied, his eyes focusing back on her smiling face.

"So how did you end up out here, nearly twenty miles from the nearest road?"

Ben frowned as he considered his response. "Is this a question for your book?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, no," she fumbled, flustered. "I was just curious. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry."

His gentle smile assured her no offense was taken. "It's a fair enough question," he answered slowly, "but it's also a long story for another time."

Julia was intrigued, but didn't press any further. His eyes looked far away, as if he were remembering something, or someone, from long ago.

"I do admit," she began again with a bit of a shaky laugh, "I am a little concerned about my own ability to keep from going stir crazy come February. Have any tips?"

"Well, it's always good to make sure you go outside on a regular basis, even when it's the last thing you want to do. I don't know if it's the air getting stale inside or just plain cabin fever, but staying inside all winter can make a person lose a few marbles." Ben paused, and then grinned. "'Course, you do have to be at least a little bit crazy to begin with to live out here, and I'm not sure there's a remedy for that."

They laughed heartily together.

"What about loneliness?" Julia continued after a moment, still thinking about her own future isolation. "How do you deal with that?"

Ben's eyes got that faraway look again. Oh God, she thought, I've done it again. She was just opening her mouth to apologize when he began to speak.

"I'm not sure I can offer you much insight there," he said quietly. "Sometimes I wonder if I took it too far myself, if maybe I shouldn't have allowed myself to remain isolated for so long. It can get to you after a while..." His voice trailed off.