Fun in the Snow

The return trip on our last day almost didn't happen. The roads, we were told, were impassable. An attempt would be made mid-morning to clear the snow from the roads so we could leave.

When the word came that we could get through, the group gathered all their luggage together while I went to the coach park to get the coach. This took some time because I first had to shovel the snow from around the coach, then remove the blanket from the engine and make sure that the oil was not frozen. The anti-freeze had ensured that the coolant would circulate when I started the engine. I let it idle for some time until it was up to operating temperature. I cranked the air-con up to spit-roast to try and get some heat into the passenger compartment before I got mobile.

Once rolling I tested the brakes, they were cold and not very effective, so I rode them for a while to get some heat into them. By the time that I reached the B&B the coach was safe to drive.

Loading took little time, the group set up a chain and the luggage was passed from person to person until it was all stowed and everyone had climbed on board.

I was to follow the snow plough down from the mountain. I took it easy, using the engine brakes as much as possible to avoid losing grip and sliding off the road. It took almost twice as long to get down the mountain that it had taken to get up, and at last we were below the snow line and on relatively flat road and I could relax a little and begin my commentary for the return journey. "Because we are running behind schedule, we will be breaking our journey. We will be overnighting in Ballarat, and making an early start in the morning. If I were driving on my own I would drive straight through and get back to Adelaide around 2:00 in the morning. But I'm not, and I'm also not prepared to take any chances where your safety is concerned."

"Come on, admit it, you just want another night with Bethany." Someone commented.

"Well, that had crossed my mind I must admit." I heard Bethany move behind me and then felt her lips on my neck. "Enough of that, you wouldn't want me to lose control, would you?"

"Yes I would, but not of your driving." She chuckled.

"Are you dis-satisfied with my performance?"

"No, but there will always be room for improvement." She sat back in her seat. I glanced in the rear-view mirror to see her blowing me a kiss.

I don't know what it was, but this shadow of doubt cast its fleeting presence across my mind.

The trip home was largely uneventful, a couple of rest stops and truck stop lunch saw us rolling down the South-Eastern Freeway hill into Adelaide before dodging the late afternoon traffic to the clubrooms and unloading passengers and luggage.

"Leave mine, I'm coming with you." Bethany said as I grabbed her bag from the luggage compartment. There was that shadow again, she hadn't asked if she could come with me, she told me that she was coming.

"Are you sure? I'm just going to take the coach back to where I left my car, and then drive home for a good night's sleep. Then tomorrow I'm taking the coach to a truck wash before returning it to our depot and I guess, handing it over to the receivers. I guess that I'll also cop shit for ignoring the order to return to the depot before we left."

"Sounds good to me. Not you copping shit, but you may just be surprised. If I were working for the receivers I would have applauded your initiative, after all the trip was going to make a profit for the company."

I liked her enthusiasm, misplace though it might be. "But I plan to sleep."

"So do I, with you."

"But I don't have any food. Let me rephrase that, I don't have any food suitable for entertaining a guest."

"So that's all that I am to you, just a guest?"

"No. You've got that wrong, you could never be just a guest. I'm embarrassed to say that what I have to feed myself is not something that I would serve up to anyone else, it's an acquired taste."

"Then I guess that I'll have to acquire it. What I'm trying to tell you is that I don't want to be alone tonight, I want to be with you. I can't make my feelings any clearer than that."

The fleeting shadow was my losing control of the situation. "If you must, but don't complain to me tomorrow when you find yourself totally and comprehensibly bored."

"No chance of that." Does she know something that I don't?

While I thought that the food I served up to her was ordinary at best, she proclaimed it to be great. I also thought that the chateau cardboard wine was pretty ordinary, but the way that she enthused over it, I would have thought that I had served her a Grange.

I offered her the first use of the shower. She suggested a shared shower, but that was until she saw how small the cubicle was. While she was showering I noticed that she hadn't brought her luggage in from the car. "Do you want me to get your bags for you?" I shouted through the shower screen.

"No, leave them."

She emerged with a towel wrapped around her body and another around her head. "Your turn." She kissed me as she walked past, heading for the bedroom. I would have insisted on her using my room and me taking the spare room, but that would have been pointless.

Both towels were folded over the foot of the bed and I assumed, rightly, that she wore nothing more than a smile. Believe it or not, but both of us were dead to the world within half an hour of me climbing into bed.

The next morning brought with it several surprises. Okay the waking to this beautiful woman demanding my cock in her pussy wasn't that much of a surprise these days, but it was nice.

After breakfast we drove the coach to the truck wash not far from the depot and spruced it up. Bethany did suggest that because I was handing it to the receivers I could take it back dirty. I told her that this was not in my nature.

The first big surprise was to be met by my boss who, surprisingly, was not angry with me for ignoring his order to return the coach. This was quickly followed by his announcement that the company had been sold to a private equity consortium who wanted it to continue operating. The third was that the new owners had decided that I should take over the running of the company. This was getting much too weird for me to handle.

"What's going on around here?" I asked him.

"You tell me and we'll both know. Two days after you had absconded with a very valuable coach, the receivers got a call from this consortium. They offered to clear all of our debts to creditors and to take over the company. The offer was accepted, and then the demands began to arrive. The first was the one where you were to take over the running of the company, and let me tell you that if you run it with the same cavalier attitude to the rules as you showed last week, it won't last long. But that's just my opinion, the new owners seem to believe otherwise. Good luck mate, believe me you'll need it with the industry the way it is right now."

"I don't understand why they would insist that I run the show, I'm just a driver."

"Why don't you ask them, there is a meeting planned for this afternoon. I'll leave you to it."

"This is wonderful darling." Bethany hugged me and gave me a huge kiss.

My mind wasn't on the hug, or the kiss, it was thrashing around trying to make sense of this. Slowly the pieces of the jigsaw began slotting together. "You had something to do with this, didn't you?"

"What makes . . . "Bethany saw the look on my face and realised that this was not the time for bullshit. "I had to do something. I know that you thought that you could manage to cover the additional expenses, but I couldn't let you. You're a good man, and for you to place yourself under that financial burden, when I could so easily help out was just plain silly. I rang Daddy from the loo at that truck stop at Meningie and asked him to look into the situation for me. He checked it out and decided to help you out, help us out."

"What do you mean help us out?"

"I told him that as soon as my divorce is finalised I was going to marry you. That was a good enough reason for him to help us."

"You're going to marry me? Look," I put my hands on her shoulders and looked deep into her eyes. "Much as I would like that to happen, there are a lot of issues for us to work through before this can happen."

"Issues, what issues?"

"The first major hurdle we have, I have, is that I come from a different world to you."

"A different world?"

"Yes, you come from the posh end of town, while I am decidedly middle class. While I am happy to have my everyday needs met, you want more. I understand that, it's just that your world is not my world, and I don't want to force you to live in my world."

"And you can't or won't live in my world, is that what you're telling me?"

"Yes, life and love, to me at least, are a series of compromises, how far one is prepared to compromise depends on ones up-bringing. I was brought up to be satisfied with having my needs met. If I wanted more, then I would have to work a little harder to get that little extra. If I was not prepared to work harder, then I would have to go without. You, on the other hand, live in a world of greed, greed that is fuelled by using other people's money. You borrow from others to satisfy your wants, and if you spend more than you can borrow, it's not you that suffers, it's the people that you have borrowed from that have to carry the can. I can't live in that world."

"What makes you think that I live in that world?"

"After last year I did a little research into you and your family. Your father runs one of those private equity firms that buy and sell other people's lives. You went to a good school, then university where you got a generalist BA and a job in a bank. That was where you met your husband. He was a money market trader, buying and selling bonds and such that were worth about as much as that paper that they were printed on. That is the life that you know, and it is not one that I want anything to do with."

"Then why did you make love with me this trip, if I am one of these people that you hate so much?"

"Now don't get angry with me, but I liked it last year, for what it was, a holiday romance. I thought that this year would be the same, and that was fine, but . . ."

"But what?"

"But this year was different. For a start there was no thrill of getting caught having sex with a married woman like last year. You were different, more relaxed and friendly, and I got to like you, possibly even love you. If this trip and having to find a way to pay for the extras, to pay you back, I know that you said that the club was chipping in to pay for it, but I don't believe that for a second, which means that I'll have to pay you back, has put a dampener on this. I was brought up to always pay my way."

"I don't expect, don't want you to pay me back. You were right about how I was brought up, and about my family and husband. It was because of them that I was looking forward to being with you this year, of making love to you, of falling in love with you."

"You fell in love with me?"

"Is that so strange, a woman like me falling for a man like you?"

"For me, yes."

"I want to experience the world that you live in, I want us to live together in your house."

"But your family, surely they will not approve of this."

"They don't rule my life anymore, I can come and go as I please."

"But your father . . ."

"What about my father?"

"Won't he have some say in this, after all it must have cost him a lot of money to pay off the company's debts and buy them out."

"How did you? I knew it, you're not just some dumb bus driver, and you're smarter than you look."

"Der, gee, that wouldn't be hard."

"Be sensible for a change. Okay, I asked Daddy to look into your problem and do what needed to be done to get you out of it. It was his decision to pay off the debt and buy the company out, it was his decision to ask that you should take over the running of the company. He told me that he had you checked out and liked what he saw. He saw that you had the potential to make a go of this company. He did that for me, not just because I asked him to, but because he saw it as a good thing. Believe me, if he didn't see any potential in this he would have refused to help. Now I don't know what he found out about you, what you have kept hidden from me, he didn't discuss this with me. He just told me what he had done. He did say that he was looking to you to turn the business around and show a profit in a short time."

"I, we need to have a close look at this company before the meeting this afternoon. I'm assuming that you will be there."

"Yes I will. I will be there with you, not my father."

"Then let's get to work." We sat in the office going over the books. While I had some idea about the running of the business, I could see that my boss had a limited concept of the tourism industry and how to be an active part of it. "I have an idea."

"What are you thinking of?"

"This business is based on a traditional model of package tours of South Australia with a few incursions into Victoria. There is scope for expanding our business into less traditional areas."

"Where did you have in mind?"

"There is a lot of untapped potential out there, for instance there is an operator that runs river packages on the Murray. His company is based in Goolwa where his bread and butter business is, day trips into the Coorong and the lower lakes. He has a bigger boat that operates further upstream and he also sends one of his smaller boats upstream to operate smaller tours. We should pay him a visit to see if we can tap into his operations."

"You said 'we', does that mean that you want me to work with you?"

"Yes, and I dare say that your father does too. He sees that, with you working with me, he can keep an eye on his investment."

"If I work with you it will not be because I'm spying on you for my father, it will be because I want to. I just thought that I should make that clear to you."

The meeting did not go as anyone planned I had planned to tell Bethany's father that I didn't think that I had the necessary skills set to run a business, but I didn't get a chance.

"Peter, I have had my people carry out an extensive investigation into you, and I have decided that you are the right person to move this business forward into profitability."

"But I have never before run a business of any sort."

"I know that, but you were in integral part of a very successful tourism venture."

"But that venture failed."

"I am aware of that. What I am also aware of is that the reason that it failed had nothing to do with you. One of the executives had delusions of grandeur and thought that he could run it single handedly. He manipulated the board into giving him total operational control. He destroyed a business that should still be operating in that industry. This came at a bad time for you, what with your wife's illness and death. I can understand why it took some time for you to get back on your feet. What you did last week has told me that you have regained the confidence necessary for this job."

"But I defied a direct order from management."

"Yes, and with good reason. You realised that to follow orders would leave your clients out of pocket, while to continue with the trip would result in money coming in to the company. Not enough to cover all of the debt, but better than nothing. I understand that you were also prepared to place yourself in debt to ensure that the trip went ahead. It is that sort of commitment that I am looking forward to in this position."

"That brings me to a point. I will still repay the money that I owe for the trip."

"Not necessary, that has already been taken care of as part of the takeover deal."

I looked at Bethany and she merely shrugged. I didn't know if it was an 'I don't know what he's talking about' shrug or a 'just forget it' shrug. Whatever it was left me with the feeling that I was being manipulated by them.

"Peter, I wasn't aware that this had been discussed as part of the negotiations, but I was prepared to cover it myself, that was until the group decided to help out. I didn't want to see you in debt because of something that you had no control over."

"The matter came up early in the discussions." Her father said. "We asked the questions about the financial implications of your little mutiny and the fact that normally the company would cover all additional expenses was mentioned, but that they did not have the money for it. I asked Bethany what was happening and she told me that the group was prepared to cover your expenses. I included that in the financial negotiations. End of story."

"You have gone to a great deal of expense to buy this company, I can't help feeling that there is more to it than meets the eye."

"I think that we'll leave this part of the discussion for now and get on to more pressing matters." He quickly changed the subject. "Now, what I would like to see in, say one month, is a strategic plan for driving this business forward. I am placing the responsibility squarely on your shoulders, but I have a word of advice for you."

"And what might that be?"

"That you make use of the talents that my daughter has, she may just surprise you."

"But I have the impression that, when it comes to business, she has a completely different mindset to you."

"On the surface of it, you could be right, but I have learnt that to continue to do business and be successful, you can't always stick to the rules. While I have a reputation as a hard nose when it comes to my business dealings, if you were to look closely at them, you would see that I do not get involved in any business that operates contrary to ethical practises."

This came as a shock to me. Everything that I had read in the media said the opposite. I would have to look into this.

When the meeting broke up I was in for another surprise, one that pleased me no end. "Your mother is expecting you for dinner tonight, what time will you be there?" He asked Bethany.

"Not tonight. Peter and I have a lot of work to do, and to complete it we will not be working banking hours, it will either be here or at home."

"At home?"

"Peter's home, and mine, at least in the immediate future, and with a bit of luck, forever." She was standing beside me and emphasised her decision by kissing me.

"Come as soon as you're able." With that he left us.

"How long before your father realises that he has just lost control of his daughter?"

"He didn't just now lose control, he lost that ages ago when I realised that it was his manipulation of my life that led to my disastrous marriage. He saw my husband as his likely successor in the business. My husband's ambitions were not long term, and he had begun to move on taking control of my father's business. Fortunately Daddy saw the light in time. This has resulted in changes to his relationship with me, changes that have led to a greater understanding of the fact that my education wasn't entirely wasted."

We worked together until well after 6:00pm. Things had begun to take form but we decided that if we kept going we would lose concentration. "Time for dinner." I announced as I rubbed my eyes. "I think that we've earned ourselves a restaurant dinner."

"I agree, but this is a once off thing. We will not get used to dining out. I am going to learn how to cook so that I can make you a good, nutritious dinner every night. How does that sound?"

"Almost perfect."

"What do you mean almost?"

"Perfection will be when we can work together to prepare the perfect meal."

Dinner was good, not five star but good. What came after dinner was even better. Last night we crashed after only half an hour, while tonight we made love for an hour and a half. Last night was frenetic high powered love making, thrusting away until we came, while tonight there was a lot of touching and caressing and whispering and kissing, our fingers slowly explored each other's bodies, searching out those pleasure points. It was if we had both made the decision that this was not just a week of fun in the snow, but was something more, something greater. When I eventually inserted my cock into her waiting pussy, she came almost immediately, and held herself in a perpetual state of orgasm until I came. It was only then that she allowed herself to come down from her orgasmic high. After some more touching and kissing, we drifted off to sleep with her laying on top of me with my limp cock still inside her pussy. I don't know how long he stayed like that, but when I woke he was still there, the only difference was that, while she was beside me, not on top, we were still facing each other and he was hard once more. I pushed him into her.