Once he crossed the ridge, the refuge came into view. The panorama was stunning - the mountain hut on the plateau below, nestled between the mountain and a little lake. Across the valley, the sun was starting to set over the granite peaks of Bregalia. What a view!

He followed the path down the slope. His feet were hurting, and his pack weighed heavy on his shoulders. He’d been hiking since 4am this morning. Despite his exhaustion, he felt exhilarated - the day had been beautiful, the hike through the “ballroom of the Alps" had been stunning. And despite being alone all day, he had not felt lonely for a second. Quite a change from the last weeks where he had been moping in self-pity about the breakup with Cathy. They had planned to do this trip together. After they broke up, he hadn't wanted to go at all. But his best friend convinced him to go. "You'll enjoy it! Trust me!" And so far, he had been right.

Thinking of Cathy sent a little pang into his chest. But the sting wasn’t nearly as bad as it used to be.

He arrived at the refuge. A few hikers and climbers were sitting outside, soaking in the last rays of sunshine. By now, he knew the rules. He went inside, took off his boots, and slipped into a pair of the worn felt slippers the refuge provided. His pack and hiking sticks went on a hook on the wall. What a relief to get rid of the heavy pack and free his sore feet. He smiled with joy as he entered the main room.

“Ich bin gleich bei Dir” a female voice shouted from the far end of the counter. It belonged to a young woman who was talking to some climbers.

He looked around the room. There were small groups of hikers and climbers, and a family with two kids. Everybody looked happy and healthy.

The girl made her way across the room. She looked about 25 or so. She was short, maybe 5’2”. Her ash blond hair was tied together in a slightly unkempt ponytail. She had piercing blue eyes, a small nose and a surprisingly sensual mouth. She was wearing olive cargo pants and a tight orange, shoulder free top. If you would have to draw a rock climbing girl, the result would probably look a lot like her. When she got closer, he noticed that she was not wearing a bra and that her left nipple was pierced. He felt a little blood rush into his groin.

"Servus, griaß di"

His look must've been sufficiently bewildered for her to realize that he probably didn't understand her.

"Deutsch? English? Francais?"

He smiled with relief. "English would be great, yes"

"Hi, I'm Julia. I’m the hut warden. Who are you?” she said, with a noticeable Germanic accent.

“I’m Joey. I booked via email a few weeks ago. Joey Waters”

“Let me check” She turned and walked over to the counter to look in some kind of registration book. From behind, he admired her muscular shoulders and back. This girl was fit!

“Ah yes, Joey. Two people, male and female.”

Oh fuck, he had totally forgotten to cancel the registration for Cathy!

“Oh, sorry. I’m actually alone. Is that a problem?” He felt embarrassed, as if admitting to be a failure of a boyfriend.

She looked at him inquisitively, but did not ask anything.

“No, it’s fine. It’s good to have a free bed in case some people don’t make it down the mountain before dark. Don’t worry about it. Let me show you around.”

She walked him through the refuge. Men’s dormitory and bathroom. Gear cleaning station. Gear storage. Following her, he felt a bit like a puppy walking behind his mistress. She moved with a catlike agility. She seemed to be filled with a barely contained power. Her energy was electric.

“We’ll be serving dinner in about 20 minutes. You can eat on the terrace or in the main hall. No food in the dormitories.”

He went outside to soak in the sun. He talked to some other hikers about their hikes and plans. After a few minutes, the dinner bell rang.

Everybody grabbed some plates and utensils and started setting the tables. Julia came outside with trays filled with large bowls of soup, salad and smoked sausages. He grabbed a beer from the fridge and put his name on the drinks list. He sat down a little apart from the groups, served himself and started to eat.

During the meal, he observed Julia. She moved around from table to table, chatting a few moments with every group. Sometimes she answered some questions or showed something on a map. Her confidence and total control of her little fiefdom was… well, sexy. She was the undisputed queen of this place.

He observed the other men’s reaction to her. Clearly he wasn’t the only one who was attracted to her. Some stared, some blushed, some quickly looked away when she turned to them.

Evening was upon them by the time she made her way over to him. He was the only one she hadn’t talked to yet. She grabbed a beer and sat down across the table from him. After settling the logistics of payment, wake up times and his planned route, they started talking.

She told him how she used this job to finance her climbing expeditions. She had finished her college studies, but wasn't ready to find a regular job. He told her about his studies, his home in Illinois and his admiration for the Alps and Switzerland.

She looked at him with her piercing, clear blue eyes. “So what’s your story? What’s up with the missing plus one?”

So he told her about the breakup. Actually, much more than that. He started pouring his heart out, about the breakup, his relationship with Cathy, his loneliness. All the while, she looked at him with those eyes. He felt like she was looking straight into his soul.

“I don’t know why I’m telling you all this…”

She laughed softly: “Sometimes, we just need someone to talk to” She placed her warm, firm hand on his forearm. He felt her heat radiate into his arm and spread inside his body.

“Do you mind help me clean up?”

While they had been talking, all the other groups had left. Some of the guys not before shooting him a jealous look. They were the last ones on the terrace.

“Yeah, of course.” He was dead tired, but he wanted to stay in her presence as long as he could.

Silently, they cleared and wiped downthe tables. The cold, clear mountain air came in through the open doors and windows.

“Okay, good night, I guess”

“Wait a second. You get a little thank you for helping me.”

She reached into one of the shelves and came out with a small bar of Swiss chocolate. She removed the wrapper and gently put the chocolate in his mouth. Her fingers brushed against his lips for just a split second. To him it felt like they left a searing mark.

From his lips, her fingers stroked over his cheek and jaw to the back of his neck. She got on her toes and pulled his head towards her. Her mouth closed on his and she gave him a slow, sensual kiss.

She let go of his neck, took him by the hand and pulled him gently behind her. “Come with me.”

“ wait… What…”

“ Or would you prefer to go to sleep?” she asked, already knowing the answer.

His mind raced. Here he was halfway around the world. On a trip he had wanted to do with his now ex-girlfriend. This stunning woman apparently was into him. What was happening?

He let her pull him through a small hallway into a part of the refuge he hadn’t seen yet. He knew that resistance was futile, and anyway he didn’t want to resist. His body was now screaming for her.

She opened the door to a small bedroom with a single bed. This apparently was the hut warden’s room. She closed the door behind him and pushed him softly against it. He wanted to lift his hands to her face, but she gently but firmly brushed them aside. Another slow, sensual kiss. Then she stepped back.

“ get undressed.”

“Wha…” She put a finger on his lips, commanding silence. He obeyed. For some reason, he felt very self-conscious. He took off his T-shirt and hiking pants. His cock was hardening in his boxer briefs. To the floor they went. He was standing in front of her, butt naked with a hard boner.

She didn’t even seem to notice it. Her eyes fixed on his. He couldn’t decipher her expression. Was it amusement? Was it horniness? Was it the knowledge that she was in total control of his mind and body?

“ Lay down on the bed”

Again, he obeyed, feeling her eyes watching him from behind. He laid down on his back, his erection pointing straight upwards like a rocket on a launchpad. He didn’t know where to put his hands.

She walked over to the bed. Her catlike movements made him feel like she was a lioness about pounce on her prey. She now stood next to his hip. If she reached over to her side just a little bit, she could’ve touched his cock. Instead, she took off her top. He looked at her small, firm breasts. He saw the little metal stud that pierced her left nipple. Her nipples were small and firm. Her body was perfect. Her abs were flat and her skin smooth as silk. Under that skin her toned muscles gave her a look of health and powerful energy. She undid her pants and slipped out of her cotton underpants. He was surprised by her pretty large bush. But then again, what did he expect? There probably weren’t many Brazilian waxing studios at 6000 feet altitude.

He lifted his hand to touch her body. But she gently pinned it down on the cover. Without saying a word, she reached for the drawer of the bedside table, slipped out a condom, unpacked it and rolled it quickly over his penis.

She then lifted her leg over his prone body and kneeled over him. She leaned forward, so that the tip of his cock was maybe an inch away from her pussy. She gave him another one of her single kisses, only this time she slid her tongue into his mouth. Fireworks went off in his head.

She slowly moved her body backwards and and tip of his cock naturally found the entrance to her vagina. She leaned backwards, very slowly, his cock slowly pushing into her and stretching the walls of her pussy. It felt very tight.

The condom seemed to be lubricated, and as she slid down on his shaft, he noticed how she was quickly getting wetter as well. He was rather well endowed and was surprised that she took him balls deep on the very first penetration.

Cathy had never done that. But then, Cathy had never done anything like this. Sex with Cathy had never felt this right and this wrong at the same time. Cathy had never given him the impression that she wanted him. It had always felt like she somewhat reluctantly agreed to sleep with him because that is what you did in a relationship. When he had asked her whether she enjoyed it, she always said “it was nice” or “it’s fine”. In hindsight, it probably wasn’t.

Why was he thinking about Cathy now?

He focused on the woman on top of him. The woman that very clearly wanted him, and wanted all of him.

She had started to move her hips, sliding up and down his hard shaft. He reached for her breasts, and this time she didn’t push his hands aside, but grabbed them and pushed them hard onto her chest. He was surprised by her strength. He probably couldn’t have moved his hands away if he had wanted to.

After a short while she started to lean back, so he couldn’t reach her breasts anymore and slid his hands down to her hips. She had her eyes closed and seemed to concentrate fully on the hard dick inside of her. With one hand, she leaned on his leg. Her other hand started stroking her clitoris. Another thing Cathy never would’ve done. She had never taken her pleasure into her own hands, instead making him feel like it was his duty to take care of that.

Why the fuck was he thinking about Cathy again?

Julia’s movements quickened. He saw that her muscles started to tense, her flat belly turning into a rippled six pack. She was getting close to cumming.

So was he. All the emotions off the day started to rush over him, the exhilaration of the hike, the awe with which she had watched the towering mountains, the fireworks of being touched by this incredible woman. He arched his back and bucked his hips. His orgasm shot up through his cock, bringing with it wave after wave of semen. It also shot up his spine and and exploded in his head like enormous fireworks that rang in his ears and flashed in front of his eyes.

Through the haze he noticed that she was also climaxing. Her mouth was open in a silent scream, her fingers furiously rubbing her clit, and her hips pressing down onto his cock to take in every last bit of it. Her back arched back like a bow about to be released. And then, the wave broke and she threw herself forward, collapsing onto his chest, her legs quaking and her breath panting. Her fingers retreated from her clitoris.

She laid on top of his heaving chest, he didn’t know for how long. He had lost all notion of time. He couldn’t tell if they had been fucking for two minutes or twenty. Her breath slowed down. As she pushed herself up off his chest, his now flaccid dick slipped out of her. She climbed off of him.

“I have to sleep now. I have to get up at 3 am tomorrow to see the first climbers off.”

She leaned forward to give him another one of her mind shattering kisses. He greedily pursued it, like a man dying of thirst would reach for fresh water. When he tried to pull her in, she pushed him down and broke the kiss.

“Good night, Joey. I’ll see you in the morning.”

And without looking at him, she reached for a t-Shirt and Pyjama pants that were hanging over a chair at the foot of the bed.

He got up, his mind trapped in a haze of disbelief about what had happened to him this evening. For some reason, he didn’t feel used. He didn’t know what to feel. Julia had shown him something he hadn’t seen before. How sex could be. What true pleasure felt like. This woman was simply incredible. He got up, gathered his things and walked gingerly over into the men’s dormitory. He collapsed on his bed and fell into a dreamless deep sleep.

When he woke up in the morning, he wondered for a moment whether the events of the previous night had really happened, or whether it had all been a dream. But he quickly remembered and stayed a few seconds longer in bed, relishing in the memory of his encounter.

When he arrived in the main room, the early morning business of a mountain refuge surrounded him. Rope teams of climbers filed in and out of the room, hikers checked their packs. Julia paced around quickly, refilling coffee dispensers and cereal bowls. She hardly glanced at him.

He took his breakfast in silence. When he got ready to leave, Julia came over to him.

“Good morning Joey. Thanks again for your help last night.” Was that a little mischievous smile? “I hope you have a great trip. Stay safe out there. Goodbye.” She quickly got on her toes and breathed a small kiss on his cheek. At the same time, he felt her put something in his hand.

He looked down. It was a small bar of Swiss chocolate.