Can I use Azure (or AWS) for SQL Server development?

Is it possible to use a virtual machine that contains Windows for the basic purpose of downloading and installing the standard trial edition of SQL Server 2014 for development/testing? I do not want database-as-a-service since I am going through the Microsoft certification books and want to do all the installing/configuring of SQL Server myself.

Also, I am an OS X user and I do not have Windows... I figured using a cloud-based virtual machine would be cheaper than buying a full copy of Windows (and bootcamping my Mac). I just want something that I can remote into for development/testing.