To the ice rink

RIA

"But it's closed," Connor frowned, staring up at the dark, abandoned ice rink on the outskirts of town.

"So what? Let's sneak in. It'll be fun!"

"Sneak in?" he looked uncertain.

"What, you can't break the rules anymore now that you're a cop?"

"It's not that..."

"Good, because I plan on breaking a lot of rules with you later tonight."

He grinned.

"I can't ice skate," he laughed.

"Really? Mister 'Varsity-letterman-every-sport-known-to-man' can't skate?"

"Never even tried."

I took his hand in mine. "Me neither."

Sneaking into the rink wasn't too tough. It was outdoors and there was nobody around, so all we really had to do was climb over a little fence. Actually getting to the ice skates however, was a different story. They were locked up inside a cage, but Connor did a trick with one of my hairpins and managed to get it open.

"Where did you learn to do that?" I asked.

"When I was a teenager I was kind of a piece of shit," he answered.

I laughed, feigning outrage. "You're telling me that my hunky policeman best friend has a secret criminal past?"

"Technically, yes. Though I wouldn't call my teenage self a 'criminal' so much as an 'obnoxious little twat.'"

"Fascinating. You were the Judd Nelson type, then?"

"Pshh, I wish. How about you? You I bet you were like a Latina Molly Ringwald. Queen bee cheerleading captain and all that."

"I was more of a Michael Hall, actually. Four straight years of four-point-ohs, motherfucker!"

"No way."

"Oh yeah. Nerd-queen late bloomer. Guys didn't even realize I had tits until I started working at Hooters in college. Tracy gave me a pretty serious makeover, god bless her."

"No cheerleading then?"

"'Fraid not."

"Damn!" he cursed. "So much for my million zillion fantasies of you in a pleated miniskirt waving your pompoms."

"Hey, play your cards right and next Halloween I'll dress up as a cheerleader. A slutty cheerleader."

Connor handed me a pair of skates in my size and we tiptoed out onto the ice rink-stumbling and staggering like a couple of toddlers learning to walk. Connor held onto the wall, I held onto Connor, and together we made a few awkward laps around the circumference.

"Okay, what do you say next time we really go for it?" Connor asked. "All the way around the rink, no holding onto the wall. First one across the finish line wins."

"Wins what?" I asked.

"Respect?"

"Lame. How about the loser has to do something. Like a dare. Anything the winner wants, no chickening out."

"Oh, you're gonna regret saying that," he teased.

"You're assuming one of us actually makes it all the way around without slipping on the ice and shattering our pelvis."

Laughing, he and I took exaggerated starting positions for our little race, trying our best not to fall over before we'd even begun.

"Ready?" Connor asked.

"Set!" I answered.

"Go!" we both shouted together, and took off as fast as we could go-

Which for me was probably about two miles per hour, if you factored in all the stumbling and slipping.

Connor got a huge lead early on, but he built up so much momentum around the first turn that-

"Whoa!!"

-He lost control and hit the wall like a cannonball, cracking the wood on impact.

"Connor!"

He lay motionless on his back. I hobbled across the ice towards him with all the speed I could muster-

Then I tripped over my own dumb feet and landed knee-first on his crotch.

"Jesus Christ!" he groaned, immediately pushing me aside.

"I'm so sorry, I-"

"Breaking and entering, crashing into a wall, kneed in the balls... This is turning out to be about the sexiest date ever, isn't it?" Connor joked.

I was just glad that he was okay. Our laughter fogged up the cold night air all around us.

With Connor still lying down on the ice, I crawled on top of him and tenderly kissed his forehead.

"You're okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay. The wall got it worse than I did." He squeezed his muscular arms around me, holding my body to his. Face to face, our lips were close enough to touch. "Looks like I lost the race, though. I'm gonna go ahead and say me falling on my ass constitutes a forfeit."

I mussed up his short-cropped hair. "Meaning you have to do anything I tell you to."

"That was the deal. What do you want from me?" Connor asked, his hands gently squeezing at my buttocks.

"You'll see, soon enough," I whispered.

We kissed, and beneath me I felt Connor harden through his jeans.