Kiss and Cry

He whimpered again, and it was still adorable. I wanted to give this man all the orgasms. He was so needy and desperate under his cool shell, and it made my heart twist in a way I couldn’t understand. He was my fiercest competitor, and I shouldn’t have wanted to give him anything but second place.

When he came, Henry gasped and quivered against me, and I held him with my hands spreading on his lower back. There wasn’t enough room between the bleachers to get my arms around him. My tight shoulder blade did not appreciate our position one bit, but I’d have stayed squeezed together all night.

Of course we didn’t. Henry climbed off me, and we went back to find our blade guards, both of us wet and sticky from coming in our pants. It felt very high school, and we were surely too old for this, but Henry had gotten under my skin and made me lose my mind.

Making sure we left no trace, we hurried out the back door. I reset the security code and turned the key, yanking on the door multiple times to ensure it was definitely locked.

Henry had wet wipes in his car—because of course he did—and we cleaned our junk as best we could, laughing at the absurdity and changing into spare practice pants in the back seat.

Snow fell thickly, and Henry drove carefully back to the condo in the waning afternoon. The seat warmer was amazing on my ass, and I held my fingers to the vents. Could I convince Henry to hit the Tim’s drive-through?

“I didn’t get you anything.”

He seemed genuinely pained, and I rubbed his arm. “It’s okay! You didn’t have to. Besides, every orgasm is a gift.”

“Mm.” He didn’t sound convinced.

“I mean, maybe I just did this to enable your workaholic perfectionism so your injury will flare up again and I’ll beat you.” I laughed like an idiot as Henry shot me a glare. I rubbed my face. “Oh my God, that was a terrible joke. I didn’t mean it, I swear.”

That elephant in the corner needed to be taken out and shot—no offense to actual elephants, who I didn’t want to ever get shot. I added, “I really didn’t mean that.”

He sighed. “I believe you. But this is…” He drummed the steering wheel, shifting in his seat. “What are we doing?”

“I have no idea. But it’s okay! We agreed—as soon as we leave for Calgary, it’s all business and no more…this. Everything’s fine. We’re just… Hanging out.”

He shot me a dubious look, which was fair.

“And in Calgary, we’ll do our best, and it’ll be up to the judges. We both have Nationals in January anyway. I’ll be in Sacramento with Bill, and you’ll be in Halifax with Manon. Oh, did you see that Ivan won Ukrainian Nationals? Not that he has much competition. And you saw Kuznetzov won the short program in Russia? I think the long is today. Their big holiday is New Year’s. I’m sure you know that.”

Henry’s sweet, sexy mouth tugged into a smile that gave me a rush of joy. “I did.”

We drove on in comfortable silence, the wipers thudding rhythmically, the wet snow falling fast and thick.

“What can I give you?”

I stopped myself from being a dumbass and joking: “Olympic gold!” What I did say was, “You don’t have to give me anything. You’ve already done a ton for me.”

The temptation to ask for a kiss was hard to ignore, but no. That wouldn’t be cool. If Henry wanted to kiss me, that was up to him. I didn’t want him to be guilted into it.

“Actually, there’s one thing you can get me right now. Well, at the Tim Hortons if you’ll make a detour.”

He slowed at the light, turning on his blinker and carefully merging into the left-hand lane to make the turn down the block to Tim Hortons. He ordered us hot chocolate and maple donuts, knowing exactly what I wanted.

At the condo, he got out of the elevator first on his floor. We’d decided we’d shower, and I’d come down to his place later for a movie and dinner. The elevator continued up. Shouldering my bag, I took a step as the door slid open on my floor, jolting as I somehow came face to face with Henry.

“Wait, what?” I said.

We stared at each other, the door bouncing back since I was blocking it. Henry must have raced up the three flights, which was nothing for him with his cardio conditioning. But his lips were parted and cheeks flushed.

The elevator beeped, and Henry backed me up against the mirrored wall, one hand on my hip and the other cupping my neck as he kissed me like he wanted to swallow me whole.

He tasted like the forbidden cocoa and sugary donuts, and he made the softest, sweetest little whimper against my lips as I met his tongue, the elevator carrying us away.