“But it’s against the rules. We’re not supposed to be here when it’s closed. And we have to pay for our ice time.” Snowflakes drifted into his dark hair, and I wanted to kiss him so much.

“It’s Christmas.” That admittedly wasn’t much of an argument. “I wanted to surprise you.”

“I didn’t get you anything.”

“Sure you have! It doesn’t—I don’t care about that. Do you want to skate?” I started to close the door. “Or should we go?”

“You did this for me?” A smile dawned over his face. With teeth! Victory was mine!

“Yeah.” Grinning, I shrugged nonchalantly.

“I don’t have my skates.”

“Duh, I snuck your stuff into the trunk. When I came down to borrow your plunger, I swiped the keys.” Trust me to make Henry think I’d taken a giant dump and blocked up my toilet, but I couldn’t think of anything else I could fake borrow that would be urgent. “I brought my stuff too, but only if you want to skate with me.”

He didn’t answer, just going around the car and opening the trunk with a beep of his fob. He was actually still smiling when he joined me at the door with our bags. We crept inside, the door shutting behind us with a clang.

Squinting down the dark hallway, I whispered, “He said the emergency lights would be enough, and this place is so old they don’t have motion detectors in here.”

The only light was florescent and all the way at the other end of the corridor. Where we stood, it was black, and I considered getting my phone out of my pocket to use the flashlight. But Henry took my hand, weaving our fingers together, so fuck the flashlight. I could have floated down the hall.

We tiptoed toward the rink hand in hand. I whispered, “So you’ve never done anything like this?”

He huffed. “Of course not.”

It belatedly occurred to me that if we got caught, the police might not care that I had the key, and shit, I wouldn’t want to get the caretaker in trouble. Maybe this wasn’t a great idea after all. But Henry was holding my hand, so it was clearly the best idea in the history of ideas.

We crept into the rink. The emergency lights high in the corners of the space illuminated the ice like spotlights, casting shadows in-between. The ice had been cleaned by the Zamboni at the end of the previous day, and it had that perfect fresh, cold smell. It was hard to describe.

I reluctantly let go of Henry’s hand when we reached the benches along the ice. “I put your practice clothes in there too,” I whispered, even though we did seem to be completely alone. I unzipped my bag and yanked off my boots.

We’d had each other’s dicks in our mouths, but we hadn’t seen each other actually undressed. I hesitated with my hands on my fly, which was dumb since when was I shy? I unzipped and kicked off my jeans. My boxer briefs were gray and tight, and I was going to be hard in a second the way Henry’s gaze traveled over my body.