Page 61 of In His Skates

I know he’s getting closer by the increased pace of his movements. I feel powerful that I can bring him to ecstasy like this. But when he pulls out suddenly, I pout.

“No, not like that. I want to come inside your pussy.” He finds a condom in my nightstand drawer and gets that thing on surprisingly fast.

I’m on my back already when he covers my body with his, the tip of his cock pressing against my entrance. His elbows frame each side of my head, and he caresses my hairline with the tips of his fingers, staring at me intensely. “If we do this, it’ll change everything.”

My heart beats faster, but my stomach drops a little. He’s not wrong. Keanu and I have too much history between us. This won’t be a simple hookup. But I’m beyond the point of no return.

“It doesn’t matter, Key. I want this. I want you.”

“Thank fuck.” He slants his mouth over mine possessively and slides all the way in, stretching me to the max. The sense of fullness, of completion, is amazing, and I forget the repercussions, allowing myself to get lost in the feeling.

Consequences will be tomorrow’s problem.

23 LEIGH

Iwake up early, before sunrise. My mouth is dry, and there’s a dull ache at my forehead. How much did I drink last night? All my memories are pretty foggy. I remember coming home and helping Keanu out of my dress, and then… Holy shit! I think Keanu and I managed to switch bodies, and then we hooked up.

I rub my face, and my stomach sinks. There’s fuzz on my chin, and my hand is too big. I’m still trapped in Keanu’s body. Does that mean I dreamed the whole thing?

I turn my face and see my own silhouette in the dark, sound asleep. We wouldn’t have slept in the same bed if nothing had happened. I rake my fingers through the short strands of Keanu’s hair, fighting the tears stinging my eyes. I think we did manage to switch bodies, but it didn’t stick. My face becomes hot when pieces of what we did in the kitchen and here in my bedroom rush to the forefront of my mind. I lost count of how many orgasms I had, and now I have to eat my words because Keanu does know how to please a woman.

I can’t bear to stay here, to look into Keanu’s eyes when he realizes our lives are still fucked-up. The disappointment in them will crush me. I get out of bed as quietly as I can and grab his clothes from the floor. I can’t be around him when he wakes up.

Before I leave the house, I send him a text to let him know I had to go for a drive. He’ll understand I need time alone. At least, I hope he will.

I don’t have a destination in mind, but then I see Merchant Arena in the distance, and I know exactly what I need to do right now. Feeling sorry for myself isn’t how I roll. If this curse can’t be lifted, I have to make sure it doesn’t completely implode our lives.

I take the next exit, which will lead me to Keanu’s apartment. I need to change clothes and grab his hockey equipment. I have no idea what his training schedule is, but I’m going out on a limb that no one scheduled practice this early in the morning after the charity event. I remember I wasn’t the only drunk fool at the party last night.

As I predicted, there’s no one around in the facility besides security. I tell them that I forgot my badge, and they take that at face value and let me through. They wouldn’t prevent their star hockey player from entering the building.

I head for the locker room and change clothes. I used to be a decent hockey player, and if I hadn’t gotten the acting bug, who knows, maybe I could have played pro. I know I will never be as good as Keanu, but I can try to not suck so hard.

I take a deep breath of the cool air when I hit the ice, letting it fill my lungs completely. Pretend this is a movie, Leigh. You’re a professional hockey player. You know what to do.

I start with warm-up exercises first, then proceed to shoot pucks at the net. Like any other sport, this is all about muscle memory. I have to be able to get the puck into the net and not miss it by a mile. I play and play until I lose track of time.

“Yo, Key,” Simon, Keanu’s friend, calls from the bench.

“Hey, what are you doing here?”

“Me? What are you doing here? We have a meeting with Coach in ten minutes before practice.”

Shit. Maybe I should have tried to find out what Keanu’s schedule was, but that would have meant waking him up. I bet he has his schedule on his phone, which I left behind. That was stupid of me. He can’t answer his phone while sounding like me and vice versa.

“Oops. I lost track of time.”

“I’m surprised to see you here so early. You and Leigh were toast when you left the party.”

I grimace. “I guess we were pretty drunk. I couldn’t sleep, so I figured the best way to cure my hangover was to shoot some pucks.”

He laughs. “Some people will be disappointed.”

“Why?”

“There’s a bet going to see how late you’d be for practice. Everyone lost.”

My jaw hangs open. “You bet that I’d be late?”