Author's note -

Thank you so much to everyone who has read/followed/reviewed/favourited this collection so far! I really love to hear from you - please do keep telling me what you think. :)

This fic was originally posted on Tumblr a while back, in response to a prompt from the Yankee Countess for an accidental kiss.

Speed of sound

"OK, everyone, time to change over. Figure skaters, come back in please - hockey practice starts in 15 minutes."

The voice over the tannoy echoed around the arena as the members of the London Devils squad clattered down the tunnel towards the rink. Tom Branson's eye was caught by a girl in the centre of the ice, her wild curls flying loose behind her as she accelerated into a jump. She landed perfectly on one foot, then moved directly into a spin, bending backwards from the waist as her hands reached up, one leg extended behind her. He had never seen such grace, such beauty.

He felt a nudge - "See something you like, mate?"

"Feck off, Will. Come on, lads - let's get out on the ice!"

Tom had spent a year on exchange in Chicago while he was at university, and the Blackhawks games he saw had taught him to love the exhilaration of ice hockey and inspired him to learn how to skate. He had joined a league in North London when he got home and it was part of his Thursday night routine during the season to meet up with his team mates at Alexandra Palace for a rough and tumble training session with plenty of good natured biffo, followed by a beer or three at the Phoenix afterwards.

The team pushed their way through the barrier and onto the ice. Tom noticed the lace on one of his skates was coming untied, so he lagged behind the others as he bent down to fix it.

He lifted his head and saw the beautiful girl he'd noticed before, skating fast as she made her way to the gate. As he stood up, he saw one of her skates catch on a rough patch of ice, and her face changed from a confident grin to a slightly panicked, glazed stare as she realised she was careering out of control.

"Look out!"

Before he knew what was happening, she cannoned straight into him and shoved him backwards into the barrier, hard. His arms wrapped instinctively around her as their bodies crashed together, trying to keep her safe. Her face collided with his in her headlong rush, and he felt her lips and teeth bruising his mouth in an unexpected kiss.

His rational mind told him to pull away, apologise, deflect the whole thing with a joke. He didn't know this girl, had never even seen her before - what the hell was he doing? But his instincts screamed at him - Don't let her go! - and that was the part of his brain he listened to.

"MMMMmmmm…"

One hand slid up from her waist, tangling in her long hair as he cupped the back of her head. She moved into him, wrapping her arms around his neck and closing her eyes as he tightened his other arm around her. Her warm mouth tasted wonderful and he quickly deepened their kiss, sliding his tongue into her mouth. Her slender, yielding body strained against his, all along its length, her legs tangling with his on the ice. The feel of her breasts pushing into his chest sent a lightning strike up and down his spine and, as he heard her moan softly, he felt dizzy with desire. Christ, I never had a kiss like this before!

Their lips parted for a moment and he kept his eyes closed, heart pounding, breathing in the warm scent of her hair as he leaned his forehead against hers. Then, before he could say or do anything, she pulled him back to her and they kissed again, even more fiercely this time. The busy rink faded away around him as she overwhelmed his senses.

William looked around for his friend and chuckled when he saw what was going on. "Wait a sec," he said to the rest of the team.

He headed back to the side of the rink, spraying ice chips everywhere as he executed a perfect hockey stop before beckoning over Jimmy who was still fiddling with his skates. "Jimmy, oi! Can you do something for me…"

In a few minutes, a familar tune was heard around the arena - "Do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do do do do, do doooooo! CHARGE!"

A spotlight shone down from the ceiling, picking out the young couple so passionately entwined at the edge of the ice, as the classic ice hockey "rev up" organ music played and a round of applause rose up from the other skaters and the onlookers in the stands. Even then, it took a few minutes for Tom to register that he and the girl in his arms were now the centre of attention for the entire arena.

He reluctantly broke their kiss and pulled away from her a little, one arm still around her. The girl's eyes slowly opened and, as they met his, he could not stop an amazed smile breaking out all over his face. She returned his smile and he felt her hand sliding into his -

"I got you," he whispered.

"No you don't, I got YOU!"

She squeezed his hand and winked at him, before turning around and skating away to the exit without a backward glance. His eyes followed her as she disappeared under the stands.

Who is she?

After practice, during which he had copped several not-so-subtle comments from his team mates, he walked back down the tunnel to the change room, skates looped over his hand. His eyes were caught by a series of photos on the wall, of various figure skaters in action on the ice, and he saw the girl he'd shared the astonishing kiss with in the same pose as when he'd first seen her, her body fully extended in a perfect spin. The caption underneath read -

Sybil Crawley, 2013 Ally Pally ladies' figure skating champion

He'd already known that he had to find her again - now, here was his first clue.

Author's note -

I hope my American friends can recognise my attempt to render the well known organ music that I understand often gets played at ice hockey games. For anyone who's not sure how it sounds - search for "charge" and hockey on youtube.