“And did you honor those agreements?”
“Of course,” she said with a lift of her chin. “We didn’t welsh on bets.”
Spotting a good skipping rock near his foot, Aaron scooped it up. “Bet I can skip farther than you.”
She giggled. “Didn’t you hear me say I spent my entire childhood practicing?”
“I’ve tossed a few rocks in my time, too.”
Her skeptical snort made him laugh. “Bring it on, city boy.”
He caught her wrist when she started to draw back for her throw. “Hang on. We haven’t determined the prize yet.”
“If you win I’ll wash the dinner dishes?” she suggested.
He shook his head. “I clean as I go. There’s little left to wash.”
“Oh. Then whoever loses has to cook dinner tomorrow evening?”
She seemed to be making the assumption that he would still be there tomorrow evening, and she was probably right. He was in no hurry to leave, and he’d been assured the cabin was available through the weekend. Might as well take advantage of it. “I guess we could do that, but it’s sort of a dull bet.”
She planted her hands on her hips and looked at him in challenge. “Okay, fine, you come up with the prize.”
“A date.”
Her eyebrows rose. “A date?”
“Yeah. I win, you take me out for an evening you plan. If you win, I’ll do the same for you.”
She frowned. “If you win, I have to take you out on a date,” she repeated. “Totally up to me what we do.”
“Right. And I’ll expect a good time. Within reason,” he added with a reassuring smile. “Doesn’t have to be fancy or expensive, but I’ll expect to be entertained.”
Her blue eyes sparkled with a hint of the competitive nature she’d nurtured in her youth. Her unpainted lips curved into an intrigued smile. “And if I win, you have to treat me to an evening of entertainment.”
“Exactly.”
“You’re on, city boy. But I warn you, I’m going to expect something more interesting than dinner and a movie. If it’s a bet, you’d better bring your A-game when it comes to creativity.”
“Same goes.”
She cocked an eyebrow at him. “Something tells me this isn’t the first time you’ve done this.”
“Skipped a rock?” He tossed the flat pebble into the air and caught it deftly.
“No. Did the date challenge thing.”
He thought of an interesting evening provided to him by a certain young woman who’d been confident she could beat him at Trivial Pursuit. She’d somehow scrounged up VIP seats for a Texas Rangers game, and dinner reservations at one of the hottest new restaurants in Dallas. Belinda had come from an oil dynasty, but he hadn’t been overly impressed by the money she’d spent. He’d had a g
reat time, they’d dated for another couple months before drifting apart, and they remained friends still.
“What makes you think that?” he asked Shelby blandly.
She studied him from beneath lowered brows, then turned toward the water again. “We’d better do this before it gets too dark to count skips.”
Aaron flipped and caught his stone again. One way or another, he and Shelby would be spending another evening together. Frankly, he didn’t care who achieved the greatest number of skips. As far as he was concerned, it was a win-win contest.
He won by one skip.