Page 52 of The Wrong Bachelor

Cole started skating toward the center of the rink, pulling me along beside him.

“What are we doing?” I asked, trying to push the cameras from my mind.

“I thought we’d have a little competition,” he said.

“Haven’t we had enough of those for one night?” I replied.

He laughed and shook his head. “You’ll like this one. It’s a shootout.”

“And why would I want to do that?” I asked. “I happen to like having an unblemished record against you.”

“We haven’t played in years…”

“That doesn’t change the fact you’ve never beaten me in a shootout,” I responded.

“Well, what if we made it interesting?” he asked, wiggling his eyebrows at me.

“I’m listening,” I murmured, making him grin.

“If you win, I’ll give you a kiss.”

It took me a brief second to digest the idea. I quickly laughed to cover how nervous Cole's suggestion made me feel. I took my hand out of his and turned to skate backward as I looked at him. “That’s not much of a prize.”

“Fine,” he replied. “What would you like?”

I rolled my lips as I thought it over. I definitely wasn’t asking for a kiss. I was pretty confident I would win, so I wanted to make this worth it. “If I win, I get to ask one favor of you, and you have to do it.”

“Within reason,” he said, swallowing. He must have seen the evil glint in my eye.

“Who decides if it’s reasonable?”

“Angus can,” he said, without missing a beat.

“Fine,” I replied. “If I win I get one favor within reason.”

“And if I win you have to kiss me.”

I purposely screwed up my nose at him, though my heart started to race. Why did he keep suggesting that?

“Afraid I’m going to win?” he teased.

“Nope. You look awfully shaky on your skates. I’m guessing you haven’t practiced in a while…” He didn’t look shaky at all, but I had managed to catch him just before, so I wasn’t too concerned.

“Maybe it’s an act,” he replied.

I laughed. “It’s a very convincing one.”

“So, are we doing this?” he asked.

I looked him over one last time. The boy had never gotten a puck past me before, and I liked the idea of him owing me one. I also liked the idea of having something to lord over him.

“Let’s do this,” I agreed.

We skated back over to where Skye was stationed by the rink entrance. She had a stick, goalie gear and a puck for us. I couldn’t imagine Cole doing this activity with any of the other contestants. It felt like he’d planned the whole group date around me, and I wasn’t sure whether to be impressed or nervous.

“So, is this a best of three situation?” I asked as Cole started to suit up.

“No,” he replied. “Sudden death. First one to score wins.”

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