Page 23 of Whimsical Ink

She fake gasps. “Oh, did I not say I beat Oliver every summer? Guess it slipped my mind.” She blows me a kiss and grins.

Shit.

I was right. She’s gonna annihilate us.

It takes her less than six balls to surpass me and win the bet. Not that she’s realised, she’s having too much fun making us run all over the beach.

I nearly have her, but when I throw the ball at the wicket, she hits it out of the way mid-run.

She turns to me, panting. “Hey, sweetie? I think I started winning. That means I get to choose a tattoo, right? And you don’t get a kiss?”

Emma snorts, and I roll my eyes.

“Yes, you’re winning.” Or won, but I’m not telling her that.

“Yeah, I am.” She does a little shimmy dance, and I can’t help but grin at her.

But I’m not letting her win without effort.

While she’s focusing on Emma, I duck behind the wicket, reach for her, and pull the brim of her hat over her eyes. Maddy screeches.

“Throw the ball!”

Emma throws the ball underarm to account for the fact Maddy’s currently blind, but right at the last second she fixes her hat and manages to chip the ball off to the sea. It rolls past Mum, who strolls after it.

Maddy sprints to the line and back and cackles when she sees Mum basically ignoring it.

“How’d that work out for you, corporate boy?” she asks.

I stick my tongue out at her. “It could have worked.” I tuck brown hair that’s escaped from the hat away from her eyes and an idea sneaks its way into my head. I rub damp hands on my board shorts. “How about we raise the stakes?”

She leans on the bat and lifts her brows. “To what?”

I swallow my nerves. “If you’re out this round, I get a kiss. You’ve already won the game and got your tattoo.”

Her tongue darts out to lick her lips as she considers me. “If you get me out this time, you’ll kiss me?”

“Yep.”

Warm blue eyes trail down my chest and back to my eyes. “Okay.”

“You don’t want to add any rules? Nothing to make sure I don’t tamper with anything?” I have a plan, but I want to give her warning there’s no way she’ll win this bet. Want to give her the opportunity to back out. I want this on her terms.

She reaches up and fixes my hat. “No. You didn’t add rules for me. Fair’s fair.” She leans closer to me and lowers her voice. “I’m excited to see what you come up with.”

I bite my cheek. She knows I’m giving her an out, and she isn’t taking it. Isn’t taking the opportunity to avoid kissing me. Does that mean she wants to kiss me?

I hope so.

I hope it means she’s having the best day, spending it together, getting to touch and tease each other.

Nothing is better.

Well, kissing her would be, but I’ll take what I currently have over nothing.

“You’re on.”

She beams at me and spins to face Emma.