Denise

I didn’t like the way he said that. If he was smiling because of the idea that had popped into his head about the bet, I didn’t want to hear about it.

“What?”

“You have to go out with me.”

That didn’t sound so bad and there was a big side of me that had wanted to do that anyways. I didn’t like not knowing what was expected though. He had won, but that didn’t mean that I wanted to do anything more because of the bet. A date was just a date. It didn’t mean anything more than that and I felt like I should say something about it, but it wasn’t something that I was going to find easy to bring up all of a sudden.

“Just a date though, right?”

“Of course Denise. What kind of man do you take me for?”

I could have answered sarcastically, but he had a vulnerable look in his eyes and I didn’t want to say anything out of the way. He was being serious and since I didn’t know him that well, I really wasn’t sure what he was going to be like.

“You seem like a good man Ethan. I just want you to know that you can’t take advantage of the situation. I’m not saying that you would do that. I just thought it would be better if we both know where the other was coming from to start.”

“I just want a date. That’s it. Whatever happens from that point on is up to you. I know what I want to happen, but it won’t unless you beg for it. Does that sound fair enough?”

The twinkle was back in his eyes and I looked away before it got ahold of me and I wasn’t able to do so. He had this pull to me that found me looking back into his eyes and only then was I able to see that he wanted to do all of the things I was afraid he would want. It wasn’t hard to tell what he was thinking and it got me trembling inside.

The worst part was that I wanted the same thing. I would never turn into anything but goodbyes and maybe heartbreak. I didn’t know if that was going to be enough.

“So when?”

“Now.”

Of course it would be now. I was a wreck and I didn’t think that it would be a good time to do something like that in my current state. I literally had blood on me. I mentioned that and he turned a little red.

“You know I didn’t even notice that. I’m too busy looking at other things.”

He stopped and I could see that he was looking at something that didn’t have anything to do with the blood on my clothes.

“My clothes?”

“Yeah, we will go with that.”

“What’s wrong with my clothes?”

“I’ve never seen someone hunt like that. You aren’t even trying to hide yourself from the animals.”

“They are more used to me like this. I walk this back here every morning.”

He shook his head and appeared to not believe me. When I said something else, he assured me that he did believe me; he just wished he had a set up like this back home.

“Just stop over hunting an area and don’t let anyone else either and they will come naturally. You plant a few things that they like and you will always have enough.”

‘I’m going to remember that.”

“Good.” Because I was going to remember him. Even when Ethan went back, I had a strong feeling that I was still going to be thinking about him.

***

When he said now about the date, he wasn’t joking around. We got his kill back to my house and he wanted to do it right there. I didn’t mind of course, but when he asked me to pull out a pan, I hadn’t expected him to start cooking.

It wasn’t what I’d had in mind, but it had been a long time since I’d had a man cook for me, so I wasn’t going to stop what was going on. I knew that it was a rarity to be sure and I wanted to soak it all up. He looked like he knew what he was doing.

“So was this your grand plan?”

“What?”

“Get a deer to cook for me.”

“Well it’s one of the only things I can really cook, so there was hope that it would be a deer. I thought you had me.”

“What would it have been if I had won?”

He thought about it for a minute. “A date?” He chuckled like he had said something funny. Ethan looked damn good in the kitchen and I was enjoying the show. He had a smile on his face, but I could tell that he wasn’t quite sure about it all. Ethan was holding part of himself back. He had confidence when he looked at me, but the cooking part was not something that he did all that much.

“Can I help you with anything?”

“Can you cook?”

I tried to look offended, but it definitely wasn’t one of my strong suits. I just threw things in a pot and made soup most nights. It was very forgiving and I didn’t have to think about it. You put a bunch of stuff in water and let it cook for several hours; it’s hard to mess it up. I’m not going to say that I hadn’t, but it was an easy style of cooking to say the least.

“A little.”

“That doesn’t sound very promising.”

“It doesn’t have to be such a bad thing. I can make a salad for the side.”

“That will do.”

He went back to the venison steaks and gravy he was making while I was left to take care of the salad. There weren’t a whole lot of skills needed to make it, but I made sure that it was one that he hadn’t tried before. I’d just gotten some strawberries from Ayla and I hoped that I would be able to impress Ethan with the unusual salad. He had the whole house smelling wonderful and I wanted to help out.

The small house was perfect for me and sometimes a guest, but I’d never tried to cook with someone else in the kitchen and I bumped into him several times.

Each time he would give me this look and I would apologize, but I did it on purpose a couple of times to get a feel for the goods. It was a good excuse, the size of the kitchen and I was able to cop several feels innocently enough.

“I didn’t know that molestation was part of the date.”

“It’s an ever-changing bet.”

“I can see that.”

He chuckled and I laughed. My face turned a little red, but I turned away so that he couldn’t see it. I still had blood on me, but the way he looked at me made me forget everything but him.