“Is your sandwich good?” she asked after a moment, still laughing lightly, smiling ever so slightly.
“It’s the best sandwich I’ve ever had,” I answered honestly.
Rose ate all her chowder and a piece of garlic bread, which I considered a victory seeing as how she didn’t mention carbs once. I had an unusual need to feed the woman, watch her enjoy her food. She had glorious curves in all the right places and I wanted her to stay that way. Hell, I’d like her even a little curvier, if it were up to me. I was smart enough to know it never would be.
“Ready to go?” I asked when we were both done.
“I don’t know. Am I?” she asked, smiling.
“I think so.” I dropped some bills on the table and then motioned for her to walk out ahead of me.
“We didn’t discuss one thing about your event in there.”
“Okay, let’s just get this part cleared up. Ready?” I gently grabbed her elbow and turned her to face me.
“Okay,” she said smiling brightly, making every part of me want to pull her closer.
“I’m game for anything. You plan to your heart’s content. Make it classy, fun, and about the cause. I’ll be good with anything you come up with.”
“Okay,” she agreed, even though she sounded a little unsure. “What if you don’t like what I plan?”
“What you described in the truck sounds fantastic.”
I couldn’t help it anymore. I placed my hands on her shoulders and ran them slowly down her arm. My heart sped up when she didn’t pull away.
“I trust you and I know you’re good at your job. If I couldn’t tell on my own, Riley has sung your praises enough for me to figure it out. You do what you do best, and I’ll do my thing. We’ll meet somewhere in the middle.”
“All right,” she whispered. “So, what’s next on the agenda?” She still didn’t pull away.
I looked down at her, letting my eyes trail up and down her body, not shy about it at all.
“First, we need to get you something different to wear.”
“I need different clothes?”
“Don’t get me wrong, I love this look on you, but it’s not exactly appropriate for what I’ve got in mind.”
She narrowed her eyes at me, clearly unhappy with not knowing what our plans were.
“Hey,” I said, laughing. “You promised me a whole day. We’ve barely made it through one meal.”
“Okay.” She sighed, trying to hide a smile.
She climbed into my truck and I shut the door behind her, smiling at the thought of her surrendering that one small part of herself to me.
Chapter Eleven
Rose
“T
his is ridiculous,” I groaned. “I look like a bag lady.”
The curtain made a swishing noise as I opened it, stepping out of the dressing room at the tiny shop that sat along the main drag of Seaside.
“You look like an Oregonian,” Aiden replied.
I looked down at the baggy sweatshirt that said Seaside across the front, and the black yoga pants that also had the word Seaside posted over my ass in rainbow colors.
“Unfortunately, all they have for shoes are crocs or flip-flops.”
He held up a pair of both, cringing a little, like he understood how horrible the choices were.
“Why do I need different shoes?”
“You can’t wear high heels where we’re going. Crocs will work better, but they’re fucking ugly,” he said with a laugh.
“I wouldn’t be caught dead wearing crocs, Aiden. I’ll take the flip-flops.”
“But it’s cold out.”
“I don’t care.” I snatched the flip-flops out of his hands, unwilling to even consider wearing the other ones. I slipped them on and then gathered up the clothes I’d worn to work, and we headed to the register.
The store was full of souvenirs. T-shirts, sweatshirts, personalized license plates and keychains, knickknacks, toys, and over-priced beach accessories.
I knew better than to argue with Aiden about who would be paying for the outfit change. And honestly, I didn’t want to spend my money on those clothes anyway. I’d never wear them again, so I let my eyes wander, my attention coming to a spinning rack of cheap jewelry. There were earrings, rings, and bracelets. One ring caught my attention and I took it from the display, putting it on the ring finger of my right hand, then examining how it looked on my hand by holding it out and tilting my head—the only way to look at a ring.
It was a simple silver ring, but it looked hammered, and there was an open heart formed from the silver. It was pretty. Simple and nothing fancy, but sweet.
“We’ll take the ring too.”
Aiden’s voice pulled me out of my haze and I turned to him just as he was handing his card to the cashier.
“Aiden, no. I don’t need the ring.”
“You like it. I can tell. You smiled when you saw how it looked on your finger. Plus, it gives me another reason to call you sweetheart,” he said with a wink.
My belly flipped at all the different thoughts running through my mind.
I liked that he wanted to call me sweetheart.
I liked that he didn’t take no for an answer sometimes.
I liked that he wanted to buy me jewelry, even if it was an inexpensive piece from a twirly rack at a souvenir shop. I was almost certain I wouldn’t love a diamond ring more.
“Thank you,” I said, smiling wider than I could remember in a long time.
“See? That smile makes it all worth it.”
My cheeks heated and I knew I was blushing, so I turned away. But not before I snuck another glance at the simple yet beautiful ring on my finger.
We stashed my clothes in his truck and then he checked his watch.
“We’ve got to hurry. They’re going to close soon.”
He took my hand and led me toward the ocean.
The skin-to-skin contact took me by surprise. Not only because I wasn’t expecting it, but I definitely wasn’t prepared to enjoy it.
I liked his rough hands against mine. My smooth skin against his callused hands was oddly arousing. I wanted to know what his hands felt like against other parts of me. His palm was huge, completely enveloping mine, and that was sexy too.
I spent most of my twenties trying to make sure I felt powerful. Being a female business owner was an uphill battle sometimes, especially when dealing with other businesses that were run by men. I strived to never cower or let a man make me feel inferior.
So, it was odd to enjoy being less powerful than Aiden. There was a strange security that came with just his hand wrapped around mine.
I could handle myself and navigate through the world on my own, but I couldn’t deny how much I liked the idea of having Aiden by my side.
He led me toward a building that sat along the boardwalk, facing the ocean. My eyes trailed over the horizon, wishing it weren’t so cloudy so I could see the sun setting on the water.
He pulled a door open for me, motioning for me to enter first.
“What is this place?”
“This,” he said as he reached to his back pocket for his wallet, “is the Seaside Aquarium. It’s not the fanciest aquarium on the coast, but I’ve been coming here since I was a kid.”
He told the woman sitting at the register he needed admission for two and then we walked through some old-school style turnstiles.
The aquarium was, in actuality, one big room lined with a bunch of fish tanks. There were a lot of them, though. We took our time wandering around the perimeter, looking at all the different kinds of fish, stopping every now and then to read about a particularly interesting species.
“What are those?” I asked, pointing toward the group of tanks in the middle of the room. They were set up in a rectangle with an employee standing in the space between them all. There were a few families at the aquarium, most with smaller children, and a few groups were sprinkled around the tables in the middle of the room.
“T
he touch tanks,” Aiden replied.
“Touch tanks? Sounds dirty.” I laughed.
“Wanna touch?” he asked, waggling his eyebrows at me.
“Maybe.” I shrugged one shoulder.
He winked, then took my hand again, leading me toward the center of the room.
“Hi, there,” the employee greeted us. He looked like he was in his late teens, probably still in high school. “Feel free to touch anything in the tank. Please don’t remove the starfish if they’re attached to anything and only hold the crabs over the water, not the concrete.” He’d clearly given his spiel a million times, but he still did it with a pleasant attitude.
“We can pick up the crabs?” I asked. There wasn’t even a small part of me that wanted to reach into the tank and pick up anything.
“If you can catch them,” he replied with a smile.
“Go on, Rose. Touch something.” Aiden’s tone was clearly a dare.
I pushed up the sleeve of my too big sweatshirt and slowly reached into the open-top tank.
The water was colder than I expected, but I didn’t let that stop me.
I reached for something pink and puffy, but ended up yelping when my finger made contact.
“It feels so weird,” I cried out while laughing at my own behavior. “Okay, I can do this,” I whispered to myself, slowly reaching back into the water.
“That’s a sea anemone,” Aiden informed.
“It’s sticky and slimy at the same time.”
“Sea anemones are covered in nematocysts. To us the feel sticky, but to their prey it’s a deadly sting. Then they use the tentacles to pass the prey to their mouths.” Clearly, this young man knew his touch tank facts.
“You’re so brave, Rose,” Aiden teased.
“I don’t see you touching anything.”
“Which one is the biggest crab?”
“Uh, probably goliath over here,” the kid said, motioning to the next tank over. “There he is.”
I watched as Aiden fearlessly, without hesitation, reached into the tank and then pulled out the biggest hermit crab I’d ever seen.
“Don’t worry, Rose,” he said, smiling widely. “I’ve done this plenty of times before.”
His words had so many effects on me. They irritated me, they made me laugh, and finally and most importantly, they totally turned me on.
Clearly, he implied that he knew how to handle more than just crabs, and suddenly the idea of Aiden handling me was all I could think about.
I wasn’t used to being so attracted to anyone. Sure, there were men I thought were handsome, but never had I ever wanted to be naked with someone more than I wanted to be naked with him.
It was bizarre. And wonderful. And confusing. Also, scary. Scary as fuck.
We spent the next thirty minutes touching everything in the tank we could. We laughed when a crab escaped from Aiden’s hand, flopping back into the water with a plop, and I screamed again when a sea urchin poked me.
“Come on,” he said finally, after we’d seen all there was to see. “There’s one last part I want to show you.”
He took me around the corner to where there was another cashier.
“Two, please,” he said, handing her a ten-dollar bill.
“Toss them over the top of the fence and do not stick your fingers through the grate,” she replied grumpily without even glancing at us.
She was less friendly than the kid at the touch tank. She reached under the counter and I heard what sounded like a refrigerator opening, and then she handed Aiden two containers with small fish cut in half.
“What the hell are those for?” I asked, unable to keep the disgust from my face.
“You’ll see.”
We walked up a ramp and he handed me one of the containers of fish. The ground was wet and it smelled, well, fishy. As soon as we were high enough up the ramp I could see we were standing beside a giant tank filled with water. It must have been thirty feet long and ten feet wide.
“Ready?” he asked, an excited smile on his face.
“As I’ll ever be.”
He picked up a fish head and tossed it over the fence and into the tank. Suddenly there were at least five or six seals, all trying to reach the piece of fish first. And then the chaos began.
As soon as the seals realized we were there and we had food for them they instantly began performing, doing anything they could to get our fish.
One was rolling in the water like a synchronized swimmer, one was racing back and forth along the wall, and a few were just splashing us.
I screamed as soon as the first drops of water hit me, completely unprepared to be drenched.
All the seals were barking, yelling at us, trying to get our attention.
“Rose, you’ve got to feed them,” Aiden yelled over all their noise.
“You feed them!” I scrambled behind his back, trying to use him as a shield for all the water they were splashing our way.
He threw a few pieces of fish into the tank, trying to reach all of them fairly, giving each seal a chance to get a fish, but they just came back, splashing for more.
“I’m out of ammo,” he yelled, laughing through every word.
“Here,” I said, reaching my container of fish out to him, still trying to use his massive body to my advantage.
His hand wrapped around my wrist and he pulled me in front of him, our positions reversed.
I screamed and laughed, now directly in the line of fire.
“Oh my gosh!”
It was like it was raining, they were splashing so much.
“Jesus, Rose. Feed the freaking seals!”
“Fine!” I yelled, throwing the entire container over the edge of the fence.
There was a flurry of activity as all the seals dove and scrambled for the poor fish, and water went everywhere. Laughing, I turned toward Aiden, burying my face in his flannel shirt.
He was laughing too, his chest shaking against me as his arms wound around my shoulders. He turned so his back was to the tank and he took the brunt of the splashing.
The seals were relentless, trying to get our attention for more food, so he picked me up, wrapping his arms tightly around me, and carried me back down the ramp, both of us laughing the entire way.
When he finally placed me back on my feet, we were both drenched with smelly fish water.
“That was insane,” I said, shaking my hands and trying not to touch any part of my body.
“They do that every time.”
“Why didn’t you warn me?” I laughed.
“Because then you wouldn’t have done it.”
He was right. If I knew they were going to toss smelly water at me, there was no way he would have gotten me up that ramp.
“Come on, we can wash up over there,” he said, nodding toward a counter with sinks.
We both used copious amounts of soap to wash the fishy smell from our hands and forearms, but our clothes still smelled. I used paper towels to get as dry as I could, but there was only so much I could do with single ply, dollar-store paper towels.
“Okay, one more thing before we move on to our next adventure.”
“What now? Are we going to wrestle some alligators?”
“Interesting suggestion, Rose. I didn’t realize you were so adventurous.”
“Ha. Ha.”
“No, we aren’t wrestling alligators. Or any other animals for that matter. There’s just something I get every time I come to the aquarium. It’s kind of a tradition.”
I let out a sigh, pretending to be put out by his silly rituals, but I followed him more than willingly. I liked a lot that he was including me in his life in that way.
He took my hand again, making me smile, and led me to the gift shop we’d passed on the way in. He didn’t peruse the shelves, though. He walked with purpose straight back to some sort of machine.
“Ever pressed a penny?”
I shook my head. “Can’t say that I have.”
“Really? That’s
odd. I’ve done this a million times, it seems. Well, you just put two quarters in here and a penny, and then crank the arm.”
I blinked up at him, unsure of what he was talking about.
“Here, I’ll show you.” He put the coins in their designated slots and chose one of four designs and then turned the crank. After a dozen or so rotations, a coin made a tinkling noise as it fell into the receptacle at the bottom. Aiden reached down and pulled out an oblong-shaped coin and handed it to me.
“It’s the penny I put in there,” he said, his voice sounding more like an excited child’s than a grown man’s.
“It’s warm,” I noticed, turning the penny over in my hand.
“And look,” he said, flipping it to one particular side. “The picture of the seal is embossed in it.”
I looked closer and sure enough, the seal design he’d picked was pressed into one side of the coin.
“That’s so neat!” Now I sounded like a child. “What a fantastic little souvenir.”
“Want one?” he asked, his smile so breathtaking it was difficult to even form an answer.
“Sure,” I managed with a small nod.
His hand dove into his pocket again and he put the necessary coins in their designated slots.
“Pick which one you want.”
I cranked the arm until it hovered over the same seal design he’d picked. “I can’t imagine I’ll ever forget feeding the seals, but this will guarantee I remember forever.”
He inserted the coins and then told me to turn the crank. At first it was simple, but after five or six turns it got progressively harder until I was really struggling. “How in the world do children do this?” I asked as I pulled down on the arm with force.
Aiden placed his hand over mine and pulled the arm down the rest of the way until I heard the tinkling that told me the coin had fallen free. “They just need a little help sometimes,” he replied with a wink.
I bent down and collected my coin, flipping it in my hand, inspecting it.
“I love it. Thank you.”
When my gaze met his, I was shocked by the softness there. He liked giving me the tiny gift, something other people might view as insignificant. It was literally worth nothing, but it was the nicest gift anyone had ever given me. I didn’t have my purse with me as Aiden had convinced me to leave it hidden under the seat of his truck—he clearly knew we were going to get drenched—so I grasped it between my fingers tightly, not wanting to accidentally misplace it.
Coming Up Roses: #MeetCute Books (With A Kiss Book 4) Page 9