A Wonderful Kind of Love (Kinds of Love 2)

“It's amazing. I can't believe how clear the water is here,” I told him. “It's completely different than anything I've ever seen before. Emma was right about this place.”

“Emma?” he asked, raising his eyebrows.

“My cousin. She, um... vacationed here about a year ago.” To say she “vacationed” here was putting it mildly. My cousin, Emma LaRue, had won a trip to this resort and met billionaire Jack Saunders. Their relationship had been in all the papers and tabloids for months. I didn't want to name drop my billionaire relatives, though. It felt too much like bragging. “She met her husband here and never shuts up about how awesome this place is.”

“It is definitely one of my favorite places,” Aiden agreed. “I know a story like that about this place, too.”

“I never believed her when she described it. I didn't know it was possible for a place this beautiful to even exist.” I looked around in awe. “I can see how this place helped her fall in love.”

“It would be easy to fall in love here.” Aiden smiled at me and I blushed a deep, deep red. It would be all to easy to fall in love in a place like this, especially with him.

“What about you? Are you enjoying the island?” I asked, changing the subject before I accidentally professed my love for him.

“I am now that you're here,” he answered with a charming grin that only sped up my already frantic heartbeat. “I thought I was going to be bored this week. I don't really need to be here for this, but it makes the company look good.”

I nodded. I was here for basically the same reason. I was here to make my boss look good. It was something we had in common.

“So I'm just a distraction from boredom for you?” I teased. I felt brave around him. Like I could say and do anything. I wasn't afraid to flirt with him, which was a new feeling for me.

“Yes. I mean, no. I mean...” He glared at me. “You

certainly are distracting.”

I giggled as we entered the restaurant. It was strangely quiet, and I noticed that nearly every table was empty. The clock on the wall said that it was dinner time, and I knew this was the main restaurant, but I had no idea where all the people where.

“Where is everyone?” I asked, peeking around a corner. Only one or two tables had guests at them.

“Probably hiding from me,” he joked. I didn't quite get it, but he had already pulled out the schedule of events from his pocket. “Ah ha. There's a 'Welcome to the Island' party going on at the dance club.” He put the schedule back neatly into his jacket. “Would you like to go there instead?”

“And have to deal with drunk lawyers and loud music?” I quickly shook my head. “This looks like more fun.”

He looked around at the quiet, candlelit tables and nodded. “I think so, too.”

The host showed us to a small, romantic table for two next to the window. The sun was just setting on the horizon and turning everything into red and orange flame. We had the best seat in the house since no one else was in the restaurant. It was absolutely stunning. I couldn't imagine a better place to spend an evening with an attractive man.

“What are you getting?” I asked after we had both taken a moment to look through the heavy leather menus. There was some amazing, fancy sounding food and I wanted to try all of it.

“I have no idea,” he answered honestly, peering at the menu. “It all looks good. What about you?”

“I'm in the same boat. I think I'll just have one of everything.” I looked up at him from the menu. “It's all inclusive, right?”

He chuckled and set his menu down, focusing his beautiful eyes on me. I felt like I was the center of the entire universe when he looked at me. “Why don't we order for each other?”

“What do you mean?” I asked, setting my menu down as well.

“It's something my brother and I used to do as kids,” he explained. “I'd pick his meal and he'd pick mine.”

I thought about what I would order for my sister and wondered just what kind of terrible things he had eaten doing this. “What's to stop you from picking something terrible? I know my sister would have picked the most disgusting thing on the menu for me just because it would be funny.”

“Nothing,” he said with a shrug. “I've eaten some disgusting things because of my brother. But, if we ordered it, my Dad made us eat it. Neither of us could leave until our meals were finished. So, in order to avoid the wrath of Dad, we usually ordered good things for each other. It was easier than the alternative.”

“Your dad sounds strict,” I said. I couldn't imagine my dad doing something like that. He would have let my sister and I reorder until we got something we liked. There was a reason my dad called us his princesses.

“My Dad's not a bad guy,” Aiden replied quickly. “There's a reason he's as successful as he is. He's just... demanding.”

“What does your dad do?” I asked. I imagined that his successful father was what had gotten him such a cushy assistant position.

“He's a businessman. He wants me to follow in his footsteps, but I don't want the same things he does.” He shrugged. “The danger of having successful parents is that they expect successful children.”