I looked at him for a long moment.
“I do like it,” I said softly. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
He slowly lowered the giant shell back into the water.
“Now hold on tight again,” he instructed. “If you were going to fall out, now would be the time.”
“I don’t want to fall out!”
“Then hang on!”
Aiden managed to pull himself back into the kayak without upsetting us and sending me into the brackish water, but his dripping body still managed to soak me.
“I might as well have dived in myself!”
“I could toss you in,” Aiden teased.
“You better not!
He laughed and began to paddle us around again. Eventually, we had both endured enough sun, and he guided us back to the dock.
“You getting hungry?” Aiden asked as we turned in our paddles and lifejackets.
“Yeah, I am.” I realized I was still wearing his baseball cap, so I removed it and handed it back to him.
“Let’s go find a good place to eat,” Aiden said as he placed the cap on his head. “How about a trip to South Beach, where all the beautiful people hang out?”
“I think I’d be very out of place.”
Aiden narrowed his eyes at me and then smiled.
“You’re right,” he said. “If I take you down there, they’re all going to be extremely jealous of you. You could start a riot.”
For a moment, my heart lodged in my throat. I knew I didn’t fit in with the glamorous and famous people known to frequent that area and wasn’t sure what I thought of Aiden’s flattery. I hadn’t even brought any clothing suitable for a fancy restaurant.
“Most of those places have dress codes,” Aiden said as if he were reading my mind. “I don’t want to ride all the way back home. If you aren’t starving just yet, let’s go shopping.”
“Buy new clothes just to go out to eat? You can’t be serious.”
“Why not?” he asked.
“That seems a little…I don’t know…wasteful.”
“Are you going to throw it all out when you get home?” he asked.
“Of course not.”
“Then where’s the waste?”
All right, he had me there. Still, when I went shopping, it was always for a specific purpose. I bought clothes for work and leisure when the ones I had were worn out or didn’t fit right anymore. I didn’t just go buy an outfit to avoid running back home.
“How do we have to dress?” I asked.
“For me, some dress pants, button down, and a jacket of some sort,” Aiden said. He looked me up and down. “For you, I’m thinking a nice, short cocktail dress. Maybe red.”
He winked.