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All my worry was put to rest as he stepped aside to let me pass, his hand falling to the small of my back as he murmured, “After you, my lady.”
I followed the hostess through a corridor, my eyes going wide when I realized we were walking through a brightly lit aquarium. All around us, exotically colored fish swam, darting this way and that when a small tiger shark approached. Plant life swayed hypnotically with the movement of the water. Above, a turtle floated by. A freaking dinosaur of a turtle that somehow came off as majestic.
“Wow,” I murmured.
“You like?” Sloane’s voice came from behind me, closer than I expected. Close enough that his breath tickled my ear.
I grinned. “I do.”
“Good. Then you’ll really like where we’re dining.”
His hint intrigued me, but before I could question him, our hostess led us through another door. Inside the new room was a single table, dressed to the nines like the others. The candle in the center flickered, but it was barely noticed because the walls around us formed a circular replica of the corridor we’d just come through.
What the…
We were dining in the middle of an aquarium.
Aqua|rium. The restaurant’s stylized name made sense now.
“This is stunning,” I whispered, spinning to take in the whole picture.
Aside from the underwater scene surrounding us, there was a small sofa off to the side. For after dinner viewing, I guessed. And a self serve bar for drinks. Soft music played in the background. Something romantic, though I couldn’t name it.
“Sloane, this is unreal.” I couldn’t shake my smile. “Can I take pictures?” I asked the hostess. There was no way I was leaving this out of my blog.
“Of course. Would you like me to take one of the two of you?”
Oh.
I glanced at him, suddenly feeling shy.
Shy was not my thing. It was Helena’s, but for some reason, the idea of the hostess taking our picture made this feel like more than a first date.
I didn’t mind, but did he?
“That would be great,” he answered for me, and I passed my phone to the hostess.
Sloane pulled me close, one arm around my waist, and I leaned into his strong body, already loving the way we fit together.
After some time, I was satisfied with the pictures I’d accumulated and we took our seats. The hostess took our drink orders and finally, we were alone.
“How about you?” I asked, continuing our conversation from earlier. “Where are you from? Before you landed here, that is.”
“New England. That’s where my folks live. But I’ve been here on Ember Island since I quit college and finished trade school. A friend of mine discovered paradise and told me I had to see it for myself.” He paused to drink from the goblet of water at his right. “Came for a visit, and the rest is history.”
“Trade school. What was your specialty?”
“Mechanics,” he said. “I’m a fixer. It’s what I’m good at. That’s my official position at the boardwalk. I’m in charge of making sure the coaster is safe and in working order.”
“It looks like the patrons are in pretty good hands.”
He smirked. “I do take the job pretty seriously. No one’s getting hurt on my watch. And it takes a careful hand to tend to good old Bessie when she breaks down.”
I laughed. “You named the coaster Bessie?”
His gaze shone with amusement. “Of course. She needed a name if I was ever going to properly beg her cooperation. ‘Please, Bessie, I beg you, just work correctly for one damn day and I promise, I’ll put some extra grease on your joints.’” He shrugged. “Bessie seemed like it fit.”
God, he was funny too.
