“It would really just depend on what I would get in return. Olivia's pretty cute,” the dark-haired man answered with a wink I could see over his sunglasses. The woman smacked his chest in pretend disgust at his sexualized comment.
“I wondered if we might run into you out here.” Aiden laughed, rising to his feet. I mimicked his motion, but stayed quiet since I didn't know them. “Izzy can't stay away from me when I'm on a boat.”
“Hey! That was a long time ago, and it was dark, and I thought you were Noah!” the woman exclaimed, rolling her eyes. She leaned up against the man next to her. He laughed and put his arm around her in solidarity. Love floated around the two of them in heavy waves.
“Now, Aiden...” The man tipped his sunglasses up onto his head, revealing spectacular blue eyes. He smiled at me. It was a breathtaking smile, but it didn't make me go weak in the knees the way Aiden's did. No, as amazing as this man's smile was, it was obviously meant for someone else. “At least your brother knows how to introduce a pretty girl to his friends.”
Even though I wasn't interested in him, I still blushed at the compliment.
“Lena, this is Noah and his wife, Izzy,” Aiden introduced. “Noah and I used to box together in college and Izzy runs a marine sanctuary on the island. The shark lab there is a big hit with the tourists.”
“It's nice to meet you both,” I said with a grin.
“It's a pleasure to meet you, too!” Izzy bubbled. “If you want to come by the sanctuary later, I'd be happy to give you a tour.” I instinctively liked her friendly nature. She reminded me a lot of Darcie.
“Now, Lena,” Noah said, his face serious. “You seem like a nice girl, so I have to ask what you're doing out here in this rust-bucket with this scoundrel.”
“He kidnapped me,” I answered, keeping my face as serious as possible. I was enjoying the easy, joking atmosphere the three of them had going on and wanted to join in. “Something about needing bait for sharks.”
Izzy laughed. “It must be working. She's right under your boat.”
“She?” Aiden asked, paling a little. “I'm not helping you catch this one. The last time I helped you, I nearly ended up an appetizer.”
I glanced back and forth between the two of them, not quite following. I really hoped Izzy didn't mean that a shark was under our boat. Especially since I had just been splashing my feet in the water.
“Well, I didn't come out here just to see you, Aiden,” Izzy teased. “But don't worry, I'm just tracking this shark, not trying to catch her. Besides, you were fine.”
“I was in the ocean next to a very large shark,” Aiden countered. “I would prefer to keep my animal encounters to ones under me on the food chain.”
“There's a shark under our boat?” I asked, peering over the edge of our suddenly very flimsy, floating vehicle. I was expecting to at least see a dark shape, but all I saw was dark blue water.
“A lemon shark, to be precise,” Izzy answered. Her eyes lit up like a kid at Christmas. Noah smiled at her enthusiasm for the creature, love showing in his gaze.
The finale of the movie “Jaws” ran through my head. “Do we need to leave? I don't want to upset a shark.” I didn't know what the proper procedure regarding sharks and boats was. There wasn't exactly a lot of shark education taught in landlocked states.
Izzy grinned and shook her head. “Oh no, you're fine. She doesn't care as long as you don't go down and try to pet her.”
“That wasn't on my list of things to do today,” I assured her. In fact, I was pretty sure my feet were staying up in the boat for the rest of our trip. “Why are you tracking her?”
“We just got some new tracking equipment and are testing it out.” Izzy explained indicating to the computer on their dash. “Our girl here is pregnant, so as part of my research, I've been keeping a close eye on her.”
I nodded, and looked over the side again. All I could think of was one of my dad's bad corny jokes.
Why won't sharks attack lawyers? Professional courtesy. Hardy har har.
Izzy started babbling on about her research and something about a reef and mangroves, but I was completely lost. Laws and statutes were my thing, not biology and experiments. I nodded politely, but Noah must have seen my glazed expression.
“Izzy, they don't need the taxonomical breakdown of the species,” he said gently, putting a hand on her shoulder to curb the flow of shark related words.
“That's not even close to what I was talking about,” she responded indignantly. Izzy glared up at him and then promptly looked a little bashful. She turned to Aiden. “I was going off into science mode again, wasn't I?”
“Just a little,” Aiden answered. He held his hand up with his thumb and forefinger just inches apart.
“Sorry.” She gave me a mortified smile. “I just get so excited about it I forget that not everyone is obsessed like I am.”
I grinned at her. She was absolutely adorable. Noah gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze that showed he loved her more than any words could have explained. There was a love story wrapped around the two of them that I could just see the edges of. I knew it was something beautiful.
The computer beeped, and Izzy jumped excitedly to look at it.
“What are the two of you doing for dinner?” Noah asked while Izzy evaluated the screen. “I know Izzy would love to regale someone new with her shark tales this evening.” Izzy turned and stuck her tongue out at him.
“I'm afraid we have plans,” Aiden answered quickly. “Thank you, though.”
I didn't know that the two of us had plans, but I stayed quiet and just smiled apologetically. I was very okay with having plans as long as they involved Aiden.
“That's too bad. Maybe next time?” Noah smiled, and I knew he legitimately meant it.
“That would be wonderful,” I answered. I would love to meet some of Aiden's friends.
“She's heading west,” Izzy said, pointing at the computer screen. She looked up and smiled. “It was great to meet you, Lena. Aiden, tell your brother or Olivia to call me. I can't keep up with the business they've been sending our way. I mean, it's great, but I'm going to have to hire someone if they keep it up.”
“I'll make sure he gets the message,” Aiden assured her. “It's good to see you two.”
Noah started up his boat's engine and waved as they pulled away to follow Izzy's shark. We watched them for a moment.
“So what are our dinner plans?” I asked, turning to Aiden once the boat was out of hearing.