Barefoot Kisses: A Billionaire Love Story by Krista Lakes Page A

sure if I meant for helping me out of the ocean or for sending me dinner. Or both.
    “Apparently, I'm memorable too,” he responded, grinning at his name.
    “Very,” I told him. I knew I was blushing as deep a red as my swimsuit. “Actually, I never got a chance to thank you for dinner. I really appreciated it.”
    He guided me out of the water and up onto the beach. As soon as the water no longer threatened to knock either of us over, he let me go. He turned looked me up and down with his eyes, inspecting me for damage. Having his gaze on me made my heart pound and I suddenly felt light headed.
    “It was my pleasure. You sure you're all right?” he asked, taking in my wobbly, now light-headed wobbly stance.
    “I'm better than fine,” I assured him. I could have been bleeding from every orifice and not have cared. Being around him was intoxicating and wonderful. “You keep rescuing me.”
    “I didn't know carrying books counted as a rescue,” he replied. I blushed harder.
    “It did that day.” I looked into his hazel eyes and found them just as mesmerizing as I did the first time. They had actually gotten even better. “I can't believe you're here. Are you with one of the law firms?”
    Confusion crossed his handsome face for a second, but he quickly replaced it with an easy smile. “I'm with Travel, Inc.”
    “Oh, that makes sense.” I hoped I didn't sound as ditzy as I felt. He had the ability to completely take logical thought straight out of my brain just by standing there. The fact that his shirtless chest was soaking up the sun right in front of me certainly wasn't helping my brainpower any either. I just wanted to stare at his body and drool. “It was really nice of them to have the meeting here.”
    He nodded, and started making his way up the beach. I followed like a happy puppy. “This way the vacation counts as a business expense. Everyone but the accountants are happy.”
    I laughed far too hard at his lame joke. “So what do you do at Travel, Inc. then?”
    He stumbled on some sand, but recovered quickly. I smiled nervously. I didn't want him to get nervous and run off. Not after I had been thinking of him for so long.
    “Not much, really,” he said smoothly, as if he had never been caught off guard. “I just help out my brother.”
    “You mean Ben?” I asked innocently, remembering the man from before.
    “What about Ben?” He glanced away from the beach and up toward the resort buildings as if he expected Ben to jump out at him.
    At that moment, I stepped directly on something sharp and let out a shriek of pain. All questions about Ben were forgotten as I hopped up and down, cradling my foot and balancing on the other.
    “Are you okay?” Aiden asked, anxiously, holding his arms out to steady me. I gave sincere thought to falling just so that he'd have to catch me, but decided against it. I didn't want to be a complete ditz.
    “Yeah,” I answered. The pain was fading, but it still hurt. “I just stepped on something sharp.”
    Aiden dropped to his knees a took my foot in his hand. His gentle fingers probed my flesh and I had to put my hand on his shoulder for balance because he was making my world spin with want.
    “You're barefoot again,” he chastised gently. “It doesn't look like you broke the skin, though. You have something against shoes?”
    “You're just as barefoot as I am,” I informed him. “Besides, who goes swimming with shoes?”
    He chuckled and set my foot back on the sand. “You sure you're okay?”
    I nodded. “It doesn't even hurt any more. You must be magic.”
    He rose in a smooth motion to his full height, looking down at me with those amazing eyes. I still had my hand on his shoulder and I caught the scent of his soap again. All I could think about was kissing him. His lips were so close and perfect, and there wasn't an elevator to interrupt us this time. I closed my eyes, ready to have my fantasy become a reality.
    “Aiden?” A deep voice called.