The Kiss on Castle Road (A Lavender Island Novel) (15 page)

“I am.” He got out of the cart, carefully sidestepping the golf clubs he almost just ran over.

“Well, if you’re feeling better, I was wondering if we could have a repeat date? This time it’s on me. I’ll be sure not to bring Chip, and I’ll wear something that hasn’t been near the dogs. We can go to my favorite Mexican food place right by the tourist dock—El Farolito? How about Saturday?”

Elliott stepped inside the house and flipped on the lights. He didn’t really want to do this. He didn’t need a repeat date with Becky. He’d rather work. Or be with Natalie. And then there was . . . Oh damn, the seniors’ fund-raiser Saturday.

“I have to work, Becky.”

“Nell said you work too much. Just take one Saturday off.”

“It’s not technically work. It’s a fund-raiser. But I go every month. It’s the Bars and Barks Event.”

“What’s the Bars and Barks Event?”

“It’s a bar event that the seniors put on at different bars each month to raise money for the sea lion center. It’s at the Shore Thing this month.”

“We could go together.”

He sighed. He didn’t want to go with Becky. He almost hoped he’d see Natalie there. But . . . well, what the hell was he thinking? He wasn’t seeing Natalie. Despite that delicious moment of kissing her neck on a mountaintop above the island, she was still on her mancation. Which she’d made clear to him multiple times.

He might as well go out with Becky again. It would give him a rare second date, probably make the evening go by faster, fulfill his obligation, and then he could tell Nell he was done with dating for a while. He needed to get back to work.

“Okay. We can go together.”

“We’ll just meet there,” Becky said. “So you don’t have to be near the dogs.”

“Sounds good.” Elliott wondered what the Colonel would have to say about not picking her up on a
second
date. “Around seven?”

“I’ll see you then.”

Elliott clicked off the phone and dragged himself into the bedroom to finish some of his notes.

And tried to think about the right woman.

CHAPTER 13

Natalie woke Saturday morning completely thrilled—no taking Lily to school. She’d slept in until eight, then shuffled her slippers into the front room, straightened her pajama top, and glanced up to see Lily already awake, eating Froot Loops at the dining table.

“Lily, sweetie, how did you—”

Blonde hair caught her eye to the right.

“Paige! What are you still doing here?”

“Thought I’d catch a different ferry out.”

“You’re
staying
?”

“I guess I’m having fun. I thought I’d stay one more night and go to Bars and Barks.” Paige put her own cereal bowl in the sink and started the coffeepot. “And, actually, I offered to come every weekend from now on while you’re watching Lily. Olivia and I agreed that you need weekends off. How did it go last night?”

Natalie smoothed her hair down and rummaged for a coffee cup. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, I saw you leap off the love seat and grab something out of the cupboard and fly out of here. Whose rescue did you come to, and how did it go?”

Natalie didn’t know how much she wanted to admit to. She arranged her coffee cup, then dug back into the cupboard for a bowl. “I thought you were sleeping,” she said with as much innocence as she could muster. “Did you leave me some cereal?”

A slow smile slid across Paige’s face. “I thought so.”

“You thought what?”

“I thought it was a guy. Did I win the bet?”

“Paige, you don’t know what you’re talking about. I went to see a
friend
last night.”

“And was this friend a guy?”

Natalie slammed the cupboard and went to find a spoon. “If you must know, yes. But I’m not dating him. And you didn’t win the bet. He’s a friend.”

“I didn’t win
yet
.”

“Ever. You won’t win this one. I’m almost one week in now, and only two to go.”

“But that blush creeping across your cheeks tells me everything I need to know. And you’re not going to last two more weeks. Who is it?”

“It’s none of your business.”

“John-O?”

“No! And that’s all I’m saying.”

“Steve Stegner?”

“No!”
she let slip. Paige was too good at egging her on.

“The new guy at the post office?”

“Paige, I’m not engaging with you anymore.”

“Tag? Oh, tell me it’s Tag! He’s really cute.”

“We’re not doing this.”

“It’s the sea lion man,” said Lily calmly as she continued coloring with her crayons.

They both looked back at Lily; then Paige turned toward Natalie, her eyebrows up in her bangs. “A
sea lion man
?” Another slow smile stole across her face. “Where did you see the sea lion man, Lily?”

“Paige, knock it off. It’s not the sea lion man . . . Well, it
is
the sea lion man who I went to help last night, but I’m not interested in him. And his name isn’t Sea Lion Man. It’s Elliott.”

Paige lifted her coffee cup to her lips and smiled at Natalie over the rim. Natalie knew she’d lost this round.

But she wasn’t losing this bet.

She made two cups of coffee with harsh movements and walked one back to Olivia’s room. “
Some
sisters are nice,” she snapped at Paige.

When she came back out, Paige and Lily were sitting at the table, both coloring. She decided to skip the cereal and instead take her coffee out to the balcony, where she could breathe in some fresh ocean air and forget about how much Paige irritated her.

She leaned against the balustrade and stared at the beautiful ocean just fifty feet away. A young couple looked peaceful walking their dog along the water’s edge, a do-gooder woman was picking up trash with a long pole and a large bag, and behind all of them a male runner was sprinting at a pretty good clip in the damp sand. Natalie took a sip of her coffee and enjoyed him for a minute. He had his shirt off, a lean torso with clean molded muscles across his chest and shoulders, muscular legs flexing at every long stride, and—

Natalie almost spilled her coffee over the balcony as she stood straighter.
Elliott?

She peered more closely and saw that it was, indeed, him. His hair glinted in the early-morning sunlight as it bounced across his forehead with each long stride; his fists clenched as he pumped his arms; and the water reflected upward to cast his body in a deep gold, outlining shadows into the ridges across his muscled abdomen. A sheen of perspiration across his chest caught the water’s reflection, and his stride lengthened—all style and grace, pulling him rhythmically across the sparkling ocean’s edge, following the ribbons of sea foam that seemed to create a path for only him.

Natalie concentrated on closing her mouth and set her coffee cup on the edge of the balcony so she didn’t drop it. She couldn’t take her eyes off him as he moved like air across the golden horizon.

“Look, Natalie, I’m sorry. I was just—” Paige interrupted the spell, and Natalie whirled around as if caught.

Paige’s eyes went over her shoulder, and it didn’t take her long to zero in, like some damned submarine scope, on exactly what Natalie had been feasting her eyes on.

“Ah. Is this like taking whiffs of cookies right out of the oven when you’re on a diet?” Paige walked to the edge of the balcony and watched him herself. “Your coffee’s getting cold.”

Natalie picked up her mug and tried to look bored as she sipped it and focused on one of the other beach walkers.

“That woman comes out here and picks up trash every morning, you know,” she said, pointing Paige in another direction.

“Uh-huh.”

“Aren’t you going to look at her?”

“I’m busy.”

Elliott had come to the end of the row of cottages—Olivia’s was just two from the end—and had turned around and was jogging back the other way, a little slower now. He seemed to be in some kind of cooldown but was still moving at an impressive pace. Natalie and Paige both sipped their coffee and stared. He pulled his T-shirt out of the back of his waistband and mopped his face, then glanced in their direction and did a double take.

He made a sharp turn and jogged in their direction.

Paige’s eyes went wide.

“Stop staring!” Natalie whispered.

Paige ignored her completely. “Do you
know
him?”

“Yes! Stop staring!”

Paige continued to ignore her while they enjoyed another few seconds of his taut chest muscles before he tugged the T-shirt over his head.

Natalie swallowed her disappointment, embarrassed that she’d been gawking for so long. She always hated when men ogled
her
, and yet here she was doing the very same thing.

“Hello!” he finally yelled when he was within shouting distance. “I didn’t realize you lived right here.”

Natalie couldn’t decide if she was mortified or pleased that he’d spotted her and had run all the way over. Vignettes of the previous night—and memories of kisses across the back of her neck—heated her face. What had she been thinking? This kind, shy man needed a
friend—
and tips on dating, as he was looking for a serious relationship—and she was acting like some sex-starved prairie vole just because she was on a mancation for three weeks. She needed to back off.

But she smoothed her hair anyway and straightened her toast pajamas.

“Yes. My sister Olivia lives here. This is my other sister, Paige. She’s visiting, too. But she was just leaving.” She gave Paige a little shove.

Paige looked insulted. “No, I’m not! Hi, and you are . . . ?”

“Elliott Sherman.” He reached his arm up through the balusters and shook her hand.

“The Sea Lion Man, by any chance?” Paige asked.

Elliott frowned and glanced at Natalie. “Uh . . . yeah, I guess that would be me.”

“Sea Lion Man!” yelled Lily, who’d apparently spotted him a minute ago and had hauled the heavy slider to come out and leap across the balcony. At the edge of the balustrade, she squatted so she was eye to eye with Elliott. “How are the sea lions? Did I help them?”

“Lily, his name isn’t Sea Lion Man,” Natalie said. “It’s Dr. Sherman.”

Elliott smiled. “It’s okay. Sea Lion Man might be easier to remember. And Larry, Curly, and Moe are great. I think they each gained another half a pound. The formula you made yesterday really helped.”

Lily giggled and fell to her knees. “Can I help again?”

“If your aunt says it’s okay.” He glanced up at Natalie.

Natalie felt a warmth ooze through her middle and wondered what the hell was happening to her. Elliott gave her a smile that held a cute combination of embarrassment and hope, and she had a hard time looking away. Their shared intimacy last night—the dark night, the twinkling lights, the medicine, the pajamas, the erogenous-zone kisses—all swirled between them like a huge secret. It seemed to pass between them for just an instant; then he lowered his lashes and looked away.

Natalie finally followed suit and lifted Lily off the concrete. Paige was sipping from her coffee mug and watching the whole exchange with interest.

“Maybe Monday, sweetie,” Natalie said, depositing Lily onto her feet.

“Today? Today?” Lily clasped her hands into an exaggerated beg.

“I don’t think Dr. Sherman works on Saturdays.”

“I do. I work every day.” He waved his hand toward the hill where the center was, but then seemed to stop himself when he realized this might not have been the answer Natalie wanted him to blurt out. “I mean . . . Monday is fine, though. Monday is better, probably.”

“
We’re
not doing anything today,” Paige said, turning toward Natalie.

“Oh, we don’t want to impose upon Dr. Sherman for yet another day. I think—”

“It’s no problem,” he said.

“
I’d
like to go,” Paige said, lifting her eyebrows toward Natalie.

Natalie turned and made her crazy-eyes face toward Paige to get her to quiet down, but she was clearly having too much fun.

“What time would be best?” Paige asked Elliott.

Elliott was glancing at Natalie, realizing, perhaps, that maybe he’d steered a runaway train right off the tracks. “I’ll, uh, be there in an hour. Anytime after that.”

“We’ll definitely see you then.” Paige cupped her coffee in both hands and looked at Natalie with an expression of triumph.

Lily started jumping all over the balcony, clapping. “I’m going to bring my Elsa doll!” She ran inside.

“Let’s get dressed first, Lil,” Paige shouted after her, following inside. She turned once to wink at Natalie before stepping through the slider. “You two behave out here.”

Natalie sighed.

“I, uh . . . I’m sorry if that didn’t go the way you wanted,” Elliott said. “I shouldn’t have said that.”

“It’s okay. I just . . .” She glanced toward the door. “Sisters can be difficult.”

“I hear you. This the same sister who was with you at the Shore Thing, right? She was apologizing to you?”

“Yeah. How did you remember that?”

“I have a good memory.”

“Must be what makes you a good scientist.”

“Something like that.”

The ocean waves crashed in the distance, and Elliott shifted his arm along the balustrade. “So you have another sister who lives here?”

“Yes, Olivia.”

“And Olivia is Lily’s mom?”

“Yes, and she’s pregnant with her second, and on bed rest, so I’m here helping out for a few months. Paige is just here being a pest.”

“What’s she bothering you about now? Earlier it was the mancation, right?”

“It’s still that. She thinks she’s going to win this bet. I’m sure she thinks you’re . . .” Natalie waved her hand up and down in the direction of his torso, but then she didn’t know how to explain much further. A flash of how beautiful he was under that T-shirt went through her memory, and she felt herself blush. “You look different today.”

“Yeah, no lab coat. Morning run. I run every day at six.”

She let her eyes take him all in quickly—roped forearms, trim waist, runner’s shorts, muscled legs, and . . .
bare feet
? “You run barefoot?”

“Always. I used to run cross-country, and we all ran barefoot back then. So your sister thinks I’m what?”

“Oh. She thinks you’re”—she flapped her hand toward him again and forced herself to stop gawking at his legs—“
tempting
me . . . or whatever, in some way, to lose the bet. So how did the rest of the other night go? Did Becky call you again?”

“She did.”

“She
did
?” Natalie was actually a little surprised at that. Becky wasn’t wasting any time. “What did she say?”

“She asked me out.”

“Really?”

“You sound surprised.”

“No. I mean, yes. A little. I’m a little surprised. That she moved so fast. But . . . Well, that’s
good
. Really.”

“Thanks again for all your help—driving up there with the antihistamines and then the uh . . . coaching.”

Natalie nodded. “No problem.” A small heat fired up her neck and ears when she thought about how much she’d enjoyed the coaching, too, but she took another sip of her coffee to look unaffected. “So when are you going out again?”

“Tonight.”

The coffee fell with a thud in her stomach. “
Tonight!
Wow. Okay.”

Maybe Becky was genuinely interested in him. And why shouldn’t she be? And why should this bother her anyway? This was as it should be, right? Becky was nice. Elliott was nice. Natalie was giving dating advice, and it was actually working. She should be happy.

But she wasn’t.

“Well, okay. How do you feel? Are you pumped?” She tried to force some false enthusiasm into her voice.

“Pumped?”

“You know, excited? Happy about it?”

“It’ll be okay.” He started backing away from the balustrade. “I need to finish this run. But I’ll see you today then?”

“Yes, definitely. We’ll . . . we’ll see you.”

He gave her another smile and then turned and started jogging lithely across the sand.

She took a sip of her coffee and allowed herself a good, long look. She didn’t like to be someone who ogled another human being, but she told herself it was okay because she truly liked him.