The Kiss on Castle Road (A Lavender Island Novel)

by Lauren Christopher

  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.

  And that thought made her happy. She couldn’t remember ever just liking a guy she wasn’t sleeping with. It was oddly relaxing, not having to be strategic or play defense. Elliott was just a nice guy. Maybe the first sincerely nice guy she’d ever let herself get to know. And she liked him. And that was okay. And she was helping him.

  And that’s all this would be.

  Elliott flipped on the Bunsen burner, reached for the newest vials of blood Jim had given him that morning, then tried to focus on determining the nucleotide sequence of the capsid protein gene. He was so close to finding homology between these sea lion virus serotypes and some other animals tha
t lived on the island. Thank God Saturdays were filled with volunteers at the center, so Jim had given him the freedom to work on his own projects all morning. He’d stayed up late last night studying the gene sequences of other native animals, and comparing them with what he’d found, and had woken that morning with a slight buzz of discovery.

  Well, that and a slight buzz from the memory of touching Natalie Grant on a starlit mountaintop the other night, and pushing the tendrils of hair from her neck, and kissing her there, and hearing the slightest moan slip out from between her lips . . .

  Today he was on fire. His thoughts were coming clearer; he was excited about his discoveries; he was feeling confident, and “pumped,” as she’d said when he’d discovered her on his run. It had been fun to see her. He hadn’t realized she lived so close. His usual shyness had been tinged with just enough confidence now from the brief moaning memory to keep him talking to her with a degree of comfort. And now it was as if his tiny success with her was electrifying him and causing him to live just five bulbs brighter. He’d never experienced anything like this—being so inspired by another human. He wondered if it might be what artists meant when they called on a muse.

  Not that it was going any further than this. He knew that. And he needed to switch his thinking to Becky at some point today. But for now, with memories of Natalie on his mind, and excitement from knowing she was coming to the center today, he could enjoy being on fire.

  He put the culture tubes he was prepping in a rack and inoculated each tube, then swung back to the lab’s side table and furiously typed out some notes onto his laptop.

  “Sherm?” Jim’s voice came over his shoulder.

  “Yeah?”

  “You have guests.”

  Normally Elliott would be irritated or frustrated by the interruption, but this time—knowing who the guests were—he felt a jolt of excitement.

  “Give me ten,” he said over his shoulder.

  He typed out the last of his notes and raced the samples to the incubator, his heart pounding with adrenaline.

  Then he headed out to the front area to see his new little friend, Lily; the torturing sister he could relate to; and his new muse.

  CHAPTER 14

  Natalie held Lily’s left hand as the young girl hugged her Elsa doll in the right, and they both stood on the brick path with Paige, waiting for Elliott.

  She knew this was an intel trip for Paige, who was ready to gather info on whether she was winning the bet or not. Paige had been pressing Natalie for details all morning about Elliott while Natalie was planting the gerbera daisies outside the back door, where they could be seen from the nursery window. Paige seemed to halfway believe the “just friends” explanation because Elliott was not Natalie’s type at all, but she kept peering at her closely and said Natalie had a “funny look” on her face.

  Natalie didn’t know about the “funny look” part—it seemed embarrassing, really—but she did know she was absolutely not going to fail at a mancation. When she remembered her slip from the other night, though, and the shivers from Elliott’s instructional kiss, she realized she might have to make the rules explicit.

  “So what exactly constitutes a loss, here?” she whispered over Lily’s head.

  “See? I knew it! I won, didn’t I?”

  “No. I’m not saying that. I just want to make things clear. A ‘mancation’ might imply a vacation from all men in general, but I mean it to include only men I’m dating. Dr. Sherman is a friend, not a love interest, but I have been spending time with him.”

  Paige frowned, clearly unconvinced. The frown remained as she asked Lily if she wanted to go closer to one of the fenced pools. Then she marched back to Natalie.

  “Okay, the bet is off if there’s a kiss,” Paige whispered.

  Natalie sighed. That’s what she’d supposed. She’d better come clean. “Well, there was a kiss, but—”

  “See? I knew it!”

  “Two, to be honest.”

  “Okay, I won.”

  “Wait, wait. I can explain. He’s a friend, and he needed help, and a mutual friend of ours was instructing him on how to end a date.”

  “He doesn’t know how to end a date?”

  “He’s not very confident.”

  “So you kissed him?”

  “He kissed me. Under the Colonel’s instruction.”

  “The Colonel?”

  “He’s one of the senior citizens.”

  Paige looked at her sideways. “A senior citizen was instructing him on how to kiss?”

  “The Colonel was instructing him on how to end a date. He was saying, ‘If you’re not interested, do this’ and ‘If you’re interested, do this.’”

  “And which did he seem to be?”

  “He practiced both.”

  Paige shook her head and stared at the baby fur seals’ cage for a minute. “So what was the second kiss?”

  “Much of the same. Instructional. I just showed him the erogenous zones and let him kiss me on the neck as an example. It wasn’t a shared kiss.”

  “What? Erogenous zones? Natalie, a shared kiss is a technicality at that point. Were there closed eyes? Heavy breathing?”

  “Paige! Stop! No.”

  Natalie tried not to think about the goose bumps she’d gotten, or the fact that she hadn’t stopped thinking about the kiss since it had happened, but she pushed those thoughts aside and reminded herself of the reality of the situation: “He’s going out with Becky Huffington, actually.”

  “He’s going out with Becky? Olivia’s friend?”

  “Yes. Now hush. Here he comes.”

  Paige seemed vaguely mollified. Or maybe confused. Or something that made her close her mouth and peer at Elliott more carefully when he came down the path.

  As soon as Lily saw Elliott, she lunged for his hand. “I brought Elsa to see Larry, Curly, and Moe!”

  Elliott glanced at Paige and frowned in confusion. “Elsa?”

  “Elsa!” Lily thrust the doll forward.

  “Oh.” He laughed. “Well, I think Elsa will like meeting the sea lions.”

  He motioned for Paige and Natalie, who followed behind him and Lily all the way up the path, Lily gripping his hand and talking the whole way.

  Over the next hour, he showed Paige the feeding area, and Lily showed Paige how she made the formula. They went to the private pool where Larry, Curly, and Moe were, and Elliott let them all watch a volunteer named Theresa feed the pups. Eventually, Theresa got Lily into her own apron and gloves and let her help while Paige held on to Elsa for her near the pool.

  Farther back along the fence, Elliott leaned next to Natalie. Her heart picked up just at the nearness of his lab-coated forearm, especially when she remembered how muscular it was under that material. She moved away slightly to preserve her sanity and dignity. And the bet.

  “We never got to go over the last dating tips you were going to give me,” he said so they couldn’t be heard. Ahead of them, Lily took the baby bottle from Theresa and held it up.

  “No, we didn’t,” Natalie whispered. “But you should do fine. Becky clearly likes you. And you have your antihistamines, right?”

  He dropped his head and chuckled. “I do, yes.”

  They watched Lily for another few minutes. Her face was lit up with the responsibility and wonder of healing the little sea lions. Suddenly, she turned and looked back at them over her shoulder. “Which one’s Larry?” she called to Elliott.

  He pointed to a pup in the corner.

  “How do you remember which one’s which, with nearly fifty pups in here? They all look the same,” Natalie said.

  “You get to know them. They’re also marked, but Larry’s the biggest, so he’s easy to spot.”

  “Thank you so much for doing this for her.”

  “Not a problem. We like when rescuers follow
up. I hope you’ll keep bringing her.”

  The comment was a bit vague, but Natalie liked it that way. She pretended he meant he was glad that she herself had come.

  “So. You never told me why you’re on a mancation,” he said suddenly.

  The comment took her by surprise, and she wasn’t sure how to respond. She hadn’t told anyone. Not even Olivia or Paige. The low chain-link fence they were leaning against shook as she shifted uncomfortably and willed her stomach to stop knotting. “I’m not sure I’m ready to talk about that.”

  Elliott turned and looked at her. She had the sensation of being under a microscope and tried to move away. The sea lions squawked quietly in the background, not strong enough for full barks yet.

  Natalie played with the rings on her fingers as Elliott leaned down, as if to encourage eye contact. “Natalie, did someone hurt you?”

  His voice was low, tolerant, comforting, indignant. It wrapped around her like a warm blanket, and she wanted to lean into it, or lean into him, and finally tell someone her story. His eyes searched her face as he waited for an answer. She glanced up once and met his gaze. It was so filled with understanding, so filled with compassion, so filled with invitation that she knew she could probably tell him anything right now and he’d listen.

  But Paige looked back then, and Natalie remembered that she was supposed to be keeping a distance from Elliott. She could be friends with him, but leaning into the warmth seemed like a line she couldn’t cross. She didn’t even tell her sisters these kinds of things. Or her girlfriends. Or her mom. Somehow Elliott’s offer seemed dangerous—something she’d never allowed herself, and something that would change everything, maybe make her lose herself somehow. She took an additional step back.

  “We should be going,” she blurted, stumbling just a bit and moving toward the fence opening. “Lily? Paige? Are you ready?”