Sandcastle Kisses (The Kisses 5)

“Yes. But Jack paid me more than enough to tend bar again.” He smiled. “I want you to have it. Seriously. Use it for something fun.”

“You're sure?” I asked once more before taking the money. It seemed like everyone here was giving me crazy amounts of money tonight.

“Very sure.” He leaned forward and gave me a light kiss on the cheek. The touch of his lips fanned the embers in my stomach to an achy burn. I closed my eyes. I wanted to say yes to him, to go with him to his room and let those arms wrap around me, but I knew I should say no. I needed to stay strong. He was handsome, but I didn't need a one night stand.

“Thank you,” I whispered. He pulled back and opened the car door for me to get in. A true gentleman.

“Have a wonderful night, Izzy.”

I sat down on my imitation leather seats, and he closed the door. He gave me one last dazzling smile before turning and heading back to the house. I watched his figure outlined by the yellow light of the porch for a moment before starting the car.

The engine mumbled quietly as I pulled out and onto the empty road to get home. It was close enough that I could have walked, but I liked the ease of a car on these late night jobs. I turned onto the main road, my headlights bright against the dark night.

I could still feel his lips on my cheek. He had been funny and charming. No mention of a wife or a girlfriend or anything to give me warning. He had been protective. I nearly hit the brakes to turn around and go back. I wanted to feel those muscled arms encircling me. I wanted to feel those lips again.

No, I told myself firmly. He's just a tourist. You don't even know his last name. He's going to leave just like they all do. Best not to even get attached.

I nodded, proud of myself for staying resolute and ignoring the way my heart cried out that I should go back. My head, not my body, was who I needed to listen to. No matter how wonderful he had seemed.

Chapter 5

I woke up the next morning with a smile on my face. My dreams had been invaded by an irresistible man with blue eyes and unending charm. The best part was that in my dreams, I didn't have to stop. I didn't have to be responsible, reasonable, or nervous. I could do anything, and everything, that I wanted. Waking up, I was sad to leave my dreams behind. They had been some of the best dreams of my life.

I stretched my hands over my head, looking over to see a neatly made bed in the opposite corner of the room. Brooke was already up, which meant that there was probably some leftover breakfast in the kitchen. Brooke was always good for leaving me breakfast after work nights.

I quickly got ready, running a brush through my hair and finding my wetsuit. Despite my diet of fish and tropical fruit, it was still snug across the hips. Eh, I thought, I don't need to impress the sharks today. Sunglasses and some sunscreen completed my morning preparations.

I walked quickly to the kitchen and found two deviled eggs waiting for me in

the fridge. Brooke made the best deviled eggs, and she knew they were my favorite. I couldn't ask for a better roomie. I stuffed one in my mouth and carried the other out of the kitchen to the back porch.

Outside, the big porch wrapped around the house. To the right was a sandy beach where we had built several holding pens for containing sharks for research or rehabilitation. We had several sheds set up by the pens to hold more equipment and gear.

The house backed out onto the water with a little dock for our two research boats. The building had once been a decently sized home, but Dr. Algos had transformed it into a marine biology research station over twenty years before I had even arrived. The only part of it that actually looked like a house anymore was the outside. The three bedrooms were now for research assistants and their projects, the living room was filled with different sized fish tanks, and the dining room was full of computers and research equipment. Even the kitchen had an attached area where we could prep shark bait.

Dr. Algos was out loading one of the boats. I headed down the dock toward the boat, filling my mouth with the second egg.

“Hi, Izzy,” Dr. Algos called out as soon as he saw me. “Good night last night?”

“Hey, Doc. I made awesome good tips. Where are you off to?” I asked.

“Tagging. There have been some hammerheads spotted over by Shark Tooth Rock. Brooke and I going to try and get a transmitter on 'em.” Doc straightened from loading the boat and shaded his face with his hand. “You know when Lucas and Devon get back from the mainland?”

He was a tall, lean man with graying hair that he kept cropped close to his head. He had permanent sunglasses lines around his warm brown eyes. His love was the ocean. Sharks, rays, fish, dolphins- if it swam, he studied it. He had been studying marine biology for longer than I had been alive. His love of the ocean was a big part of why I was out here helping him with his research.

“They'll be back tomorrow evening. Devon said his dissertation went well,” I told him. “They promise they'll bring as much peanut butter and mainland goodies as they can fit in their suitcases.”

“Mmm, peanut butter,” Brooke said as she walked past me with her arms full of chum buckets. She somehow made carrying bloody fish look sexy. Some days I hated Brooke. She was possibly the most beautiful person I had ever met. Tall, with legs that stretched into infinity, she also had perfectly sculpted abs and a megawatt smile. The thing was, she knew she was gorgeous, but she only used the advantage at the bars. She was also one of the nicest people I knew, and my best friend and roommate on the island.

Dr. Algos turned back to me. “You're in the pen today, Izzy. Feed and check the pups, and then you can have the rest of the day off. I don't want you doing any more research until we know we'll have assured access to the Grove.”

I nodded. “Have you heard anything from the lawyers?”

Doc shook his head. “Nope. I put another call in, but I they haven't responded yet. It looks like the auction date is pushed back again. Try not to worry, okay?”

I smiled and nodded. Not worrying was far easier said than done. The Grove was supposed to be the site of my doctoral project as well as a nature preserve. There was a perfect mangrove outcropping just down the road from the research center. The mangroves grew out on a promontory that stretched out into the ocean making a unique habitat. Numerous species of sharks, fish, and marine life used the mangroves to harbor their young until they were big enough to survive in the open ocean. The only problem was that it was on private property. That hadn't been a problem until the owner, who had given us permission to use it, suddenly died. The land was set to go up for auction.

We teamed up with several other scientists, hoping to buy the property and turn it into a wildlife reserve. The local government wasn't being much help in the process, but we were determined to save the Grove. Unfortunately, it was a prime piece of real estate, and we were going to be cutting it close as it was. The land was due to go up for auction any day now, and I hoped we had enough. If we weren't successful, then the best we could hope for was that the new owner would still allow us access.