by Nikki Winter
“As does the sight of you during locker room showers at the station and yet I live with it. What do you mean explore?”
“Your enthusiastic need to fervently grope her is both amusing and creepy but, Addison’s threats to dismember me should I breathe a word to you Carmen’s plans are simply disturbing. Thusly, I shall remain quiet and neutral. For I will not find myself missing a kidney just to discover later that it has been sold on the black market.”
Sighing, Eli sat back. “You take that book out again, I’m slamming it against your Adam’s apple.”
Maikao simply shrugged. “Why do you think it’s now under the table?”
“Why is she planning on seeing other people when I’ll be there?” It was making him fucking mental! Eli didn’t consider his ego to be any larger than the next man’s but he had a lot to offer a woman. Or at least he thought he did. Carmen seemed intent on disillusioning him on that particular notion. Ninety days and he still had no idea what her voice sounded like in the morning or whether or not she was as resolute as she seemed. Somehow this made pursuing her so much sweeter.
Eli couldn’t tell what it was exactly but, her unwillingness to take what he so graciously offered made her more…appealing. It had been a long time since a woman was able to ignore him, as though he was nothing more than a stray who was consistently begging for table scraps. It still amazed him that Carmen managed to do it for so long. No matter how many times she stared at him; sizing him up for a shallow grave in the middle of the desert, he still found himself fantasizing about tangling his fingers in her hair, fist wrapped in the strands and pulling her head back while he lunged his cock deep enough inside her that he’d unintentionally move a few things around.
God, he needed sex and he needed it from her. He’d had a few fleeting partners as time passed but nothing sated the lust Carmen had provoked, nothing. Eli was starting to wonder if he were pathetic for his obsession but, how could he not be completely fascinated? How could he keep his head on straight and his pants from tenting when she was so close? He couldn’t. He accepted that the night she’d stared at him in such a cool, detached way and told him that he wasn’t her type. Eli still found it laughable. He was too busy imagining the way she’d sink down into his lap, lower lip caught between her teeth, eyes heavy and glazed over right to take her seriously. More importantly, he fantasized about hearing her admit how incredibly wrong she was. Oh, he was her type. The type to smack her ass until she—
“That look,” Maikao suddenly said, interrupting Eli’s thoughts. “It makes me uncomfortable. Stop it.”
Eli’s lips curved. “I can either sit here with this look or tell you why said look exists.”
The other man waved a hand. “Please continue your creepy leering.”
And so he did but a voice interrupted.
“Obviously my child should invest in security.”
He looked up to see Angelina Sanchez walking towards himself and Maikao. Oh…right. Lunch with Maikao had been at Carmen’s restaurant. With them sitting out back on the deck, he’d all but forgotten.
The older woman glanced about then leaned down and asked, “Do you like have your bits intact?”
His brows winged as he cupped a hand over himself. “As a matter of fact I do. I use them for stuff...important stuff. Is this appropriate? I feel like it’s not appropriate.”
She quirked a brow back. “I’ve experienced the joys of child birth, colic and the determination of a toddler who refuses to give up the nipple. Appropriate is relative.”
“I don’t like the direction this conversation is going,” he retorted leaning away from her. “While I find you incredibly beautiful, I don’t think we should be discussing your anatomy, Miss Angie.”
She turned her gaze to Maikao. “Why is he this way?”
Eli’s friend gave a solemn look. “I believe it’s called a birth defect.”
Nodding, Angelina turned eyes identical to that of her daughter’s back to Eli. “I’m feeling gracious enough to tell you that if Carmen finds you out here, she’ll probably attempt to sauté your most coveted physical treasures. Your face is pretty and I enjoy it in that state. Try to avoid having it maimed.”
“Once again,” Eli said slowly, leaning even farther away. “I’m so uncomfortable with the direction of this conversation.”
Her lips curved. “My God, is she going to ruin you.” With that disturbing statement, she went on her way.
“Well, that escalated quickly,” Maikao murmured.
“It did, didn’t it? I find the insanity that surrounds her and your mother-in-law-to-be highly entertaining.”
“You know she’s right though.”
He did. Eli had no idea why he liked to test the limits of Carmen’s restraint by regularly patronizing Mi Aliento but the annoyance on her face when she spotted him was rather…placating.
“Why are you in my establishment and breathing my air? I want it to be noted, the second one pisses me off more than the first.”
Eli slowly turned his head and took in the sight of Carmen standing a few short feet away. He’d been so lost in his thoughts that he hadn’t heard her approach.
He scanned her hands for any signs of a knife and came away relieved. “Because,” and yes, he grinned, “I do so enjoy the fire in your eyes as you glare down at me like a nun staring at a naughty schoolboy.” With his gaze still on hers, he waggled his brows, leaned forward and asked, “Would you like to paddle me Sister Sanchez?”
***
“You,” Carmen pointed to the man she considered to be her brother-in-law then at Eli--the bane of her existence. “Why is he here?”
Maikao held up his hands. “I was kidnapped!” Her eyes narrowed on him and his shoulders slumped as he sighed, “Addie is different while planning wedding stuff and because I like my scrotum and all of its functions, I came out with the asshole.”
“I’m sitting right here.”
She flicked her eyes towards the man in question. “Wow. I can’t even begin to tell you how many fucks I do not give.”
Maikao burst into laughter and pointed in her direction. “This woman is the reason I’m marrying Addison!”
Eli’s lip curled. “Your marriage is supposed to be built on the sanctity of love and commitment, you complete dick.”
Waving a hand, the other man replied, nodding his head at her, “Yeah that too but, Carmen was like finding out that you ordered and paid for an eight piece nugget but ended up with twelve.”
It was hard not to smile when Maikao was around, being that he was just so damn lovable. “You want me to make you a papaya cheesecake to take home, don’t you?”
He widened his gaze. “It would keep your friend from turning my groin attachments into beef jerky but, if you don’t want to see any nieces or nephews running around…”
Carmen snorted. Given Addison seemed to enjoy her almost-husband’s groin attachments, she highly doubted Addison would do anything to them. She loved the insane male who came with said groin attachments also but the planning of a location wedding hadn’t exactly been easy. Sadly, Maikao had been the recipient of her occasional outbursts of bridal rage.
The pair had been engaged all of one month of the five years they’d known one another. Starting off as friends first it took quite a bit for either to admit how they felt about the other. With gentle prodding—that was all but gentle—Addison and Maikao finally managed to get their heads from up their asses and make it happen. It being the lovely story Addison told Carmen; the first time they slept together he’d banged her in an elevator.
Now that was romance.
Carmen couldn’t exactly judge though. She felt Eli’s eyes on her and chose to ignore it. The one thing she wouldn’t give him any more of, was her attention.
“I’ll go put in the order for that cheesecake.”
Maikao looked up from the book in his hands. “Ah, and Addie asked me to ask you to call her so she could ask you about details concerning our engagement party.
”
“Is that really what she said?” Carmen questioned.
He winced. “I can’t repeat what she said. Those type of words should never be spoken to a lady.”
Chuckling, she turned to walk away when one large tanned, scarred hand gently gripped her forearm, before the owner of that hand said, “I need to talk to you.”
She looked down at that hand then to Eli. “You’re touching me. Stop touching me.”
“Car—”
“You’re speaking. Stop speaking.”
“I just want—”
Understanding that he apparently didn’t get the message, Carmen twisted her hand so that she was out of his grasp but now had him in hers before curving his wrist at an odd angle and bending it up behind his back. “No means no, Eli. Learn the meaning of self-preservation and hold your digits close because the next time they come into contact with me without my express permission I will break them off, fillet them and serve them up with a garlic aioli and rosemary potatoes.”
Releasing him, Carmen stepped back, calmly straightening her blouse and slacks then walked away. The only thing that could be heard was the sound of her heels clicking on the natural stone floors of her restaurant’s deck. At least until Maikao burst out with, “See? Twelve nuggets instead of eight!”
Three
“Exactly how much longer are we going to keep up this particular charade?”
Carmen didn’t move, didn’t even blink at the softly asked question. Her gaze never left her best friend as she went from gift to gift, the excitement on her gorgeous face palpable. If there was one thing Addison enjoyed, it was presents. With today marked as a celebration of her happiness with Maikao, she was raking it in along with plenty of attention. The male standing next to her who’d been trying to corner her all night? Not so much.
Taking a slow sip from the punch filled cup in her hand, she cut her eyes to the left of her, where he stood...breathing her air. Carmen took issue with him breathing her air. “Go away.” It had been at least a week since their little encounter just outside on the deck and she was looking to continue her peaceful, anti-Eli existence.
Heavy lidded, his sparkling, amber irises stared back at her as he opened his mouth to say one thing, “No.”
Her jaw clenched.
“You want me to go away?” he asked stepping directly into her line of sight. “Then use your big girl words and talk to me.”
“I’m using my big girl words now,” Carmen ground out. “And I’m telling you that in a second I’m going to find a spoon and pretend like I’m trying to get a double scoop of ice cream from your facial tissue.”
Sinfully full lips tilted at the right side, the dimple resting in his cheek peeking out and stark, white teeth flashed at her. “You want me sooo bad.”
“What I want is for you to leave me here, pondering the meaning of life and going over my grocery list mentally, like I was doing moments ago.”
Eli Aaronson made her uneasy. He’d been doing that for the longest period of time and it burned her. Everything about the fireman got under her skin. From the deeply tanned, olive tones of his complexion, to the wideness of his shoulders and definition in his biceps when he did the simplest act, like stuff his hands into his pockets. Eli was made the way a man should be; sturdy, strong... appealing. His cropped, cherrywood curls made him appear boyish while the neatly groomed goatee around his mouth and perpetual five o’clock shadow contradicted it.
At just an inch under six and a half feet, Eli wasn’t small by any means and she knew for a fact that having been in a field of work where he was regularly called on to save lives, he wouldn’t ever let himself be anything aside from top physical shape.
Sexy, frustrating mother fu—
“You’re fidgeting,” Eli sang lowly in her ear.
She immediately halted any movement. “It’s warm and I’m tired.”
“You could always take up resting on my lap,” he suggested softly. “I’d be more than glad to have you.”
“Your presence bothers me.”
“You or your va—”
Before he could finish Addison was in front of him, brows winged.
Eli coughed then choked out, “Values?”
Addison’s eyes narrowed. “You’re harassing her. Why are you harassing her?”
“I wasn’t—”
“You keep your filthy mouth to yourself, Elijah,” she demanded. “And anything else of yours that you may want to share.”
“Oh Addie,” he placed a hand against his chest, “you have it all wrong. We were simply having a conversation about—”
“Don’t care,” Addison cut in. “I don’t want to know and I don’t care. Whatever you’re doing, stop it. Why? Because if you don’t stop it you’ll learn that I mean it when I say that I could make sure your departure from this life looks like an accident.” With that said, she walked away.
Poking out his bottom lip, Eli turned his amber eyes Carmen’s way. “Wedding preparation has made Addie mean.”
She blinked up at him. “And everyday life makes you an ass.” Shrugging, Carmen patted his shoulder in passing. “We all have our faults.” She wove through the crowd of people in her restaurant all there to commemorate a special time in her friends’ lives. Before she entered the kitchen, Carmen managed to catch sight of Maikao swinging a giggling Addison around while her mother threatened that if he dropped her child, he would be seeing another fire far too soon.
Placing her down, Addison’s fiancé whispered something in her ear that was enough to make her eyes go as wide as saucers before she closed her mouth and quietly moved away from him. From the twinkle in Maikao’s gaze as he trailed his soon-to-be-wife’s movements through the room, Carmen knew that whatever he’d said was more than a little inappropriate. Something in her ached, watching the interaction between the two. Something in her craved that.
Pushing through the doors of the kitchen, Carmen found solace in the one place she’d always been able to hide when needed. Mi Aliento had been born almost ten years prior through blood, sweat, whining and tears. Her traditionally Latin restaurant was the one accomplishment that Carmen held above all others.
Called after the nickname her mother had given her at a young age—my breath— her establishment had been inspired purely by Angelina Sanchez; the woman who’d made Carmen’s success possible.
Angelina had come from a devoutly Catholic family so when she got pregnant at sixteen, her parents hadn’t considered termination an option. Instead, to save the family from suffering an illegitimate child, the Sanchezs chose to send Angelina off to a “school” that would allow her to quietly have a baby and give her over to a well to do family. Carmen’s mother hadn’t only refused but, she fled the night before she was to get on a plane and be flown halfway across the world.
With no help, Angelina got a bus ticket from California and ended up in Santa Fe. After a lot of begging and a little determination to provide the best life that she could for her child, she took a job anywhere that she could get one. Years passed, with Carmen and Angelina falling into a routine that wasn’t easy but manageable. Then one day their lives changed. It was the day twelve year old Carmen met Addison.
Somehow the two started talking about their home lives and before they knew it, had noticed the similarities. Their friendship transitioned into one for their mothers that was beneficial and helpful to all four. Twenty odd years down the line and Carmen was grateful for everything it took to get them here.
There was just one thing she wished she could stop. At the sound of the kitchen doors swinging open, she said, “No, Ma. Nothing’s changed between Eli and I and it never will.”
Angelina had been on her ass for months now about her and Eli. It was getting tiring. She’d seen her mother watching them several times today.
“So Miss Angie isn’t the only one who wants things to change.”
She stiffened, turned around and sighed.
***
He didn’t like
that look. It was a look that said she was exasperated. And when Carmen became exasperated it usually meant she wanted you to stop breathing her air. Eli didn’t know what it was but she always seemed to take issue with people breathing her air. He chose to ignore that look as he walked further into the kitchen where she stood, leaning against the granite topped island, dark eyes watching his every move. She’d pushed the golden brown locks of layered bob back from her make-up free face with a head band. It made her look younger…innocent. Tense lines formed around her full lips, her flawless skin—bronzed by the New Mexican sun, flushed.
The strapless sundress she wore gave him a glimpse of bare, tanned flesh, the peach color setting off the ruddy undertones of her complexion. The closer he got, the more the pulse in her throat bounced beneath her skin. He knew what that pulse felt like under his tongue. Now he needed to discover the rest.
“What, exactly, is it that you want from me, Eli?” she questioned, her head tilting ever so slightly to the left.
“Loaded question,” he replied. “But I’ll give you the second answer that came to mind.” Walking until the tips of his boots almost touched the tips of her sandals, he stopped and queried, “The wedding?”
Curling lashes lifted and fell again. “What about it?”
Eli pinned her with a stare, one brow rising. “You’re exploring?”
Her shoulders rolled. “Maybe.”
His eyes narrowed. “There is no maybe. I know.”
“And this concerns you how…?”
“I’ve spent exactly ninety-four days, four hours and six minutes attempting to get you to agree to just breakfast—”
“Which would’ve been served in your bed,” she interjected.
“—and yet, you dean me unworthy of such an honor but you’ll go trolling for possible serial killers?”
Her brows arched upwards. “You seem awfully interested in what my plans are. Tired of doing the one man band every Saturday night?”
He gripped her around the waist and sat her on the countertop. “This bullshit ends now. I’m nipping it in the bud. The exploring you’re supposed be to doing—”
