by Nikki Winter
“My God, I’m going to shoot myself in the face. I swear.”
“—and stop being so goddamned stubborn. What’s wrong with having a bit of consensual, safe fun between adults?”
Carmen briefly took the receiver away from her ear and blinked down at the screen. “I never want to hear this kind of talk again.”
Angelina chuckled. “I’ve heard worse words pass between you and Addie, yet my commenting on your sex life—”
“Argh! Don’t use that word!”
“—makes you uncomfortable.”
“The fact that you seem so comfortable with it makes me uncomfortable.”
“Aww, mi aliento, I didn’t raise you to be such a prude,” Angelina groaned. “What has become of my child? Why is she so stringent?”
“I am not stringent. I just don’t have time for games and that is what Eli is interested in playing. Games.” She was going to do this because she needed to. Needed to breathe, needed to forget about that taste of Eli’s mouth... How his hands trembled ever so slightly when they touched her... How after that kiss she couldn’t seem to focus on anything aside from the ache between her thighs. Eli wasn’t for her. She wanted a future... a family. Realistically speaking, she knew she wouldn’t find that just from a few days spent with a man out of town but she did know that it held the potential to open the door of moving on for her. That was all that mattered here.
“I think you’d be surprised to find out what Eli really wants,” her mother commented. What sounded like knocking rang out in the background. “Hang on, I need to get the door. It’s probably Selena coming to harass me about going out later.”
“Goddamn right, it is!” Selena shouted.
Carmen laughed. “I don’t understand why you fight it. You’re out the majority of the time anyway.”
“I don’t think I like the implications of that statement. It’s not as though I’m just hip-thrusting through every city.”
If she was, Angelina would be well within her rights. She’d stepped into the responsibility of being a mother without a whisper of a complaint. She’d never made Carmen feel like some catastrophic accident. Angelina had cultivated every possible skill in her arsenal to make a better life for herself and her child and to shape their futures. Should she ever decide to spend every, single, waking moment hitting on men young enough to still have college books on their shelves, then she could and should. Carmen loved her mother’s ability to simply… be. There was a lightheartedness that shone from her. She was open and fun loving but, had always kept her child’s safety as her number one priority. If Angelina dated anyone before Carmen turned twenty-one, Carmen had never known about it. Her mother was all business when necessary but when it came time for fun…
“Carmen, tell your mother that consequences will be dire, should she deny me my right to shake my cleavage in a bartender’s face on this night. I will make her life miserable,” Selena suddenly voiced, obviously having gotten the phone out of her best friend’s hand.
“You already do that,” Angelina snapped from the background.
“Shaddup and go get dressed.”
“My ass, you have my express permission to kiss it.”
“Do we need to revisit the visual stimulants given during the, don’t-piss-Selena-off-while-on-vacation conversation?”
“Do we need to revisit the shallow grave I dug for you, just last week?”
Quietly, Carmen hung up the phone, chuckling at the way her mother and adoptive aunt argued. She was beginning to grasp why she and Addison behaved the way they did. Selena and Angelina were insane.
A quick glance at her nightstand’s clock revealed that it was still pretty early in the day. Her tummy rumbled. She could have something small and veg out. As usual, her day had been exhausting and a quick catnap would do her some good.
Carmen shed the rest of her clothes, donned a robe, headed for the kitchen and took down the makings for sopapillas. With a little sugar and some rest her energy would kick-start again. The problem with that particularly theory? She should’ve gotten rest before deciding to make a dish that involved hot grease. She quite possibly could’ve avoided the fire that swept through her kitchen without warning.
***
His heart had stopped. Eli couldn’t explain it, didn’t want to look too closely at it but the moment the call came through—the moment he heard the address—his heart had halted, stuttering in his chest until he was fully suited and Fire Engine number 29 was screaming through the streets of Santa Fe. His booted feet hit the curb outside of the small ranch house with the Mediterranean stucco roof before any of his team’s. His eyes searched through the stream of neighbors standing across the street, watching the flames and came to land on her. In a robe covered with bunnies, slouching socks on her feet, and her hair tied back in a ragged knot, she managed to make everything and everyone obsolete.
He was in front of her in seconds, hands running from her face to her shoulders and onwards. “What. Happened?”
“Grease fire,” she answered, her voice small, eyes wide and distant. “It caught on so quickly and…my kitchen.”
Eli took her hand. “You need to talk to the medic.”
“I wasn’t hurt—”
“Carmen,” he interrupted in a low controlled tone. “You need to see the medic. Smoke inhalation is extremely easy to miss at times. You could’ve bumped against something and bruised yourself, anything. In a moment of panic, it’s not uncommon to block out minute details.”
She swallowed and relented without argument. Quietly, she allowed herself to be examined, prodded and poked until she came away with a clean bill of health and a minor burn on her thigh. Eli had been right. In passing, she’d bumped her fryer and wound up getting splashed. It was mild but would probably need to be treated correctly to avoid infection. By the time the medic was done, Addison had arrived and Carmen’s mother was calling.
“No, Mamá, I’m fine. It’s minor. I promise. Don’t cut your vacation short. They’ve put it out already. I just need to call my insurance adjuster and have him come out when they’ve given the all clear. No, no. I don’t know,” Carmen glanced over to Addison and Maikao and then to Eli. “They’re all here. Yes, I still have the spare keys. I’m fine. I swear. I’ll figure something out. Honest.” Her head dipped. “I love you too. I’ll call later.”
“You can take the spare bedroom at ours,” Addison told her.
Carmen shook her head. “You don’t have to do that. Ma left me keys to her place.”
“Which is an hour long commute for you to the restaurant,” Addison replied. “We’re only fifteen minutes from downtown.”
Maikao stood behind his fiancée, his gloved hands making slashing motions across his throat before he spun a finger near his temple in the universal sign for crazy. With her consistent mood swings as of late, she and Carmen may kill one another. Neither knew how to pull punches when interacting and Addison wasn’t in a normal, balanced state.
Eli’s eyes ran down the curve of Carmen’s neck, traveled to her bare legs and thought about where that burn was currently located. He was a sick, sick man. She’d just had damage done to a significant portion of her home and he was contemplating how he could get her out of her bunny covered robe. A thought suddenly occurred to him.
“Um,” he said stepping forward. “If I might make a suggestion.”
Everyone looked towards him.
“I also have a spare bedroom and my place is within walking distance of Mi Aliento.” He glanced at Addison. “No offense Addie but, you’re a bit…off lately and I can tell you that, because I’m family and you can’t kill family. Isn’t there a reason you and Carmen never got apartments together?”
“The man makes a good point,” Maikao added, silencing when his wife-to-be rose her brows his way.
“And it wouldn’t make sense for you to have to get up an hour earlier every day when you clearly work hard enough,” Eli quietly told Carmen. “Exhaustion almost got you hurt. I’d be l
ying if I said the thought of you traipsing around my kitchen, in nothing but a string of joy and a layer of body butter isn’t appealing but at the moment, your comfort is more important than my sordid fantasies.”
Reaching down, he brushed a wisp of hair from her face. “It’s entirely up to you but I’d prefer to know that you were down the hall as opposed to across the city.”
With nothing else to say, he turned back to the charred damage of her home and headed inside to help.
***
“You’re so full of shit, Aaronson,” Carmen accused as she found herself faced with Eli once again.
His brows arched upwards slightly. “I am?”
“Yes,” she hissed, leaning forward. “You’re not offering up your space in the form of a misguided noble act and we both know it.”
Mouth curving, he leaned against the fire engine, folded his arms across his chest. “I thought you would be grateful. I’m giving you an escape from the clutches of Mr. and Mrs. Fire-crotch.”
She was not going to laugh at that description.
“However, if you like the idea of incessant ass pinches and a man who has no grasp on modesty then hey…”
“Addison and Maikao are not that bad.”
“Right,” Eli retorted drolly. “And the fact that he can’t seem to keep his hands off of his fiancée’s unmentionables is also a nonexistent issue.” His head tilted. “Need I remind you of what we caught them doing behind the restaurant less than a week ago?”
Carmen slapped her hands over her eyes in the same manner she’d done five days prior. “My God, man! Don’t bring that up!”
“Do you recall the noises?”
“Stop it! Stop it right now!”
“Perhaps we should revisit the memory of—”
“I get it!” she bellowed. “I get it!”
He leaned back with a satisfied expression. “My point exactly. You can either have your restaurant within walking distance and an easy escape from the complete lust that will shroud you while in my presence, or you can sit by and attempt putting a pillow over your head when Addie and Mak get frisky at night.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Lust does not shroud me when I’m around you.”
“Lovely lie you’re telling yourself, sweetheart.”
“It doesn’t!”
“Then prove me wrong,” he replied, smirking. “You stay under my roof for as long as it takes for the insurance to get the repairs done and ignore the blatant, animal attraction between us.”
“I have literally nothing to prove to you.”
He looked as though he would laugh at any minute. “You’re scared. You know if you break I’ll never let it go.”
“You don’t have anything to let go of because I won’t break.”
Grinning, Eli reached into his pocket and came away with a notepad and pencil. He scribbled something on the paper, ripped it off and handed it to her. “That is my address. If you should be so inclined to change your mind, you’re very welcome in my humble, manly abode.”
He spun away from her, whistled between his fingers and made a circular motion with his hand. “Let’s round it up boys! The lady would like to get a bag!”
The rest of the team cleared the way and another fireman was kind enough to escort her inside so she could retrieve a few essentials from her bedroom. Her next door neighbor promised to watch the house for her after it was temporarily sealed off.
Once finished, she climbed into car and followed Addison. The moment the grease fire had gotten too big to attempt putting out, Carmen had ducked out of the kitchen and ran down her porch steps without another thought. In complete shock, she’d stood and watched the smoke rise higher as her neighbors left their homes, one being gracious enough to call the fire department. Eli’s arrival and the medic were all a blur. To say she was weary would be an understatement.
No matter how right he may have been about Addison and Maikao, Carmen couldn’t risk the damage that would come from being in his home. There were certain things she’d rather endure.
“Sooo…” Addison hedged after Carmen picked up the Bluetooth call in her two-seater. “You uh…you gonna stay with Eli?”
“Why, in God’s name, would I even attempt that train wreck?” she questioned. He’d been right. Carmen didn’t want the temptation of being just down the hall or anywhere else near him. It would be like sticking her hands directly in fire—no puns intended—and expecting not to get burned.
“Because you really want to,” the other woman answered.
Carmen blinked as both cars reached a stoplight. “What?”
“You’ve been waiting to slam your labia into the man’s face for how long now?”
“This conversation is over.”
“Let’s be honest, dude. You want to fuck him. I know it, you know it, your vagina knows it…”
Staring at her friend’s license plates, she said, “You’re doing this because you know I can’t rightfully punch an emotionally vulnerable woman, aren’t you?”
“All I’m pointing out are the facts. And you always want to hit me when I point out the facts.”
“That facts are, that if I go anywhere near Eli’s bed, the good Lord will attempt cleansing me. That place is a breeding ground for sins, misdeeds and bad decisions.”
Addison chuckled. “And it could very well be the place you finally allow yourself to feel something other than mild annoyance and anxiety. As someone in the medical field, I can tell you that not using it, certainly means it may just fall off.”
“You work in pediatrics!”
“And I got an A in every biological course I took in med school! Stop being a dick and help yourself to Eli’s! The bounty is there, just waiting like a Thai barbeque buffet.”
“You want Thai barbeque now don’t you?”
Addison sighed. “I’ll settle for grilled fish tacos with that lovely chipotle-lime dressing you make.” She hummed a little. “I’m much better at convincing you to have sex with people on a full stomach.”
“If I make coconut-pineapple paletas can we just spend time in quiet…just not talking…about anything that involves Eli’s penis?!”
“The yelling seems excessive.”
“Addison!”
“Alright! Alright! How about we make it apple enchiladas instead?”
Six
Two days and there had been no knocks, no doorbells rings and no Carmen. All of what he’d heard had been delivered through Maikao after slaps and death threats. Apparently it was going to take just another week for the damage done to her kitchen to be repaired—just in time for the wedding. Of course, this meant she’d have to bounce in between her restaurant, her mother’s condo and supervising the contractor. He didn’t know what annoyed him more; her clear determination to avoid him or her clear determination to exhaust herself. Either way, it as exasperating.
Why she couldn’t just admit that she wanted him, Eli didn’t know. However, he had every intention of making her see exactly how enjoyable it could be for the both of them if she just. Gave. In. This was why he was using his day off to harass her rather than sleep. If he did this right, he’d be sleeping well soon enough…hopefully with Carmen curled up and purring next to him.
Slipping through the doors of Mi Aliento, he headed straight towards the back, weaving through tables, chairs, patrons and waiters until he came to the service kitchen, a door that led to the restrooms and an office. His lips curled slightly. Carmen’s office.
He didn’t bother with knocking, he knew she was inside, had seen her two-seater in the lot. Twisting the knob, Eli strolled in and immediately closed the door behind himself. He was prepared for yelling, for threats and for flying objects coming entirely too close to ruining the beauty of his face but he was not prepared for a Carmen lying face down on the love seat a few feet away from her desk. Her hair was in a disarray, her blouse was unbuttoned, her skirt was riding her thighs and she had a grip on a throw pillow that looked distinctly…gropey.
&nbs
p; His grin turned into a leer almost instantly. Reaching backwards, he flipped the lock into place on the knob and stepped forward, tipping across the carpeting until he was standing just over the woman who was softly snoring. It was adorable and off-putting all at once.
Eli reached down and ran his fingertips just over the backs of her velvety thighs, enjoying all too much the way her silken skin felt beneath his hand. The muscles there jumped and he felt like a perverted freak. Pulling back, he dropped to his knees near her head and pushed her hair back.
As he leaned forward, he whispered, “Carmen?”
She shifted a bit.
“Carmen?”
Her shoulders rolled. “Hmm?”
“Can I put my hand up your skirt?”
One hand reached out and pushed at his face. “Not right now. Tired.”
He bit his lip and rubbed his palm along her shoulders. “Please?”
She waved that same hand. “Gimme ten minutes.”
Brows winging, Eli sat back on his haunches and waited. He waited for the slow tensing of her back. He waited for the way her head lifted. He waited for the glare full of hellfire and retribution that was focused on him within a matter of seconds. Eli waited and then he smiled. It was a smile so wide and bright, so viciously cheerful, that it hurt.
Carmen’s lashes fanned once. “I’m going to kill you. I’m going to kill you and then I’m going to drag you out to the desert. Afterwards, I am going to dig a hole just large and deep enough to contain your height, leaving only your head in view so that the first thing the predators go for are your eyes and tongue.”
Eli’s mouth twisted. “Will all this be happening ten minutes from now, when you’re done with your nap and welcome to me putting my hand up your skirt or…?”
She stared and he stared back. Without another word, she rolled to her side with the clear intent of going back to sleep.
“So you’re just going to pretend I’m not here?” he asked.
“Not difficult,” she answered.
“Really?”
