by Nikki Winter
“Really.”
“You’re saying you have the ability to ignore me while I am this close?”
“Pretty much.”
“What you’re telling me is that you can literally go back to sleep and not think twice about my being four inches away?”
“Thought we already established this,” she mumbled before making a flitting motion with her hand. “Now, quiet.”
“Heh.” Eli watched her for all of five minutes. Saw the way she relaxed in degrees, and he even heard the soft murmur of her snore again. It was all so serene.
So when he pulled his hand back, flicked his wrist and slapped her on the ass? Yeah, totally necessary.
“What the actual fuck?!” Carmen jerked upwards and spun towards him.
His head tilted. “Oh, sorry, hand slipped.”
“Why are you even here?!”
“Because my mission in life is to aggravate you!” he yelled back, leaning forward. “Until you cut the bullshit stubborn act and do what’s best!”
“Which would be what? Throwing my vagina at your face?!”
“Yes!”
Her eyes narrowed.
His narrowed in return. “You’re exhausting yourself to prove a point. I get it but this isn’t healthy and quite frankly, I want to have sex with you already. Why can’t we all just be happy?”
Carmen’s lids closed. “I am not sleeping with you, Eli.”
“Who said anything about sleep? I mean after sex we can sleep but—”
“We’re not having sex!”
He frowned. “You won’t have sex and you won’t sleep? I don’t understand what it is exactly you want from me. Cuddling? We can cuddle. I like to cuddle. Although, it generally does end with erections and murmured apologies.”
She slowly shook her head. “Why do I attempt rational conversations with you? Why do I torment myself this way?”
Eli sighed, leaned backwards. “Because on some level you enjoy that I won’t stop fighting for you.”
Her eyes opened and what he saw there was nowhere near what he’d thought he’d see. Irritation. “You’re not fighting for me, Elijah. You’re fighting for sex that will go literally nowhere. You’ll fuck me constantly. We’ll laugh, have breakfast, and fight over the remote during the Monday night lineup of reality television and football. Then one day it’ll all be over.” She snapped her fingers. “Just like that. I’ll pack up my meager belongings and go back to my side of town, my breakfast, and my remote. I’ll have to see you at dinner occasionally and maybe a barbeque or two. We’ll cross paths during birthday parties and friendly get-togethers, and I’ll have to pretend like I don’t know what the muscles in your jaw do when you’re trying not to come before I have. We’ll be cordial and polite and even smile at one another every once in a while.”
Eli’s lips parted.
Carmen leaned forward. “But do you know what the fatal flaw in all of this is?”
He slowly shook his head.
“One of us will part with a lingering question as to why they knew shouldn’t but did so anyway. They’ll wonder why they’re thirty-five with a home of their own, a thriving business and so many amazing qualities yet, all they’re ever wanted for is a good dance or a great fuck.” She leaned back. “Your attention is exasperating and a sure fire waste of my time so let’s just take a ride on the honesty train, eh? I believe you, when you say we’ll sleep together and no one else will ever be good enough. I believe you, when you say I’ll scream and shout and want to compose a song in your name. I also believe that you’ll ruin me. I’ll fall for you and you’ll ruin me.”
She didn’t say another word, just sat there. She sat there and she stared.
Eli’s mouth suddenly felt dry. For the first time in a long time, he had no idea what to say to a woman. He had no idea what to say to this woman. There was this strange feeling in his chest. Disappointment. The way she saw him, it brokered no argument. In Carmen’s eyes, he was someone that would undoubtedly hurt her. And knowing that she believed he had that type of power fucked with his head something awful.
He got to his feet slowly and pushed his hands into the pockets of his jeans. Rolling his shoulders he told her, “I’m just not sure what—”
Carmen lifted a hand. “I don’t need an explanation as to why we won’t ever be in an actual relationship, Eli. Your reasons don’t matter because they boil down to one very basic thing—there is no wizard at the end of the yellow brick road. All the magic, all the wonder will be a means to an end until you decide that you want something else.”
“I would never purposely hurt you.”
Her smile was sad. “That’s what makes you so tempting.” She shook her head. “But I just…can’t.”
Something was changing here and he didn’t like it. He should’ve been running the other way, knowing what she truly wanted. He should’ve been able to call it a loss and find something or someone else to occupy his time…but he couldn’t. That didn’t sit right with Eli. Having been able to walk away from women with ease, he found himself hesitating here. He found himself rooted to the spot that his boots were grounded on.
His fists clenched in the fabric of his jeans. “Give me the week in Mexico.”
She closed her eyes. “Eli—”
“Just a trial run,” he said. “The wedding, that’s for Addie and Mak but the other days—the sun, the sand, the feel of kelp, the food, the music, can be for us.” Rocking back, then forward again, Eli continued. “We keep circling around one another and I can’t help but feel like we’re missing out on something. Something…good. That’s the only way I can describe it. Good. Despite how long it lasts or when it ends, I just can’t allow myself to walk away from it because, the thought of someone else touching you is making me fucking ragey.” He looked down and back up in time to catch her smile. It wasn’t sad but held a bevy of secrets. Eli wanted to taste those secrets, sift through them, and roll them across his tongue until he understood each and every one. “I feel trapped, Carmen—in limbo. I’m hovering just over the ground but can’t step on it. The drifting is driving me crazy. Give me those days. Days of dry land. Days to show us both something that will quite possibly be fucking terrifying.”
The way she chewed her lip, lashes resting against her cheeks, made him distinctly determined to see that expression again. “I’ll think about it.”
That wasn’t a solid no. Which technically meant that it was a, “I want to say yes but I need to be convinced.”
Heh.
Eli bent down and brushed his lips just across the tip of her nose. “I think the honesty train’s run its course,” he whispered. “Last stop is home with blue balls.”
The lifting of her mouth was so soft, so fucking sweet, that for a moment he couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe. He was completely absorbed in that slow grin. Carmen’s smiles didn’t come easy and they were rarely anything outside of mocking, so for her to gift a small, vulnerable piece of her humbled him. It humbled every single preconceived notion he’d had up to this point. He wanted to bottle this moment, uncapping it whenever he needed to be reminded of why she was dangerous. It took no more than the tilt of her lips to make him so hard that he would’ve challenged Obi Wan to a fucking battle.
He didn’t step back and she didn’t ask him to. Eli’s mouth touched her nose again, then the side of that slight smile. Her exhales changed, stuttered. Tentatively, he pushed his lips against hers and when she sighed, he deepened the kiss. Carmen didn’t hesitate to meet the lazy roll of his tongue before she shuddered. Her mouth had become an obsession, an addiction. He’d found himself fantasizing about how he could run his teeth over the bottom rim, sucking it in, soothing the sting caused by his nips. The whimper of surrender he received for his efforts, made him return to kneeling, his palms resting on her bare knees.
Eli rubbed her skin in small circles with his thumbs, running them just inside her knee pits. Her legs parted a quarter of an inch and his dick jumped against the zipper of his jeans. He broke the
kiss and pressed his nose to her throat, listening to her breath harshen while he continued the ministrations of his hands.
“How’s your burn?” he queried innocently.
“Fine.” Carmen gasped when he flicked his tongue against her pulse. “It was uh…it was uh…”
He nuzzled her collarbone. “It was what?”
She swallowed. “Sore. It was sore.”
Tsking, he told her, “That sounds uncomfortable.” His hands steadily inched up the exposed flesh of her thighs. “Can I see?”
The muscles beneath his palms tensed.
“I want to make sure you’re okay,” Eli continued calmly. “Make sure its healing properly.”
Carmen’s breath rasped out and he took her small nod as consent. His fingers worked her skirt up and his gaze trailed over the small bandaged wound on her skin. He brushed a thumb across it gently. “Still sore?”
“A little,” she answered quietly.
He sent her a look through lids that were half mass and found her staring at him in the same fashion. “I could kiss it,” he suggested.
Her throat worked. “Kiss…what?”
Eli’s digits played with the edges of her skirt. “It,” he answered, nodding towards her inner thigh.
She chewed her lip.
“Maybe it’ll soothe the ache.” He watched her eyes glaze over. “Maybe it’ll disappear.” Angling towards the injury, he tapped her legs as a signal for her to spread them wider. When she did, he locked gazes with her just before he flitted his lips across the bandage. A small grunt left her throat and he did it once more. A light touch skimmed over his curls and he took hold of her calves, thrusting her legs apart with a determined firmness.
Her skirt rose another inch and Eli lowered his eyes only to catch a glimpse of what he’d mentally pictured for months on end. The glistening seat of lace met him and his heart thrummed a heavy rhythm that sped up as his head lowered.
“Eli…” Carmen’s tone attempted to sound chiding, cautious, but failed. The desire drowned out any inflection that could’ve made it sound like a warning.
He inhaled, caught the sweet smell of something heady. His jaw clenched with every, passing moment and finally—fucking finally—Eli found himself pressing, pushing, and snapping his tongue against the dampness resting between Carmen Amalie Sanchez’s thighs. He sucked her clit through the scrap of fabric and heard her hiss. Her fingers balled at her side and he directed her hand to his scalp.
“Let me soothe it, Carmen. Let me soothe the ache…”
Her hips lifted and he tugged at the seat of her panties, choosing to simply move it aside. Dark brown curls lay moist and neatly trimmed over plump lips that parted to reveal a glistening nubbin to his hungry stare. Eli almost gave into to the temptation to say, “Hello, little one. So nice to finally meet you.” Seeing as how he didn’t want to be kicked in the face, he swallowed the words and instead chose to tease the bundle of nerves, running his lips over it until Carmen’s voice broke above him.
His tongue swiped down, then up again and into a slow figure eight. He pressed kisses against her swollen nether lips, the quickening of her breaths spurring him on as the tip of his tongue lowered and ringed her opening.
“Jesus…”
He didn’t wait another second, simply tunneled it into her waiting pussy until he felt her legs close on either side of his head. Undeterred, he adjusted both limbs so they rested over his shoulders and continued the task at hand. She tasted just as he’d expected her to… like raw sugar cane. Something so sweet, so potent that he wasn’t sure he’d be able to ever walk away.
Broad licks followed his oral penetration and Carmen’s waist rolled. He followed every movement, enjoying the low curses and moans of pleasure that burst from her in starts. Eli teased her opening and her thighs tightened. When he blew on her clit and kissed it with the same fervor he’d delivered to her mouth, she thrashed above him and let out a small shriek, coming. Her calling his name was just enough that he found himself surprisingly releasing into his boxer briefs.
Carmen lowered her legs and he casually adjusted her panties back into position. Rolling her skirt back, he moved so that he was on his haunches, watching the steady rise and fall of her chest, almost regretting that he hadn’t gotten her blouse open. Next time.
Her lashes fluttered and he knew she was searching for something to say.
Eli stood, not caring that her eyes drifted to the spot on his jeans.
“Eli—”
He shook his head. “No.”
Her mouth opened.
“No.”
Her mouth closed.
Grinning when she glared, he simply said, “See you at the airport on Friday.”
He left whistling.
Seven
The ache hadn’t been soothed. Not even close. It was worse. The hot sensation between her legs hadn’t quelled in the least bit over the last few days. Carmen was in a heightened state constantly. Each time she closed her eyes, all she saw was Eli, on his knees, amber irises clouded with lust as he watched each and every expression that crossed her face. When she’d originally set her plan in motion for self-indulgence, he hadn’t once crossed her mind. Why? Because he was a complication she didn’t need. However, she did need release. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d found it without the use of the things she kept in her bottom right drawer. Wait that was a lie. Seven days ago she’d found it…with him.
“Give me the week in Mexico.”
Carmen’s abdomen involuntarily contracted. A week. He wanted a week. Technically it would actually be nine days, being that it was Friday and none of them would be returning until next Sunday. This gave Eli ample time to play a gambit of games with each inch of flesh he’d left unexplored. She swallowed. Her response to his prodding hadn’t deterred him one bit and the fact that he hadn’t gone running in the other direction the moment she drew the line in the sand said a lot.
She didn’t know whether to be excited or anxious but it seemed her emotions had made the decision for her because, she felt them both clearly as she trudged out of the back of Maikao’s truck. He had offered to give her a ride to the airport along with himself and Addison since they all had the same flight out. Seven hours with one stop in Denver, Colorado. From there they’d switch planes after a brief layover and land in Mexico.
It wouldn’t take long to reach the hotel. The group would part and rest, waiting for the arrival of parents before they began to implement any plans to enjoy resort activities.
“The wedding, that’s for Addie and Mak but the other days—the sun, the sand, the feel of kelp, the food, the music, can be for us.”
Carmen’s hands trembled as she lugged her bags through the doors of the airport. The three headed for checkout, each bleary eyed and anxious. At five a.m. in the morning, she wasn’t as alert as she normally would’ve been. When steely familiar arms of Eli banded around her waist from behind, she jumped.
“Sorry,” he mumbled against her temple. “I’ve been waiting to do this for the last week days.”
The whispered confession made her heart stutter. Carmen moved, unconsciously settling into his taller frame as he squeezed her. “When did you get here?”
She felt his shrug. “About an hour ago.”
Frowning, she turned around. “You’ve been waiting an entire hour at check out?”
Eli’s hair looked as though it hadn’t seen a comb in…ever. His jaw was lined with stubble and he wore a white V-neck, jersey shorts and leather flip flops. Yet, he looked put together. Why did he look so fucking put together?! She hated him for it! More so, because it had taken her a full thirty minutes just to find a comfortable pair of yoga pants and a tank top that didn’t pinch.
His grin was crooked. “Nothing in comparison to how long I’ve been waiting to see you without a bra.” He leered and allowed his eyes to stray from her face. His brows inched upwards. “Alas, I have been disappointed yet again.”
Carmen wanted to
knee him. “I’m in public and over a C cup. My bra stays on.”
“Over a C cup eh?” The leer returned. “This information is much appreciated.”
“I have not touched caffeine as of yet, Elijah. Do you really want to annoy me right now? Do you really want to risk the wrath of a thousand hells raining down on you?”
Lips quirking, he told her, “Don’t full name me. It makes me want to lick your face.”
She rubbed her temples. “Why do I do this with you? Why do I allow myself to be a party to your insanity?”
He leaned forward and pressed his mouth against her ear. “It’s quite simple, Carmen. I. Can. Make. You. Come.”
Why did she suddenly feel like she couldn’t breathe? Ah, maybe because she had stopped. With Eli so close in her personal space, his abdomen pressed to hers as his teeth nipped her diamond studded left lobe, all she could think about was how he smelled like laundry detergent and mouthwash. It wasn’t Polo or Marc Jacobs but something about those scents, made her rub her thighs together in an attempt to relieve the steady spasms at her core.
Finally she found the voice to say, “So can my five speed rabbit. And it does so in half the time with none of the talking.” Her lashes flicked up as she set her gaze on his. “Brag when you manage to accomplish that.”
His eyes narrowed. “The gauntlet has been thrown.”
Her stare widened. “I did not mean—”
“What’s the fastest period you’ve ever gotten off with the help of your pocket sized counterpart?” he questioned.
“Eli…”
“Everyone times it Carmen. Whether unconsciously or out of curiosity. You’re anal retentive enough that I’d bet you have it down to an exact science so you can be done before ABC airs your favorite dramatic-comedy.” Eli’s head cocked. “Relax your shoulders, baby. That wasn’t an insult, simply an observation. You needed release, I provided it. You want to have a week of fun, I’m providing that also.”
“I never agreed—”
“The moment you allowed me to pacify myself on your clit, you did,” he smoothly cut in. His eyes were suddenly free of the aloof silliness he’d had moments ago. “I won’t force you to do anything you don’t want to, Carmen but, I will do my fucking best to convince you that it’s a good idea.” He nodded his head to the multiple kiosks around. “Let’s get checked in, I’ll get you caffeine so we can avoid the raining down of a thousand hells and then, you can tell me your fastest orgasm time.”
