Kiss and Burn

by Nikki Winter

  Eli had countered with his leaving Maikao naked and on the side of the road, after his friend had replaced all of Eli’s boxers with pink panties. Then he told her about the time they’d gotten stranded upstate after sneaking out to a concert they had no business going to. Of course Carmen had asked how they’d managed to get there and he calmly explained that his girlfriend at the time had driven them but when Eli caught her trying to drunkenly stick her hand down Maikao’s jeans, he dumped her on the spot and in return, she’d gone home without either of them. They discussed his choice to become a fireman and her decision to remain in Santa Fe despite getting offers to expand her restaurant to California. They’d talked about everything except for what would happen when their vacation in paradise was over and the real world kicked down their respective doors.

  Carmen avoided the subject despite his occasional hints that they could have dinner or see a movie. She ignored his suggestion that if she needed to be closer to the restaurant at any time she could sleep over at his place and she flat out refused to answer him when he talked about them revisiting Cancun for another week sometime in the fall.

  It worried him, it frustrated him. She seemed to be in tune to everything else going on around them except for his growing emotional pull to her. He didn’t know if it were purposeful or simply because she was just that oblivious. He did know that he had one weapon on his side—sex. No matter how filthy, no matter how late or early, Carmen never failed to deliver those little stilted gasps or the mutters in Spanish or even a quick tug at his left ear with her teeth. She loved every minute of it and Eli would continue to oblige until he knocked down that one obstacle she consistently tried to put in their way. She may not have seen it now but Eli was keeping her. He was keeping her.

  “You like my lascivious behavior,” he murmured, pressing a quick kiss to her mouth.

  Her lips curled as she ran the heel of her foot over his calf. “More than I should.”

  He snorted, traced her ribcage with his finger tips and nuzzled her beneath her chin. “Good. I like you needy.”

  One brow went up. “Needy? Who said I was needy?”

  Eli trailed a path of lips and tongue from her chin to her chest. “Your nipples are hard.”

  “Ah, that’s the sudden sign of neediness? Because I have to tell you, I know a lot of needy people.”

  He didn’t respond, just gave a counter clockwise lick around her areola. When she curved a leg over his hip and thrust her chest upwards, he crowed, “See? Neediness.”

  “Shut… oh, I can now see how you’d come to that conclusion,” she hissed as he popped her nipple into his mouth and gently bit down.

  Pushing her breasts together he went from one tip to the other, lathing while she buried her fingers in his hair, tugging. “Do you know how much time I spent fantasizing about being able to kiss you everywhere?” he whispered against her skin. “Hours. I’d spend hours and I wouldn’t stop until something else broke my concentration.” Making slight circles with his thumbs over her pelvic bone, he listened to the way her breathing changed, grew choppy. “But do you know what I’ve enjoyed kissing more than anything else?”

  “Can’t say that I’m opposed to finding out,” Carmen breathed, wiggling her hips as he found her belly button with his tongue.

  Eli lifted his eyes and locked onto her gaze. “Your coño.”

  She clenched the bottom rim of her perfect mouth between her teeth at the word. “You’re a filthy man, Mr. Aaronson.”

  He chuckled, nipped her thigh. “I try to be.”

  When he turned her over onto her belly and positioned her on all fours, she gave him a look over her shoulder that made his balls draw up and she rasped, “You’re succeeding.”

  Staring down at the high, round globes of her ass, he bit the inside of his cheek and ran his palm over the left side. “Remember yesterday when you decided to tie me down so I couldn’t touch you while you swallowed me?”

  “I’m recalling that, yes.”

  “And then you left me with the most self-satisfied smile before saying, ‘My incredible nature is unmatched and so you remember, I’m going to take a shower while you stay there just like that.’”

  “That definitely rings a bell,” she laughed.

  “Unh-hunh,” Eli went right before bringing his palm down on the part of her buttocks it had been so tenderly caressing.

  Carmen yelped.

  “That was for tying me down.”

  Smack!

  “That was for leaving me in the wet spot which is entirely unsanitary and arousing all at once.”

  Smack!

  “And that was because I’m enjoying the color your ass is turning right now. I’d call that a lovely shade of vermillion.”

  “You’re a dick,” Carmen grunted.

  “I accept that and my heart is still open,” he retorted dryly, reaching between her spread thighs. “Oh look, what do we have here? Either you’re housing a small stream between your legs or someone’s a kinky little kitty.”

  She couldn’t hide her chuckle. Said chuckle did however turn into a groan as Eli flicked her clit and curled his finger back towards her opening, teasing it a bit before giving her the tip of his digit. “Ah, kinky little kitty it is then.”

  Carmen didn’t mouth off or call him anymore names, just bore down on that finger, searching for the penetration that her arch back and splayed thighs begged for. He loved it when she begged. It was cross from his name to God’s and then a flurry of mumbles that he’d swallow down with his lips. His tongue left a wet trail from the dip in her spine to her right cheek as his nibbled on it. Her hands caught the comforter and he exchanged that bit of skin for the pink glistening flesh between her legs, suckling at the space between her rosebud and her core until she rolled her hips against his hand, pleading with the mewls that rumbled up from her throat; sweet purrs that made his dick leak.

  Eli removed his hand from her apex altogether and spread her for his mouth’s assault, gathering as much cream on his tongue as he could before catching her clit. She rocked forward and back, keeping in time with his ministrations as she keened. He nurtured the bundle of nerves, reacquainting himself with the underside of her hooded nub until one of her palms slapped the mattress. She shuddered and moaned and his cock bounced in anticipation.

  Stiffening his tongue, he thrust it inside her canal and relished in the way she grew wetter by the second, moving back with reckless abandon as she panted. He removed it and encircled her star. Carmen snatched up a pillow and buried her face into the feathers. She stiffened, and came with a partially muffled cry.

  Satisfied, Eli took the pillow from her, placed it beneath her tummy and after donning a condom, he commanded, “Give me your hands.”

  She did as she was told, bringing her arms back and to her sides. He firmly encircled her wrists as he positioned himself at her pussy. “Have you caught your second wind yet?”

  “Almost,” Carmen gasped.

  He smirked. “No time for almost, baby.” Without another word he drove into her, using his hold on her wrists as leverage for deeper thrusts. She met each stroke with a unified rhythm that sent tingles through his thighs, as they connected with her own in a loud slap of carnal pleasure. Her waist rolled and he followed the movement, attempting to milk everything he could out of her before they were separated. Eli wanted her slightly limping and wincing as she sat for the rest of the day, desperate to create the kind of friction between her legs that he endured when they fucked.

  He knew when he’d hit a particularly good spot because her entire body shook. Unlike most men who’d take this as a sign to suddenly start doing something completely different—because stupidity lead them to believe that was a good idea—Eli worked that same spot until she called his name; until she couldn’t breathe; until she was babbling and gushing on the length of him; until her pussy squeezed him so hard that his eyes watered.

  Carmen came, screaming into the open air and Eli came too, hissing through clen
ched teeth. The moment shudders stopped racking the both of them, they fell into a tangled mess of limbs and harsh breaths.

  “Okay… maybe, just maybe, I can be a little needy,” she conceded curling into his side.

  Grinning like mad, he dropped a kiss on her temple and curved a hand around her belly. “And maybe, just maybe, I like you that way.”

  Eleven

  “Can I just—”

  “No.”

  “But I need to—”

  “No.”

  “The catering company is—”

  “No.”

  “Goddammit Carmen, this is tyranny!”

  “Tyranny that you will fucking take and stop making us all mental with your obsessive personality disorder! Today is about fun. You’re going to have fun. I’m going to have fun. Our mothers are going to have fun and the guys are going to have fun! If I have to shove that fun down your throat in the form of a size eight and a half sandal I fucking will!”

  Addison leaned away from Carmen’s growl, blinked a few times and asked, “Size eight and a half? Aren’t we stretching the truth a bit?”

  “I’ll hit you! I swear I’ll hit you!”

  “No one’s hitting anyone,” Angelina stated as she, Selena and Maikao’s mother, Kalei — who’d arrived the day before with her husband in tow — joined them by the pool. Addison and Maikao were following the tradition of spending time away from one another before the wedding and so far, Carmen’s friend hadn’t relaxed in the slightest.

  “Can’t make that promise,” Selena murmured taking a seat. “If she says one more thing about flowers or food or the weather, I’m starching my palm.”

  “Betrayer!” Addison yelled.

  Her mother simply put a hand to her daughter’s mouth and said, “Quiet child, just… quiet.”

  Chuckling, Kalei Iona asked, “Why are you so jittery? Everything is in place. You’ve made sure of that.”

  Addison tucked in her lips and sat backwards.

  Angelina leaned towards her. “Addie?”

  “It’s stupid,” the younger woman mumbled.

  “Not if venting it will give you and the rest of us a little bit of peace,” Carmen told her. “I’ve seen you anal retentive, but never like this.”

  “Out with it, child,” Selena encouraged.

  Sighing, Addison finally blurted, “What if we’re rushing? What if Maikao really doesn’t want to marry me but is doing it because what we have is comfortable enough that he could settle in for the rest of our lives? What if I’m not a good wife? What if—”

  “The earth suddenly crashes into the sun tomorrow and we’re eviscerated?” Kalei interrupted. “What if, what if, what if. You can ask yourself that question a million times, darling, but you’ll never have the answer. You’re concerned about rushing? You’ve been together for five years, maybe not in the physical sense but your connection has been visceral and real. You’re worried about my boy’s complacency? Maikao has been nomadic in his dating patterns from the time he turned fourteen, he doesn’t understand what settling is. He picked you because he doesn’t feel the need to move when you’re around. You ground him. And being a good wife is about listening to their stupid jokes, concerning what happened down at the station during lunch break. Praying with them, when they lose one of their own. Rubbing their shoulders, when they’re too tired to move. Putting your cold feet on their back to annoy them. Laughing, loving, simply, being. Love isn’t something you can meticulously plan and circle off your list of things to do. You adore Maikao and Maikao adores you. I see it, we all see it and that’s why we’re here to watch you commit to making one another crazy for the rest of your lives. Personally, I think you could do better than my wide shouldered clown, who still giggles at Saturday morning cartoons but, I’m not supposed to say these things because I’m his mother.”

  Kalei patted Addison’s hand. “You’re a good girl. Head strong, stubborn. He needs that. Needs someone to tell him no, to tell him when he’s being an ass. Don’t worry yourself, sweetheart, whether you know it or not you’re exactly what he needs. Relax and bask in the fact that tomorrow you’re getting married.”

  For the first time since this entire process had begun, Carmen felt envious. Not of Addison or her relationship with Maikao but of what they’d found and of what they’d continue to discover. The most dangerous part of allowing Eli into her space was that their bond had gone beyond sex. It was beginning to branch into unchartered territory; territory that included emotions she wasn’t willing to look too closely at. She wouldn’t even discuss him with Addison, who she told everything.

  Everyday had been intense, every smile, every shared laugh, every story they’d told the other. It was all so surreal. She’d started this thinking that in a few days she could shift her focus elsewhere after leaving her desire for him on the beach but now she wasn’t so sure.

  Love isn’t something you can meticulously plan and circle off your list of things to do.

  As Addison finally decided to take someone’s advice and the conversation veered into where they would eat later, Carmen found herself questioning if she’d retained common sense enough to not fall for a man who’d nicknamed his penis Barrington Alistair Jennings because of its “refinement and sophistication.”

  The answer to that was a resounding no and she knew she was fucked in ways that even Eli, with all his creative knowledge of the Karma Sutra, hadn’t accomplished.

  Twelve

  “Get yourself together boy! You’re getting married in an hour!”

  “Oh God, oh God, oh God,” Maikao chanted at his father’s booming declaration. “I’m getting married in an hour.” He suddenly stood and grabbed the lapels of Eli’s tailored linen suit jacket. “I’m getting married in an hour.”

  Eli patted his friend’s hands. “Yeah, buddy. I know, that’s what we’re here for.”

  “No, you don’t understand, I’m getting married,” Maikao repeated, shaking Eli now. “In an hour.”

  Glancing over the other man’s shoulder, Eli shot a look at Malo Iona.

  Sighing, the lieutenant made Maikao release his best man. “You’re having an altar break, boy.”

  “Altar break? The hell is an alter break?”

  “The moment you realize your entire life is about to change and you’re responsible for the emotional well-being of someone whose genetically predisposed to not being emotionally well at any time,” Malo answered, making his son sit. “It’s a big step, Mak but Addison’s worth it.”

  “I know.”

  “She loves you.”

  “I know.”

  “You love her.”

  “I know.”

  “The two of you were meant for each other.”

  “I know.”

  “So you have to get your shit together, get out there and make sure she knows,” the older man insisted. “You have to make sure she feels secure and safe and all that other shit women demand from us. You hold her and you never let go, got it?”

  Maikao nodded. “Yes, sir.”

  “Good.” He patted Maikao on the head. “I’d hug you but… You know… We’re men.”

  “Sexist!” Eli cried.

  Malo cuffed him. “Quiet.”

  Eli watched his friend pull himself together and wondered if he’d ever know this same anxiety. Maybe. Maybe if he got Carmen to admit that she loved more than just Barrington Alistair Jennings. Maybe if he got her to commit to more than just their now routine morning showers. Maybe, just maybe, if he could ever blurt the words, “I think I love you” without feeling as though he’d blurt his lunch also.

  God, it happened so fast. Too fast right? It had to have happened too fast because Eli needed logic and reason to dig him out of the emotional hole he’d found himself buried in. He wanted her more than anything he’d ever desired and that frightened him more than any fire he’d ever fought, because rejection was not a thing he was used too. Other women, other relationships, had spoiled him. They’d made him oblivious to the tr
ue male and female dynamic, oblivious to the way things really worked. What if Carmen was able to walk away from him without a backwards glance in a few days? What if he were the only one invested here? What if, what if, what if…

  A hand slamming into his back made Eli finally breathe. Only after he gasped in air did he realize he hadn’t been inhaling for the extent of his mental monologue. They’d spent the previous night together on the beach with beers, burgers and a radio that had a station for American football. He’d been more relaxed then than he was now.

  “Can’t die on your best friend’s wedding day, boy. Wouldn’t be right,” Malo laughingly told him.

  Maikao looked at him with a smirk, fixing his bowtie. “Seems I’m not the only one having an altar break. What’s wrong, Aaronson? Afraid you’ll have to tuck your wee-wee back into your big boy briefs when it’s all said and done?”

  Eli’s eyes narrowed. “You know my favorite part of all your nonsensical little jokes and ramblings?”

  “Nah, what?”

  “The fact that you eventually grow silent and still enough for me to do this,” Eli answered, punching the bastard in the balls. As Maikao hit the floor, rolling back and forth while Malo laughed raucously, he stepped over him and asked, “Who has to tuck his wee-wee in now?”

  ***

  There was something to be said for watching two wholly wonderful individuals commemorate an affection that would last a life time. More could be said when you’d watched one of those individuals go from girl, to young adult, to woman. Carmen didn’t think she’d cried this much in ever. The love she felt radiating off of both outshined the anxiety and the fact that Makaio had dropped Addison’s wedding band twice before he’d finally gotten it onto her finger. It outshined everything.