A/N: So Lizzy, having been rescued by Eli from the unwanted attentions of a group of drunken cholos, has agreed to have dinner with him. Eli quickly puts a nervous Lizzy at ease, encouraging her to talk about her travels. Just as Lizzy realizes that she is more than a little attracted to Eli, someone from his past enters the scene.

LIZZY AND ELI

Chapter Three

Selina stepped over to the table. "I've been back for a little over a month." Self-consciously, she added, "My sister's having some trouble with her pregnancy. She's on bed rest now, so I came back to help out."

Recovering gracefully, Eli slid out of the booth to greet his friend properly. "It's good to see you," he said as he placed a quick, chaste kiss on her cheek. "I'm sorry to hear Rocky's havin a hard time." He gestured to me. "This is Lizzy. She just got back to Neptune today. She's been traveling abroad for the last three years. Lizzy, this is Selina, an old friend. "

I smiled obligingly and offered my hand. "Nice to meet you."

The stunning woman briefly clasped my outstretched hand before remarking, a smirk marring her delicate features. "You just got back today? Same old Eli. You always did work fast."

Eli's face clouded a little. Returning to my side, he admonished her. "Now, now. Play nice please."

I behaved as if I had not noticed the subtle slight aimed at me. "Your sister's name is Rocky?"

After a brief pause, the woman explained grudgingly. "It's short for Raquel."

"Raquel. That's a beautiful name." As I said this, a very handsome, well-dressed man approached our booth.

"Selina. Our table's ready." Selina turned to acknowledge his arrival. He placed an arm around her waist. "David, this is Eli Navarro, an old…friend. And this is Lizzy…."

"Carmichael," I supplied.

The handsome man did a double take. "Any relation to Robert Carmichael?"

"He is my brother," I answered, recognizing the signs of someone paying attention to me because of who I am related to.

As Eli innocently asked, "Who is Robert Carmichael?" I registered the growing enmity from the tall, beautiful woman.

David looked at Eli condescendingly. "Uh, he's the State AG." At Eli's blank stare, he filled in, "Attorney General," dismissively.

Eli let his eyebrows lift to express his mild surprise. Looking at me, he grinned and leaned forward to whisper conspiratorially, "Didn't know I was having dinner with royalty," his tongue metaphorically in cheek.

Casually I quipped, "I usually wait until the second date to throw my family connections around," appreciating the absurdity of the situation along with him, while flashing him a dazzling smile to boot.

Unhappy with the lack of attention from Eli, Selina said, "I'm glad I ran in to you. I have been meaning to get in touch." When Eli didn't bite, she upped the ante. "You should stop by to see Rocky sometime. She'd love to see you and needs all the visitors she can get. She's going a little stir crazy." Eli agreed to make some time to visit her pregnant sister, but seemed unwilling to commit to anything specific. Piqued, Selina simpered, "Well, at least let me know when you'll be stopping by. If I can, I'll join you. It will give us a chance to…catch up." She smiled enticingly, ignoring me completely. Because I was watching him closely, I noticed that Eli was a bit on edge.

"We should get going." Her companion was getting bored.

"It was nice meeting you," I lied. "Enjoy your dinner." Neither of them returned my salutation. Selina continued to smile at Eli and he continued to glare at her. Before turning to go, she added, "See ya round Weevs," sounding all kinds of confident.

I waited a bit to see how he would react to her not very subtle flirtation. He looked down, shaking his head, a derisive smirk contorting his features. Clearly they had a history that had left Eli angry and resentful. I admit, I was more than a little annoyed with the woman who had affected his mood so negatively. I was overcome with an irrational desire to pay someone to spit in her dinner. Instead I decided to channel my energy in a more constructive way. Flagging down our waiter, I asked for the dessert menu. Eli asked me to pick something for him and excused himself. I employed my time wisely and by the time he returned, the check was taken care of and our dessert was boxed up and ready to go. I looked at him provocatively. "Let's blow this pop stand, dadio."

He regarded me quizzically. "What are you up to?"

I slid out of the booth and handed him his jacket. Innocently I explained, "I thought it would be more fun to enjoy our dessert somewhere else. On the beach maybe." I didn't blink as he scanned me closely, as if attempting to read my mind. "I mean, if you have the time, that is." I found myself nervously awaiting his response.

I don't know what he saw or what he was thinking, but I recognized the moment his defenses dropped. He smiled. "Yeah, I have the time Niña. Let me just take care of the check."

"Ummm." I bit my bottom lip.

"What?"

"Now don't be mad. I already paid the check. Please let this be my treat Eli. You've been so wonderful tonight, coming to my rescue, and bringing me here. Besides, it was my turn to pick up the tab."

He shook his head, but his grin expanded. "I didn't really do that much Lizzy."

I tilted my head and made him look at me directly. I wanted him to hear me and know how much I appreciated his help and his companionship. "Well, it means a lot to me," I countered softly and leaned forward to place a soft kiss near his mouth, resting a hand lightly against his chest. I definitely caught him off guard. He inhaled sharply and pulled back to look at me intently. All I could do was stare at his mouth. He was quiet for a long time and I began to worry that I had gone too far.

Just as I was about to apologize and stammer out something lame about the sometimes strange effects of jetlag, he reached behind me to scoop up the bag containing our dessert. "Yeah, we definitely need to do this somewhere else."

As he ushered me out of the restaurant, I noticed that at least one pair of eyes followed our movements closely. I replayed his words in my head, wondering at their exact meaning. Intrigued, I said, "I'll meet you at the car. I just need to use the ladies' room first." I did not keep him waiting too long, but I made sure that my hair was combed and my lips were freshly glossed before joining him outside.

He was quiet as we drove away from the restaurant. I glanced at him surreptitiously, trying to gage his mood. I found myself wanting to smooth the scowl from his face and make him smile again. I had no idea what to say or do to bring that about so I simply stared at him until he became aware of my gaze. When he looked over at me, I tilted my head and asked, "You okay?"

He looked away sheepishly before answering. "Yeah darlin, I'm fine. Sorry, I got kinda preoccupied for a minute."

"It's okay," I breathed at him. "I'll let you make it up to me."

I was rewarded with a responding spark I saw in his eyes as the corners of his mouth turned up a little. "Is that right? And just what do I have to do?"

I let my gaze travel down to where his hands loosely gripped the steering wheel, then drift slowly back to his mouth before allowing myself to sigh expressively. Holding my breath, I peeked up at him, hoping my silliness would coax him into a more favorable frame of mind. He looked slightly alarmed until he saw the twinkle in my eye. His lips twitched as he tried to suppress the smile that leapt to his lips when he realized I was teasing him. I started to giggle and he could not hold back a deep chuckle. Grinning, I said, "That'll do it. You're forgiven."

Without thinking, he observed, "Just like that? Wow, you're easy." A moment later, his eyes wide, Eli turned red. "I mean, I don't mean you're easy as in, ummm …." he trailed off self-consciously.

My voice and manner were straightforward and guileless as I tried to help him complete the thought. "A turbo slut?"

He dropped his head, recognizing his mistake, a wry smile turning his lips up. I felt like I was unable to look away from them. I forced myself to turn and look out at the world at large, even though my focus was squarely inside the vehicle. I was suddenly hyper aware of his hands on the steering wheel and how powerful his arms seemed. I found myself wondering what it would feel like to be enclosed in those arms. I swallowed hard and tried not to look like I was struggling to breathe normally. Anxious for any kind of distraction, I lowered the window and stuck my hand out to catch the wind.

Visibly relaxing, Eli switched on the radio, filling the compartment with instrumental Latin music. We traveled in an easy bubble, each temporarily consumed by our own thoughts. Or perhaps we were just trying to avoid any more awkwardness. Distractedly I wondered where we were going. Eli seemed to have a destination in mind. I watched our surroundings as he maneuvered the car from the infamous 02 zip code, recognizing places that had been around forever, as well as noticing a number of changes. I was surprised to see the old drive-in movie theater was still around, but not shocked when Eli told me it had closed the year before.

I sat staring at the open, empty lot, remembering the many happy times shared with friends and family. Without meaning to say anything out loud, I must have voiced a wish to go inside. Five minutes later, Eli was helping me over a partially crumbled wall on the far end of the property. I had the bag from the restaurant in one hand. Eli held my other hand as I climbed up a small pile of fallen bricks. As I stepped on to the top of the wall, Eli moved my free hand to his shoulder as he reached up and grasped me about the waist with both hands. He lifted me down to the ground easily, spinning us around so that my feet cleared the rubble inside the wall. I looked up at him, my expression no doubt reflecting my surprise and appreciation. His face was next to unreadable in the shadows, but I swear I saw a hint of that wistfulness from earlier, mixed with something else.

My eyes shifted to his mouth and it seemed for a moment that he was leaning in to me, when just as suddenly he stepped down from the partially hidden cinder block he'd been standing on and gently eased past me on the narrow path leading away from the wall, his hands dropping down. Instinctively, my hand slid from his shoulder and into his right hand as he slowly followed the overgrown path towards the back of the giant movie screen. Clearly he'd been here before.

A few minutes later we were perched on the edge of the platform in front of the screen. I busied myself with pulling the box from the bag and finding the forks and napkins at the bottom. "Please tell me you like chocolate." Eli moved a bit to his left to create a space for the box between us.

"The fudgier, the better," he grinned. "Sounds like you went for my favorite seven-layer chocolate cake."

"It was practically calling my name. I also bribed our waiter to add a container of whipped cream and some strawberries."

"Damn girl, you sure know how to throw an impromptu picnic together on short notice."

I snarked, "Oh yes, I'm a whiz when I have a menu of food to choose from and a restaurant full of waiters clambering to do favors for patrons, for a consideration of course."

Eli tossed his head in agreement, "Goes without sayin." He turned to me, crossing his legs in front of him. "You sure do talk good."

I spun to my left to face him. Placing my hands on the dessert box, I looked up at him seductively. "Are you ready to be tempted Eli?"

After a moment he responded, "As I'll ever be," his voice noticeably husky. And did he just swallow really hard?

Flustered, I looked down to hide my momentary confusion and opened the lid of the box containing a gigantic piece of 7 layer, dark chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream frosting between the layers and a thick dark chocolate ganache on top. I inhaled deeply, allowing the delicious aroma to fill my lungs. I took a few moments to carefully open the containers of whipped cream and strawberries before daring to look at Eli again. "How bout them apples?" I queried, hoping the irony would distract him.

He played along. "Chica, I think you might need to get your eyes checked. These are strawberries, not apples."

I plucked the top berry from the container and held it up between us. "Strawberries you say?" I took a bite and pretended to consider it carefully before swallowing. "I guess they'll just have to do." He grinned at my silliness as I handed him one of the plastic forks.

"All kidding aside, this is really nice."

Stealing the fork back, I said, pretending to be affronted. "Nice?" I pierced the ganache, scooping up a big forkful. "This is a damn sight better than nice," I declared as I held it in front of his mouth challengingly. This time he held my gaze and I forced myself to hold his back. Without breaking eye contact, he leaned forward a little, opening his mouth to accept the offering. I could not keep my gaze from his lips as they closed around the fork I still held. Once again I watched, helpless, as a slow smile graced them as he leaned back again to allow the fork to slide out. Fearing that he could hear how my heart was pounding, I nervously glanced up into his eyes again as he swallowed the sweet concoction. They twinkled at me devilishly as he breathed, "When you're right, you're right."