As always, I own nothing. Just something for my ship.

Tacos Be Delicious.

Enjoy,

Lou.

Love You Always

An Elani Short

By Lou

-CHAPTER ONE-

He fought it.

Same as he had every morning for as long as he could remember fighting that shit; and, just like always, he failed.

Miserably.

It was too damn early to be awake, but he found he couldn't be all the way mad at it, or even remotely upset; not when he was wrapped around her. Her back to his front, ass in his lap, and his hands just full of her.

Yeah, Eli thought, I want every bit of this for the rest of my life.

Quilt kicked to the floor every pillow gone except for the one they shared. Who knew where the other ones were. Covered in just the top sheet, the room cool around them, he was ready to start the day off right, when his blocking ass phone dinged behind him.

Eli glared with one eye over his shoulder, hoping that his ears were playing tricks.

They weren't.

He sighed, rolling to his back and shaking his head at the ceiling. It wasn't even six a.m., he knew, and these motherfuckers had already started with their bullshit. It had, literally, been zero days since a citizen in Salem had woken up and, actively, decided not to show their asses before he could even have breakfast.

Eli opened the nightstand drawer and stared inside. He stared for long seconds before he shook off a familiar dread and grabbed his phone with one hand.

It was a text message.

From Shawn.

Eli rolled his eyes hard enough to pull a butt cheek. He knew it was going to be some shit.

SDiggity: So, are you betrothed to your lady true? :)

THE COMMISH: Am I what? To Who?

SDiggity: You need to read more.

THE COMMISH: The hell did I tell you about sending me emoji's like a 12-year-old girl? And half those words aren't real.

SDiggity: What happened? Are you engage or what?

Eli lifted the sheet from a still sleeping Lani; a wolfish grin on his lips when her naked body greeted him. She stretched slowly as she woke, looking over her shoulder at him with a sleepy sweet smile, that never failed to set him aflame when she found him staring.

Shaking her head, Lani snatched the end of the sheet from his fingertips, tucking it around her then rolling to her stomach.

"Hey, girl; I'm nekkid!"

She tossed a pillow at his face and Eli batted it away quickly, catching her by the hips before Lani could get out of bed and away from him.

Her raspy morning giggles brought a chuckle from him as he buried his face in the warmth of her neck. He pressed a kiss to her shoulder, living in her soft sound of contentment.

Lani turned over in his arms, her gaze soft as her eyes traced him. Eli's closed when she combed her fingers through the hair on his face. He meant to cut it down a little bit, but if it kept her hands on him like this, he might just have to keep it.

Eli's eyes came all the way open when Lani drew her body over his, bushed her lips over his then pressed a kiss to the side of his mouth.

"Good morning."

"Oh, it's about to be." He murmured trailing his lips over her jaw, under it.

"Is it now?"

"Hmm..."

"You gonna love me forever?"

"Gonna love you always...Oh, girl! Ey! Wait a minute! Where you going?!"

Lani's laugh was almost hysterical as she rolled from atop him. Picking up Eli's phone from the floor she tossed it to him over her shoulder. He caught it in one hand.

"Your phone is beeping."

"Lani," He called after her. "Laniesha Price!"

"Oh, guess you won't be joining me then."

"Whoa, wait a minute now. Hold up. Who said all that?"

Eli could only watch as the bed sheet dropped to the floor, pooling around her. She stepped outside of it and toward the bathroom shaking her hair out behind her.

"Don't you lock that-"

*snick*

"She locked the door."

Here he was.

Ass nekkid.

In this bed.

Alone.

No pillow.

No blanket.

With his cell phone in one hand and his dick in the other.

Why the hell was he covering himself?

His phone beeped again as the shower came on.

THE COMMISH: I got distracted, Eli text back. Then he tossed his phone over his shoulder to the bed behind him, snatched up the emergency plastic from the drawer and went about getting to the best part of waking up.

"Eli?"

"In the kitchen, babe..." He called absently as he looked through the mail without really seeing it.

"You're late." Lani's voice came from the back of the condo.

"Yeah, I had a meeting with the Mayor."

"How'd that go?"

"Like you would expect." He replied shrugging out of his coat, making sure to check the pocket.

Trask believed that she could do everybody's job better than them. He was tired of that woman calling him into her office every other day to tell him that he wasn't worth three damns, and she waiting for him to fuck up because nobody appointed by Jack Deveraux, connected to Abe Carver, or related to Hope Hernandez could be trusted in a mail room let alone with a badge or "the top spot in a cop shop".

Eli had plans for the department so he had to work hard, immensely, to keep from telling that woman to kiss his ass. He knew what the hell her problem was; it was a bridge that he would have to cross when he got there.

What time are the reservations?" He asked grabbing a beer from the fridge.

"8:00. There's still some hot water." Her voice sounded closer now.

"Better be as much as I paid for that damn water heater." He grumbled. "I couldn't interest you in another..." His words trailed off as Lani came from the back of the house.

He blinked.

Then blinked again, swallowing, the beer did nothing to quench his thirst.

It wasn't like he hadn't seen her in this state of undress before. Recently though, looking at this woman, everything was amplified and did all manner of things to him. He would never be unaffected and he never wanted that to change.

Black thigh highs encased the sexiest pair of legs that Eli had ever seen.

He loved watching Lani walk.

She was slipping earrings into her ears, oblivious to the way that he watched her. Whatever she had planned do with her hair probably wasn't done yet, but he liked the way that she had it curled, how it fell over her shoulders and down her back.

What made his body tight was the fact that he was wearing one of his shirts. Unbuttoned, it barely fell passed her ass and her skin played peek-a-boo at the front. A skinny chain around her neck held the locket that fell between her breasts; her bra the color of dark, ripe cherries.

Lani Price was a temptation. A temptation that tested him daily. Even now, knowing that they had places to be, that he had plans for them tonight, tomorrow, and every tomorrow after, Eli was all the way down with taking a small detour and tossing Lani sexy ass up on one of these kitchen counters so he could thoroughly inspect her panty line.

"Eli?"

"Hm? I-I'm sorry. What?"

"I said that you're going to make us late," Lani replied. "Unless that is what you're wearing." Her tone said, plainly, that he was not about to walk out of the house with her looking as if nobody loved him.

"What," He asked, rolling up his shirt sleeves then loosening his tie as he moved toward her. "You're not feeling the disheveled cop look?"

Her eyes moved over him and everything in Eli swelled. She slid her fingers down his tie, using it to pull him to her. Looking into his eyes, she smiled.

"It has its merits."

"He touched his lips to hers; things about to get deliciously out of hand before she stopped them.

"Hi," She whispered.

"Hey,"

"Mmm." Lani tilted her head back attempting to dodge the distraction only to have her eyes slide closed when Eli pressed his face into her neck. She ran her hand down his arm in a weak attempt to push him away. "Really going to be late…"

"Change of plans." Eli to her as he picked Lani up and put her over his shoulder.

"Eli Grant!" She laughed.

"These we happen to be on time for…"

"You want some coffee with that wet dream?"

"'Cuse me?"

"In my experience, boys usually smile like that…after."

"Alright. Okay." Eli put a hand up, shaking his head at her to stop. "First of all, I'm a man, and much more importantly, I don't need to know about your experiences. Please. Don't."

"Saw Lani this morning." Claire went on.

"Oh yeah?" He knew this was coming. He could feel it. It was like hot breath on the back of his neck, a headache behind his eyeballs. She may look like her mother with blonde hair and blue eyes, but she was like her father. Damn Shawn and his progeny.

Pain in his ass.

"Yup, and there was no bling on her pretty finger."

"Here we go…" He sighed. "Bling?"

"Why?"

"Cl-"

"What the hell, Cousin Eli?"

"What did I tell you about that?"

"Waiting."

"Claire-"

"You want Lani, she wants you. What's the problem? What's the hold-up?"

"I'm still ask-Don't you have classes to go to or something?"

"Not what you expected when you found us, is it?" She grinned unrepentantly.

"Stop teaching your dad new words." He told her. "They don't sound right coming out of his face-fingers; whatever."

"I have no idea what it is that you are referring to. Coffee?"

"Did you make it; and 'Are you betrothed to your lady true'?" Eli's brows rose in amusement. "You didn't have to do him like that.

Claire was snickering, almost out of breath, she was so tickled. "He picked up one of my mom's trashy romance novels."

"Whaaat?" The word drew out as Eli fell into laughter, Claire following. "Oh-ho, yes." His laughter turned into an all-out cackle.

"Julie's coffee is terrible, isn't it?"

Eli's laughter dried up real quick. "Huh?"

"Are we still not talking about it?"

"I don't know what you are referring to."

"Yeah, okay. She's not here, Eli. It's fine."

"What's uh…what's the name of these books now?"

"Asshole..." Lani heard him swear hotly when she strolled into the PD. Shawn sat down hard in his chair, blowing out a deep breath. He tossed a paperback on his desk to the stacks that already covered it, shaking his head.

He was going to get Eli back for this. I'm going to catch him so cold, he thought.

Lani picked up a book from the pile, reading the back then looked at Shawn with raised brows. "New hobby?"

"Your boyfriend thinks he's funny."

"Oh? I think he's hilarious. Is he in?" He pointed toward the office. "Happy reading." Lani threw him a wink as she started away, chuckling to herself when he rolled his eyes and groaning into his hands; only to come back and pick up the book that she had put down, waving it in front of her face like a fan.

She got to his office and stopped, watching him through the side window by the door. The view was oh so nice.

Mmm, he sure did clean up well, Lani thought, and not for the first time. She could see the muscles flex in his shoulders and back; feel them, physically, beneath her fingertips. Her palms itched with the deep need to touch him.

She loved it when he got a haircut. Eli was a sucker for a neck rub and Lani took any, and every, reason to touch on him.

Lani never thought that they would be back here; not after everything that had happened, but here they were. There had been so much bad between them both intentional on their parts and indirect. She couldn't tell you how they managed to navigate all the mess that they had created, but they had woken up to each other this morning. She wanted to wake up to him every morning, forever and always.

When she thought back to their second "first date", Lani had to smile. Somethings, they didn't change...

"Lani? Am I late?"

"No, I'm early." He stood with his body hidden behind the door waiting. "Do you want me to wait in my car or are you going to let me in?"

"Oh, damn. I'm sorry. My bad. Come in."

Her lips twitched as she stepped inside.

He was nervous.

It was cute.

"I feel like you have a thing against clothing."

A smile threatened as he looked at her. "I was in the shower, and not expecting you to be here." He told her.

"Oh, I'm not complaining," Lani replied. "Not. At. All. It's kind of nice to know, that despite all of it, some things have stayed the same."

"My eyes are up here, woman."

Mm...mm...mm, Lani thought, so glad that things haven't changed. "Mmhm. I know." She replied.

"Alright now, " He chuckled. "What's on the agenda for the night?"

"You."

"Oh yeah?" He ran a hand over the top of his head.

"Eli Grant?"

He stared, eyes heating.

"Are you blushing?"

"Oh. Nah." He shook his head, chuckling.

Lani laughed. "You are."

"Shut up."

Her eyes moved over his then down his body, down to the towel wrapped around his hips then back up again. Pleasure hummed through her as she traced a bead of water down his chest. Her eyes met his again as she hooked a finger into the towel, pulling him close to her. Droplets of water from is skin seeped into the bodice of her dress, the heat of him melted over her.

Big hands ran down her arms as Lani tipped her head back, looking into his dark, dark, eyes.

"We should stay in." She told him.

"Why is that?"

"Because, tonight, I don't want to share you with anyone..."

"Not at all," He spoke as Lani stepped into the room, his back still to her. "It sounds stupid, considering, but, I feel like I've been waiting my whole life..."

Eli turned as Lani closed the door behind her, the smile on his face filling her.

"I know, " He continued. "I know exactly how right this is."