Love You Always
An Elani Short
By Lou
-CHAPTER TWO-
He'd been waiting for this all week.
A day off.
Another opportunity.
Dinner hadn't worked out, but that was okay.
They had both been so busy that there hadn't been another chance to make this perfect for her.
Texting Lani this was out of the question; not something this important.
They'd spent every night together; if you could call it that. All they had been able to do was fall into bed exhausted only to wake up and miss each other the next morning. Eli felt like he hadn't seen Lani in all month.
Eli smiled remembering the sound of her voice when she called to thank him for the flowers that he had sent her. Too many nights she had made sure that he had dinner when he had to be at the station late. They didn't go to bed without telling each other goodnight.
It still hadn't been enough.
All I want to do is ask my girl to marry me, Eli thought, but the whole of Salem refuses to sit their asses down somewhere so that I can get off this delicious.
Damn.
"Babe; are you going all the way to the brewery for those beers?"
He held the two bottlenecks in one hand, digging his pocket with the other. Her engagement ring glinted in the kitchen lights.
"Eli?"
"You're awful impatient, girl." He replied as he moved into the living room. Lani was curled up on the couch waiting, a bowl of popcorn at her hip, while she flipped through the choices their streaming service. She had her hair pulled up today. Hoop earrings flashed in her lobes, and a pair of his socks were on her forever cold feet.
She knew he was staring. She could feel his eyes on her. He'd been doing that a lot; watching her when he thought she didn't know.
She liked it.
Probably too much. It was distracting and usually meant that she was about to find herself pressed up against some sturdy surface getting her best life. Lani's blood heated with it, but she noticed that there was something more.
His touches felt different. His lips on hers weren't the same. The way that he made love to her was something else.
She wasn't going to push. Much. Eli Grant had two days to figure out whatever it was that he needed to before Lani brought out the bright light and interrogation tactics then programmed all his remotes to keep his TV on Lifetime and The Hallmark Channel until she got some answers.
"Get over here." She tapped a hand the spot next to her on the couch. Eli sat putting the beers on the table in front of them before reaching over her for the popcorn.
Lani moved the bowl further out of his reach, relishing at the way that his body pressed into hers.
"Can I help you, sir?"
"You aren't going to let me have any?"
"Excuse you?" Lani's brows rose. "Just what kind of woman do you think I am?"
"One who is giving?"
"Are you asking me or telling me?" His smile though.
"And warm." He continued. The smell of him wrapped around her as Eli moved closer. "You want me to keep going?"
"Please proceed."
"Insanely sexy."
He continued.
"You think so?"
"No," He shook his head leaning closer. "I know so."
Lani knew what he was going, and would allow it. Why not? He thought he was slick. She smiled before his lips touched hers. It was a distraction, a very good one, that would have absolutely worked had she not known what he was playing at, and felt his arm reach.
Eli hissed out a breath of pain when she popped him on the knuckles. "Lani, " snatched his hand back. "I really can't have none?"
"I'm supposed to just give it to you?" She asked as they sat up, her lips still tingling from his. Her eyes strayed to his mouth before her eyes moved back to his. The popcorn still at her hip.
"You are so lucky these aren't Doritos, woman..."
He looked at her and she looked at him, waiting, then he smiled at her again.
Swear to God, she thought.
Eli stretched his arms out in front of him with a groan so exaggerated that Lani shook her head in quiet amusement. Then her mouth lost all moisture as she watched the muscles in his arms and his shoulders bunch and flex beneath the cotton of his shirt. He'd been to the gym today, she knew. He vibrated with it. The soap from his shower, warmed from his body, teased her.
Leaning into the couch, he put one arm across the back of it and the other he wrapped around her shoulder. She wanted to laugh at his ridiculousness.
"There's something really the matter with you." She told him, congratulating herself on not swallowing her tongue.
As he watched her, something flashed in Eli's eyes that gave Lani pause. A longing, almost, a need that she didn't understand, but pulled at her just the same. Her gaze searched his trying to find it again, but it was gone. It didn't matter because she still felt it around her, around them. It pressed something in her to show him, what she didn't know. Lani stopped itching to touch and touched, drawing her fingertips over his lips; her eyes watched the movement then slid to his when Eli's breath rushed out of him.
"Lani-"
Want, need, and a love so deep swirled inside of him making Eli's head spin. Lani knocked the bowl over as she crawled into his lap, taking his mouth with hers; needs matching, dueling, with one another's.
Tonight, Eli thought. He would do it tonight, because there was no way he could go another day, another moment, without asking this woman to be his wife.
After.
He would do it after. He couldn't stop now. His head told him to slow it down, to ask now; but his heart, his body, was clouded by all things Lani Price.
She couldn't catch her breath. He wouldn't let her. This was different. It was more; like he was trying to tell her something. Touching him had always been her weakness, but what she felt right now went way passed "having to have him". This went well-passed promises and assurances.
He swallowed Lani's sound of pleasure when he stood from the couch taking her with him. A ragged breath left him when she clenched her thighs tighter around him. He couldn't get to her bedroom fast enough. Eli nearly tripped over his own feet when Lani brushed her face against his; grazing her teeth along his jaw; his throat.
Fuck it, he thought. Arousal on 100, his need unmeasurable; blood rushing, ears ringing, light-headed, the wall would more than suffice. Her breath puffed across kiss sensitive lips when their bodies hit. Eli was so gone he didn't feel Lani tense. It didn't register. Hands still gripped her hips when her legs came from around him. He nearly came out of his skin when she slid down him, her heat pressing into his.
She was pushing him away, but his mind would not compute; his body did not understand and took painful offense.
He knew Lani was talking to him, but damn if Eli could comprehend one syllable.
"Eli-"
Saying people's names like that, his still highly aroused mind thought...Greenlight! All the green lights. Lani didn't push him away when he fit his mouth back to hers. Hell no; instead, Lani twisted his shirt in her fist at the collar and gave as good as she got.
Then she was pulling away again. Well...as far as his body and the wall would allow.
Teamwork made the dream work.
"Eli," Lani tried again.
"Hmm?" He loved her perfume. She didn't wear it often, but when she did; straight detonation. She tried again and was more successful as his head begun to clear. "Lani...what?"
She was looking at her phone. Where the hell had that come from?
"I have to go." She told him as she buttoned her blouse.
Every scrap of unmentionables this woman owned sent his blood into overdrive; made his palms sweat...but there was just something about the black bra with the lace that made his dick hurt.
He couldn't explain it. He didn't question it. He made the habit of basking in it.
Now? Now it was being taken away from him; buttoned-up behind a blouse that he had taken great pains to free it from.
She was talking to him still, and Eli got the gist.
He just didn't give a shit.
He didn't give a fe-fi-fo-fuck about the Kiriakises and the bullshit they stayed rolling in.
What mattered was that the thighs were gone from around his waist. Her fingers weren't touching all on the back of his neck; rubbing his head and over his chest. Those lips weren't breathing promises in his ears dangerous enough to melt both of them.
He didn't give a damn about Victor, Xander, the butler, the cook, the gardener, nor the henchmen. He had plans damnit. Plans that began with Lani Price leaving scratches down is back; bodies depleted and ended with a ring on Lani's finger and all the pillows on the floor.
Blankets, too.
"Don't go to sleep." She kissed the side of his mouth as Eli looked down at his open fly then back to her.
"Not possible." Goddamnit, he thought before pulling her to him, stealing one last kiss.
"Love me forever?" She whispered against his lips.
"I'm gonna love you always."
"I'm sorry, Eli" she sighed over the line.
"Everything okay?"
"No, but I'm sure you'll hear about it tomorrow. At present, I am not at liberty to say. I'll see you in the morning."
"Alright. Love you."
"I love you, too. Goodnight."
She wasn't there when Eli woke up, but damn if he didn't feel 6'5 when he saw here good morning text. Her saying it over the phone made a piss poor morning halfway okay.
Then he was summoned to the Kiriakis mansion.
Did he take his sweet time?
Why, yes; yes he did.
When Victor sent his blood henchmen to hustle him, Eli sipped his coffee, asked the pertinent questions, filed the report, then sent him on his way.
When he did show his face to the mausoleum, Victor was fit to be tied. His nephews, grandsons, what have you, weren't all that happy either.
Ask him if he gave a fuck.
"Took you long enough." Victor groused as the butler introduced him. "You were supposed to be here hours ago."
"Was I? Don't tell me Detective Brady didn't show because I know better."
"Don't let that title go to you head young man."
"Don't presume to make demands on my time because of my title, Mr. Kiriakis."
"My tax dollars pay your salary, damnit." The elder man barked. "I suggest that you act like it."
"You pay taxes?"
"I resent the implication." Xander put in.
"Don't say it if you can't spell it," Eli replied before turning back to the Kiriakis patriarch. "I work for the city of Salem. I'll leave the concierge policing to those in your employ. Why am I here?"
It was the one thing he hated most about the position. The monied believing that he was at their beck and call because of status. Their entitlement was disrespectful to the detectives and uniforms that worked in the department.
"I don't appreciate your tone, Detective." Xander moved to stand next to his uncle.
"Commissioner, " Eli corrected easily. "If you're about to bloviate petulance in my direction for clout, I would appreciate your addressing me accordingly."
"I beg your pardon? Bloviating? Petulance?"
"Theo, what's going on here, man?"
"My grid was attacked last night." The young man in the wheelchair replied.
"You think this has something to do with your place being tossed?"
"Somebody broke into the penthouse?" Lani asked him. "Theo-"
"I'm fine." Her brother replied. "Eli and Shawn took care of it."
"I got you."
"I didn't want you to have to worry about me." He told his sister. "Not after..."
"You're my brother," Lani told him. "I'm always going to worry about you."
"Wonderful," Brady spoke his agitation clear. "Can we please get back to the matter at hand. Titan servers were infiltrated-"
"Nothing was stolen," Theo confirmed.
"Be that as it may," Brady went on. "Sensitive information was-is-still at risk. I want to know what's being done about it."
"Going to the police was your first mistake." Xander threw in. "Sleeping with the enemy...a close second."
"Whoever attempted to attack Titan was good," Theo went on, cutting into the silent stare down between Eli and Xander. "They would have to be to get as far as they did. This was no layman; not just anyone would have been able to pass my protocols."
"What's this?" Eli took the scrap of paper Theo handed to him.
"The IP of the somebody who attempted to hack me." He replied. "They tried to hide it, but...
"What?"
"I believe it's fake," Theo admitted. "As a matter of fact, I wouldn't be surprised if it were a trap. Your department has the people capable enough to handle it, I guess. I'm trying to do this the right way."
He could feel her eyes on him, could swear that he could smell the remnants of her perfume. Eli cleared his throat, tried to focus. "I appreciate that."
"Don't," Theo told him. "Don't, because you have no idea how badly I want to track down this insolence and obliterate them for their audacity." They both looked at Lani. Eli stayed looking at Lani while Theo finished. "But I know better than that, and I learned it the hard way."
Theo had pride in what he did, but it was more than that. He had confided in Eli that he felt that DiMera fire burning in him. It was a dominance that demanded that he crush any and all opposition; that it was sometimes hard to quiet. It was why he walked away from Claire. A part of him feared giving in to it because a bigger part of him welcomed it.
"What's going on with that other matter we discussed?" Theo asked.
"On track," Eli replied turning to him, smiling when he caught Lani's very interested head tilt out of the corner of his eye.
"Keep me posted."
"Yup."
Lani split her gaze between the two of them, that feeling of something more falling over her again; never more so than when Eli was talking with Brady. The way he looked over at her...urgency began to build inside her. For what, Lani wasn't sure. Good or bad, she couldn't be completely sure what was going on but she felt...better.
She smoothed her hand down his arm, entwining her fingers in his, as she walked him out. It was like Eli had been touched with a live wire. Embers from last night that had cooled sparked to life under his skin. The shuddering breath that left her told that Lani was feeling it, too. It was like a red flag being waved in front of a bull.
His blood simmered.
"What were you going to say to me?" Lani's mouth grew dry and her stomach fluttered at the way he was looking at her. "Eli?"
"Hm?"
"Last night, before, wha-"
"Girl, stop looking at me like that."
"Like what, and you first," Lani told him. "Stop staring at my mouth and do all the things about it."
"You don't even know."
"I know some of it."
"You're about to know the rest."
"I'm ready."
They swayed toward each other. Lani sighed when Eli wrapped his arms around her, pulling Lani closer, their faces touching; warm in the cold. She put her arms around him, her fingers unconsciously massaging his neck.
"We can't get any time together." She said, her body melting into his, already hating that he was going to have to go. "It's frustrating."
Eli tipped his head back, looking down at the woman in his arms, already missing her, but still. Lani tucked her lips at his quirked brow in exaggerated confusion.
"Is it now?" Eli asked. "Is it frustrating? I hadn't noticed."
"Eli," She had to laugh.
"I mean, it's good to know the cold showers aren't working for you either."
"Showers?" Lani inquired.
"Oh, girl...what?"
"I'm just saying. It's kind of sexy."
"Huh?" This woman stayed surprising him. "Wait a minute...Hold up. Lani Price?"
She rested her chin on his chest looking up at him through her lashes, holding on a little tighter. "Yes?"
"My torment is sexy to you?"
"A little bit."
"I wish that I could be mad at that."
"Love me forever?"
Eli touched his lips to hers. "Girl, I'm gonna love you always."