Violet’s Bucket List

by Embers, Tuesday

  Antonio froze, dropping his fists and his giddy grin to gawk at me. “Okay, my bit was for fun, but how did you know about my hip surgery?”

  I shrugged and shoved my hands in my pockets, embarrassed that I might’ve spoken out of turn. “I saw the way you walked. You’re babying your right side. Plus the way you knelt when you fake proposed was crooked. You grimaced when you got up, too. Even after surgery, it’s hard to get back one hundred percent mobility in the area, but you’re farther from that than you should be, given how long ago the injury took place.” I looked down, wishing the ground would swallow me whole. “I mean, hello stranger. I’m Violet. Nice to meet you.”

  Eli straightened his suit jacket and raised his chin in defiance. “See? I told ye my girl was smart. Tha’s a leg up from the lasses ye tumble into bed with.”

  Antonio guffawed at me, and looked down at his leg. “Are you a psychic? Because I’ve always felt I had a strange energy that wasn’t just sexual.”

  I smirked at him. “Physical therapist. Clearly I’m not psychic. I never saw someone like you coming. I pictured Eli’s boss as some gold-ringed, gold-toothed mobster.”

  “¿De donde es usted?” he asked, wondering where I was from.

  “Mexico,” I answered. “Pero, he vivido en Los Estados Unidos por toda mi vida. ¿Y tu?”

  His face lit up when my reply came back in Spanish, which he clearly missed using. “El Salvador.”

  I tried to make polite conversation, letting him know that I’d never been to El Salvador. “Oh, nunca he visitado El Salvador. Escucho que es muy hermosa.”

  Antonio chuckled. “Debesirte. Ven conmigo en mi próxima viaje. Se pone Eli muy celoso. Podemos hablar así durante el viaje hasta explota su cerebro.” Antonio gave me a charming wink, letting me know he was up to no good, inviting me to El Salvador on a whim. There was no intention behind his harmless flirting, just a goofball smile that he never seemed to tire of using. “¿Piensas que él me pega en la cara si yo te beso como una broma?” He wanted to see if Eli would punch him if he kissed me, just for fun. I was starting to get the hang of their brother-like antagonism that was mingled with appreciation for each other.

  I tsked him with a scolding smirk. “I might punch you if you try, so best not tempt fate.”

  Caty giggled at the back and forth she understood perfectly. Eli was not amused. He glowered at his friend-slash-boss, as if hoping his stare alone might slice the man in half. “I understood most of tha, ye know. Kiss my girlfriend, and I’ll do more than smash your noisy gob.”

  My mouth fell open as I turned to gape up at Eli. “Since when do you speak Spanish?”

  Eli winced, as if just catching himself in a crime. His neck shrank, and then he started to look embarrassed, the tips of his ears turning pink. It was the cutest thing I’d ever seen. Add the suit to that? Forget about it. I was toast. “I’ve been learning Spanish for ye. There’s a podcast I’ve been listening to when I get bored at work.”

  Just when I thought he couldn’t possibly get more stunning, there he went, blowing my mind, as he always did. As soon as I thought I was handling my max capacity of attraction, there was a whole extra layer of sweetness that melted me all over again. I shoved my hands in the pockets of my jeans, shuffling my feet from side to side as I stared at my laces. “You’re learning Spanish to know me better?”

  Antonio clutched his heart. “Eli, you’ve never been sexier to me than you are right now. Forget Violet. Marry me!”

  Eli ignored his friend’s antics. His body language was similar to mine – hands in his pockets and shy eyes on his shoes. “Aye. I thought ye might want to share tha part of yourself with me. Ye grew up speaking both languages in your home with your mammy. I didn’t want tha to die with her.” He reached out his foot and tapped the toe of his dress shoe to my sneaker. “Plus, the three of ye are learning French, but I already speak it. Thought I should add Spanish to my bucket list.”

  My gaze climbed to his sheepish face, astounded that such a beautiful man could also be this smart, driven, kind, thoughtful, and best of all, mine. There were many things I wanted to say to him, but the most important one rose to the surface with a timid smile. “You made your own bucket list?”

  Caty squealed and held onto Brady’s hand, both of them grinning like schoolgirls at our conversation. “You two are the best romance movie ever. Way better than anything at the theater,” Caty exclaimed, watching us as if we were actors sent to entertain her with a play.

  Eli pulled out his wallet, sliding a piece of paper from the middle. His hands shook as he scanned the list, folding it in half and keeping it in his grip as he showed me, so I could only see part of the dreams he had for himself. He pulled me to his side, reading the list to me. “Take Violet to Alaska. Be a certified diver. Compete in a triathlon. Learn Spanish to impress Violet. Make up with my…” He cleared his throat, remembering we didn’t have privacy.

  “Aw!” Caty clutched her heart.

  Sure enough, there was that exact sentence scrawled on the paper, noting that learning to speak my language was a priority for him. “You’re learning Spanish for me?” I repeated, still unable to get over it.

  Antonio had been neglected for far too long. “He’s learning Spanish for me, silly girl.”

  Eli rolled his eyes. “Shut your gob. This is why ye don’t have friends.”

  I gazed up at him, enraptured by his goals. “When did you make this list?”

  “The day ye burned your hands with tha stew and bread. Ye had me from the start, Mouse.”

  I couldn’t hold back from the magnetic draw he had on me. His emerald eyes lured me in like a tether, yanking me to him with a force I didn’t always understand, and had decided not to fight any longer. I closed the gap between us and raised up on my toes. “I love you,” I whispered.

  “Te quiero,” he said before he devoured my lips. His kiss was passionate, fueled in equal parts by his love, and also our nerves at being on display. His lips were soft, but the kiss was hard and laced with emotion he hadn’t wanted to blurt out in front of the others. Still, he made himself raw and vulnerable for me. I fisted his collar, adding an edge to let him know that I saw his gesture, and I loved him for it.

  Antonio clapped and whistled, deflating us prematurely. He wiped a fake tear from the corner of his eye, pretending to be moved to a breakdown. “You’re welcome to use one of my guestrooms upstairs, kids.”

  Eli pulled away and straightened his jacket, giving his boss the finger. He cleared his throat, pretending like all of that didn’t just happen. “Anyways, I invited ye all here not just to meet my tool of a boss. I’ve got something planned for tonight.”

  “Now, now. Is that any way to treat the man who’s about to help you cross an item off your bucket list? Tell me I’m the king.”

  Eli glowered at his boss. “I feel like ye didn’t have many friends as a lad.”

  The three of us turned in confusion to Antonio, our attention solely on him. “You know about our list?”

  “Eli hasn’t stopped talking about you since we moved here. I feel like I know everything, shy of your shoe size,” he said to me, outing his friend, who grimaced. “He mentioned you all wanted to drive a race car.”

  “Number 42,” Brady said with clear hunger in his eyes.

  Antonio postured, straightening his shirt. “I happen to sponsor a driver that agreed to let us take a little spin in his wind-up car. ‘Agreed’, as in, he doesn’t know. Of course, that’s if you all wouldn’t mind me tagging along.”

  Eli shook his head at Antonio. “Think long and hard about tha one, guys. His mouth doesn’t get any easier to take.”

  “I’ll bring earplugs,” I ruled, and then turned to Eli. “You arranged all this for us?”

  “Of course. I was hoping you’d look at me exactly like tha. And see? It worked.”

  Antonio cleared his throat. “Actually, I arranged it all. Eli only showed me the list. If there’s any hero-worship going to happen, it’ll be me
who’s name you’re singing.”

  “Eli, you’re amazing,” I marveled, gazing up at him in wonder.

  Brady picked a point on the ceiling to stare at. “Brace yourselves, guys. They’re about to go at it again.”

  32

  A Girl, a Boy, a Bed and a Desk

  Brady had stars in his eyes, entranced by the sleek vehicle he’d had the opportunity to take for a spin around the professional track. “Greatest night I’ve had in forever. You’re the best, Eli.”

  Caty wore a winded smile on her face. “Man, we’re crossing off a lot of stuff this year. I feel like that kind of makes us rock stars.”

  “Mick Jagger should be so lucky.”

  Eli’s eyes were closing as he flopped on the couch, stretching out to lay down. I made to go into the bedroom to change for the night, but he caught my wrist as I walked by. “Wait. I’ve got a surprise for ye in there, and I want to see your face. Give me a minute? Maybe fifteen?” His lids swept shut, and I knew he was having trouble adjusting to the new shift. I guessed he would even out in a few days, but for now, his body was rebelling. His tall, muscular form was too long for the beige sectional, and his calves and feet hung over the side.

  I kissed his forehead and covered him with Caty’s afghan that hung on the recliner. “Okay, but I’m going to get you up in fifteen minutes, then, because if you try and sleep the whole night out here, you’ll hurt your back.”

  His lashes fluttered open, taking in my face as if I was an angel. “Ye care about my back?”

  I trilled my fingers down the side of his face, cupping his cheek. “Of course I do. I love every part of you.”

  He started to sit up, rubbing his eyes. “I need coffee or something.”

  “It’s nine o’clock at night. I think what you need is sleep, babe.”

  He frowned, and then revelation struck him that he slept at night now, like a normal person. “Oh, right. I’m not going to the club tonight.” He stood, stretched, and kissed my lips, letting out a contented “mm” sound that made my cheeks warm.

  I leaned up on my toes to speak quietly just to him. “Which bedroom did you want to sleep in tonight?” He had his own bed in Brady’s room, and he might need it, instead of laying on his side, praying he didn’t fall off the edge of mine.

  Eli kissed my lips again, drawing out a breathy sigh from not just me, but Caty, as well. “I’ll sleep with ye tonight and every night. All the nights until the end of time.”

  I buried my blush in his chest, unsure how awake he was through his response. Still, I treasured the sweet devotion that always caught me off-guard. “Okay, then. Let’s get you to bed.”

  He stretched for a long time before he was alert enough for me to lead him to the bedroom. Caty and Brady watched us with indulgent smiles on their faces, no doubt pleased that I was in an actual relationship that seemed to be going along smoothly. “Hey Vi,” Brady said, a sentimental look passing over his eyes. “It’s good to see you happy like this.”

  I tipped my head in his direction and opened my bedroom door to help Eli to the bed.

  Only the bed wasn’t where I was expecting it to be, and it wasn’t my bed. In the far corner of the room, right under the double window, was a grand queen-sized bed. It was made perfectly with white sheets and a comforter that had sporadic light blue and lavender swirls across it, with matching pillowcases. “I didn’t know what color you’d like,” Eli mumbled. He still looked exhausted, with circles under his eyes, but he was alert enough to cross his arms over his chest and glance at me with a bashful squirm. “Mr. Li let in a couple of the lads from work, so they could set it all up and surprise ye while we were out.”

  My mouth fell open at the gorgeous bedding, and the sheer mammoth size of a queen bed. I could picture us sleeping in on the vast mattress on a Sunday morning. We could make a perfect mess of the ironed sheets, and ignore the world for hours.

  I swallowed hard, not knowing what to say until my eyes swept over the rest of the room, and another new piece of furniture caught my gaze. I sucked in a lungful of air, holding it in my chest when I took in the sight of the desk he’d had assembled in the corner of the room. It looked to be about four feet wide and two feet deep. There was a row of drawers lining the side, so I could store all of my paperwork somewhere that no one would spill their coffee. It was solid dark cherry wood, and looked nicer than anything Ikea might have in its catalog. The wood of the desk matched the bedframe, taking my breath away with how grownup my bedroom suddenly looked.

  My feet moved on their own toward the desk I’d wanted in my room for ages, but hadn’t made the time to acquire. My fingers ran over the smooth surface, trembling slightly at the very grownup thing, and the implications Eli was making with this grand gesture.

  “You bought me furniture.” I closed my eyes and pressed my palms down on the desk, like I was the friggin’ President of the United States, contemplating a missile launch.

  “Aye. Was tha not the kind ye wanted?”

  My back was to him, which was probably making him sweat out my measured response. “It’s perfect. You’re perfect. But this means something. You bought a bed for us to sleep in. You bought me a desk. A desk, Eli.”

  “Ye sound upset.”

  “I’m not upset, I just… You want to be with me. Like, me. A guy wouldn’t do something like this unless… You bought me furniture. You want to be with me.” It was a statement this time, and the words rang through my body with a slow-building confidence I was only just beginning to understand.

  Eli moved to stand behind me, one of his burly arms wrapping around my waist. I straightened, pressing my spine to his warm chest. He moved my hair over to the side so he could speak low to me, his lips tickling the shell of my ear. “Aye. Did ye think I would sleep in a graveyard for just anyone? I’ve got three dirty gloves sitting in my car, just hoping it’ll make ye smile.”

  A grin lit my face. I loved it when people brought me gloves for the veterans. It felt like kindness was contagious, and good things were possible all around. There was pure magic in those cast-aside gloves, and I felt the zip of elation at his willingness to take my causes, and make them his own.

  Eli’s thumb reached under the hem of my shirt and moved up and down across my navel. “See? Tha’s the smile I was aiming for. I’m in this, Mouse. Of course I want to be with ye.”

  I blinked away the astonishment and emotion that welled up in me, finally turning in his arms to stare up at him. I had to confirm once again that he was real, that I was standing in the arms of a man so beautiful, so selfless and kind, I could hardly bear it. There were too many things I wanted to say to him, but the words stayed stuck inside of me, turning me into a mouse gaping up at the regal lion. “I don’t deserve you.”

  Eli’s arms held my chest to his, and he gazed into my eyes as if the simple brown color was brand new to him. I wanted to be brand new, shaking off everything that had ever held me back. I wanted to have the first night of sleep in my new bed be a declaration of freedom I desperately needed.

  Eli kissed me lightly, tenderly, as if he was tasting his favorite wine, and it had the flavor of me to it, so he went back in for more. “Ye deserve to have whatever ye want.” Another kiss brought about another attempt to keep my knees from giving out at the surreal experience that was Eli’s lips. He kissed my cheek, and then dragged his mouth to my earlobe, where his lips latched on as he growled, “So what is it ye want, Mouse?”

  “I want you.” I clung to his collar. As he lifted me to sit on the desk, a hunger I was well familiar with loomed in his eyes. I tilted my chin up as he kissed a scorching line down my throat, stopping at my collarbone so he could suck on the ridge.

  My fingers surprised us both when they fumbled to unbutton Eli’s dress shirt. I pushed it off his shoulders, along with his suit jacket. His clothes began to pile on the floor, looking good there – right, somehow. I wanted to add to that pile.

  So we did.

  I backed Eli into the bed he’
d bought for us, addicted to the under-the-breath impassioned noises he made. I wanted more of those noises, and resolved to draw them out of him until we exhausted each other an hour later.

  33

  Hello

  I awoke to the sound of a heavy sigh of frustration, rolling over to find Eli’s spot on the bed vacant. I felt around for him, and finally sat up to look around.

  There in the corner were naked shoulders that were hunched over the desk. Eli was scribbling on a piece of paper, writing something, and then crossing it out. He was using his phone light propped up against the wall, his wide torso shielding most of the illumination. The muscles in his back tensed each time he started a sentence over, growing more and more agitated. I loved that I could gage his emotions just by looking at his vertebrae.

  “Hey, you. I thought the point of the big bed was so we could sleep in it together. You alright over there?”

  Eli turned in the wooden chair, taking in my sheet-covered form with a glance that made me shiver. “Aye. Sorry. Did I wake ye?”

  I shook my head. “Everything okay?”

  He motioned to his body. “My sleep schedule’s all messed up. Plus, tha break-in attempt at work’s got me all on edge. Had something nagging me when I woke, so I thought I’d… It’s stupid. I’ll come back to bed.”

  I sat up, but he was already abandoning his project, crumpling the page and throwing it in the wastebasket. My frown was quickly obscured by pure lust when he stood and I caught sight of him in his navy boxer briefs. My mouth went dry for a moment, but somehow I forced myself to stop thinking like a teenager. I saw the cagey look he got when he’d been forced to be vulnerable, and knew whatever was in that letter had shaken him up. I laced my fingers through his when he got back into bed beside me, and rolled me over to spoon me. “Eli, are you…”