Valentine’s Day was her least favorite day. It was the day she was assaulted two years ago, and she’d hated everything about it since then. She’d been content never to celebrate it again, but she was glad she’d told him yes earlier when every part of her had been screaming no and for her to lock herself away as shehad the previous year and drown her sorrows. Eri swallowed the lump in her throat before turning around to look at him.
“Thank you,” she told him. “Today was…thank you.” She didn’t have the words to describe it and didn’t want to cry.
“You don’t have to thank me. I wanted to,” he responded, hands settling on her waist.
Eri hesitated only briefly as she slid her arms over his shoulders, the blanket falling to the ground. She laced her fingers in his hair and pulled him down, his face inches from hers.
“Are you asking me, Amate?”
Eri shook her head. “No.”
He always made the first move and was always the one leading, and Eri decided it was her turn. She wanted him to kiss her; she wanted to kiss him, and she was going to make that move.
With that, she closed the rest of the distance between them. Their lips moved slowly as the sound of the fireworks continued in the background. Which soon faded away as the only thing she wanted to focus on was the way his tongue moved with hers. The way they tasted one another as he led her in the kiss.
He pulled her closer, and Eri melted, body relaxing against his as he continued to kiss her breathlessly. The fireworks died down, and it was only then that they pulled apart, Elias giving her one final soft kiss.
“Yeah, I think I enjoyed that even more than you asking me,” he told her. Eri didn’t respond, but she knew he didn’t need her to. They separated, and he picked up the blanket as she shivered. “Let’s get you home,” he stated.
When they were back in the car and headed towards her house, Eri contemplated whether she would ask him or take what she wanted again when they arrived. All she knew for sure was that he would kiss her again before he left.
11
Elias sat in the living room with the other men in his family, minus Vince, whom his uncle had sent outside because he was talking obnoxiously loud on his phone and interrupting the show he was watching. His mom, zias, and Avian were in the kitchen finishing up dinner. Though he was sure the latter of the bunch was taste-testing everything more than helping.
It had been a while since they were all at dinner together. Mainly because it never failed that Vince pissed their older cousin off. They all knew the other man was doing it on purpose. He didn’t seem satisfied until he got a reaction, though it was always the same one that ended with Vince on the receiving end of a fist. The saying that “some people never learn” applied perfectly to his cousin.
“Dinner’s ready,” Avian announced a few minutes later when she stepped into the room.
“I’ll let Vince know,” his uncle said as they all exited the living room.
Once seated in the dining room, they waited until the other two joined them. His uncle came only a minute later, then Vince soon followed. Food that someone else cooked always got Vince moving faster than he normally would have.
They were enjoying their meal, several conversations taking place at the table when his Zia Celia tapped her glass with her fork to get everyone’s attention. Elias had wondered how long it would take for her to make her announcement.He’d half expected her to do so when they’d all first arrived. She waited until all eyes were on her to speak.
“Vince and I are starting our own business,” she started, and even with no one making a sound, Elias knew all of them, minus Avian, had sighed internally. “Since some people didn’t want to foster his talents,” she continued, eyes shifting to Marco, and the older man raised a bored brow.
Elias was confused as to what talent of Vince’s Celia wanted fostered. He couldn’t think of a single thing the other man had been interested in, or stuck to for more than a few months. Even when they were kids. He refrained from saying anything and turned his attention back to his food because this little announcement could have been a text he ignored.
“I thought it would be nice for the family to support and invest,” Celia finished.
“Absolutely not,” Marco immediately replied.
“Figlio,” Zia Lorna admonished as his mom tried to move the subject along.
“What type of business are you starting?” she asked, but Elias knew neither he nor his father would let her waste money investing in a failed venture, because that was exactly what it would be.
It wasn’t the first time his aunt was coming to the family, pitching a business she was starting. He lost count of the number of times, but knew it started back when her husband, Federico, was still alive. Every year they would announce they were starting a business. And every year, it would fail before it started because they never put the time and effort into it. Elias was sure they thought starting the business was all they needed to do, that it would run itself and they could reap the financial benefits. Since Federico’s passing, his aunt had presented new businesses less, but it was still common enough that he mentally rolled his eyes when she did.
“We haven’t fully decided, but we have narrowed it down. It depends on the investment funds,” Celia replied.
Elias snorted, but he wasn’t surprised by the answer. It was on trend for his aunt’s thought process in situations like this. Her eyes swung to him, and she glared.
“I’m not sure what it will amount to, but I’ll invest thoughts and prayers,” he stated.
“Throw some luck in for a little razzle-dazzle,” Avian said, to which they were both promptly scolded by his mom and zia.
Elias caught Vince rolling his eyes, as his primary focus was on his food and he figured he didn’t have a care in the world for what Celia was talking about. Whether that was because he knew it would end up like all the rest of their business endeavors or because he was allergic to work, Elias didn’t know.
