“I’m just like everyone else, Veronica. I’m just another dreamer.”
I gaped. This was huge. He didn’t only share his childhood memories; he told me his secret. He’d ripped the blinders off and made me see him. Levi.
“We better get going soon. According to your list-” He produced a piece of paper from his pocket, something suspiciously similar to what I’d carried with me yesterday “—You want to go to Musee D’Orsay. Unless you want to skip that and go to the Louvre.”
“No. I want to save the best for last.”
“Hmmm…don’t we all?”
“What does that mean?”
There was a twinkle in his eye, maybe even mixed with mischief. Levi lifted his shoulder in a half shrug before offering me a pistachio macaron from Laduree, effectively ending that conversation.
After the picnic, Levi’s phone rang. He said a quiet curse before he excused himself to answer the phone. He was agitated with his caller, pushing his fingers through his hair and tugging it. He spoke in French, so I had no idea what got him upset. I didn’t want his phone call to ruin such a wonderful morning. Once I had his basket packed, I waited until he ended the call.
A few feet away, a man went down on one knee and proposed to the woman he was with. An opened blue velvet box sat on his palm. She cried the moment he presented the ring. Neither of them seemed to care if anyone was watching. It was just the two of them in the park. Just them and no one else.
“Do you want to walk or take the car?” Levi asked, taking the basket from me. “Veronica?”
I tilted my head and sighed. No surprise, I was a sucker for romantic gestures. “Isn’t that sweet? That guy just proposed to her.”
Levi scoffed. “Marriage is for idiots. Happy ever after is a tall tale.”
It was like he wrenched my heart out of my chest. It stung so bad that my gasp could be heard at the other end of the park. “Do you realize what you just said?”
“Pardon me?” His brows knitted together. He was clueless.
“You basically just mocked what I do for a living, Levi.”
He ruffled a hand through his hair and adjusted the collar of his shirt. “That’s not what I…”
I interrupted, “Don’t bother. I get it. Marriage is not for everyone, but I happen to believe there is such a thing as happily ever after. Because if it didn’t exist, then the world would truly be an ugly place.” His jaw dropped. I walked away, keeping the rest of my thoughts with me.
* * *
I didn’t let that jab ruin the rest of the day. I acted as though his words didn’t hurt me. He was distant at first, but eventually, he returned to the relaxed man who had no worries in the world. I didn’t bother asking him who had called that made him upset. It wasn’t my place to ask. We went through my personal tour taking numerous photographs and stopping at shops for souvenirs.
He called for our driver to take our bags and basket for us and continued on foot. As we headed to meet the rest of the gang for dinner, I thanked him for being a great tour guide with a chaste kiss on the lips and let him hold my hand until we entered the restaurant.
Everyone was already waiting.
Sandrine greeted us with kisses and the rest followed, except for Jake. He reluctantly gave me a quick kiss on one cheek, while nothing but a glare was offered to Levi.
I excused myself before sitting down to go to the washroom. When I returned, the atmosphere had changed. Levi was seething at Jake, and Jake was back in his usual happy mood. I wished I stopped missing conversations.
Like the last time we all had dinner, the conversations flowed, and so did the drinks. My mood changed every so often, and I fought to suppress the bursting, conflicting emotions in me. It had been a roller coaster of a day.
Watching Sandrine with Jake, old feelings resurfaced. I would remember the dress, the tears, and Levi’s kiss and our conversations. I was a mess of happy and sad and jealous, and I didn't know what else.
Paris had brought out the good, the bad, and the ugly. What came next was anybody's guess.
I left a little after midnight, a little tipsy, confused, and alone.
Eleven
The Men in Tuxedos
I used to believe in kismet. But it seemed the Universe was playing a cruel practical joke on me. At any time, Ashton Kutcher (the early years with Demi version) would pop out from somewhere and would tell me that I was being punked. Something was all too familiar when I woke up—the wide open curtains, the bright sunshine, the pounding headache, and the hand over my body.
Seriously, when would I ever learn?
Of course, the only difference was that I was in a hotel room in Paris and not my bedroom. I woke up next to the same naked man without meaning to in a matter of days. This time around, he was facing me, so there was no doubt it was, indeed, him and not some other random stranger. Did I mention he was naked again?
"What the hell, Levi?" I yanked at the sheets ineffectively.
He didn't move, just slowly opened his eyes into slits, and closed them again. "Don't tell me...you don't remember what happened again. Tell me, Veronica, do you make a habit of getting into bed with a man and not remembering him or what you did the night before?"
I smacked him hard with a pillow. He grunted but still kept himself almost glued to me.
"Don't be a jerk, Levi. How did you get in here? I left the restaurant by myself." I was pretty sure I did. Up until then, everything was clear.
"You called me sometime around two o' clock." He held onto the pillow that I had hit him with and placed it under his head. His sleepy eyes fluttered open. "If you don't believe me, check your phone."
My phone...where was my phone? I looked around but couldn't see it. What I did spot were two opened bottles of champagne on a sideboard. So much for not getting drunk again. I would get up to look for my phone, but there wasn't anything I could wear within my grasp, and I didn't want Levi seeing me naked, again.
Levi smacked the pillow he took from me, tried it again, and then sent it flying across the room. He then snuggled up to me, wrapping me in his cocoon. I could feel him wriggle under the sheets. The warmth of his body singed my skin. And it made me all too aware of something else hot, hard, and smooth, pressed against my hips.
"That better not be what I think it is." My voice was laced with warning.
"Relax, it's not like you haven't seen it before." He snuggled even closer, causing a bit of friction under the sheets. Even without looking his way, I could sense a smirk on his face.
I tried to squirm away, but he wouldn't let me. "Levi, please. At least point it somewhere else." That earned me a hearty laugh.
"You're so funny," he said, with way too much affection and adjusted himself under the covers. "Veronica," He peered through his lashes. "Calm down. I won't do anything you don't want to do...but I beg of you, can we please go back to sleep? We still have a few hours before the tux fitting."
It was difficult to argue with those sleepy, sexy, bedroom eyes, and that gravelly tone, but I had to resist. He kept an arm locked around me, burrowing his nose into the curve of my neck. I tried not to get lost in a combination of his heady scent, the soothing flutter of his breath on my neck, in sync with my own pulse, and the tickle his day-old scruff was causing.
"Levi, I have to know what happened. Please." I pushed through my muddled thoughts.
He muttered something inaudible then said clearly, "I came here because you asked me to. You said you wanted to talk."
"Talk about what?"
"I don't know. We never got to talking. We drank champagne. We made out, and then fell asleep." The rumble in his voice reverberated in my ear.
"We didn't..." I swallowed the lump in my throat. "...we didn't do it?"
"Do what?" he asked quickly, a playful smirk on the corner of his mouth.
This jerk was going to make me say it. "Have sex?"
Levi groaned onto my shoulder. He pressed his body closer again, if at all possible, squeezing me tigh
ter in his arms. "You feel this, Veronica?" He undulated his hip against one of mine.
Oh yeah, I could feel that. I had to close my eyes to avoid him seeing them roll back. I suppressed a sigh, not answering him, afraid that my voice would betray me.
"Don't you think if I had been inside you, you'd remember?" His lips were a kiss away from my ear. The timbre of his voice was too low and suggestive for me to ignore. It sent an almost painful cramp to my lower abdomen.
I heard a moan. When he snickered, I realized that the moan had come from me. He kissed the tip of my shoulder and proceeded to skim his lips gently on my skin.
Levi re-adjusted himself and released me, though not by much. "Let's get some more sleep, shall we? It's going to be a long day."
I nodded when he cupped the back of my head and kissed my hair, thankful that he didn't initiate anything else. Would I have been able to resist? I wasn't entirely sure.
But of course, I couldn't sleep. Not when he was naked beside me. Not when my head was threatening to implode. I needed to clear the cobwebs, so I could think.
Levi was snoring softly when I removed his arm from me. He had been sweet and gentle yesterday, except for that mishap at the park, and had promised to bring me to the Louvre today, which meant more walking. I decided he needed the rest.
Tiptoeing over to the closet to grab clothes, I noted the man's shirt on a hanger and the black overnight bag on the shelf. Levi had intended to stay when he came last night. If he thought I'd only wanted to talk, why did he bring extra clothes? Did talking, to him, mean something else? Unless I did call him that late. I didn’t know where he was staying. Maybe he wanted to come prepared, just in case. Luck did favor the prepared, didn’t it?
Walking into the bathroom, I locked the door, unlocked it, and then locked it again. And for safety measures, and to keep Levi from surprising me in the shower—something I foresaw him doing—I jiggled the handle, making sure it would stay locked.
Rummaging through my case, I picked out a travel-size bottle of painkillers, popped it open, and took two pills to rid myself of the headache threatening my brain. My glasses and contact lenses were in their respective cases, which meant that I had the intention of going to bed and sleeping. Alone. What was it that I needed to tell Levi that couldn’t have waited this morning? Everything was fuzzy. It was unnerving. I’d never been this careless…twice!
There were a couple of bottles I didn't recognize when I went in the shower. Both labels were in French. I opened one and took a whiff. It smelled like Levi, and the intoxicating scent made me shiver. I placed it back on the shelf and didn't risk opening the other one.
Showering should have been a haven. A relaxing, soothing way to clear one's thoughts. It got me nowhere, except thoroughly clean and pruney.
The problem was clear. Levi had been too charming, but I had seen his M.O. before with women—kiss first, ask questions later. It disheartened me to think that not only could I not trust him, but I couldn't trust myself around him. After all, I still knew very little about the man.
I dried myself off, got dressed, and wrapped a towel around my head. Then I brushed my teeth, twice, because I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing.
The delicious smell of fresh pastries and coffee wafted in the room once I stepped out of the bathroom. My stomach grumbled at the aroma, but my mouth salivated over the man.
Levi was hovering over a cart of breakfast goodies, wearing a white robe and, I feared, nothing else. He brushed back his wayward hair as he sent a dazzling smile across the room.
"I took the liberty of ordering room service. You only drink coffee after a drunken night, right?" He filled a white cup with freshly brewed coffee.
How did he remember that? "Yeah, coffee would be great." I didn't dare move closer to him. "Levi, why was I naked?" I couldn't help but ask.
He placed the coffee pot down on the tray. "You undressed yourself." He sniggered. "Actually, you stripped. With music and all."
I gasped. "No!"
"Yup, I'm afraid so, my sweet. Just like last time."
"Like last time? You didn't stop me?"
Levi regarded me as though I grew an extra head and sent me a cocky smirk. "I'm a man. I appreciate a woman's body, especially a goddess’ body like yours." He inclined his head as stroked the stubble on his chin while observing me with a little too much interest than I was comfortable with. I swallowed a lump in my throat and ignored the flutter in my belly.
"Then why were you naked?"
He went back to preparing coffee, stirring in a couple of sugar cubes in one cup. "I always sleep in the nude." Of course, he did!
Wringing my fingers together, I asked him something that had been bothering me but had been too afraid to bring up. "We didn’t do it last night, but…did anything happen last time?" I kept a good distance from him, only a couple of steps away from the bathroom door.
Levi stopped playing barista and sauntered over to me. His eyes were hooded. Brooding. I walked backward until I felt my back hit the vanity in the bathroom. He stopped at the doorway and leaned against it. Thankfully, his robe’s sash was tied.
"What did I tell you? You would know, and you will remember when we make love, Veronica."
I tried not to focus on the words 'when' and 'make love'. I didn't think Levi 'made love.' Levi seemed the type to devour his lover. He was the ‘rock your world’ kind of guy, then leave his partner panting and waiting by the phone for a call that would never come.
"So, really? Nothing at all?" I tried again. Having witnessed the times he’d flirted with and played women in the past made me a non-believer. However, spending time with him had eased me into thinking that there was a completely different person standing before me than the one I thought I’d observed and avoided.
Suddenly a memory popped into my head : the clear memory of him with Sophie on the plane. There was pressure on my chest, but I ignored it. What he did on his plane was none of my business.
He deliberated before answering me, rubbing a hand over his growing beard. His countenance changed, and a smug smile made an appearance on his face. "Well, not nothing."
"What does that mean?" I gripped the edge of the vanity behind me.
Straightening and closing in on me, Levi stood a breath away. At just over six feet tall, he had to tilt his head down to talk to me. When he pushed off the doorway, he had untangled the sash of his robe. My grip on the vanity tightened, telling myself not to let go. That I shouldn't be tempted to lick the hollow of his throat or explore the planes of his broad chest. That I shouldn't check to see if he had put underwear on. But I looked anyway , and wished I’d listened to myself.
On his right hip, peeking out of the waistband of his low-rise, black boxer briefs, midway between the protuberance of his pelvic bone and the trail of dark hair that started below his navel, was the tip of a red and blue tattoo. My hand itched to dip in between his skin and the elastic and pull down the thick band so that I could see the rest of his ink. And other naughty bits.
His voice pulled me out of my dirty, dirty thoughts. "We fooled around a lot. But...and this better not leave this room...” Levi leaned in closer and titled his head to the side. “When I started going down on you, you fell asleep."
My mind tried to process the information. "What?" I looked up at him.
His gaze traveled from my eyes to my lips. "You're horrible for my ego, a threat to my manhood. That has never happened to me. And it won't happen again." Levi's voice was low and full of promise.
No man in his right mind would admit to something so embarrassing. I had to believe he was telling the truth.
His lips moved, but he didn't speak. His tongue darted out and wet a spot on his bottom lip. All I had to do was push up on my toes to experience what he had tasted. Or let go of the vanity and pull his head down to mine.
Choices. I had choices.
The spell broke n when somewhere in the hotel room, a song played: Salt-N-Pepa’s Let's Talk about Sex.
Note to self: change that blasted ringtone.
"Interesting," Levi said when it started playing again.
Cheeks burning, I stammered out a response, "That's…ah…Chase. She…uhm…put it on my phone. She never calls. Must be an emergency. I--I really should get that." Yet, I didn't move. The song stopped.
Levi took off the towel that was wrapped around my head and watched as my hair toppled down my shoulders. Then, with the towel, he pressed the ends of my hair, squeezing out the remaining water. He proceeded to dry my hair gently and slowly. His breathing was shallow. Setting the towel aside, he ran his hands through my hair, gently massaging my scalp. I kept my eyes open, but I relaxed in his touch. When he was satisfied, he pressed his nose against my hair and took a deep breath in.
The entire time I stared right at his lips, down the column of his neck, and up again.
"My sweet, sweet Veronica," he mumbled in my hair.
My knees shook. I was faltering. Levi was peeling my defenses away one piece at a time.
He placed his hands on the marble counter, trapping me against it and him. With a thrust of his hips against my belly, I felt him come alive. I guess he recovered from yesterday’s knee-to-groin incident.
The ringtone played again, and I was ever so grateful that it did. I cleared my throat and excused myself, repeating that Chase called only at an emergency. He stepped away, his lips pressed together in a thin line. As I passed him, he gently stroked the length of my arm down to the tip of my little finger. I shivered at the subtle contact and continued on.
I found my phone tucked safely in my purse. I swiped the screen to answer. “Hi!”
"Why do you sound weird? Why are you breathless?" Chase asked after my greeting.
"I...uhm...I..." I looked over my shoulder.
"I told you, Nica, just because a hotel has a gym, it doesn't mean you have to use it. We’ll do all the physical stuff when you get back. Your asthma attacks every time you push yourself too much, and I won’t be there to help you. Just stop it." Chase laughed.
Confessions of a Wedding Planner (Bliss Series Book 1) Page 10
