The Men in Tuxedos

Part une

I used to believe in kismet. But it seemed the Universe was only playing a cruel practical joke on me. At anytime, Ashton Kutcher (the early years with Demi version) would pop out from somewhere and would tell me that I was being punked, because something was all too familiar with that morning when I woke up-the wide open curtains made way for the bright sun to shine, 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 in my bedroom. But I woke up with the same naked man. 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, then 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 an ass, 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 one 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 see 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 to see me naked, again.

Levi punched the pillow he took from me, tried it again, then sent it flying across the room. He then snuggled up to me once more, 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. "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 probably still have at least a couple of hours before the tux fitting."

It was difficult to argue with those sleepy, sexy bedroom eyes, 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 beard 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 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.

This jerk was going to make me say it. "Have sex?"

Levi groaned onto my shoulder. He pressed his body closer, if at all possible, squeezing me tighter in his arms. "You feel this, Veronica?" He undulated his hip against one side of mine.

Oh yeah, I felt that. I had to close my eyes to avoid him seeing me roll them back. I suppressed a sigh. I didn't answer, 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 hot 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 but then he kissed the tip of my shoulder.

Levi adjusted himself, and released me, not by much. "Let's get some more sleep, shall we? It's going to be a long day."

I nodded when he kissed my forehead, thankful that he didn't initiate anything else. Would I have been able to completely resist? I wasn't entirely sure.

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 clearly.

Levi was softly snoring when I removed his arm from me. He had been sweet and gentle yesterday afternoon, and had promised to bring me to the Louvre today. I decided he needed the rest.

I tiptoed over to the closet to grab clothes, and noticed a man's shirt on a hanger, and a 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?

Walking into the bathroom, I locked the door, unlocked it, 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 found a travel-size bottle of painkillers, opened it, and took two pills to rid myself of the headache.

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 scent made my body shiver. I replaced 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 had gotten me nowhere, except thoroughly clean and pruny.

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.

I dried myself up, got dressed and wrapped a towel around my head. Then I brushed my teeth twice because I wasn't completely paying attention to what I was doing.

I could smell fresh pastries and coffee in the room once I stepped out of the bathroom. My stomach grumbled at the smell of food, 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 with his hand.

"I took the liberty of ordering room service. You only drink coffee after a drunken night, right?" He was filling a white cup with freshly brewed coffee.

How did he remember that? Jake had only mentioned it once before.

"Yeah, coffee would be great." I didn't dare myself to 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 chuckled. "Actually, you stripped, with music and all."

I gasped. "No!"

"Yup, I'm afraid so, my sweet. Just like last time."

"You didn't stop me?"

Levi looked up and sent me a smirk. "I'm a man. I appreciate a woman's body, especially a body as sexy as yours."

I wasn't going to dignify that with an answer. "Then why were you naked?"

He went back to prepping coffee, stirring in a couple of sugar cubes in one cup. "I always sleep in the nude." Of course, he did!

"Did anything happen last time?" I kept a good distance from him, only a couple of steps away from the bathroom door.

Levi halted from playing barista, then sauntered over to me. His eyes were hooded. Brooding. I walked backwards until I felt my back hit the vanity in the bathroom. He stopped at the doorway, and leaned against it. Thankfully, his robe sash was tied.

"What did I tell you? You would know and you would 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'.

"So really? Nothing at all?" I tried again. Was it because I knew how he played women?

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 knew. But I also couldn't erase the memory of catching him with Sophie on the plane.

He deliberated before answering me, rubbing a hand over his full beard. A smug smile made an appearance on his face. "Well, not nothing."

"What does that mean?"

Straightening up, then closing in on me, Levi stood a breadth away. At 6'2" he had to tilt his head down to talk to me. When he pushed off the doorway, he had untangled his sash. I gripped the edge of the vanity, telling myself not to let go. That I shouldn't be tempted to lick the hollow of his throat or touch the planes of his broad chest. That I shouldn't look down to see if he had put underwear on. But I looked anyway, and wished I had listened to myself.

On his right hip, peeking out of the waistband of his lowrise, 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, then pull down the thick band so that I could see the rest of the marking and other naughty bits.

His voice pulled me out of my inchoate thoughts. "We fooled around. But... and this better not leave this room... when I started going down on you, you fell asleep."

My mind tried to process the information. "What?" I looked up at him.

"You're very bad for my ego. That has never happened to me. And it won't happen again." Levi's voice was so low and full of promise.

No man in their right mind would admit to something so embarrassing. I had to believe he was telling the truth. What purpose would he have to tell me such thing had happened? Then my mind understood. Not only had Levi seen me in my birthday suit, he had a very close contact to my nether regions.

His lips moved but he didn't speak. His tongue darted out and left a wet 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 me.

Choices. I had choices.

The spell broke when somewhere in the hotel room, we heard a song playing.

Let's talk about sex, baby

Let's talk about you and me

Let's talk about all the good things and the bad things that may be

Let's talk about sex

Note to self: change that blasted ringtone. Chase was calling my cellphone. She had set it up for her own amusement.

"Interesting ringtone," Levi said when it started playing again.

"That's Chase. She put it on my phone. She never calls. Must be an emergency. I really should get that." Yet, I didn't move. The song stopped.

Levi took off the towel that wrapped around my head and let my hair down. Then with the towel, he pressed the ends of my hair in between, squeezing out the remaining water. He proceeded to towel-dry my hair gently and slowly. Setting the towel aside, he ran his hands through my hair. 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 lips trembled at his sentiment.

When he took off the towel, I leaned against the vanity. Once he was done, he was leaning with me, on me. His hands were placed on the marble counter, trapping me against it and him. I felt him come alive. I chose a sundress to wear for the day. It was thin and clinging to my dampening skin. As I looked up into his eyes, they were filled with passion and lust.

The ringtone played again, and I was ever more thankful that it did at that time. I cleared my throat and excused myself, repeating my words about Chase calling only during an emergency. He stepped away, lips pressed together in a thin line.

I found my phone tucked safely in my purse. I swiped the screen to answer.

"Why do you sound weird? Why are you breathless?" Chase asked after my greeting.

"I... uhm... I..."

"I told you, Nica, just because a hotel has a gym it doesn't mean you have to use it. Your asthma attacks every time you try to run. Just stop it." Chase laughed.

"I'm fine. I didn't, wasn't doing anything. Is everything okay? Is there something wrong?" I had to keep her engaged before she realized my earlier words were loaded with hidden meanings.

Chase sighed. "Nothing's wrong. I haven't heard from you so I got worried."

"Oh." How sweet of her! "I'm good. Working. Being a tourist. You know, the usual."

"Yeah okay. Well, I haven't hit the sack yet. I just wanted to see if you're okay." I knew what she was really asking. She wanted to know how things were with Jake and Sandrine and if I had managed to steal him back.

"All good," was all I could say.

Chase sighed heavily. "Well remember what I said."

"What's that?"

Her voice went down an octave lower. "While you're trying to get Jake back, it won't hurt to bed a Frenchman. I heard they're good in the sack."

I couldn't laugh with her. I turned my head towards the bathroom. Levi had closed the door at some point and started the shower. I refused to think of him naked and wet under the calming hot spray of the shower. If only Chase knew how close I had been to accomplishing her suggestion.

*****

A/N: Isn't this a great photo of Men in Tuxedos?

I don't own the rights to Salt n Pepa's Let's Talk About Sex