Sweet Southern Nights

Standing back, Levi stared at the woman who unwittingly had captured him in a spell of desire. The few hours they’d spent together the night before had only served to whet his appetite and his curiosity.

He knew her old fiancé would be at the wedding, and that he’d cheated on her, but to Levi there was cheating and then there was cheating. There was having an affair with another woman, and then there was cheating with your partner’s friends and family. The former he could rationalize somewhat, but he drew the line when it came to friends and family.

He knew what it was like to be cheated on. During his junior year at Howard, he learned that the girl he’d been sleeping with was also seeing four or five other guys on campus. Of course, it made him wary of the opposite sex, but it didn’t ruin his social life. The truth was he liked women and they liked him. Yet, he was never one to take advantage of a woman. He readily admitted he wasn’t ready for marriage or to become a father. And most of the women he’d dated appreciated his honesty.

Angela had asked him if he liked a challenge, and he’d said yes because she was a challenge—a very beautiful and complicated challenge. He took her hand in his, and led her around to the passenger side of the car.

“Are you ready for this?” he whispered.

“Only if you have my back, Levi,” Angela answered.

“That’s something you don’t have to worry your beautiful head about, because I have your back and your front.”

“That’s a lot, Levi,” she deadpanned.

“Haven’t you realized yet that you’re a handful, Angela?”

“No.” Angela ducked her head and slid into the black leather seat.

Levi rounded the sedan, slipped in beside her and secured his seat belt. He opened his mouth to say something, but changed his mind. They were going to a wedding—a celebration—and he planned to spend the time enjoying her company, not arguing with her.

He’d driven past the gatehouse, heading back to the local road when he took a quick glance at Angela staring out the side window. “You’re going to have to tell me how to get there.”

She turned, staring at the gold monogrammed cufflinks. She met his eyes for a second before he turned his gaze back to the road. “Stay on this road for two miles, then you’ll see marker pointing the way to Manor Oaks. When you come to the stop sign, make a left. The property is about a quarter mile from there.”

Levi glanced at Angela again, this time at her long legs that stretched from the mid-thigh hemline of her dress and ended at her heels. “Are you a guest of the bride or the groom?” he asked, pressing a button on the steering wheel to turn on the radio. He had to say something to avert his attention from the woman sitting inches from him. Levi still couldn’t believe her startling transformation. For a moment he hoped she’d dressed that way for him and not to make her ex jealous. Regardless, he was happy to be her date.

“The bride is my first cousin. She and her fiancé, Craig, are high school sweethearts who’ve broken up and reconciled so many times that when they finally sent out wedding invitations no one believed them.”

“Don’t you think starting out in such a shaky relationship doesn’t bode well for marriage?”

Angela let out an audible sigh. “I hope not. Yvette is such a drama queen. If something doesn’t go her way she resorts to histrionics. Originally I was supposed to be a bridesmaid. Eventually I gave her an ultimatum: either she cooperated or I was out.”

Levi smiled. “Did she change?”

“She was okay for about a week, then she threw a mother of a tantrum and I bowed out. Yvette begged and pleaded, but I refused to give in. There is just so much verbal abuse I’ll take, even if it’s from family. She’d asked my cousin Traci, but she also declined. And knowing Traci she would’ve punched Yvette out. In the end she decided to have her twin sister as her only attendant.”

“What’s Robert’s connection to the groom?”

Angela groaned inwardly. She didn’t want to talk about Robert. Not today. It was enough that she would see him again after five years.

“He’s his cousin.”

Levi took another quick glance at his passenger. Her expression was as neutral as her tone. “What’s up with the women in your family marrying these guys?”

“You don’t understand,” Angela said.

“If it didn’t work out with you and Robert, why would your cousin believe it would work for her and Craig?”

“Craig isn’t a cheater.”

“Cheating isn’t the only thing that can…” Levi’s words trailed off when he spied the stately gleaming white mansion in the distance. Red-jacketed valets were parking cars as wedding guests arrived at the antebellum Greek revival mansion with its massive columns that supported the upper floor.

Slowly, he maneuvered behind a black, late-model Lexus and within seconds a parking attendant raced over to his door as Levi lowered the driver’s side window. Levi got out of the car and gave the valet, who didn’t look old enough to have a driver’s license, his keys. The attendant handed Levi a red ticket, then put another one on the dashboard. “I’ll take it from here, sir.”

Levi opened the back door, reached for his jacket in the backseat, slipped it on, and walked around the BMW to help Angela out of the car. One blue-suede pump touched the ground, then the other, as he gently eased her up.

Curving an arm around her waist, he pulled her close to his side. Lowering his head, he brushed a light kiss over her lips, aware that she’d be shocked by the public display of affection. Her breath caught.

“Are you ready?”

Angela quickly recovered. “I was born ready,” she answered, her voice filled with confidence.

They followed several couples up the stairs and into the expansive entryway of the landmark mansion. The house and surrounding three-hundred-acre estate had once belonged to one of the wealthiest tobacco-growing families in the county. Light from a massive chandelier reflected off the highly polished marble floor. Baskets and vases of white flowers in every variety lined the walls, which were covered in oyster-white silk fabric.

The cocktail hour was scheduled for two, the wedding ceremony for three, immediately followed by a reception that was to take place in another part of the mansion.

An elderly woman dressed in black approached them. “May I please take your coat?” she asked Angela.

She smiled. “Yes.” The word was barely off her tongue when Levi helped her out of her coat, and handed it to the woman who gave him a yellow ticket. With her back to him, Angela felt Levi go completely still when he stared at her dress. “What’s the matter, sweetie?” she whispered, glancing over her shoulder.

Leaning in close, Levi pressed his mouth to her ear. “Sweetie’s wondering where the rest of your dress is.”

Extending her arms, Angela pirouetted on her toes, allowing him to view the front and the back of her dress. The halter dress clung to her body like a second skin, the soft swell of breasts visible above the décolletage whenever she took a breath.

She smiled a sexy moue. “Halters always have a bare back.”

Levi’s fingers splayed at the small of her back as they stood in the foyer. “I couldn’t imagine what you were hiding under your coat, but I wasn’t expecting to see so much of you.”

Angela noticed his strained expression. “It’s not that low cut.” Looping her arm over his, she said, “Didn’t you tell me that you had my back and my front?”

“No comment,” he said under his breath. “Let’s go inside.”

She had got not only his attention, but also that of the men milling around the entryway as they stared, slack jawed at her lithe figure.

Levi escorted her through the throng waiting to enter one of the three ballrooms in the historic mansion. A string quartet played softly, as white-jacketed waiters circulated with trays of hot and cold hors d’oeuvres. Bartenders at portable bars set up at opposite ends of the ballroom were busy mixing and pouring drinks.

The light from half a dozen chandeliers reflected off the precious gems that adorned the ears, necks, wrists and the manicured fingers of the women in attendance. It was as if Louisville’s most prominent African-Americans had come out to see and be seen. Levi saw Duncan standing off to the side next to a pretty, petite, dark-skinned woman with short, curly hair clinging to his arm. He recognized her as one of Maywood Junction’s schoolteachers.

“Come with me, Levi. I want to introduce you to my mom and dad.”

He followed Angela as she led him across the ballroom to where a tall, attractive fashionably dressed couple stood talking quietly to another couple. When the woman turned slightly he smiled, knowing what Angela would look like in three decades. Her mother was stunning!

Levi stood beside her as Angela hugged her mother and kissed her father before she acknowledged the other couple. He forced back a grin when her father raised his eyebrows after looking at the back of Angela’s dress. She whispered something in her father’s ear, and his gaze shifted to Levi.

Angela reached for Levi’s hand. “Mom, Dad, I’d like you to meet Levi Eaton. Levi, these are my parents, Benton and Dianne Chase.”

“I’m honored to meet you,” Levi said, shaking Dianne’s hand before repeating the gesture with Benton.