“Yes, I am.”
“Thank you, Ms. Chase.”
Angela put on her other shoe and then picked up her lightweight coat and evening purse. She made her way down the staircase, carefully navigating the steps in her four-inch heels. She walked across the living room floor, opened the entry door and stared out the storm door, watching for Levi’s car. The weather had cooperated for her cousin’s wedding. Afternoon temperatures were expected to reach the high sixties without a chance of rain. The sky was bright blue with a few puffy clouds.
She felt something soft brush against her leg and looked down to find Miss Divine sniffing the black silk bow on her shoe. “Not the shoes, Miss Dee. I left you food and water, so I know you’re not hungry.”
Her head popped up when she saw the sunlight reflected off the car as it approached the driveway to her house. She shooed Miss Divine away from the door, activated the alarm system and locked the door. Angela approached Levi’s car as he came to a stop, and got out to meet her. There was no mistaking his surprise when he greeted her.
Angela’s eyelids fluttered. Levi looked strikingly handsome in a dark blue tailored suit that looked as if it had been custom-made for his tall, slender physique. A white shirt with French cuffs, a royal blue Windsor-knotted silk tie, and black wingtip shoes made him look as if he’d stepped off the pages of a men’s fashion magazine. She felt her heartbeat kick into overdrive as he closed the distance between them. Her high heels put the top of her head level with his nose.
She tiptoed and pressed her cheek to his. “How are you?”
Turning his head slightly, Levi pressed his mouth to the column of her scented neck. “Wonderful.” Reaching up, he cradled her face in his hands, his eyes moving slowly over her features. “You look incredible.” He couldn’t disguise the approval in his voice.
Angela Chase was a chameleon. Gone was her natural look and casual attire, and in its place was a stunning femme fatale. The curly hairstyle framed her delicate features, falling a few inches beyond her shoulders. Large, wide-set eyes highlighted in subdued hues of dark-colored eye shadow met his direct gaze. He managed to curb a smile when he noticed mascara had added length and volume to her lashes. False eyelashes had always been his pet peeve with women. He disliked women who were fake-looking, but instead used makeup to enhance their natural beauty. His gaze traveled from her face to the diamond studs in her ears and lower to her legs in sheer stockings that displayed the perfection of shapely calves and slender ankles. His eyebrows lifted when he saw the dark blue, peep-toe heels with a black bow that adorned her delicate feet.
“Thank you,” she said, demurely lowering her gaze. She didn’t know why, but she wanted him to find her attractive. It’d been so long since she’d found herself attracted to a man.
“Are you going to be able to dance in those?”
Angela smiled, bringing his gaze to her parted lips. “Do you dance?” she asked, answering his question with a question.
“Of course I dance.”
She winked at him. “If that’s the case, then we’ll see how well I can dance in my heels.”
Levi leaned closer. “Is that a challenge, Angela?”
“Do you want it to be, Levi?”
Pressing his mouth to her left ear, he breathed a kiss. “I’ve never backed down from a challenge,” he whispered.
Angela laughed softly. “Neither have I.”
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