Love in Las Vegas Ch. 02

My eyes flew open and I sat bolt upright. 'What time is it?' I thought to myself. The Mystery Man next to me stirred and muttered in his sleep, but stayed asleep, while I tried to twist myself so that I could see the clock. It was 5:45! I had to get out of there and quickly. I had to be at the booth by seven or I would be in big trouble!

I slid away from the man sleeping next to me and took a long wishful look back then I leaned down and kissed him softly on the cheek. He smiled and mumbled something unintelligible then he rolled over, never opening his eyes and never waking up.

I stood up and blew him a little kiss, then I did a quick hunt for my clothing that was scattered in the livingroom of the incredible suite that I hadn't gotten to see last night. I put on everything as fast as I could and hurried out the door shutting it behind me as quickly as I could. I ran to the elevator, then nearly hyperventilated waiting for the taxi to take me back to the Excalibur and I ran as fast as I could to the elevators and then to my room.

I burst in and saw that my roomate for the weekend was sitting on the bed watching the early news and brushing her hair.

"Well, here you are," Sandy said. "I would have worried, but I figured if you were in jail you would have called." She flipped her long straight brown hair over her shoulder and straightened her chic suit.

I stuck my tongue out at her and dashed to the bathroom. I jumped in the shower and in five minutes I literally had washed my face, brushed my teeth, washed my hair and lathered my body. I only allowed myself one of those minutes to think about the way HE had touched and caressed me the night before. I shivered with the memory, then rinsed and stepped out to vigorously towel off.

I let my hands skim over my breasts and remembered how for the first time I had felt comfortable with a man touching them. I have had freakishly large breasts for my small frame ever since puberty. A fourteen-year-old with a 34 FF bra is quite a sight I tell you. I have never been fat, I was a little chunky during high school, but I grew to be quite curvatious when I was over the age of eighteen. I had spent a good deal of my life trying to hide those assets; wearing baggy clothing and slouching, trying minimizer bras. Nothing could hide the fact that I was well endowed. In fact, it wasn't until college that I finally let the girls out...though I am still very self-concious about my shape...and allowed myself to wear something other than sweatshirts or shapeless tents.

I cocked my head and watched my chocolate brown nipples harden into peaks then I turned away from the mirror and took a calming breath, wrapped a towel around my body and got dressed to work the booth at the Movies of the Millenium Convention.

On the way to the convention center where Sandy and I were working for the next two days, I told her a little about my adventure of the night.

"So what was his name?" she asked in a faraway voice.

"I—I don't know," I answered truthfully.

"So, you met the most wonderful man in the world, went dancing, had amazing, death-defying sex with him and didn't bother to ask his name?" Sandy and I were far too good of friends for her to think I was ever free and easy with my body, but all the same, the more I thought about it the worse I felt. What the hell was I thinking? Sandy must have sensed the shift in my mood because she let me stay quiet the rest of the way to the convention center, and then as we set our supplies. I finally squared my shoulders, laughed and looked at her.

"You know what they say," I said cheerfully. "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas." I shrugged and Sandy laughed with me.

"Something about that guy got under your skin though, huh?" She set a box of promotional materials underneath the table, then straightened up.

"Yeah, there was just something about him..." My voice trailed off as a thought crossed my mind of his eyes gazing into mine as he entered me for the first time."Oh well, it's not like I'll ever see him again."

"Well, everyone should get a one night stand under their belt before they settle down for good. It gives you something to hold onto when married sex becomes boring," she said with a wink. I chortled because if I knew anything, it was that she and Mark had anything but boring married sex. They had been together for over six years and I still heard at least once a month how phenominal he was in bed.

At eight thirty sharp, the doors opened and the the potential clients and film buffs and general looky-loos began to flood in and soon Sandy and I were too busy to even talk to one another.

Around one in the afternoon things began to slow down and we looked at each other from oposite ends of the booth.

"What just happened?" we said in unison. Our booth had been even more popular than had been anticipated, and we were almost out of the brochures that we had brought along.

We are a small company that licenses art for movie houses. We procure art not only for unknowns, but also semi famous artists and galleries that are looking to put their pieces in the right movies. We seek to find the directors the best pieces for their sets.

"Hey, Cesca, could you run to The Copy Store and have them run a thousand of these?" Sandy handed me a small stack of papers.

"Is just black and white okay?" I asked as I grabbed my purse from underneath the front table. "Where did everyone go anyway?"

"That hot new director, Wesley Sekiya, is in town giving a talk and retrospective this afternoon. The tickets were really hard to get." She said as if I should know.

"Oh, okay." I said breezily. "I have no clue who that is, but I'll take your word for it." Before she sent me off, Sandy gave me the run down on all of his movies and gushed for the next five minutes about the quality of his filmmaking and the beauty of his pictures. "Sandy, if you want me to make it back in time, I have to go." I said with more than a strong hint of annoyance to my voice.

I ruffled the papers in my hand and turned away from her.

"The Copy Store is right here in the building. Just head toward the elevators and go to the basement mall, okay?" I nodded curtly and gave her a salute, then I scurried off to the elevators to go downstairs.

I was waiting for the doors to open, but got impatient with the elevators for the general public, so I took a detour and found the freight elevator Sandy and I had used this morning to bring up our samples and papers. I was humming a little tune to myself when the door opened and a lone man stepped out into the concrete hallway. It was HIM!

My heart stopped beating as I waited for him to notice me, but he didn't right away. There was an absent look on his face and I didn't want to disturb him. All the same, my body responded to being in the same space with him by vibrating from every nerve ending it possesed. He looked up and it took less than a second for him to register that it was me.

"Holy shit! I thought you were gone for good," he murmured catching me up in his arms. "You were gone this morning, and I thought I would never see you again!" His lips kissed me over and over as if to make sure I was really and truly there. "I was desperate to see you again and I didn't know where you were staying or what your name was—"

"Cesca," I said softly. "My name is Cesca Johnson. It's short for Francesca"

"What a gorgeous name!" He touched me with light fingertips all over: my face, my hair, my lips. "I knew you would find me somehow!" Then he repeated my name to himself.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him pointedly.

"I'm here for the convention." He said simply. "How about you?"

"I work for LNT Art Galleries...I buy Art props for movie sets...oh, you don't want to hear all of that!" I said with a dismissive wave. I was fighting the urge to touch his beautiful black hair. The urge became so strong that I suddenly reached up and ran my fingers through his hair and it was as soft and silky to the touch as it looked. He closed his eyes senuously. Oh how I wanted to rip his clothes off right there in the hallway of the center and fuck the hell out of him. I blushed at my wildly uncharacteristic thoughts.

"No, I would love to hear more, but I have to be at the talk..."

"Oh, okay," I said disappointedly, why was he running off to the talk so soon? Maybe he wasn't as happy to see me as I had thought.

"You know how to find me," He stated as if I would know.

"What is your name?" I finally blurted. Feeling foolish.

"You're kidding, right?" He asked me with a strange look on his face.

"No. You never told me last night," Now I was definitely confused.

"But I assumed you knew who I was..."

My temper flared and I stepped away from him, my nostrils flaring, and my breath coming in short bursts. "You jerk." The flyers in my hand fluttered to the floor.

"What did I do?" He asked, his temper starting to get hot too. His blue eyes pierced mine.

"You asshole! How would I know who you were if you never told me?"

"You're kidding, right? Everyone knows who I am!" He huffed.

"Well, count me as one of the few who don't!" I yelled. My fists were balled tight at my sides. "I thought you were special, but now I see that you're just like every other man in the world! A world class, insensitive egotistical prick!" I spun on my heel and took off at a fast clip down the hall.

"And I see that you are like every other golddigger in the world!" He yelled after me. "I thought you would be different!"

I didn't turn around because I refused to let him see the tears that were now coursing down my cheeks. I ran out the door to the stairs that was straight ahead. Only after the door shut with a bang did I let the sob that was trapped inside of me come out.

* * *

"Cesca! What happened? Where are the flyers? Oh my god! Are you alright?" Sandy rushed to me.

"I'm fine," I said wearily. "I saw HIM."

"Mr. Venetian?" She asked with a cocked eyebrow.

"One in the same. It turns out he isn't so wonderful after all...he's a big fat jerk!" I fought the tears back in vain.

"Oh, sweetie, I'm so sorry!" Sandy gave me a sympathetic hug and let me bawl for a few minutes.

"Hon, I think you should go back to the hotel, you are in no shape to meet any potential clients." She dabbed at my eyes with her sleeve. Not that it helped because I started to cry again.

"I can't leave you by yourself!" I whined.

"I think you had better. You can come back later when you've rested. And when you feel better."

"That might be a really long time," I said mornfully.

Sandy had the good grace not to laugh at me, but handed me my things instead.

"Go, I'll be alright, I promise. Go have a lounge by the pool. Get your nails done, do something! Stop thinking about the jerk-off!"

I had little to no choice of what to do, because Sandy had led me all the way to the closest exit and pushed me out the door. I somehow made my way back to my hotel and lay on my bed too drained to think.

I was staring at the ceiling, berating myself and feeling like a world class ass, when the phone rang. I let it ring two times before I reached over and grabbed it from the cradle.

"Hello?" I half moaned pathetically.

"Cesca! You will never guess who just came by the booth looking for an agency to buy art for his next film!"

Sandy.

"It was Wesley Sekiya! He wants to have a dinner meeting this evening to talk about his next film. He wants to clear some pretty big pieces and he would like to talk to us about that!"

"You have to go alone, I'm wallowing." My eyes traced the crack over my bed for the thousandth time.

"Well, you have until 6:30 to wallow and then you're going to go to dinner at Delmonico, okay?" Sandy hung up on me before I got a chance to respond. I sat up and rubbed a hand across my forehead, then I went to the closet to see the meager amount of clothing I had brought along. I had nothing remotely dressy enough, so I took an hour or so to look up the clothing stores nearby and then decided to find the slinkiest, most beautiful dress I could.

Two hours, five stores, and three hundred fifty dollars later, I walked out of a shop from one of the swankier hotels with my new dress covered with a dry cleaner's bag, and a pair of new shoes in a smaller bag hanging from my wrist. A little shopping therapy made me feel a better, and I would think about the credit card bill when I got back home. I walked the few blocks between the hotels and when I got back to the room I threw everything on the bed and went to take another shower and to start getting ready for the client dinner.

* * *

"Are you ready?" Sandy called as she walked through the door. I was in the bathroom putting the finishing touches on my makeup and then a few spritzes of Light Blue by Dolce & Gabbana, and I was finished. My ex-mystery man had complimented me on the scent, saying it was the sexiest thing he had ever smelled. I shook that thought out of my head and stepped toward Sandy."Yeah."

Sandy turned her head to the sound of my voice and gave a wolf whistle. "Good Lord, woman! That dress must have cost a fortune! You look amazing!" Her words tumbled out.

"I treated myself," I said with a twirl. The clingy silky fabric was a shade of green that I normally wouldn't have picked out myself, but when I slid the dress over my head and felt the fit and then saw how beautifully it complimented my skin, I knew this was a dress that was meant for me. The saleswoman had been incredibly helpful selecting shoes and giving jewlery tips and then ringing me up and turning me loose.

I smiled at my friend and walked around her to the room. "You'd better get ready."

"I don't think I have anything to compete with that," Sandy said as she pulled her jacket off. She grabbed a dress from the closet and rushed into the bathroom. I waited for half an hour until she emerged looking well scrubbed and very pretty in a stunning black dress.

"Ready?" She asked grabbing a purse and stuffing the room keycard into it along with a tube of lipstick, her business cards and a credit card.

I gave my afro puff one last pat to make sure that it was shaped just right."Yeah, Let's go," I smiled my best smile at her. I still felt a little sad, but I felt extremely silly mooning over a man I was never going to see again.

We chatted about this Wesley Sekiya person on the way to the restaurant, but my heart sank when I saw that it was actually located in The Venetian itself. I hustled Sandy into the hotel and up to Delmonico. We were ten minutes early, but the maitre d' was more than happy to seat us at our table. The lovely, dark décor matched my suddenly dark mood. When the waiter took our drink order I ordered a double whiskey on the rocks.

"Drowning your sorrows?" Sandy asked with a chuckle.

"I just want to get out of here!" I snapped.

"Oh, Ces, I forgot this is where he's staying," she murmured.

"I just hope he doesn't come in here," I said as my drink arrived. I thanked the server and took a gulp. Then I choked.

He was standing right there in the entrance to the dining room.

"Wes!" Sandy stood and hurried to him. "We're sitting right here!"

To be continued...