Junior Minister
Xavier was never quite sure afterwards how he'd ended up getting bent over the railing of the balcony of the twenty-first floor of the Hotel de Lune and fucked by a cheetah he'd only met an hour before.
The coyote remembered the party Alicia had dragged him to, the elegant cheetahs from Mgabu sliding through the crowd in their gold headdresses and brown-and-yellow robes. Alicia had left him with the Head Minister in charge of Water Rights and Buffalo, or something like that--the minister's English wasn't so good--and Xavier had been attempting to practice his Swahili. It was just possible that he had misremembered the word for "student."
After all, he'd clearly not said the right thing when asking for the non-alcoholic punch.
And after that, the minister had been talking about his jewelry. His necklace, he had said, was a family harlot. Xavier had corrected him to 'heirloom,' and then tried to express his interest in ancient artifacts. At some point, the minister had called over another cheetah, a young, wiry one with less jewelry and also less clothing, and had appeared to suggest that he show Xavier something in his room.
Xavier had apparently missed the comma after 'something'. He remembered a disorienting blur of yellow and green in the hotel hallway wallpaper, a brief stop to rest his head against the pattern when the spinning became too much, and then another hotel suite, cooler and emptier, the smell of cheetah perversely stronger now there was only one of them.
The beds looked to be neatly made, below the piles of robes on them. Two large black trunks stood against the dresser, one open, the other shut. The desk had been cleared of everything but a cage in which Xavier thought he saw a chicken. Then he was seeing nothing but golden irises with a deep black spot at the center of each, smelling hot, liquored breath, and hearing words that his befuddled mind translated as, "you are a train station."
Then there was some fumbling of paws at his blue oxford shirt and black leather belt. He remembered that on some level he'd realized this was rather inappropriate, but his attempts to bat away the young cheetah's paws were met with renewed insistence and a toothy grin.
There was another blur, and then a lurch in his stomach. The room spun again and he was out on the balcony, heaving over the side as firm paws pulled down his khaki pants. Clearing his stomach of the spicy food and alcohol, combined with the cold air, brought some clarity back to his mind. The warm hardness being pushed up into his rear a few moments later helped, too.
It wasn't the first time he'd been taken from behind, oh no. Even since he'd started dating Alicia, he'd had some romps, though those were all in the first month and he'd been very good since then. It wasn't even the first time he'd been fucked while too drunk to stand up without assistance. But it was, most definitely, the first time it had happened on the twenty-first floor of an expensive hotel.
He looked out over the lake and down into the parking lot, wondering whether someone had been walking below the balcony when he'd thrown up. The night air was cool and refreshing against his bare fur, and the repeated thrusts into him pleasant. The young cheetah had him in a tight embrace, arms wrapped tight around his chest, keeping him from falling even as his torso was pushed repeatedly over the edge of the railing into space.
Slowly, his alcoholic numbness gave way to the waves of arousal. Teeth grasped his ear, sending a clarifying jolt through him. Looking down, he saw his erection growing, hanging through the bars of the railing. It seemed disconnected from him somehow, bobbing there on its own, growing larger as his body tingled and fur prickled. As his knot swelled, his breath coming faster, it brushed the cool ironwork on either side.
Xavier had the sense, looking out into the night sky, of floating above the earth while the growling, panting cheetah thrust him harder into the railing, rasping around the piece of Xavier's ear he held in his teeth. The coyote spread his arms over the edge, letting the wind ruffle his fur, the feeling of almost-falling sharpening his arousal until he had to drop one paw to his shaft. Behind him, the cheetah's thrusts came quick and sharp, timed with panting grunts, the warm body fused to his. The cheetah was his anchor to the world behind him, keeping him steady as his paw sought out his hardness.
Grasping it electrified him. He sucked in a mouthful of cold air and let it out in a whimper, pumping hard. The arms around him squeezed tight, hot breath snarling in his ear. Under his tail, hips thrust the long shaft into him over and over, faster than he could recall any lover in his past. He rose to his toes and let out a long, low moan, letting the pressure from behind and the warm strokes of his paw bring him to climax, sending his seed arcing into the night.
Pressed up against the railing, Xavier let a moaning howl out, his legs trembling under him. For an instant, the ground fell away from under him and he was soaring through the air. His paw clenched around his shaft, feeling the ripples through it, and then he sank slowly to earth, panting, leaning back against the cheetah.
Even though he'd finished, the cheetah didn't let up, remaining deep inside Xavier and pressing him against the metal. He growled, teeth still locked around the coyote's ear, but now his paws moved up and down Xavier's blue oxford shirt, caressing rather than holding. The coyote looked down. Twenty-one floors below, he thought, if anyone was walking around, they were having a very interesting night.
And now, Xavier felt more of the discomfort of his tail pressed between his back and the cheetah, the rough edges of the metal, and the yawning empty air on the other side of the metal. His shaft was getting cold, hanging out on its own in the chill breeze. And the cheetah was still grinding up against him, holding him, now nuzzling and purring.
Xavier squirmed back against the warm, taut body, and the cheetah got the hint, sliding out of him and pulling him back from the edge. The coyote turned, assisted by the cheetah's paws, and faced a wide grin and happy eyes reflecting the moon. The cheetah bent close to give him a warm lick on the nose, and then rattled off a couple phrases in Swahili, gesturing around to the night, the moon, and Xavier himself. The coyote thought he caught the word "aruzi," which he seemed to remember meant "pretty," so he nodded, gestured around and said, "aruzi," and then, to be polite, gestured to the cheetah and said it too.
This made the cheetah quite happy, and earned Xavier another couple licks on his nose. He smiled, but the wagging of his tail reminded him that his rear was bare and rather sticky. He mimed washing his paws and said, "Uh, safisha? ni...ninasafisha?" which he hoped meant "I want to clean up."
"Utasafisha!" the cheetah responded, bowing, and hurried him inside, pointing him to the bathroom. Xavier felt a bit of pride at his communication skills. Alicia probably wouldn't believe him if he told her. Then again, he thought, given the other events of the evening, it was doubtful she'd focus on the fact that he could make himself understood when asking to use the bathroom. He was pretty sure that 'drunken encounter at a party you made me attend' wouldn't be something she would hold against him for long. He'd have to tell her at a nice dinner in the next few days. By then, they'd be able to laugh about it.
He used one of the fluffy white towels to wipe down the fur under his tail. His sheath, though cold, was surprisingly clean except for some drips down the tip. He balled up the towel and tossed it onto the floor, so nobody else would use it. Pulling up his pants, he looked at the slender, tan muzzle in the mirror, and flashed himself a rakish grin. Hey, it turned out to be not so bad an evening. He took a moment to smooth down the fur on his head, which had been ruffled by the wind, and brushed his fingers up along his ears, just starting to be warm again. "Lookin' good," he said to his reflection. "Very aruzi."
Tail held up jauntily, he walked back out into the hotel suite and stopped dead. The young cheetah was standing in the middle of the room smiling at him, holding both paws behind his back as if he were hiding a surprise. Xavier smiled and bowed, and gestured for the cheetah to precede him to the door. Instead of taking his lead, the cheetah brought his paws out, holding out to Xavier a finely wrought golden armband.
"Oh." Xavier kept his smile, but his ears slid back slightly. Was he misremembering what aruzi meant? "No, uh, you don't have to pay me. But thank you." He held up his own paws and repeated the thanks in Swahili.
The cheetah's grin didn't waver. He thrust the armband forward again, insistently, and said what Xavier thought was: "I want you to have it, it's pretty."
Xavier gestured to the balcony and then tapped his chest. "I did that just for me and you," he said in English, and then tried to say it in Swahili. "I don't need a gift." What he didn't say was that he didn't have anything to give as a return gift.
The cheetah's expression became petulant. He said something else, too quick for Xavier to understand, and then held out the armband again. Xavier was about to refuse, but, he thought, Alicia had told him not to upset any of the Mgabuans. And this handsome fellow was certainly getting upset.
"All right," he said, "but we'll have to go see Alicia."
He reached out for the armband, but the cheetah grasped his paw before he touched it. Smiling again, he slid the armband up Xavier's forearm. It sat snugly just below his elbow, the metal warm against his fur. He turned to look in the mirror above the dresser. Not bad, he thought. The short-sleeved shirt was a good choice. He wouldn't be allowed to keep the armband, but he did kind of like the way it looked.
It was two strands of gold wound around each other, each with a series of reliefs along it. One braid was decorated with pictures of wheat, lone heads of wheat alternating with bundled sheaves. Along the other, stylized cheetahs ran with spears and knives. "It's very beautiful," he said. "Azuri."
The cheetah beamed and nodded. He grabbed Xavier's paw and pulled him down the hall.
As the noises of the party grew louder, Xavier started to rehearse what he was going to say to Alicia. He felt she'd understand, and if she couldn't sort out the whole gift deal, then her father would be able to. He'd just tell her that he and the cheetah had gotten to talking, and the cheetah had insisted he take the armband as a token of friendship.
He tugged back on the cheetah's arm as they got to the party door, pressing back against the hallway wall. "Listen," he said, and pointed back to the other room. "We don't need to say anything about...uh..." He grasped for the right words. Why didn't they ever teach you useful vocabulary in these classes? Turning, he lifted his tail, then turned back to the cheetah's bemused look and put a finger to his lips, shaking his head. "About what happened...back there? Is that okay?"
The cheetah said something about talking and family, and Xavier shook his head. "Please," he said, "just...tell your family after the party. Back in there." He pointed to the suite again, then realized that might be confusing because of what had just happened. "After the party, please."
He wasn't at all sure that he'd gotten his point across, but he'd run out of time. The cheetah pulled him through the door and made a beeline for the older minister. That would be fine, Xavier thought. At least the older minister spoke more English.
They found him talking to some elegantly-dressed weasel in a trim jacket sporting a monocle. Xavier's paramour interrupted, grabbing the older cheetah's arm and jabbering quickly at him. "Please excuse me," the minister said to the weasel, and turned to his son as the weasel bowed and left (Xavier assumed he was the younger cheetah's father or uncle). He opened his mouth to say something, and then saw the armband.
Xavier took advantage of the silence. "Listen," he said, reaching for it. His paramour grabbed his paw, stopping him from pulling it off. "I'm sorry. He gave it to me, I didn't want it. Can we just work it out with Mr. Olver?"
It was only then that he noticed the minister's furrowed brow and slight snarl. He tried to take a step back from the suddenly very large and visible canines, but the younger cheetah was holding him fast, looking just as angry, but thankfully not at him. He tried to shrink away as the minister shot a question at his son, who responded defiantly. After another exchange, the son said something that made another Mgabuan near them turn. Xavier didn't catch any of it, partly because they were talking quickly, partly because his ears were folded back and he was glancing around the room looking for Alicia or her father.
He'd just caught sight of them when the younger one hissed something at his father that made the father stop and stare at Xavier again. They'd lowered their voices since the other cheetah had turned around, so he'd assumed things were calming down, but when he met the father's eyes, his ears flattened all the way back and he felt his fur bristle.
"Please," he said, no doubt in his mind as to what the son had just said, "can we not mention this to anyone? It was a mistake..." He glanced at the son. "A very nice mistake, and your son is very handsome and sexy...um...look, I can give the armband back, just it would be very nice if, if you could keep this between us?"
In a harsh voice, the minister said, "Did you accept this from my son?"
"Well, yes," Xavier said, "but I can give it back." He made as if to remove it, and again the younger cheetah stopped him.
The minister straightened up, scanning the crowd. He beckoned the two of them. "Come."
They trailed behind him, cutting a path through the party guests. They passed Alicia, who looked as lovely as ever in her white formal dress, chatting with some portly older cheetah. Even though Xavier would have liked to slip away and suggest to her that the party had pretty much run its course, he didn't feel the time was appropriate to catch her attention. She saw him anyway. He saw the roundness of her mouth, an 'O' of surprise in the middle of her muzzle as she took in the company he was with, and then he was jerked forward and found himself face to face with her father.
The Deputy Secretary of State was only slightly taller than Xavier himself, both of them dwarfed by the pair of cheetahs to either side, but Xavier felt as though he were a foot shorter than his future father-in-law. The older coyote was dressed for this party in an elegant grey suit with a brown and yellow tie, set off by a small flag pin on his lapel. His brown eyes met Xavier's with mild curiosity, which slid into weary resignation.
"Minister," he said clearly in English, "I must apologize for anything our young guest may have done to offend you."
Just as clearly, in Swahili, the minister replied, jabbing his finger at Xavier and his son. Xavier got "This young man has..." and then something he didn't know, and then "with my son." His ears folded back again.
Alicia's voice hissed in his ear. "What's the matter?"
He jumped, just as the minister grabbed his arm to show the armband to her father. The older coyote's sucked-in breath sounded as loud as a whistle to Xavier's ears. "Uh," was all he managed to Alicia before she craned her neck to see what was on his arm.
"Did you accept this from him?" her father asked.
Xavier pulled back as far as the grip on his arm would allow. "Yes," he said, "but look, I can find a gift to give back to him. I just don't have anything here. I wasn't prepared..."
"What's the big deal?" Alicia said, stepping forward and putting one paw to the band. "If they gave him a gift..."
"I'm required to give one back in return," Xavier said hurriedly.
"How do you know that?"
"I read up," he said. "I figure I can't speak the language that well yet, I might as well know something."
She grinned at him, but her response was cut off by her father's sharp remark. "No," he said to the minister. "This is my daughter's fiancé . Besides, I thought you had rituals, customs..."
"We do," the minister replied harshly. "In order for the marriage to be lawful, it has to be consummated."
That last word dropped from what seemed like the twenty-first floor. The older cheetah spoke it very deliberately, and even though he pronounced it, "con-SOOM-a-ted," there was no doubt what he'd said, nor, from his somewhat disdainful expression, what he meant. He, Alicia, and her father all stared at Xavier, who felt his ears heat up. "Really," Alicia's father said.
Xavier looked from him to the minister. "Marriage?"
To his left, Alicia said, "Consummated?"
"So it's true," her father said. The coyote drew his lips back, and faced Xavier with his canines out. "But do you consider buggery to be true consummation?"
The minister tilted his head. "I am not certain of this word. 'Boogery'? What does it mean?"
"Wait, we didn't get married." Xavier looked at the minister. "He just gave me this..."
"A wedding band," the older cheetah said, looking as though he had found it in the trash. "My mother got it from her grandmother."
"Buggery," Alicia's father said, pointing at the younger cheetah, who still had his paw on Xavier's arm. "What these two must have done to consummate the marriage. What that one," he pointed to Xavier, "used to do a lot more before being engaged to my daughter."
The minister and his son exchanged quick sentences. Alicia's father was nodding before the minister turned to him to explain. "Yes," the minister said. "This 'boogery' is considered a form of consummation if the man already has a female wife, and if the new wife," and here he pointed to Xavier, who folded his ears back, "consents to the marriage by accepting the binding. My son has two wives in Mgabu," he continued, with some pride. "He is just lonely here."
Xavier turned to Alicia, as much to escape the withering heat of the two older men as to offer his explanation. "I asked for the non-alcoholic punch, but I don't know, I was drunk, it just happened."
Thankfully, neither her father nor either cheetah spoke. He saw some other partygoers watching them, ears focused to listen, but he kept his eyes on Alicia. She searched his expression, her eyebrows lifting as the beginnings of anger melted away. "It's okay," she said. "We'll talk about it later."
At that, her father sighed, loudly, and put a paw to his forehead. "Well, Alicia, I guess the silver lining is that you can marry someone respectable now."
"I'm not marrying anyone else, Papa," she said, taking Xavier's other arm.
"Look, wait," Xavier said. "Wasn't I supposed to say 'I do' or something, somewhere along the line?"
"You did when you accepted the armband," the older cheetah said. He looked at his son, who was following the exchange with a look of concern. "Which, granted, was offered very hastily."
"Didn't you read up on the customs?" Alicia said.
Xavier shook his head. "I skipped the chapter on wedding ceremonies. Listen, he didn't say anything about a wedding." He tried again to remove the armband.
The son clamped a strong paw over his, and rattled off a sentence.
"There," Alicia's father said. "He just said, 'We're married now.'"
"No," Xavier said. "Oh, no no." His ears, already hot, folded back. "He just said I'm pretty."
Alicia's eyebrows creased. "Zuri means pretty, hon," she said softly. "Arusi means wedding."
Many of the words and expressions from out on the balcony came flooding back to him. Xavier's knees threatened to give out below him. He wanted very badly to sit down, preferably somewhere in a different state. "It does?" he managed to say.
Alicia nodded. "Yes," her father said. He was still smiling, or snarling, or both.
"Oh my God," he said. "I'm married."
"Apparently," Alicia's father said. "The good news is that you can continue to live here for the next six months, until the minister's family returns to Mgabu."
"Whoa," Alicia said. "Xavier's not staying married to him."
"No way," he chimed in.
"You'll like Mgabu," her father said. "I believe it's traditional for the minister's family to stay on his estate. The rainy season only lasts three months, and the rest of the time the sun is out."
"Very lovely," the minister agreed.
His son, who seemed to understand the topic, nodded enthusiastically, tightening his grip on Xavier's arm. The short phrase he spoke, Xavier now understood, meant, "Mgabu is very pretty."
"Average temperature ninety-five degrees," Alicia's father said, sounding almost cheerful. "That's average, mind you."
"Papa," Alicia said reprovingly. "He's not going to Mgabu."
Her father raised an eyebrow. "If you can figure out some way to do that without creating an international incident, I'm open to listening."
"I hate that phrase," Xavier muttered.
"Don't be so dramatic, Papa," Alicia said. She turned to the minister and smiled. "Please, sir, Xavier here is my fiancé . He's a little hasty himself, but we still want to get married. Is there no way that we can..." She gestured from him to the younger cheetah. "Work this out?"
"I appreciate the concern," the minister said. He turned to the older coyote. "Of course, in order for my son to give up his new bride, we would have to find some appropriate substitute."
The little group stood in silence as the two diplomats stared at each other. Finally, Alicia's father said, "What did you have in mind?"
The older cheetah smiled. "We have been discussing the terms of the mineral rights in the Mgongo Valley..."
"For him?" Alicia's father gestured derisively.
"Papa!"
"It is a very large favor we would be doing," the minister said smoothly.
"Wait," Xavier said, as Alicia's father opened his muzzle to answer. He gestured to the other coyotes. "Technically, right, I'm part of your family. An engagement is a binding contract. That's right, isn't it?"
His prospective father-in-law's lip curled, his eyes watching Xavier closely. "Go on."
"So, so," he was forcing his poor brain, which had thought it could take the night off, into emergency double-time service, "so my engagement, my marriage to him is a gift from you to the minister, right?" His stomach made known its discomfort with the idea that Xavier was married, but he tried to ignore it, hoping he was on the right track. "And then, therefore, as a gift to your daughter, if he wanted to be so generous, the minister could, maybe, hopefully, um...give me back?"
The diplomats turned to each other at the same moment. "But you were not a gift from him," the minister said.
"Oh, but, but I was," Xavier's brain seemed to have shaken off the cobwebs now and was plowing ahead, full steam. The only problem with that was that he never knew if the track it was on was the right one, or the one that had been discontinued because the bridge was out. "He told me specifically before the party, that is, Alicia told me, that I was to do whatever was in my power to be a good host to you." Alicia tightened her grip on his arm. He felt the slight motion in her body that accompanied a wagging tail. "So anything I did at the party is really a measure of his esteem and consideration for you. And that counts as a gift. I hope."
The older cheetah had, unless Xavier was imagining it, a faint smile. "Is it so?" he asked.
"Yes, all of that is undoubtedly true." Alicia's father swirled his drink in one paw. "But let's not be so hasty about this whole 'giving back' thing. I believe the Mgongo Valley mineral rights were mentioned?"
"I believe this might be fertile ground for negotiation," the older cheetah said.
"Don't be ridiculous, Papa," Alicia said. "If Xavier goes to Mgabu, I shall go with him."
"Alicia," her father said, but she didn't let him finish.
"I will," she said. "And if it means I have to marry this handsome young cheetah as well, in order to remain with Xavier, then I'm willing to do that." When she indicated the minister's son with a paw, he looked from her to Xavier, and then smiled broadly, saying something to his father that included the word "please" over and over.
"Don't be ridiculous," her father said, but he must have recognized as well as Xavier did the determination in Alicia's set jaw and fierce glare. "You wouldn't really."
"Try me." She glared at him and then smiled sweetly at the young cheetah and said something in Swahili that Xavier didn't need to understand the words to get the meaning of.
The older cheetah's smile turned sly. "The gift of both of these fine young people would certainly be worth a prolonged and productive discussion of the mineral rights in the Mgongo Valley and the licensing to certain companies from your country," he said in a low voice. "They both display exceptional character and intelligence, and are very attractive indeed."
Xavier had the extreme pleasure of watching Alicia's father open and shut his muzzle as though trying to work an unpleasant taste out of it. "Alicia," he pleaded.
She hooked her arm firmly through Xavier's and gave the cheetah on his other arm a winning smile, whiskers lifting. "I have heard so much about Mgabu," she said. "I'm quite looking forward to seeing it. I'm sure you'll come visit to help oversee the industrialization of the valley. It's not like I'll never see you again."
Her father shook his head. "No," he said. He turned to the older cheetah, who had straightened up and was busy adjusting his robe. "We will work out some other arrangement. Can you dissolve this marriage?"
The minister looked down. "Do you wish me to?" he asked Xavier.
Xavier paused. "Well," he said, "I was getting all excited about going to Mgabu..." Alicia kicked his leg. "I mean, yes, please. No offense to your son, who is very handsome, and normally, you know, ow! Sorry." He lowered his ears, grinning at Alicia.
The older cheetah spoke briefly to his son, whose smile gave way to a petulant look. Whining sounds the same in any language, Xavier reflected, and so did the father's stern laying down of the law. The son took his paw from Xavier's arm.
"You may take the armband off now," the father said, inclining his head.
Xavier glanced at the younger cheetah, who was now scowling at the floor. He leaned over to Alicia and whispered, "How would I say, "I had a very nice time"?"
She arched an eyebrow, but said something in Swahili. He hoped she wasn't exercising her sense of humor. As he handed the armband to the young cheetah, he repeated what she'd said.
The son's ears lifted slightly, and he said something back, his mouth twitching into a slight smile. Xavier turned to Alicia.
"I...I'm not sure." She shook her head. "He said you are pretty and that he likes your...I don't know that word."
The younger cheetah said one word again, and reached down to squeeze Xavier's rear with a firm paw. Xavier jumped.
Alicia's ears flicked. "Oh," she said. "That's what it means."
They left her father to work out the details of the negotiation. Both he and Alicia seemed to agree with Xavier that it was time for him to leave the party. "I suppose I should go back up and support Papa," she said as they strolled through the lobby of the hotel. She paused to sniff an arrangement of flowers and herbs, drawing her finger along the cut crystal vase. "But I don't really feel like it right now."
"Want to come home?" Xavier couldn't stop his tail from wagging. He kept ruffling up the fur where the armband had matted it down.
She leaned against the side table. The lobby was nearly deserted, but for an old ferret couple wandering through from the bar to the elevators. "I'll walk you to the car," Alicia said finally.
As they left the revolving door and stepped into the cool night air, Alicia said, "You know, when I said 'keep it low key'..."
"We went to another room," Xavier protested. "And I didn't go there intending to get fucked."
"Oh, it just happened?"
"I..." He looked away from her grin. "I don't really remember. One minute I was being sick, and the next I was, uh..."
"Being stuck?"
"Yeah." He looked back as her tail thwapped his, lightly. They were walking along a fragrant path of yellow and white flowers, shining in the moonlight. He stopped to pick one.
"Oh, Xavier, don't destroy...oh, well, thank you." She shook her head, accepting the white blossom. They walked on, slowly. "You know, I'm still willing to peg you if you want."
"I know," he said. "We can do that sometime. I really mean it, though. This just...happened."
She sniffed the flower and tucked it into the shoulder of her dress. "I know I'm not fulfilling all your needs. We talked about that. However it happened, it means you're missing something."
"It's fine," he said. "I haven't really missed it so far." He took her paw in his.
"I wasn't only offering for your sake." She showed her teeth in a smile.
"Oh." He leaned over and kissed her muzzle. "In that case, whenever you want."
She nuzzled back. "I'm a little disappointed we won't be going to Mgabu."
"Even as the brides of the son of the Minister in Charge of Big Rocks In The Ground?"
"His father seemed awfully anxious to get more brides for his son. I wonder if he's handicapped somehow."
"I know one way he's not," Xavier said. He coughed as Alicia raised an eyebrow. "Anyway, I think his father was just messing with yours. But I bet having a lot of brides is pretty prestigious. Reflects well on his family. And to have two exotic, sophisticated, cultured Americans..."
"Oh, dear." She stopped in front of an expensive sedan, looking down at the sidewalk. The smell of vomit seeped through the flowery aroma. Splatters had hit the windshield and the sidewalk in front of them, but the main volume had come down on the hood. "I guess we weren't the only party in the hotel tonight. Papa will be rather upset."
Xavier felt a giggle bubbling up inside him and fought to keep it down. "Oh, he'll just have to take it to a car wash." He scanned the car quickly, but the other traces of his evening were not immediately visible. "Come on, it stinks."
Alicia stared at him and then looked up at the row upon row of blaconies stretching up to the moon. "Oh my God," she said. She looked back at the car and at Xavier, and it was when she started to laugh that Xavier knew that there was no question that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.