Bare Pleasures Read online

  “I see you’ve got things under control, Alexander. I’ll leave you to it.” The sister, Adisa, turned to Noelle. “Maybe later on you and I can have that chat.” She patted her brother’s shoulder and then was gone.

  She was apparently a master of dramatic exits.

  After several heartbeats, Noelle met Lex’s amused gaze.

  “So...you were jealous.” Lex’s mouth twitched.

  “No. Of course not.” But even to her own ears, she didn’t sound convincing. Noelle rolled her eyes at herself. Even before she kissed Lex, she’d felt drawn to him enough to claim him, despite knowing what was blossoming between them had little chance of becoming anything. She felt like such an idiot.

  “There’s nothing wrong with being jealous.” Lex’s mouth twitched again, probably on the verge of full-out laughter at her. “I’ve felt it a few times myself.”

  “Not about people you just met, I bet.” Noelle tried to relax enough to make fun of herself. It wasn’t working yet. She sipped her mimosa.

  “Occasionally,” Lex said, leaning close until their shoulders overlapped. “I can picture myself getting jealous over you.” His skin was sun-warmed, his arms firm through the linen shirt he wore. White looked good on him. The thin shirt was loose over his wide shoulders and subtly sculpted chest. Noelle curled her fingers as the memory surfaced, slick and hot, of what it felt like to touch him. “Like if you left the party with him over there.” Lex tilted his head toward a muscle-bound man, typically Miami-pretty with thick hair and a body poured into tight jeans. A man who was obviously his boyfriend—husband?—leaned close enough for him to kiss.

  “I’m not looking for a threesome today,” Noelle said, deciding then to go along with the flow of his humor. It was safer than dwelling on what had nearly happened between them a few minutes before.

  “Not today then, but how about tomorrow?” Lex teased.

  “I can’t predict the future.”

  He nodded thoughtfully. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  “What...?” She rewound their conversation in her mind. She’d been kidding! “Why would you—?” She shook her head, smiling. “Never mind.” Served her right. She was the one who had started this, after all.

  Lex plucked the mimosa out of her hand and tasted it. “Those activities sometimes require a healthy dose of alcohol to get started.” He handed back the champagne flute. “You’ll need more than that if you hope to change the day’s outcome.”

  “I don’t. Thanks very much.” She felt herself smiling at his ridiculousness, and that was when he smiled in return, his beautiful mouth spreading wide over square, white teeth that were slightly crooked on the bottom. Foolishly, she’d thought she couldn’t find him any more attractive. Noelle cleared her throat.

  “So...one of your sisters, huh?”

  He laughed at her obvious deflection. “Yes. One of four.”

  “Are they all as pretty?”

  “Of course. According to my parents, the girls are the most beautiful in all of Miami.”

  “They’re probably not wrong.”

  Lex shrugged, but she wasn’t fooled by his nonchalance. He probably thought the same thing. Noelle sighed and chewed the inside of her lip. “I’m glad she’s your sister. Obviously, we just met and this thing—” she gestured between them “—may not go anywhere, but if you decide you don’t want to see me anymore, or you aren’t feeling me at all, just let me know. I like to know where I stand. Okay?”

  “Okay.” A muscle flexed in his jaw.

  She nodded and breathed out, shifted her shoulder where it rested against his. The conversation around them was almost soothing, a background to the low-grade anxiety she’d felt earlier from being among so many people. Now she wanted to rest her head on Lex’s shoulder and stay there until the boat ride was over. Maybe try and make up for some of the sleep she lost the night before. That dream...

  Noelle twirled the stem of the champagne glass between her fingers and tried to keep her frown at bay.

  “Are you feeling okay?” He leaned into her, lightly bumping her shoulder and bringing the crisp scent of his aftershave even closer.

  She frowned at the question that seemed to come out of nowhere. “Yes, I’m...I’m good.” She passed the warming glass from one hand to the other. “Why? Do I look that bad?”

  “You look beautiful.” His gaze caressed her body as if her beauty was a given and not the topic up for discussion. “You just look a little haunted.”

  An interesting choice of words. “It’s nothing,” she said. “I just didn’t sleep very well last night.”

  “Bad dreams or bad mattress?” He teased. Noelle breathed in at the sight and smell of him so close. His pale brown eyes watched her with concern, a soft tenderness. Her shoulder blade rested on the hard ridge of his chest, a slight overlap of their bodies on the bench, the two of them crowded on both sides by strangers. She felt him breathe, the steady rise and fall of his chest, a tickling exhalation of breath on her cheek.

  She was falling in love with him.

  A sigh floated past Noelle’s lips. She stared into the champagne flute holding the rest of her mimosa. The drink tasted like orange juice with barely a hint of champagne. The only intoxicating thing she’d had all day was Lex’s kisses. She drained the glass.

  “Bad dreams,” she sighed. “I—”

  She broke off when a woman suddenly dropped in Lex’s lap, flopping her legs on top of Noelle. A white jumpsuit clung to the woman’s every curve and her sleek black bob looked fresh from the salon. She smelled like a few too many Bloody Marys, all tomato juice and spice.

  “Hey there, handsome!” She draped her arm around Lex’s neck and he drew back to look at her face. Or to get out of kissing range.

  “I don’t think I know you,” he said, his face going blank. His version of polite interest, Noelle assumed.

  “Not yet.” The woman slurred and moved to kiss Lex’s cheek. He moved again, graceful and gracious at the same time. “I’m Christine,” she said.

  “Normally it would be my pleasure, Christine—” Noelle gave him a look “—but I’m a little busy right now. I’m already chatting with a very lovely lady.”

  Christine looked at Noelle as if she had just noticed her. Noelle wiggled her fingers at the drunk woman.

  “Oh my God!” Christine slapped her hand over her mouth, her eyes wide enough to make her eyeballs look in danger of popping out. “I’m so sorry.”

  The people on either side of Noelle and Lex stared at them with amusement. A girl who looked nearly as drunk as Christine, but who had her arms full with her own man, giggled into her martini glass. They didn’t even pretend not to be staring.

  “I don’t blame you for appreciating him, Christine,” Noelle said, trying for diplomatic. The woman didn’t seem like she meant any harm. “He is a cutie.”

  Christine drew in a drunken breath and leaned toward Noelle, looking excited. “He is! I think he’s the cutest straight man in here.” Her whisper was loud enough to be heard halfway across the boat.

  Noelle played along. “You have excellent taste.”

  “Okay. I guess I’m going to leave now.” Christine’s pink-lipsticked mouth drooped. She looked at Lex and then levered herself off his lap and back into a standing position on her high heels. “Have fun!” Then she tottered off to another part of the boat, attracting the stares of almost everyone nearby. “Well...” Noelle raised an eyebrow at Lex, who just shrugged. “Does that kind of thing happen to you often?”

  “To my brothers, mostly,” he said. She noticed he didn’t quite answer the question.

  “I don’t even know how my sister knows someone like that,” she said. Margot was the very opposite of “that drunk girl at the party.” And with the history of their parents’ relentless partying and Margot’s currently upt
ight...everything, Noelle would think she’d avoid even being in the same room with those kinds of people.

  “Your sister?” Lex asked.

  “Yeah, Margot. You saw her at the tea shop where you and I met. This is her party. At least I think so. She dragged me here so I wouldn’t be sitting in the empty house depressed all day.” Noelle clamped her teeth over her lower lip. Why did she just say that?

  “Why would you be depressed?” Lex’s thigh shifted against her as he turned the full power of his autumn eyes on her. “Because of your bad dream? Or was it something I did last night?” Concern wrinkled his forehead and Noelle gave in to the urge to smooth it away, brushing two fingers over his eyes like Margot often did to her.

  His lashes flickered down when she touched him.

  “No. Nothing you did,” she said. She dropped her hand back to her lap, fondling the stem of the champagne glass. “I...” Was it worth telling him? Noelle licked the corner of her mouth. The dream threaded briefly through her mind, Eric disappearing as she reached out to him, her desperate screams, the feeling that the real Eric had never been in her life at all.

  “I got dumped a year ago.” She shrugged and tried to make it seem like nothing. “It was hard.”

  “You still want him back?” Lex’s frown returned, along with a hint of concern in his eyes.

  “God, no!” But how could she explain the muck of self-doubt that Eric had left behind for her to wallow in? “I thought I was better than the person he left behind.” Before Lex could ask her to explain, she continued. “He said some things to me at the end that made me doubt my own strength. I just haven’t gotten over it.”

  “The opinion of a guy dumb enough to leave you at the altar doesn’t even rate,” Lex said.

  Now it was Noelle’s turn to frown. She hadn’t said anything about Eric being her ex-fiancé. “How did you—”

  But Lex tapped a finger on the stem of her empty glass, already standing up. “Do you want another one of these?”

  The loss of his warmth against her side distracted Noelle from what she was saying. “Um...actually, I’d like something a little stronger.”

  A smile darted across Lex’s face, something too sharp and fast to be genuine. “Then let’s go see if we can satisfy you.” He helped her to her feet.

  At the bar, she ordered a gin and tonic while Lex got himself a Hennessy on the rocks. The yacht purred steadily beneath them, taking them to some destination Noelle didn’t care about.

  “Maybe they’re giving us a drive-by tour of the island,” Lex speculated after Noelle made a throwaway comment about their supposed destination. “Marvel at the awe and mystery that is the Miami land dweller as they guzzle thousands of dollars and roast in the sun.” He did a pretty good impression of that guy who hosted Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.

  “There you are!”

  Noelle turned at the sound of Margot’s voice. It took a few moments to see her sister, although once Margot appeared, neatly passing between anyone who dared to block her path, Noelle wondered how she could have missed her. Her white pantsuit, power heels and narrow-eyed beauty were hard to miss or to dismiss.

  “That’s my sister, Margot,” she said, turning to Lex.

  He made a noncommittal noise and then touched her back. “That reminds me, I should go find Adisa. I don’t want her to feel like I’m neglecting her.”

  The woman who’d confronted Noelle belowdecks didn’t seem at all like she’d want for company in a crowd like this, but Noelle didn’t say anything. “Okay. I’ll catch you later.”

  “Yes. Definitely.”

  By the time Margot appeared at Noelle’s side, Lex was gone, his lean figure swallowed up by the shifting crowd.

  “Come, Noelle. There’s a law professor from UM I’d like you to meet.”

  “Seriously?” Noelle stared at her sister. “I’m supposed to be having fun and relaxing here, not caving into more pressure from you about law school.”

  Margot waved a dismissive hand. “Don’t be stubborn. He’s really funny and has a niece your age already in the program.”

  Dammit. Noelle sucked down as much of her drink as possible, barely wincing at the bite of the alcohol and hoping she was good and numb by the time she shook hands with the esteemed professor.

  “If I become an alcoholic like Ma, I’m blaming you,” she muttered.

  Margot stopped and turned on her high heels. “Don’t say that.”

  “What? Don’t tell you the truth?” She tugged her hand away from Margot. “Come on, let’s get this over with since you’re determined to do it anyway.” It took a few seconds for her sister to start walking with her again, but what Noelle said apparently didn’t affect her too much. She introduced her to the professor with her usual smile, her hand a firm grip on Noelle’s elbow while everyone else around seemed to actually be having a good time. After the ordeal was over, she thought of calling Lex’s cell phone. But she didn’t want to seem too desperate. Not to mention her mood had plummeted to the floor. She wasn’t fit company for anyone. Despite her threat to Margot, she didn’t get another drink, just found one of the rooms belowdecks and locked herself in its quiet, reading a book on her phone until the boat docked and she could escape back to her apartment.

  Margot is a trap waiting to spring, she reminded herself from the dark of her bedroom for the millionth time. Be cautious around her. But it was a hard lesson for her to remember.

  Chapter 9

  “That Margot chick seems a little tense.” Adisa swung her legs over the side of the yacht as it coasted back into Biscayne Bay. The skirt of her white dress blew up around her thighs.

  “Yeah. She’s got a lot going on,” Lex said, although it seemed most of her tension came from trying to control Noelle’s life.

  He understood well enough what it was like to be on the receiving end of such persistent and well-meaning attention. It was annoying. And if Margot wasn’t careful, she’d push Noelle away for good.

  “Her sister seems cool though.” Adisa looked over her shoulder at him, warning in her eyes. “She is really into you. Be careful.”

  “Careful. Yeah. I know.” He’d almost messed everything up when he mentioned the fiancé leaving her at the altar. Normally, he wasn’t careless enough to let something like that slip, but she had him turned around in the worst way. With one unexpected touch, her fingers scalding a path over his forehead and down his nose to hover just above his lips, he was ready to coax her into his lap and kiss her senseless. And the few minutes they’d spent in that stateroom, the sounds she made, the slick of her against his fingers... Lex shifted in his pants just from the thought of it. With this favor, he’d gotten himself into a hell of a mess.

  If Margot hadn’t been in the equation, he and Noelle probably would have found their way to each other and started something apart from all this chaos. But here he was. Here they were.

  “This is pretty messed up, Lex.” Adisa turned back to the approaching dock, the breeze from the passage across the water ruffling the baby hair at her temples.

  “You’re not telling me anything I don’t know,” he said.

  “Then what are you going to do about it?”

  He shrugged, although he knew what he should do—hell, what he should’ve done once Margot made him that proposition. Step back. Stay out of this ruthless campaign to steer Noelle’s life in a direction of Margot’s choosing. Lex stared at the dock until the breeze wrung tears from the corners of his eyes, and he did not look away.

  Later that evening, once he was showered and settled on his back porch with a cup of green tea, he called Noelle.

  She took a long time to answer, and he was preparing himself to leave a message when her voice clicked onto the line.

  “Hello?” She sounded like she had no idea who was calling.

  �
��Noelle, it’s me, Lex.”

  “I know.” He heard her sigh through the phone. “What’s on your mind?”

  The way she spoke was so very different than the joking flirtation they’d indulged in on the boat. It surprised him. Until he remembered how he’d left her. Walking swiftly to the other side of the boat instead of making nice with Margot in front of her. “You,” he said. “You’re on my mind.”

  A huff of sound came through the phone. “Am I?” She didn’t sound convinced.

  Not that Lex could blame her. If it hadn’t been for Margot showing up (even though she’d invited him to the yacht party), he would’ve stayed longer with Noelle, enjoyed whatever pieces of herself she showed him. Maybe get another buzz strong enough to lower his inhibitions and then...

  And then what? What else could he do that was worse than nearly having sex with her in an anonymous room protected by the flimsiest of locks? But damn he’d been so hard, so desperate for her that he would have begged, had been about to plead on hands and knees, for her to let him finish. Celibacy was harder than it looked on TV.

  “Come dancing with me,” he said. “You took me to your dance class. Now let me take you to mine.”

  He could hear her surprise through the phone, another puff of breath, the sound of cloth (sheets?) rustling. “Didn’t you say you couldn’t dance?”

  “I didn’t say that I couldn’t, only that I don’t.”

  He remembered all too well how free she had been in the dance studio, moving gracefully to the rhythm of the music, the sweat pouring over her skin and a smile on her face. Even though she didn’t say that was why she took the class, Lex could see it was also a chance for her to pay attention to her own body, to use it and stretch it and take her out of her own head. He knew that need.

  “So, what do you say? It’s no dance studio on the beach, but you can get a good cocktail there. And you don’t have to go home at the end of the session unless you want to.”