Bare Pleasures Read online

  “I have to do this for her, Alexander. I have to.” The emotionless mask she always wore bent at the edges and he could see hints of her desperation, the love she had for her sister and the care she wanted to take of her. “You’re just what she needs right now. And I trust you to fulfill those needs without overstepping your boundaries.” She raised a meaningful eyebrow, reminding him again that he wasn’t allowed to go too far with her sister.

  Since he wasn’t going to agree to any of her madness, it didn’t seem necessary to bring up his current celibacy.

  “Margot, even though I hate to say no to you, I have to step back from this. What you’re planning doesn’t feel right, and it sure as hell doesn’t sound necessary.”

  “Consider it a little longer, Alexander. I’m not asking you for a kidney here.”

  “That would be easier,” he said.

  Margot palmed her water again, looked at Lex as if she was seeing him for the first time and then glanced away to the pedestrian traffic parading past.

  “You’ve changed,” she said.

  “Of course. I’m sure you have too. After all, it’s been ten years.” He was twenty-eight now. She had to be at least forty.

  Her eyes ran a slow course over him, from the top of his head, his hair cut close with tight waves, over his America Eagle jeans, to the simple leather sandals on his feet. “And it’s not just the clothes you wear. No latest-designer gear, no pierced nose.”

  Lex grinned, a quick flash of teeth. “The piercings have moved to more inconspicuous locations.” Her eyebrow arched playfully at that. “But I like to think I’ve cultivated some more mature tastes in the last few years. For no other reason than to save money. Keeping up with the Kardashians is expensive.” He quirked the corner of his mouth.

  “You’ve definitely changed. I didn’t exactly expect the same arrogant boy from the club, but...”

  “But you did.”

  “Yes, or at least, I expected to see some remnants of him.” Her eyes dipped to the T-shirt draped across his chest, which was no longer swollen with muscle like it had been the last time she saw him. He’d cut down on that too. Less being more and all that.

  He said as much.

  “Very droll.”

  “I’m just not as worried about things as I used to be.” Then he had to laugh at himself, considering how worked up he’d been when he saw her at the gallery. “Mostly, anyway.”

  She nodded, finally taking a sip of water that had to be room temperature now. “Well, I hope the man you’ve become will consider my plea. It’s a favor that I’m asking, not a trade, not a bribe. This is just something you’re uniquely qualified to do. You’re the only man I trust to do what I ask without taking advantage of my sister.”

  Lex hummed to let her know he was listening, but he had already made his decision. She wasn’t blackmailing him, so he could safely say no. Maybe after he refused her for the last time, Margot would get her sister some real help.

  “Okay,” he said. “I’ll think about it.”

  “That’s all I can ask.”

  Ask all you want, he thought. I’ll still say no. “Now that that’s out of the way, what have you been up to?”

  “The same. A little bit of this and that.”

  He almost laughed again. In Jamaica, he hadn’t known much about Margot. Not even her name. She came to the club four to six times a year, trusting the running of its operations to a pair of streetwise twins who made sure nothing illegal happened at the place. “So things haven’t changed for you that much, then,” Lex said.

  “Well.” She drew out the word, obviously reluctant to share any information with him, despite just asking him to seduce her sister. “I sold the club and invested in some less controversial properties.”

  From conversations he and Margot had toward the end of Lex’s time in Jamaica, he knew she’d inherited the club from her parents, who were long dead. She had transformed the slightly sleazy, uptown girly bar into an exclusive, membership strip club that catered to both men and women and had a dedicated ladies’ night when men were not allowed. Women paid for the privilege of ogling hard and oiled masculine bodies without men sitting among them. During the rest of the week, the club hosted mostly rich and powerful men in the audience while gorgeous girls of every shade danced on stage or made themselves available for lap dances.

  “So you’re doing well for yourself here in Miami, then?” Lex asked. Margot’s designer suit and thousand-dollar stilettos said as much, but she wouldn’t be the first person to floss in haute couture when they were damn near homeless.

  “I get by,” she murmured.

  She was probably a millionaire several times over. Lex smiled and pushed away his drink. Time to do a little research, then. “I’m glad you’re satisfied,” he said, feeling far from that state himself. But that would change soon.

  His phone vibrated in his front pocket. “Excuse me,” he said as he reached for it.

  His twin’s big eyes flashed at him from the screen. He answered the phone, turning slightly away from Margot. “Hey.”

  “What are you doing?” Adisa asked the question as if she knew he wasn’t doing anything special.

  “Nothing much. What’s up?”

  “You’re not getting ready for family dinner tonight?”

  “What’s to get ready for? I’m dressed and showered. My car is working so I’ll be able to drive there.”

  “You’re such an idiot. You do know it’s their anniversary, right?”

  “I think you’re the one being an idiot. I know when their anniversary is and it’s not today.”

  “It’s the anniversary of you know...” Her voice trailed off dramatically in typical Adisa fashion.

  The you know was the unfortunate incident of their parents’ separation when their mother ran off to some island with another man. Their parents didn’t think they knew, but all the siblings were very aware of what had happened, although not why, and had created an unofficial celebration of their parents’ reunion by dropping by their house, even when it wasn’t a family dinner, and bringing presents.

  With the meeting with Margot on his mind, Lex had actually forgotten. “Okay, fine.”

  “So, what are you bringing?” Adisa pressed, sounding impatient.

  Lex barely stopped himself from saying something mean. “Right now, nothing.”

  “Let’s go shopping and then we can go to the house after. You can even buy me a drink.”

  “Why am I buying you a drink when you make at least four times my salary?”

  “Because you’re older and that’s what older brothers do.”

  He was about to remind her that older by twelve minutes didn’t really count, but then he remembered where he was. Lex sighed heavily into the phone. “I’ll be at your place in fifteen.”

  “Perfection. I’ll be waiting for you on the porch with fresh coffee.” They were both caffeine addicts and drank coffee any time of the day or night, especially when they were together.

  “French vanilla, please,” Lex said.

  “Like I don’t know who I’m talking to.” She hung up.

  Lex slid the phone back into his pocket.

  “You have to go?” Margot looked amused. She’d never seen him interact with any of his siblings before. Their entire relationship had been in the context of Lex’s isolation from his twin and the rest of his immediate family.

  “I do have to go.” Lex took one last sip of his lukewarm beer. “But I’ll be in touch.”

  She reached across the table to squeeze his hand, her eyes rising to meet his. “I’m looking forward to it.”

  “Even if I say what you don’t want to hear?”

  “I’m an optimist,” she said.

  Lex got to his feet. “All right, Margot. We’ll talk soon.” The
n he left the restaurant without any intention of ever seeing her again.

  * * *

  When he pulled up to Adisa’s front door, she was sitting on her front step reading her version of a trashy novel. On the cover was a pretty illustration of nuclear fission. Like him, she was a nerd from way back.

  “Lexie!” She jumped up from the step, slipped her book under her arm and grabbed the two cups of coffee at her side, one with her lipstick stain on its rim. “I swear, you are the most punctual black man in the universe. What did you do, roll out of bed and push her out the door at the same time?”

  He unlocked and opened the car door to let her in. “I didn’t push anybody anywhere.”

  “Right. You were with a woman. I know it.” She passed him his coffee and climbed into the car butt-first, bringing the smell of vanilla-flavored coffee and her bergamot body lotion, a Diallo Corporation blend, with her. She wore her natural hair pulled back from her face and circled with a bright blue scarf. Jeans, a cropped white T-shirt and a gold body chain that flashed at the neckline of her shirt and across her flat belly completed her latest casual look.

  “There was a woman, yeah.” He could never hide anything from Adisa, and he never wanted to. “But not that kind.”

  “A butterface?” She plopped her coffee in the appropriate cup holder and slammed the door shut. “Understandable. You’re a pretty devil, but sometimes you gotta take whatever is available.”

  “Don’t be crass.”

  She tipped her head back in mock shock and then burst out laughing. “Don’t take this all new Alexander to boring levels, brother dear. Remember I knew you back when.”

  Lex started the car just after she belted herself in, gunning the engine of the Charger and taking off so fast that she slammed back into her seat.

  Adisa grabbed the door handle. “You asshole!” But she was laughing. “Wait until I tell Mom...”

  Chapter 4

  Working on Saturdays is for suckers, Noelle thought. Which made her the biggest sucker of all since this was the third Saturday in a row she was in the office. She worked the extra hours for no reason other than she wanted to finish the work on a pending case that her boss needed ASAP.

  “Fuck my life,” she muttered as she stepped outside the law firm’s five-story building into the sunshine and eighty-degree heat.

  It was a gorgeous fall day with just the right amount of crispness in the late morning to make her long for a walk to her favorite Cuban bakery for a pastelito and then a stroll back home to savor that hint of cool weather that Miami got blessed with once in a blue moon. But instead of doing that, she’d been at work. Researching, collating that research and sending it off to her boss in a format he could understand.

  Noelle shrugged out of her sweater and draped it over her arm, slid on her sunglasses and walked toward her car. A few feet away from her little red Honda Civic, she stopped mentally complaining for long enough to realize there was somebody leaning on her car.

  “Hey, there.” Margot waved her phone at her. “I was just about to text you.”

  “How did you know that I was here?”

  “You told me you were catching up on some work, remember?”

  Noelle searched her memory but couldn’t find such a conversation. But she shrugged. “Okay. What’s going on?”

  “I’m taking you out to lunch.”

  Noelle looked at her watch and saw it was just past eleven o’clock. She’d been in the office since eight.

  “Come on. I’m parked over there.”

  Margot gestured toward her own car, a black four-door Mercedes parked in the shade.

  Noelle was never one to turn down a free meal. “Okay. Let me just switch out these heels for my flip-flops.” She’d gotten dressed for the office, just in case someone else happened to come in. The professional suit and high heels were comfortable in the office, but now that she was off and on her own time, she felt like putting on sweats and sneakers.

  “No, you should keep on your shoes,” Margot said. “Let’s go.”

  Oh. That meant they were going someplace fancy. With small portions. Lord help her.

  “All right.” Noelle suppressed a sigh, hitched her purse more securely on her shoulder and walked with her sister to her car. The Mercedes still smelled new after nearly a year. The interior was as clean and organized as if Margot had just driven it off the lot. Noelle settled in beside her sister and let Margot sweep her away to parts unknown.

  Parts unknown turned out to be a restaurant in Key Biscayne. Four stars, without listed prices and with a sommelier on staff, according to the menu. Noelle secured her bag under the table with a purse hook and wriggled herself to comfort in the plush chair. Leather and wood cupped her back like the hands of a lover, tucking her sweetly up to the table.

  “This is a nice place,” she felt obliged to say.

  She loved her sister and had known her all her life, so she sensed Margot was up to something. Noelle waited for it, ordering an appetizer and glass of pomegranate juice in the meantime. Margot looked like she was coming from a meeting, wearing one of her obvious power suits with a pair of those red-bottomed shoes she loved so much. She appeared commanding and cold; a look she deliberately cultivated. Sometimes Noelle missed the sister she’d known before their parents left their lives. The sister who played made-up games with her and loved to push her in shopping carts through store parking lots until they were both giggling from the rush.

  Noelle sipped her juice and made small talk with Margot, sneaking peeks at her watch and waiting.

  Then finally Margot said, “This place is nice, right?”

  Noelle let out a breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding. “Yeah,” she said. “This is good.” She raised her glass of bright red juice, served in a wineglass with a lemon peel curled on the edge and a sprinkling of pomegranate seeds at the bottom.

  The waiter came then, properly dressed in his dark apron, and presented their appetizers on tiny plates. He was gone so fast it was as if he disappeared into thin air. This was the kind of service Margot liked. Efficient and just about invisible. Noelle picked up her fork and prepared to demolish the prettily presented crab cakes, determined to at least get Margot’s money’s worth before her sister ruined her appetite.

  “This is a nice place,” Margot said again, picking through the sparse leaves of her starter salad with a fork that looked like real silver. “It’s nice to be able to afford a place like this, don’t you think so?” She ate her salad without dressing and tipped her head to look at Noelle with what Margot seemed to think was her most inscrutable expression.

  But Noelle had known Margot long enough to read nearly everything about her. Right now, the slight upward curve of her mouth, the minute quiver of her eyelashes said she was feeling pleased with herself about something. In other people’s company, she laughed often, sometimes even reached out to touch in a show of closeness and connection. When she was being herself, though, she was contained. Barely there smiles instead of laughs, hands still and clasped close to her body. Their parents’ abandonment and then death had changed them both.

  “Yes,” Noelle agreed. “It’s nice you can afford this place and treat me to lunch.” Although she knew that wasn’t the point, Noelle added, “Thanks for inviting me out today.”

  “You know it’s nothing. Anytime I can take my little sister out is a good day.” Margot twirled her fork in a pile of spinach leaves like it was spaghetti.

  “I could take you out to a place like this if that’s what you really want,” Noelle said. “But you’d have to wait until payday.”

  “That’s just my point.” Margot’s eyes snapped with triumph, a subtle shimmering under her thick fan of lashes, the only thing about her that was lush. “Wouldn’t you love to take yourself out for meals like this whenever you want? Without worry
ing about a paycheck or making payments toward it on your credit card?”

  Noelle shrugged, forked off another piece of crab cake in her mouth—and it practically melted there, buttery and faintly sweet—before she said anything. She slowly chewed, savoring the crab meat on her tongue. “I have the kind of life that I want, Margot. You know that. Eating at expensive places and wearing shoes that cost as much as one month’s rent is not my thing. It’s yours.”

  Noelle put another piece of the tiny crab cake in her mouth, determined to enjoy every last bite while she could.

  “If you ever used any of the money in your inheritance account, you’d want that too.”

  Noelle rolled her eyes. Some random nightclub in Jamaica their parents had owned started to actually turn a profit a few years after Margot took over. Her sister made sure Noelle’s share of the profits got deposited into an account they both referred to as the inheritance account. Noelle knew the money was there and knew it was a lot of money, but she rarely looked at it, preferring to leave it there for the rainy day that life with her parents taught her was always coming.

  “If is a big word, Margot. Right now, I have everything I need and can buy everything I want.” That wasn’t quite true. She couldn’t afford to take the trip to the Great Barrier Reef she wanted, but that was only a matter of saving her vacation time.

  “But what if you just went to law school and became an entertainment lawyer? Wouldn’t that be better than just being a paralegal at the firm? You could work directly with ball players and entertainers as their legal counsel.”

  It was an old conversation but framed in a different way. Margot had money. Noelle didn’t know exactly how much and she didn’t care. Just like she didn’t care about the details of the inheritance account, it was simply enough to know Margot had financial security. Her sister had given up her own childhood to make Noelle comfortable when their parents disappeared for the last time. Noelle was nine. Margot was nineteen. When the disappearance ended with Hugo and Michelle Palmer being found dead on some abandoned farm in the middle of Iowa, the girls breathed a sigh of relief. Not because they were rid of their parents, but because they finally knew where they stood. Alone.