Bare Pleasures Read online

  Noelle hid her reaction by bending to pull off her shoes and socks, but not before he saw the flare of heat in her eyes, the touch of color in her cheeks. He let her ignore his blatant innuendo, shrugged off the effect of his own words on himself.

  “Looking at me, people tend to make assumptions,” he said. “About the things I like, the way I dress. The music I listen to. But I think they’d be wrong about most things.”

  “You mean you actually are not comfortable in your own skin and do not love to seduce strange women to your place for tea?”

  He laughed, watching the effect the sound of it had on her, the subtle opening of her body, arms falling over her stomach. “Well, that much is true.” He’d been on the verge of telling her about his past, how he once did things just for the sake of doing them and had been trying to be a better man for nearly eight years now. But he said none of that.

  “Risk can be sweet,” he said instead, referring back to his earlier comment. “Even in something as small as being the opposite of what people expect to find under your conservative layers.”

  “That’s not me,” Noelle said, and a shadow floated across her features, pulling her mouth tight.

  The sight of that twisted an answering unhappiness in Lex’s belly. “No one is saying you should jump out of a plane without a parachute,” he said. “It can be simple things.” The waves snaked up to the sand, grabbing at his sandals, and Noelle danced back from the water, keeping her black tennis shoes dry. That gave him an idea.

  Lex pulled out his wallet and threw it at her. She easily caught it and frowned at him. “What—?”

  He started walking backward into the shifting water.

  “Are you serious right now?” Her hands flexed around the wallet, eyes wide in disbelief.

  He kept walking backward into the water, feeling the sun on his face, the intoxication of having her complete attention. “Risks, right?” He cocked his head at her and smiled in invitation. “You want to come in with me?”

  “No, thanks.” She looked alarmed, watching the water rise above his knees, to his thighs. Noelle gestured to him. “Come over here. You don’t have to do anything like this.” She was trying to be calm, maybe even nonchalant, but she danced close to the waves and then away, trying to get him to return to the dry sand. “Get your ass back here. You’ll ruin your clothes.”

  But Lex walked back farther until the waves and the sand pulled him down and he fell into the warm water, laughing. God! It felt good, the salt in his mouth, the water heavy in his clothes and against his skin. It had been a while since he’d been to the beach and gotten into the water. He floated and watched her on the shore, her hands gripping his wallet against her chest.

  “You’re nuts,” she shouted to him over the sound of the waves.

  But she looked lonely there on the sand, even with the other people on the beach watching him and her, some with their cell phone cameras pointed at him. The water would feel even better if she was in the water with him to share its warmth. Lex stood up and waded his way back to her, the water dragging at his clothes, dripping from him with every step.

  “Risk doesn’t have to be anything big,” he said with a laugh. On relatively stable sand, he went to her, tapped a wet finger on her nose. “You get wet and then you get dry. Simple.”

  She actually giggled this time, eyes sparkling at him as the wind played in her hair. “What about your phone, smart-ass?”

  Lex pulled his iPhone from his pocket, safe in its waterproof case. “I may step on the edge every once in a while, but I’m not crazy.”

  Noelle laughed then, and he didn’t know which of them was more shocked. The musical sound of it rang out over the waves and pulled him under her spell just a little bit more.

  Chapter 6

  Lex came out of the water like a sea god. Surprising muscles rippling under his wet T-shirt, the jeans clinging to solid thighs she could easily imagine holding on to while he fisted a hand in her hair. Noelle bit her lip, feeling her heart race with the unexpected arousal even as she laughed at his ridiculousness.

  She backed away from him as he came closer, not wanting to get wet. “Was all that risk worth your wet clothes?”

  “Absolutely.” He smiled, a spread of his full mouth, white teeth, light brown eyes crinkling at the corners. And there was something about the way he looked at her through water-spiked lashes that made her think of marathon sex, both of them dripping sweat and sliding against each other toward satisfaction.

  Not where she needed her mind to be right now. “Lucky for you, there’s a store around here where you can grab something to replace all that.” She dipped her head toward his clothes and dragged her gaze, greedy and thorough, over every wet inch of him presented to her.

  “Lucky me,” Lex murmured.

  Noelle took him to the T.J. Maxx nearby, where he bought a nearly identical outfit—jeans, undershirt, button-down shirt—and then he tossed the bag with his wet clothes into her trunk.

  “Problem solved,” he said as they walked from her car toward the studio where she had her scheduled dance class.

  “Thanks to me,” she said.

  “Credit absolutely where credit is due.”

  Her class was a few blocks from the beach in a four-story building with wide windows and questionable air circulation.

  “I don’t want you to be bored,” Noelle said. “Are you sure you want to come up here with me?”

  She realized a moment later that she was asking the question too late. They’d already left his car at the tea shop and spent nearly two hours together after their drive to North Beach. But she recognized the anxiety for what it was. This was something she did for herself and that no one else in her life knew about. Not Margot, not the girls she hung out with most weekends, not even her therapist. It was her own private therapy to get her body moving, to get her mind focused on something besides her shortcomings.

  “I’m good,” Lex said, walking and easy by her side. “If I’m bored, I’ll let you know.”

  In the class, most of the students were already there. Nearly a dozen of them, Noelle included, already in their dance clothes. The girls wore yoga pants and tight shirts while the guys wore sweats or basketball shorts, most already gathered in their established cliques. The two girls Noelle usually talked with, Ruby and Malia, sat on the floor doing stretches and chatting with the instructor, Milton.

  “Is this weird?” Noelle suddenly felt like she was messing up by bringing Lex to the class. She looked at her two friends, who spotted her and waved, and then she narrowed her eyes at Lex. “I think this is weird.”

  “What?” He looked so curious, so amused at everything around him. Like nothing could faze him.

  “I’m dragging a stranger to what’s basically my therapy group.” Then she flushed, realizing what she had just said. Damn. “I’m going to change.” She ran off and left him to fend for himself.

  When she came back from stashing her bag and changing in the locker room, he was sitting on the long bench at the front of the room talking to Milton. Noelle was torn between sitting with her friends and going to rescue Lex from Milton, who was an aggressive flirt.

  “Hey, girl!”

  Ruby, short with thick hips and the tiniest waist Noelle had ever seen on a human, stood up to hug Noelle. “Who is that hot piece of action you brought with you?” She pursed her naturally red lips, her black eyes narrowed with naked curiosity.

  “Yeah.” Malia craned her head in the most unsubtle way possible. She was the very opposite of Ruby, tall and willowy, an albino beauty with freckles scattered across her nose. “Milton is already trying to get some of that.”

  But Ruby shook her head. “I think, for once, Milton is just having a conversation with him, not trying to take him home or anything.”

  Sure enough, the men were s
imply...talking. Lex was laughing about something Milton was saying while their dance instructor made wild gestures like he was trying to ride an extra-tall, invisible tree. A few of their classmates migrated toward the two men.

  “I’ll go check it out. I don’t want him to be uncomfortable,” Noelle said.

  She made to step away, but Ruby grabbed her arm. “I need the 411 before you run off. Anyway, I think your lover boy is fine. He doesn’t look like the kind of guy whose masculinity is threatened by conversation with a gay man.” And Milton was very obviously gay.

  Across the room, Lex was obviously enjoying himself, laughing with Milton and a few of the other guys. Noelle allowed Ruby to pull her down on the floor between her and Malia. She hadn’t known the girls very long, only for the five weeks she’d been in the class. But she had clicked with them both, although more so with Ruby. They were generous and funny women who didn’t demand anything more than her company and conversation. For the short time they had been friends, she felt closer to them than to most other people in her life.

  “There’s no big story to tell,” Noelle said. “I met him today at the tea shop and we’ve just been hanging out since then.”

  “That’s what you pick up from the tea shop?” Malia looked over her shoulder again, her pale eyes sparkling. “Maybe I should start drinking some of that boba mess too.”

  “So you’re on a date?” Ruby’s little teeth were bared in a disconcerting grin. She looked hungry for information. It was scary and funny at the same time.

  “Not a date.” Noelle tilted a look over her shoulder at Lex, drinking in his arresting beauty. “But I like him.”

  “That means you can’t touch, Malia.” Ruby wagged a threatening finger at their friend.

  “As if I’d poach a man another girl brought around.”

  Ruby made a rude noise but didn’t say anything else about that. “Whatever you’re doing to keep him interested, keep it up,” she said. “That man is yummy.”

  Malia bumped Noelle’s shoulder. “Introduce us.”

  When they walked up to Lex and Milton, Noelle realized that the men were speaking a foreign language. When he noticed her, Lex grinned and switched back to English she could understand.

  “Noelle. Milton here is from Jamaica too, the same parish where my people are from.”

  Milton followed suit and started speaking in English again. “I’ve met a few people from all over the island, but not many of them are from Annotto Bay. He’s practically my brother.” The two men looked nothing alike though. Milton’s features were narrow and more European, wrapped in silt-dark skin, while Lex was simply...Lex. Pale and potent, what she imagined a Yoruba deity of sexuality would look like in the world.

  On the bench next to Milton, Lex nodded, a smile playing around his mobile mouth. “True. My grandparents moved from there when they were young, but the family goes back often. Milton and I used to climb the same trees and go to the same beach.”

  “A lot happened while I was changing my clothes,” Noelle said.

  “A lot happened today,” Lex said by way of agreement. “All good things. And I’m hoping for more.”

  Noelle felt her friends’ eyes on her, saw Milton’s knowing smile. “Nice,” Milton said. “We were all blessed today.”

  A soft chime sounded from the watch on Milton’s wrist and suddenly he was all business. “Time for us to start class, everybody.” He clapped his hands, a sharp and loud sound in the room. He gave Lex an apologetic smile, but Lex made a smooth motion of his shoulders, a shrug of understanding.

  The other students, eleven in all, streamed from their separate corners of the room and gathered in front of Milton.

  He clapped his hands again. “Everyone, we’ll be learning the second part of the routine I introduced last class. As usual, watch me first and then we’ll practice the separate parts of the routine together.”

  Lex slipped away to a far wall of the large classroom and sat on one of the three stools there. It took more effort than she thought it would, but Noelle eventually blocked out his presence to fall into the rhythm and movements of the class. More than once during the session, though, she found her attention wandering to Lex, the spread of his legs, the way he braced his forearms on his thighs to dangle his hands between them. Whenever she looked at him, he was already watching her.

  When they finally took a break, Noelle was sweating even more than usual, damp and trembling everywhere fabric touched her skin.

  While the rest of the class limped off to recover, Milton went up to change the music on the iPod. “What do you think?” Noelle heard him ask Lex, who seemed criminally dry while everyone else dripped with sweat and panted like dogs on hot pavement.

  “Nice work,” Lex said, flicking a warm look toward Noelle that she felt all the way to her toes. “I’ve seen a few people break it down in the club like this, but it’s nice to see the work that goes into it.”

  “The club?” Milton looked insulted.

  “A practical application of a skill set,” Lex reassured him. “Not everyone will get the chance to audition for the next Bring It On.”

  Behind him, Ruby mouthed “Bring It On?” Malia choked on her laughter.

  “His pop culture references are a little dated,” Noelle said under her breath.

  “No kidding,” Malia muttered. “And why would he even know about Bring It On? Are you sure he’s straight?”

  “He’s straight enough,” Noelle said.

  This time, Malia didn’t even try to hide her laughter. Milton ignored them all, all except for Lex anyway.

  “Since you know about Bring It On, you want to come dance with us?”

  Lex laughed and shook his head. “Nope. The only kind of dancing I do is in front of the mirror.”

  Milton raised a naughty eyebrow. “Now that I’d pay to see.”

  “Me too,” Ruby chimed in.

  Noelle rolled her eyes. “You all are a bunch of perverts.”

  Malia lightly pinched her side and leaned close. “As if you wouldn’t.”

  Although she would never admit it to a soul, the thought of Lex dancing in front of the mirror, his hips bucking in the tight, blue briefs she’d briefly glimpsed earlier, haunted Noelle for the rest of the class. It was a miracle she didn’t trip over her feet.

  * * *

  At the end of the class, Noelle was dripping with sweat. She groped for her towel as she sank down on the bench next to Ruby and Malia.

  “Oh my God. Why did I think this was a good idea?” Her heart was pounding hard in her chest and she felt like she had only got half the routine right.

  “Because it’s fun?” Malia wiped her face with her own towel and dropped her head back against the wall.

  “Painful fun.” Ruby giggled.

  “You want to come with us for dinner?”

  Noelle dragged the towel from her face when she heard Milton ask the question not to her but to Lex, who stood nearby with a brochure for the class in his hand.

  “Ooh, he’s trying to take your man.” Malia was not at all subtle with her so-called whisper.

  “He’s not my man,” Noelle said. But she waited for Lex’s response. Already, he didn’t seem to care that Milton was gay and seemed completely flexible about where his evening went.

  “Another time,” Lex said. “Noelle and I have plans. But we should exchange numbers. I could always use another friend in Miami.”

  Malia made a noise next to Noelle as if she had just got confirmation about something.

  Ruby gave Malia a laughing look. “It is possible for a gay man and a straight man to be friends without them ending up naked wrestling, you know.” She stuffed her towel into her gym bag.

  “Anything is possible. But if they do end up naked wrestling, I want to watch.”

  �
��Malia!” Noelle stared at her friend but couldn’t help laughing.

  “Damn, Malia!” Ruby wore a serious face for all of five seconds before laughing too. “That’s not something you say to a girl trying to get some straight-man sausage. Anyway, Noelle’s not looking for a sandwich, just a little old-fashioned man meat pie, straight up.” She pointed her index finger at the ceiling.

  “Now you’re just making me hungry.” Noelle playfully shoved at Ruby and then threw her towel over her shoulder. “I’m going to wash up.” She looked up and caught Lex’s eye, saw his upraised brow, which she instinctively knew meant he had something to say to her. “Excuse me.” She went over to join him just as Milton walked away.

  “Hey, you were great out there.” His voice was a low and pleasant hum, sliding over her sweat-damp skin like a caress.

  A serpentine shiver worked its slow way through her body, waking up every nerve that hadn’t already been hyperaware of him. “Thanks,” she said. “I like to dance and...this place is good for me.” Although he hadn’t brought it up, she stressed again the therapeutic nature of the class.

  “Yeah. I can see that. We all need to do things for ourselves that feel good.” His eyes moved over her, lingering on her thighs and the cradle of her hips that were all the more visible in her thin sweats. Then he smiled, a hungry tiger abruptly caged. “You ready to head out or do you want to have dinner with your friends?”

  “You and I already have plans.” She echoed his earlier words to let him know she’d heard him. “Just give me a few minutes to grab a quick shower and change.”

  But Lex leaned close, his height making the action more intimate than it would have been with a taller man. His breath hovered at her throat and she felt herself quivering with awareness of him.

  “You smell fine to me,” he said. “Like a good night’s work. Nothing to be ashamed of.”

  Noelle heartily disagreed with him. The sweat had poured hard from her, stinging her eyes, slicking her armpits and her back. He, on the other hand, was dry as a bone and looked as cool (and lickable) as ice cream.