Bare Pleasures

After seeing her doctor a few days ago, she realized she’d allowed that situation to drag her down to a place she never thought she’d be. A year later, she was thirty pounds heavier and never wanted to leave the house. It shocked her how easily it had happened. And to her, a woman who’d been so independent and self-reliant that she didn’t need a man to tell her what she was worth. But here she was, still reeling because his acceptance of her, his adoration, had all been a lie. He hadn’t really loved that, at nearly six feet, she was tall enough in high heels to look him in the eyes. He hadn’t loved her passion for food and the pleasure she took in eating. He had in no way enjoyed having to coax out her interest in sex.

A brief memory of the man in the gallery jolted through Noelle at the thought of sex. Her body pulsed. Every other thought tumbled away, discarded like clothes on a rushed journey to a bedroom. In the darkness of her living room, she blushed and skimmed a hand across her nipples, which were suddenly achingly hard. She whimpered in pleasure and the sound felt like it came from a stranger. A stranger...

What’s wrong with you?

She snatched her hand away from her body and squeezed her eyes shut to rid herself of the memory of him. The here and now was what mattered. He was a beautiful fantasy she needed to wipe from her mind.

But, lying in the dark with her body pulsing dimly for the stranger, Noelle found that was easier said than done.

Chapter 3

A week after the gallery exhibition, Lex still couldn’t get the stunning woman out of his mind. At work, he sat in front of his two computer monitors, his mind buried in code until, jolted by his knee, a pencil rolled across his desk, heading for the floor. He caught it. And the smoothness of the pencil between his fingers made him remember the sharp heel of the woman’s black shoes, the curve of her foot and the line of her calf.

“Diallo, it’s after seven.” He flinched when his boss rapped loudly on his door before pushing it open. He squinted at Lex, square hipster glasses magnifying his gray eyes. “Go home!” They were finally in the homestretch of the project. He could afford to be generous with free time. “Work on it there.” Or not. Then he was gone, leaving Lex alone with the pencil still clutched in his hand and his mind still full of her.

This celibacy thing was going just great.

After giving his body enough time to calm down, he packed up his work laptop and left the office for the short drive to his house. For the first time in weeks, he was getting home before ten with the project almost finished and his boss well on the way to acting human again. Which made Lex happy. If anyone had asked him ten years ago if he would have felt fulfilled working for a small tech firm in midtown Miami, living in a modest house his parents and most of his siblings could afford with pocket change, he would’ve said they were crazy. But his contentment came in small packages these days.

When he opened the door, the music he’d programmed to turn on as soon as he walked into the house started playing from the speakers installed in every room. Earth, Wind & Fire’s “Boogie Wonderland.” At the kitchen counter, he sorted through his mail. Bills. An invitation to a wedding. An envelope with no return address. He frowned and turned it over. The envelope was small and square, just large enough to fit a thank-you note. He slit it open and turned it upside down. A Monopoly card fell to the countertop.

The only thing that surprised him was his lack of surprise.

So she had noticed him at the gallery. The card sat on the speckled-gray granite, innocuous-looking but very far from that. It was an old-fashioned “Get Out of Jail Free” card, orange and rectangular. It looked brand-new. Without examining it too closely, he saw that an address was scribbled on the bottom of the card, along with a date and time. Lex closed his eyes and released a slow breath. When he opened them again, he wasn’t seeing his own kitchen; instead, he saw the red velvet couches and wide stage of the Kingston strip club where he had hidden from himself for nearly two years, dancing and showing his body off to women who had the money and the time to look.

That time was ten years behind him, but the card brought it back as if it was yesterday.

The date on the card was two days away. A Saturday. He didn’t waste his time wondering what she wanted. He left the card on the counter and finished sorting his mail. Saturday would come soon enough.

* * *

And it did. When the time came, he dressed like it was any other weekend, in jeans and a T-shirt, pushed his feet in leather sandals and left for the address on the card. It was a small Jamaican restaurant he’d never heard of hidden among the boring beige buildings in Coral Gables. Its outside seating was only two tables on the narrow sidewalk, but that was where he found her.

She sat in a bistro chair facing the road, a too-slender figure in a bloodred suit. The hem of her skirt sliding up above her knees, legs crossed, a black high heel slowly tapping to the music coming from inside the restaurant. She was still as beautiful as he remembered, a brown Morticia Addams, although her hair was short now, styled in a chin-length precision cut. When she saw him, she stood up.

“Alexander.”

“Madame M.” He felt a little foolish calling her that, but he’d never learned her real name. Not in the two years she had regularly dropped by the club to check on its progress.

A corner of her mouth curled up. “It’s good to see you.” She put down the glass of sparkling water she was drinking and reached out to him. Lex clasped her hands in his, a gentle version of a handshake.

“I wish I could say the same,” he said.

Her smile faded away. “I understand.” She released his hands and sat down. “Please, have a seat. Can I get you something to drink? My treat.” She waved the waitress over.

Lex reluctantly smiled. She treated him like the wannabe rent boy he had been ten years ago, offering to spend money on him like he didn’t have a perfectly functioning wallet of his own. But what the hell. When the waitress came, he ordered a Red Stripe.

“That’s all you want?” she asked.

“For now.” Lex thanked the waitress before she left to put in his order.

Then he settled back in his chair, ankles crossed, to wait for the reason Madame M had brought him here. The calm felt good, a direct contrast to the panic that had burned down his spine at the gallery. Back in Jamaica when they first met, he’d been a spoiled and ridiculous kid, high on his own self-importance and spoiling for a fight. He wasn’t that dumb kid anymore, but with Madame M in Miami and so close to his parents, who still didn’t know about the bad choices he’d made while in Jamaica, he felt antsy.

He drummed his fingers once across the table. “What can I do for you, Madame M?”

She leaned in with a warmish smile on her red lips. “For starters, please, call me Margot.”

Margot? The unexpected sweetness of her name almost made him smile. “Okay, Margot. To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“I wish this visit was purely for pleasure,” she said.

“I figured it wasn’t when you sent the Monopoly card.”

She had the grace to look a little embarrassed. “Sorry about that. Sometimes my sense of the dramatic gets the better of me.” Her red-tipped fingers curled around the glass of mineral water, but she didn’t drink. “By the way, your sister’s show was great. I picked up one of her pieces for my living room.”

The fact that she had a living room in Miami, or so he assumed, made Lex’s hand tingle for the feel of the bottle that hadn’t arrived yet. He didn’t necessarily want to drink it, but it would give him something to hold on to in his suddenly shifting world.

“I’ll let her know you enjoyed it,” he said.

Margot chuckled. “Will you really?”

Lex’s beer came and he took a long pull from the brown glass bottle. “So, do you plan on telling me anytime soon why you’re here?”

“It’s actually a little embarrassing—” Her eyebrow jerked up and her mouth quirked, self-deprecating in a way Lex had never seen before. “It’s about my sister. And...” She sighed, finally lifting her eyes to meet his. “Just hear me out before you flat out say no.”

“If that’s not an inviting buildup, I don’t know what is,” he said.

“I know, right? I think I used to be much better at this.”

“Okay.” Lex put his beer on the table. Maybe he wanted to be absolutely sober for this. He leaned back in his chair and crossed his hands in his lap. “I’m listening.”

“It’s my sister,” she said again. “She’s going through a rough time right now, and I want to help her.”

Lex nodded for her to continue, although she obviously didn’t need the prompt.

“Her fiancé left her at the altar a year ago.” Something moved across her face, an emotion—which was unusual in itself—that Lex couldn’t clearly interpret. “She hasn’t been the same since. Maybe not depressed, exactly, but close enough that it makes me worry.”

It sounded like something normal enough to Lex. If someone he trusted and loved enough to think of settling down with suddenly left him in the lurch with a lifetime of embarrassment and an outfit he couldn’t return, he’d hole up at home in his pajamas too.

“Since we were kids, I’ve been the one to take care of her. I want to take care of this for her too.” Her gaze on him sharpened and, if he had been ten years younger, Lex would have quickly excused himself and run like hell. But he sat and waited for what would come out of her mouth next. “This is where you come in,” she said.

Either he was getting braver in his older age or stupid. “I don’t see any room for myself in this equation,” he said carefully. “If you’re that worried, get her to see a shrink.”

“She’s already doing all that, but it’s not working. What I want you to do is distract her from her depression.”

Lex raised an eyebrow. “I don’t think it works like that.”

“It can,” Margot insisted with a certainty that would’ve been admirable if she wasn’t talking about manipulating her sister. “Noelle is depressed right now, not clinically but just having a moment in her life. A distraction like you will be good for her.”

Lex didn’t bother to ask what she meant by a distraction like you. “You think asking one of your ex-strippers to sleep with her will solve her problem?” He ignored the flash of anger in Margot’s eyes and pushed on. “I don’t mean to be the bearer of bad news, Margot, but this isn’t going to go the way you think.”

“No, no, no. You are not going to sleep with her.” Margot shook her head so hard that the ends of her hair slapped her mouth. “I never allowed that in the club and I’m certainly not going to ask you to do that now.”

“You want me to seduce her out of her depression but not have sex with her? Sounds like you want her to be pissed off and more depressed when this whole thing is over.” Just like he would be.

“Noelle has never been a sexual person—wow, I don’t even know why I’m telling you this—” Instead of covering her face as it looked like she was going to do, Margot primly clasped her hands on top of the table. “I don’t think you teasing without delivering will be a problem.”

Her justification for wanting to do this for her sister looked pretty thin. Lex understood about wanting to take care of the people you love, but this...this didn’t seem to be the way to go at all.

“Margot, don’t think I’m not grateful for what you did for me back in Jamaica, but even you have to see this is a little crazy. Making me into a neutered stud for your sister just because she has a little case of the blues doesn’t make sense here. I don’t think you’ll be doing her any favors. Let her find her own way out of this. I’m sure your sister is more capable than you’re giving her credit for.” Especially if she’s your sister, Lex silently added.

“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.” Then 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.