“I’m not ashamed,” she muttered while surreptitiously trying to sniff herself.
“Good. Put your street shoes back on and we can leave. The food trucks won’t be there forever.”
Seriously? Noelle bit her lip to stifle her laughter. “You just want me to leave here stinking so you can put some food in your belly!” He really did love to eat.
“You smell like something I’d like to eat,” he said with a playful growl. “It’s only fair we get something nutritionally sound in my stomach before I make you an indecent proposal.”
Heat rushed under Noelle’s skin and she nearly embarrassed herself with a full-on moan. “I’m not really sure how to take that,” she said once she could talk again.
“Take it any way you like, as long as we get some food in here.” He patted his belly with a grin.
She snorted a laugh but shook her head. “I absolutely have to shower. I’ll make it a quick one though.”
Lex looked disappointed but didn’t try again to talk her out of it. “I’m timing you.” He made a show of looking at his naked wrist, like a watch was there ticking away the minutes.
When Noelle told Malia and Ruby she was leaving with Lex after a quick shower, Malia laughed at her. “I thought you were just going to leave here without even taking a ho bath.” The three women walked to the locker room together.
“That would be hot,” Ruby said with a grin. “Leave here sweaty and get even sweatier with him later on. But cleaning up to get dirty can be fun too.”
Noelle didn’t bother to correct her. Ruby was a happy proponent of doing whatever you feel, whenever you feel it. For her, it didn’t matter that Noelle had just met Lex. Ruby, after surviving a brain tumor, was all about carpe diem. Sex was fun. Life was for living. Tomorrow may never come.
After they had showered, she passed Noelle a six-pack of condoms. “Here, honey. In case you weren’t prepared.” But Noelle, blushing so hard it felt like her face was on fire, drew the line at that. “I’m good,” she said. “I don’t think I’ll need these today.”
“You never know.” Ruby dropped the condoms in Noelle’s bag anyway and clicked her own purse shut. “Joy comes at unexpected times.” She winked and started pulling her gym bag from her locker. “Have fun and tell us all about it next time we see you.”
“Whatever you do, have fun.” Malia was already packed and waiting for the usually slow Ruby to finish getting her things together. “And call us if you need anything.”
“Yes, honey. Call if you need anything at all.” Ruby pressed a kiss to Noelle’s cheek and Noelle clung to her, feeling blessed at the kindness and unconditional support these women showed her. Ruby and Malia had their own problems—they all did—but the women were also looking for a healthy escape from different parts of their lives, and they found that in each other.
“I will,” Noelle said. “See you in a couple of days.”
“Later, babe.” After a quick swat at Noelle’s behind, Ruby grabbed her bag to finish packing up. “And have fun tonight. No regrets.” Her dirty laugh said exactly what kind of fun she expected Noelle to have.
After she left the locker room and said her good-byes to Milton, Noelle found Lex at the bench just putting his phone away. Whatever conversation he’d just finished had left little frown lines in his forehead.
“Everything okay?” she asked him.
He shrugged. “Okay enough.” His gaze took a quick and appreciative journey up and then down her body. She wore a high-waisted, floral jumpsuit she’d tucked into her bag at the last minute before leaving the house, paired with her Converse shoes. He gestured at her gym bag. “You need help with that?”
She shook her head at his misplaced chivalry. “No, it’s not heavy. Besides, you didn’t help me with it when I brought it in.”
He chuckled, a soft and intimate sound. “True.”
Outside, the sun was long gone. Noelle drew in a deep breath of the evening air that had just a touch of coolness to it. Fall in Miami.
“Thanks for coming with me to my dance class. I know it was random.”
“It was fun. I enjoyed watching you dance. You do it well.”
She warmed at the compliment, although, compared to the others in the class, she was as graceful as a newborn foal. “Thanks. It’s something I enjoy, although I wasn’t sure I would.”
“But you signed up for it anyway?”
“Yeah. I...” She snagged her lower lip between her teeth, second-guessing what she was about to say. In her head, the words didn’t sound too damning. “I come here twice a week and dance to Beyoncé and Pitbull. It feels good. Before I signed up for this, I’d go clubbing sometimes and dance by myself.” Noelle thought about the same booty-bouncing dance she’d been doing since she was a teen. “But one day I was leaving an appointment near here—” he didn’t need to know it was with her therapist “—and saw the sign for dance lessons. I went in on a whim and it’s been one of the best decisions I’ve made in a long time.”
“I can see why. You were glowing in there. We should all do something nice for ourselves every once in a while.” A secret smile curved Lex’s mouth and, with the light from the street lamps gilding his face as they walked back to the car, he looked even more beautiful. Noelle swore she’d never seen a prettier man in real life.
“What nice things do you do for yourself?” she asked just for an excuse to stare at him.
“Just today I asked a beautiful woman to have tea with me.” His teeth flashed in the golden street light.
Like he must have intended, she nearly laughed. “Why does everything you say sound like a cheesy pickup line?”
“Really? I need to work on that. You’re the first one to say I’m cheesy. Charm is kinda my thing.”
Laughter tickled her throat again, but she swallowed it. “Your thing?”
“Yeah. Or maybe it was, past tense. Apparently, I need to up my charm game.”
At her car, she tossed her gym bag in the trunk and tucked a slim wallet into the zippered pocket of her jumpsuit. “Ready?”
“Born ready.”
This time, she did laugh. At the food trucks, the area was even more crowded. There were lights on the trucks to illuminate the chefs serving food and the long lines at most of them. The street was busier with people sitting on the sidewalk eating their food or walking toward the beach. Conversation flavored the air, along with the smell of roasted meats, corn dog batter and the bite of lemons from a nearby lemonade-and-natural-juice truck.
Noelle drew in a deep lungful of the tempting flavors and looked up and then down the block. “I don’t even know where to start.”
Beside her, Lex cracked his knuckles like he was getting ready for battle. “It’s always good to start at the beginning,” he said.
He pointed to the very first truck in the lineup, which also happened to have a giant corn dog painted on the side. The batter on the sign looked both crisp and doughy, and the sign itself advertised beef and turkey, as well as jalapeno, corn dogs.
“Lead on,” she said with a wave of her hand.
After stopping at every truck, they agreed on a turkey-jalapeno corn dog, a spiced-apple-and-Havarti grilled cheese sandwich and funnel cake to share, and then they got a large lemonade and sat down on a just-vacated bench to eat. Lex put the food between them, along with a giant stack of napkins.
“I’m a messy eater,” he said when she glanced at the napkins without saying a word.
And although he didn’t mean it in the way Noelle hoped he meant it, she still clenched her thighs tight and swallowed hard. “Napkins are good for that,” she said, deliberately not looking at him.
But when he chuckled, a low and rumbling sound too dirty to be innocent, she thought maybe he did know what she was thinking. She cleared her throat and plucked at the funnel cake until
powdered sugar clung to her fingers.
“I think this whole food-truck revolution is kind of amazing,” she said to distract them both from the heat wavering between them. “I only go to state fairs and theme parks for the food.” Noelle made the confession without looking up from the funnel cake she was slowly tearing apart and feeding herself, tiny piece by tiny piece. “This way, I can skip the rides and everything else that would ruin a good time and just enjoy the real reason for me leaving my house.”
She expected him to make some remark about her weight or the grease from fair food. Instead, Lex just grinned and tore into the grilled cheese sandwich between them, catching a slice of the softened apple that threatened to fall from the corner of his mouth. “That’s the only reason I go on dates,” he said, his cheeks puffed with the savory-sweet mixture of multigrain bread, apples and cheese. “For the food.”
She choked on her laughter and an ill-timed sip of her lemonade, had to press a hand to her chest through a coughing fit. “I don’t believe you! How can you have a body like that and love food like you say?”
“Ah...” Lex batted his eyelashes at her, a smile curving shallow lines at the corners of his mouth. “You think I’m pretty.”
“Pretty damn conceited.”
But she didn’t think he was fooled by her stumbling reply. It had to be obvious how she felt. Since they had met in the tea shop, she’d been staring at him like he was her next meal. His own fault, really, since no man should be this appealing in real life. His sense of humor was ridiculous. He was ridiculous. But she loved to hear him laugh and even his attempts at flattery were sweet, transparent and utterly charming, though she’d never tell him that.
Noelle held up the last of the funnel cake. “You want this?”
“I do, but I’m gentleman enough to let you have it.” He reached for the corn dog. “I’ll make do with this.” He waggled the deep-fried dough studded with jalapeno slices in front of her face before chomping down on a quarter of the dog in one bite. His expression when the food hit his taste buds was, if she had to describe it, pure ecstasy. She shifted in her seat and then reached for the lemonade to wet her suddenly dry throat.
“That’s good...” he said once he swallowed the ridiculously large bite.
“It sure looked like it.” She reached for the corn dog. “My turn now.”
She was sure she didn’t imagine his hesitation. When she had the dog in her hand, she held it close to her body in case he wanted to reach over and try to take it from her. “Are you an only child?”
“Far from it.” He stuck the lemonade straw in his mouth. “One of thirteen.”
“Your parents Catholic?”
“Just horny, I think.”
Does it run in the family? But Noelle kept that question to herself, stuffing the corn dog into her mouth instead of saying another word. But oh...
“It’s good as hell, right?” He looked smug, like he’d been the one to make the damn corn dog.
But it was good. Really, really good.
“Mmm. Very.”
Noelle chewed, unable to help the smile of utter pleasure that took over her face. She really loved food. Too much, some people said. But she didn’t feel she had a problem.
When she looked up from the now empty corn dog stick, she drew a swift breath. Lex’s eyes were on her and no longer smiling but watching with an unmistakable hunger.
“I’m sure you know how sexy you are.” His voice was a low and rough growl. “But damn I want to take you to bed so bad it hurts.” He shifted against the hard bench and then jerked his head away. After a long moment, he breathed out, loud and fast. Then he turned to her with a forced smile. “Forget I said that.”
As if she could. Noelle swallowed the sudden moisture in her mouth. The last bite of the corn dog had slid across her tongue with the sweetness of honey mated with the pepper’s spice. A delicious commingling of flavors that left her lips burning and sticky. She was still hungry. But not for food.
Slow down. Don’t get caught up. Remember what happened with Eric.
But it didn’t matter. Her body, usually dormant until her heart was involved, tingled all over from one look Lex turned her way. A slick heat moved between her thighs. Her heartbeat sped up. She bit her lip and wondered, not for the first time that night, what the hell was wrong with her. Why did a stranger, this stranger, do it for her when Eric had to damn near do circus tricks to make her lose breath? Then her thoughts stuttered to a halt.
Lex had leaned close to her, his eyes resting on her lips. Her own eyes fluttered shut in anticipation of his kiss, of his mouth that had been distracting her all night with its plump sheen and the gleam of teeth beyond, which made her imagine herself a fine bit of pastry begging for him to sink himself into. She held her breath, waited. Then she jumped at the feel of his thumb at the side of her mouth. A brush of a slightly callused finger against her soft flesh.
“You had a crumb,” he said, his voice low and rough.
She flushed and jerked her eyes open.
Idiot.
But his body remained inclined toward her on the bench and there was nothing funny in the way he looked at her. Noelle had never been a bold girl. She’d wanted men before but often waited until they made the move. But she felt an almost savage urge to climb into Lex’s lap and kiss him. The urge was so strong that she had to clench her hands in her lap and back away from him.
“Thanks,” she said.
“No problem.”
Around them, it had grown dark, the air filled with the sounds of strangers enjoying the night and the scent of roasting meat and green peppers from the nearest food truck. But during that moment while she waited for Lex to kiss her, everything had disappeared. Smells. Sounds. Even the sensation of the ocean breeze on her skin became muted. It was just her and Lex and the possibility of their bodies coming together.
A couple walked past them, sharing a basket of fries. “Do you want to stay for the fireworks?” the taller woman asked as they wandered past and toward the beach. Noelle didn’t hear the other woman’s reply. She turned to Lex. “Fireworks?”
“Yes,” he said.
When they finished eating, Lex picked up the debris of their meal and took it to the trash. The slow dip of his hips in the tight jeans, a mouthwatering swagger, was the sexiest thing she’d seen in a long time. She stared at the firm rise of his butt under the denim and then looked away before he could turn around and catch her.
“We can use my shirt as a blanket,” he said, walking back from the nearby trash can.
She didn’t protest.
On the beach, they found a spot among the scattering of couples, friends and families spread out on colorful blankets. As promised, Lex took off his button-down shirt and spread it over the sand for her. After she sat on the makeshift blanket, he settled himself next to her with a sigh. Noelle drew in a breath and smelled only him, the salt that had settled into his skin from his earlier swim in the ocean, the faint department-store scent of his new clothes, a hint of the lemonade on his breath.
The white undershirt stretched over his chest and left his bare and sculpted arms under the clear night sky. He wasn’t a six-pack model, but his body was lean and firm, subtle with muscle and gleaming skin. Idly, she wondered what kind of lotion he used to keep his skin so soft and supple-looking even after an unplanned dip in the ocean. Anything to stop her mind from going to sensual places with the sight of so much beautiful bare skin. The heat from his body both soothed and scalded her. She wanted to curl up in his lap. She wanted to kiss him and drag him down into the sand with her.
All righty then.
The first explosion of fireworks lit up the sky in a shower of bright yellow and green. A low sound of pleasure came from Lex as he tilted his head to look up at the sky. He leaned so far that his back was nearly parallel to the groun
d. She touched his shoulder, opened her mouth to invite him to lay his head in her lap so he wouldn’t strain his neck.
Don’t.
He looked at her when she touched him, but she shook her head. “Nothing.”
But his neck must have hurt because he turned his head away only to lie down in the sand, sinking his beautiful body down into the pale bed of granules, one knee raised up, the other stretched out. The light from the fireworks above burst over his skin in bright whites, electric blues and fiery reds. Lex folded his arms behind his head, smiling, eyes following the flow of colors above. But, for Noelle, it was better, more beautiful, to watch the explosion of color in the joy on his face.
He looked at her, and his smile was inviting and warm, and she felt it all through her. Lex nudged her foot with his own and turned back to the sky, still smiling. His beauty squeezed her throat tight. So tight that, for a moment, she couldn’t breathe.
Noelle turned away from him and squeezed her eyes shut. This was something she didn’t need, this attraction. But it felt so precious, so warm, that she squeezed her thighs together and sighed. Quietly. Keeping it to herself just for a few minutes more.
“I can never decide which I like better,” Lex said, apropos of nothing. “Food or fireworks.”
Noelle licked her lips. “Good thing you don’t have to decide tonight,” she said. “Everything you want is right here.”
He hummed a response, his smile appearing and disappearing. “Yes,” he murmured. “It would seem that way. Too bad I can’t really have it all.”
She looked up and away, gazing at the sky while her heart beat hummingbird-fast in her chest.
* * *
When she dropped Lex off at his car, Noelle didn’t want to see him go.
“Thank you for giving me so much of your day,” he said. He had his shirt on again, but there was sand in his hair, scattered across his neck and over his arms, a dusting of silver powder on the lean perfection of his body. “I hope we can do it again.”
Bare Pleasures Page 7
