Bare Pleasures

by Lindsay Evans

  * * *

  “Are you sure about this?” Noelle used the excuse of checking her lipstick one more time to disguise her nervousness. But she had a feeling the only person she fooled was herself.

  Lex sat in the driver’s seat of the big car, his thighs sprawled comfortably wide, arm draped across the back of her seat like he had all night to wait for her despite the circular driveway being full of cars and the fact that the last person to arrive had already gone into the massive house nearly fifteen minutes before.

  “I’m sure,” he said. “I’m the one who invited you, remember?”

  “Invited us, you mean.”

  A smile thinned his lips. “Yes.” His fingers brushed her shoulders, a light caress that stirred a familiar flutter of desire in her belly despite her anxiety.

  “Speaking of which...”

  A familiar black Benz pulled up behind them. Only a few seconds passed before the driver got out of the car, locked the door with a chirp of the remote and began the long walk toward the front veranda of the large Spanish-style house.

  “Come on,” Lex said. “We can’t let her go in by herself.”

  “Okay.” Noelle pressed her lips together, less to even out her lipstick than to calm her breaths. “Let’s go.”

  She opened the car door and the interior light flashing on made the figure rushing toward the house pause, turn around and then wait for Noelle and Lex to come closer.

  “I thought you would already be in there,” Margot said.

  She looked almost casual in her skinny jeans and high heels. But the leather blazer killed casual before it had a chance to properly live.

  Lex gave her a once-over, chuckling dryly. “You look like you’re ready for a corporate takeover, not to meet my family.”

  “There are similar principles in both,” Margot said.

  Smiling, he shook his head but didn’t overtly disagree. Noelle hung back slightly behind him. She wasn’t quite back to the point of joking with her sister (had she ever really been there?), but they were talking again and Lex seemed as comfortable around her as he did anyone else. Family was family. Despite the things other than love that came with it. She couldn’t shut Margot out of her life and, to be honest, she didn’t want to. They had boundaries now and Margot knew not to cross them.

  “I hope we’re not going to stand here looking at each other all night,” Lex said, giving both her and Margot a prodding glance. “I’m starving.”

  Noelle forced a smile. “Okay. Let’s go meet the Diallos then.”

  At the front door of what Noelle would politely call a mansion, Lex used a key to let them in and, instantly, they were surrounded by the most amazing food smells Noelle had ever experienced. The inside of the house wasn’t bad either, dark and polished wood, a spiral staircase in the foyer leading up and light spilling from everywhere. The smell of good food merged with the sounds of laughter and dozens of voices in conversation, interlaced with old-time reggae music.

  “I think I love your family already.” She squeezed Lex’s elbow and he grinned down at her.

  “Mission accomplished,” he said. “We can go home now.”

  Margot was quiet on Lex’s other side, just watching their interaction with warmth in her eyes. That, more than anything, had brought Noelle close to her sister again—Margot’s genuine happiness for her and Lex.

  “Alexander, is that you?” A warm female voice called out from inside the house.

  Before he could answer, a slim form came through the foyer, high heels tapping against the hardwoods, hips swinging in a pink tutu-style dress. Adisa. “Of course it’s him, Mama!” Lex’s twin tossed over her shoulder as she hugged her brother tight.

  “Lexie!” Adisa threw her arms around her brother while Margot looked past them at Noelle.

  Lexie? She mouthed the question with a faint smile. Noelle shrugged. This nickname was news to her too.

  Then she was being pulled into a warm hug and enfolded in the scent of an expensive citrus perfume.

  “Success!” Adisa said, pulling back with a wild grin. “I’m glad he finally seduced you into the family.”

  “This is family dinner, not a wedding, Adisa.” Lex plucked at his sister’s neck with teasing fingers.

  “You’ve never brought a woman home to meet us so it’s practically the same thing.” Adisa moved on to Margot, giving her a similar hug despite the tight look on her face.

  Noelle hid a smile behind the back of her hand. “This is my sister, Margot.”

  “A pleasure!” She squeezed Margot’s waist at the tail end of the hug like they were already friends. “Come meet everyone.”

  Everyone turned out to be nearly as effusive as Adisa, pulling Noelle into warm hugs and welcoming her to her first family dinner.

  The names came at her quickly, but every time she talked to one of the brothers or sisters, she said their names a couple of times and looked them in the eye to help her remember. Wolfe, Nichelle, Kingsley, Carter, Elia, Jaxon, Paxton, Lola.

  Their parents were gorgeous. Noelle instantly fell in love with how they seemed to adore each other. Teasing and casually touching, exchanging speaking looks that seemed like a language that had developed between companions over time. Lex’s mother, tall and elegant in a poppy-colored sundress. Her husband, casually handsome in slacks and a guayabera.

  Once Noelle had met everyone, Alice pulled her into the kitchen to break a food-tasting tie, which was only necessary because their mother had gone into a frenzy of cooking and accidentally made two batches of oxtail from two different recipes. They couldn’t decide which to put out with dinner. Noelle tasted the recipes and fell in love with both, not wanting to choose one or the other. Alice congratulated her on her good taste and took both platters out to the dining room table.

  It all felt warm and cozy. Welcoming. When Noelle caught Margot’s gaze across the room, she knew her sister was feeling the same.

  Dinner was beautiful chaos. Laughter and stories and Lex touching her knee in reassurance under the table.

  After the meal, Noelle was full to bursting. When she tried to help clear the table, Kingsley waved her off to go find Lex. She wandered through the elegant house, got caught up with admiring its furnishings, the paintings on the walls, landscape oils of Jamaica, portraits of Lex’s grandparents, who had arrived from Jamaica on separate boats back in the 1940s. The house was large but warm, filled with the smells and sounds that made it feel intimate like a family lived and loved there. And the spiral staircase was stunning. The wood warmed quickly under her hand, seeming to snuggle into her palm like an animal wanting to be petted.

  “I don’t want you to be angry.”

  She stopped when she heard Lex’s voice, realizing she had walked all the way upstairs and was now at the opening of a long and wide hallway. This conversation seemed like something she didn’t need to hear. But the ache in Lex’s voice kept her feet firmly planted.

  “Why would we be angry?” His mother’s voice, soft and accented, floated closer.

  Silence pulsed from the room.

  “Tell us, Alexander. What is on your mind?” His father’s voice rumbled deep with affection.

  More silence. Shifting cloth. “I like it in this family. I don’t want to be disowned.” Lex’s humor seemed forced. Noelle bit her lip, gripping the banister to stop herself from going to him.

  “If you don’t say what’s on your mind...”

  Someone sighed. “I took my clothes off for money when you sent me to Jamaica.” The words came out in a rush, low but clear before silence rushed into the room again.

  “That’s it?” his mother asked many heartbeats later.

  “Why would we disown you for something we already know?”

  “What?”

  Noelle pressed her fingers to her mouth. Lex
had been terrified of telling them, swearing up and down that his parents would hide him away from the public for a while or do something equally terrible. But he’d been determined to give them all of the truth and stop deceiving the people he loved.

  “You knew? For how long?”

  “Probably for most of the time you did it,” his mother said. “You probably forgot how small the island is, and the city.”

  “What...” Noelle could almost imagine the look on Lex’s face. Amazement and irritation. Relief.

  She smiled. Then she turned to go back downstairs. She drew a sharp breath when the wooden floor creaked under her feet.

  Damn.

  She grabbed the banister and kept going only to hear movement behind her.

  “Noelle?” Lex peered at her.

  “I’ll just meet you downstairs,” she said and then walked quickly away to allow him some semblance of privacy.

  But he followed and pulled her out to the porch where a couple rocked together in one hammock. He coaxed her down a dimly lit path to a garden sweet with the scent of peonies. The grass sucked at her high heels before Lex pulled her onto a stone path and into a small gazebo glowing pale under the quarter moon.

  “Did you hear everything?” He was breathing fast, the skin in the open neck of his T-shirt clammy under her palms.

  “Not everything but enough,” Noelle said. “You’re really lucky. Your parents are incredible.” But she knew the shock he felt after keeping what he thought was a ten-year-old secret only to find out that it...wasn’t.

  She consciously steered her thoughts away from her own parents and how they’d abandoned her and Margot to a life defined by sacrifice. To have parents like Hyacinth and Glendon Diallo was a windfall Noelle couldn’t even imagine. They loved their children, and they cared for them.

  Lex made a sound that was like pain. “I can’t believe I...”

  She gripped his shoulders to get his attention. “The past is over. Isn’t that what you always tell me? They love you. They’ve always accepted you, no matter what.”

  She slid a hand up to cup his jaw. “Just like I love and accept you.”

  He dropped back against the sturdy gazebo wall, his face incredulous under the moon’s faint light. “Yeah?”

  “Yeah. I wouldn’t be here with your whole family otherwise.”

  His breath, layered with a hint of red wine, brushed her cheek. He pressed their foreheads together and stroked a warm hand up the back of her neck.

  “I’m the luckiest man alive,” Lex whispered.

  “I’m the one who’s lucky,” Noelle said, feeling for the first time in her life that she truly was.

  * * * * *

  Keep reading for an excerpt from A SULTRY LOVE SONG by Kianna Alexander.

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  A Sultry Love Song

  by Kianna Alexander

  Chapter 1

  Joi Lewis shimmied over to her desk, the sounds of Kool & the Gang pouring from her computer’s speakers. The music filled her small office inside Citadel Security, the company she’d founded eight years ago. The late-morning sunshine flooding through her vertical blinds cast a glow on the cluttered surface of her desktop, and she chided herself for neglecting to clear it off—again. Since she needed to do the books for the previous month, there would be no more putting it off. So, with music to motivate her, she began digging through the mountain of papers, magazines and random items piled up on the black lacquer desktop.

  Karen, Joi’s college classmate and business partner, poked her head into the office. Joi gave her a nod. She could see Karen’s lips moving, but she had no idea what she was saying. She continued to go about the task of cleaning the desk.

  Karen started flailing her arms, to signal Joi to pay attention.

  Joi finally looked up, still dancing. “What?”

  Karen rolled her eyes, then cupped her hands around her mouth. “Turn down that music, please!”

  Joy twisted the knob on her computer speaker and gave her partner a sheepish grin. “Sorry. Music makes things go by faster.”

  Karen shook her head, folding her arms across her chest. Tall and curvy, Karen Russell controlled the cybersecurity aspects of Citadel’s business. She wore a peach knee-length sheath that hugged her figure and complemented her complexion, accessorized with several pieces of gold jewelry. Despite her ultra-feminine looks, Karen was as big a computer nerd as they came. “You know, you could just tidy it up at the end of each day. That way it wouldn’t get so out of hand.”

  Joi waved her off. “You sound like my mom. Go do something technical while I finish this.”

  “Aren’t you supposed to be working on the October profit and loss statement?” Karen leaned against the door frame, awaiting an answer.

  “Yes, and I will as soon as I get my desk clear. So, shoo.”

  Karen shrugged. “Call me when you’re done.”

  After Karen had left, Joi looked down at the uniform she wore every day: a pair of black slacks and a white button-down blouse embroidered with Citadel’s logo. While her position as owner left her free to wear anything she pleased, she chose to wear the same uniform her security guards wore. In her mind, it made sense. Plus, she didn’t spend nearly as much time as Karen did fussing over an outfit. That left her more free time to work, and to help raise Citadel’s profile in the community.

  By the time the playlist finished half an hour later, she’d culled most of the unneeded items from her desktop. Ready to take advantage of the newfound space, she sat down in her black leather executive chair. She opened her accounting software and dove into the reports displayed on-screen.

  It took less than twenty minutes for her to discover a serious problem. Her face creased into a frown, and she called out for Karen.

  Karen strolled in from her office in the next room. “What’s up? Are you done running reports?”

  Joi curled her finger in Karen’s direction. “Come over here and look at this.”

  Karen dragged a folding chair next to where Joi sat, and joined her in peering at the figures that were displayed on the screen.

  After a few moments of silence, Karen asked, “Are these numb
ers right?”

  With a slow nod, she responded, “Yes. I’ve checked them three times.” While she didn’t maintain a pristine office, she did keep meticulous financial records.

  In typical fashion, Karen grabbed the blond highlighted ends of her ponytail and began twisting them. “Crap.”

  “Crap is right.” Joi turned away from the screen to look at her friend and business partner. “Losing that contract in September has had a bigger impact on our bottom line than we thought.” One of their small business clients, Wilma Clark, had retired and closed up her small boutique, leaving two of the guards without a regular assignment. The boutique sold designer shoes and accessories to Charlotte’s wealthier citizens. Mrs. Clark requested the guards after a break-in at the store. “It looks like Mrs. Clark’s last check to us bounced.”

  A frown creased Karen’s brow. “That’s not like her. She was one of our first clients, and she’s never written us a bad check.”

  “I know.” Joi shrugged. She knew Mrs. Clark well enough to know that the bounced check hadn’t been some malicious attempt at defrauding Citadel. “To be honest, I don’t feel right pursuing her for the money, either. She was such a good client, and now that she’s retired, she’s much less likely to be able to pay it anyway.”

  “I agree.” Karen sat back in her chair, let out a soft sigh. “Is she even still in the area?”

  “I don’t really know. She did mention having a son in Florida. But I haven’t seen her since she shut the boutique down, and that was three weeks ago.” Joi hadn’t really thought to question Mrs. Clark about how she’d be spending her retirement.

  “So what are we going to do?”

  The two of them sat in uncomfortable silence for a few moments.

  Finally, Karen gave voice to what they were both thinking. “If we don’t get another client quick, we are going to be out of business.”