Private Lessons

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“Tea,” they said in unison, then looked at each other and laughed.

“Coming right up.”

“If nothing else, we have tea in common,” Naomi said.

“Do you really think that’s all we have in common?” he asked, his words taking on a probing, teasing tone.

“Time will tell.”

He lifted his glass and tipped it partially in her direction. “Touché’

“You were saying that you’d been thinking of what we could do today.”

“I thought you might like to go into town and look around at some of the shops. We could have lunch there, and then I thought we could take the tour up into the mountains and see some of the mansions. The nightlife is pretty great, parties all over. I mean…I may be jumping ahead of myself. I’m sure you came here with some plans of your own, so—”

“No.” She held up her hand. “Sounds wonderful. I really didn’t have a clue about what to do with myself for a whole two weeks. I looked at a few of the brochures, but…” She shrugged her right shoulder.

“I totally understand. So we’ll squeeze in everything that we can.”

And then it would be over, she thought. But she wouldn’t worry about that now. She’d have plenty of time for that.

The waitress returned with their tea and brought a platter of codfish cakes and callaloo. The spicy aroma was mouthwatering, and before they realized it, they’d tossed aside all propriety and dug in.

“Oh, my goodness,” Naomi muttered, finishing off her third fish cake. “These are incredible.”

“Hmm,” Brice murmured with his mouth full. “It’s my favorite.”

“Now it’s mine, too.”

The restaurant began to slowly fill up with hotel guests, just as Brice and Naomi finished up their meal.

“I’m going to go to my room and get a few things,” Naomi said. “What time did you want to leave?”

“I have some calls to make.” He checked his watch. “How about we meet in the lobby about ten?”

“See you then.” She started to move away.

Brice caught her wrist. She stopped and turned, her eyes widened in question.

He kissed her. “See you soon.”

Her heart tumbled around in her chest. “Can’t wait.”

He let her go and she walked off, keenly aware of his eyes on her until she turned the corner toward her the side of the elevator banks. It was only then that she dared to breathe. She pressed the button and tugged on her lip with her teeth, removing the last of her lip gloss.

A trill of excitement, like a high note on a sax, rippled through her as the elevator ascended. She got off on her floor and walked down the corridor to her room.

She slid the key card through the slot and pushed the door open, just as her cell phone buzzed in her purse. While stepping inside, she pulled out her phone and saw that the call was from Alexis. She pressed Talk.

“Hey, Lexi.”

“Hi, I got your message. You called pretty late. Is everything all right? You were rambling.”

“I know, I know.” She walked fully into the room and kicked off her sandals, then plopped down on the club chair. She put her feet up on the matching ottoman. “Where do I begin? I guess I should tell you that I took your advice.”

“What! Now that’s what I’m talking about. And it worked, didn’t it?”

Naomi blew out a breath that preceded her smile. “Better than I could have imagined.”

“Let me hear it, and don’t leave anything out.”

Naomi brought Alexis up to date, including her afternoon and evening plans with Brice.

“Whoa. I don’t know what to say, Naomi. Other than you are a damned good student. I knew all those smarts you had would come in handy outside of a classroom.”

They laughed.

“But I do hate lying. He seems like the kind of man I would want to be with. But now…”

“Listen, this is all about now. Not tomorrow or the day after. Enjoy yourself. Get loose. Get some old-fashioned loving with a fine, intelligent man. Then you pack your bags at the end of next week and come back to the real world.”

Naomi sighed. “Yeah, you’re right. I may as well enjoy it while I can.”

“And girl, I know I don’t have to tell you to use your own protection. I mean of course, if it gets that far.”

Naomi flushed. She could barely imagine what it might be like to make love with Brice Lawrence. Her heart started racing just thinking about it. “I will, but I doubt it will go that far.”

“Why? You said he told you that if he had his way he would be curling your toes. Well, not in those exact words, but you know what I mean. Sounds like he’s hot for you.” She paused. “Look, men do it all the time. Remember Stella in Terry McMillan’s How Stella Got Her Groove Back?

“No.”

Alexis shook her head. “Anyway, you need to get your groove back. I mean, come on Nay, there hasn’t been anyone of note in your life since Trevor, and that was almost two years ago. If you don’t use it, it might just dry up.”

“Oh, stop,” she chided, mildly embarrassed. She hadn’t thought about Trevor in a long time, and that took some doing. They’d been seeing each other for nearly a year. She’d thought that he was the one. He was a professor at Morehouse, intelligent, fun, sexy—but a liar. He’d lied to her for the entire time they were together. All along he’d been seeing someone else, and she didn’t find out until she got a call from his fiancée! That nearly broke her. She’d never been so hurt and humiliated in her life.