Free Private Lessons by Donna Hill

body and his mind.
    He pulled in a long breath and slowly shook his head.
    â€œWhat?” she said, as the water continued to cascade over them.
    â€œI wish I knew,” he said.
    She smiled, leaned up and kissed him softly on the lips. “If it helps any, I feel the same way.”
    He drew her to him and cocooned her in his arms. He was going to have to find a way to make this work. The hell with distance. Then truth insinuated itself in his thoughts. He had an agenda, a plan. And the plan did not include getting his head all messed up with a woman who he’d have to jump through hoops to see. A part of him was willing. But there was the other part that knew it was ridiculous. Hopefully, in the light of his real life, his time with Naomi would simply be an exquisite memory and he could move forward with his plans. Only time could tell.
    Â 
    The next week and a half seemed to fly by, but Naomi and Brice tried to spend every minute of it together. They played the roles of tourists to the hilt, going on every excursion and tour they could find. They shopped, they ate, they swam, sailed, fishedand whenever the opportunity presented itself they had mind-blowing sex—up on the mountainside, below deck on the rented yacht, in a hidden cove on the beach, in a storage room they’d found open at the museum. It was wild, dangerous and decadent, and they both seemed to happily feed off the excitement.
    Naomi had changed from the woman she was when she arrived, to this lusty, insatiable woman. So much as that there were moments when she would look in the mirror and be stunned by the dark and uninhibited look in her eyes. She felt free, and powerful and sexy and desirable, all the things she shoved to the back of the top shelf of her closet when she’d broken up with Trevor.
    Brice had peeled back all of the layers of books and protocol, of heartache and distance, and uncovered a brand-new Naomi.
    Trevor had been her first serious relationship, at least it had been serious to her. The sex between them was good, not that she’d had a lot of experience to compare it to, and certainly nothing that made her world turn upside down. Trevor coaxed her out of her shell. She thought she was happy. She thought she was complete. She thought she’d given the best of herself. But this thing with Brice was almost beyond what she had the words to explain. What was she going to do when it ended? What was she going to tell him when he asked to come see her or contact her? Even Alexis was at a loss for a workable suggestion.All she kept mumbling was, “I didn’t tell you to fall for him.” A lot of good that sentiment was doing her now.
    Today was their last day together. Brice had a noon flight to Cancún. They made frenzied, passionate, clinging love throughout the night and into daybreak, knowing instinctively that it would probably be the last time.
    Over a breakfast of fruit and eggs and fresh squeezed mango juice, they were uncharacteristically quiet, not wanting to lie about possibilities, but not wanting to part without offering any.
    When they did talk, it was about inconsequential things—the way the waves rolled to the shore, the tart taste of the kiwi, needing to get more suntan lotion. All the things to keep them from talking about the thing that needed to be said: what were they going to do after today?
    And time, as it does when you need it the most, seemed to race by, and then they were standing in front of the reservation table while Brice had his bags loaded onto the van that would take him to the airport.
    They stood together—and not. Looking at each other, but avoiding real eye contact in case they might see something that would make them say something that would change everything. So they didn’t, because they couldn’t change anything at all.
    â€œWe’re ready, sir,” the driver said, holding the door open for Brice.
    â€œSure. Thanks.” He looked down