"He started using it on himself."

We laughed so hard.

I said, "Didn't matter. His thing was so skinny you could paint it silver and call it a kick stand. So I got more fun out of watching him do his thing than I did out of the two minutes of awful sex."

When he stopped laughing, Karl told me about another sexual encounter.

He said, "She had the hairiest pussy I had ever seen. Was like a Black Panther Afro growing between her legs. And hair traps odors. So, needless to say, her scent wasn't appealing, not at all."

"What, she didn't hear of waxing or razors?"

"She needed hedge clippers and a weed whacker to cut that gorilla hair."

"Damn."

"Last time I saw something that hairy it was getting shot off the top of the Empire State Building."

We laughed.

While we waited, we traded a few more war stories, laughing the whole time.

I was a woman. A curious creature. I said something that only a woman would say.

"Karl, how do you see me?"

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean. What do you think of me?"

That wasn't a question born from insecurity. I asked because the eye couldn't see itself.

"Private person. In de pen dent. Confident. Professional. Very sociable."

"Actually I'm an introvert who forces herself to be sociable."

"Introvert? No way. You're too outgoing and exciting. You can talk about any subject."

"Like a nerd."

"Nerds don't look like that. No way anybody will ever confuse you with a nerd."

I smiled. "So me being with you and Mark, what does that tell you about me?"

"Tells me you're open-minded. Maybe ready to explore some new things."

His words made me feel fearless.

I was glad we were alone. I missed Mark, but I was glad I was with Karl.

The power of words. How they fed the ego.

I asked Karl, "Was this you and Mark's first threesome?"

"Nope."

"I could tell."

"How?"

"You and your brother were in sync. The way you two put it down...awesome."

He told me that they had been with a woman when they were on vacation. That was years ago with a woman from Los Angeles named Frankie. Hotel ME in Cancn. His room was on the eleventh floor facing the white sands and the clear blue waters. Frankie was on holiday with her sisters. Her sisters weren't interested in either of them, plus the married sister had her eye on some Latin guy, was in a two-piece bikini and was allowing him to rub suntan lotion on her flesh as they laughed and had drinks, her adultery already set in motion by the time they had met Frankie. The third sister was both the tallest and the youngest of the three, very attractive and curvy, stunning even with a small burn on her face, but she was withdrawn, as if she was afraid for any man to get close, her energy the opposite of sexual.

I asked, "How did the thing with Frankie jump off?"

He hummed. "We met poolside. Drinking. Talking."

"Sounds lovely. Erotic. Sensual."

"It was party central all day and night."

"Cut to the chase. Where did all of you hook up?"

"Went back to my suite."

I imagined them out by a pool, sun over their heads, drinks in their hands. Imagined the way she looked at them, imagined how excited she must have been to have been chosen by them. Tried to imagine her mind, her way of thinking, wondered if she was like me. Every lover and relationship-if it lasts-always ended up the same way, with one person needing more. Someone was always unfulfilled.

I wondered what Frankie needed at that point in her life. Sex was always more than sex, always represented some deeper need. Wondered what kind of freedom Mark and Karl had represented in her world, what healing they had done to her spirit. Plea sure was like love, subjective.

I asked, "Both of you were with her?"

"Yeah."

"At the same time."

"Yeah."

"Double penetration?"

"Yeah."

"Wow."

"Yeah. Wow."

The thought of them pleasing her in that way made me squirm. I imagined her, lust baking on her skin, their bodies sliding together, tropical perspiration making everything slippery, three smells blending into one sensual fragrance. I imagined them making her feel so good a million tears were in her eyes.

I squirmed, imagined them holding her, filling two cul-de-sacs at once.

I asked, "Did she have long or short hair?"

"Long braids. Like women have when they go on vacation."

"Was she aggressive sexually?"

"Not at first. Kept laughing and saying she couldn't believe she was doing this."

"She was drunk."

"Not really. Just feeling right."

"Sounds like you had a lot of fun."

"When it got rolling, she stopped laughing, was pretty aggressive, was into it big time."

"What turned you and your brother on about her?"

"Can only speak for myself."

"Okay. Then what turned you on about her?"

"She was professional. Well put together. Articulate. Humorous. Like you."

"What ever."

"Serious."

I asked, "Was she pretty?"

"Very."

"Short? Was she a short woman?"

"Tall."

"Skinny?"

"Thick."

"What does thick mean?"

"Thick means thick."

"Are we talking Jennifer Hudson, Sanaa Lathan, Jennifer Lopez?"

"More Audra McDonald than anything. A taller version."

A full picture of their lover rested in my head. I shifted in my seat. "She sounds sexy."

"She was."

"One-night stand?"

"Not really. We hooked up two or three more times before she left Cancn."

"All three of you?"

"Yeah."

"So she must've been damn pretty."

"Very pretty woman. Uglies have to go home before the sun comes up."

"You are a mess. You and Mark still in touch with Frankie?"

"We never heard from her after Cancn."

A mild breeze moved across my skin, my imagination refusing to be cooled.

Karl broke our silence when he asked, "Was that your first time doing a three-way?"

"Yeah."

A soft moan escaped me.

He asked, "Sure that was your first time?"

I nodded. "A couple of guys I dated wanted me to try, thought about it, but I never did."

"Ever been with two men on the same day?"

Old memories and sudden embarrassment made me smile. I answered him, "I plead the fifth."

"Come on, Nia. I just answered a thousand questions."

"Okay. Yeah. Once. Was seeing this jock. Football player. Belizean. There was this other guy. Dominican. Had some overlap. Woke up with the Belizean I was seeing. We did it. Later that evening, hooked up with the guy from Dominica. The guy from Dominica, I hadn't planned on doing anything. The circumstances unexpectedly evolved into that. It sort of went on like that for a couple of weeks."

"How long ago?"

"That was back at Hampton. Twitchell Hall. Room 332. Senior year. Long story."

"Want to tell me about it?"

I took a breath, released hints of an old pain, felt the sting of a wound forever open.

I remembered how one man had broken my heart and I'd allowed another to give me solace, had gone to him for solace, that solace becoming intimacy, plea sure used to smooth over a bottomless pain, that intimacy being used to remove what didn't feel good. I thought of moments I wanted to forget.

"The Belizean was my boyfriend at the time. The Dominican was this guy who had been interested in me for a long time. He was from Norfolk. Or Richmond. Can't remember. It was senior year. Was about to leave Hampton and go back to L.A. Grad school at USC. Knew I'd never see either one of them again. Guess I went for it. Treated myself to the second guy."