“AND TURN . . . AND shake . . . hips to the side . . . one, two, three, four . . . and crawl . . . crawl . . . bend . . . snap . . . and pose!” Kimmy pushed her messy hair out of her eyes and studied Claire’s stance. “Finger to the mouth! You can’t forget that! That’s the sexiest part.”
“Oh, sorry,” Claire said, biting her pointer finger in the seductive way Kimmy had taught her just a couple of minutes before. “I feel so stupid,” she finally admitted.
“But you’re doing so great!” Kimmy shouted above the loud music. “Seriously . . . when you were shaking those hips, I got a little turned on.” She gave Claire’s butt a playful smack, similar to the one they had been practicing on themselves in the last routine.
Claire’s eyes widened, and she blushed.
“Here, let’s take five,” Kimmy said, turning off the music. She sat on the floor and began stretching out her legs. “So, I looked at a potential studio space today. It’s an old car garage, but I think I could convert it easily.”
“That’s fun,” Claire said, joining her on the floor. “So, it’s really happening?” She was excited for Kimmy to start her own business; it made her wish she had something she was so passionate about.
Kimmy nodded eagerly. “I think so.”
“Have you thought about teaching other kinds of workout classes beside strip?” She stretched forward, grabbing her feet with her hands. “I just feel like you’d get a bigger client base that way.” Claire left out the part about also being too embarrassed to take the class in a public setting.
“Aw, but I love the whole concept,” Kimmy said. “Don’t you just feel empowered after you do it?”
“Um . . .” Claire looked up to the side and pondered the question. “I like doing this, yes, but I don’t know if ‘empowered’ is the word I would use.” She unscrewed the cap of her water bottle.
Kimmy tightened her ponytail. “You don’t have to answer this if you don’t want to, but have things with your husband gotten any better?”
Claire thought back to her and Gavin’s relationship over the past month. She had been reading a lot of Christian self-help books, mainly about forgiveness and building a stronger marriage. She had pushed the whole strip club memory to the back of her mind and tried to instead focus on keeping her husband happy and interested in her. He had apparently stopped going to The Saddle—at least that’s what Kimmy had told her—and they’d even had sex a few times, but she couldn’t help but feel like their relationship was still stagnant. “I mean, if you’re asking me if these classes made Gavin look at me differently, then no,” she finally said.
“Well, that’s not the point of them,” Kimmy said, standing up. “Do you think I stand up onstage every night dancing for those gross guys at the club? Hell no. I’m dancing for myself.”
Claire took a gulp of her water, feeling perplexed.
“I know you think that you’re doing it for your husband to turn him on, and maybe that’s a perk, but that’s not the goal with this stuff.” Kimmy grabbed Claire’s hands and pulled her up off the ground, placing her hands on her shoulders. “It’s about you. You need to feel sexy and confident for anyone else to think that. And trust me . . . when you do feel that way, you won’t even care what anyone else thinks because you’ll be so high.” Kimmy did a twirl, striking a pose at the end with a hip pop.
Claire clapped and smiled. “Okay, I’ll try.”
“Take it from the top!”
• • •
“NOW, BEND . . . SHAKE the hips . . . crawl . . . crawl . . . five, six, seven, eight . . . and pose!”
After Kimmy’s pep talk and half an hour of practicing, Claire was feeling sexier with each move that she did, her hip cocking in the proper position and her mouth as pouty as it could ever be.
“Nailed it!” Kimmy said, giving her a high five. “So, how do you feel?”
Claire wiped away the sweat on her forehead with a towel. “I feel good,” she said.
“Just good?” Kimmy looked disappointed.
“Great!” Claire clarified. “And maybe a little sore because I bent too far down on that last beat—but yeah.” She smiled.
Kimmy laughed. “All right, so then I’ll see you next week for our last session, right?” She walked over to the kitchen sink to refill her silver water bottle.
“Yep! Looking forward to it.” Claire grabbed her bag and slung it over her shoulder.
On the drive back home, Claire decided to make a last-minute detour, stopping off at Geauxchamp’s Department Store downtown. Kimmy’s words rang in her head—if she could feel sexy again, maybe Gavin and her marriage would benefit from it, too.
In the lingerie department, she made her way over to a display of lacy black things. Some slow jazz played on the department store’s sound system, setting the mood. She picked up what looked to be panties, but her eyebrows shot up as she realized they were missing the crotch part. She quickly dropped it and moved to another display.
A pile of red satin items was spread out on a white shelf. She rubbed her hand across the material—it was so smooth and soft. No wonder why guys loved this stuff.
Something royal blue caught her eye, and Claire turned to find a mannequin wearing a beautiful, soft satin set similar to the red one she’d just been admiring. Gavin always said he liked her in that color. It was perfect—sexy without being overly revealing—and she quickly spotted the set hanging on a rack nearby. Claire shuffled through the sizes until she found hers.
As she headed toward the checkout counter, a voice called out, “Well, is that you, Mrs. Claire?”
Claire froze, glancing down at the satin lingerie in her hands. Her gaze slid over her shoulder, where she found a petite little old lady with silver hair looking up at her expectantly.
“Oh, hi, Mrs. Rosa,” Claire said. She could feel herself turning bright red. “How are you doing?”
The woman, one of the oldest members of their church, stared at the lingerie in Claire’s hands, raising an eyebrow. In Mrs. Rosa’s hands was a green pair of cotton granny panties and some packages of the type of stockings she wore to church every Sunday, even when it was ninety degrees. “Now, I’m doing lovely, dear,” she said, clearly trying to not seem like she was staring at the blue pieces.
Claire thought about shoving the lingerie behind her back, hiding it from Mrs. Rosa’s judging eyes, but she decided not to, in fear of seeming too obvious. And also, if there was anything that Kimmy had taught her in those lessons it was that she needed to be confident in everything that she did. Claire held the nighty and thong in her hand as they chatted about the upcoming church potluck and Mrs. Rosa’s successful attempt at spicing up her deviled egg recipe with a dash of Worcestershire sauce and Tabasco.
“It gives it quite a little kick.” She put her tiny frail hand on Claire’s arm and lowered her voice. “After so many years of the same recipe, they were gettin’ kinda boring.” She flashed a toothy grin.
Claire laughed out loud. “I understand, Mrs. Rosa.”
“Well, I’ll see you soon, darlin’,” the old woman said. “Have a good night.”
She could have sworn Mrs. Rosa winked at her. “Bye, now!” Claire giggled to herself as she headed to the checkout register.
• • •
“SADIE’S ASLEEP,” CLAIRE said softly to Gavin as he put away the last of the clean dishes from their dinner earlier that night. She had made seared scallops and lemon orzo from her Living Skinny Cookbook, and her husband had all but licked the plate clean. She stopped him from putting their wineglasses in the dishwasher. “Hey, let’s just be bad and finish the bottle of wine.”
Gavin looked up with wide eyes. “Well, I’m not gonna argue with that.” He walked over to her, still in that day’s work clothes—a simple white button-down shirt with his sleeves rolled up and his preppy salmon-colored chinos—and poured them each another glass.
Then he went into the living room and picked up his iPad before settling into the armchair. Claire took a large sip of the wine, and then snatched the device from his hands.
“We’re gonna go technology free tonight,” she purred, sitting on his lap.
“Are you drunk?” he whispered, smiling mischievously. He wrapped his arms around her waist.
“Nope,” she whispered. She took another sip of her wine and set the glass down on the side table, then scooted off his lap. She stood up and pulled her brown hair out of its ponytail, shaking it out like Kimmy had showed her.
Gavin leaned back on the couch with an appreciative grin. She shimmied down and then back up again, and swayed her hips from side to side. As Gavin’s eyebrows shot up, Claire slowly unbuttoned the top button of her shirt.
He let out a low whistle, and she smiled, feeling more confident.
“I’m buying this wine every time from now on,” he said, his eyes not leaving her once.
She leaned over and nibbled on his earlobe. “This is just the appetizer.”
He immediately put his wineglass down on the table next to hers and stood up, grabbing her hand and leading her to the bedroom. Claire’s whole body tingled with excited anticipation.
As Gavin headed to the bed, Claire ducked into the closet to put on her new lingerie. As she came out, revealing her new purchase to him, she ran her hands down the silk fabric. Gavin lay on the bed, in nothing but his boxers.
“Come here,” he said with a grin. As she got into bed with him, Gavin put his hands around her head and pulled her in close for a kiss. She could taste hints of the wine on his tongue.
“You are so sexy,” he said in between kisses.
She smiled. It felt so good to hear him say that. As they twisted and turned in the sheets Claire felt like something was different. They hadn’t had this much passion in a very long time. She felt like she did when they had just gotten married—beautiful and loved.
After it was over, they both lay breathing heavily in each other’s arms.
“That was amazing,” Gavin finally said, brushing her matted hair from her forehead. “What’s gotten into you?”
“I dunno,” she said with a laugh. “I guess you just inspired me.”
Gavin fell into a contented sleep shortly after, and Claire lay awake, reveling in her victory. With a smile, she grabbed her phone, and send out a missive to Gavin’s followers:
@Pastor_Gavin: Life is good! #hallelujah — Just now