I knew I should leave. I had to leave. “Let’s spend the day together.”

The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them. I knew she was as surprised as I was. I knew it wasn’t a good idea. I didn’t want to spend the day with her. I wanted to take her back to my room. I wanted to rip her clothes off. I wanted her to scream out my name in the throes of passion and then I wanted to leave. I wanted to leave and forget her. She was nothing but trouble. However, she didn’t look too happy at my request to spend the day together. Didn’t she know who I was? I wanted to glare at her.

I watched as her friend Anna walked to the shower and I stood up. I was ready to put my cards on the table. I didn’t care if she threw me out. I just needed to get it out there. I grabbed her arms and pulled her towards me.

“I guess your friend wants you to get laid.” I whispered and stared into her eyes. “I bet part of you wants me to throw you down on the bed right now and take you.” I studied her face and grinned. I was right. She wanted it as badly as I did. Her heart was racing and I pressed my fingers to her wrist and felt her pulse. I pulled her towards me so she could feel how hard I was. She gave me a look that showed me that she wasn’t completely taken by me, and that infuriated me. I grabbed her around the waist and kissed her hard while squeezing her butt cheeks. I wanted to slip my hands in between her legs and I wanted to pull up her top and pull her bra straps down. I wanted to suck on her ni**les so hard that she came from that action alone, but I didn’t. She shifted against me and I pressed her into my hardness, so that I was pressed against her stomach. She gasped and her eyes widened at my bold move.

I pulled back from her and winked slowly, enjoying her red flush. I could already hear how loud she was going to scream when I f**ked her. And it was making me very excited.

Chapter 4

“Thanks for a fun day,” I spoke softly as we walked into his hotel suite. “I’ve never been to the Tower of London before.”

“I’m glad you had a good time.” He walked towards the bar at the side of the room. “Would you like a drink?”

“No, thanks.” I shook my head and stood there, staring at him awkwardly.

The day had been fun, but he hadn’t touched me or kissed me since this morning. He’d been very polite and friendly, but he had acted like he was my tour guide, not my potential lover.

Now that we were back in his hotel room, I didn’t know what to expect. We hadn’t spoken about anything personal when we’d been out. He didn’t know anything more about me and I didn’t know any more about him. It was as if he were deliberately trying to keep his distance from me. I watched as he walked back to me and put his drink on a table.

“You’re very beautiful, Lola.” He stared at me. “Very sexy as well.”

“I guess I should say thanks?” I smiled weakly as I stared at him.

The mood had suddenly changed and there was sexual tension in the air. My bones seemed to freeze up as I stared at him as he loosened his tie.

“I want you to understand what this is and what this isn’t,” he spoke softly as he took another step towards me.

“Okay.” I nodded, feeling slightly clammy.

“Just so you know, this is one night and one night only. You will not see me again after tonight.” His fingers traced an invisible line along my collarbone, and I nodded without speaking.

He really was an asshole, but for some reason unknown to me, I couldn’t resist him.

“Answer me.” His voice was commanding, and he leaned into me. I could feel his hardness pressing against my leg. “Do you understand?”

“I understand.” I tried not to roll my eyes. “It’s not like I want to see you after tonight anyways, you arrogant asshole,” I mumbled under my breath.

“What was that?” His eyes narrowed at me. “Are you being impertinent ...?”

“Oh, shut up.” This time I took charge, grabbing ahold of his shirt and pulling him towards me. I tiptoed up and pressed my lips against his. He growled as I kissed him, and I could see the surprise in his eyes. I grinned to myself. He wasn’t expecting that. I pulled away from him slightly and ran towards the bedroom. He followed me with an expectant look in his eyes.

“I see you’re not as innocent as you tried to make out.” He walked towards me and I laughed and then pushed him towards the bed.

He fell back onto the mattress and I climbed on top of him before crushing my lips down on his. His eyes widened in surprise as I straddled him and pulled his tie off. I laughed as I started unbuttoning his shirt.

“We have one night. Let’s make the most of it.” I leaned down towards him and then squealed as he flipped me onto my back and pinned my arms down.

“Yes, Lolita, let’s make the most of it,” he growled down at me, and I squirmed as I felt his fingers making their way up my stomach.

My breathing was heavy, and I stilled as I waited to see what he was going to do next. I wanted to feel his fingers all over my body. I wanted to feel what it was like to be with a man as handsome as he was. I closed my eyes for a moment and screamed inside. I couldn’t believe that I, Lola Franklin, was about to have a one-night stand with a man who put all other men to shame. I shivered as I felt his tongue on my neck, and then I heard violins serenading our soon-to-be lovemaking experience. I opened my eyes slowly as I realized that Xavier had moved away from me.

“Your phone.” His eyes looked at me distantly, and I frowned as I jumped up and grabbed my phone. He really was so hot and cold.

“Hello?”

“Lola.” Anna sounded breathless. “Where are you?”

“I can’t really talk right now,” I whispered into the phone, not really wanting to tell her that I was back at the hotel and about to have sex with Xavier. I looked up and saw Xavier staring at me with interest in his eyes. “Is everything okay?”

“Lola, listen to me. You cannot have a one-night stand. I know he’s hot, but he’s a prick. Remember that. Last night, you saved me from making a fool of myself. I’m trying to help you. You deserve better,” she burst out. “I was thinking about it all day. Yes, he’s hot, but he seems like an asshole. You can do better.”

“There is no better.” I giggled slightly as I stared at Xavier as he leaned against the doorway. He looked dark, handsome, and slightly dangerous, and I was as turned on as I had ever been in my life. “Trust me.”

“Lola,” Anna giggled. “I can’t believe this. I know I should tell you to come home, but you do need to have fun. I had to call and try, but I trust your judgment. Where are you?”

“At the hotel,” I whispered and turned around. “I’m with Xavier and—”

“Oh my God, you’re not having a threesome!” Anna shrieked. “I know we said we were going to come out of our shells, but we never said anything about a threesome.”

“I’m not having a threesome!” I gasped loudly and then turned around to see if Xavier had heard me. There was a sly smile on his face as he smirked at me, and I realized that he had heard me. “Anna, I was just saying I’m with Xavier and we’re about to watch a movie.”

“Sure you are. I don’t know any movie that begins and ends with him on top of you.” She giggled again. “Come to my room as soon as you get home,” she demanded. “I mean it. I want details.”

“Okay.” I smiled into the phone. “Goodnight.”

“I would say sweet dreams, but I doubt you’ll be sleeping,” she sang as she hung up the phone. I took a deep breath to gain my composure and then looked back at Xavier.

“Sorry about that.”

“Who was that?” He raised an eyebrow. “Your boyfriend?”

“No.” I shook my head. “Of course not.” As if he didn’t know.

“Why of course not?”

“Why would I be here with you if I had a boyfriend?”

“Well, you were here with Max last night and then decided on sloppy seconds.”

“You know I wasn’t here to hook up with Max yesterday. I was here to make sure Anna was okay.” I could feel my blood boiling at the smirk on his face. “Whatever,” I sighed. You would never be anyone’s sloppy seconds either, I thought to myself, but there was no way in hell that I would give him a bigger head than he already had.

“Your vocabulary is quite expansive, isn’t it?” He stared at me with a glimmer of humor in his eyes, and I realized that he was attempting a joke. A pretty poor and ill-timed joke, but a joke all the same.

“I do wonder how a man like you gets women with your poor sense of humor and rude comments.” I played with my hair as I stared at him, determined that I was not going to let him kiss me or make love to me, no matter how much I wanted him to. I didn’t know what his problem was. Everything had been going fine until Anna had called.

“It’s a wonder, isn’t it?” He smiled. “I’m not sure what women see in me.”

“Neither am I.” I walked out of the bedroom and sat down on the couch. “I think I’ll just sleep here until the morning.” I lay back and closed my eyes. “Goodnight.”

There was silence for a moment, and I lay there pretending I was falling asleep before slowly opening my eyes to see if he had gone back to his room. I nearly jumped out of my skin as I saw his eyes peering down into mine.

“What are you doing?” I sputtered as I sat up.

“Coming to see if you were really sleeping.”

“Well, I am.” I glared at him again, trying to ignore the way his eyes crinkled when he was laughing inside.

“Shall we call it a truce?” He sat on the couch next to me.

“I suppose.” I shrugged and then looked over at him. “Though I’m not sleeping with you. That train has passed.”

“Well, that’s regretful.” He picked up the remote control. “Let’s just watch the movie. Then you can leave.”

“Yeah, let’s do that.”

“How did you like the art show yesterday?” He peered at me thoughtfully.

“It was fun. I enjoyed it a lot.”

“Oh, you like art?” His eyes were shining. “I don’t meet many girls who enjoy art.”

“Kinda,” I mumbled, not sure why I didn’t tell him that I was actually in London because I was taking an art history course as part of my college degree. Maybe it was because I didn’t want to draw attention to the fact that I was still in college. He looked like he was in his late twenties or early thirties and I wasn’t sure that he would be interested in someone in her early twenties.

“Or were you there to find yourself a rich man?”

“Yeah, that’s it,” I huffed, annoyed that he had me out to be some sort of gold-digger. First, I was a prostitute and now I was a gold-digger. “I go to art shows to meet rich men for a night of hot sex.”

“Very funny, Lola.” He chuckled and sat back.

“Do you like art?” I looked at him curiously. I assumed he did because he had been at the show, but who knew why he’d really been there. Maybe he and Max went to art shows to pick up girls. “Or were you there to find a young impressionable girl to hook up with?”

“Touché.” He laughed and then paused. “I think that art is as important as the air we breathe.”

“Oh?” I looked at him in surprise. His voice had come alive as he’d spoken about the subject.

“I don’t suppose you would understand, but many do not understand what it is to live and breathe creativity.”

“Yeah, I suppose not.” I thought about Anna and how bored she looked when I talked about Monet and his Impressionist paintings.

“I can see I’m boring you.” He jumped up from the couch. “Let us watch a movie.”

“Okay, thanks.” I peered up at him and tried to avoid staring at his lips. I wasn’t sure why I lied about loving art. It just felt too personal and too intimate of a subject to discuss. I didn’t want to find out that we had things in common. This was just supposed to be a night of fun. I didn’t want to fall for him. “I’m feeling a bit sleepy.”

“Then I shall let you sleep.” He nodded and stood, looking at me with a blank expression.

I felt oddly disappointed and bereft as he left me alone, and I lay back and looked at the ceiling, wondering what on earth I was doing. I stared around the opulent room and couldn’t quite believe where I was. I was just a regular girl from Palm Bay, Florida. I had never even been abroad before, yet here I was in London, with my best friend Anna, having the time of my life. And I had only been in London for a little over a week. Everything in my life seemed different and better, though there was still a dull ache and pain that throbbed through to the surface when it thought no one was paying attention.

I closed my eyes and tried to picture Xavier’s face. I didn’t want to think about what I had left back home; it wasn’t worth it. This was my life now—or at least it was for the next nine months. I was no longer Lola Franklin, nerd and boring girl next door. I was now Lola Franklin, ingénue and up for any and everything. Only maybe I hadn’t changed as much as I thought ... If I had, would I be sleeping on a couch in a hot guy’s hotel room? Wouldn’t I be in the bed with him? Yeah, so he was a bit of a jerk. What did that matter? Wasn’t I trying to do something different now?

“Night.” I looked at him and watched as he walked back to his bedroom. I closed my eyes and wondered what had gone so wrong so quickly. Part of me wanted to go into his room and pick up where we’d left off. The other part of me just wanted to leave and go home.