“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.

I froze as I heard Xavier’s door open and footsteps coming towards me. I counted to ten before opening my eyes, and I saw him standing by the wall watching me. I felt a bit creeped out but didn’t say anything. Finally, he walked towards me, grabbed my hands, and pulled me up off of the couch.

“Come. You must sleep in the bed. You’re my guest. I cannot have you sleeping on the couch. I will be a perfect gentleman and will not lay a finger on you.”

“Oh, no,” I stammered, blushing as my blood boiled in excitement. “There’s no need. I’ll be fine on the couch. It’s very comfortable.”

“I insist. You must sleep in the bed.” He pulled me into the bedroom with him and then picked something off the bed and handed it to me. “Put this on. It will be more comfortable to sleep in.”

“I, uh ... Thanks.” I nodded sheepishly. It was true. My skirt was feeling pretty uncomfortable. “I’ll just go change in the bathroom.”

I quickly walked into the bathroom and unfolded the t-shirt he had given me. It was big and long enough to cover my ass, but just barely. I pulled my skirt, top, and bra off and quickly pulled on the t-shirt. But then I stood there in the bathroom, unsure of what to do next. When I walked, the t-shirt rode up and showed my ass, and I realized that my nipples were poking through the thin white top. I thought about calling out and asking him to borrow some boxer shorts, but then I giggled to myself at my thoughts. My first night as a seductress and I was asking for boxer shorts and worried that I was revealing too much.

“Be confident, Lola. Own your sexuality.” I repeated the mantra of some self-help lady who’d had a free podcast on iTunes.

I shivered as I pictured Xavier staring at me with lust as I walked back into the room. He’d be so overcome with his attraction that he would fling me onto the bed and have his wicked way with me. I smiled at the thought of him wanting me so badly that he would beg me to kiss him and touch him.