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.