by Krista Wolf
Relief flooded through me. At least I hadn’t been naked. And if I were being honest, the shots looked good. Damned good. Almost like I knew what I was doing.
I sighed and checked the photos again. They were nothing I wouldn’t mind anyone seeing, really. I’d worked hard in the ten years since I’d dropped out of college, to stay in shape. I had curves, but they were all good curves. Regular workouts at the gym had helped me keep those curves in all the right places.
My stomach lurched as I scrolled down, to see the responses beneath my text. There were three of them, sent five minutes apart.
Hey sexy!
You there?
You look amazing. Get back to us.
I could only imagine what was going through my mind. Or what would’ve happened if I hadn’t passed out! I could remember kicking off my heels. Wriggling out of the dress and laying back, just to close my eyes for a little while…
And now here I was. So alone and lonely I’d pulled some dirty flyer down from a Vegas pole and texted photos of myself to some random guy. No, scratch that. Two random guys.
Two random guys who would’ve come up to your room last night…
My stomach did another backflip. I looked at the flyer again.
DOUBLE the carnal pleasure.
A whole year. That’s how long it had already been. Over a full year since the divorce, since Rob had left. A year since returning to a single life that hadn’t included a single date with a single guy, not even counting—
The sudden ringing of my phone caused me to nearly jump out of my skin! I glanced down, to where a number flashed across the screen. It was a strange number. A number I didn’t immediately recognize…
… at least not until I looked to the bottom of the flyer, still in my other hand.
Two
LAUREN
The phone was on its second ring before I even realized what was happening. By the third ring, my heart was beating a mile a minute.
Don’t pick it up.
It was my first instinct. Such an easy thing to do; to simply ignore it. Just let it ring a few more times, and go to voicemail.
Still…
The phone rang a third time. A fourth. Why did I feel so anxious all of a sudden? All I had to do was not do anythin—
“Hello?”
It happened mechanically, without me even realizing. Or maybe I did realize it, and I’d done it anyway. But somehow, some way or another… I’d actually answered.
“Hi there!” a voice on the other end answered smoothly. “This is Brody.”
I froze. The walls of my throat felt literally locked against one another. A long, agonizing moment passed.
“Hello?” the voice said hesitantly.
“B—Brody,” I somehow managed to say.
“Brody and Corey, actually,” the voice said. God, it was such a cute voice. No, that wasn’t right. It was a hot voice. A deep, masculine voice full of strength and stamina and—
“We received a couple of texts from this phone number last night,” the voice went on. Then, after another awkward pause: “Was that you?”
I looked down, and the arm holding the phone was shaking! I couldn’t believe it. I was still in shock.
“Maybe you picked up one of our flyers?”
“I— I…”
My stomach was in knots. It felt like a hot knife, twisting around in my gut. A really weird feeling.
But at the same time, I sort of liked it.
“Yes,” I said at last, adding a nervous chuckle. “That would’ve been me. And I’m really sorry,” I added. “I totally didn’t mean to—”
“Please,” the velvety voice said. “Don’t be sorry. In fact, Corey and I were pretty excited to get your message. And especially your photos.”
My stomach lurched again, this time in a different direction. It was like being on a roller coaster of highs and lows.
“By the way, you’re very beautiful,” the man on the phone said admiringly. “And really sexy.”
The knife twisted again. The heat in my belly was dipping lower now. Dropping to a more dangerous, forbidden place.
“I— I don’t know if I really meant to send those,” I said hesitantly. “I mean, I was… it was really late, and I was thinking of… well…”
“Hey listen,” said Brody, “we totally get it. You were nervous. Apprehensive. Or maybe you had a few drinks, you were just lonely…”
Yes, I thought to myself. And yes.
“It’s all totally understandable,” Brody went on. “Sometimes things look better at night than they do in the morning.” He let out an honest laugh. “It’s all good.”
“No, no,” I jumped in. “It’s not like that.”
My whole body shuddered with excitement. I couldn’t believe what I was saying.
“I mean, it’s not that I wasn’t into… well…” I let out an exasperated sigh. “I guess…”
“You guess what?”
After another pause, I laughed nervously. “I guess I don’t know what I mean.”
My hand trembled. The phone felt warm against my ear. Long seconds of silence ticked by, and then:
“So you’re into it?”
My heart leapt into my throat. Of course you’re not into it! Tell him you’re not into—
“I— I really don’t know…”
Brody chuckled in a soothing, non-mocking way. “It’s okay, we get it. No rush here. This certainly isn’t something for everyone.” He cleared his throat huskily. “Let’s start with your name.”
Your name? I froze again. Don’t tell them your name!
“Lauren,” I blurted helplessly.
Idiot!
“Hmmm…” the voice on the other end purred. “Lauren’s a sexy name.”
I had to laugh. “I’ll bet you say that to all the girls.”
“Oh I definitely do,” Brody allowed, chuckling right back at me. “But in this case, fact is still fact.”
I couldn’t believe it. I was actually flirting with this guy! And he, of course, was flirting right back with me.
“Are you still in Vegas tonight, Lauren?” the voice asked, after another spat of silence.
I nodded silently before speaking. “Yes.”
“Good,” said Brody. “I’ve got an idea then. Wanna hear it?”
“Sure.”
“Let’s try this: You take the day. Go out, do your thing, enjoy the beautiful sights in Vegas. And then later tonight, after dinner? You meet us for drinks. Corey and I.”
The lump was back in my throat again. It was competing with the knife in my belly.
“Drinks?”
“Yes, drinks,” he replied innocently. “Your hotel has a bar, doesn’t it?”
“Of course.”
“There you go,” said Brody. “We’ll meet you down there, and the three of us will have a drink. Just one drink. That’s it.”
“One drink…” I repeated.
“Sure,” said Brody. “At worst, we’ll get to know each other a little. Share a few laughs. Maybe have some fun together, before we go our separate ways.”
“And at best?” I found myself asking.
“At best we’ll hit it off,” said Brody slyly. “At which point the three of us will head up to your room…”
My legs crossed. My body stiffened.
“… and have even more fun together.”
There was another moment of silence. I felt queasy. Almost nauseous. At the same time though, my whole body trembled with an almost electric excitement.
“Lauren?” the voice at the other end of the phone asked. “You still there?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
I swallowed hard. Took the leap.
“Okay. I’ll do it.”
My shoulders slumped as the words dropped from my lips. It was a good feeling. Like all the pressure had finally been taken away.
“Excellent!” said Brody. “Corey and I will be looking forward to it.” I could practically feel hi
m smiling from the other end of the phone. “Let’s say nine-thirty?”
“Nine-thirty,” I repeated. “One drink.”
“Of course,” said Brody cheerfully. He paused for another moment. “Where are you staying?”
“The Bellagio.”
“Ah, you went big,” said Brody. “Very cool.”
I glanced through my bedroom doorway, into the main area of our multi-bedroom suite. Everything was all polished marble and deep-pile carpeting. Decor that might be considered gaudy anywhere other than Las Vegas, like the gold-leaf accents on the finely-paneled walls.
If only you knew how big, I thought to myself.
“There’s a lounge downstairs,” Brody was saying, “called the Lily. Do you know it?”
I actually knew it well. The girls and I had had drinks there just about every night, before going out.
“Yes,” I replied.
“We’ll meet you down there, then. At the bar.”
“O—Okay,” I said, trying to rally some confidence. “Sounds good.”
“And Lauren?”
“Yes?”
“Relax,” Corey chuckled gently. “This is going to be fun.”
Three
LAUREN
It was one of those days that seemed to last forever, but then ended abruptly, all at once.
I spent most of it walking the strip, from the huge fountains out in front of my hotel all the way down to the Luxor. Everything looked so different during the day. Up until now, my girlfriends and I had been enjoying Vegas mostly at night.
As part of my vow to keep busy I stopped for brunch at Planet Hollywood. I did an hour or two of shopping at the Showcase Mall. I even dropped a little money at the roulette wheels over at the MGM Grand.
Gambling was one of my guilty pleasures. I wasn’t a high roller or anything, but as a red-blooded New Yorker I’d been known to drive south to Atlantic City or shoot north toward Foxwoods or Mohegan Sun from time to time. My job as both a publicist and promoter had me working long hours and even longer weekends. Losing myself at these adult playplaces had always helped me blow off some steam.
Of course, Rob never took me. In nearly ten years of marriage, I could count on one hand the number of vacations we’d had. Most of them had been conveniently designed around my husband playing golf with his friends, too. Just another thing he could’ve shared with me, but never did.
Oh fuck Rob, remember?
It was supposed to be the mantra of our trip. Forget all about the guys and husbands — or in my case ex-husband — and just enjoy being together as girlfriends for once. It sounded good in theory, anyway. But in practice…
In practice everything had deteriorated before our week was even half over.
It all started with Heather, disappearing back to her room after dinner to tuck her children in via Skype every night. That part was totally understandable, except that most nights she never came back out.
Noelle was even worse. She made every other excuse to turn in early. It could’ve been because she was tired, but more likely because her loser unemployed husband was a total control freak. We tried getting her to come out with us, but she soon stopped answering her room’s door and her phone.
Victoria was a blast, and a wonderful single mom. But when her son came down with the flu, she’d flown back three days early. And if that weren’t big enough of a drag, we had to put up with Deanna. About to embark upon her second marriage, her new fiance called her phone literally every fifteen fucking minutes.
That left Bella, the wild one. The one I most related to, because ever since my divorce a year ago I was looking very forward to cutting loose with her.
And then four days in… she’d gotten called back to work. And she went. And we all hugged her goodbye and wished her well.
It’s life, Lauren. It happens.
Yeah sure, life happens. Only this time, it happened five consecutive times. And it happened to my vacation. The only one I’d taken in God only knew how long.
And so it came to pass that with three nights left in our ‘week of fun’, I was the sole survivor Everyone had changed flights and gone back early, leaving me with time and money and tons of pent-up energy. Not to mention a very spacious and expensive hotel suite that, as of right now, was hauntingly empty.
As the sun finally set, I felt the knot of anticipation in my stomach more sharply than ever. It occurred to me I’d been distracting myself. Doing anything and everything I could, to keep from thinking about… tonight.
It’s just a drink. One little drink.
Yeah, sure. That’s what I kept telling myself. And the little voice in my head kept laughing back in my face.
No strings, no guilt, no pressure — remember?
The knot in my stomach tightened. The truth was, I’d wanted it last night. Wanted everything the flyer had offered.
And I’d wanted it badly.
It had been almost a year since I’d actually had sex; ten months, to be precise. And if not for a moment of weakness when Rob had stopped by to grab some of his stuff, it would’ve actually been more like a year and a half.
Nothing wrong with wanting it, I reminded myself silently. Hell, it’s only natural.
I’d jumped him after a single glass of wine, right on the couch he was taking with him the next week. I was fine with that. Both the sex and the loss of the couch.
What I wasn’t fine with however, was the guilt that came afterward.
Besides, sex with my ex wasn’t exactly fulfilling either. It was only marginally better than the increasingly lackluster sex we’d had during our marriage, only this time with the forbidden element of doing something ‘wrong’ thrown in.
And now here I was, almost a year later… without even so much as a fuckbuddy or friend with benefits I could call to help me out. I was practically celibate. At severe risk of growing my cherry back.
Hell, I’d even tried one of those swipe-if-you-like dating apps everyone raved so much about. I’d had five meet-ups with four different guys, and none of them had gone past first base. And not for a lack of trying on my part, either.
“Guys these days don’t always make the first move,” Bella had told me. “Sometimes you’ve got to do it yourself.”
Yeah, no thanks.
It was a little crazy to me, that in just a decade things had somehow gotten so backwards. That the semi-cute guy who’d taken me out twice had only kissed me after I’d kissed him first. And even then, he’d seemed extremely deer-in-headlights about it.
Call me traditional, but I liked a guy with a little more decisiveness. A guy who made the moves. A guy who could take my hand and take charge. Someone who—
My phone buzzed against my thigh, and I stopped in my tracks. It was barely six o’clock.
Maybe it’s them.
A shockwave of fear rippled through me. My stomach flip-flopped.
Maybe they’re calling to cancel plans…
I was gripped by a whole host of conflicting emotions. Dread laced with excitement. Overwhelming relief… followed by grave disappointment.
Slowly I pulled the phone from my pocket. My whole body relaxed as I saw the name on the screen… and swiped to answer it with a big, broad grin.
Four
LAUREN
“What’s up you sexy bitch?”
I laughed as my friend greeted me with our usual exchange. I hadn’t even said hello yet.
“Getting along okay?” Bella asked. “Is Vegas still standing?”
“Fortunately yes,” I said, glancing around. The strip loomed on both sides of me, lighting up more with each passing minute. “Looks intact so far.”
“Damn, I figured you’d have brought some of the walls down by now,” laughed Bella. “What, with you being on your own and everything. No more lame duck, dead weight bullshit like the others were pulling on us.”
I smiled as I continued walking, the warmth of the waning sun on my back. I missed her already.
“Now at least you�
��re free,” she went on. “You can cut loose for the last few days of the trip, without anyone stopping you. Do whatever the hell you want.”
The phrase was definitely appealing. Especially considering the current circumstances.
“Yeah…” I answered finally. “But without you, though.”
“And I’m very sorry about that,” she answered, her tone going genuine. “But turns out the little fucklets here at the office really did have a legit emergency.”
“Fucklets?”
“Yeah, that’s right. When someone crashes the Unix system and nobody can even VPN me into the server so I can do a cold reboot? I consider them fucklets. Especially when they drag me away from a kickass, well-deserved vacation.”
I chuckled again. “So I guess the emergency was you weren’t there to hold their dicks for them.”
“Exactly,” my friend laughed. “Half of them couldn’t find their own ass if it were stapled to their forehead.”
“Have you tried that?”
She paused for one funny second. “No, but I probably should.” I heard her let out a long sigh. “Anyway, I’m just as pissed as you are. Imagine if it were just the two of us down there, tearing up that town.”
“Or getting torn up,” I countered.
In my mind’s eye, I could see my friend’s inevitable smile. “Either way sounds fun to me.”
I walked on a little more, toward the end of the strip. Very soon I’d grab a cab and head back to my hotel.
“What are you doing right now?” Bella asked.
“I’m about to jump into a cab, head back to the hotel,” I said. “Grab a shower. Get myself ready.”
“Ready for what?”
Butterflies erupted in my stomach. Oh shit…
I opened my mouth for a second. Almost actually told her. If anyone would understand, it would be Bella. Hell, if anyone would approve, it would be her too.
