Modern Girl's Guide to One-Night Stands Read online

  Contents

  Title Page

  Foreplay

  From The Modern Girl’s Guide to One-Night Stands

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty One

  Chapter Twenty Two

  What Happens Next?

  The Inner Circle

  Review

  Books by Gina Drayer

  Copyright

  The Modern Girl’s Guide

  To

  One-Night Stands

  (a steamy, romantic comedy)

  by

  Gina Drayer

  Don’t miss out on all the fun.

  http://ginadrayer.com/subscribe/

  Sign up for a chance to win an advanced copy of my next book. You’ll also be automatically added to my newsletter list so you can keep up will all my new releases and special deals, exclusive to my inner circle.

  From The Modern Girl’s Guide to One-Night Stands

  RULES OF THE ONE-NIGHTER

  An unadulterated night of passion with no strings attached can be a great way to spice up the single life without complications…as long as you stick to a few ground rules.

  In this book, we’ve outlined a few things a Modern Girl should think about before jumping into a one-night stand. By following our simple rules, you can enjoy a guilt-free hookup without any of the messy complications of a relationship.

  Chapter One

  Modern Girl Tip #5: Don’t Be Ashamed; Ask For What You Want—Women have needs just like men. There’s no shame in wanting sex, so don’t be afraid to ask.

  “I don’t understand why you’re upset, Julia,” Luke said, his head buried in his phone. “You know I have to stop by the office.”

  “You just got home. I haven’t seen you in two months,” Julia said, rubbing her temples.

  “Exactly. I’ve been gone for months, so a few more hours shouldn’t matter,” he said without looking up from his screen.

  Julia hated that stupid phone. No, hate was too mild a word. She despised that phone. Luke had spent the entire ride from O’Hare Airport checking his email. Was it too much to ask her fiancé to spend fifteen minutes talking to her?

  This wasn’t the homecoming she’d hoped for when Luke called last week, saying he would make it home before Christmas after all. She had everything planned, right down to the sexy lingerie from Agent Provocateur she’d picked up yesterday, that was now cutting into her hip. But leave it to him to put business first.

  “It’s almost four. The office will be closing soon. It just seems like a waste,” she tried to reason. “I thought we could at least spend your first night home together before you went back to work.”

  “I’ve been at the London office for months. There are things that need my attention here.” He set his phone down and picked up her hand, gently kissing the back of her knuckles. "I promise to be home before seven, and we can go out for a nice dinner.”

  “And it can’t wait until tomorrow?” she asked, yanking her hand back.

  Luke sighed and picked up his phone. “Honestly, Julia. This isn’t like you. We talked every night while I was gone. I don’t think few more hours will kill you."

  It might not kill her, but it was sure pissing her off. Sure they talked, but it was like chatting with a coworker. Their schedules never synced. Their discussions were often brief and strictly informative. She couldn’t even entice him to indulge in a little cross-Atlantic phone sex.

  These extended trips were putting a strain on their relationship. There was something off between them, and Julia knew they needed to reconnect.

  Tearing her gaze from the passing city, she studied Luke while he was still engrossed in his email. Julia had always thought he was handsome, but ever since his promotion, he’d changed.

  Today he was in his corporate executive guise, his hair styled fashionably without a strand out of place. He was clean-shaven and his suit was impeccable, even after the long flight from London.

  The whole look made him seem distant and untouchable.

  But Julia wanted to touch him.

  She didn’t know what it was—the new job or the fact she’d accepted his proposal—but she felt like an afterthought these days. Why couldn’t he turn on that charm that had won her over?

  Just a passionate kiss in the back of the limo would hold her over until he got home tonight. A subtle hint of desire. Anything. Julia really needed some physical contact.

  Deciding to take matters into her own hands, she slid across the bench seat and traced a path up his leg with her fingernail. “I don’t know if I can wait until this weekend to have you all to myself,” she whispered in his ear, desperate to gain his attention. She had inched her hand up to his crotch and brushed his bulge for emphasis. “I’ve been awfully lonely without you to warm my bed.”

  “Not here.” He shot a nervous look the driver, then removed her hand, frowning. “I’ll see if I can’t make it home early. When you move to London this summer, you won’t have to worry about being lonely. ”

  “Move to London?” Julia shifted away so she could see his face. “What do you mean, move to London?”

  “You said when the semester was over you’d join me in London,” he said, looking at her as if she was slow.

  “Yes. Like, for a visit. I was planning to come over summer break. You know, to see the town.”

  “When I accepted the promotion, it was for the London office. My office is going to be over there for at least the next two years. I told you about this.”

  “No. You said it was a possibility, not a certainty. You said we were going to talk about it.”

  Julia was panicked now. Their wedding wasn’t scheduled until August. Just over eight months away, and now he was springing this on her?

  “We did talk about it.” Luke had gone from distracted to annoyed in record time. “You said you’d come to London this summer. I took you at your word.”

  “That’s not what I meant and you know it. We always talked about living here after the wedding. I can’t leave Chicago." She looked out the window at the buildings passing by. This was her city. She couldn’t imagine living anyplace else. Looking back at Luke, she realized he seemed more put out than anything else, and that made her angry. “I have my job and I have to take care of my mom. We’re going to be married, Luke. You can’t make decisions like this without talking with me first.”

  “Mr. Davis, we’re at your office,” the driver announced.

  Luke was scowling now and he crossed his arms over his heavy wool jacket. “You’re overreacting. We’ve gone over this. You knew my job requires a lot of travel and as my wife there will be social obligations. Christ, Julia. Why are you pulling this on me now? I’m about to go into a meeting with the senior staff.” He leaned down and yanked up his briefcase from the floor. The lines creasing his brow deepened. "We’ll discuss this when I get home tonight.”

  And then he left without saying another word. Julia sat in the back of the limo, stunned. Yes, they had talked about his travel and even the social aspects of his job when Luke had asked her to marry him. She’d even lightened her teaching load next
year so she could travel with him, but they never talked about leaving the city.

  After a full-fledged freak-out on the way back home, Julia realized she might have overreacted. He’d said two years. She could do that. He was an executive at an airline—surely she’d be able to fly back often and look in on her mom. If she kept a small apartment in town for longer visits, she might be able to swing it.

  Luke was her future, after all. He was stable and dependable. Just the type of man she wanted to start a family with. Marriage meant compromise, and spending a few years in London wouldn’t be such a hardship. She’d fallen in love with the city last summer, when Luke first took the job with the airline.

  She milled about the apartment, waiting for him to come home, but instead all she got was a hasty text.

  Luke: Problems at the office. Can’t do dinner. Be home late.

  She thought about calling it a night with a tub of ice cream and a sappy movie. Tomorrow would be soon enough to fix this problem. But as night descended, Julia grew anxious to continue their conversation. If he couldn’t come to her, she’d just have to go to him. After putting together a light dinner, she called the car service and headed back to his office.

  The building was quiet. It was late, and everyone had already left for the day, so Julia used Luke’s spare passkey and made her way up to the eighteenth floor to Star Atlantic’s offices. Luke’s office was empty, but his jacket and tie were tossed over the back of the chair. She set the packed dinner she’d brought with her on his desk and headed back to the conference room where he liked to spread out.

  As she approached the door, Julia could hear what sounded like moans. Thinking she’d caught some interns fooling around, she turned, not wanting to embarrass them or herself, but the sound of Luke’s name stopped her dead.

  Toeing the door open, she saw Charlotte, Luke’s assistant, spread across the table while Luke was kissing her exposed skin. Julia shut her eyes and counted to five, sure she’d hallucinated the scene. But even with her eyes shut, she could still hear the unmistakable sounds of sex.

  Turning, Julia ran back to the elevator and smashed the call button. When the noises got louder behind her, Julia abandoned that plan and ran to the stairway. She was halfway down the eighteen flights when she lost it. She slid down to the step and cried.

  She wasn’t even sure what she was crying about, Luke’s complete betrayal or the fact he’d found his pleasure with someone else even after she'd thrown herself at him. It took several minutes, but Julia finally pulled herself together and finished the long descent to the ground floor. Still in a state of shock, she got in the back of the waiting limo, not sure what to do next.

  “Ms. Hopkins?” the driver said.

  “What?” Julia asked, turning to the front of the limo and finding the driver waiting for her. His smile was sad, and Julia didn’t know if his response was to her obvious tears or if he’d known about Luke’s extracurricular actives. “I’m sorry, Jacob. What did you need?”

  “I was just wondering if you wanted me to take you back to Mr. Davis’s apartment?” he asked.

  Mr. Davis’s apartment. Even the driver knew she was just an accessory in Luke’s life. Here she was, going back to his apartment, preparing to be his wife, living his life. All the while he was fucking some girl on the conference room table. What the fuck had happened to her? She’d even lost the fire to go up there and tell him off. She didn’t even recognize herself anymore.

  “Yes. Take me to the condo, but would you wait on me? I just need to grab a few things.”

  “It’s the best decision you’ve ever made,” Megan said as they rode the elevator down to the lobby of the hotel. “Luke was an asshole. You’re young and a babe. You’ll find someone new. Someone who will treat you right."

  “Meh,” Julia shrugged noncommittally.

  Staring down at her now-bare ring finger, she sighed. It had been a month since she walked out, leaving the ring with a long Dear John letter, and it still felt weird. Luke hadn’t even called to try and explain. Maybe Luke hadn’t even noticed she'd left him. She wasn’t sure if that made her angry or relieved.

  But after weeks of analyzing her feelings, Julia realized one thing: she wasn’t upset anymore. No, all she felt was relief.

  “It was the right thing to do,” Julia said, more to herself than Megan. “I would never be able to trust him again. I should have known something was up when he wanted to use condoms again. He said it was to be safe. That we wouldn’t want to rush the wedding because I got pregnant. Now I realize he was fucking around on me. Do you think that meant he wasn’t practicing safe sex with his mistress?”

  “Have you been tested?” Megan asked, answering the question in a roundabout way.

  “It was one of the first things I did after leaving.”

  “Tell me again why you wanted to marry that creep? You’re a much smarter girl than that.”

  Julia shrugged, at a loss for words. She really couldn’t remember why. They had dated for a while, and then he proposed. It was almost as if she said yes out of pure shock more than anything else.

  “After the mani-pedi, we should go down to the pool. A nice soak in the hot tub is just what you need.”

  The elevator doors opened and Megan dragged her to the spa entrance. She glanced down at a sign sitting on the reception desk and started jumping up and down like a fangirl.

  “Oh, Drew is here. We need to get hot stone massages, too.”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Don’t worry about your back,” she said, as if reading Julia’s thoughts. "Drew is a licensed massage therapist. Just tell him about the accident and he’ll take extra care. He has magic fingers, and he’s smoking hot. It’s a win-win.”

  “A massage does sound nice. And I guess if I want someone to touch me now, I’m going to have to pay for it.”

  “Oh, honey, Luke was a prick,” Megan said and put her arm around Julia’s shoulder. “Let’s hit the bar tonight. Maybe we can find you a hot piece of ass to help you forget about what’s-his-head.”

  “I can’t even think about going out with someone else. I just called off my wedding. The body is still warm. Besides, I don’t even have a place to live right now."

  “Yes, you do. You’re staying with me, and you’re welcome to stay as long as you want. And who said anything about dating?" Julia started to protest, but Megan cut her off. “Let Drew work on you. Maybe after you’ve loosened up you’ll be more receptive."

  “Fine.” Julia smiled, even though she really didn’t feel it. She really hadn’t felt much of anything these last few weeks.

  “I still have to go Saturday morning, but I’m determined to see you laid before then. Maybe we should skip the pool and go straight to the bar.”

  “I’m not sure I’m up for that.”

  “Don’t be a prude. The best way to get over someone is to get under someone else, I always say.”

  “Megan…”

  “Ms. Shelton? We’re ready for you.” A small brunette woman came out of the back room, carrying a clipboard. “If you’ll follow me.”

  Megan turned back to Julia and smiled. “Just enjoy the spa. We’ll talk about that other thing later.” She winked and walked through the curtain to the back rooms.

  Julia stood there and watched her go, knowing full well Megan was on a mission. Julia had never been the type of girl to bed-hop, but it wasn’t as if she’d seen any action in a while. It would be nice to feel wanted and desired again.

  “Ms. Hopkins, are you coming?” the brunette asked with a nod of her head. She was waiting for Julia to make a decision, patiently holding the curtain open.

  The week they’d booked at one of Chicago’s luxury hotels was supposed to help her get out of this funk, but it wasn’t helping. Maybe Megan was right. Maybe a man was just the thing to help her forget. Julia followed the attendant back to a private room, determined to do this one crazy thing before she returned back to her boring life.

  “I won’t b
e back until Monday, but promise me you’ll stay another night and relax. The room is booked until Sunday, so enjoy the pool. The bar. The men." Megan picked up her bag and checked her makeup in the mirror one more time. She dabbed a bit more lip gloss on her full lips and smiled. “You never did find your one-night stand.”

  “Every guy staying at this hotel reminds me of Luke. Successful, polished, driven. Not exactly the escape I was looking for.” Julia stretched out on the sofa and pulled her robe tighter. She missed out on her crazy one-night stand, but this was still one of the best winter breaks Julia had spent in a long time. She was relaxed and felt more like her old self, not the soft, placating woman she had become.

  She wondered again why she had let Luke dictate her life. It wasn’t until she’d walked away that she realized she hadn’t made a decision for herself in over a year. Luke even picked out her clothing, for Christ’s sake! That is, everything but the sexy lingerie she was planning on surprising him with. So much for that plan. Maybe she would wear them to the next faculty meeting. A little secret, under her stiff business suit.

  “I think I’ll just go back to your condo,” she said. “I want to spend the rest of winter break in my PJs, eating ice cream.”

  Megan reached over the back of the sofa and patted her on the shoulder. “I still think you’re being too picky. We’re talking a one-night stand. A fling, not a relationship. Pick a sexy guy and go with it. Seriously, you don’t even need to talk. Just a little bump and grind.” Megan walked over to the closet and pulled out her jacket. After double-checking her itinerary, she headed toward the door. “I wish I could have canceled this speaking engagement. I don’t want to leave you alone. You could always come with me.”

  “To Des Moines? In January? No. I’ll pass. I promise not to run back to Luke or have a breakdown while you’re gone. I’m fine. Really.” Julia crossed her heart with her fingertips and shot Megan big puppy dog eyes. “Your devoted fans are waiting. I still can’t believe people admit, in public, that they read your books.”