Free Love Far Away (A Spicy Contemporary Romance) by Leslie Cooper Page B

are you guys up to after this place?”
    Becca and I exchanged a look. “ After this place?” I
repeated. By my best guess, it was at least two in the morning. I’d already
started imagining what my bed would feel like after a night of dancing in high
heels.
    “Yeah,” said Claire. “It’s Europe; things are only getting
started!”
    “Umm,” said Becca.
    “We haven’t thought that far ahead yet,” said Megan.
    “I think we’re having a bit of a party at our suite
afterwards,” said Claire. “Amy’s arranging the whole thing. I don’t want to
sound weird, but you girls are more than welcome to come if you’d like!”
    “Like...what kind of party?” asked Becca.
    “Just a few of us, some other friends we’ve met here,” said
Claire.
    Ashley showed up just then, her hands full of shots. “Shots
all around!” she said cheerfully, handing the glasses to Becca, Megan, and I.
“What’re we all talking about?”
    “We’re just making new friends here,” I said. I gestured to
our new friend. “This is Claire- Claire, this is our other friend, Ashley.”
    “Hey!” said Claire. “I was just asking your friends if you
guys had plans for after this place.”
    “After this place?” repeated Ashley, and I was relieved I
wasn’t the only one who hadn’t thought about an after-hours party. “No, I don’t
think so, we don’t have anything planned. We’re just going with the flow
tonight.”
    “Well, in that case, you guys should totally come,” said
Claire. “We’re having some people over to our suite after this place closes
down- at three, or whenever. I can give you the address if you’re interested.”
    Unlike Becca, Megan, and I, Ashley didn’t hesitate. “Sure!”
she said, and pulled out her phone. “Here- just write the name of the hotel in
here and a number we should call when we get there.”
    I stared at my friend in shock as Claire tapped away at the
phone’s screen. Was Ashley insane? Just meeting strangers at nightclubs and
going back to parties at their hotel rooms?
    “Are you nuts?” I whispered in her ear, once she had her
phone back and had squeezed on to the banquette next to me. “Just going to hang
out with a stranger like that?”
    “It’s not any different than a one night stand, really,”
Ashley shrugged. “Ohhh, wait. You’ve never had one of those, have you? Just
Bradley….you poor dear.” She patted me on the head, then gave me a little hug.
“You just have to go with it sometimes, Jules. If we never talked to people we
didn’t know, how could we ever make new friends?”
    She was right in a way, but she was also totally wrong. You
met new friends at yoga class or chatting on the playground, not when a
stranger invited you back to their hotel for a party.
    We stayed at the club a bit longer- having another round of
drinks, going back out to the dance floor, before we decided it was time to go
and stumbled outside.
    “I’m about ready for bed,” said Becca, yawning. “I had a
great time, but I’m tired.”
    “Me too,” I agreed. “Sorry, Ashley, I just don’t think I’m
up for an after party.”
    “But that’s not fair,” said Ashley. “You agreed- whatever
happens, happens! Maybe we’ll have a great time. And hey, if it turns crazy, at
least we’ll have a great story, right?”
    “Right, like waking up in a bathtub with a missing kidney,”
said Becca. “Ha ha ha, that was such a great time!”
    “Don’t be a party pooper,” said Ashley. “Come on, it’ll be
fun!”
    “I don’t know,” I said. “Megs?”
    “I’m up for it,” she declared. “Ashley’s right- it could end
up being a lot of fun. Go with the flow, remember, Jules?”
    She was right. Becca rolled her eyes at us but came along
anyway, claiming that someone would have to call the police when Claire and her
friends tried to hold us hostage. I was tired, but couldn’t help but feel a
twinge of nervous excitement as we piled in to a cab on the way to