Free Just a Flirt by Olivia Noble

Chapter One

     
     
    “Fine,” Nicole grumbled to herself as she
stumbled out of the elevator. Her shoulder banged roughly against
the wall on the other side of the hallway, and she giggled at her
own clumsiness, barely feeling any pain from the impact in her
inebriated state. She struggled to straighten herself as she used
the wall for support, wobbling in the direction of her hotel
suite.
    “Fine,” she said again with more conviction.
“You’re a jerk, Eva. I don’t need you anyway.”
    Her ankles twisted in her high heels from
moving at an erratic speed, sometimes walking far too quickly and
sometimes completely paused in confusion. Finally, after what felt
like an eternity, Nicole found herself sprawled on the ground
beneath her hotel room door.
    “Okay,” she said, looking up at the number
dizzily. A small hiccup escaped her throat. “Just gotta find my
key...” Rolling onto her stomach, she pulled at the handle of her
purse which was tied around her neck so that she wouldn’t lose it.
After fishing around for several minutes, and dropping a tube of
lipstick and a few packets of condoms, she held up the small
plastic card triumphantly between her manicured fingers.
“There!”
    She lifted herself onto her knees and tried
to insert the key into the door several times. After several
frustrating failures, the light finally blinked green, and she
giggled in glee. Nicole opened the door and promptly fell forward
into the suite.
    “Mmm,” she mumbled, rubbing her cheek
against the soft carpet. Somehow, in her current condition, the
floor seemed to be as comfortable as an expensive mattress. She
certainly didn’t feel any desire to go through the difficult task
of climbing all the way across the room and up into her big empty
bed. When her eyes glanced toward the luxurious bedroom, they
immediately filled with tears. Nicole pulled her purse off her neck
and tossed it feebly at the bed.
    “I don’t need anyone!” she shouted at the
bed angrily. “No Eva? No hot dudes on the beach? Who cares! I’m an
independent woman and I can please myssself. Thank you very
much.”
    Crawling forward into the bedroom, Nicole
heard the door shut closed behind her with an odd crunch. She was
far too drunk to look back and investigate this. She continued to
crawl toward her shiny golden purse which now lay in the middle of
the carpet with her credit cards and cell phone spilling out. After
reaching the purse, Nicole found herself unable to resist checking
for messages. There had been nothing since Eva last informed her
that she was abruptly leaving the country on a private plane.
    “Aren’t you fancy?” Nicole said bitterly.
“All it takes is one gorgeous billionaire for you to become a
complete slut and leave me lying in a ditch somewhere.” Nicole
scanned through some of her older text messages as well, and found
that while there were dozens of messages from old booty calls,
there was, as usual, nothing from the one man she actually cared to
hear from. She briefly considered drunk dialing him, but she knew
better. With a large yawn, Nicole pulled her soft purse against her
middle as though it were a teddy bear.
    “I’m in the Bahamas, for heaven’s sake,” she
reminded herself firmly. “I’m going to have a good time if it’s the
last thing I do.”
    Her eyelids grew very heavy, and for a few
minutes, they closed completely.
    Dreams danced in her mind, revealing the
deep, honest desires that she never allowed herself to acknowledge.
She saw the face of the person she never allowed herself to think
about. When her eyes finally opened again, Nicole was startled to
find herself lying on the ground. She yanked herself off the floor,
feeling as refreshed and alert as if she had slept for several
hours.
    “Eva?” she said in confusion, rubbing her
eyes as she grabbed one of the bed posts. Finding that her friend
was nowhere in the hotel room, the information from the previous
night came rushing back and smacked her