I text the girls to meet me in the hotel lobby. When I find them, I decide they must have had another three cocktails while I was sipping my one with Adam. They’re even more raucous and excitable than before.

Hannah’s hair looks ruffled in its pony, Naomi’s skirt has wiggled its way up her waist, making it look indecently short. Amy’s tiara is lopsided on her head. I smile fondly at them all. “Did you girls have fun?”

“We won a hundred and eighty bucks,” Amy says proudly, showing me the wad of cash she had exchanged.

I reach into my purse and pull out my own winnings. “I don’t want to brag, but check this out. Two grand.”

Their mouths drop open.

“Are you kidding? How did you manage that?” Hannah asks.

I shrug gleefully. “What can I say? Adam is lucky.”

“You learned something! His name’s Adam!” Amy croons. “Tell us all about him.”

“I will,” I promise. “Let’s find somewhere to eat first. I’m starving, and I think you girls could use a little something to line your stomachs.”

“Let’s go to the place we saw coming in here!” Amy says, her voice rising in excitement. “You know, the one with the caricatures and a giant model of Marilyn Monroe.”

“I remember. Come on, then.”

The four of us link arms and walk through the lobby, heading outside onto the Vegas streets. There’s no end of sights here — everything is lit up and larger than life. We pass by casino after casino, hotel after hotel. There are nightclubs, strip clubs, and everything in between. Music and laughter spill out of every open door. We must see half a dozen other bachelorette parties on our way to the restaurant.

We find the place Amy was talking about on a stretch only a couple of blocks away from the hotel — Café Caricature.

The restaurant is a gimmick. It’s topped with a giant fiberglass model of Marilyn Monroe, with her trademark skirt blowing up and forming the roof of the café. Inside are dozens of traditional American diner style red-leather booths, a black-and-white checkered floor, and hundreds of caricatures of famous actors, actresses, musicians, and entertainers framed on the walls.

“Let’s sit under Bruce Willis!” Naomi says.

We go to the hostess stand.

“Can we have Bruce?” Naomi asks hopefully.

The hostess smiles. “Of course. Come this way.”

She leads us to the booth under the garish portrait of Bruce Willis and hands us our menus. The girls start to order more booze but settle on shakes after Hannah notices there’s a peanut-butter Oreo option. I order one too before we place our orders for huge burgers and fries.

Before we know it, we’re all munching away under the watchful eye of Bruce. The girls sober up a bit. It’s not long before they bring the conversation back around to Adam.

“So?” Hannah presses. “Tell us what happened.”

I reach into my purse, pull out the keycard, and lay it on the table. The girls’ eyes bulge as they look at it and understand what it means.

Amy is the first to speak. Her grin stretches from ear to ear as she lays her palms flat on the table, leaning across the table toward me in excitement. “Are you going to go?”

I laugh and place the card back in my purse. “I don’t think so.”

“What?” Naomi objects. “Why did you take the card?”

I bite down on my lip and offer a small shrug. “I don’t know. I guess, in the moment, I thought maybe I would.”

“What’s changed?” Hannah insists.

“I came to my senses,” I say. “Like I’d go to a stranger’s room for a one-night-stand! It’s a bit cheap, don’t you think?”

“It depends on why you’re doing it. Are you desperate or are you a hot-blooded woman who’s attracted to an equally hot-blooded man.” Hannah looks at me matter-of-factly. “You’re on vacation in Vegas. Everyone knows what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. This could be the perfect opportunity for you to let your hair down.”

“I said it before. I’m here with you girls. I’m not looking to hook up.”

Naomi rolls her eyes. “If there were any men for you in Illinois, you would have met one by now. Maybe a no-strings-attached vacation fling is what you need to get you back in the game. Boost your confidence, remind you what’s out there.”

I make a face. “It’s not me.”

Amy scoffs into her milkshake. I look across at her. “What?”

“Who are you kidding? You had all kinds of flings in college.”

I smile. “That was a while ago.”

“You’re allowed to have fun after graduation, you know,” Naomi says, flicking back her dark hair pointedly. “I think you should go.”

Hannah and Amy stare at me, too, sucking up thick Oreo milkshakes through their straws.

“I agree,” Hannah says. “It doesn’t have to be the romance of a lifetime, but Laura, a little fun never hurt anyone.”

“I don’t know him. He could be an ax murderer.”

“None of the ax murderers I know dress in suits,” Amy says. “Didn’t you say yourself he was good luck? You’ve had two big wins tonight. The roulette wheel and on the table with Adam. Why not go for a third? Get lucky in the bedroom.”

I laugh. “I want to spend time with you girls.”

“You have the rest of your life to do that,” Amy says. “You can hang out with us any time. You’re only going to get one chance to fuck that handsome beast.”

“Honestly, Laura, he was gorgeous,” Naomi chips in.

I fiddle with my straw, laughing self-consciously. “I’ve grown up a lot since I was twenty-one.”

“You went straight from twenty-one to ninety-one,” Amy says. “You should go to his room tonight. The bride insists.”

“The bride insists!” Hannah and Naomi echo.

I laugh. “I’ll think about it.”

“I know what’s on your mind,” Hannah says, a disapproving tone in her voice. She points her straw at me accusingly, a few droplets of ice-cream dribbling off the end. “You can’t wait to get back to the hotel room and check your emails.”

I hold up my phone pointedly. “I’ve been checking my emails all day.”

Hannah’s eyes widen in betrayal. “I knew it!”

“What are you going to do while I’m in a stranger’s room?” I ask Hannah. “It’s not going to be much fun for you to spend the night alone in a hotel room. This is supposed to be a girls’ trip.”

“She’ll bunk with us,” Amy insists. “They’re double beds. We can squeeze one more into our room.”

“Then we’ve paid for a room to sit empty all night.”

All three girls groan dramatically.

“Look, Laura,” Amy says diplomatically. “If you’re looking for a reason not to go, you’re going to find one. Didn’t you like the guy?”

“I hardly know him.”

“Let me put it another way. Are you attracted to Adam?”

My heart hasn’t stopped fluttering since I left him. “Of course.”

“Then go. Come on. This is the stuff amazing memories are made of. Do it for passion.”

“Do it for your engaged and married sisters who’ll never get to hook up with a hot high-roller in Vegas,” Naomi pitches in.

“Do it for your poor shriveled pussy,” Hannah adds.

The three stare at me.

“Come on, Laura,” Amy urges. “You might enjoy yourself.”

“I’ll think about it,” I promise.

After dinner, we continue for drinks. It turns into a bar crawl along the Vegas strip. I try to pace my drinks because someone’s going to have to get the girls back safely to the hotel. I don’t want to go too wild. I’m still planning on doing a couple of hours’ work in the morning before we head out for tomorrow’s adventure.

Still, I let myself indulge in a few more cocktails as the night wears on. It’s only half-past eleven by the time we roll back into the hotel. Amy’s absolutely wasted. She needs to be put to bed.

Naomi, Hannah, and I womanhandle the bride-to-be into the elevator and get her into the room. She immediately starts throwing up. I rush her into the bathroom and hold back her hair as she heaves.

“Get me one of those mini vodkas from the fridge,” she slurs.

I shake my head. “No more vodka for you, sweetie. A nice glass of water, then bed.”

Amy sighs dramatically. “You used to be fun.”

I start rubbing her back. “You’ll be glad in the morning someone was sober tonight. You’re going to have a sore head when you wake up. I think I might have saved you from alcohol poisoning.”

I hold her at arm’s length, even as I hold her head over the toilet bowl, making sure that I don’t get any puke on me. I’m pretty good at staying clean in these situations. I held Amy’s hair back plenty of times in college.

Twenty minutes later, I have Amy dressed in her pajamas, and in bed. Naomi and Hannah are still drinking and being loud. They sit together cross-legged on the bed, screaming with laughter and playing with more bachelorette party gags. They’re sipping from tiny liquor bottles through cock-shaped straws.

I yawn. “I’m going to head to bed, girls. I’m tired.”

Hannah offers me some weird, drunken salute. “The bride insists!”

I head back to my room and collapse onto the bed. My feet are killing me, and I’m exhausted. We’ve been walking around for hours. At least I’m still relatively sober.

I start to undress, and as I slip off my green dress, I catch sight of myself in the full-length mirror. I’m wearing my lacy black underwear and high heels.

I bite down on my lip. You could still pass for a college girl, Laura.

In fact, I probably look better than I did in college. A strict regime of healthy diet and regular exercise has kept me trim and my skin bright. My newly-dyed hair shines under the hotel room spotlights. My eyes are still dark and alluring.

I reach for the complimentary white robe on the back of the hotel door and pull it on, ready to head into the shower. I catch my eye in the mirror again. My mind starts to play out fantasies of being a little naughty in Vegas.

You look hot.

I’m starting to feel frisky as I let my imagination run wild. When was the last time a man pushed your buttons? When was the last time you put the toned body you’ve worked so hard to maintain to good use? When was the last time you had some fun?

I pick up my keycard and slip it in my pocket. I suspect Hannah won’t come back to the room tonight. She’ll probably pass out with Naomi and Amy before too long. She won’t miss me.

I leave my room and close the door gently. My heart is beating wildly in my chest from exhilaration and the thought of Adam’s hands on my body. He’s sexy as hell.

I head toward the elevators. If anyone asks, I’ll say I’m getting ice.

My stomach twists in nervous, excited knots as I rise toward the penthouse apartment. It’s midnight now. Will Adam even be awake? I reach room 800 and stand before it, wondering if I’ve lost my mind.

I’m not turning back now.

When I’m in front of the room, I realize I don’t have his keycard. It’s for the best. I’d be too nervous to let myself in. Maybe Adam was sleeping, or worse, in bed with another woman he met in the casino.

I lift my hand and knock on the door.