Chapter One

“Is it hot in here?”

“You’re asking me?” Ava shot back, “I’m naked under this thing.”

The sheath of black satin complimented Ava’s body perfectly. The shimmering fabric even clinging in the sexy curve of her navel. And there certainly weren’t any panty-lines, or any other lines for that matter, unless you wanted to include the outline of a nipple where the silky material clung to a breast. Even the curly puff of pubic hair was perfectly defined, looking like a small Brillo pad where her thighs came together under a crowning pubis.

Ava was hot... And it had nothing to do with the damned temperature in the room.

But it had always been Ava; the one who attracted the attention of both the pit-boss and the customers; the one asked to deal the cards at the private parties hosted by the Casino: The parties where the girls were required to work semi-nude.

Ava, married now to a successful landscape architect, avoided that kind of work. Her husband held contracts with most of the major casinos so money was rarely a problem but there had been occasions, early on, when the one-thousand dollar a night pay-packet to bare her flesh, plus the tips, had come very handy. But Ava had always lived in fear that word might get back to her husband. She was always very careful.

Kathrine, still single at forty, didn’t have that problem.

During the fifteen years she had worked the gaming floor at the Adobe, Kathrine had never been asked to work nude. Maybe her sultry dark looks were perceived as a remote kind of beauty, cool and uninviting. She wasn’t sure; not that it mattered anymore. Kathrine would never be taken for a party-girl, not now. She was too old for it.

Though Kathrine had successfully made her way up through the ranks, from server, then the gaming tables, and finally working as one of the highest paid hostesses on the floor, dealing with customers and staff alike, she had reached the top of her game. At forty-two years of age, a walk to the Personnel Department loomed in her very near future. There would be a polite, but uninspired discussion regarding her options. Or lack thereof.

“I think it’s too hot in here,” Kathrine said to Ava. “It’s putting the old darlings to sleep. There must be a thermostat around somewhere. Or we can open a window.”

Ava humped her lips and sipped soda water from a crystal champagne flute. “Never mind the damned heat. You’re losing the game here, Kathrine. Your first one. Damn. I’ve seen more excitement at a funeral home. I started twisting open buttons an hour ago; three down. I almost l