Dancer's Body

Chapter 4

"Four Fountain-View Queens?" the clerk asked.

"That's right," Ava said, flipping her waves of red hair behind her. She smiled at the young receptionist, her chocolate brown eyes piercing straight through him.

"The bell hops will take your bags up." He gulped and looked from Ava's perfect, cherubic face to the depths of her plunging neckline and blushed. There's nowhere you could look on her without getting turned on. Olivia had watched this magic unfold before.

"Unless, of course," Ava cooed. "There's an upgrade available?"

"An upgrade?"

"A room ... or two ... that nobody's booked?" she asked. Ava leaned forward, crossing the line into his space. "Maybe, you know, if there was plenty of room? We could have some guests come up later ..."

"One minute," he said, glancing around him and zipping his fingers across the keyboard. "I'm not ... I'm not supposed to do this? But, uh, my manager's out for the night, and the Lakeview Suite isn't booked until Tuesday—"

"I think that would be perfect," Ava said. "Don't you? I mean, we drove such a long way... "

"It's no problem," he said, keeping his head tucked down.

"That's so nice of you!" she said, taking the room key from him. "I'll be sure to repay you. I'm sure I can figure out a way." Ava winked at him and turned towards the reserved elevators.

"Are you serious?" Justine asked. "Are you really going to ... repay him?"

"Hell, no! I just said that to get an upgrade. Though, honestly, I wasn't expecting the Lakeview Suite. The Penthouse would have been impressive enough."

"The Lakeview is better than the Penthouse?" Olivia asked Hannah quietly, but Hannah just shrugged.

"Ladies," one of the bell hops said, meeting them at the suite and sweeping the French doors open.

"Now this?" Ava said, surveying the room, "This is how you do Vegas right."

Olivia had only seen such rooms in movies.

"Two master bedrooms," the bell hop said, gesturing to doors on either side of the room. "Each have a walk-in shower, steam room and Whirlpool bath. You can customize the climate and lights here." He showed them a control panel on the wall. "Plus sheer and drape controls."

"Very good," Ava said. Olivia could tell that even she was impressed, even as she draped herself semi-naturally on the suede couch.

"But this is what everyone books this room for," the other bell hop said, pressing a number on the panel and drawing the heavy drapes aside. The iconic landmarks of the strip appeared through the window.

"Oh, my God," Hannah said.

"Unparalleled views of the fountain show," one of the boys commented. As if on cue, the show began to sprawl beneath them.

"Thank you," Ava said, tucking a few bills into each of their palms. "And the bar?"

"Complementary. Mostly."

She nodded.

"I can't believe this," Justine said. "Are we all—we're all going to stay in here?"

"Sure," Ava said. "I mean, it's just the two king beds, but we can call up for some rollaways and crash on the couches, too. It's not like anyone spends much time in their room in Vegas, anyway."

Olivia traced her fingers across the silk chairs and counted the number of crystal lamps and chandeliers in sight. It felt unreal, like it was happening to someone else.