Laying her head back, she closed her eyes and pictured him in her mind. Casually dressed, yet elegant the first time she saw him. Manly, yet gentleman-like. Big, strong shoulders, smooth chest, and much taller than she.
Suddenly a knock on the door shook her out of her reverie.
"Yes?" she said, with her ear to the door.
"It's Nat Davis," she heard a voice say.
How odd, she thought. The dance instructor.
Then opening it, "Hi Mr. Davis--" her words cut off as she realized Al Scaletti was with Nat.
They strolled in the room, Nat with a frown and Scaletti looking quite at home.
"And Mr. Scaletti. Won't you sit down?" she said politely, clutching her robe tighter around her waist. "Can I get you a drink?" she asked. Awkward, she thought, very awkward with two men in the suite now. And, although she knew them, she didn't really know them or entirely trust them either for that matter.
"Vodka please," Scaletti said, as he took off his suit jacket and loosened his tie, "straight up."
"No thanks for me," Nat said, his brows furrowing.
The two sat on the couch and she took her time making the vodka drink. Whatever could they want at this hour? She wondered.
Handing Scaletti his drink, she thought he looked tired, as he rubbed his eyes. But she also saw a slight smile on his lips.
She stood in front of the two, unsure of whether to sit or stand.
"The reason we're here," Nat said, "is to give you a bit of coaching before you interact with the other girls."
Pulling her robe sash tighter, she watched him warily. "What type of coaching?"
Scaletti sighed and sat back against the seat cushions, appraising her carefully. "She's doing it again," he said to Nat, as if she were not in the room.
She looked from one to the other questioningly.
Nat explained, "Al thinks you're a bit stiff and uncomfortable with your body image."
Flushing now with embarrassment, she replied, "I'm not sure what you mean."
Al laughed softly, as he watched her pull the robe sash tighter for the third time. "If you act like that tomorrow, they'll eat you alive. Go get on a bra and panties, like you were trying to impress a boyfriend or something. Sexy. Then come back out here with heels on. Three inch high will do."
He and Nat went on discussing one of the girls, then, ignoring her completely.
Hesitating for a few seconds, she went into the bedroom wondering if she should close the door. Probably not, she thought, if they were going to see her body anyway.
Slowly, she opened her robe and dropped it on the chaise. Rifling through her new lingerie, she found a modest white set, with the higher panties and full support bra. The only heels she could find were black. Damn, she thought, they didn't match.
But she went out to the living room wearing them.
Al sprawled on the couch, deep in conversation with Nat.
Uncomfortable and still feeling awkward, she leaned against the kitchenette table. Eventually, she had to clear her throat to get their attention.
Nat watched her appraisingly, while she saw a flash of something glinting in Scaletti's eyes before he smiled. "That won't suffice," he said firmly, "do you have anything in black?"
She thought of the beautiful low-cut lacy black bra and panties which sat in her drawer right now. She'd bought them today on a whim. "No," she replied quickly, "I don't."
Al smiled at her tightly before he got up. "Let me take a look." She heard him opening and closing drawers.
He brought the black set back to her from the bedroom. "Here," he said, thrusting them to her, "try these."
As she changed in the bathroom this time, and appraised herself in the full-length mirror, she thought she looked like a fractured model one would see on a service station wall. She shook her hair out a bit and put on some lipstick.
Soon, Nat was knocking on the door. "Ready anytime, Dani."
Slowly, she walked into the living room. They weren't talking this time, though. Both just watched her.
Then Nat stood. "Sensational. Knock dead breasts, long legs up to her underarms. Now walk to me," he said, before he ran a hand through his curly hair.
She did as instructed.
"Okay," he began, "your ass should be tucked in and your chest thrust out." He demonstrated, making her smile.
He continued. "When you walk, you want to glide." He went into a walk then and she laughed. "Perfect posture," he came back and repositioned her slightly, and his hands were warm and efficient. "Tilt your chin up. When we take stills, that's still pictures, put all your weight on your back leg, usually the left, and on the right foot angle it and just put your weight on the big toe."
She found she was talking to herself now, trying to follow his directions, and hardly realized anyone else was in the room.
However, when she looked up, Scaletti was a few feet in front of her. "Now, walk to me," he said, "and smile. Have some confidence."
Walking towards him, as instructed, she smiled broadly and his eyes registered surprise.
"My God, Nat, she's got a beautiful, sexy smile," he said enthusiastically.
Then he walked over to Nat and ignored her as they talked about her training.
"She's a natural," Nat assured him.
They went on discussing her as principle dancer, while she felt like someone had let the air out of her lungs.
She stood with her back to the wall now.
Nat went out the door with a wave.
But before Al departed, he strolled up, leaned one hand on the wall by her head, with the other holding his suit jacket, and stood so close to her she felt the thrumming muscular vitality flowing from his body, and smelled the liquor and mint on his breath.
His greyish-blue steely eyes searched her face, flitting from her eyes to her lips. He said softly, "Don't lie to me." His lips moved closer and almost touched hers. "Ever. Understand?"
She nodded, while her eyes grew hazy looking into his. And her breath escaped in a long sigh after he left.
Chapter 4
On Scaletti's return to the penthouse, and as he found himself idly daydreaming about Dani's full, sensual lips, Lefty and Teeny sat patiently waiting for him. He ushered them into the den. Both declined a drink, and they sat in front of him on the large sofa while he sat in his favorite chair. The one Dani had claimed the other night. The one she'd looked so sensational sitting on.
"So," he said finally, "what's the word?"
"Not pretty," Lefty said.
Scaletti smiled slightly. "I suspected as much, although I'm getting to be a better liar than she is. I told her something about her taking ballet classes when she was younger. Just to see what she'd say."
Teeny continued the story. "Must have been before she was ten years old then. That's when the parents died. Auto crash."
Al nodded. "No life insurance or other relatives to take her in?"
Lefty snorted. "Nah, she was in foster homes up until she aged out at eighteen."
"This year," Al said thoughtfully. "And where, what city is she from then?"
"Buffalo, New York," Teeny said, "my contact there said she was bounced around to about ten foster homes, then she got pinched for shoplifting...I'll just have you guess for what."
"Lingerie?" Al asked, as he thought of the black, sexy number she'd just worn.
"No boss," the man continued, "peanut butter for Christ sakes. Said she was hungry. They expunged it from her record last year."
Al frowned at that. "How the hell did she get here in Vegas?"
Lefty took over the story. "Down at Motel Ten, the guy tells me she came here with a loser, Thomas Kinder. A real gambler card shark type. Had pinches for cocaine in New York. Brought another woman into the picture, then all three of them left the motel high and dry. Guy tells me they owed a week room fees, so I sent someone over there to pay. Said the other woman and Kinder left before our girl did."
With a face showing his displeasure, Al ask
ed, "Lawsuits, tickets, that sort of thing?"
"No, boss. Nothing like that."
After fixing himself a drink, Al sat down again. "She's a liar," he said softly. "So even if I'm interested in her, how can I know if she's telling me the truth or not? She lied about her whole upbringing."
"Boss," Lefty said patiently, "that's why you have us. Besides, if you had a past like that, I doubt if you'd be shouting it from the rooftops." Then he paused, before he said, "It's like a protection for her. She's probably used it her whole life to get by. If it worked for her once, she figures it would work again. I can relate to that."
Al nodded. "A very good observation. So, on to other areas. How is Antonio doing in Atlantic City?" Recently he had moved his close friend Tony Barrelli to manage his other casino.
"Looking good over there for now," Teeny said. "The drop's right on, and growing. He's got some new publicity goin' on to bring people in. Lots of comps for the high rollers. The pilot's picking him up Saturday, so you can see him then. He told me he's got the reports and all."
"Wonderful," Al said. His eyes took in the expansive view from his penthouse windows, but he didn't see it. He was having trouble keeping his mind on business. "She's absolutely beautiful," he said softly, "in a way like Clarice but in a way not. I loved her spirit, she was actually angry because I didn't look up when she first came in the room. I could tell. And, the more I find out about her, the thought of a relationship with her scares the shit out of me."
His two friends rose, grinned at each other, and left him alone with his daydreams.
At exactly four o'clock the next morning, Friday, Al let himself into the surveillance room. The fifteen men working there had been hand chosen by him. They had impeccable records and knew the casino business inside and out. The problem was now they couldn't spot who was skimming Winner Takes All for the past week. The cage audit shortage was getting bigger and bigger by the day, and they were more than nervous about it, as they knew all of them could be easily replaced.
Les, Robert and Jerry had stations right next to each other, with Robert being the overall supervisor. He thought they could have been triplets, all with brown straight hair, brown eyes and average looks. Nothing that would stand out about them, or the other twelve in the dimly lit room. This, also, was planned by him. Along with a separate dining room and lounge facilities. They knew if they had contact with anyone from any casino, much less Winner Takes All, they would be not only fired but blacklisted from every casino in Vegas. And that's why they made the higher salaries.
"Has it started yet?" he asked Robert. The man was shocked to see him there, as he looked up from the many monitors, but, Al thought, he should have expected it.
"Not yet. Maude is late again." The woman was the oldest of the pull team and seemed to have trouble rolling out of bed at three in the morning.
"I'll tell Kathy to write her up."
The woman appeared on screen a few minutes later, and the pull began. The pull team had four casino workers and audit had three with clipboards.
They all searched the monitors carefully for slight of hand and missing boxes. Also, they checked out the armed guards who accompanied all teams. And, the guards eyed everyone from the customers, to the teams, and to any people wandering by that early in the morning.
All of them remembered the armed hold-up at a neighboring casino, which remained unsolved. The thieves had not only made off with a trolley filled with pull boxes, worth several hundred thousand dollars, but were still out there somewhere. Possibly planning their next heist.
"Don't mention I'm here," Al said slowly, "but call them and tell Michael to slow down. He's throwing chairs, knocking them over and everything else. I don't like that. He's going to hurt someone. Too much commotion. Also, have him drug tested as soon as this is over. He looks like a crazy man out there."
"Sure," Robert said, as he picked up the phone.
They watched for an hour, but came up with nothing. Next, they watched the soft count room images. Even with close-ups, none of them could see anything.
Al ended up just rubbing his eyes in frustration. "Keep me posted, Robert, and we'll see how much today's deposit is off."
Before he left, he turned back to the monitors for one last look. "Chi Mama," Jerry said, "get a load of that." He zoomed the camera in for a better look.
The red hair looked familiar and Al walked back over to see Dani, on the screen image, making her way towards the front door of the casino dressed in a bright white skin hugging sleeveless top, hip-hugger jeans and boots. Her sunglasses were carelessly shoved up on her head to hold back her long red hair.
"Un-zoom, Jerry," Al said, matter-of-factly. "Show me the casino, outside view." He wondered why on God's green earth she was up that early.
The sun was about to rise, dawn was breaking, as a few late night players straggled out of the door along with Dani. He watched her stand by the front fountains, take a deep breath, twirl around then walk to the opposite fountain and do the same thing.
He tried not to smile in appreciation at the picture she made standing there.
A woman walked up to her then, and Dani flashed her thousand watt smile. Al recognized her from somewhere in the casino. "Who is that with her?" he asked Robert.
"Oh, that's Nola. She's a restroom attendant."
"Okay, cameras back on regular duty, guys. I know she's easy on the eyes, but off limits. Severely off limits. Got it?"
They all agreed, and Scaletti left them to gossip about the unusual behavior of their boss and the new stacked redhead.
Dani hugged Nola. "It is so good to see you!" she cried, "Wait until I tell you what happened."
They both sat next to the fountain. "Are you the new red-haired dancer everyone is talking about?" Nola asked her, grinning.
Dani laughed. "That would be me, complete with a suite of my own and three squares a day."
"Oh, I am so heavenly glad for you sweetie. You did good for yourself. A real success story."
"Well, I haven't danced yet, I'm still trying to gear myself up for the rehearsal. I've heard they work you pretty hard."
Nodding, Nola said, "I used to know a dancer in there. We were really good friends for a few years. She told me how hard it was for her at first, dancing in front of the audience almost naked then dealing with some of the other dancers who were jealous."
She continued, "The main thing I got from her was this. When you're out there in front of the audience, they can look all they want but they can't touch you. You can shimmy, shake, even strip and with all the guards in this place, you are totally safe. Like, there's a barrier there that you have to remember about. Otherwise, you won't make it."
Dani grabbed her hands. "Thank you so much, Nola. You have been such a friend to me. Please let me know if there is anything I can do for you, okay?"
"You bet," Nola said as she stood, "good luck sweetie. My thoughts are with you."
At nine o'clock, Lorali watched the new redhead come backstage with Kim. She'd seen them talking and laughing over breakfast in the dining room.
Principle dancer my ass, she thought. Damn Scaletti anyway. She'd tried everything to get him to give her the principle spot, but he just annoyingly treated her with polite deference like he treated all the dancers. She'd even tried to seduce him one time when they were alone backstage, but he wouldn't have any of it. All she saw was a slight smile on his lips.
How she was dying to kiss those lips of his! He was so maddeningly out of reach, when he should really be catering to her and asking her out like most of the other men she met. He was a tough one. Virile, smooth talking, well dressed, and oh so handsome.
"Sweetie," she said, walking over as Kim showed Dani her make-up area, "how do you say your last name?" She tried to sound as pleasant as possible, as if she were just inquiring for the hell of it.
Dani smiled. "It's spelled T-r-o-u-b-i-x, but you say it more like trubee."
"Oh," Kim said to Lorali, "I thought you wer
e talking to me. Hard to know, when you call everyone sweetie. Mine's Mangioni by the way."
"You 'connected' then?" Lorali asked pleasantly.
"Not like you want to be, darling," Kim laughed.
And Lorali scowled, as she returned to her area. But she wasn't about to give up yet on her plans to stop this new woman dancer. She'd think of something.
After Dani had borrowed a leotard, a bit snug, from Kim she went onstage with the rest of the women. They stretched for what seemed like a long time then stopped for a break. She saw Al Scaletti stroll in loosening his tie. He sat in the second row and put his feet up on the seatback in front of him.
A murmur started as the girls whispered to one another.
"What is it?" she hissed to Kim.
"Scaletti. He looks us over to make sure no one is gaining too much weight."
Then the parade began. Dani counted fourteen dancers including her. Now, one by one, like models, they walked to center stage, turned around, then walked back.
Adriene, the dancer with children, seemed a bit flustered when he drawled, "You staying away from cheesecake, Enny?"
"Yes, sir." Then she grinned at him, as she made her way back.
When it was Dani's turn, she tried to remember everything Nat told her the night before. She glided, posture good, posed with weight on her back left, right foot up, made a graceful turn then walked back. No comment was made by Scaletti, he was serious, and had his elbow resting on the chair arm and his hand over his mouth now while his eyes raked over her. But Dani thought she heard a hiss from one of the dancers. It was really very disconcerting.
Kim walked up to her after Scaletti left. "That was Lorali by the way."
Romance in Vegas - Showgirl! Page 3
