Hardened - A Vegas Nights Novella by Ophelia Sikes

Author:Ophelia Sikes
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: romantic suspense, las vegas, sin city

Chapter 8

I sipped my morning coffee as I walked, taking in the huge atrium of the Luxor, each step reminding me that my aching feet weren’t up to this level of activity. On a map, the Vegas strip had seemed short. Pleasant, even. And I’d been so caught up in the sights yesterday that I hadn’t noticed any pain.

Today was a different matter.

At least I’d gotten most of my main photography completed. Today I could focus more on specific images that helped represent Vegas. A dealer’s hands shuffling cards. A stack of chips. The sort of imagery that brought to mind the glamor and excitement that was Vegas.

I looked up. The interior of the pyramid was hollow, and I could see the channels where the four diagonally-running elevators – or “inclinators” as they used to call them – brought people up to their rooms. In this interior space were a number of bars, restaurants, and other structures.

Oddly, while some of it was Egyptian in style, other parts seemed more medieval England. It was as if the Excalibur, next door, had oozed its way into the casino. No surprise, there. It seemed every casino was interconnected with the next, with tunnels, bridges, and walkways ensuring a tourist was never far from the jangling of the slot machines.

A woman’s voice called out in disbelief from around the corner ahead of me. “You have got to be kidding me! You want me to go in there? And see that?”

I chuckled in surprise. Apparently not everyone in Vegas was out to experience the unexperienced. I rounded the corner –

It was Aedan and Kara.

Kara’s long, brunette hair was done in artful curls which laced down her slim back. Her lemon-yellow dress fit along her Barbie body like a second skin.

Her arms were crossed petulantly beneath those perfect breasts.

Her voice rose. “You said Bodies. Bodies! I thought this show was about hot, naked guys. Muscular, naked guys throwing a football. Toned, naked guys hitting a baseball. Perfect, naked guys jumping for a basketball layup. Things every sane woman would love to see.”

She waved a hand at the exhibit entrance behind her, clearly labeled, ”Bodies.”

Her brows drew together. “But this! This … ridiculousness! No woman in her right mind would go in there! No woman on Earth would ever even consider it. And that you are so out of touch, so wildly non-understanding of what it means to be female that you would even think – you would even believe … ” She sputtered in outrage. “As the spokeswoman for all things female –”

I had had just about enough of this self-absorbed, self-important, plastic-and-Botox woman claiming she spoke for the rest of us. I strode with determination up to the ticket counter and slammed my purse down onto the shelf there. “One ticket to see Bodies.”

The Asian man behind the counter serenely nodded. “Of course, miss. That will be thirty-five dollars.”

My mouth fell open. Thirty five dollars. That would leave me fifteen to live on for the entire day.

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