He moved closer to me until I was forced to step back. "Why? Getting people off is such a rush, Buttercup. Don't be ashamed of doing it well."
I coughed and narrowed my eyes. Eww. This man was not going to turn me into a flustered idiot for one second longer. I glanced back to his nametag and tapped it with my pointer finger. "I do a lot of things well, Carson, none of which I'm ashamed of," I said, leaning into him so that he knew I wasn't going to be intimidated by his blatant sexual innuendos.
He stared at me for a beat, that amused glint still in his eyes and then grinned, slow and sexy as his eyes dipped to my cle**age. "I bet." He took that full bottom lip between his teeth and looked back up at me.
I gawked at him for a second because I felt my ni**les get hard under my white blouse and I did not appreciate that. Not one bit. I was going to have a talk with my body later and lay down the law. There was absolutely no getting turned on by p**n stars purposefully trying to shock and intimidate for no apparent reason. The fact that any small part of him turned me on pissed me the hell off. I saw his eyes travel downward again, this time to my puckered ni**les showing easily through the thin material of my blouse, and his smirk got bigger. I flushed in humiliation.
I made a frustrated, angry sound in my throat and marched away from Carson Stinger, Straight Male Performer.
**********
I went up to my room and took a quick shower, calming down from my lobby run-in. When I felt level-headed again, I got out and changed into my brand new black bikini and white, crochet cover-up, before heading out to the pool. My conference didn't officially start until the next morning and so I planned on spending several hours lying in the sun, reading and relaxing. The life of a law student didn't leave a lot of room for R&R and so I was going to take advantage of it while I could.
It took me about twenty minutes to simply walk through the pool area and decide where I wanted to sit. There were five pool courtyards, luxurious cabanas, umbrellas over plush seating, and rows of lounges–all with the same Mediterranean design. It was breathtaking and I tried my best not to walk through with my mouth hanging open at all the opulence. I'd never in my life seen anything like it.
My dad was a police officer and a single parent, who raised me and my two sisters on his own after he and my mom divorced. We never wanted for anything, but we certainly didn't have the money to vacation. In fact, until I left for college, I had never been out of Dayton, Ohio, where I grew up.
After getting a drink at the bar, I finally parked myself on a lounger with some shade and started lathering my pale skin up with sunscreen. It was June and it was in the nineties, and I had been holed up in libraries and classrooms for months–I would definitely burn if I wasn't careful.
I sat back and pulled out my book and had just read a couple pages when my phone rang. "Abby" came up on my screen. I hit answer.
"If you saw where I was right now, you'd be so jealous," I said, grinning.
She laughed. "Well, hello. If you saw where I was, you so wouldn't be jealous. I won't make you guess–couch, an itchy, calamine-spotted vision of loveliness." Poor Abby had gotten poison ivy while hiking with her boyfriend, Brian. It was bad.
She went on, "Now you, let me see, I smell coconut and I hear the gentle lapping of chlorinated water–poolside with a drink in hand?"
I laughed. "Bingo."
"But wait, what is that? What is that I see? A textbook in your hands instead of a steamy romance? The horror. Please tell me I'm wrong."
I looked down at the large textbook in my lap, Concepts & Insights Series: Administrative Law. "Oh stop, you know that I have to study this weekend if I'm going to ace this summer course. Anyway, this place, Abs, it's outrageous. Truly. We have to come back here and stay for longer than a weekend. And make sure it's a non-working weekend, okay?"
"Hmmm. The reality of getting you away for a weekend that doesn’t involve work? I’m skeptical. But a girl can dream. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, right? The debauchery sky's the limit–I’m in."
I laughed again. "Right. Speaking of which, there's another conference at this hotel. You'll never guess what it's for."
"What? Do tell."
I looked around quickly to make sure no one was listening in on my call and then mentally shook my head at myself. This was Vegas, no one was going to blink when I said the word ' p**n .' Still, I whispered out, "A p**n convention."
Abby let out a loud guffaw. "Oh my God, Grace, you've gotta get me some autographs. Please!"
"What?! Whose autograph do you want exactly?"
"No one in particular! I just want to be able to say a p**n star wrote a note to me!"
I giggled. "Actually, I ran into one in the hotel lobby. Literally. He was a total asshat."
"Why? What'd he say to you?"
"Ugh. Just made some disgusting sexual innuendos and then gave me a look that made me want to shower."
Abby laughed again. "Was he a greasy-looking Ron Jeremy type?"
I paused. "Actually, no, he was a douchebag, for sure, but, well," I lowered my voice to a whisper, "he was hot. I actually didn't know p**n stars were hot. I guess I figured if you were doing a job like that… I don't even know what I thought. But he is not what I pictured a p**n star to look like."
"Why, Grace, I do believe you're blushing."