The Showgirl and the Engineer

This is basically an erotic love story and of course all characters are over 21. It will definitely start out as a love story and continue to build with fiery passion. Please vote often (fives are most welcome) and of course please leave constructive comments. I love hearing from you and love your ideas for the continuation of this story or ides for new stories.

*****

Chapter 1

In all the chaos of the morning, Joe never had a chance to get lunch, so around 2:30 he finally broke free and went to the employee café fondly nicknamed "The Slut Hut". His walk to the café took him through New Amsterdam, past all the drug and coffeehouses and past the red-light district that was all part of the huge entertainment complex in Las Vegas.

Joe loved to people watch as all the newcomers gawked at everything Las Vegas had to offer. Then there were all the pratfalls. Depending on their balance everyone had different degrees of adjusting to all the distractions. Some kept tripping and falling while they gawked at the sites, while others took a tumble while ogling at the performers. It was a constant source of amusement for those that worked here. Of course, they had all been through the same thing, but it was funny watching someone else.

Coffeehouses always seem to be full of tourists becoming stoned on their drug of choice. The red-light district was patterned after the real Amsterdam red-light district. There were gorgeously beautiful men and women naked or scantily clad on display behind glass windows. Each was trying their best to entice someone into their bed prominently displayed behind them. Some were teasing the clients with toys, while others used the bondage apparatus to present their succulent bodies.

One beautiful, young blonde was using a squeegee to remove the water from her window. Joe grinned to himself because he knew this was all part of the illusion. The image was that the gorgeous, young prostitute had just finished a round of hot, steamy sex. The hot, steamy sex would fog up the windows, and now she was cleaning up the results. At least that was the illusion.

The reality is, there was not enough humidity in the air to fog up the windows. The double pane windows had an image projected on the material between the panes of glass, and the prostitute's squeegee would dissolve or reset the image. The illusion however, remained. She had just had hot, steamy, nasty sex with someone and was ready to do the same with her next customer.

Normally, Joe ate much earlier than this. He was surprised at the number of people eating in the "The Slut Hut" at this time of day. The place was packed with mostly entertainment staff and performers. Many were still in their tiny or nonexistent costumes, and this created a titillating view of sensual flesh.

Joe tore his eyes away from the display and picked up a vegetable stir-fry over some basmati rice. He started looking for an open table, but his eyes kept being pulled back to what passes as normal in Las Vegas. The first table he passed contained four, tall, athletic, blonde women with prominent D or DD cup breasts and flawless skin. He could tell because they were all nude and seemed oblivious to the people around them. Likewise, this display did not seem to garner any special attention from the diners.

The next table was similar, except it was a table of ripped, brawny, muscular men. Two were naked and two wore thongs, but all had an Adonis like body. As Joe wandered looking for a table, he felt out of place. Being the only one clothed made him feel self-conscious. He thought it odd how everything seemed to be reversed here. Wearing clothes made you the outcast and being nude was the norm. Then he spotted an exception; a strikingly beautiful woman sitting alone dressed in her skimpy workout clothes reading a book on her e-reader.

She was one of the seemingly thousands of incredibly, gorgeous women that this place seemed to attract. However, something looked different about her. She didn't have that haughty, "I know I'm beautiful" look that most of the women around here had.

She seemed, for lack of a better term, normal. She was incredibly beautiful, but at the same time seemed like a normal girl next door. Maybe that's why he went over and asked if he could sit at the only available seat. She looked up from her e-reader and lightly nodded her head, permitting him to sit down.

When he looked into her eyes, he saw a sad and lonely spirit. He knew that look. He saw the same look every morning when he looked in the mirror. Despite all the beautiful nudity around him, Joe thought she was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen. There was also something indefinable. He couldn't put his finger on it, but there was more here than just physical beauty.

"Hi, my name is Joe McKinney," he said as he sat in the chair opposite her.

"Jessa," she replied.

"Sorry Jessa, I don't mean to disturb you, but there aren't any other open seats next to incredibly beautiful women," he said hopefully.

Jessa threw her head back and gave a melodious laugh, "If that's your best pickup line Joe, you really need to work on that."

"Sorry, not really trying any kind of pickup line. I was just trying to defuse an uncomfortable moment. Well, at least it was awkward from my side. I'm not used to talking to someone so beautiful." He responded awkwardly and continued trying to cover his embarrassment. "Even after a couple of months here, I'm just not used to this place. I never felt like an ugly duckling before, but here, I just don't seem to fit in."

Joe looked down at his food his face turning a little red with embarrassment before saying, "Anyway, sorry to disturb you. I'll just eat quickly and be out of your hair."

Joe looked up as he felt her soft hand cover his. Her eyes had lost some of her hardness as she said, "Sorry, I didn't mean to come across as one of those snooty models. I know what you mean never having felt like an ugly duckling before, but this place will do it to you."

"I don't know how you can say that! You're one of the most stunning women I've ever seen, and I know guys that would give up their left arm if they could even be seen with you."

Jessa shrugged her shoulders and said, "You see, it's all a matter of perspective. Everywhere else a lot of people considered me beautiful. I always had work as a model, mostly as a bikini, lingerie, or nude model. Because I'm 5'1" I'm too short for clothing, runway, or most of the high paying, modeling jobs. Here it's the same. To get the good paying jobs they have a formula. You have to be between 5'7" and 5'10", blonde, blue eyes, a bubble butt, and a double D bust."

Jessa continued, "Me, on the other hand. I'm 5'1", brunette, green eyes, D bust, and small hips and ass. You see Joe, I just don't fit the formula."

Joe had this incredulous look on his face. As an engineer he was used to being judged by his brain and capabilities, but he also had formulas for hiring his workers. He had just never considered a formula to define beauty. He shook his head back and forth saying, "Well, I guess it's their loss. To me, you are just about the most beautiful woman I've ever seen. Everything fits together so perfectly; I wouldn't change a thing."

Jessa gave this room brightening smile and said, "Thank you so much for saying that Joe. You have no idea what this place does to a girl's ego. I used to get real jobs in New York or Europe, but here I'm window dressing and eye candy."

Joe chewed a mouthful of his stir-fry and with a thoughtful look on his face queried, "I'm sorry, but what do you mean by window dressing and eye candy?"

"Well, because I don't fit the formula, I don't get any lead dancer or showgirl jobs, which, by the way, I could do standing on my head. Instead I get the go-go dancer, bondage, or harem slave, or any place they need a half or fully naked girl as a set piece. As you know, the money here is good, but I could do so much more. This is hell on my ego." She ended with an exasperated sigh.

Joe looked at her with the incredulous look still on his face and said, "Well, I'm not attracted to Swedish Amazons anyway. To me, you are my ideal look and, like I said, you look perfect to me. Just curious, if you don't fit their formula, how did you get the job?"

Jessa put down her e-reader and seemed to be enjoying talking to Joe. Her eyes had brightened and her sad, lonely look was gone as she responded. "Well, it was an accident, or maybe a mistake. One of the girls scheduled to come here broke her leg in a skiing accident, and they needed a replacement, fast. They scanned through modeling agency photos and saw some of my pictures. My portfolio showed that I wasn't afraid of nudity, and even though I wasn't blonde, they thought they could dye my hair. So, with only seeing my pictures, I was invited to come here sight unseen."

"To be honest, they could make do with almost anything, except my height. Because I'm short and petite I don't fit any of the costumes, and I look different from all the other girls. They want continuity and the same look. Only when I was here did they recognize their mistake. I guess they never read any of my Bio and only looked at my pictures. They offered to give me a severance and turn me around, but I guess I really felt the need to get away. I thought I would stick it out for the term of the contract. They have, however, tried to make my life miserable to show me the error of my ways."

Joe was listening attentively with his fork hovering over his stir-fry. "So, I guess when your time is up, you're going back ... where?"

"Actually, I haven't made up my mind. Most likely, yes, I will go back to somewhere, but there's nothing really for me anywhere. My parents are still alive, but I don't have any brothers or sisters and only a couple of friends. Then there's my ex. He was the reason I came here in the first place. I don't know Joe. I'm getting paid more here to be eye candy than I was doing legitimate jobs."

Jessa suddenly looked up with laughter in her eyes saying, "I haven't talked this much about myself since I came to this beautiful place. Thank you, Joe, I'm enjoying talking." Jessa focused all of her attention on Joe and with a serious look on her face asked, "What do you do here Joe?"

"I'm the Engineering Manager," he responded matter-of-factly.

Jessa gave him a puzzled look not understanding at all what he was saying. Joe saw the puzzled look and decided to elaborate, "I manage one of the engineering groups that keeps this place running. I guess I'm just one of the cogs that make this place run."

"So, you're one of the smart people who make this place work and keep us safe?" Jessa asked with an admiring gleam in her eyes.

"Joe, I know you said you had to rush off, but could you stay a while? I would like to hear more about you and what you do. I only have a couple of friends here and no normal friends. To be honest, you're the first person I felt comfortable talking to since I've arrived here," Jessa said with a hint of melancholy in her voice.

Joe was feeling the same thing and responded, "Truth be told, I don't have any friends here either. So yeah, Jessa, I would enjoy talking with you."

For the next two hours they talked about everything: their jobs, lack of familial support, lack of any kind of life except work, and even the weather. They found they had the same, yet diverse tastes in music, and they loved the same authors. They linked their e-readers together, sharing some of the books they enjoyed. They both liked many of the classic science-fiction authors like Heinlein, Niven, or Asimov, but also the more contemporary authors like Everett or Connelly.

They found they both took jobs in Las Vegas after their divorces had left them feeling lonely and adrift. As they talked, the conversations became a little more intimate. They were just starting to get into more intimate and personal stuff when Joe's push-to-talk radio interrupted.

"Joe, where the hell are you? We need you here pronto! Joe... Joe... Answer me Joe!"

Joe picked up his radio and responded, "Yeah, Wes, I'm here. I was just getting some lunch. I'll be there in a couple of minutes."

"Yeah, just hurry!" Wes responded almost out of breath.

"I'm sorry Jessa, but I have to go. I really enjoyed being with you and especially talking to you. I would like to do it again sometime. Would you have any free time for another lunch?"

"I usually eat at this time of day, especially when I'm on the evening shift. Joe, I would love for you to join me," she responded. In a sudden, almost desperate move, she reached out and grasped Joe's hand. She gave his hand a light squeeze. Looking down into her face, Joe noticed she looked flushed. Joe felt sparks flying through his fingers. He could tell by her flushed cheeks that she felt it too.

Their eyes locked, with everything around them fading into a fog. All that either one noticed was the penetrating gaze of the other. Their stares were full of passionate curiosity, but also fear of being hurt again. They were both startled out of their trance when Wes again called for Joe over the radio.

Joe stood and gathered his belongings and trash making ready to leave. Purely by instinct, he leaned over and gave her a quick kiss on her sensuous lips before saying, "See you the same time tomorrow ... I can't wait."

He turned to leave but looked back for one last glance at Jessa. She seemed frozen in her chair not knowing what to make of that innocent, little kiss. Her eyes were following Joe as if glued to his back. Her tongue peeked between her lips as if savoring his taste. Joe continued his exit, but stopped and looked back as he opened the door. Jessa was still frozen in her chair, staring vacantly into space with a dreamy, little smile on her face.

Joe was pissed that he had been pulled away from Jessa. The emergency grill he wasn't an emergency, just the normal administrative problem with some of the workers. He had only spent two hours with her and boy was he smitten. She had reached in with those deep soulful eyes and grabbed at his damaged heart. Boy was he easy.

The next day Joe arranged his schedule around a 2:30 lunch with Jessa. He sat at their table for half an hour waiting for Jessa to show, but she never did. Afterwards, he was not a very nice person to be around. He was grumpy and short tempered with everyone for the rest of the afternoon. He was mostly mad at himself for being so stupid. Why would such a dazzlingly beautiful woman want to have lunch with a geek engineer? He should have known better, but he definitely felt a connection and thought the look in her face said that she did too. He was convinced now that it was a one-way connection and he should have known all along. However, hope springs eternal.

His heart and soul had been ripped apart with his divorce and he swore he would never let anyone else hurt him like that. He thought getting away and moving to Las Vegas would give him time to heal. The work had been good for him and allowed him the isolation he needed to get past the hurt. However, he was just an old hopeless romantic and all it took was a pretty girl batting her eyelashes at him and once again he was hoping for someone to fill the void.

Speaking of hope springs eternal, the next day he also took his lunch around 2:30 and waited another 30 minutes for Jessa to show. Of course, she didn't show and there was really no reason for her to show. Joe had really enjoyed talking with her, thought he felt a connection and hoped that it could be the start of something, besides looking at her wasn't bad either. Anyway, that was done now.

That night he stayed in his office working with the different shifts until 1 AM. It was something he did on occasion, but now his room in the complex seemed really empty. He hadn't felt lonely before, but lunch with Jessa had made him feel things he had tried to hide away. Suddenly he felt very alone and threw himself into his work.

The next day he was cleaning out his email and as a matter of course went through his spam folder before dumping it. Lo and behold he found an email from Jessa. It was time stamped several hours after their first lunch and in it she said she needed to reschedule their lunch. She said for the remainder of the week she was going to have to work the mid-day shift. This meant that from 2 PM to 10 PM she would be working as a go-go girl in a disco. She had asked Joe to write her back and see if there's another time that they could get together for lunch.

Joe sat back in his chair, stunned with this turn of events. Just like he thought she had blown him off, now she probably thought he did the same thing. He vowed to make it up to her arriving at the disco somewhere around 9:30 PM and wait for her to get off. After her shift was over, he hoped they could go for a drink or maybe a late dinner, but at the very least he wanted her to know he was still interested. He also wanted her to know about the weird email snafu and that he hadn't just blown her off.

The rest of the day revolved around keeping up with the thousands of things that can go wrong in a complex place like the Las Vegas entertainment complex. They do have a monitoring system that gives alarms when there is a problem. When that occurs, they assume there is some kind of blockage in between the sensors. Joe is notified of each one of the blockages and when it is cleared therefore, the large number of emails.

When the Las Vegas entertainment complex started, they were using robots or pigs to clear the blockages. They still use the pigs to clean the lines, but the robots had a hard time distinguishing metallic waste from the metal walls of the pipes. The metallic waste could be anything from old-fashioned razor blades, to aluminum foil, or even gum wrappers.

Besides the metal pipes, the Las Vegas entertainment complex also had a lot of lightweight aluminum and PVC piping. Each type of pipe had different uses and different problems with blockages. The robots seem to have a problem with that. They could have just used a heavier gauge pipe and moved on but they were always balancing strength, size and weight. So, the "Sewer Rats" would use robots whenever possible, otherwise they would have to manually clear any other blockages. The "Sewer Rats" can also double to fix any clean water breaks in the system. Those rarely happen, but since the system is pressurized any leak could result in a disastrous loss of water.

The closer it got to the time that Joe would be seeing Jessa, the more problems cropped up. Most of the problems were from the "Sewer Rats" and finally at 8:30 PM Joe called the lead of "Sewer Rats". He told him that he would be busy, so just send him an email on any problems they encountered and how they handled it. He agreed then Joe left to get ready to see Jessa. Joe was really nervous about seeing her and it seemed as though Murphy's Law was conspiring against him. Of course Murphy's Law states that if things could go wrong, it will.

Joe showed up to the disco promptly at 9:30 PM, got a drink from the bar and found an empty table relatively close to the stage. He looked around for Jessa and saw her in the left side go-go cage. She was wearing an extremely small florescent green string bikini and matching legwarmers. The bikinis top was so small that barely covered the aureoles on her breasts leaving the majority of her breasts uncovered for everyone, including Joe, to ogle. The bottom was essentially a thong with a very small pouch covering her camel toe and little else. There was no way she can wear this outfit without keeping her entire body free of hair.

As Jessa fluidly twisted and turned in the cage, Joe could tell what a fabulous dancer she was. As he watched her fluidly graceful dance, he could tell she was completely wasted on this eye candy situation. After a few moments she spotted Joe in the crowd and gave the slight nod indicating that she saw him. Joe waved back at her and motioned for her to come join him when she gets a chance. She nodded okay, but something changed in her dance after she saw Joe.