There are some events that people plan for all year. That one day of the year when they long for no distractions of any kind from jobs or phones or nagging family members. For some, it's the Super Bowl, the World Series, Academy Awards, the NCAA Basketball Championship or the Army-Navy football game. For me, it's a tossup between the Daytona 500 auto race and a Red Sox-Yankees game. But for Chris, it was the Consumer Electronics Expo in Las Vegas. It was his once a year chance to check out the latest in camera gear, girls, contacts, girls, electronics, did I mention the girls?
Anyway, this year would be different as I'd be going with him. Even better was this trip would be on our terms. We had no assignment, we weren't there with Tigress. I saw it as a chance to make up for our last time there. And we were all fired up for it. And instead of fighting the airlines, we chose to hit the road in Chris' Porsche 911 Carrera convertible.
Fired up by coffee and expectations, we hit the highway in the wee hours of the morning as the rest of LA was still asleep. Somewhere around the Nevada border, with the sun on the rise, the highway to ourselves, and Elvis on the sound system, Chris turned to me and said;
"Hollywood, should we unleash the power of German engineering?" he said in a very pompous voice
"Yes, we shouldn't let such a fine piece of machinery linger in the regions of-" I paused looking at the speedometer, "how fast are we going?" I asked.
"Uh, 75." He replied
"Right, we shouldn't let such a fine piece of machinery linger in the regions of 75mph." I said with equal pomposity.
"Got your protection?" Chris asked
"If you mean seatbelts, yes!" I said with a laugh
Chris laughed too.
"Release the hounds!" He yelled.
And the Porsche rocketed forward as we quickly entered the triple digit range on the speedometer.
"VIVA! VIVA! LAS VEGASSSSSS!!!" we screamed in tune with Elvis as the Porsche roared through the desert.
We arrived in Vegas, the lights on marquees were still twinkling when we arrived at the Palms hotel. The Expo was being held nearby. We were dazed at all the gear we saw, it was like a geek's Christmas morning. The home video area was pretty intriguing, there were lots of personal appearances going on throughout the show. And our eyes were, naturally, attracted to the Playboy area. Several Playmates were signing autographs and taking photos. I watched with envy as numerous guys went up onstage and had their 5 minutes of glory with Miss whatever month was up there.
"Hey! Check this out man! One of the Girls Next Door is coming up next!" Chris said with excitement.
"No way! Which one?"
"Oh, my! Bridget Marquardt." He said with a smile.
"Oh, yes! Miss Bridget." I said with an equal smile.
"We better get in line fast." Chris said looking at the crowd lining up to meet her.
It had been a while since my meeting with Bridget. I never did hear back from her about going to the mansion. But, I figured I'd already had my experience of a lifetime with her. The mansion would be a nice add-on, but I'd been with her one on one.
"Come on, Hollywood. We can't let this one get away from us." Chris said as he grabbed my arm and dragged me to the line.
After what seemed like an eternity, we finally got near the stage and saw the beautiful Ms. Bridget.
She had on a lipstick red dress with little fringes along the hemline. Her tits were definitely there, and her blonde hair shimmered like it was augmented by light bulbs. She was signing copies of her calendar for 2009.
"Man, oh man what a beauty!" Chris said in awe.
"Mama Mia.." I said to myself.
Remember, the last time I saw her was in the midst of a monsoon, anything would've been an improvement. This really must've been a big occasion for Chris. It was the first time I'd ever seen him fumbling with a camera as if he'd never seen one before. He handed it to me;
"You take the shot." He said nervously.
He gingerly stepped up on the stage to meet her and tried flirting with her as she smiled and elegantly signed her name with a flourish on the calendar. Then he turned to me and motioned to take the photo, fast.
I quickly snapped a series of shots, then Chris dashed over and we switched places as I had my encounter with her. She had a beaming smile as I walked up.
"Hi, Bridget, great to see you here." I said.
"Hi there!" she said with a smile "What's your name, baby?"
"Uh, Jim." I paused then got up my nerve and said;
"So... did you get that wheel replaced on your Porsche?"
She looked up at me with a stunned expression, then placed her hand over her mouth slightly and a sly smile came over her.
"Oh, my god! What are you doing here?" she said trying not to let anyone else know.
"The other guy is my business partner. We've got a photo business in LA." I said pointing to Chris.
Bridget tried to be discreet as she smiled widely and signed my calendar. Then paused and wrote something else on it.
"Let's get a picture honey!" she said as if nothing else had just happened.
Chris immediately stepped up and rolled off several shots of us.
I could feel Bridget's hand on my ass, she then whispered in my ear;
"Call me later, my numbers on the calendar."
"Ok, I will." I replied through a clenched smile.
"Thanks for coming baby!" she said cheerfully as we walked away and she moved on to the next person.
"So what was that all about?" Chris asked suspiciously.
"Well, let's just say we've met before." I replied.
"Oh, really?" He said. "Should I ask for details or is this one for the vault?"
"It's for the vault. Maybe I'll tell you when you're old enough." I said with a chuckle.
Two hours later, I worked up the nerve to call the number she gave me. It went to voice mail, so I guess that was encouraging. Chris had already sweet-talked a pretty blonde from the show and we were having drinks at the pool when my phone rang not long after I called.
