"Ok, ladies and gents," Ace started, "Here are the rules: each chip represents one tenth of a piece of clothing. That means the pot needs to reach at least ten chips before someone looses an item. Obviously, if everyone follows the opening bid, we'll have a starting bet, then trade in our three cards, and go around again to raise. By the time someone calls, there should be at least ten chips in the pot."

"I'm confused," Shipwreck said. "Why not just have one chip represent one piece of clothing, or just have the winner pick someone to shed and item?"

"Come on, man. Think. You lose one hand, and there are twenty chips on the table… Do you have twenty things to take off? And if the winner just gets to pick someone and we strip one item at a time, there's no point to betting at all. We could just pass out cards, show them immediately, and see who wins. This way, there's actually something at stake."

"Hunh. I think I get it." Shipwreck sat down on one of the chairs around the felt lined table. They had converted the rec room into a mini casino for the night, complete with self-serve bar, bright lights, background music, and a poker table. Everyone else pulled out a chair and was seated. Cover Girl chose a place next to Lady Jaye; as she sat down, she leaned over and hissed in Jaye's ear: "I cannot believe I let you talk me into this!"

Shipwreck looked around. "Snake Eyes still happily entrenched in the comm room?"

"Yep. I checked on him before I came in here," Flint told him.

Ace had a huge grin on his face. He was unwrapping a new deck of cards, and was wearing his green visor. "By the way, I think we can all agree that whoever is stripping needs to give us a show. No covering with hands." His grin widened. "Slow and sexy is the idea." He started shuffling. "Now, on to business. The name of the game is five-card draw. Aces are high, jacks are wild. No ante. First dealer—"

"Wait a minute." Everyone turned to Lady Jaye as she spoke. "What variation?"

Ace considered her a moment. "Gardenia Jackpots?"

"No, too easy," Jaye replied. "How about Skinny Minnie?"

"Too complicated. Spit in the Ocean?"

Lady Jaye shook her head. "Lame Brain Pete?"

"Never liked that one," Ace responded. "Uh…Pass the Trash?"

Cover girl started choking on her drink, and Shipwreck burst out laughing. "You guys are making this up, right?"

They ignored him, staring at each other for a moment. Then they burst out in unison: "Johnson!"

This time Flint and Cover Girl both did spit-takes and Shipwreck toppled right out of his chair.

Ace and Lady Jaye nodded at each other. As he started to shuffle, though, Ace began to worry. Could she possibly shark him? He squelched that thought immediately. She's bluffing…she just read those names in a book somewhere. Hmmm...Better check just in case, he thought. "Ok, you tell 'em the rules."

Lady Jaye went into lecture mode. "It's easy. You get five cards, and the game starts out as five-card draw, aces high. You all know how to play that, and for most of the game, that's what it will be. For the first round of bets, you can pass instead of opening with a bet. That doesn't mean you're out, though. Someone else can open, and the game continues as usual. BUT if everyone passes the first time around, which probably won't happen that often, the game changes to Ace-to-Five California Lowball."

Everyone but Ace stared at her, mouths open.

"That means," she continued, "That now aces are low, and the lowest set of cards in the round wins. Think of it as trying to lose a regular poker round. There are no flushes or straights, and a hand with complete junk beats a hand with a pair, and between two pairs, lowest wins. If two players have a junk hand, the one holding the highest card loses. Get the idea? What you want are all the low cards with no pairs or threes of a kind. In fact, the best hand you can have is ace, two, three, four, five." She turned to Ace. "One joker as wild?"

Ace tried to keep his expression calm. "I put it in already." Uh, oh, he thought.

Everyone was recovering from their shock. Flint raised an eyebrow at Lady Jaye. "And where, exactly, did you learn to play poker, young lady?"

She rolled her eyes. "I'm covert ops. Haven't you ever seen a James Bond movie?"

Flint gave her a nervous grin. He had gone into this thinking that the odds were in the guys' favor, and he might, for the first time, get a closer look at his partner's charms. Not that he would say no to seeing a little of Cover Girl, too… but lately his thoughts seemed to spiral around Lady Jaye. He wondered if she wanted a better look at him. She certainly wouldn't be in this game to see Shipwreck's ugly backside. And she and Ace were friends, but—he stopped himself before he could finish the thought. No, he reasoned, she probably just wants to show us up.

Cover Girl had visibly relaxed and was actually smiling. She accepted her cards from Ace, and frowned in concentration. "Now, I want to keep my high cards, right?"

"No help!" Ace barked out before Lady Jaye could answer. She rolled her eyes, but didn't say anything.

Shipwreck, seated to the left of Ace, put in a bet right away. "I'll start with, mmm… two chips." Everyone matched his opening bet and traded in their cards. Then the second round of betting started. Everyone was being conservative, getting the feel for the game and the other players. By the time Ace called it, there were only twenty chips on the table. "Ok, let's see 'em."

Everyone laid down their cards. Lady Jaye took the hand with three jacks, just topping Ace's three tens. The men fidgeted as she looked them over one by one.

"Ace, you're up." She smiled, gathering the small pile of chips. "I do believe that will be two items of clothing." She missed the frown Flint gave her.

He stood up and took a deep breath, and leaned over to untie his boots.

"Slow and sexy, remember?" Cover Girl laughed.

Ace gritted his teeth and continued. It's only the first round. She just has beginner's luck, he told himself.

The next hand went to Lady Jaye, too. This time the pot was up to thirty five chips. "I'll be nice and round down. Flint, would you remove three pieces of clothing, please?" She smiled wickedly.

He gave her a lopsided grin and stood up. He casually tossed his beret aside. Then, like Ace, he took off his boots. "Mmm…No fair," Cover Girl commented. "There's nothing to see but we have to put up with the stink!"

"Well you get to take off your boots, too," Shipwreck put in. "Of course, you could start at the top…" Cover Girl smacked him in the shoulder.

Round three went to Ace, but the guys had bet absolute minimum; there were only ten chips on the table. He scooped them up anyway. "Give it up, LJ."

She stood and very slowly took off her baseball cap. The guys all booed. "Yeah, well, I'm only following Flint's lead." She sat back in her chair, and the next round was dealt.

Nearly an hour later, the CD player ran out of music. They didn't notice. No one in the room was wearing socks, shoes, or hats anymore, and all three men were in their undershirts. Cover Girl was down to a tank top and pants after Shipwreck had a streak of lucky cards. Lady Jaye was almost completely clothed. And she was definitely smirking.

They had played only two rounds of Lowball after Lady Jaye explained how it worked again. But no matter which way the game went, she seemed to come out on top. Worse, Ace couldn't read her at all. She had deftly manipulated the game so far, and he couldn't do anything to stop her.

Fortunately Flint had won this round. "Oh, it is definitely time for you to lose more clothing, Lady Jaye," he pronounced. His pulse quickened as she stood and faced the men.

Glancing up through half-closed eyes, she reached up and gripped the zipper on the front of her shirt. She pulled the tab down agonizingly slowly. The men were fascinated, watching as her hand lowered inch by inch. She gave them a seductive smile, and pulled the zipper down the rest of the way. Underneath she was wearing a tank top.

"Oh, man! That's so unfair!" Shipwreck exclaimed. "At this rate she'll have us all buck naked before we even see her underwear!"

Lady Jaye laughed. "That's the idea, boys."

Cover Girl gave her a high five as Lady Jaye sat back down. "This is fun!" She was enjoying watching the men squirm and turn red as they continued to lose.

The next few hands were taken Cover Girl, who had accidentally ended up with a flush and a straight. Shipwreck lost his undershirt and his pants, and Flint peeled off his undershirt.

Ace finally took another hand, and Cover Girl had to remove her tank top. She laughed as she did so, drawing the garment slowly out of her waistband. Flint shot a glance at Lady Jaye. She was watching, too—a little too avidly? He shook his head and fixed his attention back on the woman in front of him.

Three pairs of eyes widened as she revealed a belly button surrounded by smooth, tan skin. Shipwreck practically rubbed his hands together as she pulled the bottom up over her shoulders.

The guys groaned when they saw she had on a white sports bra underneath. "Haven't you ever heard of Victoria's Secret?" Shipwreck complained. "I finally have a model stripping right in front of me and she looks like an ad for Bowflex!"

"There is no way I'm going through PT in anything lacy, Shipwreck. Besides, who's got on the gray tighties full of holes, hmmm?"

Shipwreck shrugged. "I need to do laundry."

The betting slowed as the guys realized they were down to their last few pieces of clothing. It didn't help. Ace lost his pants next. The girls giggled madly as he gave up all traces of dignity and did a strip routine, right down to twirling his slacks above his head and gyrating his hips. He threw the pants to Lady Jaye, and both girls cheered and hooted.

"Boxers!" Cover Girl commented. "I hope you don't run in those."

He blushed and smiled. "Nope, but they're great to fly in." He wasn't really embarrassed yet, but he was certainly nervous. The whole idea had seemed great when he had imagined the girls being the ones to lose their clothes. But he wasn't sure he could really take off his underwear in front of the women. Not that he had anything to be ashamed of, but… It wasn't just the humiliation of being naked in front of two gorgeous women; it was the idea that he was also losing at poker!

I have GOT to do something about this. I owe it to the guys— they weren't expecting this, either. Ace didn't let his thoughts show on his face, but he began to plan.