The game was now deadly serious. Ace watched as Lady Jaye dealt out the cards. It would be his deal in two more hands. He prayed that his underwear would be with him that long. Once he was out of clothes, he would be out of the game. He had to redeem himself before that happened, or he'd never live it down.

The betting was still conservative. The girls could have forced them to raise or fold, but they seemed to be enjoying the slow torture. Ace knew he had a losing hand this time around, and hoped that Flint or Shipwreck was doing better.

"I call." Everyone placed their cards on the table. Flint was grinning madly as he showed off his full house. He looked over at Lady Jaye with a gleam in his eye. "Tank top or pants. Your choice."

She smiled and stood, pulling her top loose as she did so. She fingered the hem for a moment, then reached for the button on her pants instead. Flint swallowed audibly as she pulled the zipper down next. Lady Jaye leaned slightly back and pulled the fly open, exposing a stretch of silky pink underwear. "That's more like it," Shipwreck croaked hoarsly.

Lady Jaye lowered her lashes and regarded each of the men for a moment. The she turned around and tugged the pants off her hips. She took her time sliding the slacks the rest of the way down her thighs, then very deliberately bent over, pulling her feet out of the bottom one at a time.

Cover Girl broke the silence by bursting into laughter. Everyone turned their heads to stare at her. "My God!" She gasped, pointing at the men. "The looks on your faces!" She continued to shake as Lady Jaye sat down again. "Geez, Jaye--have you done this before?"

Lady Jaye looked up at the ceiling, feigning innocence. "Who, me?"

"Yeah, covert ops, huh?" Shipwreck asked. "I've certainly seen those James Bond movies! Did you 'get' the bad guy on that mission?" He waggled his brows suggestively.

Lady Jaye's ears turned pink. "I refuse to answer that question. Ask something less stupid."

Cover Girl ended the discussion by handing the collected cards to Flint. "Deal."

It came down to the wildcard that hand. Lady Jaye had it, and Ace didn't. "Four of a kind, the easy way. Now, let's see." She regarded the men critically. "No offense, Ship, but I'd rather you kept your underwear on."

"You wound me!"

"And that leaves…" She trailed off, raising an eyebrow in Flint's direction. "I believe we need to even things up here a bit. You're the only man with pants left. Ditch 'em."

Flint stood up, slowly. Unfortunately, watching Lady Jaye remove her pants had caused some difficulties in his own. Oh, please don't let her tease me about this in front of everyone else, he prayed.

He took a deep breath and undid his fly. He closed his eyes and undid the snap. He hesitated a few moments, then quickly pulled his pants down to his knees, trying to bend over before they could get a good look at the front of his boxer-briefs.

"Ok, now stand up," Lady Jaye told him. "No covering, remember?" She paused and snickered when he didn't move. "What's wrong? You don't have any…insecurity issues, do you?"

He stood up straight and glared at her. It was obvious that he did not have insecurity issues. Cover Girl gasped and covered her eyes with her hands. "Flint!" She squeaked, turning bright red.

Lady Jaye looked him over, and raised an eyebrow. He flushed at her frank appraisal, but stood still. After a moment he asked, "May I sit down now?"

She smiled broadly. "Sure thing…big guy."

Cover Girl peeked out between her fingers. "Lady Jaye!"

"Oh, come on, Cover Girl. Don't tell me you get embarrassed that easily! Maybe you should go through covert ops training—they'd beat it out of you for sure!"

"Thank you, I will stick to my tanks. Can I look yet?"

Lady Jaye watched as Flint carefully sat down. "Yes, everything is hidden away from your delicate sensibilities."

Ace cleared his throat. "If we could continue…?" He scowled. He was secretly pleased that Flint had caused such a wonderful distraction. No one had watched him shuffle. He held the cards in his hands, ready to deal. I never thought it would come down to this, he thought. Me! Stacking the deck!


Is it worth it?
He wondered. He glanced around the table. Both Flint and Cover Girl were the color of ripe tomatoes. Shipwreck kept leaning back in his chair, looking at Lady Jaye's legs under the table. SHE just sat there, wearing a smug expression and, more importantly, a lot more clothes than him. Oh, yeah. It's worth it. He dealt out the cards.

Everyone looked at their hands. The first betting round went by. Everyone passed. "Ok, boys and girls. Looks like it's lowball," Ace announced. He put in two chips. "Let's get moving." They all threw in chips to match and exchanged their cards. Everyone matched his next round bet, and, as Ace knew she would, Lady Jaye raised. He watched her expression carefully. He knew exactly what she held, and she hid it well. She should be feeling pretty confident. He raised the bet on the next pass. Shipwreck folded, but sure enough, Lady Jaye met his bet and raised him again. "Uh, Ace—I don't think you have that many clothes left," Shipwreck pointed out.

"Well, I guess she'll have to split up the pot, huh?" He replied. "We didn't say the clothes all had to come from the same person, did we? Just ten chips, one item."

Shipwreck put his head down on the table. There were at least thirty chips in the pile.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Flint fidgeted.

Ace met her bet a final time and called. They stared at each other for a full minute. He gestured for her to go first. She carefully placed down her hand.

"Oh, man!" Shipwreck moaned. "Thank God they don't have cameras!"

"Uh, you've seen enough for today, haven't you, Jaye?" Flint added. "You wouldn't really make us—"

"Gentlemen, gentlemen," Ace interrupted. "The game is not over yet." He dropped his hand face up on the table. "Five, four, three, two…ace. Best hand in the game."

Lady Jaye's jaw dropped. "Wha—" She sputtered.

"I believe that would be three items of clothing?" Ace prodded.

Shipwreck jumped up from his chair. "Yes!" He punched the air with his fists. "Come on, doll—fair's fair."

"Oh, be nice, guys," Cover girl joked. "She wouldn't have made you take off your underwear…"

"Yes I would have," Lady Jaye replied. "You're right. Fair's fair." She took a deep breath and stood up.