“Nice place you have here,” I said for something to say. I was only giving him half my attention. The other half was reeling under the impact of the women in the joint. They were something to see. Even a horse would look over his shoulder at them. A dark woman in a red dress drifted past as I was about to compliment him further. She stopped me in mid-stride. She had the most provocative walk I had ever seen. Her hips were sheathed in this red silk, pulled so taut that light rippled over the fabric as she moved. They flowed under the dress like heavy and seductive liquid, like molten metal.
“We hope you’ll like it here, Mr. Cain,” he was saying, as if he’d rushed around and built the place as soon as he’d heard I was coming. “May I introduce myself? Guillermo at your service. Would you care for a drink?”
I tore my eyes away from the woman’s hips and said I was glad to know him and a drink would be swell.
We went over to the bar and put our feet on the elegant brass rail. The bar was glistening and spotless but the barman hustled up and wiped it mechanically, his eyes on Guillermo.
’What’ll it be?” said Guillermo.
“A little bourbon, I guess,” I said.
The barman gave me three inches of the finest bourbon I’d ever encountered. I said as much.
At this moment a tall man with a terrific torso appeared at my side.
“Senor Speratza,” Guillermo said, and faded out of the picture.
I turned and looked the newcomer over. He had everything in the way of good looks a man could want. He was as big as a house, his eyes were black and the whites of them like porcelain. His hair was rather long and curled a little over his temples. His skin was cream-rose. He was really handsome in a Latin way.