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Elvis’ former girlfriend, Linda Thompson, was Miss Tennessee U.S.A. when she met roommate Miss Rhode Island U.S.A. Jeanne LeMay at the Miss U.S.A. competition in 1972.

They didn’t win the title, but Linda’s role as Miss Tennessee U.S.A. led to her introduction to Elvis Presley and to a longtime friendship with LeMay. LeMay often visited Graceland and, when Elvis was away, had slumber parties with Thompson and other friends in the Elvis (and Linda) bedroom.

That’s the bedroom that’s off limits to Graceland visitors along with the rest of the upstairs that was Elvis’ inner sanctum.

LeMay and writer Jim Cox self-published a book last year that was picked up by Rooftop Publishing and turned into a flashy full-color tome with 70 photographs. Called “Elvis, Linda and Me Collector’s Edition,” it is about a part of her life that LeMay now says was “like a fairytale.” Elvis bought her a car – a Pontiac Ventura with a leopard skin top (“The only other people who drove those cars were pimps,” she says). He bought her a ring with three and a half carats of diamonds set in the shape of a cross. And he left her with memories. When they went for a ride in her car, people stared. “He said, ‘Look, Jeanne, people are looking at your car.’ I said, ‘Did you think they may be looking at you?’ He said, ‘Oh, I didn’t think about that.’ He was so humble and down to earth, he would forget himself like that.”

When one of his own cars (a Pantera sports car) would not start one day, LeMay says his temper flared. “He shot it. He shot the door.” The bullet hole increased the value of the car when it was sold, she says.

Among photographs in the book are ones of the 9-by-9-foot Elvis bed, including one of Linda Thompson lounging on the bed with deep red and gold trimmings livening up a room that may never be seen by fans.