Love's Wager

by J. M. Jeffries

  Waitstaff gathered by the door and the under-chefs stood at their stations trying to make themselves look small. Nina knew the moment her father left the kitchen, the chef would take his humiliation out on them.

  “Well,” the chef said, his scowl deepening. He stalked up to Scott. “You can tell your grandmother I quit.” He took off his apron and his toque, flinging them on the floor. He stomped out of the kitchen and Nina tried not to cringe at the scene that would shortly be going down in Human Resources.

  Without missing a beat, Manny said. “Good.” He snapped his fingers. “Someone get me an apron.”

  “Dad,” Nina said,” you can’t cook here. This is Miss E.’s hotel.”

  “Nonsense,” he replied. “I’m a guest chef. Miss E. will allow it. She likes my cooking.” An under-chef handed him a clean apron and a toque for his head and Manny spun around to take in everything. “I will cook and then we will clean. Then I will teach you all how to cook with passion.”

  Nina pushed Scott and her mother out of the kitchen. Once her father’s mind was made up there was no changing it.

  A crowd of diners had gathered at the swinging doors leading to the kitchen. Nina shoved through them, opening a channel for her mother. Scott made soothing sounds and urged the diners back to their tables.

  “Is he always like this?” Scott asked when they sat at their booth.

  “He gets testy when people don’t take care of their workers,” Grace said with a shrug. “Or when people don’t cook with joy, love and passion.”

  Scott’s face held nothing but amusement and Nina started to relax. Most men found her father intimidating. Scott wasn’t put off. “And he has no tolerance for poorly cooked anything.”

  Scott took out his phone. “I should probably let my grandmother know what happened.”

  Nina saw a movement in the corner of her eye and saw Miss E. entering the restaurant. “I think she already found out.”

  Miss E. stopped at their table.

  “I’m sorry, Miss E.,” Grace began.

  “I’m not,” Miss E. said, scooting in next to her grandson. “I didn’t like the man anyway. Now that Manny is in the kitchen, I can eat here.”

  “You wanted to get rid of him?” Scott said curiously.

  Miss E. laughed. “The minute I knew Manny was coming, I knew he’d get rid of him for me.”

  Nina burst out laughing. “So that’s why you wanted me to invite them.”

  Miss E. waved her hand. “Grace, you and Manny are two of my favorite people.”

  Grace’s eyes twinkled. “You are a devious woman, Miss E.”

  Miss E. bowed her head gracefully. “Of course.”

  “What’s going to happen when Donovan arrives?” Scott looked a little confused.

  Nina wanted to comfort him. Her parents were a lot to take in and things happened around them very quickly.

  “Don’t worry about Donovan,” Miss E. said. “He and Manny will get along just fine.” She raised her hand to signal the waitress who rushed over as quickly as she could.

  Grace reached out to Miss E. and gripped her hand. “While Manny is getting the kitchen in shape, I will be thinking about music. Miss E., this place is just too quiet.”

  “And you will make it noisy.”

  Grace gave a catlike grin. “I will make it sing.”

  * * *

  After dinner, Nina found Kenzie in the gift shop.

  “All this ticky-tacky stuff has to go,” Kenzie told the manager. “Put it on sale. I don’t care how you get rid of it.”

  The manager, a woman who looked to be around twenty-five, pressed her lips tightly together. She wore a tag with the name Zoe embossed on it. “Miss Russell, I’ve been the manager here for a year and I know how to improve sales.”

  Kenzie shook her head. “I’m going to get beautiful things for this shop and the clothing shop.”

  Nina looked around, finding she agreed with Kenzie.

  “First, I’m leaving for Brazil tomorrow. I’ll be in Rio. I’ll be looking for special things for our Rio-in-Reno celebration. I want classy, beautiful. While I’m gone, I want you to look at things and ask yourself, is this classy, sophisticated, chic? And stop thinking cheap and start thinking boutique.”

  The girl’s face turned mutinous. “But Miss Russell...this is not the classiest hotel.”

  Kenzie just smiled. “But it will be. We’re going to make the Bellagio look like a no-tell motel. So think elegance, think beauty, think class.”

  Zoe looked around, her eyes squinting. “The fixtures have to go, then.”

  “Collect ideas and put them in a folder and I will go over them with you when I return.”

  Kenzie looped her arm through Nina’s. “Let’s go before she thinks about it too hard.”

  “You’re going to make her into a little mini-me, aren’t you?” Nina said with a laugh.

  Kenzie glanced back at Zoe who stood in the center of the store, eyes squinting and thinking hard. “When I’m done with that girl, she’ll be able to get a job with any fashion house in Paris, but she won’t. She’ll stay with me forever. So what are your plans for the evening?”

  “Do I detect a suspicious undertone in your question?”

  “I have no idea what you mean.” Kenzie tried for an innocent look, but couldn’t quite pull it off.

  “You’re being nosy. Maybe I’m going up to my suite, opening a bottle of wine and putting my feet up. It’s been quite a day.”

  “Are you going to be doing it alone?”

  Nina shrugged. “I haven’t gotten that far into my planning.”

  “You should invite Scott.”

  Nina stared at her friend suspiciously. Did her friend know that she was attracted to her brother? Damn that woman—too smart for her own good. “Why should I invite Scott to my quality alone time?”

  “So he can have quality alone time with you.” The look of innocence just didn’t work on Kenzie’s face.

  “And if I want to be alone...” Nina’s voice trailed off. “It’s been a stressful afternoon.”

  “I’m sure he’s stressed out, too.”

  Nina stopped and jerked Kenzie to a stop next to her. “I have known you for how many years? You have never attempted to set me up with one of your brothers. Why are you doing it now?”

  “You never met Scott before.”

  And Scott was making her a bit nutty. “But Donovan and Hunter are perfectly good men.”

  “Of course they are,” Kenzie conceded. “But not perfectly good men for you.”

  “So you’re offering me the uptight, anal-retentive, stiff-necked brother.”

  “He is all those things, but not in a bad way. He could use a woman who is fun-loving, passionate and impulsive just like you.”

  Nina’s eyes narrowed to slits. She wasn’t that good. “I don’t need you to help me find a guy.”

  “Your last experiment was Carl. You need my help.”

  Nina flinched. “Ouch.”

  Kenzie nudged her good-naturedly. “We’re friends. Be honest. The only good thing you got out of the marriage was that dog.”

  “Stop being so honest with me.” Mention of Kong reminded her she’d barely seen him all day. She hoped he hadn’t worn Maya out. Lydia’s daughter had taken the responsibility of taking care of a dog very seriously. She was trying to impress her mother. “Okay, I’ll call your brother and ask him if he wants some quality alone time with me. I’m sure he’ll say no. He thinks I make him crazy.”

  Kenzie gave her an odd look. “I hope you do. Call him, or I will.”

  Nina sighed. It’s not like she didn’t want to spend time alone with him. “All right. All right. I’ll call him. When did you become such a bully?”

  “I’ve always be
en a bully, but it’s hard to outshine your parents.”

  Nina started laughing. “Have a good trip to Brazil.”

  Kenzie headed back into the gift shop while Nina pulled her phone out of her pocket to call Scott. He agreed to meet her in her suite and said he’d bring the wine. Nina let out a low sigh.

  * * *

  Scott knocked on Nina’s door, a bottle of chilled Chardonnay in one hand and a bottle of merlot in a bag dangling from his arm. She opened the door and he smiled. She’d changed into casual jeans and a loose T-shirt. Gold hoops hung from her ears and she’d swept her hair back from her face and secured it with multicolored barrettes dotted with rhinestones that caught the fading sunlight with tiny little flashes. Something about her glowed. She was the most beautiful woman he had seen in a long time. She was so alive and vibrant he had to stop himself from touching her. They worked together and she was his sister’s friend. Hell, she wasn’t going to be around long enough for him to see if they could get something started.

  “Come on in.” She stood aside to let him into the suite.

  Her suite was a carbon copy of all the others, though smaller. The living area consisted of a sofa and two over-stuffed chairs upholstered in yellows and oranges. A small dining room and kitchen overlooked the pool. The sounds of late-night swimming, splashing and laughter filled the night. A bedroom and bath opened off the living room. She’d opened the sliding doors to the balcony and a light evening breeze filtered in.

  “I don’t think I have a bottle opener. At least I couldn’t find one,” she said after an approving look at the two bottles.

  “Never leave home without one.” He held up a Swiss Army knife and headed for the kitchen. She’d set out two wineglasses on the counter and a small plate of assorted truffles. “Chardonnay or merlot?”

  “Chardonnay.”

  Glad that she was pleased, he opened the bottle and poured two glasses of wine. He handed one to her, and she wandered out onto the balcony. He followed her to lean against the railing. She set the plate of truffles down on a glass-topped table and stood next to him sipping her wine. Below them, underwater lights lit up the swimming pool. A group of adults had commandeered the spa and sat in it laughing and talking while kids jumped off the diving board trying to make large splashes.

  “I saw on Anastasia’s Twitter feed that she was partying with T-Rex. She posted photos on Instagram.” Nina frowned slightly. “That girl cannot keep quiet about anything.”

  “She made it difficult to make her the hero in this.”

  Nina shook her head. “Yeah, it’s hard to spin stupid.”

  The woman had a wicked sense of humor. “Some of the kids posted photos and a few parents were annoyed to have the world know their underage kids were partying with an underage celebrity who’s been in rehab twice.”

  “My question is where were they while their children were partying?”

  Scott just shrugged. “It’s easy to sneak out.”

  “Spoken by someone who did?”

  He grinned. “I had an adventure or two.”

  She tilted her head to study him. “I have a hard time seeing you getting out from under Miss E.’s thumb.”

  He laughed. He wasn’t about to tell her some of his adolescent misadventures, although he knew it would please her. “It took planning, but every once in a while, I got a sweet taste of freedom.” Donovan was his coconspirator. Hunter had been too serious to enjoy challenging authority. “As long as Donovan and I escaped Kenzie’s notice, we managed.”

  “If you’d taken her with you, you might have gotten away with a few more things.”

  “If she’d known ahead of time of our plans, she’d run right to Miss E. We called her Kenzie the Informer.”

  “Kenzie only told on you when you didn’t take her along. You seriously misjudged your sister. She had to go all the way to Paris for her misadventures.”

  “What?”

  She leaned toward him, her face full of mischief. “I’ll never tell, because they included me.”

  The Chardonnay was perfect, slightly sweet yet tart. He chose a truffle to eat and found the nutty taste a perfect complement. “You can trust me.”

  Her eyes crinkled with laughter. “Where’s the fun in that? Kenzie told me you were the instigator.”

  “Maybe. What about you? You have five brothers and a sister. Where are you in your hierarchy?”

  “I’m the third oldest and my two older brothers called me when they needed help getting out of trouble.”

  “So you were the negotiator.” He nodded sagely. Donovan had been the negotiator for him. Not that he could wrap Miss E. around his little finger, but he had a better chance of doing so than Scott or Hunter.

  “I guess you could say that. With as many brothers as I had, someone had to negotiate.”

  “What about your sister?”

  “Mara is the baby of the family. She’s currently at UC Davis. All she had to do was flutter her eyelashes and she got whatever she wanted, but she shared the bounty. If she got a candy bar, she’d share.” A fond smile curved her lips.

  Scott wouldn’t have shared. Maybe with Kenzie to keep on her good side. “I had a really good time at the car museum today.”

  Nina sipped her wine and set the glass down. “Me, too. I’m planning a few trips around Reno to some of the other activities tourists can do.”

  “I’m heading to Virginia City tomorrow.” Scott had been planning this one trip since he’d arrived. “When I was a kid I loved anything Western. John Wayne, Roy Rogers, Bonanza, The Virginian. I watched the reruns over and over again when I could find them. Virginia City is an old Wild West town that sprang up during the silver and gold rush.”

  “Are you going to put on a ten-gallon hat, boots and spurs?”

  He grinned. He’d been a cowboy for Halloween five years in a row. “I just might, ma’am,” he drawled and pretended to tip an invisible hat at her.

  “Can I go, too? This I have to see.”

  His eyebrows rose in surprise. He had to stop himself from yelling out yes. Play it cool, he told himself. “Are you inviting yourself along?”

  “I think I am.”

  His heart raced and his hands started to sweat. “I’m really going to just take photos. Photography is my hobby.”

  “Really. My brother Ben is into photography.”

  “Then tomorrow’s a date.” She looked so delectable with the evening breeze tugging at her hair and her face so calm and serene. He couldn’t help his next move.

  He set his wineglass down, pulled her into his arms and kissed her. Her lips were warm and pleasantly sweet with the wine. Her body leaned into his and he felt every soft curve, smelled her faint perfume, and knew he’d been wanting to kiss her since the moment he’d met her at the bar by the pool.

  Chapter 6

  Stunned, Nina stood on the balcony. She knew he’d kissed her. The shock of the kiss startled her. Before she could decide what to say, he’d simply left, telling her he’d see her in the morning. She nodded, unable to say anything while her mind processed the kiss.

  She liked that kiss. She liked the feel of his hard, muscular body against hers, the sweetness of his breath and the faint scent of his aftershave.

  A knock sounded at her door and she almost ran across the suite to fling it open. He’d come back and she waited with breathless anticipation for him to sweep her into his arms and continue on with the kiss and possibly more.

  Instead Carl stood in hallway looking nervous. Before she could respond, he leaned toward her to give her an air kiss.

  “You’ve been avoiding me, Nina.”

  She stepped back before he could pull her into his arms. “Not really.” For a brief second, she was almost glad to see Carl. With Carl to distract her, she wouldn’t have to think a
bout her and Scott. If she thought about that kiss, she would have to do something and she wasn’t certain how to proceed.

  “Can I come in?” Carl asked.

  She stood aside and gestured him into the suite. He walked around seeing the open bottle of wine and her glass, which she’d placed there. Scott’s glass was still out on the balcony. Carl opened a cabinet and found a wineglass and poured a glass for himself. Nina had to stop herself from telling him no. She didn’t want to share that bottle with him.

  He sat down just as Kong peeked out of the bedroom and ran out to jump on the sofa and cuddle up next to Carl. Nina found herself smiling. Carl loved animals and Kong adored him as much as the little dog adored her. How could she not like Carl when animals loved him, too? That always told her there was a kindness in him that he seldom showed.

  She poured wine into her glass and glanced out at the balcony. Scott’s glass was hidden in the shadow and she breathed a sigh of relief because she didn’t want to explain anything to Carl.

  “You have to help me, Nina.” He sipped the wine. “Nice wine. You always did have good taste.”

  “In some things.”

  He settled back and studied her, his eyes narrowed. “You look good.” He sniffed. “What perfume are you wearing?”

  “Nanette.”

  “It smells good on you.”

  “Thank you. What’s wrong?”

  He took a deep breath. Nina sat in a chair and watched him.

  “My career is in the toilet,” he moaned.

  “You work continually. I read in Variety that you have three movies coming out next year. How can your career be in the toilet?”

  Agitated, he jumped to his feet and started pacing. “Two of those movies are straight to video. Who wants to watch Shark-A-Conda? Blood in the Water? Or...” He ran his hands through his hair as he paced. “Aliens X? I’ve gone from big-budget films to films on a dime. My last film had a budget of $700,000. And most of that went into special effects rather than name actors.”

  “And it made thirty million in video and you got a nice percentage of that. And from what I’m hearing, it’s turning into a cult classic on the Syfy channel.” Nina watched him, almost feeling sorry for him. Somewhere on his journey he’d lost sight of the types of films he’d wanted to produce and direct.