Love's Wager Read online

  Kenzie jumped off her stool and ran to him, enveloping him in a huge hug. “You’re back.” She dragged him to the bar.

  Nina couldn’t stop staring. She was used to being around pretty, good-looking guys, but this one looked fabulous without all the effort.

  “This is Nina,” Kenzie said. “Nina, this is Scott.”

  “The famous Nina Torres.” Scott’s voice was deep and authoritative.

  “That would be me.” Her heart skipped a beat as she slipped off the stool and gazed up at him. He was tall and broad shouldered. Nina, at five-seven, felt dwarfed by him.

  “Nice to finally meet you.” He held out a hand and shook hers. “When you have a few moments, we need to talk.”

  An electrical jolt radiated through her fingers at his touch. Breathless, she gazed at him unable to look away. He was, by far, the best looking of the Russell brothers, with his sharp-featured face, eyes the color of Baltic amber and close-cropped black hair. The fact that he obviously worked out was not lost on her as she tried not to stare at his muscles.

  Kong suddenly barked. Nina turned around to soothe him.

  Scott’s eyes narrowed. He stared at the dog. “What the hell kind of dog is that? It looks like a monkey.”

  “That’s Kong. He’s an affenpinscher. It means monkey terrier.”

  Scott gave the dog a strange look.

  “Are you judging me by my dog?” Nina asked.

  “No,” he replied.

  “Liar.”

  “I have this thing about little dogs.”

  “He has the heart of a lion.” Nina picked him up out of her tote and petted him gently. Kong snuggled against her chest. “And he’s very loyal.”

  Carl had chosen the breed because he felt its personality was similar to hers. His explanation had amused her. That was the man she’d fallen in love with. He’d been sincere, determined and romantic, traits that evaporated later in their marriage. She’d mourned the loss of that man. Fame had killed him and she had been partially responsible for the megalomaniac he’d turned into. His new fame revealed his demons.

  “Have you come up with any plans for your media blitz?” Scott asked.

  Nina grinned at his abrupt change in subject. “I have a few.” She wasn’t quite ready to reveal them. “I want to talk to Miss E. first.”

  “Nothing that’s going to cause security nightmares, right?”

  “Where’s your sense of adventure?” Nina teased. Kenzie turned away to hide her own grin. She’d always said Scott was the serious one and everyone delighted in tweaking him a little bit.

  “I left it in Afghanistan.”

  “Let’s schedule a meeting after I’ve talked to Miss E. Right now I want to look over the hotel and the casino and experience it in all its stages.”

  “Experience away,” he said. “And don’t miss the magic show.”

  Kenzie sighed. “I definitely have that on the agenda.”

  Nina glanced at her friend. “That doesn’t sound too enthusiastic.”

  “You haven’t met Marvin the Marvelous.” Scott laughed. He kissed his sister on the cheek. “I’ll catch you later. I’m still unpacking.” He sauntered off.

  Nina found herself watching him cross the pool area and enter the hotel. He looked nice, but he was going to be trouble.

  “That was interesting.” Kenzie stared after her brother, her brow furrowed in thought.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I think my big brother just pulled your metaphoric pigtails.”

  Nina’s eyebrows rose. “I beg your pardon.”

  “I think he likes you.”

  “He thinks my dog is stupid,” Nina scoffed, petting Kong soothingly. Kong licked her chin.

  “He only says stupid things when he likes a girl.”

  “So insulting my dog means he likes me. Is he still in kindergarten?”

  “Don’t get me wrong.” Kenzie shook her head. “He does very well with the ladies—he just doesn’t have them in his life long-term.”

  “Number one, I would never date my best friend’s brother. And number two, I don’t have time.” She deposited Kong back in her purse. “Shall we go on with our tour? I have a hankering to see Marvin the Marvelous.”

  * * *

  After the tour, Nina sat in a corner booth in the bar and made notes on her tablet. Every idea she had she jotted down. She sipped a dirty martini and nibbled on a bowl of pretzels. A bartender wiped down the bar. A cocktail waitress in a short black flamenco-type skirt and white blouse worked her way around the few filled tables.

  The bar was sad in a way. It was all dark woods, Spanish arches and too much space, the kind of bar a person went to when they didn’t want to be bothered. If she were in charge of making it over, she’d decrease the size and make it more intimate. She’d reduce the lighting and put cute little lamps on the tables so that only the people sitting down would be highlighted. She’d make it romantic. Romance could sell anything.

  Chimes from the casino filtered into the bar. She watched a couple at another table. The woman was dressed to kill for two in the afternoon in a low-cut dress, hair pulled to the side over her shoulder and a lipstick that was just too red. The man watched her with avid interest. Nina couldn’t figure out what was wrong with the two of them.

  Scott appeared in the entryway and for a second, Nina’s heart raced. Just looking at him made her tingle all over in a way she’d never felt before.

  Scott saw her and gave her a smile. “Can I join you?”

  Nina nodded even as her gaze wandered back to the woman at the other table.

  He slid into the booth across to her and saw the look on her face. “She’s a hooker. If that’s what you’re wondering.”

  “How can you tell?”

  “She’s wearing stockings and a garter belt. And her body language is very seductive, but practiced. She’s not into him, she’s into his wallet.” Scott signaled a waitress and ordered coffee. “Every woman under twenty-five in this room is a working girl, except for the waitresses.”

  “And how do you know this?” Prostitution was rampant in Los Angeles, but working women were not allowed in her parents’ restaurant. Her father had a sixth sense the moment he saw a woman and knew if she was working or not. Politely, he would ask her to leave.

  “The bartenders get a percentage of their fees.”

  “But prostitution is legal in Nevada.”

  “Only on a county-by-county basis. It’s illegal here in Washoe County. Reno is a no-ho zone.” Scott smiled at the waitress when she set the coffee down in front of him.

  Nina tried not to laugh, but a small chuckle escaped anyway. Scott was a military man and his directness was refreshing. “What are you going to do about it?”

  “For the moment, I’m taking notes, scouting the bartending schools and talking to the Reno PD. See that waitress over there? She’s an undercover vice cop.”

  “I get where you’re coming from and you want to clean this place up...”

  “Before the grand opening,” he interjected.

  “And I get it’s against the law, but aren’t women like her why men come to places like this?”

  “That is a very good question.”

  “Do you have a very good answer for me?” She tilted her head at him.

  “Controlled hedonism.”

  “What do you mean by that?”

  “There has to be a line. And this is the line. Those women and what they do is on the wrong side of the line. I’m not judging what they’re doing, but what they do isn’t going to be allowed to happen here because it reflects badly on this hotel and therefore reflects badly on my grandmother.”

  “You sound just like my dad.” She could hear her father’s voice clearly in her head making the sa
me statement about how people let their standards slip and there went the neighborhood.

  “Is your dad a cop? I thought he owned a nightclub.”

  “He owns a nightclub, but sometimes I think it’s his own personal police state. And he rules his restaurant with an iron martini shaker. By the way, this is the best martini I’ve ever had. Can’t you just give the guy a slap on the wrist and let him off with a warning?”

  “Why are you drinking a martini at two in the afternoon?”

  “I’m checking his skills. This is work-related alcohol consumption. I need to find a spin on ways to promote this place. The best martini this side of the Rockies is great advertising.”

  “You think a martini would bring business.”

  Nina sighed. “Two years ago, I was hired to promote this little microbrewery in New York and last month it was bought out by a major food corporation. The former owner just bought a piece of Saint Lucia and is lying on the beach soaking up the sun.”

  “Basically, you’re a rainmaker.”

  Nina shrugged. “I don’t really have a title. I’m just good at promotions. I create buzz and have a knack for understanding how media works.” Knowing what people wanted was what she had always been good at.

  “How do you make a living out of that?” Scott looked interested.

  “By knowing the people who are right for what you need. Right now my friend Eydie is working up a website for the hotel. She’s a master at websites and blogs. We’ve already outlined a dozen blogs talking about different aspects of the hotel and the amenities. And more blogs about the Reno area in general. I’m thinking about contests, because people like to win things. This is basic stuff. I’m going to call friends of mine and talk them into coming here to party for New Year’s. And they’ll come if Miss E. throws in a free room, a limo from the airport and some gambling money.” Which they would all lose in the first hour. Nina didn’t gamble unless it was the penny or nickel slots. The few times she’d been to Las Vegas, every coin she fed into the machine was a penny that didn’t work for her.

  “Friends, as in who?”

  “Celebrities to be named later.”

  “That’s a whole lot of free.”

  “Not everything will be for free and they will pay for it especially when they see what they get out of it.”

  “And what’s that?”

  “Exposure.” Every celebrity Nina knew would do anything for exposure. Exposure reminded them of who they were and what they’d accomplished even if they were no longer the darlings of Hollywood.

  “Let’s talk about the security nightmares of having these people here?” Scott tapped the table with his index finger.

  “A lot of them will bring their own security and staff. And before you start worrying, let me do what I need to do and then I’ll talk to you about security.”

  Scott simply frowned, shaking his head.

  “I can see you’re worried,” Nina said, “but can we come back to this later when I have more information?”

  Scott nodded, finished his coffee and slid out of the booth. “Then I’ll let you get back to work.”

  Nina watched him leave, appreciating the tight, muscular body and the way he stalked with the confidence of an alpha wolf. Then her thoughts turned back to the hotel. As much as she loved watching Scott, she was here to do a job.

  * * *

  Scott returned to his office. The idea of celebrities running around the hotel didn’t please him. He didn’t like working with them. In Washington, the people he protected expected to be targets, acted accordingly and trusted him to keep them safe. Celebrities knew they could be targets, but the nature of their careers was to be seen and they dealt with a lot of yes people who never disagreed with them or considered their safety as long as their faces showed up on the next internet feed. God save him. For all Nina’s assertions that things would be fine, she didn’t understand that not only would he be dealing with the rich and famous and their bad behavior but their security teams and their staff.

  He rubbed his temples, a headache threatening. What the devil was Miss E. thinking bringing Hurricane Nina on board? While the casino wasn’t bringing in a lot of profit, it wasn’t losing money. Did Miss E. really need this extra spin?

  His job was going to be huge regardless of who was here, because somewhere underneath the surface of the casino, something wasn’t quite right. But he couldn’t put his fingers on it, just that his gut told him something dysfunctional was going on. And having Nina around distracted him. She was sexy, exotic and bold with a level of energy that didn’t seem to have a cap. He wanted to put everything down and follow her. She was sandy beaches, tall, icy drinks and sex in a hammock. Not that he’d ever had sex in a hammock, but Nina made him think about it.

  He opened the door that led from his office to the control room. The room was large to accommodate rows of monitors with men sitting in front of them keeping an eye on the activity in the casino, the bars and the restaurants.

  “Anything going on that I should know about?” Scott asked Gary White who oversaw the control room.

  “The usual,” Gary White said. “Everything’s good.” He was average height with pale skin and reddish-brown hair. He never looked directly at Scott. His gaze continually slipped to the left or the right, making Scott wonder what he was hiding.

  Scott knew nothing was good. Gary White was on his list of dysfunctional security people who had to go. He was sloppy and lazy. Security guards needed to be licensed. From what Scott had been able to deduce, his license had expired. Scott needed to be careful on how he got rid of people. The unions were powerful and he didn’t want them as an enemy. Right now, he’d be gathering evidence and documenting Gary’s offenses. He had to walk a tightrope and unlike Hurricane Nina, who wanted things done yesterday, he had to record everything to show cause.

  “Will you take a look at that?” Gary pointed at one of his monitors.

  Scott leaned over and felt his stomach turn into knots. “What the hell is she doing here?”

  “You know her, boss?”

  “My worst nightmare.” Scott volunteered no more information. His headache went from mild to threat-level red.

  Anastasia Parrish stood in the lobby surrounded by a half dozen Louis Vuitton suitcases. She held her Chihuahua in her arms as she stood at the desk with an imperious look on her petulant face, waiting for the reception clerk to check her into her room. She wore a white pantsuit that looked as though it had just come off the Paris runway, with oversize sunglasses.

  She took the glasses off and fluffed her dark brown hair with one hand.

  His first thought was to run down to the lobby and confront her, nipping this crap in the bud. But after a moment’s thought, he decided ignoring her was better. If anything, Anastasia hated being ignored. Daddy’s little girl thought the world turned on her nickel and was happy enough to tell anyone who would listen.

  “Nice friend, boss,” Gary White said with a knowing chuckle.

  Scott glared at the man and didn’t answer.

  The door opened and his brother, Hunter, poked his head in. “Got a second, bro?”

  Scott nodded and stepped out of the control room. Before his brother could say something, Scott’s cell phone rang. The front desk was calling him.

  “Scott Russell here,” he said knowing what the receptionist’s next comment would be.

  “Mr. Russell, a Miss Anastasia Parrish is asking for you,” came a chirpy voice.

  “I’m a little bit busy right now.” Scott pinched the bridge of his nose. “Tell Miss Parrish I will have to speak with her later.”

  “Very well, sir.” The woman disconnected.

  Scott shoved his phone back in his pocket. His brother watched him curiously.

  “Miss Parrish. Anastasia Parrish, spoiled rotten daughter of
Senator Parrish?”

  “Yeah,” Scott replied. “The bane of my existence.”

  “She’s very beautiful.”

  “She’s spoiled, petty and mean.” Scott leaned against the wall. How the hell was he going to get rid of her? “She’s twenty-five but acts like she’s thirteen, which is ridiculous. She thinks she’s in love with me.”

  “She’s pretty enough,” Hunter said. “Though compared to Lydia, she’s kind of colorless.”

  “Any woman you look at is colorless compared to Lydia.” Scott’s brother had finally found the love of his life in Lydia Montgomery. They were engaged to be married.

  “What are you going to do?” Hunter asked.

  “I don’t have many options. This is my home and she’s invaded it. I need to convince her to head back to Washington, DC, and just leave me alone.” Scott felt annoyed and beyond irritated. As though he didn’t have enough headaches, now he had to deal with Anastasia. She was poison.

  “Before you hide in your office—” Hunter held up an envelope “—I’m going to need your security plans for the spa. The electricians are coming on Monday and I want to make sure we have enough security cameras in all the right places.”

  “Okay,” Scott said, relieved to put Anastasia on the back burner for the moment. “Let’s check out the blueprints again and I’ll go over the areas I’ve already earmarked for security cameras.”

  Hunter started walking down the hall. Scott followed. He thought he heard a dog barking, but after a moment decided it was just his imagination.

  Chapter 3

  When Nina said she’d meet Miss E. in her office, the last thing she expected was an RV in the parking garage with cords attaching it to the side of the building. The RV was a lot more opulent than the vehicles Nina had seen at various RV shows. The blue-and-green interior consisted of a living area, a tiny galley and a large bedroom at the end. The door to the tiny bathroom was closed.

  Miss E. sat on a greenish-blue sofa, lips pursed as she studied Nina’s iPad on the hardwood coffee table. Next to her was Lydia Montgomery, Miss E.’s business partner.