Love's Wager

Chapter 2

Nina had never been to Reno. The closest she’d been was Lake Tahoe, where her parents used to rent a cabin during the summer months for a family getaway. From the moment the cab deposited her in front of the hotel, she knew she was going to love Reno.

The challenge of bringing a casino back to life excited her. She loved the thrill of new jobs. Though her previous jobs had been in the arena of up-and-coming actors or new movie releases, the idea of taking on a casino was another door opening in her career. Another opportunity that put her a step further away from her ex-husband who’d weighed in on not taking this job. Nina had ignored him. He had no say in her future, not anymore, not after he dumped her for Tiffani.

As a media expert, Nina traveled the world, though her base of operations was Hollywood. Hollywood was home and she loved the energy and excitement the city had. In Hollywood or any other place she’d worked in before, she could just pick up a phone and invite a dozen people to lunch. But in Reno, she knew no one except her best friend, Kenzie Russell.

At her feet her dog whimpered. The tiny affenpinscher had been a gift from Carl and she loved the little dog. King Kong pressed his tiny black nose against the mesh of his carrier. She reached down to gently stroke it.

“We’re here.” She kept her tone soothing and calm as she walked into the cool hotel, happy to be out of the heat while the bellhop trailed behind her hauling a trolley piled high with her luggage.

“Nina,” Kenzie called, waving.

“It is hot here.” Nina placed Kong’s carrier on the floor next to her feet.

“But you’re going to love it.” Kenzie laughed and reached over to hug Nina. “Welcome to Reno, Nevada, the biggest little city in the west. You look fabulous. That is an original Alexander McQueen.”

Nina smoothed a hand down the black-and-white houndstooth pattern of her silk dress. “You look pretty fab yourself.”

Kenzie wore a mint-green sheath with matching shoes that perfectly accented her dark brown eyes and mocha skin. Her long brown hair was swept up into a casual ponytail.

“What do you think?” Kenzie asked, spreading her arms wide.

“I’m still taking everything in.” Nina’s first impression of the Casa de Mariposa Hotel was one of sedate beauty of an old-world kind. It had good bones, but it needed something more. Something dramatic.

As she walked through the reception area into the casino she studied the clientele. She was struck by the lack of people under the age of thirty. Most of the stools in front of the slot machines were occupied by older men and women.

Nina tried to keep her mind open, but a stroll out to the pool showed only a couple families with young children, a few teenagers splashing in the deep end of the pool and older couples sunning themselves on the decks.

She strolled back inside, her thoughts churning, only half listening to Kenzie’s chatter.

After checking in and arranging for her luggage to be delivered to her suite, she allowed Kenzie to take her out to the pool. Nina parked herself on a stool at the bar. Kong whined from the depths of her tote bag. Nina absently patted him as she sipped the iced tea the bartender brought her. He also brought a small bowl of water for Kong.

“I know you haven’t unpacked yet, but...what do you see?” Kenzie parked herself on the stool next to Nina.

Nina took her time answering. “I see a lot of people in their forties, fifties and older, but not many younger. If you want to make this hotel casino attractive to young, hip people you need to offer the activities they want.”

“Which would be...?”

“You’re young and hip, what do you want?”

“To eat ice cream and not worry about my thighs.” Kenzie glanced down at her legs.

“I’ve seen your thighs,” Nina said with a laugh. “You don’t need to worry about them.”

“As a young woman racing toward thirty, I want to go to a nightclub. I want to have fun.” Kenzie frowned as she considered Nina’s question. “I want trendy shopping, high-energy shows with A-list celebrities, along with luxury, great food, glitz, glamour and cool.” Kenzie paused. “Everybody wants to be cool.”

“In other words, Miss E. wants to keep the elegance while attracting a younger crowd without losing her over-forty regulars. She wants to be the epicenter of Reno.”

“It needs glamour.” Kenzie pointed at Nina. “It needs you.”

“Stop.” Nina held up her hand. “You don’t need to flatter me. I’m all in. You’re my best friend and I adore your grandmother. She knows there’s a winner beneath the stodgy façade of this casino. I have a ton of ideas.”

“I know you are creative, but Miss E. did tell you that New Year’s Eve is the deadline. She wants to have the grand reopening then.”

“I have her notes. Once we decide on a theme, I’ll have a whole campaign worked out and ready to implement in a couple days.”

“The theme is the problem. Miss E. is having a difficult time thinking about a theme that will attract the guests she wants to attract.”

“I have several concepts in mind that I think will fit her idea of elegant and classy along with fun, glamorous and sexy.” She dug her tablet out of the tote. A half-unwrapped ball of yarn, a knitting needle trapped inside it, came with it.

“What are you knitting?” Kenzie asked curiously.

“Still knitting booties for my friends’ babies.” Nina had started knitting as a way to keep her fingers busy while she thought, and found it relaxing.

She rerolled the ball of yarn and tucked it back in her tote bag. She tapped her tablet where she’d already put together a couple slide shows. Nina had put together other campaigns in a shorter time with less to work with. She’d never done a casino before, but the structure of a campaign was generally the same. She came up with the ideas and found people to help her implement them.

Nina turned her tablet computer to Kenzie so she could see some of her ideas. “Let’s take a look. Las Vegas offers luxury, glamour and cool at a number of different levels. Caesar’s Palace, Bellagio, Luxor and the MGM Grand offer luxury, high-end dining, entertainment and shopping. Circus Circus, Treasure Island and Excalibur offer family fun and activities. Hard Rock offers trendy with great headliners in the rock-and-roll arena. But what they all provide is different ways to play. People go to Las Vegas to eat too much, drink too much, shop too much, and basically they went everything at a too much level.” Nina tapped the tablet. “Reno doesn’t draw the same international crowd. It’s more difficult to get to. It has less variety than Vegas. But these are things that can work in your favor. If you give people what they need here, they won’t go elsewhere to experience it.”

“What will we offer?”

Nina thought for a moment. “Exclusivity. What Robert Redford did for Park City with the Sundance Festival, I’m going to do for Miss E., but with all-year-long activities.”

“You are ambitious, girl,” Kenzie said, her eyes wide with amazement.

“‘Ambition bites the nails of success,’ according to Bono.” Nina grinned. The bartender brought her another iced tea and a platter of fruit. She picked at the fruit. “You know, if we weren’t working, we’d be drinking mimosas.”

Kenzie joined Nina in laughter.

Nina’s gaze was caught by a man skirting the pool area. He wore khaki cargo pants, a white polo shirt and military boots. “Wow.” He was hot.

“Hey, that’s Scott.” Kenzie waved vigorously, catching his attention.

When she’d first met Kenzie, he’d been out saving the world and somehow in between they’d never been on the same schedule.

She waved again, and the man veered toward them.

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 same 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.