Love's Wager. J.M. Jeffries

loved her parents’ restaurant. She loved the boisterous atmosphere as waitstaff maneuvered through the tables, trays piled with an array of enticing, delicious food. The aroma of spice hung heavy over the room.

      “Nina, sorry to be late, traffic was horrible.” Kenzie Russell dropped her purse on the table and reached out her arms to Nina.

      Nina jumped to her feet. “Kenzie, don’t worry, I’ve only been here a few minutes. Hello, Miss E.” Nina embraced her best friend and leaned over to kiss Kenzie’s grandmother on the cheek. Nina and Kenzie had met their first year at UCLA when they’d roomed together and had been best friends ever since.

      Miss E. hugged Nina tightly. She was the grandmother Nina never had, since her father’s parents lived in Brazil and her mother’s parents had passed away when Nina had been a child.

      “Kenzie tells me you won a hotel/casino in a poker game. Good for you.” Nina slid back into the booth. Miss E. sat and Kenzie slid in to sit next to Nina.

      Kenzie was a gorgeous woman with shoulder-length black hair that she’d pulled up into a French knot at the back of her head. She wore a stylish, blush-pink dress from the Michael Kors spring line that fit her voluptuous curves to perfection. Matching pink stilettos adorned her feet. Kenzie was always elegant and stylish while Nina tended to go for more flamboyant clothes like the Alexander McQueen black-and-yellow print dress she currently wore. Shoes were her downfall. She loved unusual shoes and the pair she wore with her dress today were shaped like fish with the mouth as the toe and the heels looking like fins.

      “When are you coming to work for me and make my new casino and hotel the hippest place on the planet?” Miss E. asked.

      Nina chuckled. “I have never planned a media campaign for a casino before.”

      Kenzie nudged her good-naturedly. “You’d do a terrific job. You always do. Look at how you saved Sam Beaumont’s career. That man was dead-drunk, facedown in his own vomit on Sunset Boulevard. And now he’s an Oscar winner. Why? Because you knew how to clean up his reputation and make him bankable again. You Nina’d him.”

      Nina clapped her hands. “I’m a verb.”

      “And Restaurant des Roux used to be a burger joint,” Kenzie continued. “And now a line wraps around the block with people who want to get in and eat thirty-dollar hamburgers. That was one brilliant media campaign.”

      “I need your magic touch.” Miss E. glanced around the restaurant and waved at Nina’s mother who waved back and started to weave her way to the table.

      Nina opened her mouth, not certain what to say. A hotel/casino!

      “And don’t forget the new spa,” Kenzie added. She leaned toward Nina. “My soon-to-be sister-in-law and my brother are converting the hot springs on the back of the property into a spa. They broke ground six weeks ago and the walls are already up. It’s supposed to be completed by Christmas, barring any emergencies.”

      Nina had heard Hunter was engaged to be married. He and Donovan were the only Russell brothers she’d ever met. Scott never seemed to be around when she and Kenzie visited with Miss E. and now that their careers had gone in different directions, they barely got together more than once in a blue moon.

      “I don’t think I’ve ever seen Nina speechless before.” Wry humor colored Kenzie’s voice.

      “What exactly do you want?” The fact that they’d come all the way from Reno meant this new project was really important. Nina had managed to do a little research about Reno and the Casa de Mariposa, which had given her a few ideas, but she needed more information.

      A waitress came over to take Kenzie and Miss E.’s drink order. Nina saw that her mother had gotten distracted and stopped to talk to a friend.

      “I want the Nina mojo.” Miss E. laughed. “You made this place,” she spread her arms wide to indicate Lua el Sol, “the place to be seen in LA. I want Casa de Mariposa the place to be seen in Reno.” She waved her hand. “I’ve been here five minutes and already I’ve spotted an Oscar-winning director, an Emmy-award-winning actress and two musicians. In the corner over there is that Grammy-winning jazz band, which, by the way, I adore. And if I’m not mistaken, isn’t that,” she pointed at a center table, “one of the Monaco royals?”

      Nina followed Miss E.’s gestures. She was so used to seeing the rich and famous that it never impacted on her. Lua el Sol was a fun place to come and be seen without being bothered. The paparazzi weren’t allowed within three blocks so celebrities wouldn’t have to shove their way through throngs of people to get in. They could have their meal in peace and enjoy the atmosphere.

      “Miss E.” Grace Torres finally arrived at the table clutching a platter of appetizers. She set the platter down in the center of the table just as the waitress brought the drinks.

      “What have we here, Mama Torres?” Kenzie asked eyeing the food. Kenzie loved trying new foods and once told Nina every morsel that came out of her father’s kitchen was amazing.

      “Papa’s experimenting in the kitchen again. The balls that look like crusty hush puppies are acarajé, shrimp with black-eyed peas and onions. These are bolinhos de arroz made with rice and fried. These little drumsticks are chicken coxinha.” Grace’s voice still held the cadence of her Alabama childhood. Tonight she had tucked a spray of yellow orchids in her hair to match her bright yellow dress.

      “They look delicious,” Kenzie said, her fork out ready to spear the shrimp.

      “Our special tonight,” Grace continued, “is a lovely black-bean stew called feijoada with pão de queijo, which is cheese bread. And for dessert we have brigadeiros, which are little chocolate-and-caramel truffles.”

      “Chocolaty caramel goodness,” Kenzie gasped in delight. Kenzie had never met a chocolate-anything that she didn’t devour. And Nina couldn’t believe she was still a model-slim, perfect size four.

      Grace patted Kenzie on the cheek. “I knew you were coming.”

      “I love you.” Kenzie took a bite of the savory shrimp balls and moaned. “Incredible.”

      “You do realize you have to share, don’t you?” Nina teased.

      “You always were a spoilsport.” When Kenzie pouted men turned to look.

      “Enjoy,” Grace said. “I will return with the next course in a little bit.”

      “Is your mother going to sing tonight?” Kenzie asked. “I’d hate to come all this way and miss your parents’ music.”

      “She sings almost every night. And the great thing is you never know who’s going to join in.”

      Miss E. clapped her hands. “That is what I want for the resort, Nina. This incredible joy and fun wrapped up in old-world elegance. Casa de Mariposa is a lovely lady, but dull and uninteresting. I want you to make her interesting.”

      “First, let’s eat, dance, and if so inclined we’ll sing. And tomorrow I’ll work out some ideas and come up on Wednesday to go over everything with you.”

      Miss E. filled her plate with an assortment of food and dug in. Nina had one hand on the plate and the other with her fork when a voice sounded behind her.

      “Nina. Darling.”

      She turned to find her ex-husband Carl Durant standing behind her. Carl was a handsome man with whitish-blond surfer hair, dark blue eyes and a fine, blond stubble on his chin. He was impeccably dressed in black jeans and T-shirt. He’d told her once that wearing black made him look mysterious. Nina thought he looked ridiculous. The black made him look washed-out and tired.

      Hanging on his arm was his newest love, the tiny, barely legal, bubblegum-blonde Tiffani Diamond he’d dumped Nina for. Tiffani wore a tight white dress with black shoes and clutch purse. The white did nothing for her fair complexion though she’d tried to make up for it with heavy eye makeup and her hair