Denise put down the spoon and faced her. “You’re saying he wants to give you a job to make up for being bad in bed?”

Nevada winced. “It made more sense when I was just thinking that in my head. With you asking the question, it sounds stupid.”

“There’s probably a reason for that.”

Denise Hendrix had married young and had three boys in less than five years. Determined to have a daughter, she’d gotten pregnant one last time, only to find herself having triplets. She’d handled the shock with her usual grace and humor, raising six children with an ease that left most people amazed.

A widow for the past eleven years, she’d finally started dating. But her social life didn’t keep her so busy that she didn’t have time to tell her children exactly what she thought. That was both a blessing and a curse.

“If Tucker was genuinely worried about his reputation, he wouldn’t hire you,” her mother said. “He would run as far and fast as he could, or try to sleep with you now and move on. Why would he risk you telling the entire crew about your night together?”

“He knows I would never do that.”

“Does he? It doesn’t sound as if he took the time to know you at all.”

“Things were complicated back then,” Nevada mumbled, not wanting to get into the whole Cat situation. Sure, Tucker had been lousy in bed, but Nevada had been the one throwing herself at him the second she’d found out he and Cat had broken things off. She’d practically begged him to sleep with her. Unfortunately, their brief encounter hadn’t won her anything and had instead broken her heart.

“If your dreams matter, then you’ve been given an excellent opportunity. I’d hate to see you miss it and have regrets later. They can be the hardest thing to live with.”

Nevada stared at her mother. “Do you have regrets?”

“Not very many. I’ve been lucky — I had a wonderful husband and I have my children.”