The casino-resort project was huge. The biggest one he’d ever run. He needed a good team in place and Nevada brought a lot to the table. The fact that he knew her and trusted her made him unwilling to let her simply walk away. But how to convince her to let go of the past and come work for him?

As he followed Will out of the conference room, he realized once again the trouble in his life could be traced back to Caterina Stoicasescu. Cat had always been hell on wheels. Those around her had the choice of ducking out of the way or being run over and left broken and bleeding on the side of the road. He’d been run over plenty of times, until he’d realized he was done being a fool for love. The emotion wasn’t worth the trouble. Unfortunately, Cat had left him one more mess to clean up.

NEVADA STOOD OUTSIDE of the hotel and wondered where to go next. If she returned to work, Ethan, her brother, might be there. He would want to know how the interview had gone, which was a pretty reasonable question, given the circumstances. Unfortunately, the answer wasn’t easy. What, exactly, was she supposed to say? Ethan might consider Tucker a friend, but there was no way he was going to take kindly to the fact that Tucker had slept with his baby sister when she was an eighteen-year-old virgin.

With work out of the question, she searched for another retreat. Going home was an option, but she didn’t want to be alone with her thoughts. That way lay madness, or however the quote went, she thought grimly as she started down the street.

Ten minutes later, she entered Jo’s Bar. As always, the open bar was well lit and female friendly. Until recently, Fool’s Gold’s guilty secret had been the town’s lack of men. Jo’s Bar took advantage of that fact and catered primarily to women. The appetizers came with listed calorie counts, the TVs were tuned to reality shows and shopping channels, and low-calorie versions of drinks were offered whenever possible.