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In all honesty, there were three. One she’d never told her sisters about. Namely Benson Cummings. He was a guy she’d met during her first year at the University of Wyoming. He’d been a senior and she’d thought she was in love until she’d discovered her name was on a Freshmen Girls to Do list. A list circulated by senior guys, and Benson had been assigned to do her. She was grateful she’d found out about the list before sleeping with him.
“Just think of all the Westmoreland and Outlaw men and how wonderful they are,” Paige tacked on for good measure.
“Okay, I will admit they’re one of a kind,” Nadia said. “But then I’m partial where they are concerned. I don’t know Jaxon Ravnel that well.”
In truth, she didn’t know him at all. She only knew how he made her feel whenever he was around her. Just being in the same room with him reminded her that she was a woman. A woman whose body sizzled every time she saw him. That was a reaction she’d rather do without and that was the primary reason she avoided him.
“Well, now is your chance to get to know him since he’ll be in Gamble for a while.”
Nadia’s frown deepened. “How long is ‘a while’?”
“He told Jess he planned to be there for at least three months,” Paige said. “Possibly four.”
“Why don’t you invite him to dinner?” Jill suggested. “You love to cook and always complain about wanting to prepare all those dishes but having no one there to eat them.”
They had to be kidding. There was no way she would invite Jaxon to dinner. What if he picked up on just how attracted she was to him? That’s the last thing she wanted to happen. However, if she didn’t invite him, her astute sisters would figure out why. “Fine, I’ll call him in a few days to see if he’s available. Give me his number.” Paige wasted no time in rattling it off.
“And Nadia?”
“Yes, Jill?”
“Please remember Jaxon is a nice guy. Don’t do or say anything that will make us regret suggesting you invite him to dinner.”
“Well, if he’s as nice as the two of you claim, then you won’t have anything to worry about. Now, can we change the subject and talk about something else?” she asked.
The conversation about Jaxon stirred up sensations inside of her that she didn’t need to be stirred. She was convinced it was merely a phase she was going through. It had to be. At twenty-eight her body was trying to convince her it was past time to end her virginal state. But she refused to do so merely to quench a case of lust. For her sex had to be more meaningful than that. But what if nothing meaningful ever came along? Should she continue to deny herself the experience of making love to man? Especially if it was anything like Jill and Paige claimed it was? Nadia couldn’t help but be curious as to whether the real thing was anything compared to her dreams.
“I got a call from Taylor today,” Paige said, intruding into Nadia’s thoughts.
Taylor Steele Saxon was the sister to Cheyenne, who was married to Quade Westmoreland. “How is she doing?”
“She’s doing fine. Quade is giving Cheyenne a surprise birthday party next month and Taylor is helping him with the invitations.”
Nadia smiled, thinking about Quade and Cheyenne’s triplets. While in high school she had kept the three for a week while their parents had celebrated their fifth wedding anniversary in India. Now the triplets were in their early teens.
“Give me the date so I can mark it on my calendar. Now if you guys don’t mind, I need to finish this report before I can go home.”
After ending the call with her sisters, Nadia glanced at her watch and then looked at the stack of papers on her desk. Standing, she moved to the window. The Dream Makers Acting Academy had once been a spacious house on two hundred acres of land that had been owned by Pam’s high school acting instructor, Louise Shelton. Ms. Shelton, a former actress herself, had been instrumental in getting Pam a scholarship to attend college in California.
When Ms. Shelton died, she willed the house and all the land it sat on to Pam with stipulations. Pam could never sell it and it had to be used as an acting/drama academy. Pam had managed the school until she’d married Dillon, but then had left her friend Cindy in charge. When Cindy’s husband, Todd, who’d been mayor of Gamble for several years, decided to run for state senator, and had won, Todd moved his family to Cheyenne, the state’s capital. That’s when Pam had offered the job to Nadia.
Pam had since opened a second school in Denver. Like this one, it operated at full capacity. A couple of years ago, Pam purchased land for a third drama academy in the DC area. Currently Paige was managing that one.
Returning to her chair, Nadia sat back down. The school had closed an hour ago, but she was still here. Some of the students were rehearsing downstairs, all excited about this year’s holiday production. She refused to think it wouldn’t be happening unless she found a replacement sponsor and fast. The Dunnings Financial Group pulling out was a hiccup of the worst kind.
Starting tomorrow she would begin making calls to several businesses in town. She wasn’t sure how that would work out since most of them had already donated to the school and were contributing to other local charities.
Leaning back in her chair, she wondered where on earth would she get the extra money needed for the school’s holiday play.
Jaxon Ravnel stood at the window in his hotel room and gazed out at downtown Gamble, Wyoming. If anyone had told him two years ago that the decision to expand his family’s technology business would bring him here, he would not have believed them.
The home office for Ravnel Technologies was in Virginia, and so far he’d purchased land to expand into Forbes, Texas. Now he was considering, of all places, Gamble. He would admit it was mainly because of a particular woman. At least that had been the case a few days ago when he’d first arrived in town. However, it didn’t take him long to discover Gamble was Wyoming’s best-kept secret.
Although the town’s growth began a few years ago, there were a number of national corporations unaware of the city’s potential and attractiveness. That lack of awareness was in his favor. He could purchase all the land he needed at a fair market price before there was a business boom. He was also satisfied knowing there would be adequate housing for his employees who relocated here. There was no doubt in his mind that Gamble would be an ideal place to live, work and raise a family.
As for him personally...it was the perfect place to pursue a certain woman he wanted. Nadia Novak.
Jaxon was a man who could appreciate a beautiful woman whenever he saw one, and Nadia had taken hold of his senses the first time he’d laid eyes on her. That had been a little over a year ago at his cousin Maverick Outlaw’s wedding reception. The minute she’d entered the banquet room of the Blazing Frontier Dude Ranch there had been something about her that demanded a second look and then a third. Never in his life had he been so captivated by a woman. He’d asked his cousin Jess about her and when Jess had said Nadia Novak had a rather feisty personality, that had made Jaxon even more interested.
