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your wife.’
    ‘We’re getting a divorce.’
    ‘Then bring your girlfriend.’
    ‘I do not have one.’
    ‘Okay, okay, enough about your love-life. But if you do decide to stay over, let my assistant know. He’ll take excellent care of you.’
    She clicked off the phone thinking what a crazy way to start the day.
    The Keys was her ultimate achievement. She would never sell. Never.
    *   *   *
    Bobby got up and left the apartment early before Denver was awake. He had an important meeting in Vegas with Russian investors who, according to his partner M.J., were ready to close on a deal to put up all the money for branches of Mood in Miami and L.A. He’d decided to personally show them the star that was Mood, Las Vegas. The Russians were not easy to deal with, but they were the ones with the money to do things the way he wanted. After finishing with the Russians he had more meetings in New York, then after that he’d hop a plane and be back in time to pick up Denver and take her for a romantic Vegas weekend.
    He was getting in way deep with Denver. The more time he spent with her, the better he liked her. She was so damn normal and way smarter than any girl he’d been with. And she was beautiful – inside and out. There was an incandescent quality about her that he couldn’t get enough of.
    He wanted her to spend more time with Lucky, so that the two of them could get to know each other. It was important to him that his mom approved of the girl he was becoming serious about. Not that he’d told Lucky anything; it was up to her to discover how great Denver was, and the birthday party weekend would be the perfect time.
    The next step he planned was buying a house in L.A. where they could live together. Denver’s apartment was too small for him, he needed more space. He’d brought the subject up a couple of times, whereupon she’d informed him it was too soon to think of living together.
    ‘But sweetheart, I live here when I’m in L.A.’ he’d pointed out.
    ‘No, you stay here,’ she’d corrected. ‘That’s not the same as living together.’
    Man, she could be difficult. Most girls would go nuts if he offered to buy a house for them. But part of Denver’s charm was that she was not most girls, and that’s another thing he loved about her.
    Flooring his new silver Lamborghini Murciélago LP640, he blasted Jay-Z, and headed for Vegas.
    *   *   *
    ‘I fail to understand your problem,’ Denver’s best friend Carolyn said, rocking the stroller next to her in the garden of her small West Hollywood house, situated behind Pavilions supermarket on a quiet street. ‘Bobby is a fantastic guy, and it’s blatantly obvious he’s wild about you.’
    ‘You think?’ Denver said unsurely, sipping from a mug of coffee.
    ‘I know ,’ Carolyn responded, pushing back a lock of honey-blonde hair. ‘He’s great, and he’s been so nice to me.’
    ‘Why wouldn’t he be?’ Denver said, placing her coffee mug on a rickety outdoor table. ‘Let’s not forget you were caught in a terrifying situation. Kidnapped, taken hostage, and pregnant . . .’
    ‘Then along came you and Bobby like the cavalry – rescuing my sorry ass,’ Carolyn said, making light of what had been a very perilous situation.
    ‘Couldn’t have done it without Bobby,’ Denver said. ‘He was a big help.’
    ‘Without the two of you . . .’ Carolyn trailed off, trying not to think about the ordeal she’d survived. Working in Washington as an assistant to the very married Senator Gregory Stoneman, they’d become involved in a torrid affair. And just like most married men, the Senator had promised to leave his wife, but of course he’d had no intention of doing so, and when Carolyn had informed him she was pregnant, he’d panicked and set up her kidnapping, in the hope that she would lose the baby. Thank God for Denver and Bobby, they’d found her just in time.
    After spending a few days in a hospital recovering, Carolyn had fled