Page 41 of Velvet Vaughn

“Corporate marketing.” She delivered it easily. “It’s not nearly as interesting as sports, but it pays well.”

Curtis laughed. “Most people underestimate marketing. It’s amazing what you can convince people to believe.”

“Fortunately, my job’s a little less glamorous than that,” Anja replied with a smile.

He released her hand. “And sports? Are you a fan?”

“I am.”

Curtis smiled. “Baseball?”

“Pittsburgh Pirates.”

Leo winced. “She’s very brave.”

“Loyal,” Anja corrected.

“Same thing if you’re a Pirates fan,” Leo smirked.

Curtis laughed. “What about basketball?”

“I don’t watch much NBA, but I’m a huge Indiana Fever fan.”

“Football?” Curtis pressed.

“That’s where it gets complicated. The Pittsburgh Steelers and the Indianapolis Colts. I refuse to choose.”

Leo looked at Curtis. “I’ve tried. She gets hostile.”

“I get specific.”

“See?”

Curtis chuckled and lifted his glass. “Pirates, Fever, Steelers, and Colts. That’s an interesting collection.”

“I’ve lived in both states,” Anja replied. “I spread the loyalty around.”

He turned back to Leo, something shifting just slightly in the warmth. “Did you hear about Vic Shaw?”

“I did.”

“Terrible news. Absolutely terrible. You never know what personal demons people are dealing with. Were you close?”

“I’m not sure anyone was with Vic.”

“These things are so hard to see coming.” Curtis shook his head, and the grief on his face was real. “He was a complicated man, but he loved this business. Always will be a shame.”

“It will,” Leo agreed.

Curtis squeezed his arm once more and moved on to the next arriving guests, because that was what Curtis did. The room was a river and he was the current. Leo watched him go. Beside him, he felt Anja’s hand tighten ever so slightly on his arm.

“Well,” she murmured, “he’s very charismatic.”

“Yeah.” The champagne a passing server offered arrived in Leo’s hand before he’d decided to take it. “He always has been.”

He spotted Devonte near the window with Andrea beside him in gold. Both were engaged in a lively conversation with the couple next to them. Nothing in Devonte’s posture flagged distress from fifty feet away.

That either meant he hadn’t been contacted or he was holding it together better than Leo would’ve managed.