She smiled, her lipstick perfect, teeth bright and white, but it was the faint crinkles at the corners of her eyes that he noticed today, along with the deeper blue specks in her smoky eyes. Odd, he’d never realized she had a dark limbal ring before, contrasting beautifully to the brighter hue. The longer he knew her, the more he observed the small details. Not that these observations detracted from her beauty—quite the contrary. He found everything about her beautiful, even the tiny mole behind her left ear.

“My cheering section is open for business, I see.” She reached for his hand, her expression different than he’d seen before.

Trev curled his fingers around hers, finding her hand chilled to the point that it probably hurt. Was she that nervous? Gently, he rubbed her hand between both of his to warm her up. Leanne didn’t ever show weakness, so this felt…significant, somehow. That she was reaching for him when she needed someone.

“Always. Are you hungry?” he asked.

Now that her hand was warmer, she produced a smile, but he still detected shadows in her gaze. “If I say yes, what will you do about it?”

“I’ll take you to Titus’s house. He’s cooking for us, apparently.” Later, he would ask if something had happened. Right now, she seemed to want to lose herself in prosaic conversation. Maybe it grounded her after public speaking? That didn’t seem to come naturally to her, even if she’d nailed it.

“Just us?” Leanne asked.

Trev shook his head. “Danica will be there too. Maya is spending a lot of time at her girlfriend’s place, and he wants to hang out. Suspect he also wants to talk to me about our quickie wedding. But it is short notice. If you’re not up for it—”

“No, sounds fun. I’m always happy to see Danica. She’s a good friend, and I want to get to know Titus as well. He’s your bestie, right?”

Laughing, he said, “I’ve never used that word, but yeah. We’re BFFs. In fact, he chewed me out for keeping quiet about our Vegas plans.”

“You could have told him,” Leanne said.

When she upgraded their connection by looping her arm through his, it seemed like a proud declaration of their relationship. She tugged him toward the front doors, and a little thrill went through him. He tried not to look at her as a status symbol, but the woman was incredible. Beautiful, fun, smart, successful, and ambitious—the total package. Sometimes it was difficult not to wonder what she saw in him.

“Who did you tell?” he wondered aloud.

And how much do they know?

“To be honest, I told Vanessa and Margie that we’ve come to a mutually beneficial arrangement,” she said.