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better at light social talk, or performing up on the stage where I can’t say the wrong things.”
    â€œYou didn’t say the wrong thing.”
    â€œYes, I did. I offended you.”
    â€œI get offended daily.”
    â€œHow?”
    â€œUsually from investors of rival companies. Or the board of directors of a company that I want to take over. Sometimes from my second in command, but he says that’s to keep my ego in check.”
    â€œHe’s your friend, then?”
    Max thought about Duke and nodded. “Yes. He saved my life once.”
    â€œDid you repay him?” she asked, with a shrewdness he wished she didn’t have.
    â€œOf course I did. I couldn’t let that kind of debt languish.”
    â€œHave you ever let any debt languish?”
    â€œNo, I haven’t. I like to keep things even,” he said lightly because he knew that he really preferred to keep the balance tipped toward him. To make sure that he was the one who did just a bit more in a relationship.
    â€œBut you’re bossy. So I’m guessing that you like to be in charge all the time.”
    He shrugged his shoulder. “What can I say? I runan international conglomerate. I have to lean toward the type-A personality.”
    â€œJust in business?”
    He shook his head, uncomfortable pursuing this topic. “You were going to tell me what you were lucky at.”
    â€œI was?”
    â€œYes, you were.”
    â€œIs that an order?”
    She was sassing him. And he liked it, but he gave her a quelling stare. One that always made the office staff jump through hoops for him.
    â€œI’m not intimidated,” she said. “But I will tell you what I’m lucky at….”
    She paused and he waited for her to continue.
    â€œI’m lucky in being alive. Now, if I can just remember how to live.”

Three
    M ax played for four hours straight, insisting Roxy stay close by. She enjoyed being with him but the combined cigarette and cigar smoke was giving her a headache.
    â€œI need to step outside for a few minutes. Breathe some fresh air.”
    Max nodded. “I’m going to play one more hand and then we’ll go get some breakfast.”
    Since it was almost six o’clock, it would be an early breakfast but she didn’t mind. She doubted that he’d only play one more hand.
    Most of the men she’d dated had been gamblers. She’d met them all in a casino, and they never left any table or game after just one more hand or roll.
    Six months time had made a huge difference in how she spent her days. Normally she would have been arriving at the casino about now and heading to the rehearsal hall for an intense dance workout and review of the previous night’s show.
    Instead, she was fetching drinks and keeping a man who didn’t need the incentive in the casino. She hadn’t felt this lost since she’d turned eighteen and realized that she no longer had a place to stay at the group home in which she’d lived. Two months left until high-school graduation, and she’d been on her own.
    â€œRox?”
    She glanced over her shoulder and saw Tawny and Glenda crossing the casino, heading toward the rehearsal hall. Glad to see her old friends, she tried to smile. This feeling of envy, jealousy and embarrassment was exactly why she’d been avoiding them. They were still doing something she no longer could, and she felt a weird combination of envy, jealousy and some joy every time they visited her.
    â€œHey, girls. How’s the show?” she asked. Both of them were still fit and pretty. Roxy looked at them and didn’t feel the same sense of belonging as she used to. She shifted her weight, trying to feel as if she could still fit in if she wanted to.
    â€œNot the same without you,” Glenda said. “Roger has been really mean lately. One small slip-up and he reams you a new one.”
    â€œWell it’s his butt on the