“Yes. Now watch the game because that’s what I came here to do.”

In fact, in her rush out the door she’d forgotten to bring her laptop with her, so she was going to be forced to give the game her full attention. Dammit.

The Rivers were up to bat, and Gavin stood in the on deck circle, waiting for his turn at bat. He swung the bat a few times to warm up, then scanned the crowd, saw her, and his lips lifted.

And her body warmed. She smiled back.

You have it so bad for him, Elizabeth.

It was really pathetic how wound up she was around Gavin. And how badly she was going to be hurt by him when he decided he was bored with her and kicked her to the curb.

It was Gavin’s turn at bat. There were two runners on base with one out. Elizabeth clasped her hands together and leaned forward as the first pitch sailed by and was called a ball. Elizabeth held her breath on the second pitch. Gavin swung and it fouled off to the right. One ball, one strike. She swallowed, wishing she’d stopped to get a cold drink before she sat down. The third pitch was high, also a ball.

Gavin swung on the next pitch and it dropped into short center. Elizabeth stood and screamed. Gavin dug in and made it to first base. The runner on second base scored, and the runner on first base had to stay at second.

But Gavin had batted a run in. Elizabeth, Shawnelle, and Haley hugged and squealed as Gavin got a good lead off first and looked like he might run on this pitcher.

Dedrick was up to bat.

“Oh, God, they’re going to try a double steal, aren’t they?”

“Likely,” Shawnelle said. “Dedrick will take a strike if it means Gavin and Jose can advance.”

“Or Dedrick could just hit a home run and put up three more runs on the scoreboard.”

Shawnelle grinned. “Well, yeah, that would be nice. But I’ll take a double steal, and then my baby can drive those two runs home. Either way works for me.”

“Me, too.”

The pitcher kept his focus on Gavin, tossing a few pitches to first base to keep Gavin from leading off too far from the base. Gavin was quick, though, and made it back to safety without a problem. As soon as the pitcher turned his attention back to Dedrick, concentrating on winding up the pitch, Gavin and Jose were off, digging into the dirt and running like hell. The pitcher turned and fired off the ball to second base.

Elizabeth held her breath for the entire ninety feet. Jose slid into third, Gavin into second. Both were safe and the crowd erupted in cheers. Elizabeth, Shawnelle, and Haley screamed, jumped up and down, and hugged each other again.

She wanted to cry and didn’t think she’d ever been more excited about watching a preseason baseball game before.

This was going to ruin her reputation as a cool and unaffected agent.

And when Dedrick hit a line drive into the left field corner and both runs came home, she was certain she’d have no voice left by the end of the game, because she screamed nonstop until Dedrick got to second base, a wide grin on his face.

It was now three to two in favor of the Rivers, and by the time the inning ended two more runs had scored.

The Rivers ended up winning six to three. Elizabeth was exhausted from the sun, the screaming, and her hangover. She knew Gavin would be busy, so she headed back to the beach house to finish working. Unfortunately, once she hit the sofa, she passed right out.

When she woke, it was dark in the house. Disoriented, she reached for the lamp on the table next to the sofa, grabbed her phone to check the time.

It was eight p.m. She’d slept three hours. She sifted her fingers through her hair, stood, and went into the kitchen to fix herself a glass of iced tea. She took the glass out onto the deck, expecting to find Gavin sitting out there.

He wasn’t. Surprised, she headed into the bedroom and bath, thinking he might be sleeping or showering, but he wasn’t there, either.

Huh. Maybe he went out with the guys after the game.

She shrugged and went back out on the deck to sip her tea. She checked her phone, but there were no messages from Gavin.

Okay, so he didn’t owe her anything. He didn’t report to her. They weren’t a couple. Hadn’t she been telling everyone that?

Still, he always left her messages letting her know where he was going and where he was going to be. So why nothing now? She kind of expected him to come home after the game. Okay, she didn’t really expect him to, but it might have been nice if he’d let her know if he were going somewhere else, just so she wouldn’t worry about him.

She went back inside and picked up her laptop to do some work, but she kept staring at her phone, disgusted with herself for her own weakness.

Dammit. She’d known this was going to happen, that it was going to come to this if she let her heart get wrapped up in Gavin. Now she was checking her phone every five minutes, hoping he’d toss her a crumb.

She was spending entirely too much of her time on Gavin and not nearly enough on herself, which is what she normally did. Her career was vital to her happiness. Not a man. She knew what focusing on a man—on love—could do to a woman. It could make a woman lose all sense of herself, could change her career-driven focus and skew her priorities.

It was time she altered her trajectory and stopped worrying about Gavin other than as one of her clients. She needed to think about what was best for his career, because what was best for his career would be what was best for her career. And what was best for his career was definitely not her.

Everyone already thought of her as his girlfriend, which was going to screw up his image once the season started. Gavin Riley off the market was a death sentence for his PR.

Gavin had a reputation as a hotshot first baseman and a sexy, product-endorsing single guy who played the field.

He hadn’t been playing the field lately. He’d been playing with her. Just her. No one else but her.

She was not good for his image. Lots of young, sexy women throwing themselves at him were very good for his image.

Fun and games were over. It was time to get back to business. Her business. The thing she most loved and needed to make a priority in her life.

Her work would never hurt her. And with the way things were going with losing Mick and now Steve Lincoln, playing house with Gavin was the last thing she should be doing.

Spending time on her clients should be a priority. Getting Blane McReynolds signed with Tampa Bay in the first round of the draft needed to be a priority.

She hadn’t been focusing on her work because she’d been too busy playing with Gavin.

That had to stop. Now.

She searched the airlines online and found a flight back to Saint Louis early tomorrow morning. She could drive down to Miami, stay at one of the airport hotels, and be ready for her flight in the morning.

Which meant she’d have to pack and get out of here in a hurry, just in case Gavin was on his way back to the house. She didn’t want to face him, didn’t want to have a conversation with him about her leaving.

She packed up, changed clothes, and tossed her bags in the car. As she hovered near the front door, she decided at the last second to jot down a note for him. No text message because that was too immediate. When he got home, he’d see the note.

She pressed the lock on the door and pulled it shut, climbed into her car and clenched the steering wheel in her hands.

“You’re doing the right thing. Career first. Always first.”

Never let a man have power over you, Elizabeth.

“Damn straight, Mama,” she said as she backed out of the driveway.

It’s too bad her mother never had the strength to take her own advice.

Gavin,

Have to head back to the office. The draft is coming up soon and I need to focus on a few deals. Plus, it’s time I get back to work. It’s been fun.

E

Fun? That was it? What the hell was this bullshit blow-off note?

Gavin crumpled up Elizabeth’s note and tossed it across the room, pissed at himself for even being angry that she had left.

He had no idea what the hell set her off running this time, but he was tired of wondering. Or caring.

She was right. It had been fun. That’s all it had been.

He went to the fridge and grabbed a beer, irritated that the team owner had forced them all into a three-fucking-hour meeting right after the game that had sucked up his entire night. And he’d left his phone in his locker, so he hadn’t been able to call or text Elizabeth to let her know because he was a moronic slave to technology and he didn’t know anyone’s phone number by heart other than his parents’, and that only because they’d had the same phone number for forty years.

Obviously, it wouldn’t have mattered since she’d just decided to leave.

Again.

Fine. He didn’t need her in his life. The regular season was about to gear up, and he needed to be ready for it. Baseball was all he needed to be thinking about right now. It was time to focus on the game.

Not on Elizabeth.

THIRTEEN

ELIZABETH STARED OUT OVER DOWNTOWN SAINT LOUIS from her office on the twent y-seventh floor. The sun shone brightly over the Mississippi River. Tugboats sailed down the muddy river, and the sun glinted off the silver Gateway Arch, nearly blinding her.

It was about damn time the sun came out after two weeks of nonstop rain. Just in time for baseball season’s opening week, too. At least that would make some people happy.

Not her. But some people.

Bright and sunny outside. Dark and moody inside.

With a sigh she pushed off the credenza and paced her office, staring at the clock on her laptop just waiting for the call from her prospective client, NFL pro Jamarcus Daniels.

Rumor had it Jamarcus’s agent was in a financial free fall, and Jamarcus was ready to bail on him, which meant every sports agent out there had been courting Jamarcus for the past week, including Elizabeth. She’d flown to Cleveland and met with him and his wife, wined them, dined them, talked terms, and offered representation. She had a really good feeling about this guy. He seemed honest and genuine, and his wife was very sweet. Elizabeth laid it all out there for him, told him what she could do for his career and advised him not to wait too long before making the change. Rod Franklin, his current agent, was in deep trouble financially due to some risky investment strategies. He was losing clients left and right, and the sharks were circling.

Elizabeth should know since she was one of the sharks hoping to grab some of Rod’s clients.

Showing weakness could destroy a sports agent, and Rod was bleeding heavily. His time in the industry was over, and he knew it. The best he could hope for was being able to pay his taxes on time in the coming year, because he was sure as hell going to lose every one of his clients.

Not her problem. Business was business, and only the strong survived.

She sat at her desk and checked her e-mail, excited to see an e-mail from Jamarcus.

“Son of a bitch.”

He thanked her for meeting with him, said a lot of nice things about her, then said he’d signed with the Davis Agency.

Fuck!

She shoved her laptop and stood, kicked her chair across the room, crossed her arms and stared out the window again.

Another loss to the Davis Agency. What the f**k was Don Davis offering to these guys as incentive to sign with him anyway? That was two she’d lost to him.

Three if she counted Mick, who was also with Davis now.

Mick. She wondered if Mick had something to do with all of this. As mad as he’d been at her over the whole Tara affair, she wouldn’t put it past him to try and sabotage her agency.

Mick was a draw, a huge name, and a lot of athletes followed who was repped by what agent. Successful sports stars got great deals because of who their agent was. Smart players knew who those agents were.

Elizabeth had many big names on her client roster, but there was no doubt Mick firing her had hurt her—continued to hurt her—as evidenced by losing Steve and Jamarcus to the Davis Agency.

Dammit. She hated being suspicious of Mick, but being suspicious had kept her on top of her game for the past ten years. She hadn’t become successful by being blind. She was almost certain that Mick and Don Davis were working together behind her back.

She picked up her phone and pressed the button for her assistant, Colleen.

“Yes?”

“Get me the list of the Davis Agency clients, Colleen.”

“You got it.”

She turned around and glared out the window, missing Florida and the fun she’d had there.

She missed Gavin, too. Then again this was like it had always been before, so she was used to it. She’d kept her distance from Gavin to protect her heart, and she’d let her guard down, allowed herself to get close to him, and gotten used to having him around.

Big mistake, and it wouldn’t happen again. It was best to keep her relationship with Gavin professional.

She hadn’t heard a word from him since she’d left him that note.

Not that she’d expected to. He had probably grown tired of her being there with him and just couldn’t figure out how to ask her to leave. Good thing she was smart and insightful and knew when it was time to pack up and go.

She inhaled, sighed, and returned to her desk and her paperwork, burying herself in her work so she didn’t have to think.

Her assistant buzzed in about an hour later.

“Tyler Anderson is on the phone,” Colleen said.

Elizabeth’s brows raised. Tyler Anderson was a premier hockey player for the Saint Louis Ice. And not one of her clients. “Thanks, Colleen.”

She picked up her phone. “This is Elizabeth Darnell.”

“Ms. Darnell, this is Tyler Anderson. I play for the Saint Louis Ice hockey team.”

“I know who you are, Tyler. What can I do for you?”

“First, you can call me Ty. Second, my agent is an ass.”