Free It Was Always You (Gaming the System) by Brenna Aubrey Page A

boyfriend. Perhaps I hadn’t been as good as I’d thought I was.
    I caught Jeremy’s gaze again in the rearview mirror. His eyes were crinkled in the corners as if he was trying to suppress his laughter. I stuck my tongue out at him and shot him the bird. His eyes widened and his gaze flew back to the road.
    The next twenty minutes, thankfully, were silent. Jeremy had slowed his speed, mostly because he was stuck behind a truck for much of the way and Tiffani was still pouting, but she soon got bored of that and tried to find a station on the radio that wasn’t ear-blasting static. When that failed, she decided—exasperatingly—to turn to one of her favorite subjects. My love life…or lack thereof.
    “So when are we going to get you back in the game? It’s been six months since Sean.”
    I fell back against the seat, my face heating. I hated when she brought this up, especially in front of Jeremy. I’d asked her repeatedly not to, but like always, she ignored me.
    “I’m enjoying being single. Don’t harsh my mellow.”
    “Nope. Sorry. I’m on a mission to match you up with someone. There are some single guys coming up to the cabin, part of Nathan’s wedding party. Hey—what about Lucas?”
    “I don’t even remember which one that is,” I said, my eyes flying to the driver’s seat, focusing on Jeremy’s knuckles, which whitened where he gripped the wheel.
    “You know…sandy hair, big brown eyes. Broad shoulders. He’s a cutie.”
    Jeremy’s head turned, cocking a brow at her. Tiffani placed a placating hand onhis shoulder. “Not as cute as you, sweetie, of course. Doesn’t he work with you at Draco?”
    He cleared his throat. “Yeah. He’s an okay guy.”
    “What’s he do there? Does he work on the development team like you?”
    “No, he’s head of playtesting.”
    “Oh really , a department head? I bet he makes some good money!” Tiffani said, turning to give me a pointed look over her shoulder. Money was one of her top requirements in a boyfriend. She hadn’t even gone out with Jeremy until he’d been promoted. Not that Jeremy had ever figured out that was the reason for her sudden change of heart. Even though his promotion meant that he worked long hours on the newest expansion of Dragon Epoch, Draco’s top video game product. Tiffani didn’t mind as long as he was showering her with expensive gifts and taking her to fancy restaurants. “Did he get in at the company early?”
    Jeremy shrugged. “He’s been there a while, yeah.”
    “Oooh hm. I bet that means stock options! I’m hearing that there are sudden millionaires springing up from having opted to get paid in stock early on.” Then she turned back to Jeremy. “Too bad you didn’t get in on any of that!”
    “I was still in college when the company formed.”
    Tiffani shrugged. “Well the CEO never finished college and look where he is now.”
    Jeremy stared at her like she was a lunatic—and really, when Tiffani started going on about money, she did get a bit of the crazy going on. “Well Adam Drake is pretty much one of a kind.”
    “He’s in the genius uber-rich club along with Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs. None of those guys finished college either.”
    “Well, I’m sorry that I was a slacker and stayed in school instead of making my millions,” Jeremy quipped.
    Tiffani laid a hand on his shoulder. “There still time, dear.”
    I almost breathed a sigh of relief that the topic had strayed to one of Tiffani’s favorite subjects—until she turned her laser focus back on me. “So, Michaela, how about it? You should go for Lucas. He drives a Beemer.”
    “Oh for God’s sake,” I sighed.
    “I’ll make sure and introduce you when we get there. I think he’d be perfect for you.”
    “How do you know? You barely know him,” Jeremy said.
    She shrugged. “I know enough. He’s cute. He’s established. He’s single and Michaela is adorable. They’d be cute together. They’re both