Free Changing the Game by Jaci Burton

friends she went clubbing with, though they were all gay and she usually went with the guys and their boyfriends. And had a wonderful time doing it. Nothing romantic about it, of course, at least not for her, but she had a blast clubbing with her friends.
    Guy friends. She had a lot of guy friends. Girlfriends? No, not too many of those. Okay, none of those. She wasn’t the type of woman who made female friends. She wasn’t sure why. Maybe it was because she was in a man’s business. All her clients were men. She didn’t get friendly with their wives and girlfriends, at least not on a social level. Friendly enough that the women knew she wasn’t after their men—just their men’s careers. But friend friendly? No. Never.
    She knew her way around men, was comfortable around them. Women were strange and bitchy, and she didn’t know how to relate to them at all. Even in college she’d gravitated toward the guys, had always had more male friends than women friends.
    What did that say about her? She had no idea. Maybe she was missing something by not having girlfriends to confide in all these years.
    Then again, she didn’t reveal her secrets anyway, so she wasn’t missing a damn thing other than all-night chat sessions that were boring and tedious, and lots of drama she didn’t want or have time for. Men didn’t do drama, which was probably why she’d always liked them better.
    She’d spent the day catching up on work since Gavin had a game and after-game interviews. They were going out late tonight.
    She finished dressing and came out of the bedroom. Gavin wore black slacks, a white shirt, jacket, and tie.
    “You clean up nice,” she said.
    He turned, scanned her from head to toe appreciatively, and smiled. “The dress looks incredible on you.”
    She lifted her head a little higher and turned around for his inspection. She had to admit he had a decent eye for clothes, which surprised the hell out of her. She’d never have chosen this dress for herself. Then again, she mostly wore black. This champagne-colored dress did bring out the color of her skin and made the red in her hair stand out.
    She hated when someone else was right.
    They drove to an incredibly ritzy restaurant in Palm Beach, where Elizabeth was surprised to see they were meeting two other couples, guys that Gavin played with on the Rivers and their wives.
    “Figured you wouldn’t mind if we met up with a couple of my friends and their wives, and shared dinner with them.”
    She managed a tight smile. “Not at all.”
    She did mind, mainly that he hadn’t told her. And okay, she’d thought they were having a night alone.
    She shook hands with Dedrick Coleman and his wife, Shawnelle, and Tommy Maloney and his wife, Haley.
    Shawnelle was gorgeous, just like her husband. She had beautiful dark skin, the most unusual whiskey-colored eyes Elizabeth had ever seen, a sexy modern Afro, and a curvy body with breasts that would no doubt make Gavin’s eyes bug out of his head all night long. Then again, Dedrick was six foot three of delicious eye candy himself. So maybe if Gavin was going to ogle, Liz would, too.
    Haley was a petite little blue-eyed blonde who looked about sixteen. Elizabeth could only hope she was of legal age. Tommy was one of the Rivers youngest players, so that explained why Haley looked like jailbait. She probably was that young.
    Delightful.
    This meant the guys would talk baseball all night, and she’d be expected to make—ugh—girl talk with the women.
    They got their table and ordered drinks, and just as she suspected, the men put their heads together and launched into a discussion about today’s game and the upcoming season. Elizabeth waited to be engaged by the ladies. It didn’t take long.
    “Elizabeth, how long have you and Gavin been dating?” Shawnelle asked.
    Oh, we’re not dating. We’re just fucking each other brainless until one of us gets tired of the other.
    Probably not a good icebreaker.
    She forced her