Gavin shrugged. “Not as good as I’d like to, but thank you, Helen. Clyde said to tell you he’d be out in a minute. He’s giving an inspirational speech.”
Helen rolled her eyes. “Oh, Lord. I’m starving. We could be waiting an hour. Do go move him along, Gavin.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Gavin stepped back inside the locker room. In five minutes, Clyde was out. With Gavin.
Damn. Elizabeth had hoped he wouldn’t come back outside.
“Finally,” Helen said. “I was about to faint. Gavin, are you coming to dinner with us?”
“Apparently. Clyde insisted.”
“Excellent. Let’s go, then. The limo is outside.”
Well, what a big, happy group this was. Gavin skirted a look in her direction as Ty grabbed her arm and escorted her to the limo. She wondered if Gavin thought Ty was her date for the evening. He didn’t seem pleased by that.
Elizabeth, on the other hand, was wholly pleased by the idea that Gavin looked a little less than his usual overconfident self.
They ate at an elegant restaurant downtown that afforded them privacy and a superb view of the riverfront. Clyde ordered champagne and toasted the Rivers new season.
“Gavin, was your family there tonight?”
“Not tonight. You know my family runs a bar in south Saint Louis, so they packed the crowds in for opening night.”
Clyde smiled and nodded. “Well done. I like your parents. I hope to see them at our opening month picnic.”
“You will. Mick should be in town for that, too.”
“Excellent. I’m sure he’s on cloud nine after his Super Bowl win.”
Gavin grinned. “Yeah, he was pretty stoked about winning the Super Bowl, but I think he’s more excited about planning his wedding to Tara.”
Elizabeth kept her gaze averted, not wanting to listen in or get involved at all when discussions turned to Mick.
“Now, Ty, tell me about yourself. Getting all settled in?”
“Yes, sir. I’ve got a temporary place I’m staying in right now. Just waiting for the season to be over with this month, then I’m going house hunting.”
“I’ll put you in touch with an excellent Realtor we know,” Helen said. “She’ll be happy to help you.”
Ty nodded. “Thank you. I’d like that. Elizabeth has been helpful. It’s obvious she knows the area.”
She smiled. “I’ve got a few clients here.”
Ty grinned at her. “And now you have one more.”
Gavin coughed. Elizabeth ignored him, glad he was sitting at the other end of the table entertaining Aubry, who was shooting interested glances toward Ty.
This whole dinner would be comical if Elizabeth wasn’t acutely aware of Gavin’s gaze on her the entire time. And okay, maybe she had been shamelessly flirting with Ty, who cast her knowing smirks as if he knew exactly what she was doing because she’d treated him completely professionally from the get-go. Until tonight. So she was being blatantly obvious, and Ty wasn’t the clueless type.
Damn men.
Ty leaned in and whispered in her ear. “How badly do you want this guy?”
She turned her face to him. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“I mean, do you want me to kiss you, or would just holding your hand be enough?”
“Neither. I’m not playing games here, Ty.”
“Oh, I think you’re definitely playing games, Elizabeth.” He ran his finger up her bare arm. “And don’t look, but the fish is biting.”
She didn’t look, but felt Gavin’s gaze on her. Instead, she lifted her gaze to Ty. “Stop that.”
“You don’t want me to stop. You want him to watch. You want him to get jealous.”
“No, I don’t. Gavin is a client.”
“So?”
“So, I keep my professional life and my private life separate.”
Ty’s generous lips lifted as he raised his glass and took a drink. “Apparently not.”
“You’re a smug son of a bitch, you know that?”
“So I’ve been told. But your boyfriend over there doesn’t care that I’m smug, only that I’m paying attention to you.”
“He’s not my—” She rolled her eyes and gave up, happy when the food arrived and her argument with Ty ended. Not that it kept him from talking to her, which he did—rather incessantly throughout dinner. And since she’d found him to be mostly quiet during their previous meetings, she chalked it up to him trying to irritate Gavin.
The competitive nature of men and its relationship to women was one she’d never be able to understand. Add men in sports to the equation, and the competitiveness quadrupled. Ty had done everything but haul her onto his lap, and only because he did manage to take time out from his blatant flirting to eat his steak.
Gavin, on the other hand, seemed content to keep Aubry company. He had her laughing and engaged in conversation, so maybe Ty was totally off base, because not once did Elizabeth see Gavin glancing her way.
“He’s not even looking at me.”