Playing to Win

were so not his deal. It was hot and humid today and wearing this tux didn’t help. Nor did being packed in like sardines in this tiny little room with a bunch of men, one of whom was pacing.
    Mick’s phone rang and he picked up and listened. “Okay, babe.Smile pretty when you come down the aisle.” He pocketed the phone. “Tara said we’ll start in about ten minutes.”
    Gavin groaned.
    “Hey, at least she showed up,” Cole said.
    “Yup. It’ll be over before you know it. And then your lifetime of servitude begins.”
    Dedrick, one of Gavin’s teammates and best friends, shot Gavin a huge grin.
    Gavin laughed. “I hope so, Deed, because we have a game on Friday night.”
    “I can’t believe you didn’t get married during the off-season,” Cole said.
    Gavin gave Cole one of those looks. “You obviously don’t know my soon-to-be wife and your new agent all that well yet. She wanted the wedding now, in July, and by god she was going to have one, even if it’s in the middle of baseball season and on a Wednesday night. She arranged it around the All Star break so there’d be a few days off.”
    “She had to plan it around our season,” Tommy, one of the other teammates said as he buttoned and unbuttoned his jacket. “My wife, Haley, said Liz was kind of determined.”
    “So I guess you’ll be delaying your honeymoon?”
    Gavin shrugged. “Yeah. But we’re heading to Fiji in November.”
    “After we win the World Series,” Dedrick said.
    “Hell yeah,” Tommy said, high-fiving Dedrick.
    “If you don’t have her pregnant by then,” Dedrick added.
    Gavin laughed. “I’ll do my best.”
    “You guys are crazy.” Mick came over to Gavin and straightened his tie. “And so’s your fiancée.”
    “Tell me something I don’t know,” Gavin said. “But I love her. What can I do? July wedding it is. She doesn’t care that much about the honeymoon, anyway. To her it’s all about the wedding.”
    Mick nodded. “Tara, too. It’s all she’s been able to talk aboutsince our own wedding. That and baby stuff now that she’s pregnant. She was freaking out about having to have her dress altered.”
    Cole shook his head. “Women and love and marriage and weddings and babies? I remember when all we could think about was sports. And getting laid.”
    “You find the right woman, you still get laid,” Dedrick said, waggling his brows.
    “Damn straight,” Mick said, patting Cole on the back. “Just you wait, cousin. Your day of reckoning is coming.”
    Cole let out a derisive snort. “Not me. Not interested.”
    Mick shot Gavin a knowing look. “Seems it wasn’t that long ago we both thought the same way.”
    “Yeah. He’s gonna fall hard when it happens.”
    “All married men say the same thing. Mark my words. I’m staying single.”
    Mick arched a brow. “Care to lay some money on it?”
    Cole rolled his eyes. “Sure.”
    Gavin put his arm over Cole’s shoulders. “I’m in for a hundred.”
    “Me, too,” Mick said.
    “You’re on. Easiest money I’ll ever make.”
    “Sucker,” Dedrick said as he walked by. “You’ll meet your match. Every guy does.”
    “Not this guy. I like my life just the way it is.”
    SAVANNAH THOUGHT THE WEDDING HAD BEEN AMAZING. Elizabeth was stunning on an ordinary day, but today she looked like she belonged on the cover of a bridal magazine. In a soft white with a dropped waist, her strapless organza dress was simple, but elegant. Her red hair had been pulled up, with a few strands softly framing her neck and face. She took Savannah’s breath away, so she could only imagine the impact she’d had on Gavin, who’d looked awestruck when Gavin’s father had walked Liz down the aisle.
    Cole hadn’t looked too shabby as one of the groomsmen, either. Whether sweating it out at the gym or dressed up to the max in a tux, he was simply mesmerizing. She couldn’t take her eyes off him, which was no doubt why he had the reputation he had—like all the Riley men. There was no doubt it was a devastating gene pool.
    The ceremony had been lovely as Elizabeth and Gavin had shared tender words of love and commitment. And even though the wedding was on a weeknight, the hotel where the reception was being held was packed full of family and friends and Gavin’s teammates. It probably helped that their next series was a home game.
    The hotel ballroom was decorated in a mix of pale yellow and purple, the dark purple matching the bridesmaids’ dresses. The