Page 51 of Their Greatest Strength

A couple of minutes later, the food is ordered and I’m setting my phone down on the table. Blakely watches me, her features tight and leg bouncing beneath the table.

“How about I start?” I offer, cutting through the tension.

Nate nods eagerly. “I’m listening.”

I meet Blakely’s nervous stare and attempt to calm her with ahalf smile. “Your sister is doing me a massive favour, Nate. But I need you to promise the both of us that you won’t share what we tell you before we spill the beans.”

“And we really mean that. You can’t tell a soul what you learn today. Not your friends or teammates. Not even a stranger. This is serious, but I just don’t want to lie to you,” Blakely says sternly, no room for discussion in her voice.

Nate furrows his brows slightly. “Okay, now I’m getting worried.”

“It’s nothing bad. Just super secret. If anyone outside of this room found out about this, there would be major repercussions,” I explain.

“I won’t tell anyone. I promise.”

“Swear it, Nathan,” Blakely urges, her hand palm up and hovering above the table.

He copies her, and before I know it, they’re spitting on each other’s hands and shaking.

My brows shoot to my hairline while my dick twitches in my wrinkled slacks at how confident and unbothered she is shaking a spit-slicked palm.

“It’s sworn, Lake,” Nate says before wiping his hand on his PJ pants.

Blakely does the same with her sweatpants and sneaks a look at me that she tries to play off by staring just past my head.

I want to ask her when they started doing that handshake. For now, it gets scrawled on my growing To Learn About Blakely list.

“Before you freak out about anything, you have to hear us out to the very end,” she warns Nate.

He’s adorably eager as he nods quickly. “Okay.”

Blakely and I share a look before she gives me the go-ahead to speak first. I throw caution to the wind and get right to the point.

“I’m going to marry your sister, Nate.”

By the timebreakfast arrives half an hour later, Nate still hasn’t said a word. I didn’t hold back with my explanation, and while I thought that was the right choice, maybe it wasn’t . . .

Blakely passes him a couple of syrup packs, looking worried at his silence. It could just be that he’s in shock. That would be the best-case scenario.

If he told her he didn’t approve of what we’re doing, I know that would kill a part of her. I’d wind up never playing another CFL game after telling Graham to rip up our paperwork so she didn’t have to ruin her relationship with her brother over this.

“You’re freaking me out, Nate,” she says once he’s cut into his stack of pancakes.

I spread salt over my scrambled eggs and mush my avocado onto the toast while glancing between the two of them.

“I’mfreakingyouout? It’s the other way around!” Nate shouts, breaking out of his shocked state. He lifts his syrupy fork to point at his sister. “You knew about this when you got me those shoes and didn’t say anything.”

“Is that what you’re the most upset about?” she asks cautiously.

Nate rolls his eyes. “I’m not even upset, Lake. I just wish you had told me earlier.”

“That’s it?”

“Do you want me to be angry with you for marrying my favourite football player likeever?”

“It isn’t a real marriage,” she blurts out.

He looks to me. “You said there would be a wedding.”

---