Page 76 of The Spring in My Heart

“I’m meeting someone here.”

Her smile widens. “You must be looking for Chase.” She points to the far end of the room. “He’s in the last booth.”

I find him with a beer in hand and his gaze on the spring training game on the screen.

His gaze shifts to me, and he lets out one of those good-natured chuckles. “Emperors’ pitching isn’t looking so good this season. No wonder they can’t stop begging Cam for help. Have a beer.”

He points to the ice bucket with four more.

“I don’t think they’ll have any luck with getting Cam back,” I say, taking the seat across from him and helping myself to a bottle.

“Nope. He traded all that for the sexy bright lights of fatherhood.”

I laugh at the dryness in his voice. “Didn’t you just get lured in too?”

His head bobs up and down. “Yeah, and everything’s been great…until I had to talk to Felix about the birds and the bees today.”

“What?” He’s too young.

“One of his little friends from school had a video on his iPad. Kid’s older brother had been using it. Anyway, I had to explain it to him, and unlike when I had the talk with Justin, this one had tons of freaking questions. I can talk about sex with anyone, Coach. I felt sick when I had to talk to that kid today.”

I nod. Who understands better than me? “Wait till you have a daughter and have to tell her about her body, her period, and that she needs to watch out for asshole boys all while reassuring her that if she meets a little asshole, she can come to you.”

Of course, my situation doesn’t have to be his. Lauren will be there as well.

Chase stares at me for a few seconds, the struggle in his features clear as day. “You win.”

“It wasn’t a contest.” I chuckle and lean back against the booth. “Let’s talk, Chase.”

He stills, an eyebrow rising, but he doesn’t talk right away. “That’s why I like you, Coach.”

Well, that’s unexpected.

“But that’s not why I’m here today.”

“No, you’re here ‘cause you’re messing around with my sister.”

My spine stiffens, and I push back. “Wait a minute. I’m not messing with her. We haven’t?—”

His hand shoots out and stops between us. “I don’t need details. Ever. Plus, I know it hasn’t gone far. We need to make some things clear before it does. The first is your intentions.”

Kiss her. Hold her. Eat her. Fuck her in as many positions as I can.

“I’m not Mateo,” I blurt out, and why the fuck would I even say that?

You know why, because you’re not trying to toy with her.

Chase bobs his head up and down and takes a sip of his beer. “If you were, you would be in a hospital getting a cast on.”

Laughter would be a normal reaction here, but I don’t laugh, because something tells me he’s not joking. And a man who fights because he likes it tends to be dangerous. They fight like they have nothing to lose.

I’m not a punk. “That’s assuming you would win.”

He shrugs. “Either way. The only reason that asshole is still walking is that she finagled a promise not to touch him out of me. But she’s all out of promises now.” Then he laughs. “It won’t come to that because I respect you, Coach, and you don’t strike me as a douche that would hurt my sister on purpose.”

“I wouldn’t.”

He nods. “But I don’t know what your style with women is. There are few things I need to say.”

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