Page 63 of The Playmaker

I take in the way he’s looking at Tabby. Not with lust, but with love. My heart tightens. “How long have you two been together?” I ask.

“What?”

I laugh. Christ, he was so caught up in Tabby, he couldn’t even hear what I was saying. “You and Tabby, how long have you been together?”

“Over a year.”

“How did you meet?”

Like Cason, I’d set up a trust fund for Tabby, hers to use for school, buy a house, whatever she needs. With that, she made a good life for herself, and has a flourishing career. He’d just better not be using her for anything.

Yeah, I’m a protective dick. So what?

“We work together.”

“You’re a lawyer?”

He nods. “Just made senior partner.”

Nice. “So you like Tabby, huh?”

Jack pushes off the counter and straightens to his full height. I stiffen when he goes serious. Christ, I hope he’s not going to say no, that he only came here to meet me, because Tabby sure seems to like him a lot. If he breaks her heart, I’ll break his jaw.

“She’s the kindest, smartest, most compassionate woman I know,” he begins. “And I love her, Cole. One of the reasons I wanted to come here is because I wanted to ask permission to marry her.” His look is a bit sheepish when he says, “I’m kind of old fashioned like that.”

My heart thumps. I don’t know the guy well, but he looks at my sister with love in his eyes, and I have to trust that she knows how to make good decisions. I spent my life protecting her from Dad, taking the abuse, all the beatings, so he was too physically exhausted to turn any of his violence my sister’s way. “You want to marry her?”

“Yes, I love her.”

I swallow the lump in my throat and pull him to me for one of those guy hugs where we pat each other on the back. “You have my permission,” I say.

“Thanks, man,” he says and hugs me back. “Don’t say anything.”

“You have my word.”

“I want to ask your father, too.”

With my arms still around him, I stiffen. Shit.

Just then, Nina comes back in the room.

“I’m starved…” Her voice falls off when she sees the two of us in an embrace. We back away from each other and turn her way. “Um, if you guys need another minute.” She gestures with a nod to the stairs. “I can come back later.”

“Get over here,” I say, and she crosses the room and falls into my arms. I hug her, and she jumps back.

“I just changed and you’re getting me all wet.”

I grin at her, put my mouth next to her ear and whisper, “Nothing new about that.”

Before she can whack me, Tabby comes back and eyes the pizza boxes. “Feed me,” she says, and Jack grabs the plates and divvies up the pizza. We all grab a seat at the table and Nina pours us all sodas.

As we eat, I look at my sister. “How long are you staying?”

“Not as long as I’d like. I could only book off a few days.” Her eyes light up. “Hey, maybe when you’re better and the playoffs are over, you can come visit me.”

“I’d love that.”

From across the table, Nina smiles, a look of longing on her face. It’s clear she misses Cason, doesn’t see enough of him. With her parents absent in her life, it must be so hard on her, having no one. Well, she has her friend Jess, and she has me.

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