“I was in love. Perhaps not with the man of my dreams, but with a man that was more man than any I’d ever encountered.”

“I stood there. Still. Frozen. Looking at the most handsome man I’d ever seen in my life. The man I fell in love with when he was still mostly a boy. The man who raised two great kids against the odds. The man who kept the streets of my hometown safe. The only man outside my brother and father who even tried to take care of me, he did it in a way that was beautiful, precious, so I let him. The man who made me happy. The man who was happy being with me.”

“I demoted him from The Best Man Ever to just The Best Man I’d Ever Met. Superman would have charged out (hell, he’d have flown) to get Lois Lane cookies. I was pretty sure of it.”

“I stopped looking around when I heard a soft “mew” and I looked toward Tate to see he was crouched. He straightened and turned to me.I froze and stared.Tatum Jackson, ex-pro football player, ex-cop, now bartender/bounty hunter, tall, beautiful and more man than I’d ever experienced in my life was standing on the edge of his kitchen holding a cat.And it wasn’t just any cat and he wasn’t just holding it. He was cradling it.”

“I’d had a really bad day and you hurt me.”His hand at my jaw tensed and he kept whispering when he said, “I’ll probably do it again, Red,because I’m a man and any man can be a dick. But I won’t do it like that, not again. I know you got softunder that attitude and I’ll have a mind to that.”

“I’d pay a man to talk to me that way.”

“Tack studied him. Then quietly, he stated, “She’s my only daughter, man.”“And she’s the only woman I’ve ever loved, Tack,” Shy shot back instantly.”