Taking a Shot (10 page)
“You’d better get me home, then.” I didn’t want to have to hold Dad back if we were late. I was too tired for that.
All the downstairs lights were still on when we pulled into the driveway. I knew better than to think Dad would have gone to bed without making sure I was home safe first. He liked to torture the boys I dated, both before and after our dates. No wonder I’d never had a boyfriend for long. My dad could be pretty intimidating.
Jamie held my hand the whole way inside, even as we went into the living room where Mom and Dad were waiting up on the couch. Both of their gazes immediately fell on us—Mom’s happy, Dad’s mad. Dani and Luke were both in there, too. Dani was reading a book and Luke was playing a video game on his Nintendo DS. They both looked up and then went back to what they were doing, but Dani had a huge grin on her face. Dad glared at our connected hands.
“We stopped at Voodoo Doughnuts before coming back,” Jamie said. He set the box down on the closest table. “Thought you might like these for breakfast tomorrow.”
Mom smiled at him. “Thanks. Did you have a good time?”
A good time
didn’t even come close to describing what tonight had been. I yawned as soon as I opened my mouth to answer her.
“I’ll take that as a yes, then,” Mom said.
Dad still wouldn’t smile, though. “Practice in the morning, Babs. You’d better get home.”
“Yeah. Headed that way,” Jamie said. But he pulled me back into the entry hall with him before he left, drawing me in close to him like he’d held me when we danced. “Thank you for letting me take you out tonight.”
Those stupid tears were pushing at the backs of my eyes again. I just wanted them to go away and stay away. “Thank you for taking me.”
“When the pictures come in, can I have a set?”
I hadn’t even known if I’d wanted a set of them—because of my alien head—but he’d insisted on buying the biggest package, not just the bare minimum for Mom. “You want them?”
“Yeah. Because that was the first time I got to see you—all of you. And it was beautiful.”
“I—”
He kissed me on the forehead. Dad cleared his throat right behind me. Jamie and I both jumped.
“Good night, Babs,” Dad said. He opened the door.
Jamie let me go and took a step back. “Good night, Katie.”
He was through the doorway and Dad was closing the door behind him when I hurried to block him.
“Jamie?” I said.
He stopped and looked at me with a goofy grin, his blush and his dimples making him as adorable as ever.
“I’ll keep a set for you.”
He smiled all the way to his eyes. “I’ll see you soon.”
“Not too soon,” Dad said gruffly. He closed and locked the door.
I stretched up on my toes and kissed him on the cheek. “I’ll see him tomorrow at your practice.” Before he could respond, I hurried up the stairs to my room and closed the door behind me.
Jamie had given me the most perfect night of my life, and I wasn’t going to let anyone spoil it. Not even my dad. I didn’t know how many more perfect nights I had left, but I did know this: I was done with forgetting about all the things I enjoyed and loved. I may have cancer, but that didn’t mean I had to stop living. Jamie had given me that tonight. He’d given me a reason to kick cancer out of my life, or at least to give my all fighting for that.
I touched my fingertips to the spot on my forehead where he’d kissed me, leaning back against the door and sighing.
There was no way to know what life was going to throw at me next. Whatever it was, I was going to embrace it. Anything less was cheating myself.
Catherine Gayle is a USA Today bestselling author of Regency-set historical romance and contemporary hockey romance. She’s a transplanted Texan living in North Carolina with two extremely spoiled felines. In her spare time, she watches way too much hockey and reality TV, plans fun things to do for the Nephew Monster’s next visit, and performs experiments in the kitchen which are rarely toxic.
If you enjoyed this book and want to know when more like it will be available, be sure to sign up for Catherine’s
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TAKING A SHOT is Book 2.5 in the
Portland Storm
hockey romance series written by
USA Today
bestselling author Catherine Gayle. If you enjoy it, look for the other books in the series in the following order.
There are also currently two boxed sets of books within the series, if you would prefer to purchase them in that way.
PORTLAND STORM: THE FIRST PERIOD
(Contains Breakaway, On the Fly, Taking a Shot, and Light the Lamp)
PORTLAND STORM: THE SECOND PERIOD
(Contains Delay of Game, Double Major, In the Zone, Holiday Hat Trick, and Comeback)
MISTLETOE MISCONDUCT
will release as part of a charity anthology on November 17, 2015.
LOSING AN EDGE
will release on February 18, 2016.
GAME BREAKER
will release on July 21, 2016. Also, join Catherine’s
mailing list
to receive
ICE BREAKER
, a
Portland Storm
short story prequel that you can’t get anywhere else.
Want to join in the
Portland Storm
discussion? Join the
Facebook reader group
.
If you enjoy this book and want to try more of the same, be sure to look for the spinoff series, the
Tulsa Thunderbirds
. Book 1,
BURY THE HATCHET
, is available now. Look for Book 2,
SMOKE SIGNALS
, on October 22, 2015, and Book 3,
GHOST DANCE
, on May 5, 2016. The T-Birds also have a
reader group on Facebook
.
Like what you’ve read so far? Keep reading for an excerpt from
LIGHT THE LAMP
, book 3 in the
Portland Storm
series.
