Seduced by the Game (35 page)

“Can I have this dance?” I
asked.

Swallowing hard, she
nodded and sniffled, then turned to let me pull her close. “Did you know they
were doing this?”

“No.”

She rested her head on my
shoulder. I rocked from side to side more than anything. I’d never been much of
a dancer, and I didn’t want to do anything to wear her out any more than she
already was. She didn’t seem to mind, though. She just held on to me.

I made note of every
detail of this moment—the way the lights danced over her and illuminated her
flowers and dress, the feel of her body pressed against mine, the soft flutters
of her breath on my neck. It was all perfect.

At least for this one
moment in time, she was my princess. No matter what happened, I would have this
to hold on to.

Jamie hadn’t minded
staying until the very last moment of prom, even though I was too tired to keep
dancing. After our dance, when they’d named me prom queen, he’d sat with me at
a table and let me enjoy everything the night had to offer.

But now everyone was
leaving. Most people were going on to after-parties, but I definitely wasn’t up
for that. Plus, Dad wouldn’t be happy if we stayed out too late. It was already
eleven, so there wasn’t a whole lot of time left before he’d be calling in a
search party and hunting Jamie down. I didn’t want anything like that to
happen.

I was leaning on him a lot
more than I ought to be as he guided me back out to his car. I couldn’t seem to
help myself. He kept drawing me closer anyway, so I knew he wasn’t upset by it,
and it felt really nice to have his arms around me.

We got to his car, and he
opened the door for me. “Do you want to do anything else before I take you
home?” He drove a flashy, black sports car. As far as I could tell, it was the
one splurge he’d allowed himself after signing his first pro contract.
Otherwise, he was still just a regular guy from Ontario, as completely ordinary
and down-to-earth as anyone else you might meet.

But he wasn’t ordinary.
Ordinary guys wouldn’t do all the things he’d done for me tonight. But then
again, ordinary high school students wouldn’t do the kinds of things my
classmates had done for me tonight, either.

Maybe I needed to adjust
my expectations a little.

I stifled a yawn while I
tugged the skirt of my gown so it wouldn’t get trapped in the car door. I
didn’t really want to go home yet, but I wasn’t up to a whole lot right
now—definitely nothing I could think of. “I don’t know what else we can do at
this time of night.”

Jamie grinned, and both
his dimples popped into place, making my heart pitter-patter. “We could go to
Voodoo Doughnuts.”

“Yeah?” I laughed and gave
him and his tux a once over, then looked down at my gown. “Aren’t we a little
overdressed?”

Voodoo Doughnuts was one
of the most iconic places in the city—a twenty-four hour doughnut shop that
made the craziest doughnuts you could imagine and had a wedding chapel in their
lobby.

“Does it really matter?”
Jamie said. “We’re in Portland.”

He had a point. Years ago,
the city, or at least the residents, had adopted the slogan of “Keep Portland
Weird.” They’d really taken it to heart in every way. “No, it doesn’t matter,”
I said. “Let’s go.”

He closed my door and went
around to the driver’s side. I shivered when he opened his door and got in.

“You’re cold? Here.” He
passed over my scarf and sweater. I still didn’t really want to wear them,
though; they would ruin the look of my gown. “Please?” he added when I
hesitated.

I gave in without a fight,
but mainly because I really
was
cold and it was almost impossible to
warm up again if I let myself get too cold.

There was a wedding taking
place in the chapel when we got there, so we actually looked like we belonged.
Jamie led me to a small table by the window and helped me sit. “What’s your
pleasure?”

“The maple bacon bar,” I
said without hesitation. I had one years ago, and it was divine—an oblong,
hole-less doughnut with a maple glaze and a strip of bacon on top—but I usually
avoided them because of all the fat and sugar. But if now wasn’t a time to
indulge, when was?

He winked and headed for
the counter.

I got so caught up in
watching the wedding taking place that his return startled me. He’d bought a
whole box of doughnuts, not just one or two for each of us. The box was full,
and each doughnut was a different kind.

“Is your blood sugar low
or something?” I joked.

“Nah. I thought we could
take some to your family, too.”

Yeah, Jamie Babcock was
getting to be more and more perfect by the moment. I melted a little bit at his
thoughtfulness, particularly since I had a feeling Dad had been treating him
miserably ever since the night he asked if he could bring me to prom.

Once I’d finished eating
mine and the wedding ended, I really couldn’t stop myself from yawning.

“All right, Cinderella,”
Jamie said. He stood up and collected the box, holding out his other hand for
me. “Time to get you home.”

I didn’t want the night to
end, but there was no chance I could come up with the energy to fight it. We
headed out to his car and got in. He started the engine, but he didn’t back out
of his spot right away.

“Is something wrong?” I
asked.

Jamie shook his head, but
he was blushing. God, I loved how he blushed and got embarrassed about things.
It helped me to remember that he wasn’t that much older than me—not too far out
of my reach. He took my hand. “I just— I really want to kiss you again, without
everyone watching and before I get you home. I don’t think your dad will like
it too much, and—”

“Jamie?” I had to cut him
off because my heart felt like it would explode if he kept talking about
kissing me instead of actually kissing me.

His eyes were so dark I
couldn’t tell the blue from the black when he faced me. “Yeah?”

I leaned toward him and
tilted my head up. He angled his head at the same time, and we bumped noses.

“Sorry,” he said.

“Knock it off and kiss
me.” I was laughing when our lips finally met, which was a thousand times
better than crying.

He pulled away far too
soon. Even though it had been just a sweet kiss, my pulse was galloping through
my veins. He put the car into gear and backed out of his parking spot. “It’s
almost midnight,” he explained.

“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.

# # #

TAKING A SHOT is book 2.5 in Catherine Gayle’s PORTLAND STORM
series. If you enjoyed it, you can find more about the Portland Storm players
in the first two books, BREAKAWAY and ON THE FLY. The next installment in this
series will be available in June, 2014.

BREAKAWAY:

She’s reaching for a
breakaway pass.

Dana Campbell has spent
the past seven years in self-imposed isolation for a crime she didn’t commit.
The danger is well in the past, but her panic attacks make it impossible to
have a normal, healthy relationship with a man. Even her counselor has given up
on her. She has to find someone she trusts to help her fight through the panic,
or her seven-year ordeal will become a lifetime sentence. There’s only one man
she feels safe enough to ask.

He got caught with his
head down.

As the captain of
professional hockey’s once elite but now fading Portland Storm, Eric Zellinger
knows a thing or two about keeping his focus on the job. Questions are flying
about his ability to lead the team back to the playoffs. If they don’t make it,
he might be shipped out of town. It’s the worst time possible for his best
friend’s kid sister to divide his focus. How can he give her what she needs
without jeopardizing both the Storm’s playoff hopes and his future with the team?

It’s her only chance, but
it’s his last shot.

ON THE FLY:

Injury after injury has
put Brenden Campbell’s professional hockey career on hold for years. Now he’s
playing for the Portland Storm and determined to make it stick. Few things in
life drive him more than being told he can’t have something he wants, and what
he wants most is to prove he belongs. Brenden also wants Rachel Shaw, the cute,
little redhead who just got hired as the general manager’s new assistant. But
then she went and made herself off-limits, telling him: “I don’t date.” Those
three words pretty much guarantee that he’ll do everything he can to change her
mind.