Page 45 of Clear Shot

All I want to do is pull her into my arms and kiss her. Touch her. Strip her out of the shorts and T-shirt she’s wearing and then lick every inch of her. Throw her on the bed and make love to her until she’s boneless and spent, completely under a spell I never want to break.

But I can’t.

Not yet anyway.

“All right.” I want to address the elephant in the room but this isn’t the time. We’re expected for dinner and we need to get updated on what’s going on. There will be plenty of time to talk later.

“Hungry?” I ask.

She nods. “Yes. And steaks sound perfect.”

“Let’s go eat.”

We walk into the hall and go back downstairs, joining everyone outside. Jordan and Felix are there, along with a younger guy on the team, Elias Haverstrom. He’s nineteen or twenty and this is only his second year in the league.

The wind has picked up but there’s no rain yet, and it almost feels like any other South Florida evening when there’s a thunderstorm on the horizon.

This is no thunderstorm, though.

“Well, it looks like Katherine is about a hundred miles off the coast,” Mr. Knight says. “They’re expecting it to hit landfall around four or five in the morning.”

“Fucking weather from hell,” Jordan mutters. “Why do we have to have hurricanes?”

“Would you prefer earthquakes?” Elias asks. “My buddy Connor plays for the Phantoms and he says the one they had not that long ago was brutal.”

Jordan grimaces. “Nah. That’s why I like the Midwest. I can handle snowstorms and blizzards, but this is bullshit.”

“Don’t forget tornadoes,” Mr. Knight adds.

“Ugh. No thanks.”

“I can trade you to Alaska, if you like,” Mr. Knight deadpans.

Jordan opens his mouth but then snaps it shut. “No thank you, sir, Mr. Bossman, sir.”

Everyone laughs.

“Mr. Knight, can I help with anything?” Hana asks politely.

He turns with a smile. “Please call me Remy. You don’t work for me, and when you’re a guest in my home, I want everyone to be casual. Including you boys. It’s Remy outside the arena.”

Everyone nods and Flora comes out with a big pan of something.

“Baked mac and cheese with bacon,” she says. “There’s salad on the table, and corn on the cob is coming off the grill in a moment. If there are any condiments you need that aren’t already out, please let me know. I keep the pantry well-stocked.”

Everyone dives in like we haven’t eaten in years, and chatter is lively throughout the meal.

“Where did Noelle and the baby go?” I ask Remy.

“They went to my mom in Vancouver,” he replies. “They were due for a visit anyway, so it worked out. I’ll probably join them when this is over.”

“You think we will die?” Felix asks in his thick French-Canadian accent.

Remy reaches over and lightly smacks the back of his head. “Bite your tongue!”

Felix is serious, though. “You are not scared?”

Remy frowns. “I don’t think I’m scared, per se. Definitely on high alert but I’ve prepared to the best of my ability. I literally have the highest rated windows and shutters on the market and four generators that will give us full power for four or five days. I have a satellite phone in case cell towers go out. And we’re stocked with enough food and water to last a week, maybe more. So no, I’m not scared.”