Page 107 of Unstoppable Love

“Yeah, Daddy?”

“Let’s go get dessert.”

“Already!? The game hasn’t started, and I haven’t eaten my dinner.”

I laughed. I couldn’t help it. My shoulders were shaking and my lips were pressed together, but, oh, sweet heavens, Josie was adorable.

“Just this once,” Gavin muttered. She took off toward the dining room, and Gavin skirted around behind us at the table.

“I’m not sure a cookie is going to get her mind off that one,” I told him.

He glared at me, his look so similar to Dalton, it was unnerving. “Tell me about it.”

Oh my. I grinned at Emily. “Seems to me someone might have a hefty Santa wish list this year.”

“No joke,” Emily muttered. “Miss Pesco is all Josie talks about with me, and I think Gavin’s heard enough.”

“Is she cute?” I asked. I didn’t know the name.

“Don’t know.” She shrugged. “From what I know, her original teacher had to take an emergency leave of absence to go take care of her grandma back in Phoenix. So Miss Pesco arrived, and from what I’ve heard, she hasn’t been teaching long at all. I suspect this might be her first full-time job, actually. She’s from Kansas City and moved to town a couple weeks ago.”

“Right down the street from Gavin,” Bryce said, sliding into a chair. “And he is not happy about that.”

Huh. I was going to have to find out who this Miss Pesco was and why she was getting under Gavin’s skin so much.

“Interesting,” I muttered and picked up my sandwich right as the television screen switched from a commercial to the Mountaineers taking the field.

“Yes!”

“Come on!”

“Go!”

“Run, you idiot!”

“Throw the damn ball!”

The game was intense, and all the Kelley men had opinions on how Cameron should be playing. Myself… I was on my feet, standing with a few minutes left to go in the fourth quarter. Thank goodness I’d eaten in the first few minutes of the game, I wouldn’t have been able to keep anything down after that. The game had gone back and forth, which was not surprising based on who we were playing. Buffalo was hot on Colorado’s heels to take the number one spot, and if we lost this game, they’d only be one game behind.

The men were all shouting like Cam could hear them, and I was standing, hands clasped together in front of my chest.

We had the ball with the game tied, third down, and twelve yards to go for a first down due to a false start on our offense. The only way this game could be more intense for all of us was if it were the conference championship game.

Cameron dropped back, looked down the field. He turned, fired off the ball, and then…

“Oh shit.”

Two defensive men slammed into him, all at the same time. They came out of nowhere.

“Shit,” I rasped, as the defenders slowly climbed off him.

A flag was flown.

“Yeah, no shit a flag,” Gavin barked. “Roughing the passer, assholes.”

“That’s a bad word,” Landon said, to no one in particular, but for the first time, I didn’t think his correction of the men cursing was funny.

Cameron was still on the ground, rolling to the side, but he looked to be in pain.

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