Page 55 of Taking The Shot

“It’s okay, Daddy… we can go home,” Paige volunteered sweetly, her voice so soft, so utterly self-sacrificing, that it struck him harder than any check against the boards ever had.

His eyes widened in sheer, helpless agony. She was giving him anout—which meant she expected him to cave.

“Daddy,” Kayla chimed in. “I wuv you, Daddy.”

“I just got mentally slammed into the boards,” he whispered, his voice full of suffering as he turned to his wife. His fingers curled around Constance’s arm, gripping it like she was his last hope for survival. “Help me?”

Constance barely held back a laugh at the sheer panic in his expression. Her big, tough, brawling hockey husband was crumbling under the tactical warfare of his own children. And honestly? She couldn’t even blame him.

But shecouldenjoy it.

She leaned in, her lips brushing against his as she whispered, “It’s a good thing you are sexy.”

Keith exhaled shakily, as if he were barely holding on to what little shred of dignity he had left. “It’s a good thing you love me,” he murmured, his tone full of tender defeat. He rubbed his nose against hers, clearly seeking strength—because heneededit.

“I’m ill-equipped, and they both know it—don’t they?”

Constance sighed dramatically, dragging out the inevitable truth. “Yeah.”

He blinked as if still processing the sheer power of his stepdaughters wielded over him. “Wow.”

“Terrifying, isn’t it?” she asked, amused by his dazed expression.

“Very much so…” Keith flinched as Kayla piped up again.

“Daddy, I wuv the kitties, too.”

He let out a strangled noise and turned back to Constance with the expression of a man going to war with no armor. He threw up his hands in surrender, smirking. “I’m a wimp—and I freely admit it. My kids are calling for me.”

Constance pinched the bridge of her nose, exasperated but not remotely surprised. “Just attempt to be strong and saynoat least once today—please?”

Keith grinned, his eyes glinting with mischief. He leaned in close, his lips at her ear as he whispered in the smuggest, most insufferable tone possible?—

“No.”

The moment they stepped into the room, chaos erupted. It was a symphony of squeaks, meows, and the frantic scrabbling of tiny paws as at least a dozen kittens surged toward them like a fluffy tidal wave. The air practically vibrated with the sound of excited purring, and Constance barely had time to blink before her daughters dove headfirst into the kitten pile, squealing with unfiltered joy.

Keith, ever the composed one, had somehow managed to find a rickety folding chair in the corner, but even he wasn’t safe. A gray tabby had scaled his leg like a mountaineer while a calico took up residence on his lap.

He was doomed.

Absolutely, completely doomed.

Yeah.

The ‘big baddie’ was officially a goner.They were taking a kitten home. Or maybe two.

Possibly an entire litter.

“I like this one, Daddy…” Paige announced, holding up a scrappy little kitten with fur that stuck out in all directions like he’d just survived a wind tunnel. The little guy had the biggest,roundest blue eyes Constance had ever seen, and the moment she locked onto them, she knew resistance was futile.

“His name could be LeMieux, like the hockey player…” Paige added, her voice dripping with innocence as she held the kitten up for approval.

Keith’s head snapped up, his expression somewhere between admiration and horror as he turned to Constance, his grin already forming.

“Geez… really?” Constance muttered, looking like she already knew the answer.

“She named the kitten after a hockey player, and it fits,” Keith pointed out, shrugging. “I mean, the kitten is meowing right now.”

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