Jaci Burton Read online

  PRAISE FOR

  CHANGING THE GAME

  “This book is wonderful from beginning to end, even for those who are not baseball fans.”

  —RT Book Reviews

  “Changing the Game is an extraordinary novel—a definite home run!”

  —Joyfully Reviewed

  “A strong plot, complex characters, sexy athletes, and nonstop passion make this book a must read.”

  —Fresh Fiction

  THE PERFECT PLAY

  “Holy smokes! I am pretty sure I saw steam rising from every page. Jaci Burton brings plenty of charm and depth to the characters in this fresh new series but the chemistry is hot.”

  —Fresh Fiction

  “An outstanding start to what is guaranteed to be a phenomenal series from Jaci Burton.”

  —Joyfully Reviewed

  “I enjoyed the book immensely…For fans of sports books, I think that this book delivers.”

  —Dear Author

  “Put together a super hunky football player, a sexy single mom, and the high-voltage worlds of sports and entertainment and you already have a good story—but in the hands of the talented Burton, the characters leap off the page and the romance sparkles as the sex sizzles.”

  —RT Book Reviews

  BOUND, BRANDED, & BRAZEN

  “Burton is a master at sexual tension!”

  —RT Book Reviews

  “As always Jaci Burton delivers a hot read.”

  —Fresh Fiction

  “Not just a sexy, get-the-body-humming read, but also one that melds the sensual with the all-important building of intimacy and relational dynamics between partners.”

  —Romance: B(u)y the Book

  RIDING ON INSTINCT

  “Kudos and beyond for Ms. Burton’s best book yet! I cannot wait to see what comes next!”

  —Fallen Angels Reviews

  “Everything about Riding on Instinct is picture-perfect and I stayed up half the night, unable to put it down until finishing the very last word.”

  —Romance Junkies

  “Another smokin’-hot Wild Riders story you will love reading.”

  —Fresh Fiction

  RIDING TEMPTATION

  “Full of intrigue, sexual tension, and exhilarating release. Definitely a must-read.”

  —Fresh Fiction

  “Riding Temptation has it all—action, suspense, romance, and sensuality all wrapped up in a story that will keep you on the edge of your seat and have you clamoring for the next story in the Wild Riders series!”

  —Wild On Books

  “Kudos to Ms. Burton for creating this exciting new series!”

  —Romance Junkies

  RIDING WILD

  “A wild ride is exactly what you will get with this steamy romantic caper. This sexy and sizzling-hot story will leave you breathless and wanting more.”

  —Fresh Fiction

  “A nonstop thrill ride from the first page to the last! Grab a copy of Riding Wild and take your own ride on the wild side of life!”

  —Romance Junkies

  “What an exciting and wonderful book!”

  —The Romance Studio

  “Riding Wild is a must-read for anyone who loves sexy romances filled with plenty of action and suspense.”

  —Kwips and Kritiques

  WILD, WICKED, & WANTON

  “Wild, Wicked, & Wanton starts off with a bang and never lets up!”

  —Just Erotic Reviews

  “This is the best erotic novel I have ever read! I absolutely loved it!”

  —Fresh Fiction

  “Jaci Burton’s Wild, Wicked, & Wanton is an invitation to every woman’s wildest fantasies. And it’s an invitation that can’t be ignored.”

  —Romance Junkies

  FURTHER PRAISE FOR THE WORK OF

  JACI BURTON

  “Forget about a cool glass of water; break out the ice! You’ll be drawn so fully into her characters’ world that you won’t want to return to your own.”

  —RT Book Reviews

  “Realistic dialogue, spicy bedroom scenes, and a spitfire heroine make this one to pick up and savor.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  “Jaci Burton delivers.”

  —Cherry Adair, New York Times bestselling author

  “Lively and funny…The sex is both intense and loving; you can feel the connection that both the hero and heroine want to deny in every word and touch between them. I cannot say enough good things about this book.”

  —The Road to Romance

  Titles by Jaci Burton

  RIDING WILD

  RIDING TEMPTATION

  RIDING ON INSTINCT

  RIDING THE NIGHT

  WILD, WICKED, & WANTON

  BOUND, BRANDED, & BRAZEN

  THE PERFECT PLAY

  CHANGING THE GAME

  TAKING A SHOT

  Anthologies

  UNLACED

  (with Jasmine Haynes, Joey W. Hill, and Denise Rossetti)

  EXCLUSIVE

  (with Eden Bradley and Lisa Renee Jones)

  LACED WITH DESIRE

  (with Jasmine Haynes, Joey W. Hill, and Denise Rossetti)

  NAUTI AND WILD

  (with Lora Leigh)

  TAKING

  a

  SHOT

  JACI BURTON

  HEAT | NEW YORK

  THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP

  Published by the Penguin Group

  Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

  375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA

  Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.) • Penguin Books Ltd., 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England • Penguin Group Ireland, 25 St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd.) • Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty. Ltd.) • Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd., 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi—110 017, India • Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, Auckland 0632, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd.) • Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty.) Ltd., 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa

  Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

  This book is an original publication of The Berkley Publishing Group.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

  Copyright © 2012 by Jaci Burton.

  Excerpt from Playing to Win copyright © 2012 by Jaci Burton.

  Cover art direction and design by Rita Frangie.

  Cover photograph by Claudio Marinesco.

  Text design by Kristin del Rosario.

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

  HEAT and the HEAT design are trademarks of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

  PUBLISHING HISTORY

  Heat trade paperback edition / March 2012

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Burton, Jaci.

  Taking a shot / Jaci Burton. — Heat trade pbk. ed.

  p. cm.

  ISBN: 978-1-101-56082-2

  1. Young women—Family relationships—Fiction. 2. Bars (Drinking establishments)—Fiction. 3. Hockey players—Fiction. 4. Creative ability—Fiction. 5. Self-realization—Fiction. I. Title.

  PS3602.U776T35 2012 2011040584

  813’.6—dc22

  PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  ALWAYS LEARNING

  PEARSON

  This book is dedicated to all the amazing readers

  who’ve so wholeheartedly embraced my Play-by-Play series.

  Thank you for loving hot sports guys as much as I do.

  Table of Contents

  One

  Two

  Three

  Four

  Five

  Six

  Seven

  Eight

  Nine

  Ten

  Eleven

  Twelve

  Thirteen

  Fourteen

  Fifteen

  Sixteen

  Seventeen

  Eighteen

  Nineteen

  Twenty

  Twenty-One

  Twenty-Two

  Twenty-Three

  Twenty-Four

  Twenty-Five

  Twenty-Six

  Playing to Win

  ONE

  JENNA RILEY WANTED NOTHING TO DO WITH SPORTS.

  Which was ironic considering she owned and operated her family’s sports bar. Doubly ironic considering one brother was an NFL quarterback and the other brother was a major league baseball player. And triply ironic considering her entire family loved sports of all kinds.

  Personally, she was fed up with baseball, hockey, football, NASCAR, basketball, tennis, or anything having to do with a ball or a fast car—unless she was the one behind the wheel driving it. Her distas
te for anything sports related likely had something to do with having sports of all kinds shoved down her throat her entire life. And now she lived with it twenty-four hours a day, hearing about it every damn night at work. The bar was constantly filled with sports.

  She was in the wrong line of work. She should quit her job and be a roadie for a rock band. Now that’s something she could get behind in a major way. She snickered at the thought. Like she could ever be free from the chains of familial responsibility. Ever since her father semi-retired from the bar, Riley’s had become her responsibility, which meant, like it or not, sports had become her life. Big-screen televisions broadcast every event, blaring out the voices of obnoxious announcers calling plays behind her, in front of her and to the side of her. Excited fans filled the bar after every game, so not only did she have to listen to the games on television, she also had to bear witness to the patrons’ recaps after.

  And if that wasn’t bad enough, there were the sports networks rehashing player stats and player drafts and all the game replays with analyst commentary.

  For someone who hated sports, she had a head full of statistics on every player who had ever played any sport.

  Which meant everyone at Riley’s loved her.

  “Hey, Jenna.”

  She glanced up from wiping down the bar. Steve Mahoney, one of her regulars, signaled for another beer. She grabbed a bottle, popped off the top, slid it over to him, and added it to his tab.

  “You see the game tonight?”

  She smiled and nodded. “Of course.” As if she had a choice.

  “Two goals for Anderson. The Ice scored a winner by picking him up last year, didn’t they?”

  “Yeah, he’s great.”

  Dick Mayhew got into the action, sliding onto an available barstool someone had vacated. He lifted one finger and Jenna grabbed a beer for him.

  “He and Eddie make a hell of a team,” Dick said. “I think they’re unbeatable.”

  Steve nodded. “I think we have a serious shot at the cup this year. What do you think, Jenna?”

  Jenna thought she’d like to extricate herself from this conversation and refill some of her customers’ drinks down at the other end of the bar. Instead, she did what she always did when talk of sports came up. She grinned and leaned her elbows against the bar and did her best PR. “I think you’re right. Anderson is quick on his skates and he’s magic with his shots. It’s like he knows right where to put them. I’ve never seen anyone who can shoot a puck like he can. He has no fear going to the boards. He’s as tough as they come. And we already know Eddie is a proven winner at right wing. That’s why the Ice have held on to him as long as they have. Together they make a hell of a duo. With Victor at left wing, they’re an unbeatable trio. Their combined stats on goals are off the charts.”

  “Not to mention power plays. When one is down, the other two pick up the slack,” Steve said, and he and Dick launched into their own conversation, which freed up Jenna to grab a few drinks for her other customers and see to the bar orders from the waitresses who served the clients throughout Riley’s.

  Riley’s always packed in people like sardines after a game, which meant Jenna lost all track of time. She’d been here since before noon and it was now midnight. Her feet hurt, she smelled like food and alcohol, and she was ready to go home, fall into bed, and sleep for twenty-four hours.

  Too bad she had to be here tomorrow and start all over again.

  It was mid-week. Maybe people would start clearing out soon. After all, it was a work night.

  But the sounds of raucous cheers made her cringe. She took a quick glance at the door and her worst fears were realized when she saw a half dozen of the St. Louis Ice hockey players stroll through the front door.

  Crap. Now no one would leave until closing time, which meant almost three more hours for her and her team. And the players were probably hungry. She headed into the kitchen.

  “Players just walked in,” she said to Malcolm, her head cook.

  Malcolm, who had the patience of a saint and always took things in stride, just nodded. “I’ll get out the steaks.”

  She laughed, shook her head, and went back to the bar. She refilled a few drinks and decided to let her waitresses handle the players. She’d go over there and say hello when she had a free minute. Right now she was slammed filling drink orders. Something about players coming in hopped up her customers’ excitement level and made everyone thirsty.

  It was good for business, though. She loved having the players frequent Riley’s. She had Mick and Gavin—and Elizabeth—to thank for that.

  “You look busy.”

  She lifted her head and stared into the steel gray eyes of Tyler Anderson. He wore his raven hair a little long and shaggy, just the way she liked…

  No. She did not like this guy. He was a jock, a hockey player, and she most definitely did not like sports players. Especially not Ty.

  “Yeah, Ty. I’m a little busy here. What can I do for you?”

  “Thought you could use some help. Why don’t you have two bartenders?”

  “Because I can handle it by myself. Is Lydia taking care of your table?”

  “She is. We’re fine. Steaks are ordered.”

  She planted her palms against the side of the bar, sucking in a quick breath. “Then what do you need?”

  He came around the open end of the bar. “Nothing. I came here to help you.”

  Her eyes widened. “What? Get out of here. You can’t be back here.”

  “Sure I can. You need help.”

  “No, I don’t.” She shoved at him, but she might as well try to move a car. “Go away.”

  The crowd thickened around the bar as soon as Ty made himself at home back there. He filled drink orders while Jenna stared dumbfounded. He popped the tops off bottles of beer like a pro, poured hard liquor, fixed mixed drinks, and operated like he knew what the hell he was doing behind a bar. He then took the customer’s money or credit card and handled her cash register, too.

  What. The. Hell.

  He slid a glance her way. “You have customers at the other end of the bar.”

  She finally gave up and took care of her patrons while Ty drummed up more business.

  “Hey, Ty, your steak is ready,” Malcolm said a half hour later.

  “Just leave it behind the bar. I’ll eat it here.”

  “You got it.”

  Jenna rolled her eyes and watched as Ty ate his steak standing up while he visited with the guys at the bar, then went back to serving drinks.

  By two thirty she called for last round and everyone began to make their way out the door. Jenna started cleaning up while the last of her patrons left. She called taxis for those who needed them, helped the waitresses bus tables, and cleared her bar registers.