Caged (Gold Hockey #11) - Elise Faber Page 0,32
the arena. “I put together a bag for the team kids to be taken up to the Family Suite,” Dani eventually said, gaze flicking to his, then to Mandy’s. “It’s the one with the otter on the front.”
Ethan’s heart squeezed.
Lovely woman.
“Aw,” Mandy said. “You’re amazing. They’re going to love that.”
A shrug. “I know it’s a little hard for the team kids to get upstairs sometimes, especially when they don’t want to take away from anyone else’s experience.”
That was true.
It sometimes put the players’ kids in an awkward situation, wanting to participate in the fun but not wanting to be seen as taking something away from the other kids.
“Anyway, I thought they’d enjoy it, so I figured I’d make it easy for them to participate,” she finished.
“You’re sweet,” Mandy said, reaching across Ethan and squeezing her hand. “Do you want to take the bag up yourself?” Dani’s feet faltered, and with Mandy’s arm still extended in front of him, he was nearly clotheslined. Luckily, he stopped just in time, bags swinging forward and back.
“No,” she whispered. “I—I—” A breath as she fumbled. “No, I’ve got stuff . . .”
“I can bring it up and give it to the babysitter who’s in charge tonight?” Mandy asked when Dani trailed off. “Would that be easier?”
Gentle had crept into Mandy’s tone, and he watched as it flowed through the air, as Dani processed it, her shoulders going stiff, her chin lifting. “No,” she said, “I can take it.”
“Are you sure?”
That chin rose further, and Ethan could have sworn that he heard her teeth clack together. “I’m sure.”
Mandy nodded, pulled her hand back, and they began peeling off—Max into the gym for a pregame workout, Mandy into the training suite.
“Where do we need to take this?” he asked once they were alone.
“PR-Rebecca’s office.” A clipped statement. “Then the otter bag upstairs.”
“Do you want me—”
“I said, I was going to take it up.”
He stepped in front of her, forcing her to stop. “I was going to ask if you wanted to take the otter bag up while I dropped the other stuff off to Rebecca.”
She skittered to a stop right in front of him, and he jerked to a halt, the bags colliding first against his body then against hers. “Oof,” he muttered as rocks jabbed into his hip.
Dani winced. “Sorry,” she whispered.
“No, I’m sorry. You okay?”
She shook her head. “I’m a mess.”
“Because of me or the rocks?”
More halting, more shaking off her head. “Because . . .” A sigh. “Of me.”
He studied her face, not liking the tinge of misery creeping into the edges of her eyes, clouding the amber and russet with cool steel, pulling those plush lips flat. “Well, if it counts for anything, I think you’re a gorgeous mess.”
She glanced down at herself, made a face. “I’m in jeans, a baggy fleece, and no makeup.”
He set the bags down, tapped her temple. “I meant in here.”
Laughter bubbled up in her throat, burst out from those kissable lips. “How in God’s name could you possibly think that I’m beautiful in my head?” She threw up her free hand, the bag on her wrist keeping her other at her side. “That mess I’m talking about is in my head. I’m so screwed up from stuff I should be over that it’s not even funny.”
Chapter Eleven
Dani
One second, she was standing in the hall, readying to spill her guts to Ethan, and the next, the bags were on the floor, including the one hanging on her wrist. Before she could even suck in another breath, she found herself with her spine pressed to the cool wall, Ethan to her front.
And it was glorious.
It reminded her of the almost-kiss.
Reminded her of his mouth on her throat, his hands on her body.
“You don’t have to justify the way you feel to anyone. Your past, painful or not, is what makes you Dani.” His head dropped. “And from what I know of Dani, you’re pretty fucking special.”
Was it possible for her heart to beat its way out of her chest? Because with his silken voice in her ear, with the gruff pretty fucking special reverberating through her body like a ping pong ball zipping from rib to rib, it felt on the verge of doing so. Three words and she was ready to spill her guts—
No.
She’d been ready to spill her guts before.
Now, she was ready to let him in, to allow that safety net to peel back and take up trapeze as a hobby.
And that had her heart