Caged (Gold Hockey #11) - Elise Faber Page 0,35

led her to the table, easily getting everything spread out, even as more kiddos found their way into the supplies. In even movements, her musical voice trailing across the room, her smile bright as the lights inside the arena, she got each kid setup with a plate, a rock, brushes, and paint and didn’t even get a speck on her.

Effortless. Again.

So freaking much that Dani should hate her, strictly on principle.

But she couldn’t.

Because Roxanne seemed like a really nice person.

“I’ll catch you guys later,” Mandy said, moving to help Roxanne when a few of the boys thought it was a good idea to chase each other with paintbrushes . . . loaded full of paint.

“I’m going to set her up with Ethan,” Sara said quietly.

Scratch that.

She hated Roxanne. She was the worst with her flawless hair and body and smile and no awkward in sight and—

“Isn’t she just perfect for him?” Sara said. “I know he’s a little scruffy, but he cleans up nice, and they’re both just so nice. I can already picture tiny little blond babies with Ethan’s gray eyes. They’ll be adorable.”

Dani’s heart twisted and filled with lead, growing heavy, sinking to the bottom of the ocean.

Ocean of despair that was.

The past was weighty, intense, reaching up and sinking its talons deep, reminding her of everything that was wrong with her.

And everything that was right with Roxanne, a woman she hardly knew, and yet a woman she knew would be—

“Dani?”

Perfect.

Beautiful and flawless and perfect for Ethan.

The pressure on the seabed compressed her heart, squeezing it on all sides, squashing the organ, forcing out the hope she’d stashed there after her conversation with Ethan.

Wisps flitting away into dark water.

Her heart crumpled smaller and smaller, until she felt nothing.

Nothing except for pain and the urge to clutch her safety net closed.

This was why she didn’t let people in.

Because Roxanne was lovely and perfect for Ethan, so much more than Dani could ever hope to be, and her only consolation was that if it hurt this much after a couple of conversations and a near kiss, then she was lucky to have been reminded of it now and not when she was in deeper and—

Fingers on her arm. “Dani?” Sara asked. “Are you okay?”

She shook herself. “S-sorry,” she said hurriedly. “I just remembered that I needed to meet with Jess before the game.” She edged away from Sara before the other woman could see how deeply the thought of Ethan with anyone else hurt. That was a ridiculous thought. He’d asked her out on one date, and she hadn’t even agreed to that much.

He was much better off with a woman like Roxanne than her.

That was just reality.

And if she was in the way, she would deny Ethan his chance at perfect.

She couldn’t do that. She . . . fuck, but she liked him too much to do that.

Perhaps, if her misery wasn’t so heavy and forbidding, perhaps if she wasn’t already on that seabed, water and pressure on all sides crushing her, she might have been able to recognize that Ethan could choose to be with who he liked.

Perhaps, if Roxanne just wasn’t so freaking perfect, Dani might have seen past the wretchedness that had swept up and was smothering her.

But Roxanne was perfect and lovely.

And Dani wasn’t good at shrugging off her insecurities.

“I should go,” she said.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Sara asked.

A smile, one that felt and probably looked forced. “Just peachy.”

Sara’s expression darkened. “Are—”

Desperate times called for desperate measures. She patted her pocket, pulled out her cell and glanced at the screen. “Oh, that’s Jess, I’d better run.”

Sara opened her mouth, protest all over her expression, but Dani put words to action and hustled out the door of the Family Suite. Her face felt hot, and her pulse scattered. God, her lungs weren’t working. She couldn’t pull in enough air, couldn’t breathe.

She jabbed at the elevator button and managed to suck in just enough oxygen to stumble down the hall and into her office.

Then she closed the door, threw the lock, and sank into her chair, thinking how lucky she was to have had this close call.

Otherwise, she might have really gotten hurt.

Yup, she was really lucky.

“Definitely lucky,” she whispered.

And if there were tears streaking down her cheeks, then she was just going to ignore them.

God knew, it wasn’t the first time.

Chapter Twelve

Ethan

It took until he got into the locker room and sat down at his cubby before he felt it.

It being Dani’s rock, he realized