Caged (Gold Hockey #11) - Elise Faber Page 0,72

tired, had to be wanting a shower and to get out of that wet gear.

Finally, he took some pictures, got a hug and another fist-bump, and waved at the mother and daughter as they disappeared down the hall.

Dani waited, hardly breathing, and the moment the daughter and her mom were gone, Ethan turned, his eyes coming unerringly to hers, as though it wouldn’t have mattered if she possessed the ability to camouflage with her surroundings, he would have still known she was there.

Her lips parted on a silent exhale, her heart thumping against her ribs.

He walked toward her.

Clunk. Clunk. Clunk.

Then he was there, towering over her even more than normal with the extra inches gained from his skates, and her nose was filled with the scent of salt and spice and . . . Ethan.

“I’m sorry,” she blurted.

His eyes gentled. “Sweetheart,” he murmured, his hand wrapping around her wrist in one smooth move—as though it were an unconscious action, as though he’d greeted her that way for an eternity, with his slightly roughened fingertips running along the delicate skin there. “I’m the one who’s sorry. I shouldn’t have rushed you. I should have—”

Unbidden, her eyes burned, her throat working as she attempted to swallow the sob bubbling up in its depths.

She wanted this.

She wanted him.

“I love you, Ethan.”

“Sweetheart,” he said gently, his thumb drifting a little higher.

“I’ve been trying to find you all damned day, wanting to tell you that from the moment you left with your parents.” She grabbed his shoulders, shook him lightly. “I was surprised, yes,” she murmured. “And scared. And had a full-on panic attack.” She inhaled sharply, released it slowly. “Truthfully, I am still a little scared because what I feel for you is so big, so intense, so much more than I’d ever hoped. But I love you, so fucking much.”

Her eyes continued to burn, and in a heartbeat, she lost her battle with tears, one sliding down her cheek, a hot, liquid brand, then more streaking in their wake. “I thought I’d messed it up.” She sniffed. “I thought I’d lost you, and for one second, I wanted to give up.” She shook her head. “But I won’t give you up, even if you keep trying to avoid me and push me away.”

“I wasn’t.”

She blinked at the fierceness in his tone. “What?”

“I wasn’t trying to push you away,” he said, cupping her jaw. “I fucked up. I hurt you. I scared you. I needed to find a way to prove to you that I would wait.” He rested his forehead to hers. “I needed to make it up to you. To—”

She yanked out of his hold.

“You stupid, stubborn man!”

His mouth fell open.

“That was a universally stupid thing to do!” she snapped, shoving away from him.

“You didn’t like the gifts?”

She froze, spun back. “They were wonderful.”

“So, why am I stupid?”

“Because you could have come back, and we could have talked it out, and I didn’t need the gifts. I was miserable and hurt, and I—I just needed you.”

A warm chest pressed to her back, arms around her middle. “You’re right. It would have been much simpler to talk. Though I wouldn’t have gotten the whole team on my side, helping, wouldn’t have learned you loved Hot Tamales. Wouldn’t have gotten to shower you with the small gifts that are only a fraction of what you deserve.”

“I didn’t need—”

He spun her to face him. “But I did. I needed to give them to you, and I’m going to keep giving you everything you need in a thousand different ways.”

“Eth—”

“I love you. I’m going to take care of you.”

“I feel the same—”

His thumb brushed over her lips.

“But I didn’t think I deserved you. I had this well inside me that said because I’m not as smart as my parents because I’m not the most talented player on the ice, that because . . . so many other things . . . I thought you couldn’t want me. That I’d need to be more.” His hand slid down, lightly gripped the side of her neck. “And for you, I want to be more.”

“I don’t want more. I just want you.”

He shuddered, his chin resting on top of her head, his arms banding tight, drawing her against his chest. Probably, she should be disgusted to be wrapped in the sweaty embrace of a man who’d just spent the last three-plus hours working his ass off, but instead of that, she was just wrapped in everything that was this