Caged (Gold Hockey #11) - Elise Faber Page 0,75

her until her cheeks hurt.

Until that happy ending was a living, breathing thing within her.

He tugged one of her unruly curls, smiled that special smile just for her. “You just try and get rid of me.”

Her breath caught, and she almost launched herself right back into his arms, the temptation to taste him, to hold on to this lovely, buoyant, confident feeling so strong that she didn’t want to chance not feeling it again.

But then Brit came around the corner, Fanny at her shoulder, and both women took in Dani’s closeness to Ethan, his hand still on her shoulder, both of them flushed, their lips kiss swollen. In an instant, Brit grinned and clapped her hands together. Fanny smiled, nodding approvingly.

And knowing this was going to be fodder for the gossip train—and not giving a damn—she found herself turning toward Ethan, tugging his head down, and kissing him with every bit of joy and love she felt.

Then she pulled away, loving the red staining his cheeks, the dazed look in his eyes. His fingers were tight on her hips, his lips glistening from their kiss. She nudged him back, stepped away. “I’ll see you on the plane.”

And then she walked past Brit, knowing she was wearing a cat-ate-the-canary grin, and not giving a damn.

“He’s mine,” she announced, patting the goalie’s shoulder. “My bearded, sexy man.”

“Hear, hear,” Brit said.

There was no reason to deny it, not when it was in her heart, her soul, not when there weren’t any secrets with the team, with her family.

Her love for Ethan was forever.

Epilogue

Part One

Ethan, Six Months Later

He was being stared down by three gorgeous women with amber and russet eyes.

“What makes you think that you could possibly be good enough for my Dani?”

“I’m not,” he admitted, picking up his glass of water and wishing that when he’d met Dani’s mom and sisters, it hadn’t been on a night when he needed to stick with the diet plan.

Because fuck, what he wouldn’t give for a beer.

“Mama, stop,” Dani said, sweeping into the room with a big platter of food. She set it on the coffee table then came over to perch on the arm of Ethan’s chair. “I love Ethan, and he loves me, so stop doing the whole scary parent thing.”

He covered her knee. “I don’t think she’s doing the scary parent thing. I think she embodies the whole parent thing.”

Dani sighed.

Belle, her mother, smiled. Barely, just the corners of her lips turning up. “You’ll do, Ethan. I think you’ll just do.” He relaxed marginally, and the smile flattened. “For now.”

Dani sighed again. “Loni, can you please talk some sense into Mom?”

“Nope.” She reached for the platter of cheese and bread and started scarfing both down in rapid succession. “Mom gets to be Scary Mom for all first boyfriend interactions.” Loni glanced at him, winked. “But don’t worry, she calms down after a while.”

Toni was in the midst of filling another plate, though she passed it to her mother, then did the same for Dani and Ethan.

It contained all sorts of things he couldn’t eat, but he smiled his thanks anyway.

“For the record, my mother never calms down,” Toni said, once she’d made up her own plate.

Dani sighed for a third time.

He chuckled.

She swatted him. “Don’t encourage them.”

Setting their plates on the table, he tugged her off the arm of the chair, brought her close. “They remind me of you.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “So, I’ll always encourage them.” A beat. “And you.” Grabbing her plate again, he held it for her. “Now eat,” he ordered.

“Ethan.”

He lifted the plate. “Food.”

“I’m not.”

“Food.”

“I’m—”

“Will you just eat the fucking piece of cheese?” Loni burst out.

“Language!” Belle scolded.

But Ethan didn’t give a shit about language. He’d gotten fed up with the orders and the plate and the cheese. He swapped their positions, dropped her into the chair, and knelt at her feet, tossing the aforementioned cheese onto the table.

That was when she finally noticed it, her eyes going wide, her mouth parting on a gasp. “Is that—?”

That being the diamond ring Toni had done him a solid by hiding.

“Dani,” he murmured. “I love you”—he glanced behind him—“and your family—”

“You haven’t met my dad yet—”

“He has, baby,” Belle said. “He’s met all of us. And Daddy approves.”

Dani sucked in a breath, her eyes wide.

“I—” He froze, all the pretty words he’d had planned in his brain drifting off into nothing, leaving him with a fuzzy tongue and a desperation to hear this woman say yes.