Caged (Gold Hockey Book 11) by Elise Faber (romantic love story reading TXT) 📕

This didn’t need to be a victory he earned on his own.

He could—and should—use every tool in his toolbox.

Flipping the page in his notebook, he began a list.

The first item was Hot Tamales, followed by the types of junk food she’d bought during their grocery shopping outing, during their time together over the last weeks. Luckily, he paid attention to everything that was Dani-related, so within a few minutes, he had a decent list. Or at least, he had enough information to feed her.

That was a start.

He spent a few more minutes not working on his term paper as he probably should be doing, but instead making a list of questions to ask Fanny, ideas of things to do to win Dani over, other people he needed to pump for information—Brit, for one, Max, for another (the two biggest gossips around), and Kevin, for a third (because Ethan probably needed to admit that clearly he wasn’t the best at romance and again . . . more tools for his toolbox).

By the time he’d filled a couple of pages and his eyes were burning enough that he knew he should give it a rest, he decided that he’d done enough planning for the moment.

He closed the cover, capped his pen, began stacking books, and—

Froze.

Because Fanny hadn’t just been organizing.

The woman had deposited a box of Hot Tamales on that tray table, hidden amongst the books like an Easter egg.

Burning eyes forgotten, he ran a finger along the edge, smiled.

And then he pulled out a piece of paper, wrote a note, and tucked both into his bag.

He’d arrange for a special delivery later.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Dani

It was an hour until game time, and she was feeling absolutely wretched.

Since that night in Baltimore, since the brief interaction on the plane, she hadn’t seen Ethan.

He’d disappeared while she’d waited for her bag.

And when she’d found his room number, had finagled a key by begging, borrowing, and stealing, he hadn’t come back to his room, even though she’d slept in his bed and had waited.

She’d bungled things.

Badly.

She needed to make them right.

Only, she didn’t know how. And now, she was trying to find a way to make it all right. But how the hell was she supposed to make it all right if she couldn’t even lay eyes on the man she loved?

Hell, twenty minutes ago, she’d even gone to the locker room, prepared to announce her love to the entire locker room if need be.

But she’d gotten to the door, found it was locked to everyone outside of the players, and had come back to prep for the game, her wretchedness rising by the second. How was she supposed to focus on her computer when she couldn’t tell the blasted man that she was fucking in love with him?

Groaning, she rested her hands on her head, her elbows on her desk.

Knock. Knock.

She dropped her hands, glanced up, and saw Kevin lounging outside the door to the office she’d commandeered. A far cry from her plush space back at the Gold Mine, it nonetheless did the job.

“H-hey, Kev,” she managed.

He smiled. “How’s it going?”

Her lungs felt tight, small talk with the gorgeous, built man not easy, especially when it felt as though her heart had been pierced straight through. Still, he was one of the biggest teddy bears on the roster, so she got over her shy, her pain, and spun her chair to face him. “I’m good.”

Ugh.

She was so not good.

“Dani?” Kevin asked, tone concerned.

Double ugh.

Now she was lost in fucking thought instead of focusing on the man in front of her. “Sorry,” she said, pushing out of the chair and moving toward the door. “What can I do for you?”

“Nothing.”

Her feet skittered to a stop. “Um . . .”

He held up a box. “I think this is for you.”

Turquoise paper. A pretty silver bow.

She shook her head. “That can’t be.”

He turned it in her direction so she could see there was an envelope taped to the top of it, and sure enough, her name was scrawled on the top in large, blocky letters.

“I—” Another shake of her head.

Kevin crossed over to her, pressed the small box into her hands. It rattled quietly, as though there were lots of small, hard things inside. “Go easy on him,” he said, once she’d wrapped her fingers around it. “The man’s just starting to learn the art of romance.”

“What—”

He winked, was gone a moment later, well before the faltering question made it past her lips.

Dani had been left alone in the quiet room when her watch buzzed. She glanced down to see it was her assistant, Jess, telling her she was ready and waiting for them to complete their pregame check. Jess stayed back in San Francisco on away games, their tag-teaming engulfing both coasts—or in this case, the Midwest and the West Coast.

She voice-texted back, asking for five minutes, able to hear that her tone was off, her words shaky, all because of a tiny, rattling box held in her hands, but beyond glad that the artificial intelligence wouldn’t pick up on her anxiety when it transcribed her words.

Technology was her friend.

For the moment, she had five minutes.

Sucking in a breath, staring at the box, debating opening it, she stroked the shiny ribbon for a few moments (which only further served to remind her of her fuck up with Ethan) before curiosity got the better of her and she slipped the bow off then tugged the envelope free. The flap was open a moment later, her fingers pulling out the note inside. As she processed the words, her lips curved up into a smile, and she felt a giggle bubble up, mix with relief in her throat.

Sweetheart,

Wouldn’t want your body to get low on all that refined sugar.

-E

Then she ripped off the paper, her head shaking in disbelief at the contents of the rectangular-shaped box.

Hot Tamales.

Probably the single type of candy she loved that she hadn’t actually bought with him on their trip to the grocery store