It was a good thing they didn’t. Really. It was.
She wouldn’t know what to do with them if they did.
Except, over the last few months, she had to wonder if she was selling herself short, if perhaps she’d sat back on her shy laurels for too long, used them as an excuse to keep people at a distance.
A snort bubbled up in her throat.
Or course she did.
That was her M.O. Always had been, always would be.
“What?” Ethan asked. “My computer isn’t . . .” He trailed off, and with her brows drawing together, she considered if perhaps her guru skills were out of practice. She hadn’t been hit up too often since she’d joined the Gold.
“Then you need help with your phone?” she asked.
He frowned, shook his head. “No.”
She tilted her head to the side, curiosity overshadowing her shyness for a moment, feeling herself intractably pulled into those gray eyes. “Your TV?”
“No, Dani,” he said on a husky laugh, and she ignored the prickles of desire trailing over her skin.
“Oh.” She swallowed. “Okay then.” She turned away.
“Are you seeing anyone?”
Slowly, she spun back, eyes wide.
“That was my question,” he said, when she stared at him in shock. “Dani?” he asked, when she just continued staring at him mutely. “Did I break you?”
A slow shake of her head.
He stepped a little closer, just near enough that she could feel the heat from his body. “No to the breaking you part, or no to the seeing anyone piece?” he murmured.
“The seeing anyone thing,” she somehow managed to whisper, despite the fact that the question from a man like him to a woman like her was absolutely one hundred percent unfathomable.
Circling back to sad and single and—
He smiled.
And she actually felt her brain cells collide and fizzle into smoke. That smile was dangerous, could without a doubt, turn her stupid. Really stupid.
“Good,” he murmured.
Swallowing hard, she nodded, cheeks on fire, and turned away again. “Right, I’ll just—”
“Will you go out with me?”
Her fingers went limp. The tablets hit the ground.
This time, the crunch sounded much more ominous.
Or maybe that was just her heart.
Chapter Two
Ethan
He winced when the tablets hit the floor again and bent over to scoop them up.
Shit.
One corner was cracked, but Ethan supposed that wasn’t the first nor would it be the last time something like that had happened. Still, he’d offer to pay for it. He didn’t like the idea of the team having to eat the cost for something he’d caused.
The other was unscathed.
Dani, however, appeared to be very scathed. Her mouth gaped, and he could swear there was pink warming the brown tones of her umber-colored skin, making him wonder what exactly had brought on the blush.
Was it that she was embarrassed he’d asked and felt uncomfortable?
That made a sick pit open up in his stomach.
“I—I—” She shook her head. “I—”
“It’s okay,” he said quickly, stepping back. “No hard feelings.”
Deep brown brows drew down. “H-hard feelings?”
“You’re not interested.” He took another step back, all the hard feelings ruminating through him, but unwilling to let them escape, to taint their workplace. He wanted her, but he wasn’t that guy. Wouldn’t ever be. “I promise, I won’t bring it up again.”
Her mouth opened and closed, words stuttering out. “I—I—”
“It’s fine,” he said quickly. “You want me to bring these to the guys?”
“I—”
Another few feet away. “I’ll just—”
“Will you stop interrupting me?” she snapped.
He blinked.
Her chin lifted and for a moment, he was frozen in place by her eyes. They were brown—he’d known that from the glimpses she’d given him before—but what he hadn’t known was that they weren’t just brown. Shades of russet and amber, speckles of gold, streaks of ebony. No, those uniquely gorgeous irises couldn’t simply be categorized as brown. They were . . . spectacular and entrancing and—
Dani kept talking, drawing him out of his head.
“I’m shy,” she said. “But I’m not stupid. I can tell someone when I’m uncomfortable or if I don’t want something.”
Hope bloomed through him.
“Does that mean you want to go out with me?”
Her eyes widened, her mouth opening and closing. “I—um—I—”
This time he didn’t interrupt, just waited for her to get her thoughts together, her words to catch up, and all the while the prospect of being able to take out this woman he’d admired for so long lingered in the back of his mind.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” she whispered. “I need to get these to Max and Coop.”
Bleak.
That was the only word to describe what he felt at the moment. But he’d meant it when he’d promised himself that if she didn’t return his interest, he wouldn’t press this, that he’d just go back to pretending he wasn’t attracted to her.
“Okay,” he said, holding up the tablets. “I’ll take these to the locker room.”
She nodded.
“For the record, I never thought you were stupid,” he said, “and I don’t mind the shy.” With that, he turned and made his way down the hall, cursing himself six ways to Sunday as he moved. He should have played it so much cooler, should have won Dani over before springing a date on her. He should—
“Fuck,” he whispered on a sigh.
Because he had been trying to win her over these last months, finding reasons to be in her presence—e.g. tonight volunteering to grab tablets she was going to deliver, asking for extra tape, casually joining the conversations when she was with Brit or Mandy, testing the waters when she was with people she was comfortable with.
And he’d thought he’d made progress with trying to get her to talk and loosen up.
So today, tonight, he’d hoped for her to let him in just an inch.
Too fast.
Fucking hell.
Ethan knew that most of the guys on the team thought that Dani was a little cold. But most of the guys were idiots. Okay, that wasn’t true, not even in the least. The San Francisco Gold were the NHL’s newest team—though that would
