Page 113 of Uniquely in Love

“Are you okay?”

“Better now.” He murmured, his legs closing in to trap me in place. “I’ll be okay. Just needed you.” Owen rubbed my back, holding me tight against him.

“Are you sure it’s alright that I’m back here?” I’d never been inside a locker room before, especially not while a game was still being played. I turned to say something else to Sophia, but she had slipped out without me noticing, leaving the two of us alone. That felt like an impossibility. Being alone with him here with no one else around?

He shrugged. “It’ll be fine. I’ll explain to Coach later if he asks. If he benches me a game for it, well…”

His eyes closed as I continued massaging his head. “That scared the fuck out of me, Owen,” I admitted. “Watching you go down. Not knowing if you were seriously hurt.”

When he tilted his head up to look at me, his face was filled with so much emotion, I almost couldn’tbreathe. I had to look away to steady myself against from those beautiful, deep brown eyes that knew me better than I knew myself. Always had. Always would.

“I’m sorry, baby.” He nuzzled his face against my stomach once again. “It’s just part of the job. You know that.”

I did. I just never thought about what it would be like to see it in person. When he was younger, he hadn’t played at this level of physicality. The games hadn’t been so fast-paced and…brutal.

“Can we go home?” I asked, instead of responding to him. “I’m guessing you’re not going back on the ice for the rest of the night?”

He nodded. “In a bit.” He looked down at his clothes. “I need to shower first. I’m so sweaty.”

“Yeah.” I wrinkled my nose. “No offense, but you stink.”

Owen was hurt, a fact that I was trying to remind myself of, because he looked so hot, all sweaty anddirty.

He smirked. “What are you thinking, baby?”

I shook my head. “Nothing. Go shower.”

Standing up off the bench, he towered over me. “Come with me.”

“Owen.” I looked around, my cheeks no doubt a shade of bright pink. “We can’t. Someone could walk in.”

“They won’t,” he promised. “There’s still most of the period left. And the doctor already checked on me. I’m on concussion watch for the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours since I hit my head pretty hard, but I told them I had a roommate.”

A roommate. Was that all I was?

His finger dipped under my chin, forcing my eyes to his. “I told them I have you, Ellie baby. That you’d take me home and take care of me.”

I blinked, my eyes filling with tears. Wrapping my arms around him instead of looking at him, I buried my head in his chest. “I felt like I couldn’t breathe,” I admitted, my breathsheaving in my chest. “Like it was my accident all over again.” My therapist had helped me after it, but I wasn’t completely cured from the panic attacks.

“Baby.” The word was soft.

He picked me up, wrapping my legs around his chest as he walked us towards the shower.

“After my accident, I couldn’t get back on the ice. I kept having panic attacks any time I tried. And tonight, I just… I went back to that place.” If Sophia hadn’t been with me tonight, I wasn’t sure what would have happened.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, kissing the crown of my head. “I should have been there.”

We were outside the showers, and he stripped me out of my top—a Seals sweatshirt I’d stolen out of Owen’s closet—and then my heeled booties, followed by my jeans, until I was in just my underwear in front of him. They were a matching yellow set, delicate lace with little daisies on them.

“Fuck, this color,” he groaned. “It’s my favorite.”

I laughed. “I thought your favorite was blue?”

He looked me straight in the eyes. “It hasn’t been. Not in a long time.” His teeth brushed over the lace, pressing a kiss to the spot between my breasts. “Yellow always reminded me of you. When you left, I looked for it everywhere. It was like, even though you weren’t with me, you were.”

Owen pulled his shirt off, revealing that damn six pack that shouldn’t have been so damn hot, and the deep v that continued under his shorts. He kicked them off too, and then with every piece of clothing between us shed, he led us into the large shower room and flipped on the shower.

“My favorite color is light blue,” I admitted. “Because of you.”

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