Page 47 of Uniquely in Love

I nodded. “He got the water turned off, and then he’s going to come back and get it all pumped out of here. But I have no idea how long it will be till this place is livable again. What am I going to do, Owen?”

“Have you called your parents yet?”

I shook my head. “No. Because I know they’re going to be so supportive and offer to rent me a place, and I just…” My shoulders drooped with defeat. “I love them. They’re the best parents ever. But I wanted to do this myself.”

Owen rubbed his jawline, and I took a moment to appreciate all six-foot-three of him standing in the middle of my water-logged apartment. He made the space feel smaller, if that was even possible. Somehow, he was just larger than life.

“What if…” He trailed off. “Hear me out before you say no.”

Nodding, I ignored the churn of nerves in my stomach at whatever he was going to say.

“You can move in with me.”

There it was. “What?” I shook my head. “I can’t possibly…”

“Sure you can. Move in with me. At least until this place is fixed. I have a giant apartment, and there’s way more space than I need for myself. Plus, I’m not even there half the time with my travel schedule during the season. I have an empty guest bedroom. It’s yours.”

I bit my lip. “Owen. I can’t move in with you.”

“Why not?”

“There’s all this history between us. We didn’t work.”I broke your heart.“Besides, what would our families think?” That we were getting back together. I saw the hope in Penelope’s eyes when Owen and I walked in together at the party. But we weren’t.

“We’re friends now, right? We can make it work. Be…” He cleared his throat. “Platonic. Whatever you need.”

First, I needed to get my stuff out of here. I needed to not be standing in nasty water. And then I needed food before I made a decision about living with my ex-boyfriend.

“I need to get my stuff out of here. Do you think you can help?”

He didn’t even hesitate. “Of course. I’m always here for you, El.”

Less than two hours later,I’d gotten all of my stuff out of the one-bedroom apartment. I’d only had to toss a few things that were ruined from the water, and with his help, it had been easy to load everything into plastic bins and carry it out. My landlord started pumping out the standing water when we were halfway done, and I cringed to think of what would have happened if I wasn’t in a first floor unit. Especially when I had no idea when the damn pipe had burst today, and that water had probably been sitting for hours.

Either way, I wouldn’t miss the apartment. He told me he’d let me know when it was repaired and I could move back in, but that it would probably take a few months as the city was short on contractors. I wasn’t holding my breath.

“What now?” Owen stood, leaning against his car. We’d loaded up both, and he had all of my bedding and everything that needed to be washed ASAP.

Maybe a few nights at his place wouldn’t hurt.

“Okay,” I said, nodding to myself.

“Okay, what?”

“Okay, I’ll move in with you.”

The tightness in his body dissipated quickly. “Thank fuck. I don’t like you living here.” His voice was almost a growl.

“It’ll just be for a few nights,” I reassured him. “And then I’ll find a place and get out of your hair.”

“Sure. If that’s what you want.”

“Butwe need to have rules.” We would have to follow them to make this work. He nodded. I held up a finger. “No sleeping together. We’re friends. That means we can’t complicate things with sex.”

Owen’s eyes heated, and I wondered if he was thinking the same thing I was. How good it had been. But that would complicate things. Especially if we were going to be roommates.

“Should we go home then?” He asked, nodding at the two cars. “And then I can feed you dinner.”

That sounded perfect. “Yeah. Okay. I should probably get all the wet stuff in the laundry, too.”

---