Page 88 of Uniquely in Love

“Let me,” I murmured, treating each inch of her reverently. She was so soft, and I wanted her to feel taken care of. We’d never gotten a moment like this before, and I sure as hell wasn’t passing up on the opportunity now. Even if I had to ignore my rapidly hardening cock. I couldn’t help it—just touching her like this made me want her.

Running my fingers over her slit, I cleaned her delicately. While I hated she was no longer covered in my scent, I wanted her to know how precious she was. Because maybe, just maybe, if she saw how good this would be, she would stay.

After our shower,I wrapped Ellie in a warm, fluffy towel and dried her off, feeling satisfied at taking care of her. Once I’d finished washing her hair, she’d dropped to her knees and surprised me by wrapping her lips around the head of my cock. I’d come embarrassingly fast, but it was impossible to hold back with her mouth on me and the sight of her naked in my shower.

She stretched out her arms on my bed, looking cozy but well-sated. The towel was wrapped around her breasts, giving me just the slightest peek at the swells as she laid back. “Well, I definitely didn’t expect that when I fell asleep last night.”

I chuckled, rummaging through my drawers. My duffel bag was still on the floor from where I left it last night, and I needed to unpack and do a load of laundry, but that would have to wait for later. “I didn’t expect to find you in my bed.” My voice was rough, and I cleared it, turning back to her to find her watching me.

She did her best to look bashful. “I don’t regret it.”

“Neither do I,” I admitted. I could never regret her. Even if it ruined everything.

“Good.” Ellie hummed softly. “I missed you,” she said, her voice a low whisper.

Running my fingers through my still damp hair, I pulled out a t-shirt and a pair of boxers. “I wasn’t even gone a week.”

“No.” Ellie shook her head, like she knew I’d misunderstood her. “For the last few years, I missedyou.”

Missing her was an understatement. Dropping my towel, I pulled on the boxers before padding over to where she still lay, dark blonde strands still wet as she rolled onto her side in bed to watch me. “Well, you’re here now.” I kissed her cheek. “What do you think? Should we eat some breakfast?”

She hummed, stretching out like a cat, the towel slipping off her body, freeing those tits I’d had my mouth all over earlier. “Probably would be good. I should put some clothes on. Let me go grab something from my room?—”

“Here. Just wear mine.” I handed her the old Seals t-shirt I grabbed, watching as she wiggled it on over her frame. “Come on.” I stood up, holding out a hand to her. “Let’s get some food in you.”

“Owen.” She blushed. “You don’t have to?—”

Take care of her? “I do,” I insisted. Some part of me—whatever feral, caveman part it was—needed to feed her. To make sure she was taken care of. It was the same part of me that got hard just from seeing her wearing my t-shirt and knowing she’d slept in my bed. “We never got to do this before. Waking up together. Bathing in the afterglow. Let’s just enjoy this.” I pressed a kiss to her forehead.

Yeah, I was an idiot. The guys would certainly think so. But I couldn’t deny the part of me that had wanted her here always. That had jumped at the opportunity to have Ellie under the same roof as me. Knowing she was in the city was bad enough, but in my apartment? In my bed?

Maybe all along, I’d known this would happen. I hadn’t wanted to stop it. We were inevitable.Thiswas inevitable.

Ellie nodded. “But we need to talk.”

“We do.” I sighed, dropping a kiss to her cheek. “Later.”

I didn’t want to ruin it. There were so many things we needed to clear up. But we’d been open and honest with each other about this, hadn’t we? Maybe we could keep it like that. Because part of me knew that once she told me whatever she’d been holding back, everything would change. And from the worry in her eyes, maybe it wouldn’t be for the better.

Could we survive one more thing that would break us?

I interlaced our fingers together as I tugged her towards the kitchen. Lifting her up so she could sit on the counter, I pulled out the ingredients to make eggs and bacon. Normally I tried to stick to a pretty healthy diet during the season, carefully monitoring my intake of food to make sure I followed the nutrition plan the team nutritionist gave us, which was the main reason I wasn’t making pancakes right now.

“Mmm.” Ellie swung her legs as she watched me. “I never thought I’d see you cooking shirtless in the kitchen.”

“Well, get used to it,” I said, leaning over to press a kiss to her forehead. “Because I can’t think of a better way to start my Sunday morning than with you.”

With my girl.

Words I held back, because I needed to figure out where her head was at.

If she would stay.

TWENTY-EIGHT

Ellie

NOW

---