Page 38 of Uniquely in Love

“Yeah.” I remembered.

“Don’t you miss that?”

I blinked. “Of course I do. But we can’t just close our eyes and magically be back where we were half a decade ago. We barely even know each other anymore.”

Except I knew himintimately. Because a few months ago, I’d had him on top of me. And underneath me. And it was unfortunate that we hadn’t made it to the shower, because I was pretty sure that would have been even better. My cheeks heated at the thought of him pinning me against a tile wall, thrusting roughly into me as his lips captured a nipple.

I sucked in a breath. That was definitely not friend-like. And if Owen wanted to be friends, well…

“Okay. Let’s be friends, then.”

Owen flashed me a grin. One that felt like his normal,signature smile, but it lacked some of the usual warmth. He stuck his hand out across the table, like he wanted me to shake his. “Friends,” he said.

“Friends.”

With a little dip of his head, he drained the rest of the beer in his glass. I followed suit with mine, trying to ignore the awkward tension between us. It had never been weird between us before, and Ihatedit.

There were so many things I wanted to ask, but I couldn’t make my mouth work. They were all too intimate, too personal. Things a friend wouldn’t ask. He was my first love, but now we were basically strangers.

“So, do you guys come here often?” I watched out of the corner of my eye as players I recognized from the game flirted with some girls at the bar.

He nodded. “It might seem strange, but people don’t really bother us here. They know we come here often after the games, so usually we just get to hang out. It’s refreshing. Like I can pretend I’m not some famous athlete with a handful of endorsements and a contract worth more money than I will ever know what to do with.”

“That doesn’t seem strange at all. It’s like your safe space.” We had those, too, when we were younger.

Owen looked down at his empty glass. “Yeah. Exactly.”

Two giant brunette hockey players—I assumed, because they both had to be over six feet fall and had thatlook—stood over us. I blinked, almost seeing double. I was pretty sure they were the Hendrix brothers, but I didn’t pay attention to most of the guys on Owen’s team like I did to him.

“Um, hi?” I asked, sucking more of my drink up my straw.

“Hey.” One of the two grinned at me, showing off a set of pearly white teeth. He didn’t appear to be missing any, which surprised me, considering the track record of most hockey players. “We had to come over and check out Owen’s girl.”

“Oh.” I blushed. “I’m not?—”

The two of them slid in next to us. So much for our moment alone.

“This is Ellie,” Owen said. “We grew up together. Our moms are best friends.”

“So you got to see this one in his peewee days, eh?” The guy sitting next to Owen elbowed him. “Where are my manners? I’m Brooks. Harps here is my D-man partner.”

“Maverick,” his brother added, grinning like a fool. “Also known as the better looking Hendrix brother.”

I squinted. They had similar facial shapes and coloring, though I didn’t particularly find either of them more attractive. Probably because the man I found most attractive was sitting across from me.

“You’re on the first line, aren’t you?” I asked the man sitting next to me.

“Sure am.” Maverick puffed out his chest. “Did you see the goal I scored tonight?”

I nodded. “Yeah. I did.” I’d mostly been watching Owen, who had gotten the assist for the goal. He’d kissed his forearm after his teammate had scored, and I wondered when that tradition had started. He’d never done that when we were younger.

“So tell us about little Owen,” Brooks encouraged me. “We want to hear more about this guy when he was younger.”

“We used to spend a lot of time at the rink together,” Owen said, his gaze holding mine. Did he not want them to know we’d dated? Was he… embarrassed by me? “Ellie was a figure skater.”

“Oh, you skate too, blondie? We’ll have to get you on the ice sometime with us.”

I dipped my head. “Well, I did. I haven’t stepped foot on the ice in a long time.”

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