Page 52 of Uniquely in Love

NOW

Having Ellie here in my space was a terrible idea.

For one, because we were trying thisfriendsthing, and it was so hard not to touch her. Ever since I’d walked into her apartment to find her crying, that shitty apartment flooded, I’d been fighting my need to go tell the landlord what was up. Especially considering how long it took him to get the standing water out of there.

A lot of her stuff had been soaked, but I thought we could save most of it—at least, the stuff that wasn’t on the floor. Some of it had gotten tossed immediately. After I’d gotten everything carried up to my apartment, we’d started the first load of laundry, trying to get any clothes that were wet in so she’d have stuff to wear tomorrow. It was mostly her bottom drawers of the dresser and what was at the bottom of the closet, but still.

If I’d have known she was moving here, I never would have let her rent an apartment there. It already wasn’t in a great area of town, and to make matters worse, it hadn’t been kept up very well. There was probably a reason the rent had been cheap enough that she could afford it.

But the icing on the cake for all of it was Ellie telling me Icould have women over and she’d go elsewhere. Didn’t she know there was no one else? That I didn’t want anyone else? That had always been the problem. I scoffed at myself, trying to remember when I’d told myself I’d moved on.Moved on my ass.The guys were right. And I hated it.

Would there ever be a day when I didn’t want her?Probably not.

Ellie yawned, stretching her arms over her head as she stood from the kitchen island. “I should probably get to sleep. Today was a lot.”

Wasn’t that the understatement of the century?

I nodded. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

Her lips titled up into a sad smile. “I will be. I can’t thank you enough for letting me stay here.”

“Least I could do,” I reassured her. For her? I’d do anything. That was how it had always been. “I can throw your laundry in the dryer for you, if you want.”

“Oh.” She blushed. “You don’t have to do that.”

I raised an eyebrow. “It’s no problem, really, El. I know it’s been a long day. Let me help.”

What, did she think I was going to freak out about seeing her underwear? As if I hadn’t been there when she loaded all of her belongings up. Sure, maybe she’d snuck some of those boxes into her car without me seeing, but… It was nothing I hadn’t seen before.

“You’ve already helped so much,” Ellie whispered. “I just feel like there’s no way I could ever repay you for this.”

“Well, that’s the good thing about being friends, isn’t it? You don’t have to.”

“Owen…”

“Night, Skater Girl. Get some rest. The home opener tomorrow is going to be fun, I promise.”

She nodded. “Night, Hockey Boy.”

Then she quickly disappeared into my guest bedroom, leaving me confused, with my emotions all over the place. Noone else had slept in that room besides my parents or my sister when they came into town, but I had to admit… I’d enjoyed having Ellie here tonight.

Even if it was the dumbest decision I’d made in a while, because I couldn’t have her.

How long would I be able to keep being her friend before I broke? I had no idea. But I had to try.

The energyin the arena wasincredible,and we hadn’t even stepped foot on the ice yet. You could feel it, even in the locker room. We were all pumped.

Now that training camp was over and all the guys had been sent back to our AHL affiliate team or dismissed, we were back to having our normal number of guys on the team. There were some fresh faces, thanks to trades and free agents we’d picked up, but we had a strong line-up this year—maybe we’d stand a chance to win the cup.

And damn, there was just something that felt different about this season. Maybe part of it had to do with the fact that Ellie was here. When I’d come back from morning skate, I’d found her sitting on the couch, cross-legged with a pile of books in front of her. What was she doing? Working on lesson plans.

It was a-fucking-dorable. She chewed on the end of an eraser and I watched her for a few minutes until she noticed me. Then her cheeks turned my favorite hue of pink. God damn, but I shouldn’t find her so cute.

Not when her being in my apartment was going to drive me insane.You can look, but you can’t touch,I reminded myself. We’d dated for a long time in high school without ever having sex. My hand would have to suffice.

God knows it had for the last five years.

My teammates had no idea that I’d only ever slept with one woman. Most of them probably thought the same thing as the media: that I waswiththe women who went with me to events, the ones hired to stand by my side and smile for the cameras. None of them had been anything more than a one-off here or there. I wasn’t interested in dating. Honestly, I hadn’t felt a connection with any of the women I’d met. Not since—well, I wouldn’t let myself go there. It was in the past.

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