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“Dairy.” I take another bite of my steak. “It fucks me right up. Sometimes I take a pill beforehand and sometimes I just raw-dog it and deal with the consequences.”
“Well, maybe that was the first time you were told, but I know for a fact it wasn’t the first time someone liked you.”
“If this were your house, what would you do?” The answer sticks in my throat. Because there was a time I thought I would be designing our house.
“Get your hands off her.”
“Don’t let him call you that,” I say quietly. “He doesn’t fucking know you.” She lifts a brow. “And you think you still do?” “Yeah, Hal. I still know you. And you still know me. Better than anyone.”
“Yeah, well you’re not his, so tell him to keep his hands to himself too.” Her eyes drop to my mouth. “I’m not yours either.” We’ll see.
“You sure look good in my shirt for not being mine.”
“And besides, you’ve got plenty of other people wearing your jersey in here.” I hold eye contact. “Kind of only care about one.”
“You single, Hal?” I finally give him the long-awaited answer, nodding to tell him yes. “Good.” He takes a slow predatorial step towards me, tone sharp and leaving no room for question. “Because we aren’t fucking friends.”
“I’m not going to bite, Hal. Well, unless you ask me to.”
“I missed you,” I admit in a breathy whisper, close to his ear. He drops his head to my chest, pausing his movements before he cups my face and leans up to kiss me again. Slowly. Deeply. Desperately. “Say it again,” he pleads. My lips turn up in a smile against his. “I missed you.”
“You know I don’t work that way. I can’t do one without the other.”
“Are you out of your mind? Just because I need you to be mine before I fuck you doesn’t mean I don’t want to cuddle.”
“Hallie, baby,” he whispers. “I’ve got you.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
“It’s always been you, Hallie.”
Hallie, you’re in here.” I tap my chest. “Regardless of the years we spent apart, you’re still in here.”
“Are you sure that’s not just a first-love thing?” “No, baby. It’s a last-love thing.”
“It’s always been you, Hallie, and I think we both know it.”
“Are you done?” “I’m done.” “Then you should probably kiss me now. We already lost six years. I don’t feel like wasting any more time.”
“Rio.” Her eyes bounce between mine. “You should know. It’s always been you too.”
“Because it’s always been us.”
“Even when I thought I didn’t want it to be, I knew it was us. I sat there getting this permanently inked onto my skin, trying to convince myself I was only getting it as a reminder that love existed when the whole fucking time, I knew it only existed with you.”
I was his first and I fully plan on being his last.
“I missed you so much.”
“You’re everything to me, Hallie. I’ve been addicted to you since I was a kid, and clearly nothing has changed. I don’t want to be without you again.”
My perfect fucking girl. She’s always been my perfect girl.
“Are we doing this? You and me. Because I’m all in.”
“I’m all in too. It’s you and me.”
“But what do you want?” she asks. “You,” I answer quickly. “I just want you.” “But you already have me.” “Then I’m happy.” “I’m happy too.”
“But you’re not just a part of my life. You’re the center of it. So, if something isn’t fitting around us, that piece needs to change, not you.”
Yes, Hallie Hart, you are my girlfriend. Though, you should know, there’s a good chance I’ll be changing both that title and that last name one day.”
Rio lifts his stick in the air, pointing it in my direction, then tucks it under his arm to form his hands into a heart. And I don’t miss the way he lets one thumb overlap past the other to create a little extra piece, not letting it connect where it should.
“Always only you, Rio.”
“You like that you’re permanently under my skin.” “I love it. It feels like you’re branded and mine.” “That’s because I am.”
I’m completely and undeniably hers.
He’s been wearing my birthdate on his jersey for six years and I had no idea.
“So, you like really like me, huh?” I tease quietly for only him to hear. “I think we both know it’s a little deeper than that, even if we’re still pretending it’s one of those unspoken things.”
“I thought it was another one of those unspoken things.” Reaching up, she wraps her arms around my neck. “But it shouldn’t be. It should be said as much as possible. Because I love you, Rio. I have loved you since we were children, and I will love you until we’re old and gray. But if you didn’t already know that, then I’ve been doing something wrong.”
“I know you love me, baby, and you know I love you. I haven’t stopped loving you.”
Spoken or unspoken, I’ve always loved you.”
“Rio, playing for Boston is your childhood dream.” I shake my head. “You’re my childhood dream.”
“Some dreams have changed, but others have remained the same.”
“I love the city we live in. I love my team. I love my friends. And I love you. We lost six years, Hallie, and I’m not missing another day of you again.”
“Playing for Chicago feels like I’m playing for my hometown because it is my home now. You’re my home. Being loved by you for the rest of my life is the only dream of mine that’s never wavered. There’s no doubt in my mind that I’m already exactly where I want to be.”
Hallie, the irony of hiring you to design the house is that you’re the person I bought it for.”
“I remember everything about us.”
“The house has always been yours, Hallie. Ours. It was just waiting for you to come make it a home.”
“How lucky am I to have been loved by you for fifteen years now?” “What do you say we get to work on making that number so high we start losing track?”
“Our kitchen, you mean.”
