Rewind It Back (Windy City, #5)

by Liz Tomforde

But if I want to get all honest with myself, the idea of trying to get to know someone again sounds terrifying, and maybe that’s partly why I’ve busied myself so much over the years—as an excuse to avoid it.

“Hallie?” from the floor. I whisper right back. “Yeah?” “Did you like Kevin back?” “No. Not like that.” There’s another long pause. “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.”

don’t ask for clarification and instead, decide to overthink that single sentence for the rest of my life.

Well, that is until my thirteenth birthday when he fell asleep on my bedroom floor as we listened to music, and he realized he could sleep just fine there. I started keeping my window unlocked after that, and he started sneaking in to sleep on the ground by my bed when he couldn’t find rest on his own.

I’ve only ever been one way with you, and now I’m having to constantly remind myself that we aren’t those people anymore.”

“It needs some work, by the way. You trying to be a dick. Lacks consistency.”

“Are you sure you’re ready for this meeting? Do you want to, I don’t know, put a shirt on?” His playful smirk lifts way too fast. “Nothing you haven’t seen before, Hart.” “Please stop talking.” “You were the one looking.”

“Do you need me to take care of this guy for you, Hal?” All I see is red. “What did you call her?” “Rio, don’t.” I keep my focus on him. “No. What the fuck did you call her?” Hallie steps away and out of his touch, but the guy extends his arm, keeping his palm pressed to her lower back. “Get your hands off her.” He doesn’t listen to me. This time, he slides his hand over her hip, and I swear to God, if there wasn’t a bar top in my way and if I wouldn’t end up on the news for it, I’d punch him square in the face for thinking he could touch her like that. “Do we have a problem here?” he continues. “Should I call the cops?” “Oh, get so fucked right now.”

“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.

I wet my lips, leaning in awfully close. “You sure look good in my shirt for not being mine.” “Get fucked, DeLuca.” I smile as I open the door. “Would love to. You just let me know when and where, Hart.”

Hallie rolls over, lying on her stomach so she can look down at me. “This was a last-minute addition,” she admits quietly. “And what happened that was so important when you heard it?” I already know the answer, but I want to hear her say it. She smiles down at me softly. “It was the first time I realized that you may feel the same way about me as I’ve always felt about you.” It may be her birthday, but I swear, with that single sentence, she just made all my wishes come true.

“Just in case you need a little push with that too. This sixteen and never been kissed thing is feeling a little cliché.”

“Because I’m going to kiss you and when we listen to next year’s playlist, I want this song to be on there so we can rewind it back however many times we want to and remember this.” Her smile blooms, and her arms wrap around my neck. “I was hoping you were going to say that.”

I slip my hand into her long hair, pull her down to meet me, and press my own smiling lips to hers. It’s messy and mistimed, and yeah, I think I hit her teeth at one point, but it’s also so fucking perfect. And eventually, with a little practice, we figure it out together.

“No jersey?” I ask, nodding towards her colorful sweater. “Not until you tell me why you changed your number.” She lets that statement hang to see if I take the bait, but I don’t. “And besides, you’ve got plenty of other people wearing your jersey in here.” I hold eye contact. “Kind of only care about one.”

The classic battle of the head versus the heart. Today, the non-logical heart wins when I wrap a fist around the front of his shirt to pull him down, at the same time lifting to my toes, pressing a quick kiss to the corner of his mouth. It’s a bit unpolished and almost a miss, my lips barely brushing against his. Reminiscent of our very first kiss, I suppose. Just enough to tell him that I want this. Pulling back, I catch his eyes and they’re dark and hungry and hooded. His attention moves back to my mouth, once again asking the question, “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.” With that declaration, he grips the side of my neck and slams his mouth onto mine.

And as far as he sounds… God, the pleading noises coming from this man’s throat right now alone could cause me to come undone.

“Please don’t stop,” he says, but it almost comes out as a whimper. “Fuck, I missed the way you touch me.”

And just like that, I remember I’m kissing the man I’m still heartbroken over. He must sense a change in me because he slows things down, or maybe I do, I don’t know. The kiss becomes softer and more tender, almost a bit apologetic.

“Well, you are the client. Whatever you say goes. I’m here to give excellent customer service.” I lift an interested brow. “Not that kind of service. Get your mind out of the gutter, DeLuca.”

“I don’t want to want you.” “Yeah, baby.” He nudges his nose against mine. “That makes two of us.”

“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.”

“I understand why you’re hesitant or uninterested,” he whispers. “I’m not going to push you to want me. But I am going to be here, waiting, if you ever decide you want to try again. I’m not going anywhere this time.”

“Hallie baby, be a good girl and come for me. Please. I need it. I need to hear how unreal you sound when you come. Fuck, I remember how pretty you are when you let go. You’re doing so good. Please. If you come, it’ll make me come.”

“I missed you, Rio.” Closing my eyes again, I let that sink in too. I allow those words to replay on a loop. “I feel like I’m still missing you, Hal.”

“I’ve never had anyone here before,” I say, hidden against his chest. “I’m just emotional over it, I guess.” Rio’s hand halts along my spine. “You should’ve had me.”

“I need you to take care of her,” he continues. “Because she’s spent so many years taking care of me, but I couldn’t do the same for her. I don’t know that I’d still be here if it weren’t for the sacrifices she made for me.”

Hallie, you’re in here.” I tap my chest. “Regardless of the years we spent apart, you’re still in here.” She’s trying to hold back her smile, which seems like a good sign. “Are you sure that’s not just a first-love thing?” “No, baby. It’s a last-love thing.”

“Because it’s always been us.” With his knuckle, he tilts my chin up so I look at him. “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 want to start our lives now,” I continue. “I want to buy us a house. One that’s all ours. I want you to be at every one of my home games. And though I’m glad I get to see you once a month now, I spend all the days in between waiting for these ones. I don’t want to be away from you anymore.” “And if I’m not ready to go with you now?” “Then I’ll still buy you a house and it’ll be waiting for you.” I run my fingers through her hair. “And so will I.”

Rio jogs out the front before either of us can say anything else. I look at my coworker. “I can tell him to stop calling you that, you know.” Carson lifts a brow. “Um no…have you seen him? Don’t tell my boyfriend, but yours can call me anything he wants.” “Back off,” I tease, clocking out on the computer before I say a few quick goodbyes.

“And,” Rio continues, “I wasn’t sure what you’d want to wear with it, so I kind of raided your closet and brought you a bunch of options.” He opens the back door and right there on the bench seat is what looks like half my closet. “I thought I’d know what you’d want to wear, but then I got in your closet and realized you have way cooler style than me, so I brought a bit of everything. Apologies for how annoying this is going to be for you to put back later, but I got nervous.” The way this man knows me.

“So,” I begin. “Girlfriend, huh?” “Oh, I’m sorry. Do you think we should take a couple more decades to get to know each other before I start calling you that?”

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. Too many people sitting in the section below us turn over their shoulders to see who he’s pointing at. My cheeks are most likely flaming right now as I shake my head at him, but I also can’t fight the stupidly giddy smile on my lips. This man has no shame, acting like a love-sick idiot on the ice with twenty thousand fans watching him. But I’m a love-sick idiot too, so I somewhat discreetly make the same heart, our heart, with my hands for him to see. That smile on his lips only grows before he skates back to the bench, grabs his gloves and helmet, and refocuses on warming up. “That boy is so in love with you,” Indy states. Spoken or unspoken, I feel the exact same way.

“Let me think about it.” “Fine.” I kiss her again. “So would now be a good time to also tell you that I bought you a car?” She freezes, her lips still on mine, before she pulls back to look at me. “Rio!” “Hallie!” Her eyes narrow. “Stop trying to be cute right now.” “I’m not trying. It just comes naturally to me.” “Well, then…” That smile she was trying to fight breaks free. “Stop being naturally cute.”

“Thank you for giving me the chance to do this,” she says quietly. “You basically let me design my dream home.” This is her dream home, and that’s the whole fucking point. I don’t know how she hasn’t put the pieces together yet, but that’s the final and most important reason why I won’t sell. Six years ago, even after things fell apart between us, I bought this house for her. It’s everything she told me she wanted, and there was a part of me that hoped if both it and I were here waiting for her, she’d somehow find her way home.

I want to rewind all of it, Hallie. I want to remember everything. You made sure we could remember our first years together, so I made sure we would remember this one.”

“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.”

And I…well, I found love because it was always out there, waiting for me, even when I questioned its existence. In fact, I found it right next door—where it had always been. I feel so incredibly blessed that I get to go through life with these nine people. Besides Indy, we’re all a bunch of transplants from other places who found a home in the windy city…and with each other. I’ll speak for all ten of us when I say, there’s nowhere else we’d rather be.