Rewind It Back (Windy City, #5)

by Liz Tomforde

“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.”

“I wish you could see inside my head, Hal. You’d see the picture I’ve got painted of our future, and every part of it revolves around you, okay?”

“I’m leaving my truck for you to drive. It’s parked in the garage. Zee is picking me up.” “Thank you for that.” “I’m leaving my espresso maker for you too, if you feel like making yourself a latte.” “But my latte art will never be as good as yours.” “Well, at least you’re self-aware.”

All my best memories. He kept them. He listens to them still.

“Trust me, Hal. There’s not a world in which you’d need to use your manners to ask me to get off with you.”

“You always did enjoy going down on me.” Understatement of the fucking year. “Don’t be shy, Hallie. Say it how it is. I fucking loved eating your pussy, baby, and we both know it.”

“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.”

Exhaling, she giggles this sound that fills every empty crevice it can find. It burrows in my chest, making a home where she’s always been.

Hope is a dangerous thing, and I learned to stop hoping a while ago.

This is what’s been holding me back from giving us another shot. It’s not that I don’t want to open up to him about what the past six years have looked like for me, but I’m terrified that when Rio realizes the timeline, he won’t be able to forgive himself. I don’t want to hurt him, and this is going to.

What is he doing here? But also, can he get to me a little quicker?

“Are you okay?” he asks quietly, lips close to my ear. Apparently, that shock has translated into an inability to speak as well. “What do you need?” he continues, burrowing his face against the nape of my neck. This.

All I can do is hope that she wants me.

“I didn’t think of it like that. I mean, I’ve loved you since I was twelve. I thought that was another one of those unspoken things.”

I didn’t know being someone’s everything could be such a turn-on.

Because I’ve only ever wanted to be with you.

“I’m thinking that you should probably fuck me now. I’ve been awfully patient.”

Dear God, I’m obsessed with her.

“Good girl,” I praise when she doesn’t. Instead, she cries this sweet little sound that goes straight to my cock.

The noises coming out of this woman’s mouth are going to haunt me in my dreams in the best way possible.

Flushed cheeks and chest. Glistening pussy. Perfectly fucking wrecked.

“What are you smirking at?” he asks. “Just thinking about what a terrible time you had trying to get over me.”

“Then you got out of bed. I think you know by now I only sleep when you’re next to me.” “So honest today.” “Yeah, well I just got laid for the first time in six years, Hal. I’ll tell you anything you want to know as a thank you for fucking me.”

“Hallie,” Rio whispers, still dancing slowly with me in his kitchen. “Are we doing this? You and me. Because I’m all in.”

“All of us met our husbands after they were already playing in the pros,” Miller says. “How do you feel, getting to see his career form from the beginning to this point?” Still focused on him on the ice, I simply say, “Proud.”

It’s not like Hallie is asking me to choose between them. Shit, she doesn’t even know how bad it’s been between me and my mom lately. But if there ever comes a time that I need to choose which relationship to keep safe, I won’t make the same mistake twice.

I’ll choose Hallie every time.

“Fine.” I take a long swig of my drink. “I get that you feel prideful when it comes to money, especially towards me. But we aren’t on opposite teams anymore, baby, so put down the armor.”

“Because I should’ve been there, Hallie. I should’ve been there to take care of it then, so I’m taking care of it now. And I need you to let me.”

“Mm-hmm. I’ll make you come if you quit your job.”

“Give me what I want, Hallie, and I’ll return the favor.”

Sometimes we’re sweet together in bed, but sometimes the vibe calls for something different. Right now, it feels like the latter. Like she doesn’t necessarily want me to be soft and sweet.

It’s fucking mesmerizing, the way she takes me, the way she meets me, the way she fucking cries my name.

“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.

“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 brush her hair behind her ear. “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.”

“Our home.” Sliding my palms up her thighs, I pull her tighter against me. “I thought you would’ve realized it the first time you came over. Hallie, the irony of hiring you to design the house is that you’re the person I bought it for.”

“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?”