The Right Move (Windy City, #2)

by Liz Tomforde

“Are you just pretending?” He pulls away, laughing deep and full. “I stopped pretending a long time ago, Ind.”

“You have no idea, Indy.” Another worshiping kiss on my covered stomach. “The power you have over me.”

“Say it again.” “What?” “My name. Say it again. I want to hear it while my tongue is buried inside of you. I want you to remember you’re mine. So, say my name again.”

He moans into me. “I fucking love kissing you.”

But after tonight, there’s no going back. I’m all in.

“I don’t want casual.” She quickly shakes her head. “I never have, not with you. I’m sorry I let you believe that. You’ve been like a flash of lightning straight to my heart and I’ve been done for ever since. It was confusing.”

“Please,” I plead, urging the condom into her hand. “Are you begging, Shay?” “Yes,” I laugh. “I’m fucking desperate for you, Blue.”

“Can you be that for me?” “I can be anything for you, baby.”

“I knew it,” I say breathlessly against her ear. “Knew what?” “That you were meant for me. Do you feel how perfectly we fit together?”

My entire body is draped on top of hers, needing her to hold me like the needy fucker I’ve quickly become, and I can’t help but smile, seeing her messy blonde hair contrasted against my black pillowcase.

“Mmm,” she hums, stirring awake. “You’re heavy.” “I don’t care.” I nuzzle my face back into the crook of her neck, wrapping my arms under her back. “Get off me.” She pretends to shove me. I hold her tighter. “Not a chance.”

“Maybe red, like your team colors.” “Or blue?” “Why blue? Red makes more sense than blue.” Turning my head, my lips brush the top of her hair. “Because blue is quickly becoming my favorite.”

“You have no idea how many times I’ve wanted you to kiss me over breakfast.” So I do just that, again and again until the veggie omelets I made are ready.

I interrupt her with a searing kiss before her innate need to tone herself down comes into play.

“Do you want me there?” “I want you there.” I want you everywhere. “Then I’ll be there.”

Slipping my foot between hers, I nudge her feet apart to find a new addition to her shoes. Right there, inside of the left ankle is an embroidered basketball with my number and a heart stitched into the center of it.

Oh my God. They're so cute.

“It’s okay, Ryan.” Her focus is back on Alex. “It means nothing.”

Oh no this POS

“You know, Indy. Ryan doesn’t strike me as the type of man to be loud. He might not say it, might not scream it from the rooftops, but I could bet good money that he says it without words every single day.”

“Sometimes the quietest love is the loudest,”

“Oh, Indy.” She places her hand on top of mine, the both of us watching Ryan and Sarah. “That man loves you. That right there is quiet love.”

With my hands bracketed on the sink, I lose it. Tears stream down my face from the overwhelming knowledge that I’ve gone twenty-seven years without being loved the way Ryan Shay loves me. And now I have the privilege to be loved so selflessly, so attentively.

How could he ever imagine I’d want to be with someone else after I’ve spent months being loved the way he loves me?

Indy, the romantic. She deserves the gesture. She deserves to be loved loudly. She deserves to be loved in any way she wants. And if I can be conceited for a moment, she deserves to be loved by me.

I will always deliver on my promises to her, even if she doesn’t want me in the same way I want her.

“I want you, Indy. I want us. I want our little life we’ve built even when we thought we were pretending. I want you in our house because you’ve made it a home. I want your mess and your chaos. I want your genuine smiles, the ones you wear when you’re around my sister, the hockey team, and me. I want you happy, and I want to be the reason you are. I want you to choose me.”

“If you would’ve answered a single one of my calls this week, I could’ve told you exactly what I told Alex. My home, my heart, all of it, is with you. There was never a moment of doubt for me, Ryan. The only reason you heard me crying on the phone after that conversation is because I finally felt free, and more than that, I felt clarity. I don’t want you to change. I don’t need you to shout from rooftops or show me off. I just need your quiet love because those moments are the loudest declarations I’ve ever heard. I want you for exactly who you are. I’m in love with you, Ryan Shay, and I don’t need the entire world to know that for it to be true.”

“I’m sorry someone let you believe you were hard to love, because, Blue, it’s the easiest thing I’ve ever done.” I shake my head. “God, I love you. I think in a way, I’ve loved you since our first breakfast together. You brought me back to life, Ind, and I will love you as long as you’ll let me.”

I love these two.

“Unfortunately, Indy’s old friends are your friends. You’ll be around, I get that. But if you ever, and I mean ever make her cry again, I will do everything in my power to make your life a living hell. My face will pop up everywhere you go. You will see me in your goddamn nightmares. I will make myself a daily reminder that you fumbled the best thing you’ll ever have in your fucking life. Got it?”

But let me make this clear, when it comes to her, I have no issue ruining my reputation. I will burn the world down to protect her and I’ll proudly wave the match, so everyone knows I’m the one who did it.”

“You know that jersey you’ve got with my last name on it? When you see it hanging there in your closet, let it serve as a reminder to you, that soon enough, it’ll be her last name too.”

Blue. Ind. Baby when we’re in bed. Mrs. Shay is another I’d like to add to the list in the future.

We’ve been video chatting once a week ever since, and they’ve both been teaching me.”

My GOD

I didn’t know the bar was on the floor until Ryan Shay walked into my life and quietly raised it to the fucking moon.

Taking me across the room, my back slams against the wall as his mouth slams onto mine. Frantic kisses, clashing teeth. I love controlling Ryan, but unhinged Ryan makes me weak.

“And the whole time, I’m going to give you everything you need because I love you.”

He pulls my hair, lifting my back to his chest. One arm wraps around my waist as his lips meet my ear. “I’m gone for you, Ind. I love you so fucking much.” Our parted lips meet. “I love you too, baby.” He whimpers at the name, forehead falling to mine.

“Ry, I’m heading to Michael’s.” Sitting on the couch with a book in his hands and his feet propped on the coffee table, Ryan stiffens before slowly lowering his book to his lap. “Say that again for me.” “I’m heading to Michael’s.” “And who the fuck is Michael?”

LOLOL

But I’m equally terrified that he’ll never want the things in life I ache for and seeing him like this tonight is nothing but a reminder that it wasn’t long ago he vocalized just how differently he viewed his future from the one I want.

“Is that a pregnancy test?” “Clearly, Ind. How long have you known?”

I bet its Stevies

I refuse to cry when he refuses to speak. I’m too angry to cry. Too mad at myself for falling in love with a man who made it clear he didn’t want the same things I did from the beginning.

“You don’t need to be scared, Ryan. I’m not pregnant. It’ll be a miracle if that ever happens so thank you for reminding me of that and thank you for reminding me that the last thing you want in life is the thing I desire most.” I exhale a humorless laugh. “We’ve never been on the same page, have we?”

OUCH

I’m trying to be understanding of his fears, but I refuse to spend my life convincing another man to want the same things I want.

“I know you’re mad at him but let me make this moment about me. Indy, that was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. Ryan freaking Shay was standing on my front porch asking to come inside and I said no. Stevie should truly step aside because if that doesn’t earn the title of best friend, I don’t know what does.”

Blue, I’m not great with words, so I’ll keep this short. I love you. I will love you as long as you'll allow me the privilege, and even longer after that. I have every intention to give you the life you want. I hope you’ll let me. You can even add this promise to the fridge when you get home. -Ryan

“I love you, Ryan. So much, but I can’t go back to that apartment right now when I know the second I walk through the door, I’ll forget about everything simply because being there with you makes me happy. I owe myself a moment to think clearly. This is the rest of my life. Yours too.”

“Promise me you’re not giving up on us.” “I’m not.”

Right after we went camping, when I first told him why I was saving money. Right before there was ever an “insurance benefit change.”

“I love this part of town,” Rio’s broker, Cindy, says as she continues to drive us thirty minutes outside of the city. “Real quiet. Good place to raise kids. Great school district.”

Guarantee its Ryans

“I didn’t realize how lonely I was until you. All this time, you were existing outside of those four walls of my apartment. Everything I’ve ever needed existed outside of that apartment. Then you came inside and brought me back to life and I refuse to go back to my world before you. I won’t go back to life before you, Ind.”

But baby, I want to be the one to make you feel how your favorite books do. I want to be the one to give you children to nurture and grow. When you think of me, the only emotion I want you to feel is unconditional, earth-shattering love. Because when I look at you, I see my entire future and I can’t stand to live in a world where you look at me and don’t see the same thing.”

Oh my God