The Right Move (Windy City, #2)

by Liz Tomforde

“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.”

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.”

“Why are you learning sign?” I’m fairly certain I know the reason, but I want to hear him say it. “Because they’re your family and you’re mine, and the fact you even have to ask is mind-blowing to me. Learning to communicate with your family is the bare minimum, Ind.” I guess it is, but 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. “And because I love you and when I tell your dad that, I’ll be the one to say it.”

Ryan’s stunning smile sparkles. “Read with me?” “God.” My head falls back. “Talk dirty to me, why don’t you.”

“Why do you like reading fiction so much?” he asks without a hint of judgment. “How else would you get to live a thousand lives in the span of only one? The beauty of fiction is that it makes you feel things on a visceral level. You can cry with those characters, laugh with them. It teaches you to look at another’s perspective, to have empathy. In nonfiction, you simply learn about something instead of feeling it.”

“This is practically a how-to manual on how to please a woman. How are more men not reading these?”

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

This family I’ve created over the last year and a half is new in my life but holds a weight far more significant than the friends I kept for an entire lifetime.

“Speaking of Ryan Shay,” Rio begins again. “There’s a basketball player sleeping in my driveway who's worth more money than I’ll ever see in my lifetime.” “He came back?” “He never left. The guy slept in his car, and honestly, if I were into dudes that right there would have me folding.”

“I don’t want a life without you either, Ryan, but sometimes it’s not as simple as that. Life isn’t black and white.” “You don’t think I know that? I haven’t seen black and white since the second you walked into my apartment. Now it’s pink-painted toes, purple clothes, green plants, and those goddamn yellow curtains.” He shakes his head. “And so much fucking Blue. All I see is Blue.” Translation: All I see is you.

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.”

“I bought us this house back in January.” Flipping to the last page of what I realize now is the deed, he points to the final line. “And if you don’t believe me, your name is right there.” It is. He put my name right along his on the title of the house with a date in January. Only days after his knee injury. “I’ve always known, Ind. I’ve wanted everything you want ever since you walked into my world and reminded me of who I am.

“Ryan.” He turns to face me. “Why did you pay for my fertility treatments? I didn’t want anyone paying for that.” “No, you didn’t want your parents paying for that. You said you felt uncomfortable for someone else paying for you to start a family. Well, it’s going to be my family too, so I don’t count.” “But that was back in December. Even then?” He knew even then? “Even then.”

But later tonight, I’ll hopefully be the one saying thank you right after I ask for his blessing to marry his daughter. It was the first question I learned to sign, so you could say I’ve been practicing it for a while.

“Oh, and by the way,” I call out. “Tay told everyone you’re scoring a hundred points tonight, so it might be kind of embarrassing if you don’t follow through on that.”