Rewind It Back (Windy City, #5)(69)

Hallie can call this a work meeting all she wants, but I’ll call it as it is. It’s a date. A chance to see if this thing could be real again.

Hallie adjusts the big bag on her shoulder, and when she does, I spot the sample booklets, notebooks, and laptop inside.

I slide it off her arm to carry it myself.

“Are you sure?” she asks.

“I made up some bullshit excuse about needing to make decisions in person, just so I could take you to dinner without having to wait two weeks to see you. The least I can do is carry all the stuff I made you bring.”

“I knew it.” Shaking her head at me, she bites back her smile. “This isn’t a date, you know.”

“Oh God, no. It’s a work meeting, Hallie. Focus, please.”

Together we start towards the exit, but I stop short of the door.

A nice restaurant is exactly the kind of place I’d plan to have a first date with anyone else. But this isn’t our first date and if I want it to feel like a date at all, it should replicate the ones we used to have. When neither of us had money and the only place we could spend time together privately was in each other’s bedrooms.

I slip my hand in hers to stop her from getting any further. “What do you say we forget about the reservation? We could change into sweatpants and order room service for dinner while we look at your design plans.”

A smile ticks on her lips. “That sounds a little more up our alley.”

My stomach flips at the casual use of our.

“You’re in the city for only one night,” I remind her. “Are you sure you’re cool staying in?”

“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.”

“You put it there.” Keeping her hand in mine, I walk us back to the elevator, and I keep holding it even after I press the button and wait. “Try to remember that this is a work meeting, Hart. I don’t need you ogling me in my sweatpants the way you’re checking me out in this suit.”

The elevator doors open and a few of my teammates spill out.

Hallie instantly slips her hand out of my grasp and takes a step back, partially hiding behind me.

“Hey, Rio,” one of them says. “Are you coming out with us tonight?”

“Not tonight. I’m hanging out with—” I move out of the way, about to say Hallie’s name when our rookie interrupts.

“Hey, it’s the bartender!”

Huh?

“What are you doing here?” he continues.

Hallie’s face has never been more flushed than it is right now. Her smile is weak, and her eyes are downcast with embarrassment.

It’s absolutely wild to me that these guys, who I spend every day with, only know this woman, the same one who has consumed all my brain space for the majority of my life, as the bartender who pours their drinks.

An overwhelming surge of protectiveness surfaces. “You do know she has a name, right?”

Zanders comes out of nowhere and smacks him on the back of the head for me. “What if people only referred to you by your job title? Show a little respect, Rookie.”

He rubs his head. “You do call me by my job title.”

“Well, maybe we should be a little more precise and start calling you the winger who can’t win a face-off to save his life.” Wrapping my arm around Hallie’s lower back, I settle my hand on her hip, pulling her into me and not allowing her to hide. “This is Hallie. We grew up together back in Boston. She’s renovating the house you guys spend all your time at, so you can thank her for that. And yes, she also happens to bartend.”

“Hey, Hallie,” Zanders says, stepping up to give her a hug. “You two headed to dinner?”

She hugs him back. “Staying in, actually.”

“Wait,” the rookie cuts in again. “You’re the one redoing his house? Does that mean I can make a request?”

I roll my eyes. “No—”

“Because if we could have a few more TVs in the living room, that’d be great. Imagine a whole wall of screens! We would have the best Xbox setup. We would probably end up moving in there because we wouldn’t want to leave.”

“And that’s exactly why she’s not going to do that. The hockey frat house is growing up and going away. Maybe your place could be the new hangout spot, Rook.”

His eyes go big and bright.

I press my hand against Hallie’s lower back when the elevator opens and empties again. “We’re going.”

“What’s your name?” Hallie asks our rookie as she steps into the elevator with me.

“Mason.”

“Nice to officially meet you, Mason.”

He smiles at her with fucking hearts in his eyes. “Bye, Hallie. See you at your work soon, okay?”

I’m shaking my head as the doors close. Hallie presses the button for her floor, and I realize it’s the same as mine.

“See? There’s no need to be embarrassed around my teammates. They’re normal people. Well . . . sort of. If anything, Rookie should be the one embarrassed, thinking he has a shot in hell with you.”

She’s staring straight ahead, chin tipped up. “And who says he doesn’t?”