The Right Move

The second installment in the Windy City Series, a series of interconnected romance novels, follows Ryan Shay, the newly named captain of the Chicago Devils NBA team, and Indy Ivers, a flight attendant for the Chicago Raptors NHL team, as their forced cohabitation evolves from a fake relationship into genuine love.

Ryan is a 27-year-old point guard whose identity revolves entirely around basketball. He has sacrificed relationships and most of his twenties to become one of the league's best players, and his apartment reflects that single-mindedness: spotless, minimalistic, and devoid of warmth. The Devils' General Manager, Ron Morgan, is skeptical of Ryan's captaincy, calling him an unapproachable lone wolf who lacks the family-oriented qualities needed to lead.

Ryan's twin sister, Stevie, asks him to let her best friend move into his spare room. Indy recently caught her boyfriend of six years, Alex, cheating on her and lost her apartment. She cannot afford to live alone in Chicago, and leaving would mean giving up her recent promotion. Ryan fiercely guards his privacy but relents when Stevie explains that Indy was her first genuine friend in Chicago, someone who liked Stevie for herself rather than as a pathway to her famous brother.

Their personalities immediately clash. Indy is outgoing, emotional, and messy; Ryan is controlled, private, and obsessively organized. Their first night goes poorly when Ryan coldly tells Indy he doesn't want her there. She breaks down crying, and Ryan, unable to ignore her distress, tells her she is staying. The next morning, they negotiate a lease over breakfast: $500 a month in rent, no guests, and the arrangement is strictly temporary. They pin the handwritten agreement to the refrigerator.

The fake relationship begins when Ryan impulsively introduces Indy as his girlfriend to Ron, who has just criticized his leadership. Ron invites them to the team's fall banquet, trapping Ryan in the lie. He and Indy strike a deal: She will pose as his girlfriend at team events, and he will be her date to her friend Maggie's wedding, where Alex will be present. They create playful bucket lists for each other. Indy's challenges Ryan to learn casual physical affection, while his "Indy-pendent Woman 101" list pushes Indy to embrace independence.

At the banquet, Indy charms Ron and his wife Caroline while Ryan remains stiff. Ryan learns Indy was accepted to Dartmouth but stayed near Chicago for Alex, and that she holds an MBA but learned to downplay her intelligence to avoid threatening men. He tells her never to diminish herself, and their connection deepens as she admits Alex made her feel "not enough yet too much."

Ryan's feelings emerge through actions. He buys Indy a bed with lavender sheets, stocks vegetarian food, and makes her iced coffee each morning. Most significantly, he begins learning American Sign Language (ASL) through weekly video calls with Indy's parents, Abigale and Tim, so he can communicate directly with her deaf father, a gesture no one in Indy's life has ever made.

Intimacy escalates during an overnight glamping trip with the Morgans. Sharing a bed under the stars, Ryan reveals that his college girlfriend, Marissa, faked their relationship and became pregnant by another man to secure child support after Ryan was drafted first overall. Discovering the baby was not his sent him into a two-year depression. Indy shares that she is saving to freeze her eggs due to diminished ovarian reserve, a genetic condition inherited from her mother, and that Alex repeatedly delayed starting a family.

After a game, they encounter Alex outside the arena. Seeing Indy frozen, Ryan kisses her deeply, but afterward claims it was acting. The physical tension builds further when Indy, frustrated by months of being unable to orgasm due to intrusive memories of Alex's betrayal, goes on a date with someone else. Ryan drives to the bar, and back at the apartment, after an intense argument, he pins her against the wall and brings her to climax for the first time in eight months.

At a surprise engagement party for Stevie, thrown by Evan Zanders, Stevie's boyfriend and a Raptors player, Ryan and Indy dance all evening before their physical relationship escalates at home. Afterward, Ryan panics and retreats, overwhelmed by intimacy and his deep-seated trust issues. When Indy later falls ill, Ryan skips practice for the first time in his career to care for her. Ron tells him this balanced behavior is exactly what he wants in a captain.

A grade-one anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) sprain sidelines Ryan for a month. The injury devastates him, but the time transforms his leadership. Indy organizes a team dinner at their apartment, and Ryan begins mentoring rookie Leon Carson from the bench. He also tells Indy the full story of Marissa's betrayal and his depression. Overwhelmed, Indy misinterprets a comment about trust as directed at her and announces she will move out. Ryan chases her and declares she is the exception to every wall he has built. That night, they consummate their relationship, with Ryan ending years of celibacy and telling Indy he cannot do casual. She responds that she has never wanted casual either.

When Alex approaches Indy after a later game, Ryan spirals with insecurity during a road trip, avoiding her calls. At a game in Phoenix, Indy watches Ryan sign ASL with a deaf child during a pre-game event, a skill she did not know he had been learning. Caroline Morgan tells her that "sometimes the quietest love is the loudest," and Indy realizes Ryan has been loving her through actions all along.

At Maggie's wedding, Ryan arrives despite the uncertainty between them. He tells Indy he wants their life together, her mess, her chaos, her future. Indy says she loves him first, and Ryan responds that he has loved her since their first breakfast together.

Their greatest crisis comes when Ryan finds a positive pregnancy test in the apartment. Panicked by his trauma with Marissa, he nearly accuses Indy of doing it on purpose. Indy, who knows natural conception would be nearly miraculous for her, is devastated and leaves to stay with Rio, one of the Raptors players she is close to. Stevie reveals the test is hers. Ryan sleeps in his car outside Rio's house for days, and Indy discovers at her fertility clinic that Ryan secretly paid for all her treatments months earlier.

Rio's real estate broker drives Indy to a house outside Chicago where Ryan is waiting. He bought the house months ago and put her name on the deed, intending to fill its five bedrooms with their family. After several days to process, Indy furnishes the home and throws a celebration party for the Devils making the playoffs. Ryan signs fluently with Tim, who gives him a sign name combining the letter "R" with the sign for "protect." Ryan confesses the fake relationship to Ron, who laughs, reveals Caroline suspected all along, and assures Ryan he is not being traded.

An epilogue set four years later shows the Shay family at the United Center. Ryan is a two-time MVP and NBA champion. He and Indy have two toddlers: Iverson, conceived through embryo transfer, and Navy Renee, who arrived through adoption. The Ryan Shay Foundation, run by Indy, supports Chicago's public schools and youth. A bonus chapter depicts Ryan and Indy playing a private basketball game at the empty arena, where Indy surprises him with a positive pregnancy test after a successful embryo transfer.