Mile High (Windy City, #1)

Stevie Shay complains to her new coworker, Indy Ivers, about her confrontation with Zanders. Indy observes that Zanders is attractive. Stevie did notice his nice physique but has promised herself not to get involved with athletes again. Her twin brother, Ryan Shay, is a professional basketball player, and she used to date his best friend, Brett. Stevie and Indy’s conversation turns to hockey, and the two new friends admit that they know nothing about the sport. Then Zanders starts walking down the aisle toward them. Stevie notices how attractive he is, but she tells herself that he would never be interested in her. He asks Stevie for a sparkling water, and Stevie tells him where to find them in the cooler. He refuses to get it himself and demands that she do it for him. Stevie doesn’t want to back down, but she relents and gets him the water so as not to jeopardize her job.

In her hotel room, Stevie changes out of her uniform and into sweats. She lies in bed and texts Ryan. He plays for the Chicago Devils and has a game that night, which she promises to watch. She opens her Tinder app and matches with a few people. Stevie doesn’t like her body and prefers to have sex with people she doesn’t know. Suddenly, her coworker Tara knocks on her door and warns her against getting involved with the hockey players, insisting that Stevie could lose her job if she does. She also tells Stevie to wear a bigger uniform, claiming that Stevie’s current uniform is too tight.

After Tara leaves, Stevie deletes her Tinder app, changes into leggings and a flannel, and goes to a local bar. She orders a beer and burger and asks the bartender to turn on the Devils game. Meanwhile, she thinks about Tara’s comments. Her mom has always made her feel bad about her weight because they have different body types. Their relationship is also tense because Stevie resisted her mother’s wishes that she participate in a debutante ball and join a sorority. Stevie grew up in Tennessee, and her mom, a stereotypical Southern belle, is white, while Stevie’s dad is Black. Her dad has a warmer personality, but her mom is cold and always berates Stevie about her curvy body.

Now, Stevie enjoys her beer and burger until she notices Zanders at the bar. She asks for the bill but does not manage to leave before Zanders traps her in her seat with his arms.

At the bar, Zanders flirts with several women until he notices Stevie. He approaches her, and they banter. Then Zanders gets a text from his sister, Lindsey, who tells him that their mom found her number and has been trying to reach Zanders. Zanders feels suddenly hot and anxious. Stevie asks if he is okay, but Zanders races out of the bar. He runs to the park and sits in the dirt, trying to calm down. When he was a teenager, his mom left his family to marry a wealthier man, and he hasn’t talked to her since. Now, he knows that she only wants his money. He takes deep breaths and tells himself that he loves himself, then texts Lindsey.

Zanders and Maddison give an interview before the game. The interviewer keeps steering the conversation toward discussing Zanders’s sex life, even though Maddison keeps trying to talk about the charity that the two friends run together, Active Minds of Chicago. Through this charity, they raise money for children’s therapy sessions. Afterwards, they both feel frustrated by the tone of the interview. Maddison wants Zanders to be himself for the camera because he knows that Zanders is more sensitive than everyone believes him to be.

The next day, the team boards the flight, and Zanders makes it a point to give Stevie a hard time again.

Back in Chicago, Zanders goes to Maddison’s penthouse to visit with his family. Zanders and Logan talk about his family history, particularly his mother. Zanders is close with Maddison’s family and sees Logan as his pseudo-therapist, although he also sees a licensed therapist as well.

The narrative reveals that after Zanders’s mom left, Zanders felt alone; Lindsey was in college, and his dad became withdrawn. Feeling abandoned, Zanders became angry and started having panic attacks. He told himself that no one loved him. However, his therapist, Eddie, has since taught him that he can love himself. Logan listens to Zanders talk about his feelings, and they supportively tell each other that they love each other. (This is understood to be in a platonic sense.)

On the plane, Stevie tells herself she can handle Zanders’s attitude. She also tries to ignore her growing sense of attraction to him. Throughout the flight, Zanders repeatedly pushes the call light, which Indy insists is a sign that he likes her. Stevie doesn’t want his attention because she’s worried about keeping her job. Then Zanders pushes the light again and asks Stevie to make him a grilled cheese sandwich, saying he trusts her judgment in food more than the other flight attendants. Convinced that he is making a comment about her weight, she races away, feeling upset.

While the Raptors play in Chicago, Stevie has some time off. After she first landed this job, Ryan invited her to live with him in his Chicago penthouse. Now, they chat over a meal, and Ryan reveals that Brett wants his help finding a sports-related job in Chicago. Stevie panics because she doesn’t want to see Brett and hasn’t told Ryan what really happened between them.

The narrative reveals that she and Brett had an on-again, off-again relationship for three years. Every time Ryan broke up with her, Stevie took him back. Then, when he started playing professional ball, she overheard him telling his teammates that he didn’t need Stevie anymore because he could get more attractive women now.

The narrative returns to the present moment. Later that night, Stevie puts on sweats and looks up the various Raptors players online, discovering more about Zanders’s bad-boy persona. Then she heads out to Senior Dogs of Chicago (SDOC), a dog rescue for older dogs in the neighborhood where she volunteers whenever she’s in town. On her way out, she runs into Zanders.

Zanders tells Stevie that his best friends live in the building. He is surprised that Stevie is there and criticizes her bedraggled appearance. They get into a spat about Zanders’s behavior on the plane. Zanders knows how the media represents him, but he doesn’t mind that people think he’s rude because his reputation makes him money and gains women’s interest. His real friends know his authentic personality. Before parting ways, Stevie asks what Zanders meant by his food-related comment on the plane. She explains that she interpreted his comment as an insult about her weight; Zanders insists that he did not mean to insult her.

On the flight to Nashville, Maddison talks to Zanders about his public image. Zanders insists that he has to keep up the act until Chicago re-signs him. Maddison disagrees and also warns Zanders to stop bullying Stevie. However, Zanders continues teasing her throughout the flight. Then Maddison tells Stevie that Zanders wants to sleep with her.

At the hotel, Stevie masturbates and has an orgasm when she thinks about Zanders. Afterwards, she feels irritated with herself. Then her high school friends Hannah and Jackie arrive. Stevie feels uncomfortable when they comment on her outfit. Afterwards, they go to a bar and realize that the hockey team happens to be here as well. Terrified of losing her job, Stevie ignores Zanders.

Zanders and Maddison sit at the bar, chatting about Halloween. (Zanders always comes trick-or-treating with Maddison’s daughter, Ella.) Suddenly, Zanders sees Stevie and her friends. He notices that her friends are being unkind to her, and he also hears some men criticizing Stevie nearby. He gets up and rescues Stevie from the situation, pretending that he is her boyfriend. Outside, he kisses the top of her head.

Stevie asks Zanders what’s going on. Then someone sees them together and tries to take a picture. Stevie races away, afraid of being associated with Zanders’s reputation. Zanders catches up to her and tries to explain himself, insisting that he is attracted to her and wants to sleep with her. Stevie feels attracted to him too but says that they can’t be together. Zanders keeps talking to her in an erotic manner while walking her back to her hotel. Stevie is not sure how to interpret his behavior.

Stevie and Indy go out for breakfast. Stevie worries about eating too much, knowing that she will regret doing so when she visits her mom the next day. Meanwhile, the friends talk about Zanders. Indy admits that if she weren’t seeing someone already, she would risk her job to get romantically involved with a player. Stevie isn’t sure.

Stevie visits her parents. Her mom only wants to talk about Ryan, and she also criticizes Stevie’s appearance. When Stevie tries to talk about the dog rescue, her mom changes and nags Stevie about getting back together with Brett.

Before the Nashville game, Lindsey texts Zanders a photo from Instagram. Then Zanders finds Stevie’s page and discovers that she is Ryan Shay’s sister. He requests to follow her.

On the plane, all of the players ask Zanders who he spent the night with. He makes eye contact with Stevie. She still hasn’t accepted his Instagram request. He looks into the galley and sees her on her phone. He approaches her, takes her phone, and follows himself on her Instagram. He tells her that when she’s ready to sleep with him, she can DM him.

While masturbating one night, Stevie realizes that she needs to have sex. Then Brett texts her about coming back to town. Reflecting on their relationship, she realizes that she wants someone to choose her. Then she messages Zanders, and they meet up at a club. They talk, drink, and dance before going to Zanders’s hotel room.