Taking Shots (Assassins, #1)(121)

Elli came down about twenty minutes later in a cute little yellow sun dress with her flip flops on and a huge yellow hat. He could see that her bathing suit was black and he couldn’t wait to see it on her. She came straight to him, a small smile on her face, as she wrapped her arms around his middle, walking with him out the door.

“I sometimes forget I’m dating a Southern belle,” he teased as they walked through the beautiful white sand, the sun was slowly making its way down, and the beauty of the ocean was breath taking, almost as much as the girl that was wrapped around his middle.

“Oh hush, you don’t forget, you just hope to be the Rhett Butler of our time, and deflower this little Southern belle in front of God and everybody,” she said breaking apart from him, giving him a haughty grin as she backed away slowly.

He let out an arrogant laugh as he crossed his arms, “I don’t know if you realize this darlin’,” She glared at his failed attempt at being country, “but I’ve already deflowered you, many times.” He added the last part just for good measures. Her eyes narrowed before pushing him down in the sand, since she caught him off balance and promptly starting running down the beach. “Oh, you’re gonna get it now!”

And off they went, chasing each other across the beach. At one point, Elli’s dress and hat joined Shea’s shirt as he chased her into the water, grabbing her by her waist, pulling her to his dripping wet chest. The waves ran up against their legs as they held each other, basking in the feeling of each other and the warmth of the setting sun. Elli looked up at him, a small shy smile on her lips as the sun warmed her face. Shea couldn’t help but gently run his fingers along her cheek bone, then down her jaw before cupping her neck, and bringing his lips down to hers.

Shea held Elli’s hand as they made their way to the beach chairs he had requested for them. Elli threw her dress, shoes, and hat down before sitting down on the chair, looking over at him with grin.

“I love the beach.”

“Me, too,” he agreed as they sun started to make it way down, it was almost completely set, only peeking out a little above the beautiful bluish green water. When Shea felt Elli’s hand move into his, he looked over at her, admiring the look of peace that was all over face. “Can I ask you something?” he asked. The questions from earlier weighed heavy in his mind, since Shea wasn’t the one to keep things inside, he decided to bring it up.

“Sure, what’s up?

She looked over at him and he got tongue tied. It was the whole rejection thing all over again, it was crazy how scared he was of her rejection, before he never cared, but with Elli, she could rip him apart with it. “What would happen if I got traded?” Elli’s eyes went wide, and he knew he should have gone with another way of asking her, “Not that I am, as far as I know, but what if?”

“It’s just crazy that you asked that. Papa had asked me that same exact questions before dropping a bomb on me on the way here.”

“What bomb?”

Elli pulled her hand from his, and started picking at her nails as she looked out at the ocean.

“He asked me that because he’s giving me the Assassins when he retires.”

“Say what?”

She looked over at him, and then shrugged her shoulders, “I’ll own the Assassins in five years tops from what he is saying.”

Shea sat there speechless, blinking a few times as he stared over at his girlfriend who, if he is still with the team, would be her boss.

What. The. Hell.

“What did you say?”

“I said, yes, of course. I love the Assassins; of course I would want to own them.”

“What about the studio?”

“I could still do that on the side, I was thinking of selling it to Harper, but then I don’t know because she is probably gonna go wherever Jakob goes, even though I would want to keep him when I come on, but he might get traded before that, so I don’t know. But anyways, if Harper didn’t want to buy it, I would probably sell it. I mean, own the studio or own a hockey team, it’s not a hard decision.”

She was rambling, which meant she was nervous, probably because she was gonna tell him that if he didn’t stay with the Assassins, they wouldn’t be together.

“Yeah, it really isn’t,” he muttered as he looked out at the ocean. Off in the distance, he saw dolphins jumping out of the water, and he thought that would bring a smile to his face, but he sat with his heart slowly breaking from the mere thought of not being with Elli for forever. “So I guess that answers my question, huh? You can’t stay with me when you own the team I left,” he asked refusing to look over at her.

“Well, don’t say that, that’s like putting an expiration date on our relationship, no telling what will happen in the next few years. What if you retire or God forbid Papa dies and I get the team tomorrow, because then you ain’t ever leaving.”

“Yeah.”

“Shea look at me,” she said, he took a deep breath before looking over at her, she reached over taking his hand in hers, “I’m not saying that we would be over if you got traded, but it’s not like I could have went with you before my papa asked me to take the team, I have a career here, I can’t just leave it.”

“But you would sell the studio to own the Assassins but not to follow me to the next place I play?”