Taking Shots (Assassins, #1)(128)

“Not right now. Thank you, Shea.”

He smiled, then leaned down kissing her lips softly before leaving. God, she needed to thank his momma. She raised herself an amazing man. Elli reached for the remote and turned on the TV, waiting for Shea to come back. It was crazy how much she got used to having him around her and, honestly, she was glad that Harper had called him. Harper hated taking care of Elli because it scared her really bad, but even though Elli was sure Shea was scared, he still took amazing care of her. Way better than Justin ever did. Justin would just leave her to die basically. He would clean up after her, but he would never shower her, or feed her like Shea had.

So why didn’t she loved him?

“Hey.” Elli looked over, pushing that question way to the back of her mind, to see Shea standing only halfway in the room, “Okay, so I’ve been working on something…for you. I was going to do it for your birthday but I think you could use it now.”

“What is it? Come in here.” He looked down at the ground, clearing his throat, and for the first time he was acting shy. “Come on.”

He looked over at her, taking a deep breath, and then came into the room with his arms behind his back, but nothing could hide the beauty of the Gibson Hummingbird guitar that was peeking out from behind his legs. Her eyes lit up as he sat down, placing the beautiful guitar across his lap. He tapped his fingers against the base before looking up at her.

“You have to promise you won’t tell anyone I did this, because I swear I’m like the biggest girl in the world for this, but when I heard this song after dating you, I had to learn it…for you.” Elli took in a breath, covering her mouth as her eyes became bright with excitement. He was gonna play for her! “And then I started singing along with it and knew I had to do both because hopefully it would express how I feel, but you can’t tell anyone!”

“I won’t!” she gushed through her hands that still covered her mouth.

“Especially not Grace. I swear you tell her, I’ll…I’ll call your daddy and tell him you’ve been sleeping with me, and you’re naughty as hell!”

Elli giggled uncontrollably as he grinned bashfully. She was falling for this guy. She knew it now, it was happening and damn it, she was gonna let it! Because he was wonderful, he was gonna sing to her! He shook his head, and then moved his hands to the strings of the guitar. He stayed there for a moment, not moving his fingers. Shea then looked up at her, and she smiled, hoping to encourage him to go ahead. He didn’t smile back, but he looked down at the guitar and slowly started moving his fingers against the cords.

Elli was so impressed to see his large hands move so easily over each cord, creating the most beautiful melody, but then he started to sing, “Oh, her eyes, her eyes, make the stars look like they're not shining,” she recognized the song immediately, and she couldn’t help the little gasp or the “Oh, Shea” that left her lips. Bless his heart. He wasn’t the best singer, but it didn’t matter, he was singing for her. A song that every girl wants sang to them, because being told that “you’re amazing, just the way you are” would making any girl melt into a puddle of goo.

She couldn’t believe this was happening. Things like this didn’t happen in real life, only in books and movies. But there he was, playing the most romantic song in the world to her. He wouldn’t look at her as he sung, but a small smile would cross his beautiful mouth when he hit a note he knew he couldn’t, or when the lyrics really didn’t apply to her, because hello, her hair didn’t lay flat.

He came to the end of the song, and stopped, moving the guitar off his lap, he looked up at her, and said, “Okay now really, don’t laugh.” He had the sweetest, most adorable sheepish grin on his face as he took her hands in his, looking deep in her eyes as he sung the chorus again.

That’s when Elli started to cry.

The tears came quick, rolling down her cheeks, onto their hands. He stopped singing, laughing nervously as he moved his hand up to her cheek, catching some of her tears. “Elli, don’t cry!”

“I’m sorry,” she said sniffing as she tried to stop crying, “You’re like a dream, Shea, no one does that anymore.”

“Sure they do, come here.” She went into his arms willing, rubbing her nose against his shirt, taking in his heavenly scent. “I meant every word, Elli, you’re amazing.”

How in the world did she get so lucky?

And why couldn’t she believe him?





Elli was getting stronger and Shea hoped embarrassing himself for her was helping with her recovery. When he had first heard “Just the way you are” he was convinced it was for guys that needed to get laid, but then he met Elli and every single word in the song describe what he was feeling for her, what he thought, so he had to learn the cords, then he started singing as he played. Shea knew he wasn’t the best singer, but it seemed Elli loved it, hell she even started crying good tears, making his embarrassment worth it.

Since he hadn’t left in four days, he hadn’t been working out, which was the longest he had ever went without working out. He tried to get Adler to run with him the other day, but the damn dog made it to the mailbox then just laid down. It was as if he was saying “I’ll be here when you get back,” Damn lazy dog. So while Elli slept after lunch, Shea went into the living room, looking for the P90x DVD set she had mention having. He looked through the racks, but it wasn’t there, so he opened the drawers of the TV stand, seeing if they were in there.