Taking Shots (Assassins, #1)(129)

They weren’t but there was a drawer full of DVDs, on was marked ‘Elli in: Funny Girl’ and then a lot of other musicals. He pulled them all out, forgetting about his workout and fumbling with the DVD case to get the DVD out. He put the disc in, then slowly back up, sitting on the couch as the DVD started. It started with a title screen and then went into the movie. It must have been one of her high school plays because the stage was big but not Broadway big. The curtains opened but the lights didn’t come on the four girls that sat at a table. The spot line came down on a girl sitting in the front row in a leopard outfit. When the camera zoomed in and Shea saw that it was Elli, he smiled.

She was a baby.

A girl came out on the stage and the show started. It was amazing, Elli was captivating, and that’s not because he knew her and loved her so much, it was because she was absolutely amazing. Her voice was angelic, just as her dad had said. When she would open her mouth, everyone looked at her, even the people on stage. It was breathtaking.

So breathtaking that when Elli came shuffling into the room, Shea didn’t even look up at her. He kept watching the show as she came over and cuddled up on the couch with him. Neither of them said anything as the DVD went black, then the spotlight came back on Elli in the middle of the stage in a black dress.

“This is my favorite part,” she said beside him. On the DVD, Elli started singing again, the song was about the man she had lost, Shea guessed, but he didn’t care. Elli was compelling. She killed the performance, you believed she had just lost the love of her life, you believed she was hurting, but you didn’t care, all you wanted was more of her voice, more of her.

The show ended with her standing there, no music playing, just big, shiny tears falling down her cheeks. Shea wanted to get up and clap and scream like the people were doing in the video, but instead he wrapped his arms around Elli, holding her close to him as the credits ran.

“I trained for a months to do that song, it was so hard.”

“It was amazing, you’re fascinating Elli, truly.”

Elli shook her head against his, turning her head up to look at him, “I was, not no more. I couldn’t sing that song if my life depended on it.”

“Sure you could and you still are, Elli. You fascinate me, every day.”

A dazzling smile came across her face, causing his heart to pound and his skin to tingle. This was the moment, the moment for her to say it. It was all over her face, she loved him, she had too, he saw it in her eyes.

“I never loved myself until I met you,” she said before snuggling closer to him, rubbing her nose against his neck.

She didn’t love him, but she loved herself.

Great.

Now when the hell was she gonna love him!





Chapter 25


Elli opened her eyes slowly. She felt like someone was staring at her, and not to her surprise, someone was.

Shea.

He gave her a cheeky grin, kissing her lips loudly. “Happy birthday, baby.”

“Mmm…thanks,” she said as she stretched her arms above her head, “What time is it?”

“Seven, we need to get back to Nashville.”

“Why?” she asked rolling to her side to cuddle against his naked chest, “Why on earth would we leave this warm bed?”

Shea chuckled, “Baby, it’s your birthday; things are planned for today, you know.”

“Like?”

He smacked her butt playfully, pushing her out of bed. “Not telling! Now get up, Harper will be at the condo by nine to pick you up.”

Elli moaned as Shea continued to push her out of bed, “Fine, fine, I’m going,” she complained as she threw the blankets off her and headed for the shower. “You’re mean,” she spat back at him as he just laughed.

“I bet you won’t be saying that later!” he countered as she went into the bathroom. A grin covered her face, he was probably right. She was so excited for today, she could hardly contain it. It was weird for her to be excited about her birthday, but she was. Another thing Shea had made happen.

The man was a Godsend. He made her feel so good about herself, made her happy, made her excited about things that before she would never be excited for. He had taken care of her all week, making sure she recovered quickly, which she had. She had never bounced back from being sick so quickly, and when she said that to Shea, he laughed saying, “My mom always said that a lot of love will chase any sickness away.”

Mrs. Adler was completely right.

Elli took off her t-shirt and hopped into the shower, letting the hot water warm her body. She had been so happy staying at her house with Shea and was a little sad that they had to return to Nashville. It seemed that time stood still when she was in her house, that the outside world didn’t exist. Or maybe that was the sickness, because God knew she couldn’t do anything but lay in bed. Elli didn’t even know what was going on with the studio, she was sure it was okay, but she had no clue what the schedule or anything looked like.

After washing up, Elli got out and brushed her hair out before going back into the bedroom. Shea must have been out with Alder because he wasn’t in bed. Elli went to her closet, looking through her clothes for something to wear. She decided on a pair of worn wranglers and a Toy Story t-shirt that she had gotten when she went to Toy Story on Ice with the kids. She went back into her bathroom, getting ready for the day. She didn’t know if she should do her hair, so she just dried it, and put it up. After putting on some light makeup, she went to go pick some shoes. After taking twenty minutes to decide on boots or pumps, she went with her black cowboy boots that had red hearts all over them. They were her favorite, and her most broken in boots.