Taking Shots (Assassins, #1)(130)

Elli made her way down the hall, through her living room to the kitchen, where Shea stood drinking his coffee. A grin went over his face as she wrapped her arms around his waist, placing her cheek in the middle of his chest. He was dressed in jeans and a sweater, with his trusty chucks. He was ready to go, apparently.

“Ready, babe? Adler’s already in the car.”

“Yup, you sure are in a hurry to leave my house,” she teased as she let him go, putting on her jacket that hung on the peg by the hall, “You don’t like my house?”

He shook his head, putting on his jacket as he stood in front of her. “Of course, I do, but we need to get back. Like I said, Harper is coming.”

She nodded as she locked up, heading towards her truck as he went to his. When she climbed into her truck, she saw that Adler wasn’t there. She looked in the rearview mirror and there sat her dog, in the passenger side of Shea’s car.

Damn dog.





Harper was already waiting when Elli pulled up. It was no surprise that Shea beat her home. He drove like a bat out of hell, so she wasn’t even surprised when she pulled up to see Harper and Shea talking beside the truck. Elli got out the truck, locking it as she walked towards the two most important people in her life right now. Harper smiled over at Elli, wrapping her arm around her shoulders.

“Happy birthday!”

“Why, thank you very much,” Elli said with a grin, “What brings you by?”

“Part of the surprise of today, come on! Say bye to your boy toy, let’s roll!”

Elli shook her head as she giggled, wrapping her arms around Shea. “When will I see you, Mr. Secretive?”

Shea laughed as he kissed her cheek, “Later on tonight, have fun.”

“Doing what?”

“Shut up, stop trying to ruin the surprise,” he said before leaning down to capture her lips with his. He kissed her long and lavishly before pulling away and smiling down at her. “See you tonight.”

Elli narrowed her eyes at him, pouting her lips, “Bye.”

She listened to his laughter all the way to Harper’s Honda. They both waved at Shea as Harper backed up, heading south on West End. “You look great, babe, real good.”

“Thanks, Harper, I feel a lot better.” Elli answered as she looked out the window. As much as she was excited for the surprise, she hated not knowing.

“Shea took good care of you?”

“He did,” Elli said beaming, “He bathed me, Harp, like actually stood in the shower and held me in his arms to wash me; he’s amazing.”

Harper nodded, “Hell, yeah he is, that’s great. I was hoping you wouldn’t be mad I called him.”

“No, I wasn’t. I was actually glad. I didn’t like that he saw me so sick, but I needed help. Lord knows you can’t handle it.”

Harper shook her head, a look of horror on her face, “It scares the living shit out of me when you get like that. I’m glad Shea handled it well, though.”

“Me, too,” Elli agreed as they pulled into Escape Day Spa and Salon.

Elli had never been there and wondered why they were there now. Harper got out, leaving Elli to scramble to get out of the car. She only took a step before Jodi, Reese, Piper, and Trice jumped out from behind a car, yelling, “Surprise!”

“Ah! Gosh! Y’all scared the living crap out of me!” Elli exclaimed with her hand over her heart, “What in the hell are y’all doing here?”

“Spa day!” Trice exclaimed with a flip of his hand towards the Spa.

“We’re getting out nails, hair, eye brows, everything done!” Piper gushed, basically bouncing on the heels on her feet.

“What? Really?” Elli asked.

“Yup,” Harper said, taking Elli’s arm in hers and walking towards the spa, “Shea’s first gift.”

Elli looked over at Harper surprised, “He did this?”

“Of course, he did, silly, we ain’t got the cash, too,” Jodi laughed as everyone joined in.

“Wow, I’ll have to call him,” Elli said completely stunned.

“Not now you won’t! Let’s go!” Harper said pulling her towards the massive building.

That man and his surprises.

If this was the first of his gifts, a spa day with her closest friends at one of the most expensive spas in Nashville, no telling what else he had planned.

And Elli couldn’t wait to find out.





Shea parked his truck behind Grace’s van in the driveway of the Belmont Mansion and headed up the stairs to the front door of the mansion as he admired the beauty of the gazebo that stood off to the side. He was surprised Grace was able to get this place, considering how popular it was, but she did. The mansion was beautiful with its light tan bricks, green shutters, and white trim. The windows that lined the front of the mansion were floor to ceiling and so clear, like they had just been cleaned, which they probably had if Grace had anything to do with it. Shea had to pass through two huge columns to get to the large, dark cherry colored door.

When he walked in, workers were setting up the million of candles that Shea said had to be there. One of the main things in the Pride and Prejudice movie was the candles. They were the only thing lighting the ball room in the movie and Shea wanted Elli, along with the 300 guest that would be joining them, to feel like they walked into the movie.