Taking Shots (Assassins, #1)(59)

Shea loved Grace so much, it was sweet. There was a picture of him and Grace with two older people that Elli assumed were his parents. They all had the same smile, big and beautiful. His father was just as handsome as his son; his mother was beautiful, with the exact same dimple on the right side of her face. Elli smiled, looking closer at the picture before she noticed another picture; it was the one of her at the park that he had taken on their first date. She picked it up, looking at herself sipping on her Starbucks. The picture was classy, so pretty, and it just blew her mind that he had it framed and it was in his house.

Wow.

Elli put the picture down and got a bottle of water before heading back into the room to go to sleep. After putting the DVD on and shutting the door, she crawled onto her side of the bed and cuddled in. The bed was huge without a 6’3” man beside her. Shea would be home the next day, but it wasn’t coming quick enough in her opinion. The Assassins had lost that night. He was a little bummed when she talked to him, and she tried to cheer him up, but he said nothing would cheer him up until he was able to kiss her again.

Just the thought of his lips on hers made Elli warm from head to toe; she smiled as she cuddled into the bed that smelled just like Shea as she started the movie.

Elli was asleep before she knew it.





Elli figured that the next day was a thing of luck, or maybe fate. She had a wedding that night, so she wasn’t gonna be able to see Shea until afterwards, but the bride got cold feet and called the thing off. From what the maid of honor had said, the bride had a little more fun the night before then she should have. She had slept with the groom’s best man. Oops, Elli hated when that happened, but today she couldn’t be happier, since she stood in Shea’s kitchen, frying chicken for a welcome home dinner.

Shea wasn’t due back till around six, and it was 5:30. Elli kept an eye on the chicken as she started the mac and cheese. Shea had once said that he wasn’t very familiar with country cooking, and since Elli was an expert at it, she figured she’d educate him. She smoothed out the apron she had brought over, it was her Mamaw Ally’s and it was one of her prized possessions. Mamaw Ally was the one who had taught her to cook; she was also the one who had taught Elli to sing. A sad smile went across Elli’s face as she thought about the old woman that had given her so many good memories; she missed Mamaw Ally so much. She had died when Elli was twelve, so she never got to see Elli succeed in her career as a singer. Her daddy always told Elli that she reminded him of her, which made Elli feel good inside. Mamaw Ally was an amazing woman.

Since Elli was cooking country for Shea, she decided to dress the part. Since she had to run home to get her cast iron pan, she changed, putting on a white eyelet dress that had big flowy sleeves along with her black with white swirls cowboy boots. She had her hair up since Shea liked it like that; he had once said he liked her neck in plain view which was fine by her.

Elli was so excited to see him, she couldn’t see straight. The week had gone by so slowly. When she had done the books this morning and saw how much money she had made, she thought that would have meant that she was so super busy, and she was, but all she could think about was Shea and what he had been doing. He had been so busy; he hadn’t been able to talk to her much in the last couple of days. He had had so much promotional stuff to do and with all the baby showers and weddings she had, she had missed his calls a lot more then she would have liked.

But tonight was about them, Elli had gone out and bought new plates for him, to butter him up before asking him to go to dinner at her parents. Fate was working in her favor and she was gonna spend the night with her man.

Her man, she smiled at just the thought.

Elli was just starting to set the table, when she heard the doorknob rattling.

He was home!





Shea was hurting, badly.

His shoulder was aching; he had a cut along his collarbone, where that idiot, Mattias Ohlund, had slashed him with his stick. Asshole. But then again, Shea did hit him in the boards a little harder than necessary, but, oh well. Shea threw his bag on the ground as he looked for his keys. He was so happy to be home. Elli had a wedding tonight, but she promised she would come by afterwards, which was awesome. He had missed her so much.

He found his keys and put them in the door, looking forward to the hot shower that awaited him on the other side. When he pushed the door open, he was hit by the strong smell of fried chicken.

What the hell?

Shea threw his bag on the couch, walking towards the kitchen where he heard sizzling and movement. When he rounded the corner, his country cutie stood in front of the stove in a cute little apron, with her hair in a messy bun. Man, she was gorgeous. She turned with a big grin on her face before she squealed and ran to him, wrapping herself around him.

“Welcome home!” she gushed, kissing his lips loudly. He smiled against her lips, holding her close to him. She smelled like mangos again, something he found he missed a lot while he had been gone for the week. She was so soft, so warm in his arms.

“Mm, I’ve missed you,” he nuzzled her neck before biting lightly. “Did you miss me?”

For some reason he needed to know.

“Of course!” she gushed with giggle as she brought his lips back to hers. He kissed her hard, pulling her as close to him as he could.

“I didn’t expect you to be here, what happened to the wedding?” he asked, still not letting her go.