Taking Shots (Assassins, #1)(60)

“Bride slept with the best man, so no wedding. It’s all fate. I think I was meant to be here when you got home, making you chicken.” He smiled, kissing her nose.

“It smells fantastic.” She smiled, looking over her shoulder at the pan.

“Thank you, let me flip this,” she broke from his arms and flipped the chicken. Shea decided he wasn’t done holding her so he came up behind her, and held her from behind, putting his chin on her shoulder.

“How was your week?”

“Long, lots of crap going on, good week though, money wise at least,” she said, checking on what appeared to be mac and cheese.

She was a Godsend.

“That’s good.”

“Yeah, you need to take a shower?”

“I do, I’ll be quick.”

“I’ll be waiting,” she said with a grin. He smacked her butt, making her squeal as he walked away.

“You better be,” he teased as he went into the bedroom. He noticed her pink and green bag sitting at the end of the bed and smiled, hoping that meant she was staying the night. He went to his closet, grabbing a pair of sleeping pants and a tee before going into the bathroom and jumping in the shower. It felt amazing with nine jets of hot water hitting him from every direction. He closed his eyes, letting the hot water hit his aching naked body; it was almost as great as having Elli in his arms, or playing hockey. It had to come in at the top three.

After washing up, he dried off as he stood in front of his mirror, looking at his chest. The cut was deep and dark with the black stitches holding it shut, bruising surrounded the cut. Fucking Ohlund. He shook his head as he got dressed before taking out his contacts and putting his glasses on.

When Shea came out into the kitchen, Elli was transferring food into the living room. He followed her into the living room, and stopped. There was enough food to feed an army! And where did that plate setting come from? He had white, plain plates; these were pretty blue ones with silver swirls. His table looked like something out of Better Homes and Gardens: pretty napkins, a big vase of white flowers, place mats.

“Where’d the plates come from?”

“I bought ‘em. I didn’t like the white ones. With the blue and silver in the kitchen, I thought these went better. Do you not like ‘em?”

“No, their nice. I was just wondering.” he picked up the plate and made a face at it, it was very girlie.

“If you don’t like em, I’ll take ‘em back.”

“It's just they are kinda girlie,” he said honestly. She smiled, before taking the plate from him and picking up the other one, and returning to the kitchen. “What are you doing?” he asked, following her back into the kitchen.

“You don’t like ‘em, so I’m gonna take ‘em back. I’ll bring you a gift card and you can go pick out some different ones.”

“No, it’s okay. I like my white ones.”

“Oh, okay then,” she said putting the plates next to the box that he hadn’t notice earlier. She turned with two white plates and a bottle of wine, smiling. “Shall we?”

“Yeah,” he agreed as he followed her into the living room, he pulled out her chair, and she smiled her thanks as she sat down. He sat across from her, and they dug in. He took a bite of the chicken and moaned loudly.

“God, this is good.” She smiled before looking back down at her plate.

“I’m glad you like it, since my gift was a bust.” He looked up at her, her face was scrunched up between her eyebrows, she seemed mad.

“You’re not mad are you?”

She shrugged her shoulders, “No, I just wanted to get you something nice, and I apparently suck.”

“No, you don’t. I just like my white plates, always have.”

“I shouldn’t have. I just wanted you to have something that when you saw it you thought of me, and since you love to eat, it seemed like the perfect gift.”

“Baby, it is, thank you,” he took her hand in his, kissing her knuckles. “I got you something, too.”

Her face lit up, “You didn’t have to.”

“I saw it and thought of you, I’ll give it to you after dinner.”

She nodded and then smiled as they started eating dinner. The food was amazing, just as the conversation was. Elli had some crazy things happen to her all week and with every crazy story, he fell for her more. He missed her a lot when he was gone, but being in front of her, listening about a woman that went into labor at her baby shower, and the soon to be father freaking out, made him feel complete.





Dinner was amazing, even though the plates were a bust. Shea loved the food Elli cooked, and he held her hand through most of dinner, which she thought was so damn sweet. After getting everything cleaned up, they went into the living room, where Shea started going through his bag. When he pulled out a little blue box, her breath caught. Elli knew that box color; it was Tiffany & Co. Justin had gotten her God awful engagement ring from there.

Shea smiled over at her, before sitting down beside her, and handing it to her. “I saw it in Dallas when Jakob and I went shopping; I had to get it for you.”

Elli’s hands were shaking uncontrollably as she pulled the white ribbon, letting it fall to her lap, before pulling the top open. Inside, on a little white pillow, was a diamond incrusted hockey stick on a platinum chain. Her hand went over her mouth as she gasped.