Elli walked through her bright yellow living room. She loved the décor in here. The gleaming walls accented the black wrap-around couches that had matching throw pillows. The couches brought the room together. Her extremely large TV, a gift from her father because she loved watching the away games in HD, hung above her mantel that held pictures of her nieces and nephews. She smiled as she passed them to get her laptop. She loved her nieces and nephews, and couldn’t wait to take them to the park next weekend when they came for their monthly visit.
After getting her laptop and returning to the bar, she loaded the pictures from her camera as she got a fork and napkin. She sat down at the bar, food and laptop in front of her. She had taken over 3,000 shots of the Assassins which meant she had lots of work ahead of her. She inhaled her frozen pasta meal. She realized she was hungrier than she thought as she looked over the pictures. They were good shots, really good. Only a few were crappy. But with Photoshop, she could fix them with no problem.
As she went from picture to picture, Elli kept going back to Shea Adler’s pictures. Gosh, he was so stinking gorgeous. He had the most amazing eyes she’d ever seen. They were such a dazzling shade of blue: so bright, and so happy. He probably had a beautiful girlfriend, a dog and a nine bedroom house with all the fixings. He just looked like he was happy. When she came to the pictures of him in the suit, he took her breath away. The suit was black, with a purple vest underneath. The hockey stick that he held was so slick looking. But you really didn’t look at the stick or the suit, you looked at his eyes.
Good golly, they were mesmerizing.
Not that Elli would admit this to anyone, but while she worked that night, she kept flipping back to the pictures of Shea, looking at his beautiful eyes, his hard body. She wished that she was the girlfriend at his house waiting for him to get home so they could sit on the couch, cuddling as they watched highlights from the games that night, while Adler lay beside them.
Elli smiled at the thought, and then rolled her eyes.
As if that would ever happen.
“Not only did I run into the goal, but the wall too!”
Shea Adler sat with the side of his face in his hand. His glasses were crooked but he didn’t care. He was beyond embarrassed about what had happened at the Assassins’ photo shoot earlier that day.
“I can’t stand it when I get new contacts. They affect my eyes all to hell. God, it was so embarrassing, Grace. So embarrassing.”
His twin sister laughed on the other end of the phone as Shea rolled his eyes, dropping his hand from his face to get up for a drink of water.
“I don’t know why you’re so embarrassed, Shea. It was only the guys.”
“And the staff!”
“Okay, and the staff. So what?”
“And the photo people!”
“So? You’re never embarrassed about anything. What aren’t you telling me?”
Shea didn’t say anything. He wasn’t telling Grace about the beautiful brunette with the biggest and brightest green eyes he had ever seen. She had the kind of eyes that took his breath away when he looked into them; something that had never happened to him before.
“Who is she?” Grace asked with a knowing voice, “Hopefully not some dumb blonde bimbo who will suck you dry.”
“Hey, no one has sucked me dry!” Shea said defensively.
“They tried.”
“Now you know that’s not true. I won’t even let them close enough to suck me dry.”
“Whatever. You bought the last chick, Marie, a diamond necklace!”
“Because I unknowingly slept with her sister. I felt bad and since I had no intentions on starting anything with her, it was a sorry present before I stopped talking to her.”
“Oh, yeah. Well she should have told you anyway, so who is this new girl?”
“How do you know it’s a woman?”
“Because, like I said, you don’t get embarrassed. So shut up and tell me.”
“I don’t know who she is. She was the photographer today.”
“Okay, and?”
“And she was beautiful.”
“Did you ask her out?”
“No, she is kind of different,” he said sheepishly.
“What the hell, Shea? You are not making sense. Who am I talking to?” she said teasingly, “This isn’t my brother, big scary Captain Adler, because my brother’s motto is ‘I came, I saw, I conquered.’ ”
Shea let out a booming laugh, which caused her to laugh.
“I don’t know. She wouldn’t look me in the eye. She was shy, cute.”
“Hmm, sounds like a winner in my book,” Grace said.
“Maybe.”
“So, anyway, the party for this weekend is almost done, planning-wise.”
“Great!”
“I’m excited. The guys are gonna have a ball.”
“That’s why I hired the best party planner in Nashville.”
Grace giggled and went on with the details, as Shea stood in his stainless steel kitchen. Grace had decorated the whole condo for him when they came to Nashville four years ago. He had just gotten traded to the Assassins from the Flyers and couldn’t be happier to be moved to a team that was going to pay a hell of a lot more than the Flyers ever did. Plus, Grace had hated Philadelphia. Probably as much as Shea did. Luckily, they both loved Nashville since Grace would never go anywhere without Shea, and he wouldn’t go anywhere without her.
The joy of being twins!
Grace had helped pick out the condo, and even lived with him for a while to finish decorating, before looking for her own. Then she met James Justice. After only being together for a couple of months, she got pregnant. Now Grace lived ten minutes from Shea in a beautiful 1.2 million dollar house, blissfully married, with two of the greatest kids in the world, Ryan and Amelia, while running the biggest party planning business in Nashville. Shea couldn’t be happier for her, but he always got nervous at the thought that one day he might be leaving her, if he got traded again.
“Does that sound okay?” Grace asked, bringing him back to the conversation.
“Of course. Do you have a photographer?” Shea found himself asking. Grace started laughing.
“No, you never said you wanted one.”
“Well, maybe it would be a good idea. With all the new players and their families, don’t you think?”
“Yeah. Do you have a certain photographer in mind, Shea?”
“Oh hush, and get her.”
“Who is she?”
“I don’t know, but find her and get her. Offer her a price she can’t refuse.”
“You have no idea what her name is?”
“I think I heard Elli, but I’m not sure. Call Melody, she would know.”
“Fine. I’ve got three days to find this chick. Jeez, Shea.”
“I love you, Gracey,” he cooed. She laughed.
“I love you, too. Bye.”
“Bye.”
He hung up his phone, tucking it into his pocket with a grin on his face. He went to his fridge, smiling at his niece and nephew’s pictures before opening it to get a beer. He popped the top as he walked to the dimly lit living room. He sat down on his leather couch and turned on the TV to catch some of the highlights before turning in for the night. He had an early practice in the morning. Plus, he was volunteering with the team tomorrow afternoon over at Vanderbilt’s Children’s hospital.
As Shea drank his beer, he found himself grinning. If Grace came through, he would be seeing the beautiful photographer by this weekend.
And this time, he would conquer
.
Read on for an excerpt from Elisabeth Barrett’s
Long Simmering Spring
The telltale sound of the metal-on-metal rigging clanging above deck was a clear indication that Cole Grayson wasn’t inside a stifling-hot canvas tent in Kunar Province. The gentle pitch and roll under his back and the aromas of salt and sea could mean only one thing: he was on his brother’s houseboat in Star Harbor, thousands of miles from Afghanistan. His eyeballs were sticking to his lids, but for once, waking up early didn’t bother him.
He’d finally slept through the night. It had taken him only seven years, three months, and nineteen days.
Not that he was counting.
He swung his legs out from his berth and stood carefully, knowing his head would graze the ceiling of the small cabin. Houseboats simply weren’t designed for men of his size. Given that Val nearly matched him in height, he had no idea how his older brother had made do on the vessel for so long.
Still, he wasn’t complaining. The eight months Val had let him stay on board had been a huge chunk of rent-free time. He’d given Val some money for the upkeep of the boat and for docking fees, but it wasn’t nearly as much as if he’d been paying for an apartment. As always, his brother had been more than generous.
Cole grabbed his jeans from where they were neatly folded on a nearby shelf and pulled them on over his boxers, not bothering with a shirt or shoes. Still a bit wobbly, he used a hand on the ceiling as a guide to steady himself and slowly walked to the short ladder that led up to the deck.
Pushing open the cabin’s door, he emerged topside. There was a dim glow on the horizon. When the sun rose, it would cast a glorious amber light over the inner harbor, creeping over the piers and moving up the sides of the buildings in town. The fishing boats, wet with dew and seawater, rocked gently in the breeze, creaking and straining against their moorings. Seabirds welcomed the pre-dawn morning, their shrill cries piercing the crisp spring air.
Bracing himself against the morning chill, Cole joined his brother, who was leaning against the side of the cabin and drinking a cup of coffee from a stainless-steel mug. Illuminated by a string of Christmas lights they hadn’t bothered to take down, Val gave him a nod. As he imitated the gesture, Cole bit back a smile.
There was no mistaking that they were brothers, from their clear blue eyes to their speech patterns, and most definitely to their mannerisms.
“Sleep well?”
Cole nodded. “Yeah.” Clearly, the time he’d spent with the shrink in Boston to help manage his post-traumatic stress disorder had paid off. But although both the Boston P.D. and the Star Harbor Sheriff’s Department had cleared him for active duty, he knew he’d always be living with it. And the more under control he could get it, the happier he—and everyone around him—would be.
“Didn’t hear any yelling last night.”
Cole merely grunted. Typically nothing got past that brother of his, and it was impossible to hide anything from Val on this tiny boat.
“Sounds like you’re doing better. Still, I don’t know why you quit seeing that psychologist when you moved here. I’d keep at it if I were you,” Val said, staring out to the horizon. Cole knew that all three of his brothers had noticed the change in him since he’d left the army, but only Val had the balls to say something to his face.
“I know,” Cole said, tightly. “It’s a time issue, more than anything.” Val’s point was well taken. Cole’s nightmares had plagued him since he’d received his honorable discharge, and his sharp bursts of temper were something he still had to struggle mightily to keep under control. Coming back to Star Harbor to head up the Sheriff’s Department was a last-ditch effort to integrate back into civilian life. It had helped a lot, but things could always be better. “I’ll think about it.”
“That’s all I’m asking.” Val paused for a few moments, as if weighing what to say next. “You know I like your company, but I get that you might be itching to move on.”
“I appreciate you letting me stay here. Really.” Cole rubbed a hand over his eyes. Val had known what he was getting himself into.
Me, with all my baggage
. “I told you it would take a while to figure out where I want to live.”
“I know. But seriously, I’m glad you’re here. Free labor.”
“You joke, but the least I can do is help out on the boat. I’ve been crashing here way too long. Still, I have to admit, I’m glad to be back. Seems like we Graysons can’t go for too long without coming home to Star Harbor,” Cole said, throwing their younger brothers, twins Theodore and Sebastian, into the mix.
“You can’t keep away, can you?” Val murmured. “For me, it’s the memories. Remember that warm summer night when Dad took us out on his boat to see the swarm of glowing jellyfish? He knew just where to find them. I couldn’t believe how bright the water looked. And I’ll never forget the pirate stories he told us later that night. He was amazing, wasn’t he?”
“I miss Dad,” Cole said flatly. “And Mom, too.” Being back in Star Harbor meant that memories of his father, who’d been killed twenty years ago on his boat in a hurricane, and his mother, who’d died twelve years ago of a stroke, were always in the forefront of Cole’s mind. In some ways, living in town again was both cathartic and depressing. After a childhood of hell-raising he was glad to finally be able to give something back to the community, but things weren’t as easy as he’d hoped. The war had given his life a skewed focus, though slowly, things had been improving.
Slowly
being the key word. He’d gotten good at blocking the worst of what he’d seen from his mind. But every now and then, a sight, a sound, or even a smell would trigger his memory and something he wished to God he could forget would be right there, happening all over again.
Before he got too far down that road, Val cut in. “You’re off duty now, right?”
“Until tomorrow morning.”
“So what are you planning to do today?
“Thought I’d help out with some repairs on the boat. Anything you want taken care of?”
Val grinned. “Oh yeah, I have some stuff for you to do.”
“Whatever it is, I’ll make sure I finish it up at a decent hour. Don’t forget that we’re meeting Theo at the Rusty Nail tonight.” Theo was a bestselling novelist who had also returned to Star Harbor. He seldom spent an evening apart from his fiancée, Avery Newbridge, a compassionate social worker with fiery red hair. But Avery was currently in Boston at some conference, and Theo was stuck with them for company for the next few nights.”
“Mmm,” Val said. “She’s a good match for him, though I have to admit I thought you were going to be the next Grayson man down.”
“I don’t give it up that easy.”
Not anymore
.