Taking Shots (Assassins) (12 page)

“
Shut up,” she giggled as she hit him with her arm. She tried to pull back, but he had an arm wrapped around her so fast that she didn’t have time to protest before he crushed his mouth against hers. When his tongue slid in her mouth, she knew she should have felt dirty since he was holding his niece, but she didn’t. Her hand slid up to his cheek, and she kissed him back just as hard. She hadn’t seen him in two days, that’s two days of no smiles, laughs, or, goodness gracious, those damn kisses.

“
Auntie Elli, why are you open mouth kissing Big Daddy Adler?”

Well, shit.

Shea watched as Penny looked up at them, her eyes were big as quarters and her mouth was hanging open. The other kids stood behind Penny, with Ryan right in the mix.

“
Oh, my goodness, it really is Shea Adler,” one of the boys said. Another one was slapping the last boy as Ryan just grinned up at him.

“
Yup, and he’s my Unky, are you ready to go yet? I’m tired,” Ryan said.

“
Sure am buddy, wanna say bye to your new friends, and Ms. Elli?”

“
Bye guys,” he said to the kids, then went and gave Elli a hug, looking up at her, “Thank you for fixing my boo boo, bye.”

“
Bye Ryan,” she said with a grin, then she looked over at Shea. “Bye, Shea.”

“
Bye babe, I’ll call ya.”

“
Alright,” she said with a shake of her head, Shea looked down at the kids as he began to walk away. They all had their mouths hanging open at the sight of him.

“
Bye guys.” Their eyes never left him as he walked with Ryan to the car with Amelia on his hip. It seemed as soon as he got Amelia in the car seat, she passed out. That wasn’t the case with Ryan. He was talkative untill they got to the house, even up the driveway, and even when his dad came to the door.

“
You’re a Godsend, Shea. Thanks,” James said as he took a sleeping Amelia from him.

“
No problem, where’s Grace?”

“
Sleeping. I figured I’d meet ya at the door, take the kids, and try to keep them out her hair.”

“
You’re a good man, James. Good man.” Shea leaned over kissing Amelia’s head, then he hugged Ryan tightly. “Love you, bud.”

“
Love you too, Unky. Thanks for a fun day.”

“
No problem, bud, we’ll do it more often.”

“
Am I still going Wednesday to your game?”

“
Absolutely, bud, everyone will be there.”

“
Awesome!” he said with a punch in the air, and then he ran off. James smiled at Shea as he said goodbye and shut the door after giving Shea his keys. Shea walked to his truck, a smile on his face. He felt good, today was a good day, hell, maybe a great one. When he got into the truck and started it, he went through the drive through for some Taco Bell before he headed home.

It was close to six when Shea finally sat in front of his TV watching Sports Center. He was ready for the opener on Wednesday, ready to play. The thought that Elli would be watching him made him smile, then he started wondering what she was doing. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and texted her.

At the wedding?

He only waited a moment before she answered back.

Yup, bored. Some weddings are awesome, while others are drags, and this one is a drag.

Sorry about that, how was your ride home with the kids?

Interesting to say the least. I just dropped them off, didn’t even stay for the fireworks. My mother has called me 10 times.

Shea smiled to himself. Her family probably wasn’t that bad. She was the baby, so they probably picked on her.

Wow, sorry about that. It was good seeing you today, can’t wait till tomorrow.

Me neither


Shea smiled to himself as he laid his phone down. He didn’t want to keep her busy so he decided to wait till later when she would call on her way home. What he didn’t expect was to fall asleep; he guessed the kids wore him out more than he thought. He woke with a jump when his phone started ringing. It was Elli. He answered as he looked at the time, it was past Midnight.

“
You were sleeping.” He smiled as he rubbed his eyes.

“
I was.”

“
Sorry! Just text me your address in the morning.”

“
Okay, babe, I’m sorry, I’m really tired.”

“
Its fine, I’ll see you tomorrow, sorry to call so late.”

“
No, don’t be sorry, are you home?”

“
Just left Nashville.”

“
Okay, text me when you get home, so I know you got there safe. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“
Alright, goodnight.”

“
Night, baby.” He hung up the phone and texted her his address before walking to the back room where he fell face first onto his bed. He was almost asleep when his phone went off again. He glanced at it seeing that Elli had made it home, and she would see him tomorrow. With a smile, he closed his eyes, pulling the pillow that was beside him up under his chin, wishing it was Elli as he went back to sleep.

“
Hello, brother dear.” Shea smiled when he answered his phone. Shea was excited to be cooking lunch for Elli. He wasn’t much of a cook, but he made a mean sandwich and heating soup wasn’t that hard.

“
Hey, you sleep well?”

“
Amazing, I haven’t gotten more than twelve hours of sleep in God knows how long. So thank you!”

“
No problem, only for you,” she gave a little laugh and he knew it was coming. Ryan had the biggest mouth in Nashville.

“
So, all I heard this morning was, Ms. Elli this, Ms. Elli that, and oh mommy, then Ms. Elli and Unky Shea were open mouth kissing.” Shea shook his head, a grin on his face. “Shea, where the hell did my four year old learn about open mouth kissing?” Shea let out a hoot of laughter, slapping the top of the counter with his hand.

“
Not my fault, Elli’s niece yelled it at us.”

“
You were making out in front of the kids?”

“
No, we kissed goodbye and it got a little hot.”

“
I mean, jeez, protect the younger eyes please.”

“
Sorry, is he scarred for life?” She laughed, as he smiled.

“
No, but he is wondering why Unky Shea and Ms. Elli don’t have kids since they kiss like that.” Shea was practically choking on his laughter.

“
That kid is a trip.”

“
That he is, so what do you have planned for today?”

Shea smiled, as he turned the soup down.

“
Elli’s coming for lunch, maybe a little open mouth kissing.”

“
Let her swallow her food before you pursue that,” Shea let out a chuckle, his sister humor killed him, “Have fun though, call me later?”

“
Sure.”

Grace wished him luck, and then told him she loved him before hanging up. Shea smiled as he finished up everything for lunch. He had remembered Elli saying she liked fruit so he made sure to cut some up for her. He also got some mango ice cream for her, another of her favorites. He was walking through the living room, making sure it was clean, when the door bell sounded.

Shea ran his hands down his shirt, then through his hair as he walked to the door. Shea opened it to Elli, who was leaning against the door jam, holding up a bag. She looked sexy as hell in a pair of shorts and a little tee that hung off her shoulder. She had big glasses on her face and on her head was an Assassins hat with her name on it.

“
Well, hello,” he said looking her over, loving the fact that her toes were purple, team colors.

“
Hey,” she said holding out her arm, handing him the bag. “For you.”

“
Ooh, presents,” he cooed as he moved out the way for her to come in as he peeked in the bag. To his delight, it was a copy of Pride and Prejudice, the 2005 movie version and the book with a book cover.

“
Not much, but since you don’t own it.”

“
Thank you,” he said pulling her into his arms and kissing her softly. Her hands came up his arms to his neck, rubbing softly as he kissed her. He pulled back looking into her bright green eyes as she smiled up at him. Her eyes were like fresh green grass, the kind of green that made you stop and look at them when you got even just a small glimpse. They were captivating. He moved a piece of her hair out of her face, tucking it behind her ear and the brim of the hat. “We’ll watch it after lunch.”

“
I was hoping you’d say that. I’m not sure I can date a guy who hasn’t at least seen the movie.” He smiled as he hugged her tighter to him.

“
Come on, I’ll show you around.” He took her hand and then led her through the condo, to his office, his bathroom, and his bedroom. Elli was quick to leave the bedroom, even though he had a beautiful view of Nashville through the windows that lined the walls. He took her through the living room to the kitchen; she looked around with a smile.

“
Grace did a good job in here. The house, its you.”

“
Yeah, she knew what she was doing,” he said with a grin, he pulled a chair out from the table. “Ready to eat?” he asked.

“
Yes, I’m starved.” She sat down, and Shea moved around, placing stuff on the table, going back and forth from the kitchen. When he finally sat in front of her, she was smiling as she looked at the spread. “Looks great.”

“
It's not much, but it’s better than the same old takeout we’ve been eating.” Elli nodded as she started serving herself. Shea did the same as they made small talk. Did she find the place okay? Was the wedding good last night? Just little stuff. He loved listening to her talk and he loved when she got excited or found something funny. Her face would get so bright, bright as the sun.

“
Are them vintage guitars?” Shea looked over at the wall that Elli was pointing too. He nodded as he looked back over at her; she was getting up with an awed look on her face. “They are beautiful.”

He stood up and went beside her, looking up at the nine guitars that graced his walls, “Do you play?”

“
Sorta, not good. My instrument was fiddle and a little banjo.”

“
Wow, could you get anymore country?”

“
Shut up. My dad made all us kids play an instrument. When we would all play together,” she smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes, “It was great, some of the best times of my childhood.”

“
What did everyone play?” he asked. She cut him a glance them looked back up at the guitars.

“
My dad played guitar, Noah played the upright bass, Liam would play the banjo, and Victoria played the mandolin.”

“
What did you play?”

“
The fiddle.”

“
Oh, did your mom sing? Don’t you need a singer for that kind of stuff?”

Elli laughed as she shook her head “No, my momma never had a musical bone in her body. She watched,” she looked down at the ground, then back up at him a few moments later. “I used to sing.”

“
Oh, cool, you’ll have to play and sing for me one day,” he said with a grin, Shea turned and started cleaning the mess they had made as she looked up at the guitars.

“
That Gibson Hummingbird is beautiful,” he heard her say as he stood in the kitchen. He heard her come up behind him and she sat up on the counter as he loaded the dishwasher. He shook his head as he smiled at her.

“
You never cease to amaze me, Elli. You know guitars?”

“
I told you I play a little.”

“
Yeah, but usually women don’t know anything about them.”

“
True, how did you get into them?” He smiled as he shut the dishwasher and leaned against it.

“
When I came to the team, Wavier used to call me Boston, saying I was too Boston to live in Nashville, so I decided I wanted to be able to do something that was Nashvilley, so I started collecting guitars. Well, one day Wavier came over, and he was impressed with my collection and he said ‘Hey, bring two down, let’s jam.’ I froze; I didn’t know how to play. When I admitted that, he tore into me.” Shea smiled at the memory of his long time friend. He didn’t get to see Wavier much, but he still loved the guy “But he taught me to play and now I love it.”

“
Wow.”

“
Yeah, so you ready for a movie?”

“
I am,” she said with a grin as he followed her into the living room. He grabbed the DVD and tore it open, putting it in his DVD player. When he turned, Elli was sitting on the far side of the couch, her knees under her chin. He savored the sight of her thighs peeking out from her shorts. His groin got tighter at just the thought of touching her there. She drove him mad. He had never waited this long to have sex with a woman that he was dating. He usually had sex with them the first night, but with Elli, it was different. They had been dating for almost a week and a half, and he was fine with the fact that he hadn’t seen her naked. He just wanted to see her. He smiled as he came over, sitting on the other end of the couch. The movie started, and he looked over at her, at the same time she looked over at him. They busted out laughing at the awkwardness before stopping to stare into each other’s eyes.