Taking Shots (Assassins) (16 page)

Was he being for real? Could Elli put all the stories she heard, all the pictures she saw of him partying with hundreds of different women aside?

Shea ran his hand down her cheek to her throat, rubbing his thumb along the base. She had been miserable these past two days, hating that she didn’t have the balls to call him, or even see him, but Shea being Shea, so in your face about everything, made her see him and she couldn’t be more thankful.

And Harper did say too ‘love like you’ve never been hurt before,’ so hell, might as well give it a try.

“
Okay.”

“
Okay?”

“
Okay,” she said with a nod. He grinned before taking her mouth with his. It felt like an explosion went off around her, being wrapped up in his arms, kissed by his beautiful mouth. She missed his big body, his strong arms, and his lips; yes, she had missed them a lot. When they parted, he smiled against her mouth, dusting sweet kisses all over her lips.

“
I’ve missed you, Elli,” he whispered softly, he smiled goofily before pulling back some. “It’s probably too early to say that, huh?” Elli gave him a sweet smile, pulling him back to her by his shirt, so their mouths were inches apart.

“
No, because I missed you, too,” she said before kissing him again, they stayed wrapped up in each other’s arms for what seem like hours, but it was only minutes. When they finally came up for air, Elli smiled as she pushed him away.

“
Go home, Adler, you have a game to win tomorrow,” she said with a sexy grin as she kissed his cheek.

“
Alright, I’ll call you tomorrow.”

“
Alright, thanks for coming to see me.”

“
I’m the one that should be thanking you, baby. I’ll see you later.”

“
Bye.”

He gave her one last kiss before walking towards his truck. She watched his beautiful sculpted ass in his fitted jeans, and suppressed a groan. She had never felt the urge to rip a man’s clothes off, but ripping Shea Adler’s jeans off would be a magical experience if she ever got the balls and the confidence to do it. Elli sighed as she watched him drive off with a wave. Man, she hope this worked, because for some reason she felt that the crush was developing into something way more for Shea.

“
Hey.” Elli looked up from the pictures that had just came in from the imagining company that she ordered from. Harper was leaning against the counter, her hair this week: blonde with purple streaks.

“
Hey, what’s up?” Elli said with a grin, she was really excited; it was opening day for the Assassins.

“
Um, you have two tickets for the game tonight? Or are you taking someone?”

“
No, I’m not taking anyone, why?” Harper looked nervous, which made Elli smile. Harper never got nervous, what she was about to asked must be about Jakob.

“
Can I go with you?”

“
Sure!” Elli all but screamed. She had been begging Harper to go to a game with her for years. “We’ll have so much fun! We can get beer and pretzel and all kinds of stuff!!” Elli was practically jumping up and down.

“
Whoa, calm down,” Harper nonchalantly said, but Elli knew she was excited. “What time are you going?”

“
The game is at seven, so I’ll get there at six to watch the guys warm up and everything.”

“
Can we get there earlier? I need a jersey.”

“
Of course!!! I get a discount at the pro shop. Oh my god! I’m so excited!”

“
Yay!” Harper said sarcastically as she walked away, then she looked over her shoulder with a grin, telling Elli that she was just as excited but refused to show anyone that she was. Harper was weird like that.

Elli went back to separating pictures when her phone rang, it was Shea.

“
Hey, you,” she answered with a grin.

“
Well, hello, sounds like you are in a good mood.”

“
Oh, I am, its opening night!” Elli boasted, “I’m so excited. I have all my Assassins gear on.”

“
Oh, do you now,” he said with a chuckle, she smiled, “Like what?”

“
Well, I have my tee on right now, over my patched up jeans, with my Assassins’ undies and socks, and hat.” She looked down at herself, proud of her outfit. What she would never admit though, is that her undies had a big six on the crotch.

“
Assassins undies, huh? You’ll have to show me,” he flirted, which made her blush.

“
Maybe.”

“
Mmm..I like the sound of that.” She giggled as he went on “So what time you coming to the game?”

“
5:30 I guess, Harper needs to buy some gear.”

“
Okay, so I get to see who your favorite player is tonight, huh?”

“
But of course.”

“
I think I have an idea.”

“
Really, who?”

“
Me.”

“
God, that male ego.” He laughed, as she smiled.

“
No really, you named your dog after me.”

“
The hell I did!” She protested, even though it was true. “I named him after my favorite…toothpaste”

“
Adler toothpaste?”

“
Sure.”

“
You are such a liar.”

“
Whatever.” He laughed and she giggled as she carried stuff to the back.

“
So you’ll be sitting in your seats tonight?”

“
Yeah, where else would I sit?”

“
In my family section?”

Elli went quiet; dropping what was in her hands as he kept talking. “My mom and dad came in for the game, and Grace and her husband and the kids will be there. I thought maybe you’d want to sit with them.”

“
Oh, well, I have Harper.”

“
She can sit up there, too; I think Jakob’s family is in, too.”

“
Oh, no, she would freak.” He laughed.

“
So are you telling me no?”

“
Would you be mad?”

“
No, but I’ll keep trying. I think you’ll like my parents.”

“
I probably will, but let’s give it a little longer before we go introducing each other to our families,” Elli said, “My mom leaves me a message every day saying that she wants to meet the man I was open mouth kissing in front of her grandchildren, but I just ignore her.”

“
That’s fine with me, babe. I understand.”

“
Okay, good.” Elli let out a breath; he made her so damn nervous. “Does your family know about me?”

“
Grace does, of course, but no, my parents don’t.”

“
Oh, okay, good, so they aren’t expecting me or anything.”

“
Well, I was going to tell them about you.”

“
Oh, okay….why?” He laughed and she got nervous all over again.

“
Because we’re dating.”

“
Did you tell them about the women before?”

“
No, Grace did, so no matter what, my parents will know about you.”

Well, hells bells. Elli sat on the chair in the hall and took a deep breath. She hadn’t had to do the parent thing since Justin and that was horrific all in itself. She wasn’t ready for that, she was still scared Shea would reject her; she didn’t need the rejection of his parents.

“
Baby, why are you quiet? I told you not to worry about it, you don’t have to meet them this time around,” he said quietly.

“
Oh, thank sweet, baby Jesus,” she muttered, which made him laugh.

“
You’re silly, so do me a solid.” She laughed.

“
A solid?”

“
Yeah, a solid.”

“
Oh goodness, what?”

“
Come out into the lobby and give me a kiss for good luck tonight.” Elli grinned big as she popped up and walked quickly to the front lobby, where Shea stood, a single daisy in his hand. He was wearing a khaki suit with a blue shirt under the jacket. He looked devilishly sexy with his hair all in spikes, his sweet blue eyes not covered with his glasses. He took his phone from his ear as he grinned at her; she did the same and went to him, wrapping her arms around his neck, bringing her mouth to his. His hands came around her waist, pulling her tightly to him. When they parted he smiled down at her. “You really are Assassins’ decked-out, huh?”

“
They are my team.”

He smiled, kissing her again. “Is there a chance I can see these undies today?” he muttered against her lips, she giggled as she shook her head pulling him down for another long passionate kiss. She could do this all day and night, his lips were that kissable.

“
I mean, Jesus! Get a damn room y’all.” Elli pulled back from Shea, looking over to give Harper the death look.

“
Did I say anything when I found you and Jakob on your desk last week?” Harper just grinned and walked right up to them.

“
No, but at least I introduced you,” she said in a matter of fact voice. “So, on with it, Ms. Fisher.” Elli rolled her eyes, parting from Shea a little.

“
Shea, this is my best friend Harper, Harper, Shea Adler.”

“
How do you do?” Harper said in an overly fake country accent, Shea smiled.

“
Good, nice to meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“
Have you now? From who?”

“
Oh, from Elli, and Jakob, you’re quite the subject.” Harper smiled in delight and turned on her heels to walk away, with nothing but a wave. “She’s just like Jakob described.”

“
I hope he described her nicely, because she is…nice, I mean.” Shea wrapped her back up in his arms, kissing the side of her neck.

“
Elli.”

“
Shea,” she gasped as he bit softly.

“
Show me your undies.” Elli broke out in a fit of giggles as Shea smiled against her neck.

“
No way.”

“
What if I get a goal just for you, then can I see your undies?”

“
Do they have to be on me?” she asked, playing along. There was no way in hell he would see her in her undies.

“
Yes, they do.”

“
Hmm….no.”

“
Come on, two goals.”

“
No.”

“
Three.”

“
Okay, how about three, and y’all gotta win.”

“
Deal, now kiss me.”

“
That I will do,” she said with a grin as she leaned up on her tippy toes to kiss him deeply.

It was probably the first time Eleanor Fisher hoped Shea didn’t score.

Shea walked into his box where his family was. They always came early so they could eat and visit before Shea had to go get ready. He had left Elli and came straight there, he had hoped she would come with him, but he didn’t want to push her into anything. Shea saw his father, Mark, first, standing by the wall, overlooking the ice. His father was aging well, in his opinion, at the age of forty-nine his father didn’t look at day over thirty. His hair still black as night, he had the laugh lines and a rugged look to him, but he still looked the same as he did when Shea was nine.

“
Hey, pop,” he said as he walked in, Mark turned around with a smile on his face.

“
Hey, son, excited?”

“
Sure am, where’s mom and everybody?”

“
Pro shop. Ryan wanted a new jersey and Amelia needs a new one, too.” Shea smiled as he came over, leaning against the edge with his father.

“
You still like these seats, right, pop? I can get you another box if you don’t like these.”

“
I love these, son, let it be.” Shea nodded, looking down at the ice he would be playing on in a matter of hours. He looked over by the penalty box, where Elli would be sitting and smiled before looking over at his father who was staring at him.

“
You alright, pop?”

“
Fine, son,” he said with a nod and grin, “Your mother was wondering what girl we would be subjected to tonight.”

“
No one,” Shea said with a shake of his head as he went to the bar, getting a bottle of water.

“
Oh, really?”

“
Yeah.”

“
That’s unlike you.”

“
Pop, I haven’t been with anyone since, what was her name...Alyssa?”

“
Really? That was game four of the quarterfinals.”

“
Yeah, my priorities are changing.”

“
Good, your mother will be happy to hear that.” Mark came around the bar, grabbing himself a beer, then he smiled “Who is she?” Shea laughed, he couldn’t get one past his father if he tried.

“
Her name is Elli.”

“
Elli, short for anything?”

“
Eleanor.”

“
Nice, how long?”

“
Two weeks.”

“
Oh, I thought she came sooner.”

“
I wish she had, she’s amazing, pop. A real gem.” Mark nodded with a smile on his face. Shea knew his father wanted nothing more for Shea than to be happy outside the rink, not with a different woman every night.

“
She didn’t want to sit up here? Please don’t tell me she doesn’t like hockey!” Shea laughed, shaking his head.