Taking Shots (Assassins)

by Toni Aleo

  Taking Shots

  Toni Aleo

  © 2011 Toni Aleo. All rights reserved.

  ISBN 978-1-105-11487-8

  For my hockey player,

  Because he makes me feel like the most beautiful woman in the world:

  Michael

  Chapter 1

  Eleanor “Elli” Fisher didn’t understand why she was so forgetful. She was convinced that if her ass wasn’t attached to her, she would forget that, too, but really? How in the world did she forget all the bulbs for her light stands! Elli stood in the entrance of the Luther Arena, waiting for Harper Allen, her assistant, to bring the bulbs back from her studio on the western side of Nashville. This was one of the most important days of her career and she forgot the bulbs.

  God, she was an idiot.

  How did she manage this? She ran her hand through her unruly brown curly hair, sighing. She was having a bad hair day to top things off. As if forgetting the bulbs weren’t enough. This was her first year with the Nashville Assassins. She couldn’t blow it. Being chosen to be the photographer for a hockey team was huge, but when it was for the team that just won the Stanley Cup and had the prospect of winning again? Hello, it was HUGE.

  When she saw Harper running into the arena with the bulbs in hand, she let out a breath. Damn that was fast.

  “For Christ sakes! It’s a mad house out there!” she complained in her thick Southern accent. Her hair was in spikes this week, and purple to top it off. Didn’t she discuss with Harper how they needed to keep a professional image? Yes, purple was a team color, but still!

  “I know, come on. Let’s go put the bulbs in.” She didn’t have time to have it out with Harper right now, she had to get to the ice. They all but ran towards the entrance to the ice. Once there, she was greeted by the Assassins’ PR.

  “Ms. Fisher, how do you do! Are you ready?”

  Melody Yates was intense. That was the only way Elli could explain her. She was from Jersey, converted into a Southerner, which made no damn sense to Elli, but whatever, this was her boss, so she grinned extra hard, turning on her Southern charm.

  “Yes, ma’am. Let my assistant put these bulbs in and we can get started.”

  “Good, the boys will be out soon. Then we’ll go downstairs for the other shots we need.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Harper ran ahead and started setting everything up. Elli took in a deep breath. She had been doing weddings almost her whole adult life, and now she was moving to sports, something she has been wanting to do all along, since she had such a love for hockey but never could get the opportunity. But thanks to being related to the owner of the Assassins, here she was.

  Here was her chance.

  Harper handed Elli her camera with a big smile. Harper knew how important this day was and also how nervous Elli was.

  “Go on over there and let me test shoot, Harp.” Harper started towards the goal and turned with a stick in her hand, making a stern face. It brought a smile to Elli’s face, Harper was a dork, but God, Elli loved her. After fixing the aperture on her camera, Elli called Harper over as the guys started coming on the ice.

  “Good golly, Miss Molly. Look at them! Good Lord! They are gorgeous!” Harper whispered as all the guys came out and sat on the bench. Elli took her time looking the guys over, too. They were gorgeous, but she already knew that, since she never missed a home game. Sometimes she thought it was the uniforms: bright purple and black, with a masked man on the front as the emblem that brought out their good looks, but nope, even with the helmets off these men were just plain gorgeous.

  Getting back in the zone, she called for the coaches first. Trying to bottle her nerves, she got started. After shooting the coaches, it was on to the team. Each guy came out in front of the goal, taking their pose. Elli zoomed in, taking shots of their heads. Then they held a stick. After taking that picture, they lined up for an action shot, which consisted of them skating towards her, shooting a puck. During all this, Harper gave commentary.

  “For the love of God, El, that dude is hot!” Elli rolled her eyes, taking the shots she needed.

  “Hush, Harp.”

  “No, really, like, please can I hit on one of them, just one?”

  “No.”

  “You’re no fun.”

  Elli laughed it off. She was starting to get comfortable just as the alternate captains and the captain came off the bench.

  “Oh, the hell with what you say, number two is mine after this.” Elli gave her a pointed look as Jakob Titov, the Assassins’ leading scoring forward, skated in front of the goal. Jakob was extremely good looking, hard lines to his face, bright green eyes, and blonde hair. He was a looker, but not Elli’s type. He reminded her too much of Justin, her ex.

  “Hush, Harper!” Elli said as she took the shots she needed. What she didn’t need was Jakob making eyes at her assistant, because, of course, Harper returned them. She didn’t know why it always bothered her so much that Harper always flirted with the clients. It didn’t matter how old they were or what they looked like, or even if they were the groom, she always found something in them she liked, probably the fact that they all had a penis.

  Elli loved Harper, but she was a little promiscuous and she didn’t care who knew. Guys had no worth to her unless they were naked and inside her, as she always said. Elli always wondered what made Harper that way, since it made no sense. There had never been a guy that hurt her or anything in the twenty two years they had been friends. Her parents were good people, so Elli really didn’t understand where it came from. And, of course, guys liked Harper. She was wild, beautiful, skinny, amazing.

  Everything Elli wasn’t.

  Jakob lined up, giving her his action shot. After she got it, instead of him skating towards his teammates, he came towards Elli and Harper.

  “Nice hair, beautiful,” he said in his thick Russian accent. Harper just smiled widely, as Elli flushed deep red. Elli didn’t know why she was embarrassed, but she was. She didn’t want attention on Harper right now, not with how important this job was.

  “Nice stick,” Harper said, looking down at where he was holding his stick. Jakob gave her a devilish smile and skated towards the bench.

  “You are impossible, Harper Allen,” Elli said, flustered. After getting it together, next came Alex Welch. Alex was easy to shoot. He had good lines, so the pictures came out fabulous. Next was the captain, Shea Adler.

  Elli blushed as she got to the close up of Shea. She had always thought the defenseman was gorgeous. With his almost black hair that fell in the brightest, bluest eyes she had ever seen, and with his crooked nose that had been broken two years ago during a game with the Red Wings, she had to admit, she had a little bit of a crush on him. He smiled and her heart melted. Yeah, his teeth were probably fake, but damn he had a pretty mouth.

  “Why’s he blinking so much?” Harper asked. Elli was too busy looking at his mouth to notice.

  “Harp, shut up,” she whispered, but then she noticed too that the captain was blinking a little too much.

  “Is he hitting on you?”

  “Oh, my God!” Elli’s whole face blushed deep red as she looked down at the picture viewer of her camera. In all the pictures, the captain’s eyes were shut. Elli looked up, and Shea was rubbing his eyes. “Mr. Adler,” she said as she started walking towards him. He looked over at her. “I’m sorry, but I need you to stop blinking. Your eyes are closed in every picture I have taken.”

  “I’m sorry,” Oh God, his voice was butter, thick with a Boston accent. Elli swore she came at the sound of it. “I got new contacts and they are bugging the hell out of me.”

  “Someone get Adler another pair!” someone yelled as he pinched the little lenses out of his eye
s, throwing them down on the ice.

  “We can do this without them, right?” Elli just nodded. Gosh, he was gorgeous as he tried to make eye contact with her. And it was obvious that it was hard for him to see. “I won’t be able to see your beautiful face for a little bit, but I’ll have a new pair soon. Then I can stare some more.” Elli just stood there blinking. Was he flirting with her? Did he just call her beautiful?

  She turned without a word and went back to work. When it came time for Shea Adler to skate off, he ran into the goal, then the wall, before making it to the bench. Everyone was in a fit of laughter except for Elli. She was still in shock.

  Shea Adler had called her beautiful.

  After the shoot downstairs, which consisted of the guys in sexy suits, Harper and Elli started cleaning up and tearing down. Elli didn’t hire big crews, didn’t like them. All she needed was Harper and two other assistants and she was good. The day had gone good. All the shots had come out great and once she edited them, they would be golden. The guys were amazing and sweet, not really as cocky as the sports reporters make them sound. They were good guys.

  Elli was packing up her camera when she saw Jakob Titvo coming towards her. He gave her a grin before going to where Harper was standing. She watched as he flirted, hard, with Harper, who was, of course, playing hard to get, something she has perfected. Jakob pulled his phone out as she pulled hers out. They were exchanging numbers. He asked her something and Harper just giggled and then leaned forward, giving him a kiss on his cheek.

  Jakob put his hand on his heart before stepping backwards, a dazed look on his face, causing Harper to laugh. He shot her a wave as he left with his bag over his shoulder. Harper smiled and looked over at Elli.

  “He’ll call when he gets in the car,” she said, as she walked towards Elli with the rods from the light stands.

  “How do you know? He said that?”

  “Nope, but I know his type--needy.”

  The sad thing was that Harper was probably right. Elli looked down at her camera, taking care to put it away. As she zipped the zipper to her purple and black bag (yes, team colors), she cursed herself for being shy and stupid with guys. When Shea said she was beautiful, she should have said something clever. That’s what Harper would do, but, nope, she just stood there blinking, looking downright stupid.

  Elli knew the problem. It was her confidence issue. She didn’t think she was good enough for male attention. She wouldn’t say she was plus sized, but she was thick. She wasn’t a size two anymore. Nope, good ole ten now. The sad thing was that she hadn’t even had any kids yet. Yes, she did have a thyroid problem, but still, that was seven years ago and she still wasn’t able to get the weight off. It didn’t matter if she had great fashion sense. Guys didn’t hit on her the way they did when she was a size two. It was depressing because Elli was lonely.

  She would never admit it to anyone, but she wanted that happily ever after. She always put on this front that she liked being alone, didn’t need a man, but it was such a lie. She wished she could be like her sister Victoria. Victoria loved being single, loved sleeping with different men. Elli just couldn’t do it. It was so private and with the way she felt about her body, no one was getting her undressed until she knew she loved them and they loved her.

  After packing everything on the carts, they started pushing them down the hall towards the car. After three trips, they had everything packed, so they started walking towards their cars when Harper’s phone rang, Elli didn’t even stay back to listen. She kept walking with a wave to Harper as she cooed into the phone.

  Once in her F-150 (hey, trucks aren’t just for boys), she drove off towards the west end of Nashville to get on the interstate. She’d planned to ask Harper if she could stay the night with her since she was stupid tired and didn’t want to drive for forty five minutes, but since it looked like Harper was gonna be busy, she decided to go home. Elli hit the interstate, preparing herself for the drive. It was probably good that she was going home. She had forgotten to call Ally, her neighbor, to let the dog out.

  When Elli had bought the old country home outside of Nashville five years ago, it had seemed like a great idea. The studio had been open for two years. It was thriving and she wanted a home, not some apartment or condo. So she bought it, didn’t even look at anything else. This was the house for her. After five years, it wasn’t the old country home she had bought, it was a masterpiece. Everything was redone, the décor classic and beautiful. Whenever Elli’s dad came to visit, he would always say that it was like he was standing in sunshine because it was so bright. She smiled just thinking of her home. She was proud of both her studio and house. They showed she was doing something with her life, that she didn’t need her family’s money, that she was successful after losing her stint on Broadway, and that she could live without Justin.

  She pulled into her round driveway, grabbing all her bags. Even before getting to the door, she heard her pug running down the hall, and then the barking started.

  “I know, Adler. I’m home, darling, hold on.” Elli opened the door and her forty pound pug attacked her, well, tried to anyways. She laughed as she threw her keys in the basket by the door, before bending down to her puppy, who was struggling to breathe.

  “Oh, my goodness, Adler, honey, breathe, darling.” Elli petted him until he calmed down, kissed the top of his head, and then locked the door as her house phone rang. She didn’t answer it, since it would be her mother, and Elli was not in the mood to talk to her. After the machine picked it up and her mother’s voice rang over the machine, telling her to call her, she pushed delete before going to the kitchen for some dinner. She decided on a frozen dinner, since she didn’t feel like cooking, and went to get her laptop while it heated up.

  Elli walked through her bright yellow living room. She always loved the décor in here. The yellow accenting the black wrap around couches that had yellow throw pillows that matched the walls. 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 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 three thousand shots of the Assassins, good amount, lots of work ahead of her. She inhaled her frozen pasta meal, realizing she was hungrier than she thought as she looked over the pictures. They were good shots, real good. Only a few were crappy. But with Photoshop, she could fix them with no problem.

  As she went from picture to picture, Elli stopped at Shea Adler’s pictures. Gosh, he was so stinking gorgeous. He had the most amazing eyes she’d ever seen. They were such a gorgeous shade of blue, so bright, and so happy. He probably had a beautiful girlfriend at home, with 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, it was breathtaking, really. The suit was black with a purple vest underneath and 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 always came back to the pictures of Shea, looking at his beautiful eyes, his hard body, wishing 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 along with Shea’s dog. 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 happened that
day at the photo shoot the Assassins’ had.

  “I can’t stand it when I get new contacts. They eff my eyes all to hell. God, it was so embarrassing, Grace, so embarrassing.”

  His twin sister laughed on the other end 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. The kind of eyes that when he looked into them, he lost his breath, something that had never happened to him.

  “Who is she?” Grace asked with a knowing voice, “Hopefully not some dumb blonde bimbo that 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. The last chick, Marie, you bought her a diamond necklace!”

  “Because I cheated on her with her sister and she threatened to kill herself because she loved me so much!”

  “Oh, yeah. Well anyway, who is she?”

  “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.”

  “What the hell, Shea, you’re 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.’”