Taking Shots (Assassins)

by Aleo, Toni

  “Elli, he is gorgeous,” Piper gushed, “I mean way hotter than Justin.”

  “I know, I can’t believe it, either,” Elli laughed as Shea skated around. They were talking about his no goals in the past three games, which was nothing really, he was having a cold streak, he would pick it up in no time.

  “Oh, I can, it’s about time,” Reese said. Elli looked over at her.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean that it’s about damn time that you realized that you deserve a hunky man, because darlin’, you’re beautiful.” Elli blushed, as Shea went off the screen.

  “Whatever Reese, hush,” Elli giggled as she looked back at the laptop, bringing up her pictures. Harper started giggling beside her, which made Reese and Piper come look, too.

  “Oh, my goodness! You look so hot, El.” Elli shook her head. She thought she was pretty, but not smoking like Harper had been. Reese had made her eyes smoky, making the green of her eyes stand out a lot more than usual, and had also put bright red lip stick on her lips. Her hair was up in a very intricate up do, with a white blossom on the side of her head. In the picture, she was wearing a purple get up, lace covered her belly as the bra made her natural Cs turned to double Ds. The panties were cute little lace boy shorts, and, to top the outfit off, a beautiful pair of purple Manolo Blahnik pumps that had a diamond studded heel. In the picture she was laying on her back, with her legs crossed showing off the heel of the pumps, and her arms crossed under her head, looking at the camera with a come hither kind of look.

  Elli had to admit, she was cute.

  “You do, El, gosh look at them legs! They go on for days!” Piper gushed, as Harper just grinned looking through the various poses she had put Elli in. Standing, sitting, open legged, which was all messed up since Elli started laughing because she felt so stupid.

  “Perfection Elli, I’m so proud, let’s pick some out!” Harper exclaimed. Elli went along with it, knowing damn well Shea would never see these pictures. He would laugh his ass off; skinny girls did this, not chunky ones that had cellulite on their legs. “I know your staring at your legs Elli, they look amazing, so shut up.” Elli cut her best friend a look and kept on looking through the pictures, only picking seven poses out of the thirty-two they had taken. Jakob was gonna get an email full of pictures since Harper had picked out almost thirty pictures, and all of them were amazing and he would love them.

  “The game is starting,” Piper said, Elli looked up just as the puck dropped.

  “Are you going to send the pictures to Shea now, Elli?” Elli shook her head, keeping her eyes on the screen.

  “I will later,” she lied as she shut the computer.

  “Well, give me the computer; I want Jakob to have his when he gets back to the hotel tonight.”

  “Sure,” Elli said handing the computer over to her, and getting comfortable in Shea’s couch. She called Adler over, and he cuddled up under her feet before promptly falling asleep while the girls watched the game. Shea was doing so good tonight, knocking people into the boards and shooting the hell out of the puck. There were thirty-two shots on goal and he had to be twenty of them! He was doing so good! She was so proud!

  “All done,” Harper said, laying Elli’s computer down during the third period. Elli paid her no mind, watching as finally Shea’s puck made it passed the goalie, getting him his first goal in three games!

  “Yes!” Elli gushed, throwing her arms in the air, causing Adler to fly off the couch and run to his bed in the kitchen. She should of felt bad, but she didn’t, she was too happy for Shea. She loved seeing his big ole’ hockey-grin as he hugged his teammates, before making his way back to the bench.

  “God, he is pretty,” Piper basically moaned.

  “Pretty freaking hot,” Reese added as the camera crew did a close up as Shea’s beautiful face. He was sweating something crazy, and he had that in the zone look, something Elli loved.

  “I have to admit, he is,” Harper agreed, Elli’s grin took up her whole face, before she looked over at the three girls who were watching the screen.

  “And he is all mine.”

  “I’m so proud of you! You did so great tonight!” Elli gushed while Shea stood in the terminal waiting for the team bus to pull up. He grinned as she went on about how amazing he played that night, which he had. He was in the game now, thanks to Grace.

  “Thanks baby, I’m so glad that shot went in though, I was sucking for a minute there.”

  “You sucking? Never,” she reassured, “You’re the best of the best!”

  “Gosh, whenever I’m down, I’ll know who to call huh?”

  Elli giggles rang over the line and he wished he was with her, holding her close to him. “I miss you, babe.”

  “Aw Shea, I miss you more. What are you doing?”

  “Waiting to board this damn bus to go up to Anaheim for the game tomorrow. I’m already sick of the hotels.”

  “Aw, poor baby. What can I do to make it better?” she cooed in the phone, making it a little tighter in his jeans. God, just her voice drove him nuts.

  “Oh, baby, don’t ask to do things to make it better in less you’re going to follow through.”

  She giggled, and he smiled, “Who said I wouldn’t follow through?”

  “Fine, get on the first plane out and meet me in Anaheim.”

  “Now we both know I can’t do that.”

  “Well, that’s what would make it better, you being in my arms. In my bed, for that matter.”

  “Shea Adler! You naughty man, you.” He laughed, and closed his eyes, imaging her standing right in front of him, her big green eyes looking up at him with her arms wrapped around his waist, pressing her body to his. “Plus, what would we do with Jakob?”

  “Kick his ass out,” he scoffed as she giggled.

  “We only have seven more days.”

  “It seems like a life time away.”

  “Yeah, it does,” she agreed just as the bus pulled up.

  “Shit babe, I gotta go. The bus is here, do you want me to call you when I get to the hotel?”

  “No, call me in the morning before you go to practice. I have an early morning so I’ll be up, I’m going to bed.”

  “Alright, baby, I miss you, oh did you get my email? The playlist?”

  “I did, thank you, I do miss you more Shea.”

  “I don’t think so, but hey listen to number eight, that’s how I’m feeling right now.”

  “Home, by Blake Shelton? I’ve already listen to the list four times Shea, I know it all.” He smiled, feeling good that she enjoyed his list and emails, “I want you home just as much as you want to be here. Get some rest hot stuff, goodnight.”

  “Goodnight baby,” Shea said as he hit end, and walked towards the bus. Everyone was loading up, grins everywhere since they had won. He felt good, a win, a goal, and a goodnight call from his girl.

  Life was good.

  When the bus pulled up to the Hilton, Shea should have known that Jakob would start bitching. “I wanted to stay at Disneyland!” he complained as they walked off the bus, taking their room cards from the receptionist that stood at the door waiting for them.

  “Jakob, we’re here for a night, why does it matter where we sleep?”

  “Cause I like Disney. I wanted to see Mickey!”

  “You’re hopeless, dude,” Shea said with a laugh as they walked towards the elevators. “I’m so damn tired.”

  “Me, too, good game though.”

  “It was,” he agreed as they loaded the elevator with a couple of the other guys, heading up to the floor that held their rooms. After getting off the elevator and entering their room, Shea promptly made his way into the bathroom since he had won the coin toss to take a shower first back in the locker room. After getting all cleaned up and shaved since Coach had bitched about the up keep of his face, he came out to see Jakob gawking at his computer.

  “You alright, Jake?”

  “No, dude. I can’t show you, because that wo
uld be rude. But let’s just say Harper took some pictures for me,” he whistled through his teeth, “Some hot pictures.”

  Shea laughed as he put a shirt on, “That’s nice, I guess,” he said, and he had to admit, he envied Jakob. He doubt Elli would ever do that for him and if she did, he would probably have a heart attack. Maybe he would ask her to do it for him, since having something he could look at every night before going to bed would probably help him sleep a lot better. Jakob got up, taking his computer into the bathroom with him and Shea laughed as he shook his head. It didn’t take a lot to guess what Jakob was up too.

  After getting under the covers, he brought his laptop out of his bag, and loaded it up. He wanted to send Elli an email before bed, so when she checked it in the morning it would bring a smile to her face. He also wanted to send one to Ryan, since Ryan loved getting email’s from him. When the computer loaded up with a cute picture of him kissing Elli’s cheek, her eyes bright with excitement, he clicked on his email, and waited for it all to load.

  He heard the shower start up just as his email came up saying he had mail. He clicked his inbox and saw it was from Elli, with a title of ‘For you’. He clicked the email, and then clicked the attachment for it to download as he read the message.

  Miss you a lot, hope you enjoy.

  Love, Elli.

  Love? Hmm. Should he read into that, or was that just a simple closing? When the computer ding saying his attachment was downloaded, a picture of Elli in a bright purple lingerie came up and Shea’s jaw dropped.

  Holy Shit.

  Chapter 18

  Elli had woken up early and went for a run before heading into work. She felt refreshed and ready for the day; she had a full morning, and hoped that Shea would call before things got crazy. Elli had two newborn sessions that morning, and then two weddings late that night. She would have had the assistants cover the newborn shoots, but the two women requested her since she had done their engagement, weddings, and pregnancy pictures, so of course Elli obliged. She was walking into the studio when her phone rang; it was Shea, which surprised her, since it was six where he was.

  “Hey!”

  “Are you trying to kill me, Eleanor Fisher?” Elli stopped where she was, turning the lights on.

  “Um, no, why?”

  “What did you think was going to happen when I opened an email from my beautiful girlfriend in nothing but lace?”

  Air rushed out of Elli as she braced herself against the doorframe.

  Harper! She was gonna kill her!

  “I mean, hot damn, baby, I was hard all night! Couldn’t sleep at all!”

  “Oh…sorry?”

  “Oh, hell no, don’t be sorry, you are just lucky we are over 2,000 miles away from each other, cause if not, I would have you on your back so damn fast your head would spin.”

  “Jesus, Shea!” she laughed, but she did get a little hot.

  “No baby, really, I’ve been staring at the damn pictures for hours, I even put them on my phone. You’re so freaking hot baby, so hot.”

  Okay so maybe she wouldn’t kill Harper…but she would cuss her out, “I’m glad you like ‘em, I wasn’t sure about sending them to you.”

  “What?! Why not?”

  “Cause I didn’t know if you would like ‘em.”

  “Like them? Baby, I love them.”

  “Well, then good.”

  “Yes, good. Oh god, I’ve been waiting all night to call you.”

  “You’re crazy.”

  “Crazy about you, babe, thank you, jeez, thank you.”

  “Hush! You’re making me blush!” she giggled as she listen to him breathe heavily into the phone. “What are you doing? Shouldn’t you be asleep?”

  “No, I needed to call you.”

  “You’re impossible, call me later.”

  “You hush; tell me about what you have planned today, are you busy?”

  “Yeah, really busy actually. It seems no one wants to do anything during the week now. It’s always like this in the winter months.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “The winter hours are always hard. I’m busy on the weekend with outside work but on the weekdays, it’s slow. I’ve been home around seven every night.”

  “Figures, I leave and you’re home at a decent hour now.”

  “I know.”

  “So, hell, you’re done by six? That’s crazy.”

  “No, I’m done by seven.”

  He was quiet for a moment, then said “But I thought you said you were home by seven, I’m sorry, it is early, but what are you doing, babe, flying home?”

  Shit, shit, shit.

  “Um, well, I’ve been staying at your place,” she began, “but I mean, I could start going back home if that’s a problem, it’s just been easier and I kinda miss you a lot and being at your house helps, I know that’s crazy, that I am basically living in your house, and I mean we haven’t even had that kind of conversation about it, and I’m sorry I didn’t tell you-”

  “Jesus, Elli, it’s too early for you to ramble,” he laughed as she felt even more incompetent. God, why didn’t she tell him sooner, or even better, why didn’t she go home! Be a big girl for once! “Baby, you staying at the condo is wicked awesome. At least I know my bed is staying warm for me, and I mean if you want to move in that’s fine with me, I love coming home to you.”

  Wow, she didn’t see that coming.

  She actually dropped down in the chair by the desk, trying to control her breathing. Was this really happening?

  “Really?”

  “Yeah, I love the thought of you and Adler living in my house when I’m gone and definitely when I’m there.”

  “What about my house?”

  “We can live there, too; when we want to get away we’ll go to your house. I’ll bring some clothes over, and you can bring some to my house. We can do the exact thing we were doing when I was home, stay at both places.”

  He made it seem so easy.

  The door opened and in came her first appointment, and she wasn’t even ready.

  Shit.

  “Shea, I gotta go, my first appointment is here. Call me after the game?”

  “Sure, babe, thanks again. Have a good day.”

  “You, too, bye,” then she added “I miss you!”

  He laughed, before saying, “I miss you more, babe.”

  Elli hung up her phone, putting the hugest smile in the world of her face since she was unprepared for her first appointment, something that never had happen before.

  “Hey, Amber, Peyton! Let me see her!” she gushed, going over to the little bundle of pink Amber was holding.

  “Here she is Elli, Charlotte Ann.”

  “Oh god, Amber, she’s beautiful.” Elli meant it, the baby had the softest, most beautiful skin, no red splotches or anything, just clear skin, she was gonna photograph well.

  “Thank you,” Amber beamed. Peyton stood beside her, in full proud daddy mode.

  “Y’all did good,” Elli gushed as she moved away trying to get things set up, “Excuse me guys, my boyfriend is away right now, and I’m running a little behind since he called this morning.”

  “Oh girl, you’re fine!” Amber gushed, with a wave of the hand, “I was gonna feed her anyways.”

  “Awesome.”

  As she prepared for the baby, all Elli could think about was Shea asking her to move in. Was he serious? Wasn’t it too early? What the hell was he thinking?

  Well, hells bells.

  The next couple of days were extremely busy, Elli didn’t even have time to talk to Shea much, nevertheless think about the fact that he had asked her to move in with him. That was probably best since she would analyze it all to hell. After cleaning the hell out of the condo and running the following Monday morning, her phone rang, she didn’t recognize the number, but answered anyways.

  “Hello?”

  “Hey Elli, its Grace.”

  “Oh, hey Grace!”

  “Hey girl, I was just ca
lling to check in with you, see how are you doing?”

  “Good, how are you?”

  “Good, thanks for asking. What’s your day look like?”

  “It’s looking pretty bleak. My assistant is running the studio today, so I was gonna clean and run errands.”

  “Well that works out for me, want to do lunch and shoe shopping? I need a new pair of pumps for dinner with my parents Friday. They flew in last night so I have someone to keep the kids while we are out.”

  “Wow, sure! I would love to.”

  The thought of Shea’s parents in town made her nervous, but it wasn’t like she would run into them, in less they came to his condo! Shit! Maybe she would go home? Crap.

  “Awesome, want to meet up at the Mexican restaurant on third?”

  “Sure, sounds awesome.”

  “Cool school, and don’t worry, I won’t bring my parents. I’ll let Shea do the introductions!”

  “Oh, thank God! Thank you!” Elli said relieved, while Grace just laughed.

  “No problem, see you soon!”

  When one goes to lunch with her boyfriend’s sister, what the hell does she wear? It was all Elli could think about as she stood in front of the eight outfits she had at Shea’s condo, she really needed to go get more. She decided she would do that after spending the day with Grace, even though that meant she was basically moving in, which was weird. Wasn’t it too early? They had only been together two months.

  Well, hell, who knew?

  She threw on a pair of jeans and a cute little red tee, going for the lazy chic look, since she put on a pair of her D&G black pumps to top the outfit off. She was in the middle of curling her hair when he phone rang, it was Shea.

  “Hey, baby,” he said, when she put him on speaker phone.

  “Hey you! You make it to Columbus yet?”

  “I did, its freaking cold, that’s why I’m staying inside while everyone else went shopping. What are you doing?”

  “Getting ready. I’m going to lunch and to shop with Grace.”

  “Awesome, I’m glad you guys are hanging out.”