She let out a disgusted cry.

“Wonderful. Now if I’m ever in her office, that’s what I’ll imagine.”

“Hey, it was good stuff.”

“Ugh, anyway. When will you be here? Mom is waiting, and she is not happy about it.”

“Sorry, we’ll stay later. Elli’s doing her hair now, we should be out of here in…hey baby, how long you going to be?” he asked Elli.

“Give me 15, I promise I’m hurrying.”

Yeah right, 15 minutes?

“We’ll be over within the hour,” he said instead.

“Fine!” Grace hung up, as he shook his head.

Damn women in his life drove him nuts!

Elli wanted to call Harper, not go to Grace’s house to meet Shea’s parents. She was still on edge from their fight, and from almost throwing away the most amazing man in the world. She just didn’t understand what her problem was, why couldn’t she just let it go? Shea was not going to hurt her. It didn’t matter how many times she told herself that, it still sat in the back of her mind.

Elli wasn’t happy with the way she looked either. She only had time to straighten her hair when she wanted to put big curls in, and she didn’t get to spend much time on her makeup. She just knew Shea’s family was going to think she was an ugly, frumpy, gold digging whore not worthy of their amazing son. She was more nervous about meeting his family than she was about him meeting hers.

Gosh, this sucked.

When they pulled into Grace’s driveway, Shea cut the truck off but didn’t get out. He still had her hand in his, moving his thumb back and forth on the back of her hand as he looked up at Grace’s house. He looked over at her, and she looked at him, nervously.

“Are you nervous?” he asked.

She gave him a shaky smile, “Yeah.”

He smiled back, taking a deep breath.

“I’m not, they’re going to love you. I just hope they don’t embarrass me too much,” he said before kissing the back of her hand and getting out, coming around to the other side to help her out.

Elli really should have rethought the heels. Yes, they were super beautiful, but her feet already hurt, and it was just the beginning of the night. As they made their way up the walkway to the door, Shea held Elli’s hand, running his thumb along the back of her hand. She was starting to think he was lying about not being nervous.

The door opened before they even reached it, and Grace stood with her hands on her hips.

“I mean, people around here do like to eat,” she said with a huff.

“Be quiet. We’re what, 15 minutes late?” Shea asked, kissing her cheek before pulling Elli past her and into the house. Shea let go of her hand when his dad came into the room, with a grin on his face that was as big as Shea’s.

“Hey, Dad!” Shea said, wrapping his arms around his dad, giving him a back slapping hug before pulling back. Shea reached for Elli and she came willingly to his side, smiling up at his dad.

“Dad, this is Elli. This is my dad, Mark.” Elli held out her hand, and Mark took it eagerly, grinning ear to ear at her. Mark was a good looking man, tall like Shea, not thick but not skinny; he was a good healthy size. Shea and Grace must have gotten their nose and eyes from Mark, as all three of them had the same color eyes.

“Hey, how are you?” she asked with a nervous grin.

Mark started laughing, looking over at Shea.

“You weren’t kidding about the country accent, it’s thick,” he looked back at Elli as she turned deep red.

“I’m fine, thank you, and you?”

“Good, thank you.”

“It's about damn time!” Elli turned to see Shea’s mother coming into the room.

Elli had remembered Shea saying that people thought she was Grace’s sister instead of her mother, and it was the truth. She didn’t look a day over 30.

When she set her eyes on Elli, she grinned so fully that Elli thought she was going to be blinded by the whiteness of her teeth.

“Well, hello! I’m Jenna Adler, you must be Elli.”

Elli nodded as Jenna took her hand in hers, shaking it slowly, looking Elli over.

“Yes, ma’am, I am. It’s nice to meet you.”

Jenna grinned widely up at Shea, and Elli saw where Shea got the one dimple from. Jenna had hers on the exact same cheek as he did, and it made Elli smile.

“Shea told us you were Southern, but I wasn’t expecting it to be so thick. I like it, though,” she added quickly.

Elli smiled, “Yes ma’am, I’m country to the core.”

Shea smiled, wrapping his arm around Elli, “I love her accent.”

Both his parents beamed and Elli looked up at him, biting her lip. He smiled down at her, before bringing his finger to her lip, pushing it out of the hold her teeth had it in.

“Obviously. Can we eat now?” Grace snapped. Shea looked over at her, glaring.

“Grace, what’s your deal?”

“I’m freaking hungry!”

“Obviously. God!” Shea complained as he put his hand on the small of Elli’s back and walked into Grace’s dining room as everyone laughed.

They all sat down as the people Grace hired came to bring the food out. Elli slowly slid her shoes off, running her aching feet along the hardwood of Grace’s floor. The floors were so cold that it soothed Elli’s feet and she found herself sighing in pleasure. Shea cut her a questioning look.

“You okay?” he asked, leaning over towards her.