“No, I’m not taking anyone. Why?”

Harper looked nervous, which made Elli smile. Harper never got nervous; what she was about to ask must be about Jakob.

“Can I go with you?”

“Sure!” Elli practically 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 pretzels and all kinds of stuff!!” Elli was practically jumping up and down.

“Whoa, calm down,” Harper nonchalantly said, but Elli knew she was excited, too.

“What time are you going?”

“The game is at 7:00, so I wanted to get there at 6:00 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. She looked back over her shoulder with a grin, telling Elli that she was just as excited but refused to show anyone. Harper was weird like that, but Elli loved her just the same.

Elli went back to separating pictures until 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, you do?” he asked with a chuckle. She smiled.

“Like what?”

“Well, I have my tee on right now, over my patched up jeans, with my Assassins’ undies, 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, and 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’s smile fell, 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 me?”

“No, but 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 had been horrific all in itself. She wasn’t ready for that, she was still scared Shea would reject her, and she didn’t need the added 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 you, 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 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.