Not as if he’d ever wanted to anyway.

But that was all starting to change.

“Hey, Shea.”

He didn’t even hear her arrive, but when he turned to look at her, his tongue almost fell out of his mouth. She was wearing shorts, and his eyes went up and down her legs. God, she had beautiful legs. He got up, smiling down at her.

“Hey Elli, didn’t hear you come up.” She smiled sweetly at him. She had her camera hanging around her neck. She was wearing a pink shirt with a cardigan over it. Her hair was pulled to the side, curls falling down her shoulders, with a pink bow holding her bangs out of the way. She was spectacular.

“Am I late?” she asked, nervously. She was flushed, her cheeks so pink against her pale skin.

“No, not at all,” he said with a grin as he handed her coffee, “I’m just always early.” She smiled and sat down beside him, taking a drink of her coffee.

“Mmm.”

With that sound, his gaze slid to her mouth. She had a beautiful mouth, with a cupid’s bow and bright pink lips. He noticed that her lips were naturally that color, as she was only wearing lip gloss.

“Thank you. It’s wonderful,” she said. He tore his gaze from her lips, looking into her eyes. He had never seen a more magnificent shade of green. How could someone’s eyes be so green?

“You’re welcome,” he answered, taking a large drink of his coffee without taking his eyes off of her. “So how did the pictures come out last night?”

“Great. I got one of Amelia. Oh my stars, it is beautiful! Her eyes are so bright in the picture. I emailed it to Grace so she could see.”

“Awesome. She probably emailed me, but I’m so bad about that kind of stuff.”

“Bad about what kind of stuff?” she asked.

“Checking emails, sending emails, invoices, etc. That’s why I have an assistant, even if it is just my sister.”

Elli giggled before giving him a pointed look. “By the way, Mr. Adler, my fee was only $500.”

Shea gave her a forgiving smile. He knew his smile was lethal when it came to women, but for the first time he actually wanted to make this female smile.

“Maybe I thought that fee was too small. You were at the party the whole time.”

“So? I know my fee. I’ve been doing this for a while.”

It was the perfect opening to get to know her better.

“How long?” he asked.

“I’ve been taking pictures for forever, but I’ve had my business for the past seven years.”

“Seven years? So how old were you when you started?”

“21.”

She was only a year younger than him. “So you’re 28?”

“27, my birthday is in a few months.”

“Cool. What did you do before starting your business?”

“I went to school.”

“What school?”

“What, are you trying to see if I’m qualified to teach you?” she asked with a grin. He smiled.

“Nah, I know you are qualified. I looked at your stuff online. I’m just making conversation.”

A small smile crossed her lips as she looked down at her cup, using her fingers to play with the straw.

“Oh, well, I went to the Art Institute of Nashville. Did you go to school?”

“I did, I went to UM in Boston.”

“Did you grow up in Boston?”

“I did, and you grew up here.”

“Yup, I’m a southern girl to the core.”

He smiled and nodded. She was so easy to talk to.

“What did you go to school for?” Elli asked in her charming thick accent.

“To play hockey.” She smiled as he laughed, “I got a scholarship to play, and then I got drafted to the NHL.”

“Did you graduate?”

“Nope, I really only went for hockey. That’s all I wanted to do.”

“What happens when you retire?” she asked.

“I will probably become a coach. I want to teach kids how to play.”

“Just kids? What about adults?”

“Nah, adults are drama queens. I love kids.” They both laughed.

Leaning back on his forearms, he realized he felt warm inside and out. It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day, and he was spending it with a beautiful girl.

“Have you always wanted to be a photographer?”

She hesitated before saying, “Yeah, I guess. I love what I do.”

“You are good at what you do.”

“Thank you, that means a lot.” He nodded, sipping on his coffee.

“Are you an only child?” he asked.

“Oh, no. I have two older brothers and an older sister.”

“So you’re the baby?” he said with a teasing grin.

“Yes, and they seem to remind me of that every single day,” she said with a sad smile.

Okay, so family is a touchy subject, Shea thought.

“You mentioned nieces and nephews yesterday?”

Elli lit up, flashing Shea a huge smile. He had never seen anything so beautiful. Not even Amelia was as beautiful as Elli’s smile. It lit up her whole face. Watching her eyes glaze over with happiness, Shea vowed to himself that he wanted to make her smile like that every day.

“Oh, yes. I have three nephews and three nieces.”

“Wow, that’s a lot of kids.”

“Yeah, they are amazing. I love them so much.”

“Yeah, I can tell by the way your face lights up when you talk about them.” She blushed, looking down at her hands.