Shea went straight to them, taking Amelia from him, kissing her loudly on the cheeks. She squealed in delight, kissing Shea right back.

“Hey Shea,” James said. Shea smiled over at him. He had always liked James. He was a good man, treated his sister well, and was a great father. What more could Shea ask for?

“Hey, man, how are you doing?”

“Good. Amelia has been a terror about going to bed, though. I feel so bad for Grace. She’s gotta be tired.”

“I bet she is. The party looks amazing.”

“Like always, she outdoes herself. She’s over there with the photographer.”

Shea snapped his head around so quickly that he was surprised he didn’t give himself whiplash. His beautiful sister was wearing a long flowing pink dress, with her black hair up in a bun, and her big shades over her eyes. She was laughing, and he smiled, but when he looked over at the woman in front of Grace, he lost his breath.

Elli was wearing a beautiful summer dress. Her hair was down in ringlets, her eyes also covered with sunglasses. He knew the color of them, since he had been dreaming about them for the past two days. His eyes drifted down Elli’s body. She wasn’t skinny like most girls Shea went after, but she wasn’t fat. She was curvy, sexy. He started walking without thinking. He was pretty sure James said something, but he was mesmerized by the beauty in front of him.

Right when he was about to reach the two women, Elli walked off towards the playing kids with her camera in hand.

“Shit,” he muttered as Grace grinned up at him, taking Amelia from him.

“She’s not your norm, Shea.”

“No, she’s better,” he said as he watched her follow the kids around, taking pictures. Grace laughed before kissing his cheek.

“I hope something happens between you guys.”

“Oh, it will.”

The party was going beautifully. Grace Justice was one hell of a party planner.

The large brick house was covered in lights, with lanterns hanging above the party. The team colors were everywhere, on every surface. There was lots of stuff for the kids: water slides, games. There was even an area in the flower garden where a real prince and princess were reading stories to the smaller children. For the adults, there was a huge selection of food and drinks. The party was something straight from Los Angeles, in Elli’s opinion.

She was getting great shots: the kids, the teammates, everything. It was so amazing to get to see this inside view of the team. They were such a family. Elli was bending down and taking a picture of the most gorgeous little girl, who happened to be Grace’s daughter, when she felt someone standing behind her.

“I see you’ve found the most beautiful baby girl to take pictures of, Ms. Fisher.” Elli stood up and looked behind her to see Shea Adler looking down at her. She always knew he was tall on his skates, and he was still massive without them. He was such a big man, so strong. Being a defenseman, Elli guessed he had to be huge.

“I did. She’s gorgeous.”

“She takes after her uncle. Right, baby girl?” He scooped the baby up, kissing her loudly on the cheeks.

“Your niece?” Elli asked as she turned off her camera. Then she looked at the two of them together and she could see the family resemblance: the same blue eyes, and the same dark-as-night hair. The baby pushed on his glasses, causing him to laugh as he put them back on his face.

All the commentators on Sports Center made fun of his glasses. They were big, black, and geeky looking, but Elli loved them. She thought he looked geektastic in them.

“So Grace is your sister?” she asked when she found her voice again. Being as close as she was to him was making it hard for her to breathe. He was so gorgeous.

“My twin sister.”

“Wow, I didn’t know. She didn’t mention it.”

“I doubt she talks about me a lot,” he said with a laugh as the baby tried to get down. “Alright, alright. Calm down, Amelia. Go on, baby.” He patted her on the butt as she waddled away. “She’s a busy one. Do you have any kids?”

“Oh, no. Just a lot of nieces and nephews.” He smiled as he looked over at her, his blue eyes focusing on her green eyes. They stood there staring at each other for a minute before his eyes raked over her body, making her nervous.

“It’s a beautiful party.” Elli said breathlessly.

“Yeah. Like always, Grace outdid herself.”

“She did. This is really nice of you, though, having this for the team.”

“Yeah, I’ve done it the past three years, since I became captain. Wavier did it before me.” Elli nodded.

He smiled, and she blushed. God, she was an idiot.

“Wavier was a good captain.”

“He was. I miss his crazy ass,” Shea said with a big smile, “So do you follow hockey?”

“Oh, yes, I love it. I have glass seats right beside the penalty box. I go to every home game.”

“You do?”

“Yup, I’m a big fan.”

“That’s awesome. Is that how you got into sports photography?”

“Kind of. I always bring my camera with me to all the games and take pictures. So when I got the opportunity to shoot for y’all, I jumped on it.”

“You did a great job. I saw my pictures this morning, actually.”

“Oh, thank you.”

He already saw them? She just sent them in yesterday!

“Have you lived in Tennessee your whole life?”