“So why haven’t you told her?”

Jakob was probably the only guy Shea would ever say what he was about to say to, because he knew Jakob wouldn’t laugh, he would support Shea. “Because I’m scared she doesn’t love me.”

Jakob nodded, opening his computer, where a picture of him and Harper smiling looked back at him. Then he shrugged his shoulders as he said, “Well, maybe she’s waiting for you to say it, maybe she is scared too.”

“Maybe, but I’m too chicken shit to put myself out there.”

“Well then, you’ll never know, my friend.”

That was the last thing that was said the whole trip to Phoenix, it seemed the whole plane was a little sullen. There wasn’t the usual chatter; everyone was focused on their computers, or eReaders. So Shea pulled out his computer, opening it, looking at his favorite picture of Elli in the park on their first date. He got his computer out to play a game, but all he could do was stare at Elli’s picture.

It was going to be a long two weeks.

Chapter 17

Having Shea back in Elli’s arms was heaven.

He was so warm and thick. God, she loved holding onto him. She nuzzled her nose into his back. He was a lot hairier than the last time they had been together, but she didn’t care. He was finally in her arms, after she had missed him so much. She took a deep breath in, and then woke up coughing her ass off.

“Adler!” Elli screamed as she pushed Adler out of Shea’s bed, “I’ve told you a billion times! Shea’s bed is not for you! He bought you a bed, now go on!”

Adler gave her a sad doggy look before running down the hall. Elli fell back onto the bed, with her face in her hands.

She was losing it.

Dreaming of Shea, and then thinking Adler, who was laying next to her in bed, was Shea? Pathetic. Elli threw the blankets back and got out of the bed in a huff. After making the bed, she went into the bathroom to shower and get ready for the day. She walked across the room to the closet, getting dressed for the day in a pair of red tweed pants and a black blouse that had red flowers all over it. After strapping her red Jimmy Choo peep toe pumps, she went down the hall towards the kitchen.

She had been doing this for the past week.

In Shea’s condo.

Yup, she hadn’t left.

She had gone home after dropping Shea of at the airport on Sunday, but after sitting in her house all alone for about ten minutes, she found herself packing a bag of clothes and grabbing Adler before high tailing it back to Shea’s condo in Nashville. She felt much less lonely sitting in his house surrounded by all of his stuff.

They talked as much as they could. Elli worked during the day while Shea had games at night, so they were usually talking late at night, into the wee morning hours. With the holidays coming up, Elli’s work schedule was slowing down a little bit. Her weekends were still booked solid, but she had been home by 7:00 every night since Shea had been gone. How ironic. Now that she finally had a man that wants to spend time with her, and she actually had time to be with him, he had to leave for a month.

Elli shook her head as she poured her coffee in one of Shea’s travel mugs. She hadn’t realized that it was going to be this hard to be away from him. They had only been together for two months, but she was acting as if they had been together for ten years or something. Moping around, crying when things would remind her of him, wearing his shirts to bed, and not cleaning up the messes he left just so she could pretend he was still there with her. Whoever coined the phrase ‘Absence makes the heart grow fonder,’ was an idiot.

Absence makes a bitch go crazy.

Elli grabbed Adler’s leash and clipped him to it before going out into the freezing cold weather. Tennessee weather changed so much. One day it would be really hot, and the next day it would be freezing. It didn’t even matter what season it was. It drove Elli crazy, but she would never leave Tennessee; she loved it too much.

Adler was perfectly happy staying at Shea’s, which had surprised Elli. She thought the dog needed a field, but obviously he could do his business wherever and be happy. When he was finished going potty, they headed back upstairs. Elli packed up her things to leave and Adler went to his bed, getting comfy.

“Now you stay out of Shea’s room, stay in your bed, and I’ll be home later. Mommy loves you, bye.”

She locked the door and headed to work. She loved only being ten minutes from the studio. It was great to sleep an extra hour and not having to deal with rush hour traffic in the mornings and evenings. It was a nice change. The only thing she needed was Shea, and then things would be perfect.

The studio was empty when she arrived. Harper would drag her ass in around 12:00, complaining about how not having sex was ruining her life, and then start crying because she just couldn’t cheat on Jakob. She was getting on Elli’s nerves. But being the best friend she was, she dealt with it, holding Harper when she cried or assuring her that the guys would be back before they knew it. It seemed to calm Harper down some, even though it did nothing for Elli. She was convinced that the next seven days were going to drag, just like the first five did.

After turning on the lights and the iHome for some white noise, Elli headed back to her office for her appointment book. She couldn’t remember who she had today, but she did remember someone had scheduled a three hour shoot. She sat at her desk to drink her coffee while waiting for her computer to load. She glanced at the clock; it was almost 9:00. Shea was in Los Angeles, and it was only 7:00 there. She would wait to call, or he would call when he got up.