“Baby, you staying at the condo is wicked awesome. At least I know my bed is staying warm for me. And I mean, if you want to move in that’s fine with me. I love coming home to you.”

Wow, she didn’t see that coming.

She actually dropped down in the chair by the desk, trying to control her breathing. Was this really happening?

“Really?”

“Yeah. I love the thought of you and Adler living in my house when I’m gone, and definitely when I’m there.”

“What about my house?”

“We can live there, too. When we want to get away we’ll go to your house. I’ll bring some clothes over, and you can bring some to my house. We can do the exact thing we were doing when I was home, stay at both places.”

He made it seem so easy.

The door opened and in came her first appointment, and she wasn’t even ready.

Shit.

“Shea, I gotta go. My first appointment is here. Call me after the game?”

“Sure, babe, thanks again. Have a good day.”

“You too, bye,” then she added, “I miss you!”

He laughed before saying, “I miss you more, babe.”

Elli hung up her phone, putting the biggest smile in the world on her face since she was unprepared for her first appointment, something that had never happened before.

“Hey Amber, Peyton! Let me see her!” she gushed, going over to the little bundle of pink Amber was holding.

“Here she is, Elli, Charlotte Ann.”

“Oh god, Amber, she’s beautiful.” Elli meant it, the baby had the softest, most beautiful skin. No red splotches or anything, just clear skin. She was going to photograph well.

“Thank you,” Amber beamed. Peyton stood beside her, in full proud daddy mode.

“Y’all did good,” Elli gushed as she moved away, trying to get things set up.

“Excuse me, guys. My boyfriend is away right now, and I’m running a little behind since he called this morning.”

“Oh girl, you’re fine!” Amber gushed, with a wave of the hand, “I was gonna feed her anyway.”

“Awesome.”

As she prepared for the baby, all Elli could think about was Shea asking her to move in. Was he serious? Wasn’t it too early? What the hell was he thinking?

Well, hells bells.

The next couple of days were extremely busy. Elli didn’t even have time to talk to Shea much, or even think about the fact that he had asked her to move in with him. That was probably best since she would analyze it all to hell. The following Monday morning, after cleaning the hell out of the condo,Elli had just finished running when her phone rang. She didn’t recognize the number, but answered anyway.

“Hello?”

“Hey Elli, its Grace.”

“Oh, hey Grace!”

“Hey girl, I was just calling to check in with you, see how are you doing?”

“Good, how are you?”

“Good, thanks for asking. What’s your day look like?”

“It’s looking pretty bleak. My assistant is running the studio today, so I was gonna clean and run errands.”

“Well that works out for me, want to do lunch and shoe shopping? I need a new pair of pumps for dinner with my parents Friday. They flew in last night, so I have someone to keep the kids while we are out.”

“Wow, sure! I would love to.”

The thought of Shea’s parents being in town made her nervous, but it wasn’t like she would run into them, unless they came to his condo! Shit! Maybe she should go home? Crap.

“Awesome, want to meet up at the Mexican restaurant on Third?”

“Sure, sounds awesome.”

“Cool school. And don’t worry, I won’t bring my parents. I’ll let Shea do the introductions!”

“Oh, thank God! Thank you!” Elli said, relieved, while Grace just laughed.

“No problem, see you soon!”

When one goes to lunch with her boyfriend’s sister, what the hell does she wear? It was all Elli could think about as she stood in front of the eight outfits she had at Shea’s condo, she really needed to go get more. She decided she would do that after spending the day with Grace, even though that meant she was basically moving in, which was weird. Wasn’t it too early? They had only been together for two months.

Well, hell, who knew?

She threw on a pair of jeans and a cute little red tee, going for the lazy chic look, with a pair of her D&G black pumps to top the outfit off. She was in the middle of curling her hair when her phone rang. It was Shea.

“Hey, baby,” he said, when she put him on speaker phone.

“Hey you! You make it to Columbus yet?”

“I did. It’s freaking cold, that’s why I’m staying inside while everyone else went shopping. What are you doing?”

“Getting ready. I’m going to lunch and to shop with Grace.”

“Awesome, I’m glad you guys are hanging out.”

“Me too,” Elli gushed as she curled her hair, piece by piece.

“So we haven’t talked much this weekend.”

“I know. I’m sorry I’ve been so busy.”

“I know, but have you thought about what we talked about the other morning?”

Elli laid the curling iron down, since she didn’t want to burn herself in case he said something to shock her. She leaned against the counter, holding the phone in front of her face, staring at the picture of him grinning at her.