Start Me Up

"I come bringing a house warming present!"

Tessa rounded the corner to find Craig walking into her apartment holding a box with a waffle maker on the front of it. She raised her eyebrow and asked him, "A waffle maker?"

"Everyone needs a good waffle maker." Craig told her, shrugging his shoulders as he set the box on the kitchen counter.

She smiled gently and asked him, "Is this just your way of saying you're gonna be coming here for breakfasts now?"

"I would not object to you cooking me breakfast on occasion after I was so kind as to buy you this sweet gift." Craig told her with a wide grin that made her chuckle. Tessa took it out of the box and set it by the sink with the rest of the piles of new kitchenware that she needed to wash that night. Craig looked around the living room and kitchen of the apartment and then he told her, "Looks pretty good in here."

Tessa rolled her eyes, "I have a couch, and coffee table."

"So? Up until last month Pekka only had a love seat and like four bean bag chairs for people in his living room. You're doing good so far." Tessa couldn't help but laugh at his comment.

The most she had bought was a couch, a coffee table, a bed and a nightstand. It was all she needed for the time being, especially when she wasn't entirely sure that she would even be staying in Nashville long term. Not that she would tell anyone that.

Craig asked her, "I was thinking... do you want to grab dinner tonight?"

"With you?" Tessa was a little leery of the idea. She didn't know what Shea would think, and frankly while Craig was insanely, and unfairly gorgeous, he wasn't her type at all.

He nodded his head and then he smiled and informed her, "And Roman, maybe Colin."

Tessa let out a chuckle and nodded, but she stated, "Only if we don't do it here."

"What, no welcome to my new place dinner for us single guys?" Craig asked her with a smile.

"Roman isn't single." Tessa reminded him.

"Single, long distance relationship, basically the same thing." Craig responded with a shrug of his shoulders.

Tessa ignored his comment and explained to him, "Pekka's coming over for dinner tomorrow and I don't feel like hosting two nights in a row."

"Wait... like... on a date?" Craig asked her curiously.

She shook her head, "No, not a date. We're going to be spending the whole night talking about how to redesign the master suite in his house."

"Oh, cool." Was all Craig said and it made Tessa raise her eyebrow.

Curiously Tessa asked him, "What if it was a date? What would be wrong with that?"

His cheeks flushed and he was quick to tell her, "No, no nothing at all. It's just... well... I just think you can do better than some guy that's never around. Don't get me wrong, you don't seem like the kind of girl that needs a guy around, but I don't know... relationships are hard enough why make them harder with a career like ours, you know?"

"Is this why you don't have a girlfriend?" Tessa asked him curiously.

She walked into the living room and sat down on the couch, and so Craig followed her and he told her, "I guess. I don't know... it takes a special kind of woman to be able to deal with this kind of career and I just... haven't found her yet."

"One day." Tessa told him, nodding her head to reaffirm her statement.

Craig turned to her, grinned and asked, "And... can we make a pact that if we're both single by the time we're fifty-"

"We kill each other?" Tessa asked him with a smile, and Craig tilted his head back and burst into laughter.

"Deal." He told her with a nod of his head. He then got up from the couch and turned to tell her, "I'm heading out. I'll get Roman to come pick you up, since he's closest to you, say... six thirty?"

"I'll try to be ready." Tessa joked, and he laughed as he left her apartment.

Tessa glanced around the apartment, and then down at her watch which told her it was twenty after two now. So she got up and started on the pile of dishes by the sink, trying to kill some time before she needed to start getting ready. Just as she finished rinsing off the final dish in the sink her cell phone beeped on the counter next to her. So she dried her hands off and picked it up, opening up a text message from Amelia.

You're killing me here. You've been in your new place for days and I have yet to see it. When can I come over?

Tomorrow afternoon?

Ugh, fine make me wait. See you tomorrow.

Tessa laughed, and rolled her eyes at her sister before she put her phone back down on the counter and headed into her bedroom. She pulled the closet doors open and stared at the little amount of clothes she had in it trying to decide what to wear. She wondered if they were going somewhere super casual, or if they had decided on somewhere that was a little nicer. She decided, knowing the guys she was going with, to play it safe and go with something a little more casual. At least, casual for Tessa lately.

She laid the outfit choice down on her bed before she went across the hall to shower and do something with her unruly mop of hair. It may have just been dinner with a group of friends but Tessa knew that between Roman and Colin she or Craig would likely be the under-dressed one. She wanted to at least look semi decent.

She pulled her hair into a twisty bun at the back of her head, pulling a few strands loose around her face and she applied some mascara and a swipe of a nude-pink lipstick before she headed back into her bedroom to get dressed.

She was pulling her boots on when Roman text her to tell her that he was downstairs waiting for her, so she hurried out of the apartment and down the elevator. He was sitting at the curb directly outside the main entrance to the apartment building, and Tessa climbed into the front seat of his SUV and he told her, "Damn, you look good."

Tessa smiled, shrugged her shoulders and said, "Just trying to hold my own around all you pretty faces tonight."

Roman grinned over at her, and he told her as he pulled away from the curb, "You beat us by a land slide any day."

Tessa rolled her eyes at him and she tucked her phone into her purse after putting it on silent for the night. She told Roman, "I met Harper."

"She told me." He told her, and then he smiled and asked, "What'd you think?"

"I think she's very sweet... and her Tavares impression is like... out of this world. Best thing I've ever seen in my entire life and I've watched Shea face plant off of a wakeboard." Tessa told Roman, and he let out a loud laugh at that, no doubt picturing his captain doing a face plant into the water.

He offered up freely to Tessa, "Her and John are pretty close."

"And it doesn't bother you?" She asked him curiously. She wondered if it bothered Amelia how close she and Shea had gotten. Stop it Tessa.

Roman shrugged, "At first yeah, a lot, but who am I to say anything? Now that I know him better, and her a lot better it doesn't bother me at all. I kind of like it, knowing that she has someone else in her life that would keep her safe if I couldn't."

Tessa smiled over at him and told him, "Be careful saying stuff like that, we girls like that kind of stuff."

"You should let Pekka take you out sometime. Like on a date." Roman told her, stopping at a red light.

Tessa turned to him, raised her eyebrow and asked, "Why?"

He shrugged his shoulders, his cheeks flushed as he told her, "Because... something tells me you need someone to show you that it's possible to have a guy treat you right."

"Funny, you're the second guy that's told me something like that in the last few weeks." Tessa mused.

Roman told her, "You talk to some very smart people then."

He pulled into a parking lot and Tessa got out of the car, surprised to find him waiting around the front of it for her. Together they walked into the restaurant, where they found Craig sitting waiting for them in a booth already, and as they approached the side of the booth they couldn't see Tessa found a head of dark hair sticking up from behind the booth back.

Her stomach flipped when Shea got up to let her into his side of the booth, she didn't want to take that spot, in fact she really wanted to walk across the table to the other side and sit by Craig but she knew that would raise eyebrows. So she slipped into the booth and Shea sat down next to her, locking her in place between him and the wall next to her. She placed her bag on the floor between her feet and then she glanced over at Craig as he explained, "Colin decided not to come. I didn't want to have to third wheel with you and Roman."

She rolled her eyes, and suddenly she wished she hadn't come.

Still, she barely missed a beat by telling Craig, "Fine, I'll deal with Weber but absolutely no hockey talk tonight. None whatsoever. Or I will leave and walk home."

Roman grinned over at her and asked, "In those shoes?"

Tessa paused, took a look down at her legs, she noted that Shea glanced down to see her choice in footwear as well, she wondered what he thought about them and that made her cheeks flush. She looked up at Roman and said, "Okay... I'll make one of you pay for my cab ride."

They laughed, and Tessa was glad to have the conversation taken off of her and her shoes. She was even more glad when their waitress came by to take their drink orders, Tessa was the only one to order a water and Craig looked over at her once their waitress left and asked her, "What, afraid to get drunk around us? You can have a drink with us, wouldn't kill you."

"One drink would probably do it." Tessa stated.

Craig's brow raised and this time he looked at Shea and asked him, "Is she really that much of a lightweight?"

Shea grinned, "Yeah, totally."

Tessa narrowed her eyes over at him before she turned to Craig and explained, "I don't drink."

"How do I not know that?" Craig asked her in surprise.

Tessa, ever the smart-ass, told him with a grin, "You never asked."

"Hush."

Tessa nearly jumped out of her skin when fingers brushed against her bare thigh peeking out between the top of her booth and the hem of her t-shirt dress. She clenched her jaw when the fingers slipped over the top of her thigh, spreading out to a palm sliding against her leg, fingers slipping just underneath the loose top to her boot, hand resting against the inside of her knee, thumb stroking her skin. She discretely reached down with her left hand and grabbed Shea's hand, lifting it off of her leg and back onto his own lap before she left her hand in her lap.

"So, you seen her place yet?" Roman asked Shea as their waitress brought their drinks over, giving them a few more minutes to look over the menu.

Shea shook his head, "Not yet, I think Amelia mentioned going tomorrow. Right?"

Tessa nodded her head and reached out to grab her glass of water, taking a big mouthful as Shea's hand slid over her thigh again, resting on the inside of her leg, his knuckles brushing against the inside of her other thigh.

Craig joked, "If you make them waffles before you make me some I'll never talk to you again."

Shea's hand slid an inch higher, and Tessa hoped her voice didn't betray her as she joked back with Craig, "What is it with you and waffles?"

Her breath hitched in her throat when Shea's hand travelled up another two inches, resting dangerously high on her thigh and she was thankful when Roman picked up the conversation, "You do have a serious problem with waffles man."

"Best breakfast food in the world." Craig stated, shrugging his shoulders.

Roman turned to Tessa, she hoped he didn't see her squirm just then as Shea's thumb brushed against the satin of her underwear. If he had noticed he didn't let on, he simply asked her, "So... you met Harper... I need some womanly advice."

"Okay..."

"It's her birthday soon. Like... in two months. I am like the world’s worst gift giver ever." Roman told Tessa, and she took another drink of water and then with her left hand under the table she wrapped her fingers tightly around Shea's wrist.

Then she told Roman, "Just think of the things she likes, go from there."

"Okay... she likes Ho Ho's." Roman stated, and Craig rolled his eyes so Roman continued, "I'm serious! Every time I've gone to visit her she has like three boxes of them in her pantry."

"I was thinking something a little more... personal." Tessa told him, squeezing Shea's wrist as tightly as she could when he tried to move his hand against her leg again.

"Can you just come shopping with me sometime?" Roman asked her, and Tessa rolled her eyes.

"I'm not picking out your girlfriends gift." She told him, easing her grip on Shea's wrist when it seemed he was finally going to behave himself.

Roman grinned at her, "Not pick out. Just guide me."

There was a round of laughter exchanged and then their waitress came back finally to take their orders. Tessa welcomed the total of half a minute where Shea was too distracted to be groping her under the table because as much as she enjoyed the feeling of his rough hand against her smooth skin she knew she couldn't hide it very well for very long. The last thing either of them needed was either of the men before them finding out just what was going on underneath their table.

When their waitress left them Craig turned to Tessa, grinned and asked her, "So... you coming to the game Monday?"

"Give me one good reason why I should?" Tessa challenged.

"Shea's finally got the green light to play again." Craig told her. Tessa didn't know that, and she turned to Shea in surprise. He shrugged and then nodded his head to say that what Craig had told her was true.

Tessa smiled over at Craig and shrugged her shoulders as told him, "Big deal."

She nearly jumped out of her skin when Shea reached down and pinched her bare skin gently, and then she was surprised when instead of taking back his former position with his large hand resting against the inside of her thigh Shea instead slipped his fingers through hers and left their hands, tangled together, in Tessa's lap.

She gave his hand a gentle squeeze, and tried not to think of how different this was. There was a sort of intimacy about holding hands like this, something she hadn't really felt from Shea before. It was different, and she had to admit it was also kind of nice.

When dinner was over Shea announced that he would drive Tessa home, and she was torn between leaving with Roman anyway and going with Shea. The part of her that wanted to know what else he wanted from her that he hadn't gotten at dinner won out and she waved goodbye to Craig and Roman and followed Shea out to his truck. She got into the passenger seat as he got into the driver’s side and he started the truck and pulled out of the parking lot without even touching her once.

Talk about a one eighty.

The ride to her apartment was completely silent, aside from Tessa giving him directions here and there. He kept both hands on the wheel, eyes on the road and Tessa simply watched him in confusion. It was like he was a completely different person now, from who he had been inside the restaurant.

Tessa was surprised that when he pulled up to her apartment he pulled into a guest parking spot and cut the engine. He got out, following her up to the building, telling her, "I kind of want to see the place."

She rolled her eyes but smiled still, and she lead him into the elevator, where she reached across him to hit the button labelled 'three' and then the button to close the doors. Once the doors closed Shea reached out, wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her into him, leaning down to kiss her softly. Tessa reached up, winding her arms around his neck and smiled against his lips as he reached down and grabbed her butt with one of his large hands as best as he could.

Shea pulled away from her lips for a moment, long enough to tell her, "I've wanted to do that since you showed up at the restaurant. You're killing me here Tess."

"Feelings mutual." She mumbled as she kissed him again.

They pulled apart quickly when the elevator came to a stop and Tessa pulled her keys from her bag and lead him down the hallway to her apartment. As she put the keys in the lock Shea wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her back against him tightly as Tessa pushed the door open and stepped inside with Shea still holding onto her.

She let the door close behind them and that was when Shea spun her around to face him, leaning down to kiss her again. He walked backwards into the apartment, hoping he didn't run into anything, not removing his lips from Tessa's once until his back hit the edge of the counters in the kitchen. That was when Tessa pulled back just slightly, but Shea went back to kiss her so she mumbled against his lips, "I thought you wanted to see the apartment."

Shea nodded, "I am seeing it."

She tried not to laugh against his lips.

Shea leaned down and gripped the backs of Tessa's thighs, lifting her up and planting her on the counter. He looked down at her legs, dragging his hands up the sides of her boots before his hands wrapped around each knee and he looked up at Tessa as he pulled them apart and then stepped in between them.

She wrapped her legs around his waist, pulling him as tightly against her as she could, hooking her calves around each other behind his back as he placed both hands on the sides of her face and leaned down to kiss her.

He pulled back when his hands slipped underneath the hem of her dress and up to her hips and he looked at her and told her, "Tell me to stop and I will, but if you don't do it now I won't be able to stop later."

Instead of responding verbally Tessa reached down and pulled her dress up past her butt, and she leaned forward and kissed him again. So Shea pulled her dress the rest of the way up her body and he pulled away from her to pull it over her head and toss it to the floor and then he reached down and pulled his own shirt off of himself.

He leaned forward, hands on her bare back to pull her into him and connected their lips again as Tessa reached between them and unbuckled his belt with ease, popping the button of his jeans, pulling the zipper down before she pushed his jeans over his hips and let them drop to the floor. His belt buckle hit the floor with a clank, and then Shea reached down to push his boxer briefs down just enough with one hand while the other pulled Tessa's underwear to the side. He pulled her closer to him, and Tessa reached out, grabbing a hold of the sink faucet next to her as Shea wrapped his arm around her back, pulling her tightly against him as he tangled his other free hand in her hair.