Start Me Up

"Tessa Carter?"

Tessa looked up from her portfolio in her lap at the sound of her name, and she got up from her chair in the waiting room of the interior design firm she was due to have had an interview with forty minutes ago.

He approached the petite blonde that had been sitting behind the reception counter when Tessa checked in, and she smiled, "Follow me."

So Tessa followed behind her down a long hallway, before she was lead into an office with floor to ceiling windows that overlooked so much of the city of Nashville. She took a seat in one of the black, plush chairs across from a large, sleek black and silver desk as instructed and went back to waiting.

She had long ago lost the nervousness but now, sitting in this office only moments away from what could be a life changing interview, quite literally, she was feeling it again. Her palms were sweating, she wondered if her makeup looked okay and if her hair had lost any of the volume from that morning, and she worried that maybe she was dressed all wrong.

For a moment she thought about checking that in the screen of her cell phone which was tucked away in the pocket of her pants but she didn't get the chance when she heard heels clicking against the tile floor, "Tessa?"

She stood up and turned, shaking hands with a tall brunette woman. Tessa was relieved to find that she was wearing a suit, with a bright purple top underneath so she didn't feel over or underdressed. Tessa sat back down when she did, a little more comfortable than she had been minutes before.

The brunette across from her introduced herself, "I'm Diane."

"It's nice to meet you."

Diane nodded her head and looked down at the file she had opened moments before, and Tessa stayed silent as she read. Finally Diane looked up and then glanced at the black book in Tessa's lap and asked her, "Is that your portfolio?"

Tessa nodded and handed it to her, "Yes, it is."

So while Diane looked flipped through the countless pages of photographs of before and after shots of various rooms in various houses that Tessa had done over the years Tessa stayed quiet and tried to gauge her reaction.

She wasn't surprised when Diane looked up and said, "Your resume is a lot shorter than we expected."

"I haven't worked too much in the last few years, but I am good at what I do." Tessa told her, hoping her voice didn't sound as shaky as she felt.

Diane nodded her head, and Tessa felt herself practically deflate when she asked, "Can I ask why you haven't done much work?"

She swallowed the lump in her throat and clasped her hands together in her lap, digging her finger nails into the palm of one hand as she explained, "I got married, and he had a very demanding job and so I put my career on hold for his."

"Do you have any children?" What the hell kind of question is that?

Tessa was honest, "No."

She saw the look on Diane's face, and Tessa realized why she had asked. If she had put her career on hold to have a family it was different than putting it on hold so that your husband can build his career instead.

Diane stood up, and Tessa followed, and before she even said it Tessa knew she had tanked. She shook her hand and Diane told her, "Thanks for coming in, we have your resume and we'll give you a call in a week or so."

"Thank you."

Tessa made it all the way down to the parking lot where she had parked Amelia's car earlier that morning before she cried. She sat in the drivers seat, head against the steering wheel and cried. That went about as well as she had expected it to, actually, maybe even more so.

When she decided that it was time for her pity party to be over Tessa looked at herself in the rear view mirror and wiped under her eyes and puffed out a breath of air. She applied some powder on her cheeks and used the sides of her fingers to run over her lashes in an attempt to keep the mascara from running before she started the car and pulled out of the parking spot.

Thirty eight minutes later she pulled into the driveway of a large white home and she stared up at it for a moment in awe. She had agreed to meet Pekka to see his new house, to decide whether or not she had the time or even the idea's to redesign it and right now it seemed like she definitely had the time.

So she got out of the car and headed to the door, knocking twice on the brown door and half a minute later it pulled open. Pekka grinned at her and said, "Welcome to my home, come in, come in."

As she stepped in Tessa asked him, "Am I allowed to walk around in bare feet? Because these shoes hurt."

He let out a laugh and nodding, motioning down to his own bare feet and then he lead her through the foyer and into the living room, where she took a look around before they walked through a set of French doors into what she assumed was supposed to be a dining room but only held boxes still unpacked. Past the long peninsula was the kitchen, which looked to be the most lived in room that she had seen thus far before he stopped to briefly show her the half bath and the mud room and then Tessa followed him upstairs.

They poked their heads into a small bedroom right off of the stairs, it was empty, then a bathroom and two more bedrooms and then finally at the end of the hall was the master bedroom. She knew that because there were no doors, just a large space that she assumed was supposed to accommodate two doors. As they stepped inside the master Tessa looked around and then over at Pekka, who had a sort of flush to his cheeks that told her he wasn't exactly thrilled to be showing her just how bare and boring his bedroom was.

There was a bed, a nightstand and a lamp. Nothing else.

Tessa took a peak into the closet to see the size, and then she stepped into the doorway of the bathroom, noting that again there was no door. She couldn't help but joke, "I hope they gave you a discount for the lack of doors."

He laughed and told her, "I threw them out, they needed to get replaced... and then the season started and I never got around to getting new ones."

"Boy... you do need my help." She stated as she walked out of the bathroom.

He nodded his head, "I told you."

Tessa had never seen so much white in a house in her life. Literally every wall in the house was white, the moulding was white, hell even the kitchen had light cabinets and counter top's.

Pekka's eyebrow raised when Tessa pulled a tape measure out of her pocket and she handed him the start of it and told him, "Go stand at that wall."

He did as he was told and asked her, "Why?"

"I have a rule when it comes to deciding if I'm going to take a job or not." Tessa told him as she pulled the tape measure with her as she walked to the opposite wall. She told Pekka, "It has to have a master bedroom with at least thirteen feet somewhere."

When she got to the opposite wall Pekka asked her curiously, "And?"

She looked down at the tape measure, and then over at him and told him, "Sixteen and a half feet."

"So you'll do it?" Pekka asked her with a grin and Tessa nodded her head.

"Yeah, I totally bombed my interview today and as much as I love Amy and Shea I need to start getting out of the house. I keep wanting to redecorate their whole house." Tessa said, chuckling at herself.

Pekka laughed and he lead her downstairs, where he pulled a folder out of one of the boxes in the supposed to be dining room and handed it to her. She took it with a raised eyebrow and opened it, and laughed. Inside was the dimensions and pictures of every single room in the house, including the guest house in the back yard.

He told her, "I was hoping you couldn't say no to me, so I got prepared."

"Give me a few days? Let me see what I can come up with?" When he nodded she asked, "Are you opposed to the knocking down of walls?"

"Whatever you think is best." He told her honestly.

As they walked to the front door she asked with a smirk, "And doors? Are you opposed to those?"

"Nah, doors aren't so bad." He said, pulling the front door open.

"Okay, I'll give you a call in a few days." Tessa told him.

As she headed down the driveway to her car Pekka told her, "I'll be looking forward to it."

Tessa had a grin on her face the whole way home, right up until she walked into the house and found Shea standing in the kitchen. He was drinking a glass of milk, and when she approached the island he motioned to the folder in her hand and asked her, "What's that?"

She hesitated, and then she told him, "The info on Pekka's house."

Shea's brow lifted, "You're doing it?"

Tessa wasn't sure what it was that she had heard in his voice, but it was something out of the ordinary. She nodded her head and told him, "I tanked my interview today, and so I figured I needed something to do with my time. His house is basically a big giant empty space for me to do pretty much whatever I want with so..."

"You've seen his house?" Shea asked her, trying to keep his voice at the same usual level. When she nodded he asked, "When?"

"Like fifteen minutes ago. I stopped by after my interview." She swore she saw him roll his eyes when she said that, but he turned away too quickly, leaving his glass on the counter before he headed down the hall to the bedroom at the end of the hall.

Tessa sighed and wandered into the guest room, shedding out of her clothes, hanging Amelia's dress pants on the chair at her desk with a reminder to herself to stick them back in her closet after washing them later. She threw on a work out outfit before she made her way back out of the guest room.

When she was approaching the front door she heard Shea ask, "You're leaving again?"

She nearly jumped out of her skin, and chuckled at herself when she turned around with her hand on her chest. He smiled at her reaction from where he was standing in the hall, and she told him, "Yeah I figured I'd go for a run. It's a nice day out."

He nodded slowly and then surprised her by asking, "You want some company?"

Her brow lifted, "You want to come for a run with me?"

"Give me two minutes to change?" He asked and when she shrugged and then nodded Tessa watched Shea disappear into his bedroom again.

He came out a few minutes later in shorts and a t-shirt and Tessa waited by the door as he dug through the closet for a pair of runners, tugging them onto his feet before he followed her outside. He let her set the pace, and Tessa started in a jog as she usually did, and in their silent jogging pace Shea glanced over at Tessa to find he was so close to her that with their drastic height difference he could see directly down at her chest. He took a step over half a foot without missing a beat.

"So, have you and Amy settled on a number yet?" They were supposed to be getting married in early August, but every time they tried to settle on a guest list they'd have an argument so bad they didn't talk for at least a full day.

Shea shook his head and told her, "Nah, she's too stubborn."

Tessa let out a laugh, "Yeah she is. But eventually she'll give in, once she realizes there's not enough time left and she has to make a decision."

"Mhmm."

"She mentioned you picked out your suit." She was making small talk but the last thing Shea wanted to talk about was the wedding.

He nodded but changed the subject by asking Tessa, "Are you really gonna do Peks house?"

Tessa turned and glanced at him, brow raised and asked, "Do you really care that much? Because I can tell him I changed my mind if it bothers you."

"Don't do that." He told her.

"Shea I will. If you have an issue with it just tell me. You and Amy are being nice enough to let me figure my life out and live with you guys, I don't want to do anything that's gonna make things weird." Tessa told him.

They're already weird. Shea thought.

He shook his head at her, "No, it's fine really. You're right, it will be a good project for you."

She nodded slowly, "As long as you're sure you're okay with it."

"I'm sure."

So with a smile Tessa picked up her pace and Shea was more than happy to let her run ahead of him for a few moments. He let his eyes watch her legs, long and lean, and then they lifted up, lingering on her backside for a moment longer than they probably should have.

He pulled his eyes away from her just as Tessa turned around and ran backwards, with a grin on her face she told him, "Come on slow poke."

He picked up his pace, letting out a chuckle at her comment, and shook his head to himself. What the hell was wrong with him?

When they arrived back home forty-five minutes later they both collapsed onto their backs on the front lawn. Shea told her, probably more out of breath than she was, "You're insane."

She laughed, heaved in a breath and told him, "What, Mr. Million dollar athlete can't keep up to a little girl?"

"I'd hardly call you a little girl Tessa." When he said it he wished he hadn't, and he was quick to add with a smile, "Not when you can do that without even really getting winded."

She smiled over at him and told him, "Just think, maybe you'd lose those stubborn last few pounds that keep lingering around if you ran with me more often."

Only if you promise to keep wearing those sports bras.

He blinked a few times, and then he elbowed her gently in the ribs and as she laughed he told her, "I do not have lingering pounds."

She shrugged her shoulders and joked as she got up from the grass, "Well I've seen you and Roman without shirts on, he has better abs."

She let out a scream when she saw Shea jump up from the front lawn and she took off for a run into the house, laughing when he tripped on a pair of Amelia's shoes that had fallen out when he had gone digging for runners. It didn't seem to slow him down enough because he caught up to her pretty quickly in the door to the guest bedroom. He wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her as high up off of the ground as he could while she tilted her head back and laughed.

Finally he put her down and she turned to face him, but Shea still had his arms around her. He looked down at her, and she looked up at him and for a moment he thought about kissing her. He could do it too, easily at that. Just a few inches. He glanced down at her lips, before he looked back up at Tessa who was watching him as intently as he was watching her.

She cleared her throat and glanced down and Shea stepped away from her. She kicked her shoes off of her feet and said quietly, "I'm gonna hop in the shower."

He nodded and left her alone, closing the door to his bedroom down the hall and he leaned against the door as he heard the shower in the bathroom across the hall turn on. He ran both hands through his dark hair and let out a sigh.

What was his problem?