Start Me Up

"Morning." Shea mumbled into the back of Tessa's shoulder as he crawled into bed with her again. He kissed her bare skin and then wrapped both of his arms tightly around her, pulling her back into him where he kissed her neck and then her jaw.

She smiled gently and reached back to run her fingers through his hair as she spoke softly, still full of sleep, "Where did you disappear to?"

"I went to check out the hotel and I grabbed some coffee." Shea told her, smiling when Tessa seemed to instantly wake up at the sound of the word coffee. He assured her, "I got you one too."

"Have I told you that I love you lately?" Tessa asked him with a smile on her face as she pulled out of his grasp and sat up. She took the sheets with her and kept them tightly secured across her chest with one arm as she reached up and ran a hand through her hair to pull the messy blonde locks from her face. She got up, still wrapped in the sheets and disappeared into the bathroom to put some clothes on and make herself somewhat presentable.

They had arrived in Vegas late last night, today would be spent laying around and not doing much of anything until they had to get ready for the NHL Awards that night. Tessa had made sure when they had arrived at the hotel to hang their garment bag with his suit and her dress up in the closet as well as set out a tie for Shea and her shoes so that everything was ready to go. Shea had made fun of her for it but Tessa would never tell him that she was doing it because she was nervous for him.

Shea had been so calm about it all, insisting that it wasn't a big deal at all and that he probably wouldn't even win, especially not against Ovechkin and Tavares but Tessa was nervous because she knew how much all that Shea did off of the ice meant to him and how the award might not be a big deal now but it would be tonight.

When Tessa came back out of the bathroom in a matching camisole and short pyjama combination Shea was sitting in front of the window with two to go cups on the table in front of him. So she headed over his way, running her hand gently over the back of his head to smooth out his hair as she sat down next to him.

He wrapped an arm around her shoulder with his palm resting on her lower bicep as Tessa leaned into his side and took a drink of her coffee. Curiously he asked her, "Did I get it right?"

For months Shea had been getting her coffee order wrong, but he got closer and closer every time.

"Like... 99%. A little less cream next time." Tessa told him with a smile.

"So close." He mused. It had almost become like a game for them.

She got comfortable next to him again and she asked him, "So what's the plan for today?"

He thought about it for a moment and then he told her, "I was thinking maybe we lounge around for the morning, go for lunch, maybe take in a few sights around the city and then come back here to get ready."

"I need like... an hour... if that." Tessa informed him.

"Yeah, sure. I'll give you three." Shea stated, making her reach out and pinch his thigh.

"I will bet you one hundred dollars that it will take me less than an hour to be ready for tonight." Tessa told him, sitting up a little bit straighter.

Shea's brow lifted and he held his hand out for her to shake, "I will take that bet. Easiest hundred bucks I'll ever make."

Tessa reached out and pinched his thigh before she told him, “Watch it bud, I'm supposed to be your hot date for tonight.”

“Supposed to be?” Shea asked her, watching as she nodded her head.

“I might ditch you, see if Patrice is going solo tonight or not.” Tessa joked, laughing when Shea wrapped his arm across her chest to pull her back into him and he nipped at her shoulder. She asked him, “Is this your way of branding me Weber?”

“Is it working?” He asked her, laughing when she nodded her head.

Hours later, when they were enjoying a cold beverage at an outdoor cafe Tessa asked Shea, “What time does everyone get here tomorrow?”

“Peks, Tara and Roman are on the same flight and they get here at one and Craig get's here at three.” Shea informed her, having remembered the arrival times because he knew Tessa would ask him later.

She grinned, “I'm so excited to see them.”

Shea rolled his eyes but then he smiled and had to admit, "Yeah, me too kind of."

She stuck her tongue out at him, "Told you so."

"Yeah, yeah, you're a genius and I should listen to you more often." Shea muttered.

"That's all I ask." Tessa told him with as sweet and innocent of a smile as she could, it did nothing but make him laugh.

He took a drink of his beer and then he told her, "I think I like summer Tessa."

"Oh yeah, why's that?" She asked him absentmindedly as she looked around and took in the sights from where they were sitting for the first time since arriving. Las Vegas sure was an interesting place.

He smiled as he told her, "You would think you were a natural at this whole summer thing."

She turned to him with a raised brow and an amused smile on her face and asked him, "What does that mean?"

"It's just... you in a bikini... I find it a little unfair that I never knew what I was missing all this time." Shea told her with a grin and Tessa couldn't help but laugh.

"You're something else bub." She told him as she took a drink of her smoothie.

"I know."

- - - -

"Hey, by the way, you owe me some money Mr." Tessa reminded Shea as they met up after Shea had finished all of the photo ops he was required to make. They were currently looking for their seats.

His brow lifted as he glanced at her for a minute and then he looked back to where they were walking, paying close attention to the seat numbers as he asked her, "What for?"

"I believe you agreed to a hundred dollar wager on how long it would take me to get ready for this and I do believe that I won." Tessa told him with a smile on her face and Shea couldn't help but laugh.

"Alright, I'll settle my debt in the morning. There's an ATM in the hotel lobby." Shea told her, conceding that he had lost because Tessa had managed to be completely ready in no more than forty minutes. He didn't mind admitting that he had lost that bet, mostly because he was a little impressed at how quickly she had gotten ready and the fact that she looked damn good right now too.

She slipped her arm around his waist and pulled herself closer to him to speak quietly to him, "Just win your award and then take me home and we can call it even."

He grinned over at her but was stopped for what felt like the hundredth time since arriving to say hi to someone. While he was talking to whoever it was, he seemed to know them but Tessa did not, someone tapped her shoulder and upon turning around she found Patrice standing a foot or so away from her. He smiled and said, "Long time no see."

Tessa let out a small laugh and nodded her head, "Yeah, things have been a little crazy on my end."

Patrice nodded his head and he glanced over at Shea, who had his back to them, before he turned back to Tessa and asked her tentatively, "So... you and Shea huh?"

Her cheeks flushed pink but she nodded, "Yeah... it's a new thing... kind of."

It really wasn't all that new, they had been together for five months but she knew that while to them it felt like five years to other people it seemed so new.

He surprised her by telling her, "Hey, no one has the right to tell you who can and can't love. It's nice to see you happy."

"You too." Tessa stated, glancing at the woman on his arm who was talking to someone else, slightly turned away from them.

"Yeah, I guess you made me realize I should take my own advice and just be happy." Patrice told her with a smile, and when his date turned back around he introduced them, "Tessa this is Elise, Elise this is Tessa."

He must have told her about Tessa because she gave her a friendly smile and held her hand out, and when Tessa shook it she said, "It's so nice to meet you."

"Same."

Patrice's eyes flickered over to Shea as he turned around to find Tessa, and he smiled, "Hey."

Shea smiled back, even going so far as to embrace him in one of those manly hugs men seemed to like so much, he still felt a little guilty for the cold shoulder he had given him the last time they had seen each other.

"How's it going?" Shea asked him, placing his hand gently on Tessa's back.

She smiled up at him as Patrice told him, "Eh, you know, can't complain. You?"

"Same." Tessa couldn't help but laugh, and she was glad that Elise had to. They were so typical.

Shea pinched her hip, Tessa jumped and then she did the same to him before they were being told to find their seats again. As they were separating Patrice told Shea, "Hey good luck tonight."

"I'd say it back but you're used to this." Shea joked with a smile.

"Yeah but it's still a lot of fun." He stated, before he looked at Tessa and told her, "If we don't see you again tonight it was nice to see you again."

She smiled and waved and then followed Shea to where he had located their seats. They were instantly greeted by John and Bristol, sitting directly in front of them, and Bristol immediately told Tessa, "You have to tell me where you got that dress."

Tessa glanced down at her dress, which was really just a bodysuit and a skirt, but she told her, "Online for like seventy bucks."

"Shut up... seriously?" Bristol asked her in surprise.

Tessa nodded and John looked at Shea and said, "Women and clothes, I'm telling you."

Shea let out a laugh and informed him, "I've gotten used to it with this one... my advice is to do the same because it makes it a lot easier."

John nodded, "Oh I have. I got used to it when I had to give up over half my closet space... and she still has clothes in the guest room closet."

Bristol rolled her eyes and told him, "It's not my fault you bought a condo with like zero closet space."

"Our closet space is not the problem." John fired back, making Shea and Tessa laugh, Bristol simply rolled her eyes.

Changing the subject off of clothes Shea noted out loud to John, "I hear you guys are headed out our way in a few days."

He nodded but Bristol was the one who spoke, explaining, "Yeah, poor Harp doesn't get a lot of time off right now so we thought instead of doing the usual week or two at John's family's cabin we would just spend some time in Nashville with her."

John then added, "And she thinks we don't love her."

Shea and Tessa chuckled and Shea's eyebrow raised when Bristol told him, "Hey, when you see Roman tomorrow tell him that while we're visiting under no circumstances is James allowed anywhere near the grill. He needs to know these rules early."

"He is not that bad at cooking, give the guy a break." John stated.

Bristol exclaimed, "He almost lit himself on fire last summer!"

Shea barked out a laugh, "I need to hear this story."

"He couldn't get the barbecue to turn on so he Macgyvered it with some lighter fluid and a barbecue lighter and all of a sudden the flames were like 3 feet high." John explained to Shea before adding for Bristol's benefit, "I've done it before, so has Steven."

Shea admitted, "I think everyone has done that."

"Yeah, well I don't wanna die in Nashville, okay? I think... preferably if I got to choose where I was gonna die it would be on a beach in like... the Bahamas not in this shithole country I call home." Bristol stated, crossing her arms over her chest with a huff for good measure.

John grinned and asked, "You sure that's how you really feel about being American?"

"Hey, I did not ask for this. I did not request that my parents move to Philthadelphia to have me." Bristol muttered, making Tessa and Shea chuckle.

John informed her, "Shea almost moved there a few years ago."

Bristol turned her head over her shoulder and looked at Shea with a raised eyebrow and when he nodded his head she turned to Tessa and asked her, "Have you ever given any thought to having him clinically checked for mental instability?"

With a straight face, Tessa joked, "Every day."

Their conversation came to an end then when it was time to start their evening and Tessa stayed quiet through most of it, though she and Shea, and even a few times she and Bristol had a few conversations here and there during breaks. This was all new to Tessa, but she found that more often than not she was glancing over at Shea to watch him while he watched what was going on in front of them.

She sat next to him, hand in his resting on his thigh, and every so often he would squeeze her hand, and sometimes during breaks he would lean in close to make it look like he was whispering in her ear when in reality he was kissing her jaw gently. Tessa wasn't sure if his sudden need for affection and to be touching her in some way or another came from nerves and as much as she didn't like public displays of affection she had to admit she didn't hate this.

She was probably more nervous than anyone when the video for the award Shea was nominated for started playing, she watched it carefully with a small smile on her face and then when it was time to announce the winner she gave Shea's hand a gentle squeeze.

"And the winner of the Mark Messier Leadership Award goes to... Shea Weber."