Start Me Up

“Are you ready yet?” Tessa called out to Shea as she walked into the hotel room. She had gone to fix Tara’s wardrobe meltdown after Pekka had called her to say that she probably wouldn’t make it to dinner that night. Shea had still been getting ready when she had left him.

He was in the bathroom, standing at the sink buttoning up his dress shirt when she walked past him, so she back tracked and then she leaned against the bathroom door frame and watched him with a small smile on her face. He glanced over at her and raised his eyebrow, “What are you looking at me for?”

“Just admiring you.” She told him, and when his brow raised a second time she told him honestly, “Wondering how I got so damned lucky.”

“Oh yeah?” He asked her her, finishing the button on the final button hole before he turned her face her. He tucked his shirt into his dress pants and then he approached her, leaning down to kiss her quickly before he headed to his suitcase by the closet.

As he rooted around for a belt Tessa told him, “Yeah… you’re cute, what can I say.”

He turned to look over at her to smile for a second before he grabbed a belt from his suitcase and looped it through his dress pants. As he buckled it up he asked her, “Did you avert the crisis?”

“Yes. I must say, if this whole interior design thing doesn’t work out for me I could probably try my hand in the fashion industry.” She told him with a grin and when his brow raised she explained to him, “Tara was having a bit of a rough time trying to find an outfit that fit and looked good.”

“So you came to the rescue?” He asked her as he stuffed his wallet and cell phone into the pocket of his dress pants.

Nodding her head she informed him, “I did. Crisis was avoided and Tara and Peks will be joining us for dinner after all.”

“I’m glad.” Shea told her, and he leaned over and kissed her again. When they pulled apart he looked her up and down and then told her, “You look beautiful by the way.”

Smiling up at him Tessa told him, “Thank you, I try.”

He slipped his index finger underneath the strap of her dress gently and told her softly, “I especially like the fact that it appears to me you aren’t wearing a bra.”

“Well I’d tell you what else I’m not wearing but I’m afraid we’re already running late.” Tessa told him with a smile, reaching up to straighten his shirt and fix the collar before she turned around and headed to the door. Shea followed, rather reluctantly, behind her, blatantly staring at the way her legs looked as she walked.

Tessa smiled at him as she turned her head over her shoulder to face him, and he told her, “That is not fair.”

“What’s not fair?” She asked him as she pulled the door open and headed out.

Shea caught up to her, wrapping his arms around her from behind and holding her into his torso as he nipped at her jaw, close to her ear and he told her quietly, “It’s not nice to tease.”

“I never tease.” Tessa told him with a smile. Again he nipped at her delicate skin, making her jump slightly as she pushed the button to call the elevator and then she told him boldly, “It’s not teasing if you’re offering it.”

“But you’re offering me something I can’t have yet.” Shea told her, his arms sliding from her chest down to her waist, wrapping around it and clasping together at the front of her stomach. He kissed her gently at the base of her neck and he told her, “And that is not fair.”

“You’ll survive a few hours and then you can have me all to yourself.” Tessa told him, patting his forearms as the elevator door opened and she laughed upon finding Craig and Roman standing inside.

Roman laughed and Craig groaned, “Ah, come on!”

As Tessa and Shea stepped inside, both with their eyebrows raised Roman explained to them, trying not to laugh himself, “He was just bitching about how single he is and then the elevator doors open and there you two are, practically groping each other.”

“Hey.” Tessa stated, catching their attention before she grinned and said, “I was doing no such thing. Shea was the one who was groping. He’s very handsy.”

“I’ve never seen you complain about that.” Roman pointed out.

With a grin Tessa made Shea’s cheeks flush when she reached out and smacked his butt rather loudly and then said, “I would never, then he would stop.”

“God I need a girlfriend.” Craig muttered out loud.

When they arrived at the restaurant down the street from the hotel Pekka and Tara were already seated and Tara had an entire sleeve of saltines sitting on the table in front of her. Shea and Tessa took the seats across from them, with Craig and Roman each taking the ends of the table. Shea smiled over at Tara and told her, “You look beautiful.”

She rolled her eyes but then smiled and said, “Thanks. Your girlfriend is a miracle worker.”

Tessa grinned and ever so humbly stated, “Yeah, I know, I’m a genius.”

“You are something else.” Pekka told her, and she smiled in response.

“Shea tells me that every day.” Tessa told him proudly, making everyone laugh. Curiously she asked Tara, “You okay?”

“Yeah, sorry about earlier… hormone’s an all that. I didn’t mean to completely terrify you with my meltdown over a dress.” Tara told her, her cheeks slightly pink.

Tessa shrugged but Pekka spoke first, telling Tessa, “She threatened to throw the alarm clock at me when I called you.”

Tara defended herself by saying, “Well jeez, sorry I didn’t need someone else to see me like that. It’s embarrassing enough as it is.”

Tessa assured her, “Really don’t worry about. I’ve seen way worse. I’ve seen Roman when he ruins his favorite suit… now that’s a scary sight.”

Roman rolled his eyes as the guys laughed and he pointed out, “And I’ve seen Craig when he doesn’t catch a single fish on a fishing trip.”

Craig stated, “And I’ve seen Webs when he takes a penalty in the last two minutes of a period when we’re tied.”

Shea cleared his throat and said, “Well… we’ve all got our kryptonite.”

Tessa choked on her mouthful of water and after a coughing fit that required Shea to pat her back gently, she cleared her throat and said, “You are so fucking weird.”

“I’m just glad no one included me in this.” Pekka stated with a wide grin on his face.

That grin faltered when Tessa joked, “The list would be way too long goalie boy.”

He rolled his eyes as the guys laughed at him and he told her, “Yours too.”

“Please, I am a perfect angel.” Tessa stated with a grin.

Craig told her, “I’ve heard the things that come out of your mouth that are directed at Shea… you are the furthest thing from a perfect angel.”

“And you’re mean to me, so we’re even.” Tessa said, nodding her head in agreement with her comment.

- - -

“I’m not ready to leave.” Tessa muttered quietly into Shea’s shoulder as they sat side by side on the plane, Tessa having the window seat. They had an early flight, Shea wanting to get back to Kelowna earlier in the day and Tessa couldn’t blame him for it but saying goodbye to everyone had put her in a bit of a mood.

“We could have stayed a little longer Tess, if you had wanted to.” Shea told her, he had offered it the day before but she had turned him down.

“I know, but I want to get back to Kelowna… I’m just gonna miss everyone.” She stated, and he nodded his head because he knew that. She then added, “But we’ll see everyone again soon enough and it will be for a long, long time so I can suck it up.”

Shea chuckled and nodded his head, he told her, “Go to sleep, I’ll wake you when we get home.”

She smiled gently and he watched as she closed her eyes and shifted just slightly so that she was a little more comfortable using his shoulder as a pillow and then she was out like a light. So Shea took the time to simply watch her, and much like Tessa’s sentiments before dinner the night before, Shea wondered how he had gotten so lucky.

It had certainly been a long, and very bumpy road for them to get to where they were but they had gotten there. Things hadn’t started out so great, and for a while there he wasn’t sure they were ever going to be able to smooth things over and work things out between them but he was immensely grateful that they had. He really, honestly, couldn’t imagine life without Tessa.

Now that he had her in his life he couldn’t even try to picture the future with anyone but her.

And he wanted a future with her, more than he had ever wanted anything before. He could close his eyes and picture marrying her, right down to the tasteful yet still fun dress she would wear and the way she would probably make some silly joke at the alter that would make everyone laugh. He could see them starting a family, if he tried hard enough he could picture what she might look like pregnant, and the thought made him smile. He wanted all of that; a marriage, a family, someone to share his life with and someone to come home to after road trips that made everything, no matter how bad he had played or how bad they had lost, seem okay.

He would ask her to marry him tomorrow if he wasn’t afraid that would be too fast for her. There was no doubt in Shea’s mind that she would say yes when he asked her, there was no doubt in his mind that they would get there but he knew it had to be on Tessa’s terms, not his. He was finally beginning to wrap his head around that concept.

It wasn’t always easy. Sometimes he had to bite his tongue physically to not blurt out that they should get married. He wanted that so badly that it was hard to see why she might be a little unreceptive to the idea so soon. The way that he saw it was that he was nearing thirty-one, Tessa had just turned thirty-four, they weren’t getting any younger and they knew they wanted to spend the rest of their lives together, so really, in the grand scheme of things what was the big deal with waiting?
The big deal was the fact that things were still so new to them, to Tessa. They hadn’t even been dating five months and here Shea was thinking about marriage and babies. If he wasn’t so confident in the fact that he knew that Tessa was his future he would be wigged out too. Normal couples didn’t do that, normal couples didn’t get married before they had even been together half a year.

But, then again, he and Tessa weren’t exactly a normal couple. They had known each other for six years, they knew everything there was to know about each other, even the small barely even worth noting things like how Tessa hates sheets because they make her too hot, or how Shea, for some odd reason, didn’t like chocolate. They weren’t a normal couple because he had been engaged to her sister and Tessa had been married.

It all seemed to click together for him then.

Tessa had been married for six years before Shea. She had been with the same man for ten entire years, a whole decade, and she had already told him that Jacob had been only her second boyfriend in her entire life. Which meant Shea was her third. For all intents and purposes, Tessa was still getting used to being in a new relationship, no matter how they felt about each other. Spending a decade with one person, no matter how they treated you, was a big deal, something he thought maybe you didn’t just bounce back from right away.

Was she worried that if they moved so fast things would fail between them? Was she afraid that making things permanent between them would change things? Shea was afraid that maybe Tessa thought that after everything with Jacob she wouldn’t be able to love him the way that he loved her.

He could fix that though, that was fixable as long as she let him fix it. He could show her that it’s different, that its better when you’re treated the way someone who loves you should treat you. He could show her how great marriage and a family could be if it was with the right person, he could do all that. He just had to figure out how to do it.

Maybe asking was the right move, maybe that was how he fixed it.

When they arrived in Kelowna Tessa was still asleep, so Shea had to shake her awake and it reminded him much of the first time they had arrived in Kelowna together earlier that summer. She didn’t get annoyed with him for waking her up like she had before, no, instead she simply smiled and got up, stealing the hat from his head. She put it over her own hair and then slipped her hand into his and followed him out to the baggage claim.

Shea gathered their suitcase and then lead her out to where he had paid to store his truck while they were gone, and they made small talk the whole way home. He wondered how he should ask her.

Tessa made a beeline to the bedroom with their bag and while she got started on unpacking and doing some laundry Shea told her, “I think I’m gonna head out on the boat for an hour or two. Is that okay?”

She turned to look at him over her shoulder, brow slightly lifted as she asked him, “Of course it is, why wouldn’t it be?”

He shrugged and told her, “Just wanted to make sure you didn’t have plans or anything.”

“Nope. I’m just gonna unpack and get things cleaned up. I’ll have lunch made for when you get home.” She told him, leaning over to kiss him quickly before she ushered him out of the bedroom.

Shea made sure to grab his phone on his way out, that way he could write a speech down and edit it as needed. It had to be just right.

Tessa went back to unpacking as she heard the boat turn on from the dock outside of the open bedroom window. She stepped out onto the deck off of the master bedroom and she smiled as Shea turned back around to look at the house, she waved gently, he waved back and then took off so she went back inside.

She sorted everything into piles of laundry, throwing a load in right away before she put everything that was clean back where it belonged and put all of their toiletries back in the bathroom. She then headed into the kitchen to start on lunch.

Barely forty minutes later she looked out of the window to find Shea pulling the boat back up to the dock. She watched him as she got out and tied it to the dock before he headed toward the house. She turned the stove element off as the patio doors opened and he walked inside and with a smile, she told him, “That was quick.”

He looked over at her and told her, “I got traded.”