All Hands on Deck

The next morning, Tessa woke in the best way possible, with Sidney’s head back between her thighs. His attempt at a beard and mustache brushed and tickled her soft skin as his mouth graced her most sensitive area with incredible delicacy.

Smiling, stretching and elongating her body to push her core right against him, his tongue licked through her folds in response. “Mmm, good fucking morning.”

Sidney only grunted in response and gripped her hips with both hands as her legs hooked over his shoulders. Now that she was awake he began in earnest, done with the teasing designed to draw her from sleep. Swirling his tongue with purpose, he made it his mission to find every crevice and crease in her lovely pussy and apply his mouth to each one.

He knew her so well by now, but there was still so much to learn, like how the outer skin of her inner lips was more responsive than even the rim of her entrance. And old knowledge served him as well, knowing how she liked it slow and torturous, he avoided her clit until she was practically driven insane with need.

He took his time this morning, as he prefered to do. Watching her body come to life just as her mind started to shake off sleep. When he finally sucked at her clit, she came up on her elbows and opened her eyes for the first time.

“Oh, fuck. Sid…” He looked up at her and smiled. And after she watched him return his mouth to its task, she noticed how bright it was in her bedroom. “Sid…Sidney, seriously, what time is it? You’ve got practice.”

When he only responded by licking at her more aggressively, she sat up attempting to pull away from him. He quickly yanked her back down. “I’m taking a maintenance day. No practice. I texted Coach already.”

Tessa was almost laughing incredulously. “You what? A what day? Are you telling me you called into work so you could stay in bed with me?”

His hands stroked her thighs as he grinned. “Can you think of a better reason?”

“Not really, but that doesn’t sound like the Sidney Crosby I know who thinks hockey is the most important thing in the world.”

“That’s because it is, but sometimes…this feels like a very, very close second.” He bent his head and dragged his tongue back through her wet folds before sucking at her clit. “Now, are you gonna let me finish or do you want me to go to the rink?”

“No, no, by all means…” She laid back down, waving a hand to indicate that he should continue, which he happily did.

After he made her come against his mouth twice in rapid succession, he crawled up the bed with a hand on either side of her, kissing every inch of skin as he went.

When he reached her neck, he laid down on top of her, burying his nose into the flesh above her collarbones. “Tell me you’re happy, cutie.”

Her arms hugged his body against hers. “I’m so happy. Thank you for missing practice for me.”

“You’re worth it.”

He bit down on her neck and she moaned out his name softly, her eyes lulling back and closing. “Sidney…”

“I know, I know, I’m stopping.”

“Fuck it, don’t stop. I’m not gonna see any Penguins before I go and even if I do, I’ll tell them it was my fictional boyfriend Patrick saying goodbye to me.”

Sidney pushed up on his arms to look at her with those intense eyes. He had been thinking about being able to mark her neck again since their first night together. And for some reason, the thought of such a seemingly meaningless gesture had his heart pounding. “Are you serious?”

“Yes. I know what it means to you. And while I’m sure it’ll make me a source of gossip on my first day, it’ll also make me happy to know you’re thinking about them seeing it and knowing I’m yours. Well, knowing I’m someone’s. You and me will know it’s you.”

“Tess…you always get me.” He came down to lick slowly at her neck as if deciding with his tongue just the right place for his mark. At the same time, Tessa opened her thighs, reaching down to guide the head of his cock into her entrance.

She whispered against his ear, “Just please fuck me while you do it. And make it count. I want it to last for weeks.”

As his cock surged and stretched her walls to fit, Tessa felt his teeth clamp down on a hunk of skin. His tongue flicked out as he bit her and then it was his lips, drawing the same piece of flesh into his mouth as he sucked hard.

His hips rocked slowly as he paid more attention the bruising kiss on her neck. He made a circle of marks and then two in the center of that. That was just the base he worked from. As he fucked her, his mouth worked nonstop over the area, kissing her skin tenderly and then biting until he almost drew blood and then sucking with his lips until they ached and he released them with an audible snap.

He watched the pattern expand and change color as he went, pink and red, then black and blue. Had she not moaned and writhed with every pass of his mouth he would have feared he hurt her, as the mark he left was worse than any bruise he had ever gotten playing hockey.

He was just about done when she came around him and when he released, he finally abandoned her neck and laid down next to her to survey his handy work. It was massive, just as he had thought about it was nearly the size of his fist taking up most of the skin on the side of her neck. His fingertips stroked it gently. “Beautiful. All mine.”

“You’re insane, but I like it, Sid.”

“Does it hurt?”

“Hurts so good.” She brushed his bright red lips with the back of her hand. “Do these hurt?”

“So good, baby.” He put his sore lips on hers and kissed her with patience and laziness. He turned her so she was snuggled under his arm and then went back to kissing her like that, happily, leisurely, sweetly.

Finally, she put her hand on his chest and rolled onto her back with a sigh. “Alright, I’m gonna shower.”

Grabbing her hand, he tugged her back next to him when she tried to get up. “Why? Just stay in bed. We’re just gonna keep doing this anyway.”

“Sid, baby, I would love to do that, but I have a million things to take care of before I go.”

“The only thing you need to do is let me make you come, a lot. You told me I had to do only that until you left.”

Tessa tried to push away from him again, but the man was an immovable wall of muscle. She laughed at her thwarted efforts. “Well, I was planning on you going to practice today so I could get stuff done while you were gone.”

“Too bad, now you have to suffer.” He took hold of her hand and wrapped it around his cock that was already once again hard and ready for her.

“Jesus, Sid, this thing is something special. How -”

“You, you do this to me. I could come a hundred times in a row and still get hard again in two minutes flat. You did this, now you have to fix it.”

She flashed a grin at him and slunk down, which he allowed by releasing his hold on her. When she reached his cock, she grabbed him lightly, pumping with both hands. “I’ll tell you what. If I make you come in three minutes or less, you have to let me out of this bed for three hours so I can get shit done.”

“That doesn’t sound like a fair deal.”

Rolling her eyes she told him, “When I’m done, we’ll come right back here and not move until tomorrow. Ok?” She bent down, but instead of putting him in her mouth, she leaned forward until her breasts surrounded his cock. Pressing them together, she used her smooth skin to stimulate him and it worked.

Sidney’s eyes closed, his mouth trembled as his lips fell open. He let her the sensation of her milky skin and pliable flesh overtake him for a while until he finally said, “Yeah, yeah, ok, fine. But you’ve only got two minutes left.”

“Cheater.” She went to work with her mouth now, sucking him harder than he had her neck and stroking his balls with her palm to really get him going. When he came across her tongue less than two minutes later, she didn’t even bother with a celebratory kiss, but just jumped off the bed with a joyous laugh and hopped in the shower while he was still panting.

Showered, but still naked, Tessa sat on the couch making a list of everything she had to take care of in preparation for leaving as Sidney fussed around in her kitchen, calling out, “I can’t believe you still don't have a coffee maker.”

“I can believe you haven’t realized that I don’t drink coffee.”

He sat down next to her in just pair of boxer briefs and smiled at her nakedness like a teenaged boy. “Yeah, I know, but I do.”

“Then you should have bought a freaking coffee maker for here, too late now. Oh, and you need to cancel the flower deliveries and I need to tell the landlord I’ll be leaving.” Tessa wrote that down on her list as Sidney looked around her apartment.

“You’re not keeping this place?”

Still scribbling she said, “Why would I?”

“What about when you come back to visit? Where will you stay?”

Tessa shrugged and looked up. “A hotel. I’m not keeping this apartment just so we can fuck in it when I come back here.”

“I’ll keep it then, so you won’t have to worry about it.”

“Sidney -”

“I don’t wanna hear it. Pretty sure I can afford the rent and I want us to always have a place to go where no one will think to look for either of us. Is Sara’s lease up?”

“Next month, so if you want to keep it I’ll have to sign a new one for myself.”

“Do it, I’ll give you the money, you can write the checks.”

“Are you sure? You don’t need to do this.”

“I still don’t wanna hear it. We’re keeping it. Sacred space, remember?”

“Alrighty, but you have to clean it.”

“That’s not gonna happen.” After a shared smile, Tessa went back to her list. Sidney went on, “What about Nova Blue?”

“I hate to tell you this, but he’s coming with me to Philly.”

Sidney looked affectionately at the kitten sleeping in an oversized bed on the floor. He had become pretty attached to that damn cat. “Will you bring him back with you? So I can see him?”

Tessa bit her lip to keep from smiling too crazily. “Sure, baby, I’ll bring him when I come to see you.”

“What about your place in Reading?”

“On my list. First free afternoon I have I’m gonna go clean it out, move everything to my mom’s house.”

“Is that where you’re staying?”

“God, no. I love her dearly, but moving back in with my mother in my thirties would be a nightmare. I’m going to stay with my best friend, Ryan.”

“Ryan?”

The jealous tone he had taken bordered on psychotic. She responded with indifference. “Yes, Ryan, who is a girl, Mr. Crosby, so calm down.”

And suddenly, he was normal again. “Oh, alright.” Until, that is, he remembered a conversation they had had a long time ago and Tessa’s not so straight and narrow sexual history. “You ever fool around with her?”

Giggling, Tessa surveyed him. “I can’t tell if a yes would make you jealous or horny.”

“Probably both, both are pretty much my natural state around you, anyway.”

“True. There were a few times, in high school. We both ended up preferring men, unfortunately, otherwise we probably would have ended up married to each other a long time ago.”

Sidney groaned and reached out to grip Tessa by the neck as he tried to pull her onto his lap. She slapped his hand away. “Uh-uh, no. I still have two and a half hours.”

He whined like a baby. “Oh, come on. You can’t tell me you had experimental lesbian sleepovers in high school and then expect me to keep my hands off of you.”

“I can, actually. Why don’t you go out for a bit? Go home, get some clothes, pick up some coffee, bring me a cinnamon roll.”

“You’re a cruel woman.”

“You’ll live. Go.”

So, he went and Tessa got a ton of stuff done. She packed up pretty much everything she had in the apartment, which wasn’t much to begin with since her time in Pittsburgh was always meant to be temporary. She called her landlords in Pittsburgh and Reading to renew one lease and cancel the other and then went online, informing every necessary entity of her change in address. All her mail had still been going to her place in Reading that her mother would collect and sort for her. Now, she had it going to her mother’s PO Box since she didn’t know when she would get a place in Philadelphia.

Finally, she called Ryan. “I can’t believe your fucking ass is finally coming home! I can’t wait to see you and maybe slap the shit out of you for leaving me alone this long!”

“I literally just saw you a week ago, babe.”

“I know, but this is you coming home home, to stay home. And to work for the Flyers, FUCK, I’m just so excited!”

“Really? I couldn’t tell by all the yelling and screaming.”

“Oh, fuck you, whore. And you are SO getting me into that locker room, by the way. And I’m gonna bang the whole fucking roster. Every. Single. One of them. Goddamn, I need to get laid!”

“That’ll be impressive. One after another like a gang bang or maybe one a day until you get through everyone?”

“I’m fine with either option. Oh my God! You think you can get me season tickets?!”

“I doubt that and I’m not asking.”

“Well, yeah, not on your first day, but next week, whenever, maybe just drop some hints like hey my best friend is the biggest Flyers fan on earth who totally deserves season tickets for free, you know?”

“Yeah, ok, sure, will do.”

“I’m serious, but we’ll talk about that later. How are you? How are things? Are you packed and ready? You need me to do anything? Call any one? Are they throwing you a party?”

“Jesus, you’re worse than normal. Take a breath why don’t you. I’m great, thanks for asking. Things are good, moving at warp speed, but I’m handling it. I just packed, not much here. No party, but today I’m…hanging out with this guy I met while I was here, just saying goodbye.”

Tessa rubbed the massive hickey on her neck and she knew she’d have to give Ryan all the details when she got home because there was no hiding that mark or what it meant. The thing is, her mom was the only person she had told about Sidney and most of what she told her was straight up lies or half-truths. She didn’t know why she had kept it from Ryan who was her closest friend, but she did know she’d either have to spill the beans or lie some more and she really didn’t want to do the latter. She decided she might even tell Ryan the whole truth, the real truth. Maybe, if she had the guts. She knew she could trust her, but she was afraid of how she might react.

Meanwhile, Ryan was easily distracted. “Nice, a little afternoon delight or a lot of it, I hope. Surprised you had time to call me.”

“I took a break to get stuff done, sent him out for coffee and sweets.”

“Ugh, God, I need a freak like that. A man who’ll fuck me until I can’t see straight and then run out to buy me food while I bask in the afterglow.”

Tessa had to laugh. “It’s pretty nice, yeah.”

“So, who is this guy? You haven’t mentioned him. Is it serious?”

Yeah, we are, but it’s…complicated. I’ll tell you the whole story when I get back.”

“You better. Really, darling, you need me to do anything? I am super excited to have you home and I wanna help make it easy.”

“I know, I’m excited, too. It’ll be like college all over again.”

“Only with less drunken frat boys and more cats!”

“Yes, because we’re getting so old we’re now replacing men with cats.”

“Hey, hey, I said LESS frat boys, not NO frat boys. Though I am getting a little old for the college kids.”

“Finally?”

“Yes, finally, I’ll admit that my cradle robbing days are coming to an end. I’ll miss them, but hopefully some Flyers will volunteer to ease my transition into full-blown mature adulthood.”

“Heaven help the man who attempts that!”

“This bitch thinks she is so funny, I swear to God. I really am gonna slap you when you get here.”

“Sure you are. Listen, though, seriously, could you maybe just see about taking Sunday off? I need to clear out my place in Reading and I could use your help.”

“Of course, you got it. You start work on Wednesday, right? So you’re driving in tomorrow?”

“Yeah, I’m gonna leave at around noon so I can be there by dinner.”

“YES! Let’s go to Charlie Was a Sinner and order everything on the tapas menus. And the drink menu for that matter.”

Tessa looked up and smiled at Sidney who walked in. “It’s a date. I’ll call you when I hit the city.”

“Fuck yeah, see you tomorrow, love.”

“Bye, sweetie.”

Sidney was handing her a takeout container and sipping his coffee. “Who you calling sweetie?”

“My lesbian lover.”

He gave her a scolding look. “Don’t be mean if you’re gonna keep denying me satisfaction.”

Tessa hauled out and took a huge bite of the soft and still warm cinnamon roll that was dripping frosting. With a mouth full of sweet she said, “You’re in luck, I’m pretty much ready to go, so I’m all yours for the rest of the day.”

Sidney was on her like white on rice in a heartbeat, tackling her back onto the couch and smothering her with his big body. She laughed and tried to hold her treat out of harm's way. “Hey! Can I finish my breakfast before you start up?”

His mouth was on hers for a brief moment and then he grabbed the cinnamon roll from her hand, taking a huge bite and then holding it in front of her mouth as he fed her. “Hurry up so I can stuff you full of something else.”

“Bad, that was terrible, Sidney.”

She took another bite and he took a second one as well. “Bad, but effective, see how fast you’re chewing? You can’t wait for this dork to fuck you again.”

Her sticky fingers found his cheeks as he offered her the last piece that she took between her lips. “Mmm, you’re right. I need your come almost as much I needed that pastry.”

“Pervert.”

“Shut up and take me to bed.”

The afternoon and evening were a blur of sex and laughter. He didn’t take her to bed, not at first. First he made love to her on the couch with sticky fingers and sugar coated lips. Then, he fucked her against the wall of her living room, which they had hit on their way to the bedroom. Then, he decided they need a shower. Finally, they fell into bed and didn’t leave for many, many hours.

Sidney felt almost selfish at certain points because he would be in the middle of fucking her, but his mind would be busy trying to memorize the pattern of crinkles next to her eyes when she smiled, the sound of her soft breaths, the feel of her fingers on his back, her unique scent of rose and sunshine that never faded. It was silly, he knew he would see her again as soon as possible, but knowing that it wouldn’t be everyday made him desperate to imprint her entire being onto his mind.

Tessa was no better, working hard to focus on how heavy he felt on top of her, the silkiness of his hair, his lopsided smile and teasing voice. They already had so many memories of each other, but they still spent hours trying to create as many more as possible.

Tuesday morning, Tessa woke to the now familiar sound of his alarm. She was on her back, while he was on his stomach with his arm draped over chest, gripping her bicep with his fingers.

She met his sleepy smile with one of her own. “I’m not gonna miss your twenty-five alarms going off at all hours of the day.”

“Mmm, funny. Tell me something you will miss.”

“You need to get going.”

“Tell me something, Tess.”

“How much space you take up when we’re in the same room. Tell me something.”

“The way you smell.”

His nose pressed against her shoulder and he breathed her in, wondering when he would be able to do that again. He asked, “You’ll be gone by the time morning skate is over?”

“Yeah, I should head out soon.”

He came up with his head propped up on a bent elbow. “This is it, huh?”

“Don’t do that, Sidney. We’re gonna have a million more goodbyes, this isn’t the end of anything.”

“I know. I just meant this is it for this time around. I have to go, you have to go, but we should check the schedules, see when we can meet up. I need something to look forward to, to distract me from…this.”

“I already looked. Saturday the 19th was the soonest I could find. You guys will be in Philly for an afternoon game.”

Sidney groaned, pulling her closer with one arm. “That’s like ten days away.”

“I would have said Sunday, but you have a game. When the Flyers go on the road, so do you guys.”

“Saturday it is then. I guess I’ll see you at the arena first, huh? In enemy colors.”

“I think you’re forgetting that I look fucking sexy in orange.”

“I’ll be the judge of that.”

“You let me know.”

He kissed her now, trying hard to imagine that this was just another morning and failing. He rolled over, covered her body and pressed his tongue between her lips. She hummed against his mouth and said, “You have to go.”

“Stay a little longer, I’ll help you pack up your car after skate.”

She shook her head. “It’s better this way. I told you, we’re not making this a thing. I’m gonna see you in ten days so we’re not going to do any dramatic parting scene today.”

“I just want to say goodbye.”

“You just did. You did about twenty times yesterday.” Tessa sat up and he sat back to allow her to do so. She grabbed his hand, laying his palm on her neck. He smiled in response, rubbing the warmth of her skin. “You said goodbye, Sid and so did I. This is just a formality. I’ll see you in ten days and just think about the fact that the sex is gonna be so damn good.”

“The best ever, probably.”

“Definitely. Kiss me one more time, then go to work.”

He kissed her a few dozen more times, telling her in between, “Drive safe. Call me every time you stop and when you get home. Leave me messages if I don’t answer.”

She grinned. “You’re gonna be late, Sid.”

“Just…think about me when you have time.”

She kissed him now, wrapping her around his torso as she knelt on the bed. “I’ll think of you every minute of the drive. Every day we’re apart, I’ll be thinking of you, counting the days. Like you will be?”

“I will.”

“Good. Go.”

“Tessa…” He didn’t finish the thought, he just nodded and kissed her one last time. He was, actually, now really late. He dressed quickly under watchful eye and before he left, bent his head toward hers as she remained sitting on the bed.

“I’m going.”

“One more kiss?”

His lips were so close, almost there. However, instead of kissing her again, he cupped her jaw with his palm and ran a thumb along her bottom lip. “No, I’m gonna save it for Saturday.”

She closed her lips around his thumb and met his eyes. Releasing the digit she said, “Ten days.”

“Bye, Tessa.”

“Bye, Sid.”

Notes

I was going to add more to this, but tbh I'm an emotional mess right now. Lots more to come!