Chapter 1
Its amazing, standing here staring at the ocean it seems like it has endless possibilities. I glance at my watch, its almost noon, he's late; he was meant to be here twenty minutes ago. I turn and look towards the parking, just in time to see his Volvo pull into the last available parking spot. He climbed out of his car and all my anger vanished, there he stood in all his magnitude. He wore his light blue pull over, that made every girl wish he was hers and his favorite pair of khakis that made my heart beat faster than a steam train. He was stunning he had light brown hair done in a messy way that was as if to say I don't care what people say I'm happy, he had the bluest eyes I had ever seen on any person. He was tall a lot taller than me and with that pull over that clung you could clearly see his defined body. He turned and met my gaze only to give me my favorite crooked smile. He slowly made his way down to me.
"Hey gorgeous" he said flashing me with another smile.
"Hey honey, you're late" I said taping my watch with little annoyance.
"Sorry Lissa, traffic was a nightmare" There was a way he looked at me that made me feel, like I was the most beautiful woman he had seen in his entire life. I was nothing but average looking, I had long dark brown hair down to my waist, green eyes, I never wore make up , never really had the energy for it. I was not very tall maybe five foot six, but for some reason he looked at me like I was a supper model.
"Sure, sure Dimitri" was all I could say looking up at him with a coy smile. I reached up on my toes to kiss him. He bent down to deepen the kiss; I put my hands in his hair feeling each strand between my fingers. I could feel the warmth of his breath on my face and it felt like I had died and gone to heaven.
"Lissa?" he said when the kiss finally ended.
"Yea, Dimitri" was all could say I was still slightly light headed after that kiss.
He leant down to whisper in my ear "I love you, more than you know" I felt the blood rush to my cheeks as I blushed. I knew he loved me but this was the fist time he had said the words out loud. He bent down to kiss the blush in my cheek, I blushed a deeper red and a small giggle burst through my lips. I turned to kiss him on the lips once quickly before saying "I love you too honey"
"DIMITRI JAMES!"
We both turned to see Ashley walking towards us. Ashley is Dimitri's little sister she is eighteen, the same age as me. She walked towards us in a soft baby pink cotton dress that was down to her calf, she had her shoes in her hand matching the colour of her dress. I had been best friends with her for eleven years. She was exquisite; she was a lot shorter than me with short brown spiky hair that normally stuck in millions of directions but today it was smoothed down into an elegant hair style. Just like her brother she had blue eyes dimples.
"Ugg" Dimitri moaned to himself "Hey Ash, how you doing?" he yelled to her.
"Do you know what time it is? Huh. Do you? Mom is going to have kittens if you two are late." She moaned "Oh hey Lissa."
"Hi …" was all I could mumble before she interrupted me.
"Lissa are you planning on going like that?" she asked me mortified.
I looked down to see if I had done something stupid like put my underwear over my pants or if maybe I had put two different shoes on, but everything looked to be in its right place.
"Um. Yea I was why, is there something wrong?"
She took a step back eyeing me as if I were her latest design. Ashley is a clothing designer and her designs are amazing she is so talented. She turned to Dimitri "You take your car and go home and get ready. Seems I have a lot to do on this one" she shot me a quick glance. He giggled and gave me a kiss on the cheek. Dimitri made his way to his car and left.
"Lissa I wish you would stop dressing like a twelve year old boy." She said to me as we made our way back to her car, I liked the way I dressed. She drove a shiny red BMW M3 her whole family drove extravagant cars. The James's had money their father was the top neuro surgeon in the country and just like his children he was a very attractive man his name is Carlise he is tall dark and handsome, with brown eyes and curly brown hair and a face that would turn any male model green with envy, he had high cheek bones and a strong bone structure. Their mother is one of a kind not only is she gorgeous but she is amazingly talent, she is an interior designer, she designs for people all over the country. She is not much taller than Ashley, she has honey blonde hair and blue eyes that lit up when she smiled and just like Ashley she had dimples. Her name is Esme, her and Carlise got married shortly after she turned twenty. They were celebrating their twenty seventh wedding anniversary.
The drive to the James's place took a lot less time than it would have taken me, her family all drove like crazy people. She lived just out of town. We drove in silence for a while until I could not take it anymore.
"So Ashley, what exactly is wrong with what I am wearing?" I ask looking down. I was wearing a pair of blue faded jeans, a button up long sleeve white shirt with the sleeves pushed up and my favorite pair of flat pumps. She looked at me with a look of disgust, she shot a look at my hair pulled back into a pony, she made a noise in her throat before answering "Lissa you look like you are going to the game with the guys not an anniversary party" she laughed and continued "if you ever want to Dimitri or any male as a matter of fact to marry you, you are going to have to put more effort into the way you look."
"Sure, guess you right but these clothes are comfy." I grumbled tugging on my shirt.
She giggled and mumbled something to herself that I did not quite catch.
We pulled off the highway and onto their drive way, no matter how many times I came here I was still bewildered at how astonishing this house is. It is an old house, close to a century old but well kept. Esme did an amazing job on restoring this house; the house is a large old farm house set in the middle of the land, it is a double story house, with a large immaculately kept garden with wild honeysuckle growing up the side of the one wall. The left side of the garden is cut but a slow flowing stream with wild roses growing around it and in the nearby trees you can hear birds singing its song to welcome summer. In this place it's hard to believe that magic is not true because in every direction you look there is a piece of magic just waiting to be found.
We pulled up to the front of the house and Dimitri's car was already parked in the garage, it was a huge garage with extravagant cars parked in it, my old beat up car looked out of place here I drove a VW polo, it was not an old car but not as nice and shiny as these. Dimitri wanted to buy me a new car for my birthday but I kept telling him no I loved him not his money. Ashley cut the engine and we walked up to the house when she opened the door there he was sitting at the piano playing his mother a song he had written for her many years ago, it was one of her favorites. It's hard to believe that when he played the piano it would even make the gods cry. When we were in the house Ashley shut the door a little too loudly. Dimitri looked up and favored us with a smile but did not stop playing. Esme walked over with tears in her eyes.
She gave me a hug "Thanks for coming Lissa."
"Happy anniversary Esme hope today is a lovely day. Where's Carlise wanted to wish him?"
"In his study he will be down in a few. You know men all they do is work" She laughed returning to Dimitri who had carried on playing.
Ashley grabbed my arm pulling me towards the stairs when we got to the landing at the top of the stairs we made our way down the long passage to her room.
We passed Carlise's study. "Happy anniversary Carlise" was all I could shout on my way past.
Carlise stuck his head out with a smile. "Thanks Lissa. Ashley stop pushing her you are going to hurt her. Sorry Lissa you know how she gets." He smiled and went back into his study. Ashley pushed me into her room and through to her bathroom where there was enough beauty products to keep a salon afloat for months, she pushed me into a chair and began to get to work, first she polished and buffed every surface of my face then started to apply the products creams and foundations then make-up. I. HATE. MAKE-UP.
After what felt like hours she broke the silence "Lissa you can open your eyes now" I finally opened my eyes and there I stood staring at this wide eyed beauty. The only way I knew it was me was the fact that I was still wearing the same clothes. But there this woman stood staring at me with smoky eye shadow and rosy cheeks and a plump vintage pink lipstick on. She turned and left me standing there staring at this women in the mirror.
"Now … what are you going to wear" she paused looking through her walk in closet "Mmmm perfect… Now a pair of shoes… Mmmm perfection these will look stunning" she turned to me with an evil smile on her face "Lissa when I am done with you, you will look amazing like you just stepped out of one of my fashion shows."
The look she gave me made me feel like I was about to pay for all my sins, I hate playing dress up and she knew me well enough to know this.
"Come on Lissa. We don't have all day"
I started undoing the buttons on my shirt, I took my shirt off and dropped it on the floor. She looked at me the way my mother looks at me when I do something I should not do but I just ignored her. I undid my button and zip and slid my pants down and stepped out of them leaving my clothes in a mess on her floor she eyed them but said nothing.
Next thing we know there is noise out side her door and I realize at this moment if someone walked through that door I'm standing here in no more than I pink lace bra and hot pants and at the exact time I realize it, it's to late.
Kellan comes bouncing through Ashley's door "Ash mom sent me to come get you two…" he stops mid-sentence. Kellan is a rugby play he's well build, tall; dark tanned and a God among man, he has his father's hair dark brown and curly and his mothers eyes blue. He has a baby face with the deepest dimples I have seen on any one. He looks at me and smiles "Um Ash" was all he could say at first "Why does Lissa have no clothes on?" he looks down eyeing my clothes on the floor then looks up slowly till he reaches my face which has now gone a new kind of red. A smile spreads across his face and it's a naughty kind of smile "Looking good Lissa… um need some help with that?"
That was it Ashley took off at him "Kellan get the hell out of here don't you know how to knock? GET OUT" she screams at him. He's still standing staring at me "Do you want me to get Dimitri? Kellan out" with a smile on his face he turns and leaves.
Ashley closes the door. "Are you alright … Lissa? Look at me" she had panic in her voice. I looked up at her, held out my hand. She looked at it for a moment confused.
"The clothes Ash, please give me the clothes." I said to her in a small voice. It had finally hit me I was standing all exposed for the world to see and Kellan had seen it. She handed me the clothes I dressed quickly trying to cover myself as fast as I was able to. It was a similar dress to hers but this one was a bluish-white dress the colour reminded me of a warm summers day, it had embroidery up the one side. It was not as long as hers it came to just below the knee the shoes were white sandals with a small heal. I took a moment to pull myself together.
"You okay?" she asked again looking at me carefully.
I smiled and nodded. It was not that bad I guess, except the fact that not even Dimitri has seen me that naked. Ash took my hand and we walked back down to the party.
When I got into full view Dimitri walked up to me pulled me up into his arms and kissed me so deep that I never wanted to let go. I traced my tongue along his lips to finally realize some thing was wrong. His lip was swollen and there was a faint hint of the taste of blood on his lips. He set me down on my feet and stepped back and turned his back on me.
"Dimitri what happened" I look over to see Esme crying in Carlise arms
"Look at me … Dimitri look at me" he turned then I saw his face for the first time, he had a cut above his left eye and he had a split lip. His shirt was torn and it was dirty he had blood stains on in. "What the hell happened here?" I screeched at him "DIMITRI tell me what happened"
I scanned the room not knowing what I was looking for until my eyes landed on a face that was even worse than his. Kellan sat at the dinning room table with his head back trying to stop the bleeding from his nose, he had blood coming out his ear, he had a gash in his lip and by the looks of it tomorrow he is going to have a black eye.
"Kellan are you ok" I walked towards him shaking Dimitri's hold off my arm. I stopped just in front of him; he looked up then looked away. It was hard to look at. Dimitri was a lot smaller than Kellan but Dimitri took Tai Qwando and could take down a man twice his size I had seen it at the competitions. I placed my hand on his, and looked at Dimitri "You, outside we need to talk" I barked at him. I looked at Esme with apologetic eyes "Esme I'm truly sorry for this"
I left the house with him close behind me. I stopped and turned to look at him my first thought was to kiss all his boo-boo's better but I was angry for how he treated his brother.
"What the hell did you do that for?" I asked tapping my toe.
"I'm sorry babe, he came down and Esme asked him where you girls were and he said still getting ready. Then Jack arrived and it was all fun and games, Kel turned to Jack and said "That little Lissa has a body and a half on her" I lost it I wanted to know how he had known this and he told me he got an eye full upstairs" he looked down ashamed of what he had done "I'm sorry I just freaked out and hit him. My dad pulled me off him"
"Is Kel going to be alright?"
He looked at me long before replying "Yea he is going to be just fine" He looked at me again. "Are you alright though?"
"Um, no yea I'm fine just a little embarrassed." I smiled at him "Come let's go get you cleaned up before you totally destroy your parents anniversary" I reached out and took his hand.
We reached the front door he opened it and was about to walk in but I stopped. He looked at me with confusion "will you please go apologize to your brother for me please"
He smiled and replied "what ever makes you happy."
We walked into the house and Kellan walked over to us he put his arm around Dimitri "Sorry bro" Dimitri smiled and replied
"Me to bro"
Kellan looked at me and smiled I looked up at him and smiled back "Sorry Lissa"
"Not a problem just next time knock first" I laughed at him, they smiled and I knew that this was over. I took Dimitri upstairs to get cleaned up. We walk to his bedroom hand in hand. His room was at the end of the passage, it was the first time I had been in here. When he opened the door I got hit by his scent and I felt like I was home. His room was a midnight blue with a large heavy set wooden bed in the centre. He sat on the end of his bed, I walked over and started undoing the buttons on his shirt his shirt needed to be soaked. He sat there looking up at me with a smirk on his face.
His skin was hot under my hands as I slid it off his shoulders and down his arms. My hands hesitated for just a second he looked down at them. He looked up at me and moistened his bottom lip. I pushed him back so he was lying on the bed as he went down he grabbed my arm so I was lying on top of him giggling. He crushed his lips to mine and kissed me like the world depended on it.
I could do nothing but give in I kissed him back passionately knowing that if this did not stop soon we would be in trouble. I did not have the will to stop and by the looks of it neither did he, I had my hands in his hair and he had his in mine. I don't know how long we lay there kissing but things started progressing. He grabbed my hip and rolled me so I was on my back with him between my legs, my skirt pushed up to my waist the way we were laying. My hands were at his belt starting to undo it, there was suddenly three short taps on his door.
We shot apart like two school children just caught making out on their parents couch. Kellan opened the door slowly "Everyone decent" he laughed before opening the door completely. He took in the room starting with Dimitri's face which was flushed with a smudge of lipstick on his lips; he looked down to see his shirt on the floor and his half undone belt and smiled. He then turned to me and looked at me with approving eyes he looked over my face and smiled.
"You two mom sent me up to make sure her poor Dimitri is ok" he winked at Dimitri "Seems like he's in good hands" he smiled at me "Sorry that I disturbed you" he turned and left.
As soon as Kellan left both Dimitri and I both burst into laughter. "Can you … believe … that? What … must he think" I giggled "First he sees me half naked now he walks in on this."
"Lissa, think we should go down now." He said looking down
"Yea sounds good. What's for lunch? I'm starved" I said with a giggle, he laughed and grabbed a clean shirt out his closet. He put it on went to the bathroom washed his face.
He turned to me "I think you should straighten yourself out too" he smiled at me with my crooked smile. I walked to the bathroom turned and looked in the mirror
"Ugg look at my hair … aiy my make-up, no wonder Kellan looked at me like that" he laughed with me "got a brush I think I need it" I said pointing at my hair, he went over to the dresser and pulled out a brush "Mmmm" I mumbled when he handed me the brush
"What"
"Mmmm just thinking"
He came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist and kissed me lightly on the cheek. "What you thinking about?"
"You have a brush but you have hair like that" I pointed to his messy hair. He laughed and made a face "It's an acquired skill"
"Come on we gotta get down there now" I smiled up at him
"Yea yea" he said to me with a goofy smile.
Once my hair was straight he took my hand and we made our way back to the party. He squeezed my hand and kisses my cheek as we hit the bottom of the stairs. Everyone had calmed down now and there was a happy atmosphere surrounding everyone.
Esme was smiling happily talking to Jackson. Jackson is Ashley's boyfriend they have been together for five years they met when we were still in school. Jackson is tall not as tall as Dimitri but taller than me, he has blonde messy hair and brown eyes he had his hair pulled back into a shabby pony. He was sitting on the sofa with Ashley standing behind him playing with his hair whilst he spoke to Esme. Dimitri cleared his throat and everyone looked up Ashley took in my face and moaned "Look at your make-up. Oh well now you got your own way" she smiled
Kellan punched Dimitri in the arm "Sorry for breaking you two love birds up earlier didn't realize you to had decided to finally play hide the sausage" He laughed and I blushed remembering the look in his eyes when he saw us in the bedroom. Ashley and Jackson both laughed. Dimitri went to punch Kellan but I held his arm reminding him not to over react.
"Next time I'll let you know" Dimitri said to him with slightly more sarcasm than necessary.
Their parents were totally oblivious to our conversation like we were talking about a picnic. Esme got up and walked to the kitchen. "Lunch is ready" Esme called from the dinning room.
We all made our way to the dinning room to take our seats. Esme and Carlise stood at the table end and waited for us to all take our seats. He smiled at Esme as she sat.
"First of all I would like to thank everyone for coming. I would like to thank my beautiful wife for twenty seven beautiful years of marriage. Speeches are not really my thing so I will make this short. I promised my dear wife I would say a few words." He smiled at his wife "In the last twenty seven years we had so many great memories, which makes it harder to decide which are the greatest. So she told me to try and decided which are my favorite five, I was then able to choose my fondest memories." He turned to his wife and kissed her on the cheek, it was the sort of love I wanted to have one day.
"My favorite one has to be the day we got married it was at the moment that my dear Esme said "I do" it was at that moment that I felt like the luckiest man alive" he reached down to put his hand on her shoulder.
"Second do you remember that day it was three month after we got married you came and told me you were pregnant with my dear boy Kellan." He walked over to where Kellan was sitting and put his hand on his shoulder. "After that the next three where the days my kids were born. I never missed a delivery and I thank you for giving me the best kids in the world" he looked at Esme who now had a tear in her eyes and said "The day I met, you it felt like God himself had given me one of his angel and I did not know life could get any better but it did, it just kept getting better and better. Now after twenty seven years of marriage I still love you just as much as I did that first day. Thank you for giving me the best twenty-seven years of my life." He went to sit by his wife, turned to look at her took both her hands and looked in her eyes and said the same words Dimitri said to me on the beach
"I love you, more than you will ever know" He leant forward and kissed her passionately.
She turned to him and said "I love you too"
We all chatted through the rest of lunch but I did not bother to take interest in any one conversation I was to busy thinking about what life must have been like growing up around parents who were so madly in love it hurt to look at. My parents split up when I was just a child and I was shuffled backwards and forwards until I was sixteen. It was then that I decided I had had enough and decided to stay with my mom permanently I visited my dad every once and a while.
My dad was not happy about it but I spent two weeks with him every December holiday he did not live far away it was about a twenty minute drive which was great when I was going between them it meant I could stay in one school. My moms name is Glynda not long after I started collage she moved back to her home town of Pietermaritzburg. My mother is one of a kind she is amazing in every way a mother should be. She is remarried to a crazy guy his name is Bob and they have a son and he is crazy just like his father but they make her happy and that's all that matters.
My father on the other hand is kind of strange he got remarried shortly after my mother but that did not last long. They also had a son his name was Luke he is three years younger than me.
I was so lost in thought that I did not hear Dimitri talking to me "Lissa you okay babe?"
"Yea sorry I'm alright just thinking about what Carlise said" which was not a lie.
"Did he say something to upset you?"
I looked up at him confused. He whipped his finger along my cheek to catch a tear. I smiled at him "No just thought it was amazing that after so long they still love each other. I want that one day… so what did I miss" That there was my mistake I looked at Kellan who was rolling with laughter that it almost shook the houses foundation.
"What's with him?" I pointed at Kellan.
"He's been going on and on about what he caught us doing in the room"
"Oh. It was nothing" I blushed and that made Kellan laugh louder
Kellan turned to me now trying to contain his laughter
"Aw poor Lissa here is giving poor Dimitri blue balls. How long you two been together?" he turned to Dimitri "It must suck that I saw here body before you did, and Lissa I must say you have a rocking body it's to bad you always covering it up."
Ashley turned to give me an I told you so look. This conversation was staring to make me uncomfortable. I looked up at Dimitri and the expression on his face mimicked mine.
It was only when Carlise got a phone call from the hospital that we realized the party was over. Kellan was the first to leave after Carlise he had rugby practice to get to. He was excited about an up coming game. Ashley and Jackson had gone to sit by the nearby stream, Ashley was lying on the grass with her head in Jackson's lap and he was playing with her hair watching it blow in the breeze watching how the sun caught it at different angles and how the sun made it look different colours. She was humming in time with a bird in the nearby trees.
Esme had started cleaning up "No Esme it's your day you can't be cleaning" I turned to Dimitri who had given me funny look "Come Dimitri, you get the dishes from your mother, I'll start washing up." He got up from where he was sitting and slowly walked over to me bent down and kissed me.
He whispered in my ear "Show off" he giggled.
He stalked off to the kitchen to put the dishes into the sink. I walked in behind him and put the water in, while I washed he rinsed. It was amazing how we worked well together. He started humming a tune I had never heard before.
"What song is that?"
"Just a song I wrote a couple weeks back?" Dimitri played piano and sang but I rarely heard him sing he said it was not his talent.
"Sing more please it sounds amazing" he carried on humming and it felt like the rhythm went at the same pace as my heart. It was like my heart was the instrument and the song just flowed with it harmonizing beautifully.
The song ended I turned to him and stretched up on my toes to give him a kiss making sure not to touch him with my hands, they were wet. He slid his hands down my back to just below my bum. He lifted my legs till I was hitched onto his waist. He took a couple steps back and turned so I was sitting on the kitchen counter. He took my hands and held them behind his neck. Still kissing it was not a soft kiss it was an urgent kiss, fierce but not with rage with pure pleasure.
Like always the kiss ended too soon.
"That. Was. Amazing" he breathed into my ear.
My heart was pounding like it was a bull about to break through my ribs. He leant down and placed his head over my racing heart. He sighed, looked up at me and smiled.
"What you thinking about?" He asked.
"Was thinking about the first time you asked me out. You know it's almost been a year?"
"Yea, I know the best eleven months of my life" he said smiling up at me.
"So why were you thinking about it?"
"Just something Kellan and Ashley said that's all"
"Oh I hope when you think back you don't bring back bad memories"
"Never" I smiled back at him.
