I was shivering so violently and my teeth were chattering so hard that I thought they were going to fall out.
Dimitri laughed and took my bulky, gloved encased hand in his. "I can't believe how cold you are," he said, his Russian accent slipping over the vowels. It was almost as if being in Russia made his accent more prominent.
I glared at him form around the giant wool scarf that was encasing most of my head. Maybe I had exaggerated my clothing choice, but it was absolutely freezing. I looked especially ridiculous since he was walking around in his lovely leather duster and mittens and I looked like the abominable snow man.
"Forgive me if I'm cold," I snapped, "but it is minus a billion degrees here."
He squeezed my hand and smiled, probably regretting his decision to bring me out here.
"By the way," I asked. "Where the heck are we going in such cold weather?"
"It's a surprise," he told me, mischief glinting in his eyes. For all I knew he was bringing me to the mountains to leave me there to freeze to death.
Ignoring that thought, I allowed myself to get distracted by the sheer beauty around me like I never would back home on duty. Small stores lined the street advertising warm hot coco and cinnamon rolls in a language I could barely understand but my nose knew well and made my stomach grumble. Giant trees dusted with delicate layers of snow and strung with twinkling lights lined the walkway. People of all ages were wandering around talking and laughing and for a moment I could imagine Dimitri and me living that life; a life of no big responsibilities, no danger, no constant threat that the other may not come home...
I sighed. Guess I should enjoy this while I can, I thought.
The frigid air was beginning to numb my cheeks and I was sure that they were bright red by now.
"Dimitri," I began but he cut me off.
"We're almost there," he whispered tugging me to walk faster than I already was, which was hard considering how frozen stiff my legs were.
All of a sudden the towering trees that were surrounding us opened up into a beautifully lit rink with trees covered in sparkling lights, the colours dancing off the ice. My breath caught.
"Dimitri-" I began but again was cut off.
"I thought you'd like it," he whispered, his breath making clouds of ice in the air surrounding us.
Slipping his arm around my waist- I was surprised he could find it under all those layers- he lead me off to a little cabin off to the side.
"A cabin?" I asked raising my eyebrow. "Trying to relive old memories?"
If he ever blushed he would have right at that moment. But being Dimitri he kept his face neutral and with a straight face replied "That never crosses my mind."
Yeah right, I thought, but went along with it anyway.
My stomach fluttered when we got to the door, memories flooding back making my cheeks warm at the thought. Or maybe it was all the layers.
It turned out that we were just going to use the cabin to drop off our shoes and put on ice skates on but it definitely could have been used for other things as it looked just like the cabin we had spent time in back at St. Vladimers.
Bending over to take off his shoes, he had his skates on in a flash. My fingers were frozen from the cold and I fumbled with getting mine off, then aging attempting to lace up my skates. My fingers just wouldn't cooperate; it was as if they didn't want to follow the directions my brain was trying to get them to do. I yanked on the laces pulling they with my numb fingers, getting angrier and angrier, when strong hands took over.
'Hey!" I said more in surprise than anger and looked up into Dimitri's warm eyes.
He laughed a bit under his breath. "You could have just asked for help," he looked up into my eyes and I glared at him.
"And why would I do that? I was doing perfectly fine all on my own."
"I could tell. Especially from the way you were yanking on your laces like you wanted to rip them apart."
I tried to muster as much distain I could looking at him but that just made him laugh harder. I tired to keep hold of the anger but I couldn't help and feel butterflies in my stomach as a piece of hair that had fallen foreword as he laced up my skates tickled my cheek. I smiled and tucked it behind his ear.
That caught him by surprise and his eyes flicked up to meet mine. He captured my hand and held it against his cheek.
"Roza..." he whispered, turning his head so his lips brushed against my palm.
He held me that way for what felt like and eternity and I closed my eyes and breathed in the scent of his skin.
"We should go skating before it gets too dark."
I opened my eyes and found him watching me.
"Yeah," I replied momentarily forgetting what we were actually supposed to be doing.
Once we had our skates all laced up- Dimitri had gone to the cabin earlier and brought skated that would fit me- we made our way out to the lake.
I felt wobbly on the blades and I was fidgeting with my scarf around my neck.
"What's wrong," he asked, concern in his voice.
"It's just that, um," I stuttered.
In the silence his eyes widened. "You've never been skating have you?" he asked, his voice quiet but a hint of laughter buried underneath.
"Yes I have," I said more defensively than I would have wanted, "just not in a while."
He laugh a little and tucked some of my hair behind my ear. "Well I guess you're going to have to learn- or catch up- quickly."
I glared at him. Damn, I thought. I hated that he knew me so well; he knew that that's exactly what I was going to do. I guess he had figured that out when he was training me back at St. Vlads...
I felt like I was floating in a fairytale for the few short hours we were able to spend together. I tried to hold onto the moment and the feeling that I was flying and bask in the warmth of his hand in mine as we skated lazy circles in our own private heaven.
I also picked up skating remarkably quickly. Dimitri was impressed.
"I see you learned pretty quickly," he remarked later that night.
"When have I not?" I asked raising my eyebrow.
He smiled at me, mischief lacing his smile.
I narrowed my eyes.
All of a sudden his hand shot out with incredible speed and latched onto my waist. I screeched with surprise as I felt my blades lift off the ice and into the air.
"Dimitri!" I yelled as he spun me in circles on the pond.
Laughing and smiling so wide I could see this teeth, I was struck speechless. He never let his guard down that far and I never got to see him smile that way except in very rare cases; and this was one of them. He held my waist until I had my balance back on the ice. With my wind blown hair and bright red cheeks I was sure I looked like a disaster but his eyes shone like I was the most beautiful thing in the world. My breath hitched in my throat.
"Dimitri-" my words were cut off by his lips pressed against mine. Apparently my thought wasn't that important because the moment I felt the heat of his skin against mine, I forgot everything.
"Why don't we go back to the cabin?" he asked, his lips brushing against my ear. "I can build a fire and everything."
Apparently he didn't even need confirmation, he could read me that well. Laughing under his breath he took my hand in his. We skated back off to the cabin with old memories dancing through our minds and wondering if they were going to be replaced by new ones.