Rose is beautiful. I thought it the first time I'd seen her from outside her dorm window and I still think it every time I see her. Unfortunately I'm not the only one who notices her beauty.
I was driving to Leigh to pick up Rose and Lissa. Rose said she was perfectly capable of driving both her and Lissa the hour it took to get to the college and back, but after their first day there; Lissa pulled me aside and made me promise to drive them from now on because Rose's driving made her fear for her life. Rose consented to my request to drive, but she often complained about feeling like a five year old being pick up by her father. Though she whined about it all the time, I knew she secretly liked to be taken care of in the way she never was going up.
I pulled up outside the main entrance to the school and parked on the curve. I was slightly envious of Rose and her opportunity to attend college, something I never had the option to do. I found myself living vicariously through her; listening to her describe the campus and the people and grumbling about the classes and the homework. I was happy that Lissa forced her to take some classes that interested her. She elected to take a crossfit class the college offered, but she told me that my workouts at the academy were ten times harder than those. Lissa asked her why she continued in the class then, to which Rose replied that her instructor was "totally hot". I was less than pleased with this given that Rose and I had fallen in love while training at the academy, but she assured me that he had nothing on me, which she repeated with labored breathing after a jealousy fueled night in bed.
However, it was her psychology class that she found the most enjoyment in. This baffled me at first until she explained how she'd taken an interest in it when Lissa went off her meds and when she was struggling with the effects of spirit. Even though she was no longer bonded with Lissa and feeling the effects, she was still interested in the subject and said she wanted to better understand what was going on in Lissa's head if she ever went off her meds again. It was unusual to see Rose so invested in school work, but it just revealed how caring and compassionate she was when it came to the people she loved.
Lissa come around the building then. She was texting furiously on her phone with a bright smile on her face and a slight blush on her cheeks. She must have been texting Christian, the royal moroi who she had been dating since the academy and who also happened to be my charge. She was followed by Sergey and Jeremey, two of her royal guards who kept a discreet distance while she was at school. They nodded toward me and then slipped into a black Honda civic identical to mine, waiting to follow us back to court. I opened the door for Lissa as she made it to the car, looked up from her phone, and smiled.
"Hey Dimitri."
"Where's Rose?" I asked, confused. Rose hardly left Lissa's side, and not just because it was her duty to guard her, but because they were basically sisters.
"She forgot something, so she sent Jeremy and Sergey ahead with me. She said she'd be right out." Lissa said, then smiled again and ducked into the backseat, fingers sweeping quickly across the keyboard again.
I closed the door behind Lissa and turned back around to wait for Rose. It was a minute before I saw her turn the corner. She had my full attention in that moment. She was as beautiful as ever, hair down and flowing in slight curls down her back and skin gleaming in the afternoon sun. She left me breathless with her beauty. It took me a moment to realize that she wasn't alone.
The guy she was talking with seemed just as captivated with her as I was. She asked him something I couldn't hear in which he answer with quick enthusiasm. He seemed to be about Rose's age and reminded me of her friend Eddie Castile with his blond hair and lean build. But Eddie had never looked at Rose like this, hanging from her every word and staring at her in awe. My blood boiled as jealously filled my insides.
Rose spotted me then and her face broke out in a wide grin. She waved good bye to the guy and began walking quickly toward me. My attention was still on the guy she was just talking to, whose eyes were watching Rose walk away, focusing mostly on the back of her curve hugging jeans. Usually I loved seeing Rose in those tight jeans, but now I wanted to burn them and have her wear only baggy sweatpants.
Rose gave me a confused look when she say the glare on my face and turned to see where my focus was. The guy blushed when she caught him looking at her and her cheek rose in a side smirk. She was facing me again and winked, a mischievous twinkle in her eyes, before running and jumping into my arms. I caught her around the waist and she wrapped her legs around my hips.
She gave me a sexy smile before capturing me lips in a teasing kiss. She started to pull away but I growled low in my chest and threaded my fingers in her hair, turning that quick kiss into one of heat and passion. I spun around and pressed her up against the side of the car. Rose gasped and I took full advantage, deepening the kiss and sweeping my tongue along hers; tasting her. Rose groaned and answered will equal passion. I was briefly embarrassed about Lissa seeing all this through the window, but jealously was still fueling me to claim Rose as mine.
Rose was the first to pull away, breathing heavily before leaning forward to whisper huskily in my ear.
"He's gone. And I think he got the idea." She was still panting but I could hear the smile in her voice.
"I hope so." I growled. She giggled and pulled back to face me. She was smiling widely, her breathing now returned to normal.
"I like you jealous. It brings out the rough passionate side of you. But you know you have no reason to be. I love you Dimitri. Always." The sincerity in those last words rang through and I smiled and sighed.
"I love you too, Roza. You know that. It just sometimes you're too goddamn beautiful for your own good." She smiled again, a slight blush on her face, before capturing my lips in another long kiss.
The window in the back rolled down and Lissa stuck her head out the window, causing me and Rose to break apart.
"Are you guys almost done? My innocent eyes have seen enough already without watching you two do it against the car." I laughed, embarrassed. But Rose looked at her friend in joking disbelief.
"Innocent? Sure you are. This is payback for all the times I was in your head when you and Christian were up in that church attic getting it on. And there was nothing even remotely 'innocent' going on there."
Lissa blushed and stuck her tongue out at Rose before rolling back up her window.
I put Rose down on to her feet and we both climbed in the car. Most of the jealous had dissipated from my veins, but I couldn't wait to get back to court to work out the rest of with a long afternoon in bed with my beautiful Roza.