Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Academy or anything associated with it.
I've got the sexiest boyfriend on the planet, I thought as I watched Dimitri run.
He jogged around the track outside in a sleeveless T-shirt that hugged his body in all the right places, sweat glistening on his amazing arms and neck. He was so beautiful. So unbelievably sexy. And he was mine. All mine. We had been dating for almost ten years and that warm, intense feeling I got every time I saw him hadn't faded even a little bit. I loved him so much. He's my soul mate. And I knew he felt the same way about me.
As he finished up his last lap, he caught me staring at him and smiled. Oh god, that smile. Smiling at me. For so long at the beginning all I got were half-smiles, tiny little flickers of amusement when I made a joke or smartass remark. But now every time he saw me that blazing, thousand-watt smile spread from ear to ear. And every time I saw it, it very nearly made me dizzy. He walked over to me with that gorgeous, heartbreaking smile and I found a smile spreading across my face.
"How long have you been here?" he asked, that Russian accent making my heart quiver.
"About half an hour."
"And you've just been standing here for all that time?" he asked, slipping his arm around my waist.
"Well, I was just enjoying the show," I answered, sliding my hands over biceps that could only be accurately described as bulging.
"Mm, and did you like what you saw?"
"Well…" I said. "I guess it was par. Little gross and sweaty…"
His laugh rang out through the empty lot. "Is that right?"
"Just a little," I teased. "Although, I think I could probably stomach it…"
I didn't get anything else out before his mouth cut mine off.
Without conscious command from me, my hands slid up around his neck. I pulled him close to me until our bodies were pressed against each other. I think it's safe to say that in the years since we finally got together, our make-out sessions also hadn't lost any of their heat. It still felt every bit as hot and wonderful and sexy as the very first time he ever held me in his arms and kissed me. Even if we were under a lust spell then. His lips were just so warm, so soft, and he tasted so good…
"Roza," he moaned as I twisted my fingers tightly into his hair. His hands slid across my back, sliding up and down my body, sending shivers up my spine. I tightened my grip around his neck, wanting to pull him closer to me. Even though our bodies were pressed so tightly together a piece of tissue paper couldn't have fit between us, it still wasn't close enough. I needed him closer.
I reluctantly pulled myself off of him for a second. "Wanna head back to the apartment?" Dimitri grinned as he kissed me again, hard and fast.
"I've gotta lock up. Meet me there?"
"Kay," I said in between kisses. The smell of him was making my head swim and the feel of his lips on mine was one I never wanted to go away.
"We should probably go now," he said, pulling back to gasp for air. "Unless we want to end up doing it right here on this sidewalk."
Didn't sound like a bad idea to me, but I knew he was right. I gave him another hard, fast kiss before disentangling my body from his.
"I'll meet you back at the apartment in fifteen minutes," I said. He nodded and gave me another kiss, and another, and another… "Yeah," I said, pulling back. "I should go."
"Yeah," he said. "Go." With one last, hot kiss, he walked/ran back to the door of the gym. I ran back to my car, unlocking the car from a distance a good ten feet before I got to it. I opened the door and climbed in, peeling out of the parking lot at speeds that would've made most people piss themselves. I tore down the street, the image of Dimitri filling my brain, my lips still tingling from his kiss, my mind spinning fantasies of all the things I planned on doing to him once I got home…
My sordid fantasies were interrupted by the sound of my cell phone going off. Groaning, I grabbed it and picked up without looking at the caller ID.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Rose, it's me." I sighed.
"Lissa, hey, now's not really a good time-"
"Hey, look Christian and I just got called back to Court for some kind of meeting and the babysitter is totally flaking on me. Is there any chance you could watch Carly and Jeremy for me?"
"Wha-now?!"
"Yeah, can you?" I could hardy speak for a moment. I had babysat for Christian and Lissa dozens of times before, but burping a nine month old baby and trying to force a four year old to take a bath was not my idea of fun right now. I mean, I love Lissa and I love the hell out of those two kids of hers, but I was aching for some sexy Russian time.
"Well, what about Christian? Does he really need to go?"
"Well, as husband of the Queen, he is kind of slightly important in Moroi society." I rolled my eyes at Lissa's attempt as being snarky. Apparently Christian had been rubbing off on her. "Look, Rose, I would really appreciate this, I mean the kids love you so much and I know they'd be happy to see their Aunt Rose." Damn. Flattery will get you everywhere.
"Well, what about Jill, Eddie, Mia, Sydney?"
"Jill and Eddie are on a date, Mia's still at training camp, and Sydney doesn't like kids."
"Adrian?"
"You did not just suggest I leave my children with Adrian Ivashkov."
"Well…how long would I have to watch them?"
"Just a few hours…maybe through the night."
"Lissa!"
"I know! I'm so sorry to just spring this on you, but I really need your help here. Please, please, please?"
I barely prevented myself from screaming in frustration. Normal frustration and sexual. I wanted Dimitri. Bad. But how could I just say no to Lissa? Plus, even if watching kids didn't sound as fun as having sex, I did like the idea of seeing those adorable little kids. And it's not like Dimitri and I couldn't get our freak on tomorrow.
"Okay, fine! I'll do it."
"Thank you, thank you so much! I owe you big!" With that, she hung up. I groaned and resisted the urge to bang my head against the steering wheel. As I changed course from mine and Dimitri's apartment to Christian and Lissa's house, I brought the phone back up and dialed Dimitri's number.
He picked up on the second ring, and the tone of his voice told me he was still in the same state of mind I was before Lissa's call.
"Hey," he said. The way he managed to make just that one simple word sexy made me all the more pissed at Lissa. "I'm almost back at the apartment, and uh…I was thinking maybe we could try that thing we were talking about-"
"Put it in neutral, Turbo. Lissa just called and asked me to babysit the kids." Just like that, all the headiness coming over the phone was iced.
"Are you serious?"
"Sorry," I said, really, really, meaning it. "But she and Christian got called away to Court and the sitter cancelled and I'm the only one available for kid patrol."
Dimitri sighed from the other end of the phone.
"Well, that's certainly a turn-off, isn't it?" I laughed.
"I guess you could say that," I replied. "Are you okay?"
"Well, I think I'll be fine if we forego jumping each other for a day."
"Just let me know if it's too much, I can tell Lissa no."
"No, go ahead," he said. "I'll see you tomorrow. Love you."
"Love you, too," I said, then hung up the phone. Just as I hung up, I pulled into the driveway of Lissa and Christian's house. Christian was already running out the door carrying their overnight bags and loading them into the car. He was dressed in a suit and tie for whatever fancy Court business was going on. Ten years ago, I would have done a double take at the sight of Christian Ozera wearing a suit. But then Lissa became queen and as her boyfriend, then husband, he got dragged into all the royal affairs. But he was okay. He adapted. He still hated stuck up, snobbish royals, but then, so did we all.
"Hey, Rose, thank you so much for doing this," he told me while he shoved Lissa's duffel bag into the backseat.
"Well, someone's gotta do it while you're out with your fellow movers-and-shakers." He gave me a dry smile as he tried to fit his own bag in with Lissa's. "Here, let me help."
"I've got it."
"Oh no," I said, laughing. "Don't you dare try and get macho."
He just glared as I strategically squeezed in Lissa's bag. Before Christian had even shut the door, Lissa came out the door with baby Jeremy in her arms, Carly scampering behind her. She was still such a beautiful little girl, with Lissa's platinum blonde hair and Christian's icy blue eyes. Jeremy on the other hand, had Christian's black hair and Lissa's jade green eyes.
"Aunt Rose!" Carly squeaked and ran over to grab my lower body in a hug.
"Hey there, kiddo," I said.
"Aunt Rose, are you really gonna stay with us all night?"
"You betcha."
"Thank you so much for this, Rose," Lissa said, walking over to us. "Again, I owe you big."
"Yes, you do, because you know how much I hate these kids," I said playfully, poking Carly in her stomach. She giggled and swatted my hand away.
"Okay," Lissa said as she handed Jeremy to me. "So Jeremy has already been fed, but he'll need to be fed again before he goes to bed, and then don't forget to burp him, and Carly's bedtime is eight o'clock, but she's gonna want to stay up later to watch Spongebob, but just-"
"Chill, Lissa," I cut her off. "I got it. You two just go and do…whatever Court things need doing. I'll hold down the fort here."
"Thank you, again," she said.
"It's fine!" I insisted. "Just go."
"Okay," she said, and bent down to give Carly a hug. "You be good for Aunt Rose, okay?"
"Okay mommy."
"I love you," she said, giving her another hug. She then straightened and kissed Jeremy's forehead. "Bye, bye baby."
Christian came around the car and picked Carly up into the air.
"You better miss me," he said, kissing her on the forehead.
"I will. I love you daddy."
"Love you, baby girl. Love you, buddy," he said, putting a hand lovingly on Jeremy's head.
"Love you too, Christian," I said teasingly.
I have a feeling Christian would have said something along the lines of 'Fuck you', had his children not been within earshot. So he settled for another glare.
"Okay," Lissa said. "Jeremy can't sleep unless his music is playing, that's the disc that's already in the CD player, so just put it in and start it from the beginning when you put him down, and whatever you do, do not give Carly ice cream-"
"Lissa! I've got it. Go."
"Okay, but just remember that-"
"Christian? Little help here?" Christian came up, grabbed Lissa from behind, and pulled her over to the passenger side seat.
"Let me go! Bye Carly, bye Jeremy! Mommy will be back tomorrow, I promise!" she screamed as Christian got in the car and started pulling out.
"Wave goodbye to mommy," I said to Carly. She waved and I took Jeremy's tiny little hand and waved it back and forth for him. "Bye!" Christian drove down the street and disappeared behind a corner, and they were gone. I stood there for another moment, Jeremy on my hip and Carly's hand in mine. "Okay then. Who wants ice cream?"