As I woke up, I stretched my arms above my head and grimaced as I felt my muscles tighten. I heard a groan and turned over, cracking my eyes open. I smiled as I met the dark brown eyes of the man lying underneath me. He stared back, one of his eyebrows tilted upwards and a lazy smile on his face. Even after waking up next to him like this for a week I still automatically smiled when I saw him. There was just something about his smile after he'd just woken up, with sleep still clinging to him that made my heart expand.

"Good morning, Roza. Ready for your big day?" He mumbled and I was reminded of yet another reason I love waking up next to him, in the mornings his accent always sounds thicker.

I frowned at his question and rested my chin on his chest. "I would be more excited if I was actually going to be doing something."

He chuckled and began running his hand up and down my arm then down my back. "You're still healing."

"Oh, please. I'm completely ready for action. Instead I'm just going to be a certified statue for the next two weeks."

Dimitri answered with a look that practically screamed he was about to make some insightful comment so I broke out my best pout, the pout that could get me out of almost anything. I could tell he was torn, very torn, considering his eyes had now fastened themselves to my lips and his hand had paused in its exploration of my back. I slowly leaned forward and brought our lips together. When he immediately responded I felt a small bit of pride, because for someone who acted as tough as Dimitri it was very easy for me to distract him.

I got so lost in the feeling of his hair wrapped around my fingers and running my hand over his chest that I barely even noticed him pushing me back onto the bed and nudging my legs apart. When I felt his fingers slowly moving toward the waistband of my underwear I couldn't contain my laugh.

He moved back only barely, hovering over me with an adorably confused expression on his face that was made even cuter by his heavy breathing. Although I'm sure he would be slightly offended by me calling him "cute" and "adorable" I just couldn't help how happy his attention made me. He was normally gone for most of the day, as he had been placed back on duty as one of Christian's guardians immediately, but as soon as he had a break he would come back to see me and, judging by how much time we had spent in this bed, he missed me a lot during the day too.

I held back my laughter and instead tried to give him a sexy expression. "Someone doesn't seem to think I'm still healing."

Dimitri responded by rolling his eyes and proceeding to shut me up by turning his attention to my collarbone. More precisely the place on my collarbone he discovered a few days ago makes me melt.

"This is not fair," I tried to sound offended, but he ran his tongue over the spot in question right as I said it and it came out as a moan. "I want to actually be able to walk properly on my first day." This also came out a little less threatening than I intended considering I was practically digging my nails into his back at this point.

He froze and for a whole minute the only sound in the room was my heavy breathing. He then proceeded to move slowly up my body until we were face to face. "You make a good point," he said huskily before leaning down to capture my mouth in a very distracting kiss. He pulled back as soon as my hands traveled back into his hair and rolled completely off of me. "I don't want to distract you on your first day and you already don't have much time left to get ready."

I swear it took ten minutes for those words to really sink in as I lay there staring at the ceiling, completely shocked at the abrupt lack of his body heat. Eventually I turned to look at him, my mouth open in disbelief. My shocked expression turned into a glare as I saw him staring calmly at me with a smile that glowed with pride. Then he turned and gestured towards the shower. I started grumbling under my breath as I glanced toward the clock and realized he was right, I'd be late if I didn't get ready now. I stood up and stomped around the bed, locking myself in the bathroom without looking at him once.

As I finished in the shower and moved out towards my closet I continued ignoring him, despite the fact that the time in the shower had calmed my very frustrated nerves. I heard him enter the bathroom after me as I stepped into my closet. I saw the official guardian outfit hanging exactly where I had placed it when it had arrived a few days ago. I pulled it out and was surprised to see a little piece of paper clipped to it that hadn't been there the day before.

Good luck on your first official day, Guardian Hathaway. And don't forget, wear your hair up. I love you.

I smiled brightly at the note and pulled on the outfit quickly. I was just pulling my hair up when the door to the bathroom opened and he exited with his towel wrapped around his waist. I stood by the door to the closet and gave him an amazingly cheesy smile as he walked past me. I knew the minute he realized I had seen his letter by the way his head dropped and an embarrassed expression lined his face.

He walked over to his side of the closet and a warm feeling spread through me. We had both received our own rooms in one of the many residential buildings at court, but I don't think Dimitri spent more than one day there. Instead most of his clothes were neatly hanging in the closet, his duster was on the hook by the door and there was a pile of some of his beat up old westerns on one of the tables by the couch.

I stood in the doorway watching him and when he turned around he looked so embarrassed that I just had to walk over, wrap my arms around his neck, and pull him down for a kiss. He responded gently and when we broke apart I held my hand out, "Walk with me?"

He smiled and took my hand, walking with me out into the hallway and towards one of the most important moments of my life. Even if I was just going to be a statue standing in the back of the room watching Lissa sit and talk to people for hours, I was going to be doing that as an official guardian. This was real. I was just started to get nervous when Dimitri leaned down and whispered in my ear, "You're going to be great." I squeezed his hand in thanks, feeling especially grateful to have him here with me.