This world and some of the characters in this story belong to the wonderful Richelle Mead. I own nothing except the storyline and the other characters that are not in Richelle's books.
"Oh sweet! Well let's get going then. So little time and so many positions to try out before breakfast." We both laughed at that. Man, how I love this woman.
DPOV
I woke up feeling wonderful. Yesterday was the best day of my life. This beautiful woman sleeping in my arms has everything to do with it. She is amazing. We did some things last night that I hadn't even heard of. I would have never guessed that CC would have a Kama Sutra book. I wish we could stay in bed all weekend but we do have to meet our family for brunch back at the same restaurant we were at for dinner last night.
CC is starting to wake up. I wonder how she is feeling. I kind of feel like I did a monster workout session with the weights for 13 hours. Out of all of the mornings I've woken up next to her, sometimes with her in my arms, this is the first that we've woken up in each other arms...naked. I could get used to this. Her flesh hot against mine warms me up all over.
"Good morning love." I said as she looks up to me with a blissful grin on her face. It swells my heart to know that I had something to do with that.
"Yes it is a very good morning." She tried stretching but I don't think her body was complying. "Oh man, I feel like I've been at the gym for three days nonstop. Looking at your magnificent smile though just makes me want to do it all over again." She beamed, and then softly kissed me.
Oh wow. I can't even describe how she makes me feel. One simple, soft kiss and my whole body has chills. The feeling engulfs me like a blanket of warmth and love. I wrap my arms around her tightly putting my hands on her ass to pull her closer and deepen the kiss. CC moans against my lips and the feeling of her tongue dancing with mine makes my erection twitch against her thigh causing her to moan again.
"My muscles ache but I seem to recall a lesson you taught me, something like, you still have to work out the next day even if you are sore. Just work through the pain, right?" She laughed with a sultry grin on her beautiful face.
We make love again and I am filled with contentment and thoughts of looking forward to many many mornings like this in our future.
I checked the time. "We don't have to meet our family until 10 so we still have a few hours. I was thinking I would go and pack up my stuff. Did you want to come with me or did you have something else you needed to do this morning?"
"I only need to take a shower. If you can wait for me I will go with you or I can meet you there."
"I need a shower too. You know you do have 4 shower heads in there and there is plenty of room if you want company." I said as I was holding her to me and drawing light circles on the small of her back.
"Hmm, let me think about that." She said in a teasing tone. "Well, ok but only if you wash my back." She said laughing.
"Oh I'm sure I can do better than just your back." I grinned back at her.
When we finished our shower CC said, "Holy cow, that has to be the best shower ever in the history of showers. And I swear, I don't think I have ever used that bench in there so much in the whole time I've had it."
We laughed and hugged. It was incredibly erotic and sensual making love with CC in the shower. Now that I have her I can't seem to get enough of her.
We got dressed and went to my apartment as we still have two hours before we have to be at the restaurant. Even if we don't move anything before then, we should at least be able to get it all packed up. I don't have very much stuff. The furniture and everything in the kitchen was all in the apartment when I moved in so really I just have personal belongings, clothes, books, and my laptop…stuff like that.
I want to email Lissa about my relationship with CC. I know that Adrian still speaks with everyone and he probably still stalks Rose in her sleep. I would rather Lissa hear about it from me.
"Hey CC, I need to take a minute to send Lissa an email. Would you want to make us some hot chocolate and by the time you're done I'll be done and we can get started?"
"Yeah, sure. Do you have any vanilla cream?" She asked with a grin.
"Why yes ma'am, I do believe that I did buy some vanilla cream." I said with a laugh.
I sat down and sent Lissa a quick email. She is going to be so excited that I will probably be able to hear her scream all the way over here.
Packing didn't take very long at all and before we knew it we had everything in the loft with 15 minutes left before we had to meet everyone. It only takes 5 minutes to walk to the restaurant. I think we did pretty good.
Brunch was excellent. As it turns out Sydney has an assignment in Europe for the next 6-8 weeks that should end in mid December so they've decided to stay here at the academy through the holidays. Adrian is planning on staying here while Sydney is gone.
CC offered for Adrian to stay in the guest room in the loft but he graciously declined saying that given how CC and I have just discovered our love for each other we should have a little privacy to explore it. Even though he smirked it out with a bit of sarcasm and sexual innuendo, something in his eyes made me believe he was being sincere.
I'm pretty sure that Adrian and I aren't going to be going shopping together or sharing bff stories any time soon but, I don't know, he seems to have...well to be truthful, if I had to put a word to it, he seems to have matured, slightly. I think Sydney has been good for him and it's obvious that he loves her very much.
It is good though that we can get along considering how we're in love with two women that are really more like sisters than cousins.
RPOV
"Hey Rose, would you ask Lily to bring us some more coffee? We have a little time before the next meeting starts so I think I will check my email and catch up on some paperwork." Liss said.
"Sure. I'm going to have her check to see if there are any donuts left from breakfast too. Do you want anything else?"
"No, thank you."
As soon as I hung up the phone I hear this blood curdling scream from Lissa. I turned around quickly with my stake in hand but we were still the only two in the room. "Liss, what the hell are you doing scaring me like that? What's going on?"
"Oh my god Rose I can't believe it, finally. Oh, I am so happy for him." Her voice was several octaves higher and considerably louder.
"Liss, slow down. Who are you happy for? What are you talking about?"
"Well remember I was telling you that Dimitri has finally been able to put the past to rest and try to move on with his life. That he at least had a friend that he had been spending all of his time with?"
"Yeah, Crystal or CC or something like that right?" I remember when Liss first told me about Dimitri's decision to finally let the past go. It kind of felt like a weight had been lifted off of me. I didn't realize that I still had so much worry and guilt pressing down on me regarding him. I felt bad that he couldn't move on because of all the regret and guilt he had about me. Initially I never thought I would get passed everything myself but I guess when they say time heals all wounds they knew what they were talking about, for me anyway.
I will always have a place in my heart for him. I mean, we always remember our first love, right? I can't say I have any regrets though because if he hadn't left court when he did, I wouldn't have had the healing time I needed before I met Francois. This past year with him has been the happiest that I've ever been.
"Yes, her name is Crystal but she goes by CC. Well they are in love and he is moving in with her in her loft above the coffee shop. Oh Rose, I am so happy for him. He deserves some peace and happiness. He said that they just found out that they have been in love with each other for weeks but each one was afraid to tell the other."
"Yes he does deserve some happiness. Wow, that's great. Does that mean he's not going to play hide and seek the next time we visit the academy?" I couldn't help but tease about it. Liss would always tell me that it was just too painful for him to see me. That he was so ashamed and sorry for the way he treated me when he was Strigoi that he couldn't face me. I understand that to a point but I could never understand why he didn't realize that he had no control over what the Strigoi did. I guess he finally does realize that and I'm glad he's moving on. It really would be good to see him again.
"I hope he doesn't. I mentioned to him before how much I want to see him again. I will tell him again and Rose, can I tell him that everyone is happy for him and that everyone wants to see him again?"
"Of course Liss. You know how I feel about him. I will always love him, just not that way. He's always going to be a part of me and I really am happy for him. It really would be good to see him again."
"Rose, wait until you hear this. He and CC had dinner last night with CC's cousin, her cousin's boyfriend, the boyfriend's cousin and the boyfriend's cousin's girlfriend. You will never guess who those people are. CC's cousin is Sydney Sage and you know that Sydney and Adrian have been serious for a while now. Well it turns out that Adrian's cousin Nikolai is dating Dimitri's sister Viktoria."
I couldn't help the laughter that was roaring out of me now. "Wow, that is really a family affair huh." I snorted.
"Yeah, can you believe it? He even said that Adrian is going to be staying at the academy while Sydney goes on a mission. She will be done just before Christmas so they plan to spend the holidays at the academy."
"Hey! Christian has been wanting to take a trip there to check on the progress of his students. We are going to St Vladimir's Academy next month so why don't we visit St Basil's Academy in December? Maybe we could spend the holidays there. Oh Rose wouldn't that be wonderful to have ALL of our friends and family together for Christmas this year? Pleeeeaaaaasssssseeeeeee, say it would be great!"
I can't help but laugh at her enthusiasm and it really would be great to have everyone together again. "Liss, of course that would be great but what about Dimitri's family? I'm sure he is going to want to take CC to his family's house for their first Christmas together."
"Oh my god Rose that is a brilliant idea!" She all but squealed in my ear with her long platinum hair bouncing all over the place as she jumped up and down. "I will call Olena myself and invite them to the academy. Lily can make all of the arrangements to set them up in guest housing and request the banquet room for us for Christmas dinner and a New Years Eve party. Since Eddie is part of the Royal guard he will be coming anyway but I will arrange for him to have his own room so he can bring Mia too and of course Mia's father should come and your parents. Oh Rose I am so excited."
Jeez, ya think? This really is going to be great. I would love to see Olena and everyone again. I haven't seen them in over three years. Gosh, I don't even know if Sonya had a boy or a girl. I hope they will be happy to see me too. I guess I will find out soon enough.
Also, as weird as it has been for me that my parents are back together, it will be great to see them too. Even though I've known my mother longer obviously, I sometimes feel closer with Abe. He loves me unconditionally and he isn't as critical. I gotta say though, since they've been back together, my mother seems to be trying harder.
Just then Christian came in. "Hey, what's all the commotion in here. I can here you all the way back to my office?"
"Oh Christian, Dimitri moved in with CC. They're in love. Isn't that wonderful?"
"Well good for him. It's about time. How long have we been telling him to let himself off the hook and move on? I guess that explains why he hasn't returned Aunt Tasha's calls. I know that ever since I told her that he was trying to get on with his life she has been trying to get a hold of him. Hey, if he's going to be all distracted with lovey dovey thoughts maybe I will finally have my chance to beat him at Call of Duty 4." He said as Liss back handed him.
"Ow, what? What do you think I've been doing all those times I had to go there without you? It's not like I know anyone else out there but boring teachers and Dimitri. Since Rosie here never wanted Frankie to go with me if Dimitri was going to be there my only other choice was Eddie and all he wanted to do was spend his down time on the phone with Mia talking all mushy and babyish. All we would ever do was sit around and play COD4 but he would always demolish me. It's probably all he ever did with his time beside sparing, lifting weights, flexing his muscles and grunting and stuff."
I couldn't help but laugh with him. "Hey don't forget his western books. I bet he re-read those over and over again." We were all laughing pretty hard now. "Well I'm glad he's working past everything, finally. Hopefully CC will be good for him. I really can't wait to see him again."
Christian looked surprised. "Wait. What? We? As in you and us we? When are we seeing him again?"
Liss chimed in, "Well I figured that since you need to check on your students anyway, we could do St Vladimir's next month and then St Basil's in December. We could spend the holidays there and have everyone together. Wouldn't that be wonderful?"
"That sounds great. Who is everyone?"
"Oh, well Adrian and Sydney are there now and staying through the holidays. Well Adrian is staying there while Syd goes on a mission but she should be done by Christmas. Liss is going to call and invite Dimitri's family, my parents, Mia and her dad. Everyone." I explained.
"What about Aunt Tasha? She is all the family I have left next to you Liss. Are you inviting Tasha?