Chapter 29
"Hmm…" I moaned happily, stretching my limbs out as far as I could. My eyes opened gradually, soaking in the golden sunlight shining through the gap in the curtains of our new bedroom. I didn't think I'd ever had as good a night's sleep.
I rolled over onto my stomach, stuffing one hand underneath the pillow and flinging one leg out over the covers on the bed, welcoming the cool air across my bare skin. It registered with my half-awake mind that Luka was not in the middle of the bed where he had slept last night, but neither was Dimitri, so I knew that he was safe. I snuggled my face in deeper, revelling in the comfort of our new bed. It was like sleeping on a cloud.
I drifted in and out of awareness until it dawned on me that I could hear voices downstairs.
Slowly, I slid back the covers and placed my feet onto the wooden floor below. I pulled one of Dimitri's jumpers on over my sleep t-shirt and shorts and moved through the house.
The voices gradually got louder as I moved towards the stairs, and once I reached the top, I could see that the front door was open, allowing the fresh autumn breeze to waft gently in the door.
A happy little shriek that was emitted from the living room alerted me as to where Luka was, and therefore, Dimitri. I walked in to see Luka lying in his carrier, gazing around at Dimitri and the movers, who had obviously arrived and were unloading our furniture.
"Good morning," Dimitri stood up when he saw me, and walked over. "I didn't see you there. Sleep ok?"
"More than ok," I grinned, letting him kiss me and then picking up Luka. "Has he eaten?"
"Yeah, I fed him about an hour ago," Dimitri replied, picking up a box and carrying it towards the kitchen.
"How long are you up?" I asked, following him. "I didn't hear- hey!"
I looked at the person who entered the room with complete surprise. "Ivan! What are you doing here?"
"I thought I'd give a hand with all of this crap," Ivan grinned and gestured around him. The kitchen was swamped with box after box. You could barely see the floor.
"Are you staying for a while?" I questioned, hoping he would. I knew Dimitri was already missing his best friend, although he hadn't said anything.
"Was thinking about it," Ivan smiled. "If that's alright with you both. I won't be a nuisance, I promise."
"No problem," I grinned at him. "What time did you arrive?"
"I got a call to say the mover's would be arriving about seven," Dimitri told me. "So I got up to let them in and give them a hand. Little did I know that this idiot would be travelling with them."
"Watch it you, or I won't get your next birthday present," Ivan warned him. "I came to help out."
"You could have woken me," I told them, moving to search around the still empty presses for something to eat. "I could've helped you both."
"You were tired," Dimitri wrapped his arms around me and therefore, Luka. "I wanted to let you sleep – both of you."
"That was sweet, comrade," I smiled up at him and let him place a kiss on my forehead. "Oh and speaking of sweet, or any kind of food really, do we have any?"
"Afraid not," he replied. "We forgot to stop at a supermarket yesterday, but I thought it would be nice to go out and get breakfast?"
I agreed and went upstairs to get washed and dressed. I brought Luka with me to spare Dimitri the extra load of having to watch him carefully and help the movers unload the furniture.
Half an hour later, I was back downstairs again, groomed and dressed in a casual pair of jeans and a hoodie. Originally, I hadn't worn the hoodie, just a black tank top, but after opening the window to see how much more stuff had to be unloaded from the truck, I hurried to my bag and produced something to keep the goose bumps away. I knew New York got pretty cold in winter, I just hadn't thought it would be this cold in September.
In the time I had taken to get myself and Luka ready, Dimitri had managed to get more than half of the equipment for the kitchen unloaded from their boxes and put into certain cupboards.
"Not a bad start, comrade." I smiled and settled Luka into his carrier. Dimitri chuckled at him and gave me a pointed look.
"Roza, he'll cook underneath all of that."
It was true that I may have bundled him up more than normal because of the cool air, but maybe it was also a little bit true that I had pushed it too far.
Dimitri stood up and walked over, and stripped Luka of two layers, leaving him in his baby grow, one of the tee shirt sets Dimitri's sisters had bought him and his blanket.
"That's more than enough," he told me, chuckling and kissing my temple.
"I can't wait for it to snow," I giggled and hopped up on the counter beside the carrier. "We can dress him up in one of those snowsuits and he can be our little snow baby! And we can take lots of pictures and embarrass him at his eighteen birthday party!"
"Roza, I think we should maybe deal with getting past his first birthday before starting to plan his eighteenth." Dimitri laughed and hoisted the baby bag over his shoulder. "Let's go eat."
I eagerly made my way outside to the car that had appeared once again. Luka lay quietly in his carrier, just watching me blankly as I made faces. Ivan had decided to let us have some 'family time' and would continue his 'help' while we were gone…which meant he would somehow produce a beer and down it while lounging on our new couch.
"What are you doing?" Dimitri laughed and sat in beside me suddenly. The driver pulled away from the curb and started making his way to the nearest breakfast place.
"Trying to get him to smile," I frowned as Luka maintained his indifferent expression. "You know, I don't think he finds me funny."
"You don't think an eleven week old finds you funny?" Dimitri repeated, giving me a look.
"Everybody finds me funny!" I argued, tossing my hair haughtily over my shoulder, before falling into a small fit of giggles. "God, I'm starving! Are we nearly there?"
I hadn't even finish my sentence when our driver took a turn and pulled up in front of a cute café. I hurried out of the car to start deciding on food, leaving Dimitri to handle Luka.
Breakfast itself was pretty uneventful. I found myself smiling wider when I realised that we must have looked like the perfect little family that I had always dreamed of having. Dimitri was smiling a lot too.
I couldn't help but think that New York was really going to be good for us.
We stopped by the branch – our new workplace – on the way back to the house. Dimitri wanted to pop inside and greet his boss before officially starting next Monday. Also, I knew he really didn't like the idea of having a chauffeur to cart us around the city whenever we wanted, and so he was going to put a deposit on his car so that he could take it with him.
I told Dimitri that I would mind Luka while he went inside so that he wouldn't be distracted and he could make a good first impression with his boss. Technically, when I returned to work, Dimitri would now be my boss – but he still had people over him to answer to. Although he would have a lot more responsibility and power now.
Due to my lack of effort with my appearance today, I decided to stay in the car with Luka until Dimitri returned, car keys in hand. I would make my own first impression when I returned to work in just over a month. Dimitri gratefully thanked our driver for being so good to us for the past twenty four hours and we let him go. I happily helped Dimitri search around the back of the building for his particular car; the lot was full with brand new black and silver fancy-looking cars.
"Here it is," we reached the large black SUV.
"Oh, it's so shiny!" I stroked the hood gently, being careful in case I marked it in some way. "Isn't it pretty, Luka?" Luka let out a little incoherent babble on cue, as if agreeing with me, and I currently help but grin at his cuteness.
Dimitri took him from me and strapped his seat into one of the backseats. I was making my way around to the passenger side when Dimitri pulled me flush against him and crushed his lips to mine.
"What was that for?" I breathed out once he had pulled away.
"Nothing," he grinned. "You like the car?"
"I love the car."
"You wanna drive it home?"
I looked at him in shock.
"You'll let me drive your car? You're new car?" I gasped, eyeing the driver's seat longingly.
"Unless you don't want to?" he teased, holding the cars out in front of me.
"Like hell I don't!" I grabbed the keys and happily climbed into the driver's seat. Dimitri chuckled as he made his way around to the passenger seat, seeming quite comfortable at the prospect of letting me drive.
"You know where you're going?"
"Of course I do," I replied, carefully reversing out of its meticulously parked spot. "What's your boss like?"
Dimitri thought about it for a moment. "…professional. Efficient. But he seemed nice. His name is Agent Steele."
"Oh, he sounds like a badass…you think he liked you?"
"I wouldn't know now, would I?" he cracked a smile and adjusted the air con to make the car warmer. It astounded me how he seemed to know how to work all the little nooks and crannies, even in a brand new, unfamiliar car. "He asked about you. Said to say hi."
"Do you think he'll like me? Once he meets me?" I questioned, curiously.
"I think…" Dimitri paused as if choosing his words carefully. "…that it you may have an interesting relationship with him…but hopefully, you won't have to interact with him too much. You will have me after all," he shot me a grin.
"That is true, boss." I shot him a quick sly look and then looked back at the road. "Tell me, do you have your own office?"
"I do."
"Is it nice?"
"Very. Why?"
"Tell me…is it soundproof?"
Dimitri didn't answer me right away, but I could feel his burning gaze on my face as my words registered with him.
"I don't know…" he answered carefully after a moment of silence. "We'll find out, I guess."
"We may," I flirted, still refusing to look at him. "I wouldn't get too excited about it buckoo…I may just sleep with my boss to get promoted."
"That didn't stop you before," he mumbled jokingly under his breath. I grinned cheekily at him, finally looking him in the face. We made it home without much more conversation. Dimitri spent the rest of the journey glancing around the window, while I just concentrated on not crashing his new car.
We arrived safely ten minutes later. The mover's would just about finished unloading the truck, and so Dimitri helped them with the last of the boxes while I went into the kitchen to prepare Luka's bottle and take my medication.
Luka got very cranky after the mover's left, and so I brought him up to our bedroom to try and get him to take a nap. Dimitri passed through the room when Luka was dozing off. I lay on my side beside him, my elbow and hand keeping my head up. I spoke in soft whispers to him, noticing that my voice seemed to relax him. I smiled at Dimitri and Ivan as they passed through with some floorboards, a step ladder and two cans of paint.
"Have fun," I whispered loudly, causing Ivan to stick his tongue out at me.
I tucked Luka up tightly in the middle of our bed, surrounding him with pillows on the off chance that he would roll anywhere. I paused outside his bedroom door, half-wanting to help out the guys, and half wanting to go downstairs and sprawl on the comfy sofa.
The sound of Dimitri and Ivan laughing at something the other had said made up my mind. I turned and switched on Luka's monitor, taking the second one with me. I figured it would be nice for Dimitri to have some time with his best friend before he had to get back on a plane.
Consequently, I got to recline happily in the downstairs of my new house, just enjoying the peace and quiet.
I wasn't too happy with the feedback from the last chapter. I seem to have a lost quite a few readers :( Unless you guys are there and are no reviewing ;)
Be careful or I may have to start threatening again…like maybe a plane crash – one that will be, conveniently, flying Ivan home from New York…
Love you guys too ;) Review or else! :P
