Rose
"Does he know?"
Without looking up from her phone Rose asked, "Does who know what?"
She heard the sound of a smile in Lissa's voice. "You know what I'm talking about?"
Rose thought for a moment, looking up from her phone briefly as realization hit her about what Lissa was talking about. "Oh, you mean does Christian now how irritated I am with him? Yeah, I told him I'd use his tooth-brush to scrub the toilet if he didn't stop unplugging my phone charger but he did it yet again this morning!" Rose shouted punching the touchscreen keys on her phone.
"He does it because your phone is always plugged into the one easy access wall outlet we have," Lissa reasoned, amused by their bantering.
"Is it my fault he couldn't afford a better apartment on his chef's salary and that I'm so social? And why are you smiling?"
Lissa laughed. "Because it's nice to have things back to semi-normal. And your phone wouldn't need so much charging if you weren't always on it."
"I'm still not allowed to visit and I need to know Dimitri's okay so I check in on him-"
"Twenty-four seven," Lissa interrupted, still amused. "Something a girlfriend in love would do. I wasn't talking about Christian before. I was asking if Dimitri knows you love him?" Lissa asked catching Rose off guard.
Rose's fingers stopped mid-text as she looked up at her cousin who was staring amusedly over her laptop. Rose was fighting the urge to giggle. "Exsqueeze me?"
"Oh come on Rosie. You're showing all the signs."
Searching for something light-hearted to say, Rose asked, "Where is this coming from? Is this because we were watching He's Just Not That Into You last night?"
"But Dimitri is into you and you're into him and you're trying to avoid the subject. The entire time you've stayed with us, because you couldn't handle sleeping alone without Dimitri, you've been texting and emailing and Skype-ing him. You bring him up in random conversation. The other night, when we were playing scrabble, you spelled out words that described Dimitri. You even tried to argue his name as a word! You're in love," Lissa declared continuing to type on her laptop.
"First of all, I'm staying here with you guys because you were scared about me being alone-"
"I told you that because I knew you'd feel weird without Dimitri because that's how I use to feel without Christian."
Rose opened her mouth to argue back but only a bunch of disbelieving, sputtering sounds came out of her flustered mouth.
"You're...crazy! This is insane!" Rose shrieked standing from the table pacing.
"Why is this so unbelievable? I've seen you the last few weeks and I've never seen you smile and laugh so much," Lissa said still sitting.
Rose paused realizing she had smiled and laughing a lot more than she had in the past. Sh found it hard to think of any memories where she wasn't smiling. The small moments were her favorite.
"This is nice."
Dimitri shook the lit match in his hand until it went out and took the seat beside Rose.
He'd set up a nice elaborate late dinner with an elegantly set table, two lit candles, food delivered from a nearby restaurant and the nice warmth, comfort, and privacy of Dimitri's office.
"As nice as can be in my office. Are you sure you don't want to go out for dinner or I could make you something back at my place?"
Rose shook her head. "No, this is nice, spontaneous...and if we eat here I don't have to think about the crazy wild sex we had in your apartment. I told you that I can't eat at your dining room table for a while," she giggled, remembering.
"Nice, vivid memories?" Dimitri confirmed pouring wine into two glasses.
"Yeah and your office has yet to be tainted by our outgoing, sexual nature," Rose replied sipping the bittersweet wine.
"We can change that," he muttered downing his own wine.
Rose felt a warm hand on her bare knee. It moved slowly along the hem of her skirt before gently squeezing the softness of her skin along her thighs.
"Dimitri Belikov, I'm starting to think you only want me for sex," she said playfully.
"No, you're good for foreplay too," he joked kissing her on the cheek. "I'm glad we can joke about it."
"About what?" Rose asked as he placed food on either of their plates.
"The way it was before, the way I treated you," he told her, regret in his deep, smooth voice.
"You're not like that anymore," Rose assured him placing her hand over his. "You're different now. Besides, i'd rather laugh about it now than pretend it didn't happen at all."
"Me too."
Dimitri looked over at her and smile gently. His smiled were so few and rare that they were contagious for Rose. She smiled back, that warm familiar feeling coursing through her body.
"So, about that offer of yours...is the office sex still and option?" she grinned.
"That doesn't mean I'm...I-I-i'm in love!" Rose stuttered.
"You can't even say it, it's understandable considering the circumstances of your childhood and all of those losers you use to go out with and then the whole Adrian thing but you are in love. I can tell."
Rose just shook her head, forgetting what it was she wanted to text to Dimitri. She slid her phone away.
"Why are you pushing this?"
"Because I like seeing the last real family I have be happy," Lissa said simply, shrugging.
"What makes you think I'm not happy?"
"I know you're happy but you'd be even happier if you could just admit to yourself and Dimitri that you love him...then we could double date and do all those corny things couples do," Lissa smile perking up.
Rose laughed standing up from the table. "Liss, you are deep, profound, and very loving...but you're also slightly crazy," she grinned moving to give her cousin a quick hug and pecking her on the cheek.
"Love is crazy," Lissa said in a sing-song voice as Rose walked into the kitchen for a snack.
"It's too soon," she sighed simply.
Had Rose ever felt love? Numerous times. She loved her first pair of BCBG jeans, the kitten she had for less than a few months before having to give her away, ice cream. Rose had loved a lot.
She loved Lissa, her mother, her aunt Rhea, uncle Eric, and cousin Andre. She even loved Christian on some strange level because of how he cared and treated for Liss. She appreciated that the most.
Rose knew what love felt like but being in love was something entirely different and new...and a territory Rose was afraid of and steered away from for as long as she could remember. None of her boyfriends, if she could call them that, had been close to making Rose feel the way she felt now about Dimitri.
Although she'd never been looking for it, Rose gave herself the reminder not to fall in love because it could end up like her parents. Through Rose's eyes, love in general did something to people who made them feel more hate than thought possible.
She even remembered the fights her aunt and uncle use to have but never told Lissa about. She knew that before their car accident they'd been considering a divorce. Love was something dark and tainting.
Adrian had claimed he'd 'loved' her and Tasha had claimed she'd 'loved' Dimitri but they'd been declared insane. Another reason to stray from the emotion that seemed to ruin lives instead of make things better.
No, Rose couldn't say she loved Dimitri. Not aloud.
"He feels the same way, I'm sure," Lissa called from her spot in the dining room.
"I can't Liss. It's just...not the right time. We agreed to take things slow. Throwing the L word out there isn't taking things slow. It'll just cause problems."
"But you do love him?"
"Yes," Rose answered without a moment's hesitation.
Realizing the declaration she'd just made she held her hand to her mouth before pointing to Liss.
"Don't say anything to Dimitri."
Lissa clapped her hands excitedly. "That's all I needed to know."
Rose rolled her eyes walking to the spare bedroom.
She left her phone on the table, her head too full of romantic thoughts to focus.
A/N: Thanks for the reviews and PMs. Dramatic (Dimitri filled) chapter soon to follow
