Disclaimer: I do not own Josef, Mick or anyone else that you may recognize. Riley and all of the others that come out of my head are of course mine. No copy write infringement is intended.
A/N: Look I actually updated within a reasonable time frame!! I am please to say that with this chapter, the writers block seems to be gone for the time being, knock on wood!! I am really happy with the way this chapter turned out and hopefully you all agree with me!! Leave me wonderful reviews and let me know what all of you wonderful readers think about the new chapter!! I thrive on your reviews and I have no problems begging!! You all are wonderful!!
Chapter 14
It had been two days since Josef had asked me to move in with him. Since that day, I had very quickly become more and more like my old self as the hours past. I was starting to get some of my old personality back. Beth had even told me that the fight had started to shine in my eyes once again. It felt so good to be back to my normal self. I hadn't realized how badly I had been hurt psychologically until I had finally started to heal. I never wanted to feel like that again.
I had spent the last 24 hours packing and thanking Mick and Beth for their kindness. I didn't know exactly how hard it was going to be to say goodbye to Beth. I knew that I would still be able to see her all of the time, but she had really become almost like a sister to me. Still, nothing could have kept me from accepting Josef's invitation. I still couldn't believe that he had asked me to move in with him. That man found a new and unique way to surprise me every day. Staying with him for the time being would be an interesting experience.
I was now waiting for the car Josef had sent over to arrive. I couldn't believe that I was actually doing this. I was pacing the length of Mick's living room waiting for that fateful buzz of the intercom. This waiting was going to drive me absolutely up the wall. I went into the kitchen to pour myself a drink. I nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard a voice behind me.
"I should be a little insulted here. Is the idea of moving into my house really so daunting that you need to be drunk to do it?" I turned around, slightly shocked that Josef was here. He had that amazing grin spread across his face, one that I had begun to realize normally signified trouble. I had expected a driver to come up and help me with my bags. I had expected to have to wait around inside a strange house waiting for Josef to wake up for most of the day. I most diffidently did not expect Josef to be the one to come and get me. I realized that he was teasing me, expecting me to just lie down and put up with it. He really should know better than that by this point.
"Yes, in fact it is. I was only going to have one, but now I don't know. Since you are the one to come and get me, I may need to have a few more." He looked a little shocked at first, but I knew that he could make out the teasing in my voice. Once I knew he knew I was teasing, I turned back around and poured a drink for myself. I then went to the cupboard and grabbed a glass for him. I poured him a glass and handed it to him with a smile.
"I don't know how I can ever thank you enough for this. It means a lot to me that you would let me come and live with you for however short or long this turns out to be. "I could tell that the thanks had made him slightly uncomfortable, as he was suddenly very focused on his drink. "I won't say anything else about it, if you don't want me to. I just needed to let you know how grateful I was. I'm going to go and grab my last bag from up stairs and then I should be ready to go." I set my glass down and made my way upstairs. I grabbed my small bag and sat down one last time on the bed. This was a big step. No matter how innocent the offer might have been from Josef, this would never be just something that I could over look. I knew that I was attracted to him; I would have to be blind, deaf and dumb to not be. I knew that he most likely didn't feel even the smallest amount of attraction to me, yet I was still so willing to throw myself in with the lions. I had to accept what I was doing.
I reached into my bag and took out a small necklace that I had made for Beth. I walked into her room and set it on her desk in the corner of the room. Everything in my life was changing so fast. I didn't know what to do any more. I was finally at that point where I have to just let go and let everything play out as it will. I walked back downstairs where Josef was waiting for me. My other bags were nowhere to be seen, I was assuming that Josef had already taken them out to his car. He took my last bag from me and we walked out of Mick's apartment. The ride down in the elevator was silent. I didn't know what to say to Josef, I didn't know if I should say anything to him. Before we hit the bottom floor, Josef turned to look at me.
"Riley, you don't have to thank me for anything. We have already been down this road before. I am going to do everything within my power to make up for everything that has happened in your life since you found out what I was. Letting you stay with me is only the smallest of things that I could think of, but I have a strange feeling that you wouldn't accept some of the other ideas that I had. You can stay with me until you are comfortable enough to move back into your own apartment." I started to cut him off but he stopped me again. "I don't mean your old apartment. When you feel up for it, we will start to look for somewhere new for you to live. It will have top of the line security and you will chose when you move in."
"Ok. I know you don't want to hear it, but thank you." I left it at that and we stepped out of the elevator. I was almost to the door when Josef grabbed my wrist and pulled me around to face him. He pushed a stray piece of hair away from my eyes and gave me one of his rare true smiles. He then led me out of the building and we finally made it to his car.
Yet another surprise. Since Josef had shown up at Mick's apartment, I had been expecting one of Josef's drivers to be waiting out here for the two of us to come down. I was happy when I realized that it would just be Josef and I on the way back to his home. His sleek black Honda S2000 was waiting for us just outside of the door. He threw my bag into the trunk and then came around and opened the door for me. He walked around the car and got into the car himself.
The ride back to Josef's house was nice. Neither of us said much, we didn't need to. We had somehow reached an agreement and things were finally good. I hadn't felt this at ease with him since I had walked in on him feeding what felt like an eternity ago. So, yeah, overall things were good.
I was pulled out of my thoughts when Josef tapped my hand. "Riley, we're here." I looked over at him and then looked up at the house in front of me. I guess that house didn't quite cover it. I knew that my mouth was hanging open but I couldn't seem to do anything about it. I heard Josef laugh lightly next to me and I knew he was laughing at me and before I could stop myself I was laughing too.
"I have never seen a house this big. This looks like an office building. It's huge." I let out a short laugh again. Josef looked over at me again, his laughter clear in his eyes. Josef pulled the car up into the garage and one of his servants came out and took all of my bags into the house before I could even get out of the car. I looked up and Josef was standing in front of my with the door open. I took his hand and let him pull me up and out of the car. He showed me into the main house and closed the door behind me.
I knew that my face probably resembled that of a child on Christmas morning. Josef's house was absolutely beautiful. He showed me around the entire downstairs which consisted of the kitchen, guest rooms galore, the weight room and Josef's home office. We went up the stairs and I continued to be in awe of the sheer size of this place. There were multiple guest rooms up here as well for some of Josef's more important guests. There was a beautiful library that connected to one of the large guest rooms.
"This is your room. I know that you like to read, so I figured it would make sense to give you private access to the library. My room is right down the hall, if you ever need me during the day. If you can wait until closer to twilight that would be best, I can be a little temperamental if I am woken up. I really need to get some sleep, is there anything else that you need for right now?" I didn't know what to say at this point. Everything was so perfect at this point. He had put a lot of thought into all of this. I looked over at the clock at was surprised to see that it was already 11:00. I had kept Josef up much later than he was probably used to. The sun was shining brightly and I silently thanked anyone who happened to be listening for having Josef in my life. I didn't know many people, men in particular, who would have done as much for me as Josef had done.
"No, I think I should be okay for a while. After all, I have a whole library waiting for me." I smiled as I said this. Josef just kept on surprising me.
"Okay, well if you need anything for the next few hours, my maid should be down in the room off of the kitchen. There is also a security guard stationed at every entrance to the house. You should be safe here. Go relax." With that he turned and walked back to his room. I made my way to the library.
I walked through the vast shelves. I found one of my favorites and went to curl up in the window seat on the other side of the room. I couldn't imagine a better way to spend the afternoon at this moment.
It was almost 7:00. The afternoon had been wonderful. I had taken a little nap in the middle of the day and had spent most of the afternoon either reading or watching movies. Beth had called a few hours earlier and I had made plans for both her and Mick to come over and join me for drinks and dinner. I was just waiting for Josef to get up at this point. Hopefully he wouldn't mind the fact that I had invited guests over without asking him. I was helping myself to a drink when I heard someone walk into the room behind me.
"Good evening Riley." I turned around and tried to keep the blush off of my cheeks. Josef was standing in front of me in what appeared a robe with nothing underneath.
"Did you sleep well?" Josef looked slightly taken aback but smiled.
"Yes. It was nice to know that I didn't have to worry about anything happening to you when I was asleep."
"Listen, Josef. I hope you don't mind, but I invited Beth over to join me for dinner and Mick is coming along as well. They should be here in about 30 minutes."
"Of course that's fine. I should go get dressed then. I will be back down in about 20 minutes." He turned around and walked back towards the stairs. "Oh and Riley, I saw that blush when I came in. Should I be flattered?" He looked back at me with a teasing smile and walked back up the stairs without waiting for me to answer.
I helped Josef's maid, Anaya, set dinner up once Josef had disappeared. I was running around getting all of the last minutes details taken care of when the door bell rang. I yelled up the stair for Josef and went to open the door. It was funny how quickly I had really started to feel at home here. I liked Josef's home. While Mick's apartment had been fun, I always knew that I would have to leave. Josef's home was someplace that I felt really comfortable, even after only one afternoon. It made it hard to think about when I would have to eventually leave.
I opened the door and let Beth and Mick in. It was so good to see both of them already. They walked in and I got a hug from both Beth and Mick. We spent the next few minutes talking until we were joined by Josef. He and Mick excused them selves and walked over to the balcony, giving Beth and I a chance to talk. The night passed like a dream. I couldn't imagine a better way to spend a day. The whole day had seemed like magic. We said goodbye to Mick and Beth at about 11:00 that night.
I said goodnight to Josef and made my way back to my new room. I changed into pajamas and walked into the library. I picked up Pride and Prejudice, and sat down, hoping to finish it before I went to bed. I was so engrossed in the book that I hadn't noticed that Josef was sitting in the chair next to me. I put the book mark into the book and set it down.
"Pride and Prejudice was probably one of my favorite of Ms. Austen's works when it first came out." I was slightly surprised by this confession from the vampire. I wouldn't have pictured Josef liking the romantic style of Jane Austin.
"I love the detail that she uses. I would have loved to live in this time. Obviously not with all of the strict rules of society, but the dancing would have been wonderful. I love to dance. I haven't been in such a long time." I stopped myself when I realized that I was starting to babble. I looked at Josef and watched as he stood.
I didn't know what to say when he held out his hand. I took his hand as was surprised as he pulled me into his arms. I thought I was in heaven as he started to spin me around in circles, dancing through the room. I didn't know who started the music, but eventually there were the delicate sounds of the piano filling the room.
We danced for what felt like an eternity. For me, it was an eternity in the arms of an angel. I had imagined what it might be like to dance with Josef, but nothing would have been able to prepare me for the breathtaking reality. Eventually, Josef must have picked up on the fact that I was become more and more tired as the music continued to play around us.
Before I knew what was happening, Josef had scooped me up into his arms and carried me to my room. He set me down on the bed but didn't let go of my arms. He leaned in and kissed me on the temple. He then pulled away and walked out of the room. As the door shut I felt my body fall backwards onto the bed, a stupid grin covering my face.
A/N: Ok, again I hope everyone enjoyed this and please remember to leave me a review!! Hopefully I will be able to update soon!