Disclaimer: I do not own VA and thank Richelle Mead for writing such an awesome series.
_

Rose and Dimitri's honeymoon becomes an adventure of a lifetime…

Around the World in 30 days

PART III

Florence

'Ivan, my brother. I miss you…'

I know I should be in a happier mood, after all here I was, sitting in a private jet, my arms around the most beautiful woman in the world and half way through our amazing honeymoon. But today was a dark day.

Today was Ivan's death anniversary.

And to make things worse, we were on our way to Italy, which was the last country he and I had visited together before he passed away. I guess I should be happy that we were on our way to Florence, instead of Rome – the city I stayed in with him – otherwise I would be worse off.

I pulled Roza closer to me, clinging to her for comfort. Her warmth and scent helped me ground my emotions from spiralling out of control. Breathing in her essence, I tried to divert my thoughts to something more cheerful, and was rewarded with the memory of our last night in Maldives.

FLASHBACK

My little vixen had given me a challenge!

Before I could even comprehend her words, she had dived (stark naked) into the warm, dark waters, only to surface later looking more beautiful than Aphrodite.

Beckoning me with her index finger, I realised that though my body had moved along the deck closer to where she had dived off, my mind was still frozen and my mouth gaping at her actions. Since we'd became a couple (and were able to have sex on a regular basis), I discovered that Rose was the more adventurous one in our amorous escapades – even though I was the one with prior sexual experience. So I guess I shouldn't be surprised she wanted to go skinny dipping.

My mind and body finally connected and it didn't take me long to join her. Swimming closer, I engulfed her in my strong arms, glad the waters were shallow enough for me to stand. Pulling her close to me, I kissed her passionately, making sure every part of me was touching as much of her as possible. Roza's deep moan spurred me on and in one quick motion I was sheathed inside her.

We'd made love countless times in the shower, bath and even once in a pool, but doing it here in the vast Indian Ocean was a surreal experience. Our bodies felt like they were on fire while we moved against each other in a sensuous dance that all but felt like we were part of the water around us.

Gasping for air, I broke our intense kiss to give smaller, open mouth ones against her neck before I found 'my spot' – a pulse point where her neck met her collarbone. Not much could render my Roza speechless but this little spot did the trick every time (much to my immense delight).

My slow, languid thrusts turned frantic and desperate when I felt her nails scraping and massaging my scalp, neck and back. This was my weakness – Roza's nails dragging against my skin. There was something about the action that turned me on to the point where I no longer wanted to just worship her body and make sweet love to her. No – the moment she did this, it turned me into a savage beast and I became obsessed with ravaging every inch of her till she was a blathering mess.

It didn't take long for us to reach our climax and after we rode out our orgasms, we just clung to one another, swaying in the ocean as we carried on with our dance, only this time we were completely connected as one.

END OF FLASHBACK

My beautiful wife stirring in my arms bought me back to the present.

"Hello my love, did you sleep well?" I whispered into her soft curls, while I left small kisses along her temple.

Sighing in content, her big, brown eyes opened and stared into my own with so much love and warmth that I felt my heart almost burst with happiness. Pushing a strand of hair away from my face, she replied back with a mischievous smile.

"Well Comrade, I was having this wonderful dream. You, me, this plane and something around joining the mile high club…"

She gave me a little wink as she pulled herself out of my arms and sauntered towards the restroom.

It didn't take me long to follow her – after all what kind of a husband would I be if I didn't fulfil my wife's dreams!

After the long flight we made it to Florence just as the sun set, leaving us with not much time to do anything apart from checking in. We were staying at the Portrait Firenze in the Ponte Vecchio suite. I have to say staying in all these five star accommodations was seriously spoiling us, as I couldn't see us settling for anything less than luxury in the near future if we needed to stay somewhere, but then again we were luckier than most Guardians, what with being related to Abe and our close almost sibling like relationship with the Queen and King of our people.

Florence was different to Rome – it felt more peaceful and laid back. But the people, the language and the food still reminded me of Ivan and I couldn't help but fall into depression as we explored our surroundings. It didn't take long for Roza to pick up on my mood and after waiting patiently for me to come to her, she finally decided to take matters into her own hand. After our lunch (which I barely ate) she pulled me aside to a nearby bench in the main city square.

"What's the matter Dimitri? I haven't seen you this moody and depressed since you were brought back. Tell me what's wrong, my love".

Normally I preferred to keep my emotions to myself but looking at her pleading eyes and being reminded about my time after I was restored (the countless days I wasted keeping my fears close and letting them consume me to the point where I almost lost Roza for good), I pushed myself to open up and share my feelings.

"I just miss Ivan, milaya. The last country we visited…before he passed away…was Italy. We stayed a week in Rome, exploring the city. It was meant to be our little vacation before heading back to Court, but I guess that never happened…" I whispered, with a hint of bitterness.

Instead of showing me pity or sympathy, Roza just enveloped me in her arms, laying her head over my heart.

"Tell me again how you first met Ivan, my love".

And so I re-told her the story of how I first met my charge, my brother. Over the years, I had reluctantly shared bits and pieces of my time with Ivan and even though it was still painful to visit the memories, telling Roza was therapeutic in some way. With each story I found myself letting go of the pain and instead focusing on the good things – the love, the laughter and the fun. As I sat there, telling Roza about how Ivan had stood up to some bullies for me in 3rd grade (which is when our friendship officially began) I realised that by sharing that part of my life with her I was honouring Ivan's memory properly (like I should have). I had been so wrapped up in my guilt and depression that I had tainted my memories of Ivan and instead of celebrating his life and love for me, I had focused too much on his death.

I promised myself there and then that from this day forward I would talk more about Ivan and not shun away from things or topics that would remind me of him.

"You know, milaya, Ivan would have loved you. And he probably would have kicked my arse for not having professed my love to you sooner. Of course he would have also teased me merciless for having fallen for my student and someone who was 7 years younger than me, but in the end he would have done anything in his power to ensure we had our happy ending".

Roza's acknowledgement to my words was a beautiful smile and tightening of her arms.

We sat there on the bench for the rest of the day (well at least until dinner) while I shared more stories about Ivan with Roza. In a strange way, it was a good day.

The next day we woke up bright and early to do the 'tourist' thing – we visited all the churches, museums and galleries. I even had an awkward moment when Roza very blatantly (and loudly) indicated that the statue of David had nothing on her 'Russian God' of a husband – causing a lot of women nearby to openly stare at me, while I blushed furiously and Roza gripped me possessively.

Day three was spent doing a bike tour around the various parks and plazas. Florence was really beautiful, with its old architecture and cobbled pathways. It was a sunny day, so we had decided to indulge in some gelato. Roza wasn't too impressed as she preferred her ice creams 'creamier', but reluctantly acknowledged that the large variety of flavours was definitely a positive. She was also introduced to Nutella – a hazelnut chocolate spread – and the size of jars they sold here were huge! She insisted we buy one to take with us back home, and it took more than a good hour before I convinced her to leave it be and that (luckily) the story had a website and they did international delivery. I really didn't want to lug around a big tub of chocolate spread with us for the reminder of the honeymoon, though on second thought, I could imagine myself licking the stuff off certain parts of Roza…so I 'compromised' with her into buying a small travel version to take with us for the time being.

The last full day in Florence was going to be spent shopping. Italy was known for its real leather and when we found a store that sold all sorts of leather goods, including dusters, I was in heaven. I normally don't splurge on clothes (being a Dhampir and living on Guardian salary I knew how to stretch my money and was more than happy to buy things in bulk etc.) but the two things I allowed myself to splurge on were my duster and combat boots – I didn't 'cheap-out' on those. Which is why I was more than happy for Roza to spoil me in this store and she didn't disappoint, buying me a duster in every colour they had and matching ones in her size – after all we were the badass Belikovs! She even bought a sexy leather outfit that would be for my eyes later on – a short leather skirt with a leather crop top. It fit her body perfectly and enhanced her curves – yup definitely not for public viewing.

Our final activity for the day was a special surprise for Roza – a one-off Tango lesson. I've never been a big dancer, but having grown up with three sisters and a mother who loved her musicals, I was fairly skilled in ballroom dancing. So when I saw the opportunity for a one-off tango lesson offering, I couldn't resist and dragged Roza for the lesson.

Roza loved to dance but something like the tango was whole other level, so it was understandable that she was apprehensive. But I took care of everything – even picking out the outfit I wanted her to wear.

Dressed in a blood red, knee length halter dress and in four inch heels, with her hair in a side ponytail, she looked ravishing. The instructor gave out a few basic pointers and then let us out on the dance floor to showcase it all.

"Do you trust me Roza?" I whispered lovingly into my wife's ear.

"Always Comrade…" she replied back with a shy smile, trying to relax her nerves.

As the music filled the dance studio, I grabbed her in the classic stance and started moving us across the floor. Soon we both forgot that there were other people around us – it became a world in which there was only Rose and Dimitri. Just like sparring or making love, we moved in sync – I'd move forward, she'd follow me. My hands roamed her body sensuously, dipping her, caressing her – it was like I was re-learning every curve and finding new ways to claim and worship her at the same time.

As the crescendo of the music built up, much like our other activities, our movements sped up and became more desperate and frantic, finally ending with me throwing her in the air and catching her in a low dip, before pulling her into a searing kiss. Loud applauds and cheers bought us back to the real world and we suddenly realised that all the other couples had stopped dancing and had watched our performance instead. Blushing, we bowed and thanking our instructor, rushed out of the studio. Luckily our hotel was walking distance, though we still ran.

The sexual tension we had caused needed to be let out and we began a new dance the moment the doors to the lift closed.

Sorry not updating as often as I want – hard to find the time looking after a 2 year old and a 2 month old – my world revolves around feeding, cleaning and catching up on deprived sleep (even now I keep nodding off as I edit).

And I'm also trying to distribute my time between this story and Restaurant Wars…so please be patient.

Two more cities left before the Belikovs go back to Court…