Chapter 7: Chapter 7

ANNA

My parents’ place is not that big. It’s a cozy lake house, a beautiful brick building with a wooden frame and a cozy porch swing.

It has four bedrooms, two bathrooms, a pretty big kitchen, a dining room, a living room, and then my dad’s study. Two bedrooms and one of the bathrooms are upstairs.

It’s also my childhood home; we’ve lived here since I was born. When I was young I loved swimming with Ray. We even tied a rope around a big tree branch close to the lake to make a swing.

~There are so many memories here.~

I know Ray is excited to see my parents again. They’re like her second mom and dad.

As we get out, my parents come to greet us.

Ray introduces Jordan to my parents. My mom seems to like him.

I go over to my mom and dad, hug them, and turn to Damitry, who is standing behind me. I smile at him.

“Mom, Dad, this is Damitry, my, um—” I frown, not believing the words forming in my head.

He holds out his hand and interrupts my sentence.

“Her boyfriend.” He smiles brightly.

My mom looks shocked. My dad shakes his hand.

“Oh, I didn’t know she had a boyfriend.” Mom sounds overjoyed.

I smile at her. ~Yeah, that kinda just happened.~

“Well now, come on in,” my mom says.

Damitry and Jordan get the luggage from the trunk and follow us in.

“Ray, you and Annabeth will be sharing her room upstairs. It’s all ready for you.” Mom smiles at us. “Jordan and Damitry will be sleeping in the study. I will bring you more pillows and blankets. Follow me, boys.”

Ray and I head upstairs to unpack, and then I go to the bathroom for a quick shower before dinnertime.

When I get out I hear a commotion downstairs. I quickly grab my jeans and my I Love NYC T-shirt, get dressed, finger-comb my hair, and rush down.

My brother and his wife arrived while I was showering. Everybody is laughing and chatting. Seems like everybody is having a good time.

“Aw, here she is, my sweet little sis.” Hendrie gives me one of his bear hugs.

“Hey, my big brother, hey Kate.” She smiles at me, as she greets me. My brother ruffles my hair and moves to Kate’s side.

~Ugh, I hate it when he does that.~

I give him my meanest look as I fix my hair, and he starts to laugh.

“So, Anna, how on earth did you meet a guy like Damitry? I mean, no offense, but she is a handful,” my brother says.

Damitry smiles at me, pulls me to him, and plants a kiss on my head. I feel my cheeks burning.

“She is one hell of a woman,” Damitry says with a smirk.

Everybody’s eyes are on me, waiting for this story. Ray is smiling from ear to ear, because she knows the where, how, and when.

~Yeah, um, we shopped for underwear together. Yeah, he saw my new panties, no big deal.~ I clear my throat.

“We met in the mall, had coffee with his sister, and then went dancing. We just kinda clicked.”

~They don’t have to know more.~

My mom frowns at me.

~Please, Mom, don’t ask for more details.~

She clears her throat and sighs.

“Okay, then. Dinner is ready, so let’s go eat.” She smiles, and everyone moves to the dining room.

Damitry pulls the chair out for me to sit, then takes a seat next to me.

Everybody is talking and making jokes. My mom asks Jordan some questions about his life and then moves to Damitry.

“Are you close with your parents, Damitry?” she asks as she takes a bite of her lasagna.

“Yes, Lorraine, I love my family. We are very close,” he says and smiles sweetly at my mom.

“Well, that’s good. So, do you want to have kids one day?” she continues, so seriously I almost choke.

~Mom.~ Really?” I protest, making my eyes big.

“What? I have to know.” She rolls her eyes at me. Everybody starts to laugh.

Damitry plants a kiss on my head as he answers her question.

“I hope that one day I can have a family of my own. Two boys and two girls would be nice,” he says grinning at me.

Four kids! What the hell? Four is a lot.

My mom is so overjoyed with his answer, she doesn’t even bother to ask him more serious questions. They make more small talk and mom tells stories about me and Ray as little girls.

When we are done with dinner, my dad shows Damitry and Jordan his wine collection and tells them everything he knows. To my surprise, Damitry also knows a lot about wine.

My mom and I go to the kitchen to do the dishes. She gives me a sweet smile.

“I like him. He’s a good man. I can tell he likes you, sweetie, the way he looks at you…he loves you.” She smiles at me joyfully.

I smile back with wonder in my eyes.

“I like him too, Mom.”

When we are done with the dishes, we go sit in the living room, have a Scotch and talk a little more, then go to bed.

***

Saturday afternoon, the party starts. The weather is nice and everything is so beautiful. My mom loves lilies, so there are lilies everywhere.

I do my mom’s hair and makeup. Then I go to my room and get dressed. When I’m done, I go downstairs to see where Ray and Damitry are.

Ray and Jordan are dancing and Damitry is talking to my dad.

Damitry’s eyes fall on me. He excuses himself and walks over.

“You look beautiful.” As he kisses me softly on my lips, Ed Sheeran’s “Perfect” starts to play. He smiles at me and pulls me to the dance floor.

We dance to a few songs. Ray and Jordan join in. It is really fun; we are having a great time. Even my brother dances with me, and he hates dancing.

Then my dad starts the speech that he wrote for my mom. He thanks her for all the good and bad years, he tells her how much she means to him. She even sheds a tear.

To be honest, I feel tears in my eyes as well. My parents are an inspiration.

~I hope someday I’ll find someone who would love and adore me like my father loves and adores my mom.~

~Well, maybe I have found him. Only time will tell.~

Everything is great. Jordan tells Ray that he loves her, so Ray is over the moon.

After it gets dark, I go for a walk to the lake. It’s a beautiful, perfect night. The sky is filled with stars. The moon is shining brightly, and its reflection on the lake makes me feel like I am in some sort of fairytale.

I hear footsteps approaching. I look over my shoulder and see Damitry standing behind me.

He pulls off his jacket, places it over my shoulders, and pulls me into him, wrapping his arms around me.

“Your parents are good people and they are very proud of you. They love you,” he says and turns me around so that I’m facing him. He smiles at me.

“Annabeth, I’m crazy in love with you,” he states.

I smile at him and reply, “I’m in love with you too.”

He puts one hand under my chin, lifts it, and starts yet another passionate kiss.

I wrap my arms around his neck, with my one hand in his hair, running my fingers through it.

He moves one hand down my spine and cups my ass, then gently pulls my hair and moves his mouth down my jawline, placing kisses as he goes.

My heart is racing and my breathing is unsteady. This feels good.

He whispers in my ear, “You’re mine,” and starts kissing me again.

I don’t mind. I’m lost in this man.

Both breathless after the kiss, we make our way back to the party.

***

It’s Sunday morning. I wake up early and see Ray’s bed is empty.

~What the hell, Ray? Where are you?~

I go downstairs and see Damitry on the phone outside talking to someone.

~It’s six o’clock in the morning. Who calls this early?~

Turning around, I see Ray coming out of the study with Jordan behind her. I raise my eyebrows at them and Ray just gives me a shy smile. Jordan—well, he looks like someone who just had the night of his life.

“Morning,” he says, smiling, and closes the door. Ray hugs me and sneaks upstairs to the bathroom. Damitry is still on the phone.

I go to the kitchen and start to make a pot of coffee. We are leaving today. This was a perfect weekend and everybody is so happy.

Damitry enters the house. He sees me and comes over, places a kiss on my head, and walks to the cupboard, and grabs two mugs.

“Morning, cupcake. Slept well?” he asks with a smile on his face.

“Yes, I did. Um, where did you sleep?”

~Since Ray slept with Jordan, he couldn’t sleep there as well, or did he?~

He turns around with a bright smile on his face.

“In Ray’s bed, with you,” he says.

~Wait, what? He slept in my room? Did I snore? Ray, you’re dead meat. Why would you do that?~

I’m in shock.

“You looked so peaceful all cuddled up on your bed.” He pulls me close to him and kisses me softly on my lips.

I finish the coffee and we walk out to the porch.

“Anna, there is one thing we need to talk about.” He gets all tense and looks at me very seriously.

“It’s about Xander. He likes you a lot. He is my best friend and I don’t want to see him get hurt, so I’m asking you to let him down softly if you want to, or this must end.

“I can’t share you.”

I look at him. I know I want Damitry, but I care about Xander. I don’t want to hurt him.

“I will tell him about us when we get back.”

He places a kiss on my head and we go back inside. Everybody is busy in the kitchen. I head upstairs to take a quick shower before we leave, and pack my stuff. Ray enters the room, grabs her stuff, turns to me, and smiles.

“Jordan is great, right?” she says. Then she tells me everything that happened the night before. We are still laughing as we head downstairs.

Jordan gives us one look and knows we have been discussing him. He just flashes a huge smile, takes our bags, and heads to the car.

Damitry says goodbye to my mom, and she pulls him in for a huge hug.

“Please look after my baby girl,” she asks very sincerely.

“I will,” he replies, and goes to help Jordan with the bags.

Ray says her goodbyes and heads to the car, leaving me on the porch with my parents.

“Honey, you take good care of that man and take care of yourself.” My dad embraces me with his big bear hug, kisses my head, and lets me go.

~I think he might have cracked one of my ribs.~

“Sweetie, I’m going to miss you. You have one of the good ones. Keep him close. We love you, honey.” Mom’s embrace is more graceful and tender, so motherly.

~Oh, how I’m going to miss her hugs.~

“I love you guys,” I say, waving goodbye.

Damitry is standing at the car door waiting for me. He opens it and I get in.

I wave at my parents one more time as we drive off. Jordan and Ray are up front again; he likes driving.

Ray and Jordan are in their little world, whispering at each other. I place my head on Damitry’s lap, and he gently strokes my hair, smiling at me. Damitry is lost in his thoughts, and I’m lost in him.

The drive back home is quite nice. I get all cuddled up on his lap. It feels so good. We only stop for gas once, but I must have dozed off.

***

After an amazing weekend and a long drive back, we pull up to our apartment. Jordan and Damitry help us with our bags. Damitry places my bags in the living room, and Jordan helps Ray carry her bags upstairs.

~Well, they won’t be back soon.~

I offer Damitry a beer, and we sit at the kitchen table. We talk about the weekend and how much fun we had. When his phone buzzes, he stops to answer it.

“Hey, Mona. Yes, we’re back,” he says, smiling at me. “Okay, I’ll ask them.”

“So Dominique wants to know if we want to go out tonight?” He smiles and places a kiss on my forehead. “We don’t have to go, we can stay in if you like?”

Ray and Jordan come down, all smiling and giggling.

“You wanna go dancing?” I ask, and Ray gets all excited.

Twenty minutes later, we are on our way to the club, and I am having second thoughts.

~I didn’t think this through. What if Xander is there? I didn’t tell him about us yet. Well, guess he will know soon enough.~

Xander is sitting in the club with Alex when our eyes meet, he has a big smile on his face and starts to walk over to me when he freezes in his steps.

Damitry is standing behind me, and I feel his hands on my waist. Xander gazes at Damitry then back at me, a little confused.

He walks past us, bumps his shoulder into Damitry’s, and heads out of the club. I am about to go after him when Damitry grabs my wrist and whispers in my ear. “I’ll go.” He kisses me softly on the cheek and follows Xander.

Ray pulls me to her. “What’s going on?” she yells over the music.

“I never told Xander about me and Damitry,” I said looking worried, she looks shocked.

I want to go check up on them, but Dominique tells me it’s a bad idea and should leave them alone for now.

After an hour Damitry comes back in with Xander hot on his tail. They don’t look mad or upset.

~Okay, that’s a good thing.~

Damitry smiles at me and sits down next to me, Xander also flashes me a smile and sits.

We dance all night. I tell Damitry I need a break so he goes and gets us some drinks. I go to our table where Xander is sitting.

“Sorry I didn’t tell you about me and Damitry. I wanted to text.” He looks at me, and it’s clear he isn’t mad.

“It’s okay, Anna, as long as he makes you happy. Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine. Friends?”

I nod.

~Thank goodness we can still be friends.~

We get home around one in the morning. Damitry kisses me goodnight, takes the car keys from Jordan—who is not going home—and drives off.

I take a quick shower and head straight to bed.

***

We have a long day at work the next day, so I tell Ray I’m going to have an early night when we leave the hospital. Jordan picks Ray up and to my surprise, Damitry is there too.

He walks with me to my car and asks if it is okay if he drives. I smile at him and hand him my car keys. I am too tired to drive, anyway.

When we get to my apartment he jumps out of the car, opens my door, and picks me up.

I start to laugh at him as he carries me to the apartment. He opens the door and puts me on the couch, bends down, and takes off my shoes.

“Now you relax. I’ll order us some food. Anything in particular?” he asks.

“Ooh, pizza with lots and lots of cheese.” I sound super excited.

He just starts to laugh at me.

“Your wish is my command.”

After twenty minutes our pizza arrives. We watch a movie and eat our dinner.

When I start to doze off, Damitry sits me up from his lap.

“I should go now. I can see you’re sleepy.”

“No, I’m not.” I yawn.

He gives me a small smile and kisses me on my head.

“Oh, yes you are. My little sleepyhead.”

I pout at him.

“Would you stay the night? I don’t want to be alone,” I ask, a bit shyly.

“I would love to.” He picks me up and carries me bridal style up to my room. He gently places me on my bed, hands me my PJs, and leaves, closing the door behind him.

~Okay, not what I expected, but it’s nice to know he’s not going to pressure me.~

After I get changed, I open the door. He is leaning against the wall in the hall.

He enters my room with his gaze on me. We make our way to my bed.

He takes his shoes and shirt off. He has an amazing body. My eyes scan him before I stare into his eyes, which are full of fire now.

He gets on my bed next to me. We are standing on our knees, so close I can feel his heat and his breath on my skin.

I lift my hands and run them down his chest as I feel his muscles relaxing. My hands move over his body and my gaze follows them. I see every muscle respond to my touch.

I let out a soft breath and move my gaze back up to meet his. He has a lustful grin on his face, but he leaves me to explore his body.

I run my hands over his biceps and back over his chest, down to his six-pack, tracing his V line with my finger.

~He is so sexy.~

All of a sudden he cups my face in both his hands and kisses me. This kiss is more intense than we’ve ever had, and I let out a soft moan.

He pulls back and as he reaches for my shirt, I freeze. He sees the sudden stillness and pulls away, looking confused.

“Anna, are you okay?” he asks in a soft, gentle voice.

I smile at him.

“Well… I’m still a virgin,” I reply a bit shyly.

He lets out a chuckle, pulls me into his chest, and kisses me on my head.

“My sweet, sweet Anna.” He pulls me down with him and lets my head rest on his chest, wrapping his arms around me, and whispers, “Whenever you’re ready, cupcake.”

And I relax, cuddle into his chest, and drift off into the best sleep I’ve ever had.