Rose Hathaway :: Vampire Academy (lildampeer) wrote in kirkrose, @ 2016-05-29 12:51:00 |
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Her relationship with Jim amazed her every day. They’d managed to find each other after being tossed in the same universe by a force that decided to wreak havoc on any number of lives, playing with them at a whim, and then when things had been settled, when things had been good and they’d started to rebuild after the earthquake had devastated everything they’d been picked up and hurled to New Orleans. They were lucky that there were people there that they knew, good friends who helped them settle in: Molly & McCoy, Regina & Robin, Zane…it helped a lot. But the fact that Jim was there with her was the thing that helped the most. It would have been one thing to end up here by herself. She could have managed, maybe even thrived. But having him with her had allowed her to be happy, which she hadn’t been sure she could be before everything with him had happened. She had loved Dimitri, loved him with all her heart, but their relationship always seemed to be filled with danger and drama. There never seemed to be peace, not really, not for long. And with everything that had happened when he came to Lawrence as a stirogi, killing people because she refused to let the others kill him, and then with her being turned, it had been a mess. And then he was gone, seemingly as quickly as he had come, and she was left alone to sort out all the thoughts and feelings she had about all of it. She had just felt so worthless afterward. Well, perhaps not worthless, but at least not worthy of love. And then, somehow, Jim had wormed his way in. She’d once read somewhere “Sometimes love isn’t fireworks, sometimes love just comes softly.” She’d scoffed at it at the time, thinking that love had to be flashy. Maybe not the show of love, but you had to feel fireworks. But that wasn’t the case with Jim. Yeah, their first encounter was electric, a really good night of sex after a bar fight which she’d started, but it was after that that had surprised her. When she’d said she wanted time and space to sort things out, he’d given it to her. He’d been gentle and warm, never being the cocky Casanova he used to be. When he got hurt, that was when she realized she could have lost him and she’d panicked. She hadn’t really realized how close she wanted him to be until Molly had told her he’d gotten hurt and gone to the emergency room, and when her mind ran through all the worst case scenarios she realized that even though she’d been lucky this time the next time she might not be. So she’d decided to take a risk, take a chance on him. And that, she was glad to say, was a decision she hadn’t regretted so far. They’d been in New Orleans for a few months and were settling in nicely. He wanted to start a youth center here, like the one the other Rose had had, something for the underprivileged youth who were caught in the middle of the debate between the people who wanted a new center and the people who had the ability to build it but were dragging their heels. He had his millions and he still had his knowledge of how to run a business, so he was busy cutting through red tape and getting stuff done. She was quite proud of him. She watched him now, moving around the room at the fundraising event. She’d planted herself near the buffet table, and he’d grinned at that, given her a lingering kiss and then asked her to save him some of the good stuff. He was a natural at this, and she had to say that she was enjoying watching him schmooze the people who could help get the center built faster, even if she did miss his company. And just as if that thought was like a homing beacon, he made his way back to her. “Eaten all the good stuff?” he asked with a grin. “Not all of it,” she said with an answering smile, handing him a plate. “I was nice and decided to share.” “And this is why I love you,” he said, taking the plate and then stepping close to kiss her cheek. Her smile grew before he stepped away. When he was done he looked at the plate and then picked up a piece of Melba toast with a crawfish spread on it, taking a bite. “Oh, you did get the good stuff.” She nodded. “I have excellent taste. I’m dating you, after all.” “Yeah, that is true,” he said. He had a few more pieces of the food on the plate. “Is it all right if I pull you away from the food for a bit? I’d like to take you out on the floor for a bit, dance with the sexiest woman here tonight.” “I don’t know,” she teased. “How close am I allowed to get while we’re dancing?” “Pretty close,” he said. “I mean, if you want to get really close in about an hour we can go back to the House of Sass and you can pick the music and we can dance as close as you want.” She reached over and played with his tie for a moment. “I’d like that,” she said. “Then let me have the pleasure of a few dances now and then you can get me all to yourself soon enough,” he said, setting down his plate and putting his hands on her waist. She looked up at him and flattened her hands on his chest. “How’d I get so lucky?” she asked, giving him a wide grin. “Same way I did: rotten luck,” he said with a grin of his own before pulling her closer against him. “Or at least, it was at first. But I guess in the end it all kinda worked out.” “Guess so,” she said before he leaned his head down. She met him halfway to kiss him softly. Oh, it was going to be a chaste kiss now, as they were at an event at it wasn’t the time or place. Their kisses would be more passionate when they got home, she knew that. But for right now she would enjoy this moment with the man she loved, this moment who had come into her life unexpectedly and showed her that love wasn’t always full of drama and danger and could be something so much better. And if she was lucky, she would have many more moments like this with him. She could only hope. |