Settling Slowly

Chapter 28 - Spending far too much time with our father and broken bra straps

Forty minutes later we were both naked in his bed, holding one another, nearly dozing. We hadn't had sex, but we'd explored each other with passionate hands and hungry mouths.

"I guess you won't be sleeping in the guest room when we go to Mama's house in the summer," he said softly.

I laughed a little. "I guess I won't. The visas should be here soon."

"Yeah," he said with a sad, far away look in his eyes.

"What is it?"

He sighed. "I'll be going back as a tourist."

"It probably won't feel like that," I soothed and stroked his cheek with a thumb. "You'll be too happy to care."

He smiled a little. "Is it so strange that the closer it gets, the more I miss them?"

"No."

"And you?" he asked and moved his hand to my hip. "Are you excited?"

"I think so." I bit my lip. "Still nervous about meeting your family."

"Don't be. They'll love you. Elena follows you on twitter already."

"Really? Since when?"

"I called home last night. She's been following you for years. Started talking about your peacock coat and said she wished she could meet you." He grinned. "Squealed a little when I said you're my girlfriend. Then she felt a bit silly that she hadn't made the connection before. Then she told me I'd better bring you over when I visit."

"I'm not sure if that's a little cool or weird. I met a dude at RADA who follows me and begged to see that coat."

"It's amazing," he said softly.

"Well yeah, that coat took weeks to make and then I had to remake it. It had better be amazing."

He smiled. "I meant you. All those followers and you're just being yourself."

"Well, like you said, I'm amazing. Not amazing enough to know where we're going on Thursday..."

"No," he said and rolled over to his back. "It's a surprise."

I scowled but settled next to him when he gently tugged me closer. I loved the feel of his skin next to mine too much to miss out on. Honestly, I wasn't bothered enough about not knowing what to wear to make a big deal of it. I kissed my boyfriend's chest and then lazily put an arm around him. I yawned.

"You doing anything tonight?" I asked.

"No."

"We're having a big dinner tonight. Dad insisted on celebrating. And there's wine and desert and stuff."

"What time?"

"Dinner time," I deadpanned.

He chuckled into my hair. "Of course. Why would it be at any other time? How about we go over now and I'll stay the whole evening? It's been a while since I was last over and your parents were there."

"Aren't you the good boyfriend?" I smiled. "But five more minutes."

We actually stayed in bed for another forty minutes and even then neither of us really wanted to move. My clothes were wet on the bathroom floor so Grigory gave me a t-shirt and a pair of shorts to wear. Thank god they had a drawstring. I told him what we were going to tell everyone when they asked why I wasn't in my own clothes and he said it was perfectly plausible. Then we walked through the back gardens to my house.