Rose: June
"You know, when I said we should fight and you said we should get into shape and train, this wasn't what I had in mind," Rose huffed.
"What did you have in mind?" Dimitri asked glancing at her.
He didn't look like a he was even breaking a sweat. Rose felt like slapping him. Her breathing was so loud and rapid she thought the ground was shaking, her hair was out-of-place sticking out of every which way where it wasn't stuck to her sweaty skin, and her feet felt so sore that they were numb.
Dimitri looked the picture of perfection jogging beside her. It didn't even look like he was trying.
"I don't know, something in doors, maybe watching a few really bad kung fu, action movies although my life feels more like a horror movie lately so maybe those would be more appropriate."
Dimitri chuckled. Rose would've laughed at her own dry joke if she'd had the breath for it.
"I thought that your life was more of a romantic comedy gone bad," he suggested.
"I think it started out as a comedy sex drama with our 'friends with benefits' arrangement, and then it went dark romantic 'Twilight' when I started having feeling for you but we couldn't be together-"
"They weren't star-crossed lovers," Dimitri interrupted correcting her.
Rose stopped jogging long enough to stare at him. "You watched Twilight?"
He shrugged. "Ivan made me go with him."
"Lemme guess, he was in search of women?"
"Of course."
Their laughter carried around them in the empty park. "But anyway, this really wasn't my idea of exercise," Rose huffed going back to her original comment. "It we'd do something fun."
"I use to think exercise was fun. I use to run in the mornings and at night if I had time. When I first became I doctor I use to squeeze in a bit of running between lunch time if I could."
He chuckled at the look of disgust on Rose's face. "running clears my head. I just haven't been able to do a lot of it lately."
He glanced at Rose's disgusted face and chuckled. "Running clears my head," he concluded. "What's your idea of exercise?"
"I was thinking something along the lines of sex. It burns carbs and it's fun."
Dimitri immediately stopped in his tracks and pulled Rose against him against the wall that run along the pathway they were following. The rise and fall of her chest was against his rapidly beating heart.
"You mean I had the option of running or sex as exercise?" he asked with fake appall.
She smiled up at him still trying to breathe. "Of course you did."
He bent and lifted her up into his arms bridal style. "That's enough running for today we could try your alternative exercise."
She screamed, laughing and kicking her legs. He set her down after kissing her on the forehead smiling. "It's too late now," she told him stretching her legs.
"Oh, Roza, it's never too late."
She looked at him, loving their playful banter. "What I meant was I had energy before this jog of yours sucked the life out of me. If you want to fool around now we could go behind the bushes and you can have your way with me," she tempted him. "But you'll be doing all the work just so you know. Warning you now."
"What else is new," he laughed and laughed even harder when she scoffed with her mouth open in an 'O' shape.
She reached her arm out to slap him playfully but Dimitri was quick and he had longer arms. He grabbed a hold of her wrist and pulled him to her.
"You're going to have to do better than that if you're ever going to fight anybody," he whispered, sneaking a kiss in.
Rose was ready with a quick sarcastic quip but froze, a thought popping into her head at Dimitri's words. "Do you think it'll come to that? Me actually fighting someone?"
Even she could hear the low whisper of her voice.
Dimitri's amused expression for before faded. "Let's hope not."
When he saw that she was truly worried and the fearful expression on her face didn't disappear her run his hand along the side of her arm. "Hey, I said I'd protect you. I meant it. I won't anything happen, not like before."
"You don't feel guilty about that do you?"
"About what?"
"About not being able to stop Adrian and Stan when they took me because that wasn't your fault."
Dimitri just let out a long breath. Rose could see that he did feel guilty but they weren't going to talk about it now. She felt her shoulders relax at his earlier reassurances. Dimitri's expression relaxed a bit too and he turned Rose in the direction of his apartment.
"Let's get you home, it's cold outside."
He pulled off his thin running jacket and rested it around Rose shoulders, pulling her arms through and zipping it up. She smiled at being doted on and cared for. Dimitri returned the small smile.
She was glad that they'd moved quickly past the tense moment before and were feeling lighthearted and carefree again.
"So, how come you don't run anymore? Or do you run and I just never noticed?" Rose asked once they'd started walking back through the park again.
"I became busy and when I did have time Tasha had some futile party for me to go to."
"I've always had time, I just didn't want to," Rose joked.
"You've never run recreationally?"
"I use to when I was a kid but during those teenage years I discovered something."
"What?"
"Junk food."
Dimitri laughed holding her hand as they walked across the street toward his apartment.
Once inside Rose collapsed ont he couch as Dimitri hung their jackets by the door. He headed into the kitchen grabbing two glasses of water.
"So is that sex option still good or is this as good as it's going to get for me today?" Dimitri asked sipping his water, gesturing to Rose's still form, face down on the couch.
He sat on the edge of the coffee table and held Rose's glass out to her. She groaned and lifted her head out of the couch seats taking the water. She gulped it down grateful and greedily.
Dimitri watched her intently with that small smile he always wore as if Rose always amused him, on his soft lips. He reached out and wiped Rose's mouth where water dripped down from the side of her mouth and tugged her hair loose from its high bun.
Her dark hair fell around her in messy disarray. She groaned at the feel of her aching muscles. She rested her head on her arms against the couch sofa.
"I think this is as good as it's going to get today," she told Dimitri, her voice muffled by the couch.
He chuckled placing both fo their glasses on the coffee table beside him and moved so that he was sitting on the edge of the couch beside her. Gently he rubbed her shoulders down the center of her back to her waist and back up again.
"That feels good," she murmured.
"Well if this is as good as it's going to get then I guess my work is cut out for me. I thought I'd start slow," he told her using both hands now.
"What else is new," Rose joked, her voice still muffled.
Dimitri retaliated but increasing the pressure on her back and brushing his fingers along her waist. She squirmed. He knew she was ticklish there.
"Okay, I take it back," she said laughing, turning around.
Dimitri had positioned himself so that he was straddling her on the couch and she was looking up at him. She reached up to touch him but he pinned her arms above her smiling playfully dark.
"Oh no. You said I could do anything I wanted to you," he told her reminding her.
"Ah, I like where this is going. this beats running any day," she giggled.
Her hands still pinned, Dimitri nipped at Rose's warm neck and jaw before dining her lips.
"You've been planning this haven't you?" Rose managed to get out when Dimitri pulled away as his kisses lowered.
"Why do you say that?" he asked, his own voice muffled against her skin.
"You seem...meticulous right now, like you've thought about this a lot."
"That's because I have. Now hush," he ordered smothering her next words with his mouth.
She could feel him dominating not only the inside of her mouth with his tongue but her body where he manage to roam the soft curves and planes with one hand while the other still pinned her wrist above her head.
Where Rose had felt achy and sore before, she felt tender but warm now, the familiar feeling of anticipated arousal flowing through her body.
"So what exactly do you plan on doing with me?" she couldn't help but ask despite him silencing her before.
"You'll just have to wait and see."
His warm hands searched beneath her tank top running smoothly and slowly along Rose's flat stomach barley brushing the skin. Rose gasped at the electric heat coursing through her body.
"Do you want me now or are you still too tired?"
She nearly pleaded when his mouth only slightly pulled away to asked the question. "I want you."
He laughed softly.
His voice was low, husky, and close to her ear. He clutched her once, squeezing her behind once firmly before rising, unattatching his mouth from her skin and releasing her hands.
His own hands rested on the exposed part of her stomach where her tank top had risen up.
"Why'd you stop?"
"That's it. I'm done. I've done what I wanted to," he said smugly starting to dismount her.
"What!"
He laughed loudly, a booming laugh at Rose's disappointed expression.
"I wanted to remind you that I could always get a rise out of you. I can have my way with you anytime, anywhere, and anyway I want to, Roza."
He was across the apartment now replacing the glasses in the kitchen. rose laid back on the couch trying to catch her breath. If she was having trouble breathing while she was jogging she was definitely having problems breathing after what Dimitri pulled.
"You are a cruel man, Belikov."
"Payback for those comments before and for tempting me."
"When have I ever tempted you?" Rose asked innocently.
Dimitri rolled his eyes and scoffed playfully. "I think it'll be easier if I list the times you haven't tempted me."
Rose sat up on the couch and stood. "Fine, you wanna play games."
"Meaning?" Dimitri asked raising a brow, something Rose had always found attractive. Dimitri looked amused.
He gulped his water.
"Meaning that if you wanna play games we're gonna play one of my games. If you can find me and catch me I'll let you have your way with me for however long you want without leaving in the morning like I usually do. I'll do whatever you want me to for the next twenty-four hours," she proposed.
"And what happens if I can't find you?" Dimitri asked truly curious now.
"Dimitri we're in a condo. It's big but it's not that big," she gestured to the apartment. "But if you fail to find me in under an hour, and remember I am small and can fit anywhere, then I'm going to leave, go home and soak my sore and aroused body, and have a bit of fun by myself and when I decide to return you have to do what I tell you for the next twenty-four hours."
"Sounds like fun, an interesting proposition," he said setting his cup down.
"Yeah, it does but there's one thing you're forgetting," she said coy.
"What's that?"
"You have to catch me first!" she squealed skipping out the room hearing Dimitri's low chuckle as she went.
"Do you think we'll still be like this fifty years from now?"
Dimitri pulled the sheet tighter around Rose, his fingers spreading and closing in patterns along her bare back as she lay on her stomach her head turned to face him.
He was on his back with the one hand touching the Rose and the other fit comfortable behind his head where his brown eyes were closed.
"I think we'll be doing less running around and more lying around," he chuckled softly, his voice low and deep, accent thick.
Rose noticed before that she could only hear his accent more pronounced when he was completely at ease. "I think sex will become shorter with less movement involved. I could lay on top of you and say I'm done," he joked.
Rose felt her laugh vibrate against the bed. "But you're a doctor. You should have your own secret ways to keep the magic alive and going. Aren't those what those little blue pills are for?" she asked returning the joke.
"I guess we'll see won't we."
She smiled closing her own eyes briefly.
They'd played a long, good game of hide and seek and sex and now they were both tired, Rose especially from the jog that wore her down before. Unfortunately for her Dimitri had found her in each of her hiding spots within minutes and granting her multiple tries to successfully hide from him. He came close to losing the last time but he took full advantage when he spotted Rose, reluctantly on her way out and grabbed a hold of her then.
He'd threatened to sweep her off her feet for the second time that day and haul her to the bedroom but not before carefully, ever so gently, pressing her against the wall of the door where they both fell to the floor in a cloud of passion. Rose was stripped down to her underwear and bra while Dimitri still wore his jogging pants when he decided he could have more fun with her on the couch and all other possible surfaces of the house.
"Penny for your thoughts?" Dimitri asked without opening his eyes interrupting Rose's memories.
She actually blushed for the first time in a long time repositioning her head so that her chin rested on her folded arms.
"I don't think I'll ever want to eat on your dining room table again," she said trying to fight the urge to giggle. "Or your kitchen counter for that matter."
Dimitri smiled. "I don't think I'll be able to sit at my desk or on the couch without grinning like an idiot," he said remembering, reminisce in his voice.
The laughed softly, quietly.
Rose listened to the silence of the condo and the faint sound coming from the streets below. Dimitri's building wasn't on a major street but there was still a lot of activity even in the middle of the night.
Rose wondered if anyone listened to her on those nights when she'd come over to Dimitri late at night when she couldn't sleep in her empty house alone, which seemed like every night. She wondered if anyone heard her when she was here by herself waiting for him to come home from work at the new clinic or if anyone in the building across noticed her through the wide, uncurtained windows just sitting on the couch crying for everything that had happened by herself, holding her mother's scarf in her hands.
She doubted it.
She was just another person among the many citizens in the city trying to make it in life with the man of their dreams.
She especially wondered if anyone heard them while they were together in bed making love long into the night. They weren't exceptionally loud but they weren't exactly quiet either.
She guessed that it was these thoughts and wonders and feelings of satisfaction and unbelievable happiness that brought up her questions before and the one that was following behind it.
"Do you think we'll even be together in fifty years? I mean we're having trouble just being together now," she tried to laugh but found that the thought was more scary than funny of a future without the man beside her.
Dimitri, probably hearing the fear in her suddenly shaky voice turned over on his side, pulling his arm from underneath his head over onto Rose. He gave her a soft touch to turn on her side so that he could see her face clearly.
"Honestly?"
"No I want you to lie to me."
He pushed a lock of hair behind her ear and kept his finger linger on her lips, ignoring her dry joke from before.
"I don't know if we'll be together. Nothings set in stone." She felt her stomach sink to the ground, a dark abyss below the condo. "But I can promise you that I'll do everything in my power to make sure that we are together and I hope you'll do the same. I just got you back, Roza. I'm not letting you go easily, without a fight. even if it's against you," he smiled.
Rose's stomach reappeared again and her heart continued to beat along with the breath returning to her lungs.
"Me and you, Belikov," she murmured her eyes growing tired.
Dimitri had given her body an extensive workout and she blushed remembering. "You know, you're pretty intense, Belikov. I mean, this is only our hundredth official date and you're worrying about fifty years from now," she joked.
He laughed softly caressing her cheek and locking a few of his fingers in her hair. "So I've been told, Roza."
"Don't ever stop calling me Roza," she reminded him referring to conversation they'd had before.
"Never. Sleep."
"I think I'm too wired to sleep. My body is tired but emotionally...I'm restless. These intense conversations we have really excite me," she told him. "Do you have a cure, doctor?"
"I may have a home remedy but we're going to wait until morning to apply it. Sleep," he ordered.
"You're so bossy when I let you have your way," she giggled shifting so that her back was against his chest.
He held her in a firm hold, his hands resting over both of hers as she laid on one of his arms. She imagined it wasn't the most comfortable positions for him but he didn't complain and she didn't want to move.
"I still have eighteen more hours of my way with you," he told her. "I won, remember?"
"I let you win."
"Right," he scoffed unbelieving.
"I didn't really want to go home, left to my own devices, and who would win of neither of us had sex so I let you win," she lied smugly.
"If that's true I'm going to have to deal with you later."
She could hear the smile in his voice.
"Sleep," he told her again. She could hear the tiredness in his voice and feel it growing more inside her. She really was tired.
"My unbelievable, Roza," she heard him whisper as he dozed off, the smile still in his voice.
