Dimitri

Before The Year Started...(Part 4)

I listen to a cell phone vibrate and stop twice before I bother looking for it. I reach over for my phone on the bedside table and almost growl when I don't see it there. The sleeping body on top of me stirs as I lean over her to see if I can find my phone and shut it off. After flying for over fifteen hours and then spending my first night back having sex until the break of dawn, the last thing I wanted to do was be woken up by a vibrating cellphone an hour after falling asleep.

Rose shifts just enough for me to slide out from under her. Grateful for my long arms, I reach for my discarded pants from the night before and fish my phone out of the pocket. I have to resist the urge to chuck it out of the window when I see it's only Ivan calling me. I let it ring twice more before I remember that this is the same man that's called me three times a day since we were kids. Persistence is his middle name. If I don't answer now he'll be here at my front door within the hour. Assuming he isn't here already.

"I want a divorce," he announces when I answer.

Unfazed by his dramatics, my reply is immediate. "What did I do to upset you now?"

He scoffs so loudly into the phone that it echoes in my ear a bit afterward. I pull the phone from my ear and glance over at Rose to see if I've woken her. She's sleeping soundly, a soft snore emitting from her slightly parted lips.

"The fact that you even have to ask!"

"It's almost seven am. Forgive me for not being awake enough to even really care."

"Alright, well now you're just being mean," he pouts through the phone. "I called because," he starts but stops just as Rose groans and rolls over pretty loudly. "There's a disturbance in the force! Was that a woman I heard?!"

"Yes, Ivan, I've been seeing other people," I respond, exasperated.

"But a woman, on your first night back when you could have been spending time with me, making up for two years of lost quality time!" I don't bother pointing out that other than our three calls a day, we Skyped at least every other day. "And here I thought the hushed tone to your voice was out of tenderness towards me. Did you at least think about me?" he asked, incapable of keeping the humor out of his voice.

"Yes, I thought about you and only you the entire time," I lied.

He guffawed loud enough for me to be grateful that I had already climbed out of bed, careful not to wake Rose as I headed to the kitchen. I fish out my coffee maker from beneath the storage cabinet and get to the work of washing it out and starting a fresh brew.

"So you're first day back and you're having sleepovers without me. Who is this lucky lady?"

"I met her last night," I answer evasively. Ivan didn't need to know that I'd been in a bar after only an hour back home.

There was a long pause over the phone as he waited for me to elaborate.

"Please, D, calm down. You're overwhelming me with the influx of details," he said dryly. When I still didn't say anything he chuckled. "That's fine. I'll just drop by and see her for myself," he threatened.

"Ivan," I said in a warning tone.

"Just kidding. You're lucky I'm on my way to the hospital. We're trying to figure out the best way to remove the stick up your ass."

"You're hilarious."

"I like to think so. Anyways I was just checking in to see if you wanted to go for a run later this afternoon."

"It's my first night back," I reminded him. I still needed to unpack, get all of my bills and paperwork in order.

"You're right. You need to settle in and rest up," he agreed. "And you know the best place to do that? At your mom's house."

Well that didn't take him long. I was starting to think he and Tasha had made it their goal in life to ensure I visited my mother's house the moment I landed back home.

"Subtle. Look, Tasha tried this yesterday and I'll tell you the same thing I told her: I'll go back home in my own time." Well those weren't my exact words but as long as I got the message across. Why they were suddenly so invested in me going home, I had no idea.

"Alright, alright. I figured I'd give it a shot. Don't bite my head off," he said placating me. "Didn't mean to piss you off first thing in the morning."

"Well you succeeded."

"Eh, I'm not worried. You're charming attitude hasn't earned you many friends over the years," he reminded me. "I'm still you're best friend," he bragged smugly.

"I'm hanging up now."

"I'll make it up to you," he swore.

That sounded ominous. "I'm not that desperate."

"I'll take you out to dinner."

"Bye, Ivan."

"Wait, you didn't tell me anything about the lucky lady in your bed!" he shouted just as I ended the call.

Despite my early morning Ivan conversation, I forgot how quiet my house was this early. When I was a kid I was always the first one up in the mornings. I liked those few moments I had to myself in the mornings most. It was like I was completely alone and nothing and no one existed except for me and the characters in the cartoons I watched and the books I read. My routine consisted of playing quietly by myself or watching the television with the sound on low while I munched on cereal, waiting for the rest of my family to wake up bringing the house to life. Looking back, I liked living in a house that was filled with noise. Most of the times it was laughter, maybe some play fighting. As much as I loved my mornings by myself, the eventual rowdiness and noise was comforting, a reminder that though I preferred it, I didn't have to be alone.

I'm not sure when exactly it all changed, when I stopped finding solace in the ruckus that a big family makes, but I had an inkling of when. It wasn't one moment so much as many moments. If it wasn't already obvious, I didn't like to think about it much anymore. As an adult, I accepted my past, welcomed all the changes that came with being on my own with open arms, and embraced solitude like it was an old friend. I developed a new pattern over the years, even keeping up with it during my years abroad. Over time I replaced my favorite shows with my favorite books after an early morning jog, a shower, and coffee. Change was good for me, something I needed and craved as much as I desired alcohol and the woman in my bed last night. It wasn't healthy but I wasn't in a hurry to change my ways any time soon.

I thought about going on a solo run but I wasn't lying to Ivan when I said I was still too exhausted. Jet lag was kicking in, especially having only slept a couple of hours. I decided to at the very least lounge in bed since the coffee was already working its way through my system. I padded back towards the bedroom, nearly walking past the shapely figure standing in the living room, staring out at the ocean.

"From the way you were snoring, I didn't peg you for an early bird," I tease. She jumps, startled by my voice. She looks around, a puzzled furrow to her brows, as though she's surprised to see me there. "Didn't mean to scare you," I apologize.

Her shoulders, having tensed up when I surprised her, slowly relax. Her eyes roam around my sparse living room, darting once between the ocean view and back towards me. She shakes her head, running a trembling hand through her hair with a sheepish smile on her face. "I was a million miles away," she laughs shakily. "With a view like this," she gestures out toward my windows. "Can you blame me?"

"Not in the least," I answer, walking closer towards her so I can appreciate the view more clearly myself. "It's the one reason I bought this house."

"Quiet, a little bit secluded, your neighbors practically nonexistent," she listed. "You could stand right here and pretend you were the only person in the entire world." She sounded awed by the possibility of doing just that.

"I do sometimes," I found myself admitting as I took a sip from my coffee mug.

"You must have missed it when you were gone. Did you have any views like this when you were traveling?" she asked, taking my mug out of my hands and helping herself to a sip.

I held back a laugh at how comfortable she seemed to make herself despite having only met me yesterday. Taking into account everything we did the last few hours together in this house, personal boundaries were nonexistent. "Not really. It wasn't like I was on vacation. I was there to work," I explained.

She rolled my reply around in her head as she continued sipping my coffee before offering it back to me with a grimace.

"This stuff can give tar a run for a its money."

"I guess I'm just used to drinking it black," I shrugged tasting it myself again. I didn't see anything wrong with it. "I might have sugar."

"I think I may have to take you up on that." She lead the way into the kitchen and went searching through the cabinets like she owned the place.

"Help yourself," I said with a chuckle as I sat behind my breakfast bar.

"Don't mind if I do," she said behind a sheepish smile. "In case you haven't noticed, I don't really respect boundaries. And the words 'personal space' aren't even in my vocabulary." She found a box of unopened sugar and triumphantly held it up before pouring it into my coffee mug before she sampled it. "Could use some creamer but it'll do."

"Sorry, I haven't been grocery shopping in two years." Two years away from home. It had felt like an eternity while I'd been traveling but now that I was back it didn't feel nearly long enough.

"Well you should probably remedy that and quick because if you keep drinking this stuff," she indicated to the mug we were sharing between us, "it'll kill you." She grimaced as she continued sipping. The sugar couldn't have made the strength of the brew any better but she sipped it down nonetheless, occasionally sliding the cup my way. It was...surreal to say the least. Mornings after were either awkward with false promises made to keep in touch afterward or hurried as someone tried to leave before the other woke up. Considering the heated passion between us last night and most of the morning, it was strange how not uncomfortable it was to sit in my practically empty house with a practical stranger after picking her up at a bar.

"Speaking of the two years you were gone," she started, first to break the comfortable silence as we sat across from one another looking out at the view my windows provided and sharing the coffee. "I think I owe you an apology."

"How so?

She tossed her hair back over her shoulder. There was so much of it, it seemed to always fall across her face. "You're first night back home from who knows where and you meet some crazy girl who fights with old ladies in bars, steals your entire bottle of Vodka, and then worms her way into your bed," she explains though there isn't an ounce of remorse on her face. "I know it sounds weird but...I really needed last night and I appreciate it." She laughed softly to herself a bit. "I wish they made cards or something for this kind of thing."

"A sort of 'Thank you for the sex' gift basket?"

Her lips tilted up at both ends in a smile. "Something like that."

"Well if such a basket did exist, I think I'd have to send one right back to you. I wasn't exactly an unwilling participant."

"True," she conceded. "You did lay it on a bit thick."

"Oh did I?" I chuckled, shocked by the accusation. I was never the type of guy to use pick up lines on a woman. I was always honest telling them the honest truth. If they like what I said, we hit it off and it was great. I was upfront about what I wanted and moved on to the next person if I didn't turn out to be the Romeo they were looking for.

"'Gorgeous woman', 'stunningly beautiful'," she quoted back at me. "If I hadn't been a little tipsy and just survived a bar fight, I think I would have thought twice about spending the night with you after hearing lines like those," she snorted, her head hanging so low into the cup that she was an inch away from drowning if she wasn't careful. Her hair hung low shielding most of her face but from this angle I could see the sad pout on her face and the mirthful smile on her lips. Much like last night, I had the feeling she didn't hear genuine compliments like that very often. How that was possible, I would never know. She genuinely didn't know. How could anyone not have told her everyday how beautiful she was? How could she not believe or see the marvelous allure of her face? If the lady that had slapped her in the bar last night was really a family member, a representation of the type of family she may have been raised in, I could kind of understand. I reached out, brushing her hair back from obscuring her face. She tilted her chin up just enough to look me in the eye.

"No lines. It was the truth."

Doubt clouded her stormy eyes but the sadness ebbed away from her features. She shrugged as I pulled my hand away.

"If you say so, buddy."

I shook my head. It was a shame that she couldn't or wouldn't believe what I was telling her as the truth. I understood, in a way. Clearly she had as many underlying problems in her life as I did. Maybe more. I didn't know what she'd been through or endured so much that it affected her self esteem nor was it my place to know. I considered myself a lot of things but a liar wasn't one of them. If I could make someone feel better about themselves in anyway possible - as a doctor or a one night stand - I was going to do it. The least I could do, other than provide a place for us to have sex, would be completely honest with her, assure her in anyway possible that anything I'd said last night was true.

"Believe it or not I really needed last night too. I'm just lucky it happened to be with an enamoring woman such as yourself."

This time, there wasn't an ounce of doubt in her eyes. It was hidden by the red flush to her cheeks as she bowed her head, hiding her smile behind the lips of the mug we were polishing off. Her bashfulness seemed so natural, a complete one eighty from the woman with all the bravado the night before telling me where and how she wanted me on her body.

"Throwing compliments like that around might just convince me to show my appreciation in a better way than a gift basket," she suggested, gazing up at me from under her lashes.

"Really?"

She nodded once, appreciatively raking her gaze from the top of my head down to my shirtless torso.

"What'd you have in mind?"

She hopped off of her bar stool and circled her way around the counter until she stood in front of me. She easily slipped between my legs, her arms finding their place around my neck as she anchored her body against my own. If there was one thing I was learning about Rose, it was that she didn't hesitate when she knew what she wanted. It hit me then that I liked this girl. I didn't know her but there was a vibe radiating off her. Underneath the quiet insecurities, the false bravado, the sexual forwardness, there was something about this girl that rubbed me the right way. There's something there, something inside of her that I could see myself relating to. I couldn't put my finger on it and with the task at hand I didn't put much effort into figuring it out just then.

"Might be more efficient if I just showed you."

My fingers tangled in her hair as I trailed my hand down her back, cupping her underwear clad bottom. She gasped as my fingers glided along the edge of her underwear, infiltrating their way between the crease separating her thighs and the lacy material itself. She tugged our mouths together in a fervent kiss. She tasted like the coffee but mostly sweet from all the sugar. We broke apart as I stood up, lifting her onto the kitchen counter, standing so closely in front of her that it was hard to tell where we were each our own person. I suppose it didn't matter right then. Right then it was about losing ourselves in one another for as long as possible.

"I think a demonstration would be best," I agreed with her earlier statement. "But like I promised, I'll have to return the favor."

Rose

He slides into me with such ease, it's as though he belongs there. It's overwhelming. Not his size, per say - that's a gratifying factor on its own - but the immensity of it all, the sensation of being full to the brim but still wanting more. It's jarring. I thought last night - and this morning - had and would be enough but now I know that I don't just want more of him. I need more of him.

"Are you alright?"

Especially since, with my body in his hands, he definitely knows what he's doing. I realize I haven't answered him and he's stopped moving completely on top of me. I squeeze his shoulders and try to lift my nails from where I can feel they've already dug into his skin a bit when he first slid in.

"I'm good. It's just...a lot," I find myself confessing.

His smile is megawatt, almost blinding me along with all the sunlight already filtering through his entire house. I'd wished I'd said something sooner to see a smile like that. Or at least that we weren't mid coitus so I could really appreciate it rather than being otherwise occupied.

"That's good to hear," he says somewhere around a grin and a groan as I tighten myself around him. I roll my eyes at his response only it's a little difficult to do so when they're rolling into the back of my head for completely different reasons. I'm glad I could give him an ego boost because it's been well deserved. Especially after his first performance and the one he's in the process of giving. He pulls out just a bit before slowly pushing back in, teasingly eliciting a pretty loud reaction out of me. I hope these fancy walls are soundproof..

"Are these walls pretty thick?" I find myself asking as his waist moves against my own.

He stops, mid thrust and slips on top of me just a bit, laughing. "I certainly hope so but I think it's a little late to ask that." That's true. We'd been pretty loud last night too. "Besides, practically nonexistent neighbors," he reminds me. Thank goodness for that because the sounds I was making right now were a lot louder and a lot more expressive now that I was sober and coherent enough to acknowledge them.

I'd been wearing his discarded shirt from the previous night but Dimitri easily slips it over my head and tosses it away somewhere. My panties, ripped but not completely torn, follow immediately afterward, slipping their way down my legs so quickly, it was as if they too couldn't wait for me to have another round with this amazing man. We ended up completely on the counter. The smooth tile is cool against my skin but I barely register it in comparison to the heat encompassing me everywhere else. The way Dimitri was working me over, I could see he totally committed to his promise of showing me his thanks.

"I thought I was supposed to be thanking you," I prodded him as his lips finally detached themselves from my own only to find their way to my breasts.

"I can stop if you want," he threatened, lifting his head to look me eye. His dark eyes sparkled with mirth at what I'm sure was an appalled expression on my face. "Or," he smiled, offering up a bargain when my only reply was to secure the hook my legs had around him. "I can be nice and continue what I'm doing." His hands dipped into warm and slippery creases between my legs, giving me a preview of things to come. Literally.

"We can take turns," I agreed.

"Good. Ladies first."

Sounded good to me. Who was I to deprive him of the pleasure of thanking me properly?

It's hard to explain how I feel about sex. Don't get me wrong, it's fun and exciting, nerve wracking and thrilling, both pleasurable and regrettable...I used to think that physically losing myself in someone was the best distraction there was. Even last night I thought this would be enough to make me forget Celeste, Liss and Mia's overbearing, my entire life in general. For the majority of the night and early into the morning it worked. It was like disappearing into a far off land for a couple of hours only to plummet back down to reality upon waking. It's startling waking up in an unfamiliar bed, realizing I don't really know the person I went home with, wondering when I became the girl that went home with strangers without even hesitating.

That's what I was thinking about when Dimitri found me standing in his living room, staring out at the ocean. Whenever I had the chance I used to look out at the sea, watching the tempestuous waves dominating one over another, doing my best to forget that there was an entire city not far behind me. My mother used to see the ocean was otherworldly in a way, a safe haven from all the crazy and calamity on dry-land. She used to promise that we'd take off one night, steal away on a boat, cross the tumultuous seas to some sort of paradise where no one knew us and never look back at the mess we were leaving behind. I used to laugh at how silly she was being. Neither of us knew how to swim nor did we have a boat. Let alone how to drive one.

'Mommy's just being silly, isn't she?' she'd ask, a sort of embarrassed glint in her milky brown eyes.

Looking back now, I shouldn't have laughed. Maybe the crazy bat had the right idea. I mean, wasn't that what I was doing right now? Trying to escape, even to a temporary paradise, just for a little while with someone who didn't really know me? It was an added bonus that my accomplice seemed to be on the same page as I was on this while temporary sex escape thing. The sex was great and so was he. Sure, he threw around a lot of heavy compliments that seemed so pure and authentic I almost wanted to believe him and he seemed to be running from a few demons of his own but he didn't make me feel like crap when I woke up this morning. This little sleepover and morning after of ours wasn't just a hit it and quit type deal. He made me feel good and like I wasn't alone. We weren't exactly sharing secrets or backstories but he reminded me that I wasn't the only person in the world with a screwed up life. Maybe his decision to vacation from being a doctor and his work abroad were his owns ways of running away. Everyone has their problems. It's how we choose to deal with them - or not deal with them in our case - that makes us different.

He pushed into me slow and deliberately, his lips finding purchase as his pelvis collided with mine. He stole the breath from my lips when he pulled out. I shuddered each time, the loss of contact startlingly lonely and leaving me craving more with every pull out. I felt my nails breaking skin along his back when he slid back in and stayed there, the dull pulsating throb of his length reverberating in the apex of my thighs as I tightened my legs again. I swallowed his groan, tilting my head up to bite at his lips, forcing his mouth back down onto mine.

I would have thought that with all of our banter and flirting that this time around, the sex would be fun and playful. It was just as intense, heavy and overwhelmingly passionate as last night, though. I'm not complaining but it's...scary in a way. This isn't what I signed up for but I don't want it to stop. Things progress and grown, going on well until late morning. Somewhere along the line we moved from our spot on the kitchen counter in our efforts to make it to a more comfortable surface and ended up in the open hall leading back to the living room. The soft carpet of the hall wasn't exactly an improvement but Dimitri was just too good for me to really care at the time.

I rolled over as I slid myself off of Dimitri. Somehow I had ended up on top. I wasn't sure how but he certainly seemed grateful for it as he released a blissful sigh the moment my body left his.

"I've certainly never had a 'thank you' like that before," he mumbled, throwing his arm over his eyes as he stretched his lower body out.

"Traditional thank yous are overrated."

"Couldn't agree more."

I stretched out myself, my body unused to participating in such strenuous activities. It felt good, satisfying in its own way. Once I finished stretching I looked over to find Dimitri had moved his arm down and was staring at me. He didn't say anything. His eyes roamed over my face. He reached a hand out, stroking the cheek that Celeste had made contact with last night at the bar. He seemed to do that a lot, reaching out to tenderly touch me. I shuddered involuntarily at the contact. I wasn't used to such gentle touch. He probably thought I was cold because he moved his hand from my face and instead stretched his arm out behind me for me to lay on. I hesitated but only for a second. I'm not saying I make it a habit of going home with random guys but the few times I have, they've never been so gentle or selfless, not even the smallest ways of simply ensuring I was warm and comfortable. I took the offering and snuggled closed to the heat radiating off his body. The shirt he'd pulled off of me earlier, faint with the scents of his travel and the lingering smells of his skin, was laying close by. He reached out for it, stretching it over us - mostly me - the best he could while we laid there.

"You're a nice guy, aren't you?" I asked, seemingly out of nowhere.

I didn't have to look up to know he was probably thrown off by my random observation.

"I try to be," he finally spoke.

"I mean you treat women, even strange ones who fight old ladies in bars and steal your bottle of Vodka, with the utmost respect. Don't you?"

"I don't think what we just did on the kitchen counter top that my grandmother designed was 'respectful'," he said dryly. A short laugh escaped my mouth as I slapped his chest playfully. He caught my hand, playing with my fingers as he answered. "Women deserve to be treated with respect. Even during one night stands."

"Does this still count as a one night stand, though? I mean it's almost noon which means we've been together for a little over twelve hours now. I don't do this often but don't these things generally end once the sun comes up?"

"And here I thought we were having fun."

"We are," I assured him, pulling my hand out of his so I could stretch my arms across his chest, burrowing myself closer into his body. It was such a nice, cozy fit I couldn't imagine ever wanting to move out the position we were in. "But I told you last night, I don't do this often. I don't want to come off as some clingy woman who refuses to take a hint if you want this to end right away and be done with me already."

He did that thing again where he nudge my chin up, imploring me to look him in his endlessly dreamy eyes. "Have I said or done something that's given you the impression that I want you to leave?"

I shook my head. In fact he was pretty much doing the complete opposite.

"Then we're good for right now, right?"

I nodded, turning my gaze away from his. Why did it bother me, 'for right now'? I laid myself back down on his chest.

"Yeah, we're good for right now."

We weren't supposed to want more from this but I liked it. I liked laying here, feeling like I had someone, who craved and wanted me as much as I did them. I tightened my hold just a bit and Dimitri did the same, running his fingers through my hair and along my back so feather light and gently that I shivered.

"Cold?"

"A little," I lied. I was a bit cold but against him, warm against his side, his hold solid and his fingers trailing their way along my body was pleasurable.

"We should go lay back in bed for a while," he suggested, surprising me enough to look up at him again without any prompting. "We didn't exactly get any sleep last night and it's pretty chilly in here. I can order food for us. If you're up for it."

I didn't answer right away so he continued. "I don't know about you but I'm enjoying this. Maybe we can stretch this thing out for a little while, enjoy it to the fullest while it lasts. I'm enjoying this."

For once, since we'd met last night, he sounded unsure of himself. It was an underlying uncertainly in his gruff, low voice. He was putting himself out there in a way, laying what he was feeling about this one night stand that was supposed to be a nothing, a quick escape that was somehow becoming a little more. Finally I was able to shake myself from the shock of his suggestion to speak. "So am I."

A/N: You're awesomeness knows no bounds! Thanks a million for the reviews, faves, and follows! QTSuzie3, Kimavinzant, Swimming the Same Deep Waters, russia2774, RoseforDimitri, ROMITRI TOGETHER FOREVER, and the Guest reviewers, y'all are awesome! Just a heads up, I tend to re-upload chapters if I find a typo that bothers me so if you get a notification for a chapter that you've already read, that's why. Double heads up, I'm doing my best to update as often as possible. At best, I'm trying to update at least every other week (I don't always have access to a computer). Worst case scenario, a month. We'll see how things go. Part 5 is up next and then the rest of the year continues!