Author's Notes:

There is a big chunk of Russian in the last section of this chapter. I put the translation immediately following the text.

-=o0/&\0o=-

As I sat back down with my 'diploma' - because, of course, they hadn't given us real ones on the day of the commencement ceremony - I moved in wide-eyed stunned silence, not able to do anything other than watch where I was going.

Whatever had happened, Rose had been there at my graduation and had cheered for me.

Up was down and down was up.

She still hadn't met my eyes when I looked at her before my name was called, but she had cheered for me. After she had, I was too afraid to look her in the eyes. As the last long, boring speech from the principal began, Ivan leaned in and whispered in my ear, "Vika and I were late because we were bringing Rose here. She came for you."

I looked at Ivan. "What does this mean? Does this mean she forgives me?" I asked.

Ivan looked back. "Not completely, but she is willing to hear you out."

I couldn't hold back the words as I said, "I need to get her back. I love her, man."

A few seconds later, as the principal droned on some meaningless drivel about 'life in the real world' (wasn't that already where we were?), I asked Ivan simply, "How?"

Ivan was too engrossed in the speech to pay attention to me, so I elbowed him in the ribs after finally taking another look at Rose, whose inquisitive gaze was now practically boring into me. "What?" Ivan asked, shooting me an irritated look.

"How is she willing to listen? And how did you get her to come here?"

"It wasn't easy," Ivan admitted, "She really didn't trust me - or even like me, for that matter. I think it at least partially had to do with Jesse. I had to tell her about what happened to me at camp in fourth grade."

I racked my brain. Camp in fourth grade ... camp in fourth grade ... "You can't mean ...?" I asked. Ivan had wet the bed and afterwards, a small group of us had then woken to find him still asleep, clutching a hand-sewn rag doll in a dress and sucking his thumb. He had sworn me to secrecy afterwards.

"Right down to the thumb-sucking," he admitted, scowling at me.

"Why would you tell her that?" I asked.

"Rose gave us thirty minutes to convince her. With your mom's blessing, we gave her your mom's black bread recipe and then both pleaded your case, explaining how you felt about her and how you were afraid that you'd lose her because of the age difference, but how you hadn't meant to keep it a secret from her. After we had talked to her and the time was up, Vika and I both had to share our most embarrassing secret to prove that she could trust us. She told us that she would use the secrets against us if we were lying to her."

"You did that for me?" I asked him, "What did Viktoria say?"

"We both did, but what Viktoria said isn't my story to tell, Dimka," he said, "And Rose also made us each tell her your most embarrassing secret that we knew."

I shuddered. "The baby wipe?" I asked. Ivan gave a curt nod. For a brief period of time while my niece was little, my sister had tried to be environmentally friendly by using washable diapers and wipes. One day my junior year, one of the wipes had lingered in the dryer and stuck with static to the back of my sweater from my school uniform. I walked around school all day with a baby wipe stuck to my back and people laughing everywhere I went.

Ivan added, "And Vika told a story about how you sat in mud and everyone thought you shit your pants."

"Randall was visiting us in Russia. He wouldn't let me leave to go change. And it wasn't mud; it was a pan of chocolate cake batter," I muttered.

A few more minutes of speech went by with more nonsense about how our choices for what to do after high school mattered more than whatever we did in high school.

"... Even if you're no longer stuck with what you do after high school for the rest of your life, like many in my generation were, your choices today will matter to you for the rest of your lives ..."

Yes, my choices today will matter for the rest of my life. Because I'll be talking to Roza today.

I leaned in to Ivan and said, "Did Mama know?"

"Yes and no," said Ivan, "She knew we were trying to convince Rose to forgive you, but she didn't know Rose would be here today. We asked you to drive by yourself because Rose will need a ride home, and because we figured you two would need time to talk. Vika was supposed to tell Olena as soon as you and I left them."

"I'll be alone in a car with Rose?" I asked. Excitement and terror warred within me at the thought.

Ivan nodded, then held a fisted hand out to me. "I have faith in you, young grasshopper. Take these, and hopefully you'll need them."

I opened my hand under his and he dropped some packets of something into it. I looked down. More condoms. Ivan bumped my arm.

I stared at him incredulously. "Ivan, where did these come from? Do you just pull these things out of your ears or something?"

He grinned at me. "I keep them handy when I know they'll be needed. I have a feel for this sort of thing."

A few more minutes ticked by and Ivan said, "Oh, and your grandmother told me on the way in to tell you, 'One day, Dimka, this beautiful flower you receive today will become a part of our family'. Whatever that means."

-=o0/&\0o=-

The moment that the procession of graduates had fully exited the area to chorus after chorus of Pomp and Circumstance, I bolted back in, to where Rose had been seated, taking the stairs two at a time to get to her. At that moment, all that mattered was Rose.

I arrived in front of her, out of breath. The others she had been sitting with had all left, but Rose was still sitting in the same seat, feet propped up on the seat in front of her own. She was wearing a strapless and flowy red sundress that looked beautiful against her flawless tanned skin, her silky dark hair flowing loose around her bare shoulders. Her posture in the seat belied the anxious tension between the two of us, making her look lazy and confident in a way that just screamed 'Rose' like nothing else.

Without missing a beat, she stood and said, "Took you long enough."

"I wasn't sure you'd want to see me," I told her honestly.

Rose cracked a grin at that and replied, "I wasn't sure I would, either." With a shrug, she added, "But here I am."

Nervousness filled me at her response. "You are," I replied. I wanted so badly to put my arms around her and pull her close, but I knew she'd never allow that.

"So, talk," Rose said, crossing her arms expectantly.

I took a deep breath before plunging in. I had dreamt of the chance to speak to her, but I honestly had no idea what to say. After all this time of feeling like I had lost her, I hadn't found anything I could say that I had dreamed could win her back. I wanted to slap myself for not thinking harder about it - or slap Ivan and Viktoria for not preparing me more. I needed to buy myself some time. And get Rose somewhere where she was a captive audience. "Ivan said you would need me to give you a ride home. Could we go somewhere quiet where we can talk?" Alone.

Rose looked reluctant, darting her eyes around to see who was still left in the area. "I don't know."

In that moment, all my hopes that had been rising a few moments ago began to die again. I felt as though the wind was knocked out of me. I couldn't help but sink to my knees on the ground in front of her, taking her hand as I felt a tear trickle from my eye. "Please, Rose," I told her, "I'm not a child. I'm eighteen. And I'm in love with you with everything that I am. I'm nothing without you. I will do anything to make this right with you. What would it take to get you to give me another chance?"

Rose furrowed her brow above her beautiful dark eyes and exhaled a deep breath. "Why, Dimitri?" she asked, "Just tell me; why would you lie to me like that?"

"Could I please ask that you don't interrupt for what I'm about to say?" I asked, begging her and searching her eyes. Rose gave a weary sigh and then nodded.

Looking in her eyes, I said, "Roza, from the moment I saw you, there was no one else. I had never wanted anyone like you. And after I knew you, I had never loved anyone like you. When we met, you just assumed that I was older before I had a chance to tell you otherwise. I never told you how old I was; I just didn't correct you when you said otherwise. I knew I needed a chance with you. I knew I wouldn't get that chance if you knew the truth. Rose, would you really have gone out with me - or even given me a second glance - if I had told you from the beginning that I was only eighteen and still in high school?"

Rose frowned. "Yes ... No ... I don't know."

I was still on my knees in front of her. I felt the vulnerability of that position in every word I said, but I needed her to know that I was telling her the truth and that I hadn't intended to hurt her or trick her. "Roza, I didn't plan anything. And I certainly wasn't trying to trick you. I swung for the stars with you. You were the girl of my dreams; everything I ever wanted. When you told me you thought I was in college, I saw it as the chance - my only chance - to actually get to know you. But I didn't do it just to get 'an easy lay' or to take advantage of your vulnerabilities. I still wonder if that was the only way that a guy like me could have had a girl like you. Do I regret that I lied to you? Of course I do! I know I made a mistake by not telling you. If I could do it over again, there are a hundred different times when I could have - should have - told you and didn't. But I can't. I even tried to tell you a couple of times, but in the end, I always chickened out. I'm so, so sorry that I didn't tell you the truth. You deserved the truth. You deserve it now. Can you please, please forgive me?" I squeezed her hand, searching her eyes for the answer I hoped to hear.

"Did you lie about or hide anything else?" she asked, "Now's your chance; come clean and tell me the truth about everything. No more lies, from this moment forward. At all."

"I won't lie to you again. About anything. At all." At that, Rose showed me her beautiful smile again and squeezed my hand in return. I looked at her and couldn't help but smile in return.

But then, that inquisitive gaze was on me again. "Did you? And deception by omission is still a lie," she said, pinning me with her eyes. She needed to know if I had told her the truth, in full, about everything else.

I searched my mind, thinking it through. "Are you sure you want to know everything? Even the harmless stuff that has nothing to do with anything we'd even talked about?" Rose nodded.

"I made a promise to Christian that I wouldn't touch you until we'd gone out at least three times," I said, "he asked me to do it to make sure you were ready, but after that first night was over, I still thought it was the right thing to do - even though I probably would've gone ahead and tried to touch you sooner if my body had anything to say about it. Maybe his reasoning wasn't entirely right, but I think he had the right idea. I meant what I said about wanting to impress you first, Rose. I didn't just want you for one time. I wanted you for all time."

"Uh-huh," said Rose, "I knew about that promise. What else?"

I took one hand and scratched the back of my neck as I said, "Well, I kind of figured out that your last name had been Hathaway the night after we had spent that first afternoon together."

"How did you know?" she asked.

"Well, partially because I had heard rumors about you for years after my sisters were in high school. Your actual story fit the stories I had heard about you. Right down to knowing you had gone out with Jesse Zeklos. Ivan's his cousin, you know? I had met him a few times. I always thought he was a mudak, though. And well, that part about Jesse gets to the third - and last - thing I have to tell you the truth about."

I winced, knowing this wouldn't work in my favor, but that I had to tell her. "The night I made you dinner wasn't the first night I saw you through your bedroom window."

Rose looked puzzled. "I'm not sure I follow. Comrade."

I was reassured to hear that familiar nickname from her, but I knew I had to press on - and that I might not feel that way in a few moments. "You were ... enjoying yourself. After you were finished, you put Jesse's St. Vladimir's t-shirt on."

Rose's face appeared to actually redden in front of me. I had never really seen her blush and it was breathtaking. She was always beautiful, but especially in that moment. Almost as beautiful as she was when she was climaxing around my body. At that stray thought, I breathed deeply for control.

Rose asked, "So you saw me touching myself? And you just watched me the whole time?"

I nodded, feeling ashamed. "Yes," I replied, unable to meet her eyes.

"Why didn't you stop looking when you saw me there? Or let me know?"

I looked at her as if she had just asked me the most obvious question in the world. "Why would I stop eating if I was starving? Roza, I was eighteen and single. On a normal day, I bring myself to orgasm at least three times. I had just seen the most beautiful woman I'd ever met naked on her bed, giving me the perfect view of her taking her own pleasure, showing me exactly how to please her, in a way that I hoped I eventually would. Why would I ever want to stop that? Besides, I'd already seen you by that point. If I let you know, it still would've been awkward. Probably even more awkward because I was completely erect from the instant I saw you there."

Rose looked at with an expression I couldn't place. I had no idea what she was thinking. Suddenly, laughter started to bubble up from her lips. It started small, but after a moment, it was a full-out belly laugh and Rose was almost doubled over, clutching her stomach as she wiped a tear from her eye.

"What?" I asked, scowling.

"That third night, when we were playing Twister, and then again in my car on the way to the family fun center, I had this insane idea that you had lied about how experienced you were, because you seemed to know exactly how to touch my body. Now I know where you learned how to touch me." I felt my length stiffening at the mere thought of what had happened those two nights.

"So does this mean you forgive me?" I asked.

"Did you lie about anything else? Or hide anything?" Rose asked.

"No," I answered.

"Are you ever going to hide anything from me again?"

"Nikogda. Never," I replied.

Rose nodded. "Good. Then I guess maybe I could forgive you."

"So where does that leave us? Do you think you could ever be interested in someone who is seven years younger than you?" I asked, standing before her.

Rose gave me that man-eating smile and said, "That depends. Is this hypothetical 'someone who is seven years younger than me' someone who provides for his family at only eighteen, even to the extent of not driving a nice car or not having free time of his own on weekdays, even willing to go live with his abusive dad a couple of days a week to help his mother and older sisters pay for school, someone who is willing to help a stranger move furniture, and who didn't even know how to play mini golf before we met because he'd never had the opportunity to play before? Someone who made my body feel heights of pleasure it has never felt before - or since?" I nearly grinned at her exciting words, even as she continued. "Someone who will be going to the same college as me in the fall with a full-ride scholarship because he has worked so hard at everything he does? Someone who is the most attractive man I've ever seen before? Someone I am completely in love with?"

"I assume you mean me?" I asked in a low voice, not wanting to completely get my hopes up again.

"Yes, dummy! Of course I mean you!" She said, smiling at me and play-hitting my shoulder.

I arched an eyebrow, waiting for her response to my original question. "Then yes! Of course I'm still interested in you, Dimitri!" I cautiously wrapped my arms around her, bringing her close to me. Before I could kiss her, she said, "But no more lies. Ever. Unless it involves frosting or wrapping paper."

"Not unless it involves frosting or wrapping paper," I agreed, as I prepared to bring my lips to hers, "Or chocolate donuts, which I hear are your favorite."

Rose giggled and said, "Or chocolate donuts." I could feel her soft, warm breath on my lips, her small, toned body pressed up against my own. I leaned in and let our lips touch, gently, not even urging my tongue to be in her mouth, enjoying the feel of her so close to me, tunneling my fingers through the silken strands of her dark hair. Then I felt Rose pressing her tongue to the seam of my lips, urging for more. I groaned, unable to deny her anything when it came to our closeness.

After a few moments, the nagging thought in my head wouldn't go away. I reluctantly broke the kiss and, still holding her close, asked, "How did you know about the scholarship?"

Rose smiled, "Mason told me. He said that he offered to speak with me on your behalf, if and only if you made an effort to put your life back together and made an effort at the state track meet. He told me how amazing you did at the meet. You did all that for me?"

"I did," I told her.

"You know," she said, "if I would've known you competed and you hadn't lied to me about everything, I might've been there last weekend, cheering you on."

"You would?" I asked her.

"I couldn't very well let my boyfriend completely dominate an athletic competition without showing my support. And I think maybe he deserved a little reward for being the winner afterwards, too." Rose was giving me a look like she was about to lick me from head to toe. I audibly gulped and she chuckled.

"As long as we're clearing the air, is there anything you need to tell me?" I asked her, with my first real smile in weeks.

"A couple things," she told me, pursing her lips for a moment, "but the first one didn't happen until after I found out about you."

"Oh?" I asked, curious to hear what she'd say.

Rose reached into the pocket of her dress and pulled out a piece of folded, lined notebook paper. "Your sister sent this to me last week," she said, handing me the page, "Sonja. She felt like she owed me it."

I opened up the page and recognized my own handwriting. There were places throughout the page where it looked like drops of water had gotten on it. With a start, I thought to myself, that those were Roza's tears. I brushed her hair back from her cheek and held her closer, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

"I never had the guts to send this to you," I told her, handing the letter back.

Rose laughed. "I gathered that."

"What else did you need to tell me?"

"Even if Ivan and Viktoria hadn't come to talk to me, as long as I knew you were over eighteen, I probably would've caved in the next couple of weeks. I needed you."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I have never ... ever met another man like you, Dimitri. That's part of why I was hurt so much by your lies. I was convinced that no one could really be as perfect - as 'made for me' as you were. Before everyone started to talk to me about you, I thought it had to all be made up. Well, all except for your body."

"My body?" I asked.

"That night," she said, "when I had just moved in ... I was imagining you. And several nights since then. You turn me on like no one else ever has. Dimitri, you're the only man I want. I've never wanted anyone like I want you. I've never loved anyone like you. And I haven't thought of anyone else since the day we met."

That surprised me. "Not anyone else? Even after you found out I was in high school? You know I wouldn't blame you if you did while we were apart."

Rose looked away, almost guiltily. "Even after I found out, I still couldn't help thinking of you, and of your touch; imagining you there with me in my bed at night. After I thought of you like that, I always felt awful about it, but I still kept coming back for more."

"I haven't," I admitted to her. Rose turned her head to give me a questioning glance. "I haven't had a moment of real pleasure - of any kind - since the night we made love."

"None at all?" asked Rose. If she was curious and inquisitive before, now she was intrigued.

"None," I told her, kissing the tip of her nose.

"Well," she said, her eyes twinkling wildly, "We should do something about that."

Rose looked to both sides, as if checking that the coast was clear, then tilted her head up to kiss me again. I wrapped both arms around her, one in her hair and one around her waist, and brought my lips to hers. When our lips met and my eyes closed, I felt her hand sliding down along my chest and stopping to rub along the zipper of my pants. I couldn't help but groan as she gave my hardening shaft a gentle squeeze.

I pulled back again, saying, "Maybe we should go to the car now?"

Rose winked and said, "With pleasure, Comrade."

As Rose began to walk away, she took my hand in hers. With a rapt gaze, I watched her stunning hips swaying hypnotically in front of me as she walked.

-=o0/&\0o=-

As soon as we got to the car, I unlocked Rose's door and then walked around to the drivers' seat. I removed my graduation gown and tossed it in the back seat, then sat down and closed my car door. I started the engine and then asked Rose, "Where to?"

"I've been living at my parents' house the past few weeks and I'm not ready to answer Lissa's questions if we show up at our house. Is there somewhere you can think of where we can go that we could be alone?" Rose replied.

I thought for a moment, then said, "I'll see what I can do." I put the car in drive, and then pulled out of the parking lot.

As soon as we were out on the open road, I felt Rose's small, soft hand tugging the hem of my shirt out of the front of my pants. As soon as my shirt was completely un-tucked, Rose began unbuttoning my pants and tugging down on the zipper. I groaned when I felt the heat of her hand through my boxer briefs.

"How am I supposed to drive like this, Roza?" I asked her, catching her gaze for a moment.

Rose gave me a playful smile and said, "Now, you know how I felt. Luckily, there's no shifter on the floor in your grandpa car."

Rose threaded her fingers into the waistband of my boxers and slipped her hand around my hardened shaft. I took a moment - probably longer than I should've, but altogether not very long - to close my eyes in pleasure, feeling her wrap her fingers around me and give a gentle squeeze.

As Rose swirled her thumb around the tip of my shaft, my foot pressed on the accelerator faster. I wouldn't do anything unsafe, but I couldn't help but hurry to get us to our destination quicker.

Rose began pumping her hand over my length, up and down, stroking me harder. I made my last left turn, parked the car, and shut off the engine, breathing a sigh of relief that we had arrived safely with my mounting frantic need for the beautiful woman beside me, whose hands were stroking me to a frenzied fever pitch, then turned to her and pulled her close, taking her lips with my own and letting my hand cup her firm, luscious breasts. I had to have her, as soon as I could.

When my fingers made contact with her nipple through the fabric of her dress, I groaned harder, noting that it had become clear that she was not wearing a bra. Her peaks stiffened at my insistent touch and I began pinching, rubbing, and squeezing. As her sexy voice let out a throaty moan of pleasure, I let my head dip down, kissing the soft skin of her neck.

"Dimitri," she breathed, as her thumb swiped over the head of my cock again. Just hearing her say my name like that, especially when she was doing that with her hand, made me tighten my grasp on her erect nipple. I bit down gently on her earlobe and she let out a gasp of pleasure, then again repeated, "Dimitri..."

I tugged down the elastic-like neckline of her dress, exposing her perfect round breasts, and pulled back to look at them.

"Dimitri," Rose repeated again, just before I leaned down to let my mouth trail over each of her perfect breasts, "where are we? Are you sure this is private enough?"

"Head of an old hiking trail I used to go to when I was a kid," I murmured against her skin, my mouth already at her stiff nipple, "No one ever comes here."

As I gave a tug on her nipple with my lips, Rose let out another pained gasp, this time clasping my head to her breast with her free hand, lacing her fingers through my hair.

"Do you have any protection?" Rose asked, "I wasn't exactly planning ... well, this ... when I left the house this afternoon."

I laughed. It's like Ivan was a fortune-teller, almost like my ... babushka? I sat back, suddenly recalling all of the things that my grandmother had said, feeling like a ton of bricks had just hit me in the chest. I took my hands and stilled Rose's soft stroking fingers.

"She will return to you."

"Today is the day, Dimka ... That she will come back."

My grandmother knew that it would be today.

"One day, Dimka, a beautiful flower you receive today will become a part of our family"

She might as well have just come out and said that Rose was going to marry me one day. I wasn't ready for that yet, but I couldn't imagine my life with anyone else but Roza.

"What, Dimitri?" Rose asked, "If you don't have anything, it's okay. We don't have to."

"No, Roza. It's not that," I said, looking into her beautiful eyes and placing my hand on her soft cheek, the tips of my fingers mingling into the silky strands of her hair, "This just all feels so fated. Purposeful. And I've never been happier."

I reached into my pocket and pulled out the condoms Ivan had given me.

"How did you know to carry condoms in your pocket?" Rose asked.

As I answered her with the one word I would give, something clicked and Rose simultaneously said, "Ivan."

"He gave them to me during the last speech," I told her, as I unbuttoned my shirt and slid my pants and boxer briefs down to my knees, watching Rose as she kicked off her shoes and slid her panties - black satin, I noticed, with a groan - down off of her legs, letting them fall on the floor of the car. I was especially glad when I had seen her do that, that I always kept my car clean.

I tore open the condom as quickly as I could and unrolled it down my hardness. I could practically feel Rose's eyes on me as I did it, and when I looked up at her face, her already-dark brown eyes were darkened even more with an unbelievable lust that nearly floored me.

"Roza," I nearly growled, looking into her exotic eyes. Without a moment to spare, she scrambled across the bench seat of my car and straddled me, her naked and damp heat directly against the condom covering my shaft.

"Do you want this, Dimitri?" she asked me, meeting my gaze again and licking her full bottom lip.

Unable to think clearly - or speak English - I uttered the only word in my head, filling my consciousness. "Da." Yes.

Rose nodded, understanding me perfectly. She gripped my manhood in one hand and positioned me at her entrance. I could already feel the warmth and tightness of her core encircled around my tip.

My eyes began to slide closed in ecstacy, but Rose took my face in her other hand and said, "No, Dimitri. I want to see the look in your eyes."

I opened them and nodded at her, mesmerized by her beautiful face. As Rose began to sink slowly down around me, I gripped her thighs with splayed fingers and panted at the heavy sensuality of the moment. I knew as I stared at the wonderment in her eyes that Rose could see the agonizing bliss I was feeling as she wrapped herself deeper and deeper around me. When I was finally buried to the hilt, I told her, "I love you more than my own life, Roza. I always will." I lacked the courage to say it in English yet, but in Russian, I added, "Vashe telo chuvstvuyet sebya kak doma dlya menya, kak ni odin dom, kotoryy ya kogda-libo imel. YA boyus' skazat' eto po-angliyski. Kogda-nibud', kogda ya budu gotov, ya poproshu tebya stat' moyey zhenoy. YA proshu, chtoby vash otvet byl da." 

Your body feels like home to me, like no home I've ever had. I'm afraid to say this in English yet. Some day, when I'm ready, I will ask you to be my wife. I'm begging that your answer is yes.

Surprisingly, Rose giggled at that. I had guessed that she must've enjoyed hearing me speak to her in Russian.

As I gripped her tighter to me, moving one palm to lay between her shoulder blades and the other to bring her neck to my face so that I could kiss her there, I bucked my hips from underneath her, urging the movement she had been holding back.

Rose began sliding her hips atop mine, plunging me deeper into her in repeated thrusts, hard and fast. I felt her frenetic movement already starting to topple me over the edge and grasped one of her breasts with a hand, running my tongue across the entire surface of the other. With each thrust, her moans above me got louder and louder, her eyes became more and more excited, and her movements less and less controlled. Knowing that she seemed to enjoy hearing me speak in Russian, I began expressing a slow soliloquy of all of the arousal and excitement that were inside me against her nipples as Rose continued moving her hips in that frenzied pace.

"YA nikogda ne videl takogo neveroyatnogo tela, kak tvoye. YA nikogda ne chuvstvoval nichego podobnogo tomu, chto chuvstvuyu, kogda nakhozhus' vnutri tebya. Proshlo uzhe neskol'ko nedel' s tekh por, kak ya konchil, i ya ne znayu, kak dolgo ya mogu sderzhivat'sya, poka ne zakonchu v vashem krasivom tele. YA lyublyu tebya vsem serdtsem, i ya by s radost'yu otlozhil vse svoi zhelaniya, prosto chtoby byt' s toboy, sdelat' tebya schastlivym, no yedinstvennoye, chto ya khotel sdelat' s togo momenta, kak uvidel tebya, - eto pochuvstvovat', kak ty obvolakivayesh' menya. Oshchutit' eto udovol'stviye i dat' svoyemu telu udovol'stviye, kotoroye prikhodit s nim. Teper' ya tak blizko, chto yedva mogu eto vynesti. YA sdelayu vse vozmozhnoye, chtoby proderzhat'sya, poka ty ne konchish' pervym, khotya. YA otchayanno khochu, chtoby ty konchil pervym. Vy vsegda dolzhny priyti pervym."

I've never seen a body as incredible as yours. I've never felt anything like what I feel when I'm inside you. It's been weeks since I've come and I don't know how long I can hold back from finishing inside your beautiful body. I love you with all my heart and I would gladly put all my desires aside just to be with you, to make you happy, but the one thing I've wanted to do since the moment I saw you is feel you wrapped around me. To feel that pleasure and give your body the pleasure that comes with it. I'm getting so close now that I can barely stand it. I'll do my best to hold out until you come first, though. I desperately want you to come first. You should always come first.

"Konchi dlya menya, Roza."

Come for me, Roza.

At my last words, I felt her core tightening and pulsing, almost like she understood my command to her. Rose yelled out my name as I began to feel her slick muscles milking me hard. Her climax was all it took to push me over the edge with her. I groaned with pleasure as my seed began pumping into that condom inside her. She stayed astride me, continuing to make slow pumping thrusts above me until we had both rode out our climaxes. And the look in her eyes when she came showed an intensity that I'd never seen before on another human being - although I was absolutely sure my eyes mirrored hers.

As our heavy breaths and racing hearts began to calm, Rose looked into my eyes in wonder and kissed me tenderly, cupping my face to hers.

A few moments later, Rose said, "I never doubted earlier this afternoon when you told me everything you did, but if I ever had even a small doubt your love was real, I know now that it was, and because of that, I love you even more. I love you so much. But if ready you're not to tell the things to me in English, probably you should make sure I not first speak Russian. Wife? I not ready to be there yet, neither, but some day, my feelings are like my answer could be yes, Dimitri."

Her words of the last couple of sentences sounded so strange, heavily accented and disjointed, with words out of place. It took me a few moments to register that she hadn't actually said them in English. She had said her last several words in - slightly broken - Russian.

"But how ...?" I asked, looking at her in amazement.

Rose gave me that smirk again. Honestly, this woman will be the death of me! "My father lived there for five years before I was born. After Lissa and I came back from Portland, he spent time teaching me languages to help 'bolster my college applications'. I'm not quite fluent, but I picked up the gist of what you said. My Turkish is better than my Russian, though."

I kissed her again, letting my tongue tangle with hers, tasting her sweet breath. As my fingers tangled in her hair, I began to feel as though things were intensifying again. Considering it was my graduation day and my family was waiting for me back home, I wasn't quite sure we should stick around for round two, though, so I drew back.

"Would you like to meet my family, Roza?" I asked her, "I've got to get back before too much longer, but I'm not ready to let you go yet. I'm sure that they'd all love to meet you, too."

Rose gave me that brilliant smile again, giving me one more quick peck on the lips. "I'd love to, Comrade."

-=o0/&\0o=-

Author's Notes:

Fun fact: a few years ago, I had a boss who was well-known for saying, "I don't want any surprises, unless they involve frosting or wrapping paper." It seemed like a great one-liner, so I modified it to fit this story.

Also, doesn't Rose just seem like the kind of girl who would, given the option, choose a dress with pockets? I know I would certainly prefer to have them!

Apologies to all those with Russian language speaking abilities if Google translate didn't provide an accurate translation of the massive amounts of Russian in this chapter.

Both of the talented and lovely girls who helped me beta the past few chapters had on-going time conflicts of their own, and were unable to assist in beta-reading this chapter.