I Never Told You I Love You - Complete

Chapter 15 - Holding Out

Dinner had been a strange affair, even if you ignored the inevitable discussion about Adrian. Firstly Sonya had arrived home and true to Karolina's word she'd been cranky. While she might not have been outwardly rude, she certainly didn't share the same interest in Rose that the rest of the Belikov's seemed to. In fact, Rose had a feeling Olena had told her off once or twice in Russian throughout the meal. And then there were the awkward questions – such as how St. Vladimir's felt about she and Dimitri being together, or what their plans were after Rose's graduation. If nothing else, she supposed it gave she and Dimitri a list of 'topics we need to discuss.'

Along with that, there was the unrelenting sexual undercurrent. Rose would look up to see Dimitri looking at her with blatant desire, and she'd find herself again thinking that tonight was the night they'd waited so long for. She'd not even seen his room, yet, but in a few hours she'd be there with him – giving him the gift of her body to claim and hopefully cherish.

After dinner they'd moved out to the living room to go through their luggage, pulling out the shopping his sisters had ordered as well as the gifts Rose had brought from Montana. The first bag they opened was the one she'd packed in Montana – which is where she'd packed the things they'd bought in Missoula. Flipping the suitcase lid open, Rose pulled out Levis and brand name shoes Karolina had ordered for herself, some joggers for Paul and some cosmetics Sonya had wanted. She lifted a sweater to get to the Huckleberry Jam gift pack (a Montana delicacy) she'd bought for Yeva when sitting beneath was all her sexy underwear. And while it was relatively sedate as far as lingerie went, it still wasn't what she wanted her boyfriend's family to cop an eyeful of. She quickly moved it all to one side and put the sweater back over it, but when she looked up at Dimitri, she could see him nearly exploding with lust.

Digging further, she found perfumes she'd bought as gifts for Karolina, Sonya and Viktoria, the cutest baby joggers for Zoya for when she was a little older and some American sports shirts for Paul. They then moved on to suitcases two and three which had more clothes clothes clothes and finally the present Dimitri had helped her choose for his mother – the softest and most beautiful cashmere scarf. It was in a gorgeous lavender shade which Dimitri had assured Rose would look gorgeous on his mother. As they'd been ringing it up at the store in Munich, Dimitri had spotted a matching amethyst scarf pin that he'd bought to go with it. They handed their presents over one after the other, earning delighted cries from Olena. She kissed first Rose and then Dimitri – thanking them both profusely.

Dimitri moved their luggage upstairs, telling Rose to wait downstairs as his boxes from St. Vladimir's were also up there and he'd get things sorted a little before they retired to bed. Outside she could hear the wind picking up. It sounded so much wilder than storms in Montana. The idea of being warm and cuddled in bed with Dimitri while the storm raged outside was appealing. She was sitting chatting in front of the fire with his family when the lights flickered a couple of times. Dimitri came back downstairs and scooped some candles off a sideboard.

"Mama I'm going to take these for when we lose power." Olena nodded. It was coming up on 9 pm and Rose was starting to yawn.

"Rose you look tired – why don't you have a shower and go to bed? If you're not used to the storm, it might keep you awake tonight. It's much louder upstairs" Olena explained. Dimitri appeared at that moment, taking her hand and pulling her up from the sofa. Together they wished everyone goodnight and headed upstairs.

Dimitri pointed out everyone's rooms. She couldn't help but notice that Dimitri's room was the very end one – with the bathroom and Viktoria's vacant room between it and anyone else's. Leading her into his room, Dimitri had been busy. There was no sign of any of their baggage, and his St. Vladimir's boxes were neatly piled in one corner. He'd set up his CD player – the same one she'd used when she'd been barricaded in his room at the Academy – and had soft music playing on it. The candles from downstairs were sitting, lit, on his dresser and there was a just lit fire in the grate. The lights were out, so the candles and firelight were the only things illuminating the large comfortable looking bed covered in more handmade quilts.