I was sitting on the other side of Dimitri's desk while he had sat behind it, we had been in a conference call. Or more so Dimitri had been and I was listening taking notes. But Dimitri had left saying something I didn't catch. I had finished writing down the notes and talking points. Adding in things Dimitri needed added and sending it off to the appropriate channels. When I was opening up the day planner something popped up on the screen. It was a webcam chat request from Adrian. I smiled and looked behind me. Dimitri was nowhere to be seen so I quickly touched my hair and deemed it okay, pressing accept. Adrian's blurry face appeared on my screen quickly becoming clearer.

"Hello lover." he laughed waving at me through the screen. He was in his office. The light pouring through the coloured window making his golden hair glow.

"Hi, Adrian." I smiled leaning forward a little so I could talk quietly.

"I missed that beautiful face of yours so I thought facetime would be better than just talking on the phone," Adrian said, he already had a glass of whiskey which he took a long sip of. It was only 2 in the afternoon. "How has your day been?"

"It was good," I answered slightly miffed that Adrian was already drinking, or hadn't stopped. "I had lunch with Lissa, we went to that new sushi place where it goes around on the little conveyer belt. It was amazing. I ate way too much, but Lissa ate pretty much nothing so it evened out." I laughed, it had always been that way with us. Lissa liked food just like anyone else but me on the other hand. I loved it, I could eat until I was sick and still go back for seconds.

Adrian laughed and shook his head with a grin.

"That's my Rose. Gotta get your money's worth." he said. "how's the boss. He didn't seem too impressed when I dropped you off last night." Adrian said with a scowl.

"He was fine. Really." I added as Adrian gave me a 'come off it' look. "he understands that I have a life, Adrian, he is actually a really nice guy when you get to know him. I think if you weren't being so stubborn about me staying there you would actually like Dimitri." I said looking behind me again to see if Dimitri was coming. Adrian frowned

"Sure, I would. Would you stop that," he said, I raised my brows and lifted my shoulders.

"Stop what?" I asked with a laugh,

"Looking behind you like someone's going to run out and scare you, where are you anyway," he asked leaning closer like he could see around me by doing so.

"I'm in Dimitri's office, we just had a meeting and he stepped out. I don't know where he went but I don't really think he would appreciate coming back in to see me doing no work whatsoever." I grinned.

"Ah, so should we hurry up and have webcam sex now then?" Adrian asked with a grin. I laughed and shook my head at him. Honestly, what had I gotten myself into with this man? I put my hands over my eyes and laughed. When I looked up Adrian was taking his shirt off, slowly undoing the buttons.

"Adrian!" I squealed. "Stop, no keep your clothes on, I don't want to see that." I couldn't control the laughter as he removed his shirt and leant back grinning.

"Now it's your turn petal." he purred. I just shook my head with a groan.

"I swear you never got out of the mental state of being a teenager. I'm at work." I said with a chuckle. Adrian just shook his head. I think I could see him unbuckling his belt.

"Sorry Rose I think the computers glitching, didn't hear you, you'll have to say it louder next time." he grinned, I could see him sliding his belt from the loops and tossing it over the chair. I snorted, stifling my laughter as to not egg him on any longer.

"She said she was at work." a voice said from behind me. I spun in my chair and Dimitri was standing behind me. I opened my mouth to say something but nothing came out. I looked at Dimitri for a second before looking back at Adrian. He was grinning, his eerie nothing fazes me grin.

"Nice of you to interrupt us again. Damion was it?" Adrian said, not bothering to put his shirt back on.

"Well this is my office," Dimitri said not even bothering to correct Adrian for calling him the wrong thing.

"Adrian maybe you should put your shirt back on." I said giving him a gentle smile. "i should really get back to work." I said looking over my shoulder at Dimitri as he gave Adrian a half wave he didn't return and walking around to the other side of the desk and taking his seat.

"Alright, whatever," Adrian said, his voice sullen.

"Talk to you soon Adrian," I said giving him a smile. Adrian huffed but blew me a sloppy kiss. I looked up to see if Dimitri was looking before I pretended to catch it. It made Adrian smile and I felt a little better that I wasn't leaving him alone, drunk and miserable. Often during the day when most of his staff hadn't started Adrian went out of his mind with boredom. It was meant to be his day job to keep him busy but he wasn't really needed during the day. it was the night when he could finally be useful, but that left him with a lot of empty hours with nothing but his thoughts and a fully stocked bar.

I gave him a final wave before pressing the disconnect button. I sat for a second my hand resting on the mousepad waiting for Dimitri to be furious at me.

"So how long have you and Adrian been together?" Dimitri asked, his voice was completely level, the only thing I could hear behind it was curiosity. I was a little shocked he wasn't mad.

"Oh, on and off for almost 1 year I guess. Adrian wanted more from the moment we met but I didn't see him like that. But eventually we just kinda fell into a relationship." I said before cringing. I hadn't realised how badly for me that story sounded. Like I had settled for Adrian. "we met in my last year at college. I was 21 and wasn't really ready for a relationship." I clarified.

"And you are now?" Dimitri asked looking over am me with a smile. I smiled at him knowing that he thought I was crazy. Like so much could change in two years.

"Yeah, I'd like to think so." I shrugged. I hadn't given it that much thought. Things with Adrian were fun, but not often serious.

"Are you going to marry him?" Dimitri asked. I froze my stomach flipping.

"What?!" I laughed. "I'm only 23 I don't really see myself getting married anytime soon." I said with a shrug. "how old are you anyway?" I asked throwing some of the heat back at him. Dimitri grinned at me knowing full well what I was doing.

"I'm 26," Dimitri said leaning back in his chair. My brows raised I looked Dimitri up and down. I knew he was young, he had an unlined face and a very youthful body but something about him made me think he was older than a merger 26.

"and are you getting or going to get married soon?" I asked him with a smile. Dimitri frowned at me. Two could play at this game.

"No, but I imagined myself married by this age," he said, there was something off in his voice so I moved a little closer, my eyes softening.

"Oh, there's a story behind that," I said gesturing for him to go on. He looked at me for a few seconds then let out a large sigh.

"To hell with it, you'll probably find out eventually anyway," he said rolling his eyes. I bit my lower lip to stop myself from smiling, I hate to admit it but I liked to be in the know and sometimes I used my powers of persuasion to find out even if the other party didn't want me to. "I was engaged to be married." is all he said, looking away from me.

"I see," I said watching him. "and the wedding obviously didn't go ahead," I asked cautiously. Dimitri turned and looked at me his brow cocked.

"Clearly Rose." Dimitri laughed unhappily "anyway enough about me." he said folding his hands on the desk and looking over at me, his eyes travelled up to my hair and slowly glided down till he was looking me in the eyes, I held his gaze for a few seconds before dropping my eyes with a shy smile.

"What else do you want to know?" I asked. I liked talking to Dimitri. When I said things, I knew he was listening, storing them away for later.

"Favourite food?" he asked, he began moving the mouse of his computer around and typing, but he kept looking at me, letting me know he was still paying attention.

"That's a hard one," I said placing my chin on my hand, making a humming noise in the back of my throat as I thought about it.

"It's that hard?" Dimitri said with a small laugh. "mines a tie between beef stroganoff and a good ribeye steak and veggies." he said with a grin. I smiled at him, I did enjoy beef stroganoff but I was sure that Dimitri had eaten real home-cooked with love style and it was probably 100 times better.

"Well I don't want to be so basic as to say Pizza, but I do love pizza or any kind of pasta, maybe I was meant to be born Italian," I said with a chuckle. Dimitri shook his head.

"Where do you come from?" he asked. He was still tapping away at his desktop.

"Well, I was born in America. But my mum is Irish and she says my dad is supposedly Turkish but with her." I shrugged with an eye roll. "I could also be the postman's daughter."

"You don't get along with your mother I guess," Dimitri said, it was more of a statement than a question.

"If you could call her that. Lissa's mother and father where more like parents to me than her. I haven't seen her since my 16th birthday." I said with a small sad smile. And even then, I think it was just a coincident she happened to visit that weekend. She called occasionally but never seemed interested in me or my life, all she talked about was her job. She worked for some kind of personal security for celebrities and politicians. It made no sense to me as she was even smaller than me, but she was apparently very sought after in that world.

"Well, that's good that they took you in and were so kind to you. I heard about the accident, my deepest sympathies." Dimitri said. When I looked over at him he did truly look sad. "I had the pleasure of meeting Mr Dragomir, he was a lovely man." at that moment I decided to tell Dimitri something I hardly talked about, I hadn't talked about it with Adrian even though he knew about it and I couldn't talk about it with Lissa it would just upset her too much.

"I was in the car," I said, my voice seemed loud after our sad silence. Dimitri's head flew to me at the sound of my voice, his eyes soft. "so was Lissa, we were coming back from holiday in the Hamptons. We were in the back seat with her older brother Andrea. A drunk driver ran a red light and hit the car going about 60 miles per hour. They say that her father died instantly but Lissa was behind Mrs Dragomir and I was in the middle. They don't know how we survived, the doctors and the paramedics said Lissa was the least hurt because I had used my body to shield her." I said, my voice getting quieter and quieter as I thought about that time in my life. It seemed both so long ago and like it was only yesterday.

"That is quite a miracle," Dimitri said softly. " I am sorry that you and Vasilisa had to go through something like that. It leaves a mark on the soul and the mind." Dimitri said, he reached his hand out and placed it on top of mine where It was gripping the edge of my closed laptop, I released my fingers from their grip and looked down at Dimitri's warm large hand over mine.

"I have vowed to live my life how I want to and by my own rules. Life is too short to be miserable and too amazing to shy away from." I smiled, not wanting to dwell on the sadness that thinking about the accident brought up.

"Well, I think you are very brave and wise beyond your years." Dimitris' voice was as warm as his hand as he gave it a soft squeeze. I smiled at him feeling my cheeks heat up a little at his words.

"Thank you, Dimitri. That means more than you know." I smiled, I leant over to look at his computer, he had stopped typing when I had told him about the accident but it was still on the same screen. "you weren't writing all of this down to blackmail me later where you?" I said with fake shock. Dimitri chuckled, it was a full hearty sound.

"No Rose. I wouldn't do that, I was checking out the schedule you had made me for the week and was just changing a few things," he said with a smile he took his hand away from mine and I felt instantly cooler. I stood up and came around the desk. Dimitri showed me the differences in the calendar. his computer was touch screen too so I leant forward and clicked on tomorrow. It was the same as I had completed but he had added a personal training from 6;30-7:30. I looked at him with a shake of my head.

"Who is that with?" I said hoping to anyone who would listen that it wasn't me, I could already feel my bruises and aching muscles forming from today. Dimitri tilted his head back and looked at me with an innocent smile.

"With you..." he chuckled. "I very much enjoyed today. Ivan my usual trainer has half the fire. He had never kicked me like you did." he laughed obviously remembering me shooting across the room like a graceful Potatoe. "I think he is too scared to go hard because I pay him."

"Hey, I assume you're paying me too," I said laughing, I actually didn't mind training with Dimitri. But maybe we would leave the one on one sparing until I could lick my wounds for a while.

"Yes, but not to be my personal trainer, just for your time," he replied.

"Hm, my time is very valuable." I said playfully. "so, any other changes?" I asked leaning over Dimitri's arm to look at the calendar, I could feel his breath against the side of my cheek and froze slightly realising how close I was to him. Dimitri looked over at me and I took a deep breath before continuing like everything was fine.

"A few," Dimitri said. He pressed on two days from now –Friday- there was a spot with reservation details. " I hope you don't mind but I'd like to take you out for dinner on Friday before I release you for the weekend," Dimitri informed me. I smiled at him.

"What's the occasion?" I asked.

"You becoming my assistant." Dimitri smiled. "it's one of the best restaurants in New York. You will love it, it has 2 Michelin stars." I laughed.

"Oh, don't worry about that Dimitri, I'm not a fussy eater. I'd be happy if you took me to McDonald's." I said honestly. Dimitri shook his head with a laugh.

"You really are like a child with food aren't you," he said echoing what he had said in the kitchen this morning.

"Hey I wouldn't call that god-awful smoothie food even if it was thick enough to stand by itself," I said with a grin. Dimitri just sighed.

"Let's go home," Dimitri said suddenly standing. " I have a few things I want to show you." I looked at my watch. It was only 3.30. I picked up my bag packing up my things.

"I hope I'm still going to be paid for a full day." I teased.

"like you did any work today." Dimitri scoffed packing up his own things. He allowed me to exit first and I started walking to the elevator Dimitri beside me. When the elevator door opened it revealed Alberta standing there, her signature coffee cup in hand.

"Oh." she exclaimed stepping out but holding the door open for us. "where are you two heading off too?" she asked smiling at Dimitri then me.

"I thought I would take Rose to do some more settling in at the apartment, show her around a bit more," Dimitri said with a shrug of his shoulders. Alberta raised her eyebrow looking at Dimitri, for a moment before allowing Dimitri to step aside, he walked into the elevator but Alberta blocked my way. I looked up at her with a smile.

"how are you, Alberta?" I asked. "has your workload been easier today with me taking on some of your tasks." I asked hopefully.

"Oh yes very. Thank you, Rose, everything was done impeccably and in a very timely manner." she still had her brow arched. I said Dimitri behind her look over at us to see what was taking so long. Alberta had taken her hand away from the door so it kept almost closing so Dimitri had to keep pressing the button to keep the doors open.

"That's good to hear. If you need anything else done. I'm taking my laptop home with me and I'm sure Dimitri gave you my email." I said trying to go around her to get to an impatiently waiting Dimitri. Alberta touched my arm with a wicked smile.

"What kind of powers do you have?" she asked with a crooked grin. I baulked at her, I'm sure my reports and schedules weren't that good.

"Pardon?" I said confused.

"Dimitri hasn't left work before 6 in years, and he's left two days in a row before 4 since you have been here," she said her face blank.

"Oh, I'm sorry Dimitri was the one who suggested it I just-" Alberta put her hand up and stopped me.

"No no Rose. It is amazing, I'll be honest some of us get more work done when he isn't around, he is a real helicopter sometimes, scares the shit out of the young ones. He means well but the guy isn't exactly warm and fuzzy." Alberta laughed. I looked over at Dimitri and smiled. It was funny from the moment I met Dimitri there was something about him I found inviting and warm. His infrequent smile and his large brown eyes were kind. I couldn't imagine someone thinking Dimitri as a cold person. But i guess I had seen glimpses in the short time I had known him. While I was pondering this Alberta shook her head with a laugh, patting me on the shoulder she walked away allowing me to join Dimitri.

"What was that about?" he asked as the elevator door was finally allowed to close.

"Nothing..." I smiled. "we were just talking about you." I said in my its none of your business voice. Dimitri shook his head.

"Yeah sure you were, whatever don't tell me, I'll just ask Alberta tomorrow." he scoffed.


another chapter is done and dusted. I hope you enjoyed this one and that bit with Rose wasn't triggering for anyone.

if it raised any concerns for you I am here to lend an ear!

thank you all for you're amazing just mind-blowing support.

I will be looking to post another chapter Saturday/Sunday so enjoy the end of your week I love you all!