A/N: Hey guys, I am now officially attempting to update both stories on a weekly basis. Hopefully this story will be done and uploaded by tonight, which means that I will have updated twice in a 48 hour period, which is an insanely huge accomplishment. Enjoy and review as always xoxoxoxox

Chapter 11

When Val says cute things like "love you more" I honestly cannot help myself. Especially, when he (I swear on purpose) makes his voice all velvety and makes his accent more pronounced. At this point, I was putty in his capable hands. I all but threw my promise out the window and kissed Val with abandon.

I grabbed his face with tenacious fingers, unwilling for an inch of space to come between us. "I thought *kiss* that you *kiss* promised *kiss* to be *kiss* on your *kiss* best behavior *kiss," Val mumbled in the mere seconds his lips were free to talk. I didn't even bother to reply. As much as I desperately wanted to, I wasn't going to push Val any farther. I was content to be with him like this for the time being

Suddenly, Val was not content with our current location. He picked me up bridal style and carried me into the kitchen. I became confused as to why we were in the kitchen as he sat me down on the cool, granite counter. I was going to ask as to why he moved me to the kitchen, but his lips met mine again before the words could grace my lips.

"Why is it that every time I come home I open the door to find you two sticking your tongues down each other's throats?! A better question is why on the kitchen counter, Val? We have to put food there!" poor Maks rambled. I started to feel bad for him. Nobody wants to see some girl ravaging their little brother. But in our defense, he never could come at the right time.

"Sorry Maksim, I just needed better leverage," Val explained with a smug smile on his face.

"I'm gonna go and ram my head against the wall, and maybe the terrible images you just put in my head will go away," Maks said with a hint of annoyance.

"Wait," I said hopping off the counter, not wanting Maks to leave quite yet.

"Yes?" he asked, his tone softening. He always talked to me in a more, shall we say, gentle manner.

"Could you pwetty pwease with a cherry on top, make your brother and I something to eat? I would have asked Valentin over here, but we all know you cook the best second to Mama C," I said flatteringly. Val gave me a dirty look, but I figured it wasn't anything that a kiss or two couldn't solve.

"Anything for my little Aria," Maks agreed, patting my head. "On the condition you don't PDA with Valentin in my presence," he added conditionally.

"Scout's honor," I answered, giving him a mock salute.

I went upstairs on the pretense that I was going to the bathroom. However, I completely bypassed the bathroom and went straight into Val's room. The jeans that I had on had become increasingly uncomfortable. I went straight to Val's closet and hunted for a hoodie. I stumbled upon my favorite hoodie, his Team Valria hoodie.

I changed out of my clothes and slipped on the hoodie. The hoodie was baggy and came a couple of inches above my knee. I decided that I was going to wear just the hoodie as a very comfy/warm dress that smelled exactly like Valentin. (I always liked saying Valentin as opposed to Val because it sounded sexier).

I came down the staircase and walked into the living room. I looked towards the kitchen and saw two bulging pairs of eyes staring at me. Maksim dropped the plate he was holding and it clattered noisily to the tumbled travertine marble floor. Val sat rigid on the sectional, paying no attention to whatever was on the T.V. He recovered and his eyes swept very conspicuously over me. I gave him an innocent smile.

I walked over to Val and sat sideways on his lap, my legs lying across his lap. I mentally thanked the Lord I had decided to shave my legs the night before. I rested my head in between Val's shoulder and chin.

"May I ask how and why you're wearing my hoodie in a very tempting manner?" Val asked curiously, playing with my hair. His eyes were alight with burning curiosity.

"Well I kind of made a detour to your bedroom and changed into one of our hoodies. My jeans were just getting annoying and I didn't want to wear your sweatpants or anything because I was too hot. Your hoodie was long enough to work as a makeshift dress. There was no tempting intended in wearing this, but I'm not exactly adverse to the effect. And to be honest, it smells like you. You have a great smell, if you didn't know that already. I explained as I traced lazy circles on his collar bone with my finger.

"I actually really like you in the hoodie. You look pretty sexy in it, if I do say so myself. Very tempting. I'm glad to know that you enjoy my natural scent. What do I smell like?" he asked in a curious tone.

"It's a mixture of leather, mint, and cologne. If I could bottle it, I'd do a sales pitch to Febreze. It would sell like hot cakes. We could call it 'Valentin'," I proposed. I thought Val had the potential to create a great fragrance line.

"That's good to know. Maksim, how is the food coming along?" he asked. I turned and looked towards the kitchen. Two plates were placed on the breakfast bar that had whatever Maks had made on them. Beside each plate was a glass filled with some kind of beverage.

"Dinner is served, Aria and Valentin," Maks announced. I went to get up, but Val picked me up, carried me into the kitchen, and set me down on the leather bar stool.

"The two of you have Mama C's Ukrainian Special in front of you with a glass of rose basil and lemon iced tea. Enjoy," Maks said, as he looked admiringly at what he had made.

I dug in the food in front of me without hesitation. "Maks, this is amazing! If the whole dancing career doesn't work for you anymore, you should definitely become a chef. You definitely have a talent here," I complimented.

"Thanks Aria, I'm glad somebody appreciates my culinary talents," he said in a scoffing tone, clearly directed at his brother. Val was too preoccupied with stuffing his face to notice.

"You know Maks, I might be able to learn how to cook like you and Ma do, but I constantly trying to keep this one's virtue intact," Val said in a somewhat joking tone, his thumb jabbed in my direction.

My face turned beet red. "Hey, it's really not something to joke about," I said defensively. They didn't say anything because they didn't hear a word I said because they were howling with laughter.

Hurt and embarrassed, I bolted up the staircase and ran into Val's room. I flopped myself onto the bed and began to sob. I was crying for several reasons. First off, I felt bad for seemingly throwing myself at Val every opportunity I got. Secondly, I was completely mortified after Val would joke about something like that with his brother. Thirdly, I doubted that Val even realized that my virtue was actually very much intact, thus joked about it like it was nonexistent. The whole topic I was very sensitive about simply because I had no experience with it. Not to mention, the Chmerkovskiy brothers had succeeded in making me feel like a desperate and needy little girl.

I forced myself to cease my sobs momentarily, so I could hear what was going on in the kitchen. It was silent downstairs, and I didn't know what to make of it. I silence made everything worse and the sobbing resumed.

After an unknown amount of time, I heard a knock on the door. "Go away," I managed to choke out feebly in between the sobs. The door opened despite what I had said.

I felt someone sit on the bed beside me. "Krasavitsa, please talk to me," a voice that I recognized immediately as Val's said in way that made it sound like he was begging. I shook my head in defiance, not trusting my voice.

I felt Val lay down beside me and wrap his arms around me. I tried to squirm out of his embrace unsuccessfully. He pried my hands from my face, and turned me around so that we were face to face. "I'm so sorry for whatever I did. It kills me to see you hurting, especially when I'm the cause. Could you please tell me what upset you so much?" Val said, his pleading eyes boring into me.

"Maybe because you joked about having to protect my virtue like you know I couldn't possibly have one and because I'm always apparently seducing you or something. To tell you the truth, my virtue is completely intact. It hurts that you'd automatically assume that it wasn't. and for you to joke about it makes it even worse. I don't think I ever told you, but back when I was with Ryan, he pressured me the entire relationship. He honestly didn't give two shits about how I said I wasn't ready and I didn't want to. He was damn near coercing me on several occasions. So maybe I was "seducing" you because I wanted to give you something that, for the first time, I wanted to give and wasn't being pressured to," I explained, about read to start another round of sobs.

"Oh my God Aria, I'm so sorry I was such an ass. I had no idea. I should be ever so lucky you'd want to give me something like that. I should have joked about it. I just haven't wanted to take that step yet because I want it to be completely perfect in every way possible. I swear it will happen. One of these days you're going to do something cute like wear my hoodie and that'll be it, I swear. I feel my resolve decreasing by the hour. Will you please forgive my stupid self?" he asked in a pleading tone. He was like a sad puppy. I couldn't resist.

"Yes, you know I can't stay mad at you for very long. You're just too adorable when you grovel," I said, touching his nose.

"God, I love you,"