I had to re-upload this chapter because of a technical issue.

Here is the next chapter. Just a warning, there is a bit of mature content in this chapter. From now on I will be writing more and more of that because it is important for the story to show how Rose grows. If you feel too uncomfortable reading things like that let me know and i will make sure to highlight where the scenes start and end so that you can skip over it.

Chapter 19

I grab the last duffle bag from the trunk of my car and make my way into the training center. Even with all the advertising, the place is not as busy as it was before. Christian told me that about thirty percent of the clients are still not convinced they should come back. Dimitri told me not to worry about it, but I can't help but feel guilty. His business is suffering.

"It takes you three days to move into a new place?" Christian asks as I come into the reception area. I took Sunday as a day of rest after my date with Dimitri and then I started to move my stuff over to his place on Monday. I have been sleeping here since Monday but I only have all my things out of my old apartment and my parent's house today. My old landlord gave me some money for the furniture and appliances I put into the apartment.

"Whatever. Where is Dimitri?" I ask. He points to one of the private rooms they do classes in.

"I'm glad to see things are starting to get busy again." I nod my head in the direction of a group of guys exiting the gym.

"Yeah. We are doing good again. Not like before, but we will be okay." Christian takes a microphone from the desk drawer and announces over the intercom that the gym will be closing in five minutes. The new assistant comes out from the breakroom and starts to pack up her things. She is nice. She is like a tougher version of Mia. She also has short blond hair, just a shade or two darker than Mia's.

"Bye Sydney." Christian and I wave at her as she leaves. She gives us a small wave back.

"That last move was so cool. I like the way it gives you the upper hand so fast." I look to where Christian said Dimitri was earlier and see him and Tasha come out of the room. She has her hand on his forearm as she speaks to him. Now, I'm not a possessive jealous girlfriend and I know this relationship is new and they have been friends for a super long time, but I can see the way she looks at him and how she glows when he is near her. I just couldn't compete with her if it came down to that.

"That is probably the best way to get the upper hand. All the other moves take twice as long. You should see how Rose does it." Dimitri says and nods in my direction making Tasha notice me for the first time since they stepped out. I give them a small wave.

"You will have to show me one day Rose. Thanks again for the class Dimka." She gives him a hug and then turns to us.

"I'm really sweaty so I'll just wave at you guys." She says with a small laugh.

"I'll walk you out Aunt Tasha. Bye you two." Christian and Tasha leave the training center together and it's just me and Dimitri. He comes closer to me very slowly and places a sensational kiss on my lips.

"Is that all of your things or do you have more?" Dimitri asks.

"Nope, I finally have everything in your place now." Dimitri holds me by the waist and I put my hands on his shoulders.

"It's your place now too. How about you go up and I'll lock everything down here." I kiss him once more and then head up the stairs to his loft, I mean our loft. I throw my duffle bag and jacket on my bed and then head to the kitchen to see what I can do for dinner. Dimitri has a thing for healthy eating. Well, it makes sense because he is a personal trainer and a self-defense instructor and a very fit guy. The last time I saw this many organic fruits and vegetables was in the grocery store. I'm so use to having sugary snacks and bags of chips in my place. I see a packet of chicken breasts are sitting on the counter with broccoli and potatoes. I am a disaster in the kitchen and it's not even worth it for me to try and start on dinner. The first two nights we had take-out which I'm sure Dimitri didn't like that much but we both had long days and it was just easier.

"Did you get a good deal with the furniture in your old place?" Dimitri asks as he enters the kitchen. He washes his hands and start to cut up the broccoli.

"Yeah, it was much more than I thought. Can I help? I'm not very good in the kitchen but I could wash something off or whatever." I offer.

"You could get us a glass of wine." Dimitri says. I nod my head and set to work on finding the glasses and pouring us each a bit of wine. I also get out two place settings for us.

"How does the rent work?" I ask him as I put his glass next to him.

"Thank you. No rent is required. My grandfather has owned this building for years." I stand next to him with my butt leaning on the counter.

"Okay, but you do pay water and lights, don't you? And I take long showers and I tend to forget to put the lights out." Dimitri smiles and shakes his head while moving on to the chicken.

"How about you do one month and I'll do the next. Will that be okay?" He puts the cut-up broccoli on a tray and slide it into the oven. He clearly knows what he is doing in the kitchen.

"That will be fine." I watch as he finishes up the rest of the dinner. The smell of everything is intoxicating.

"Your good at this." I comment as I hold up a piece of chicken with my fork.

"Thank you. My mother would be proud to hear that. She spent a lot of time teaching me how to cook." I imagine a young Dimitri pulling a roast out of the oven and his mother standing beside him with a smile on her face.

"You don't really talk about your family much." I say, hoping to get him to open up to me some more.

"I am just so use to being private with my life. But since I met Christian and then all of you, I find myself sharing stories about my life and family."

"Well, yeah. We are your friends now. We like to hear about your life." It seems to me that Dimitri isn't someone who has a lot of friends. He never allows himself to get close to people.

"I haven't had many friends. It's nice. Just bear with me, letting people in is hard for me. But I would like for you to know me better than anyone else." Dimitri says, looking so vulnerable and sincere. I have never seen a man bare his soul like this before. And to me. I reach over to him and take his hand into mine, needing to touch him.

"I'm right here. Take your time. Just know that you can trust me and tell me anything." We stare into each other's eyes for several moments. His dark eyes drinking me in. it's like I'm lost at sea in his gaze. After dinner, we pop in a movie and lay on the couch together. I study his face as he watches the movie. His jaw-line is chiseled like a Greek god and his nose is perfect even if it is a bit kinked from me breaking it. I look up to his eyes and see that he is looking at me. I reach up and capture his full lips with mine. He responds immediately and traces his tongue on my bottom lip. I surrender control over to him and let him explore my mouth with his tongue. The feeling of his mouth on mine and his hands in my hair is euphoric. It feels like my senses are on overdrive but all of them are focused on Dimitri. All I can feel is his hands and his mouth. His taste is taking over my whole being. The smell of his aftershave envelopes me. The sound of our heated kiss fills my ears and the small moans coming from both of us is like music. He is all I need to live right now. I feel his hand travel down from my hair, slowly traveling down my back and then he stops just above my butt. His hand starts it way up again but more to my side. His thumb brushes over the side of my breast and goosebumps appear all over my body. A strangely pleasurable feeling starts to rise in the pit of my stomach. I feel this amazing sensation start to form between my legs. I'm turned on. Dimitri is turning me on. I didn't really expect this to happen so soon again. I use to get turned on before when I was making out with boys in school but after the kidnapping, I didn't think I would be this turned on again. The thought of sex is still very scary to me and I know I won't be ready anytime soon. But this is so amazing. His hand goes up a bit more and he brushed over my nipple with his thumb. I let out a small gasp of pleasure, but Dimitri pulls away fast probably thinking he hurt me or overstepped.

"I'm sorry, I got carried away." Dimitri tries to get up but I quickly climb on top of him and straddle his hips.

"I liked it." I whisper into his ear and start a trail of kisses from his ear to his chin. Dimitri instantly recaptures my lips and we continue where we left off but he keeps his hands on my hips. After a few minutes of kissing, his hands stay rooted in place. I place my hand over his and start to lead his hand up to where it was.

"I don't want to overstep Rose." I pull back slightly to look at him.

"It's not overstepping. I'll let you know if you are doing something I don't like. I'm definitely not ready to have sex yet. But a little fooling around is okay. It's normal." I lean down to kiss Dimitri before he can say anymore. He relaxes into the kiss again and his thumb brushed over my nipple again. He breaks the kiss only to kiss down my throat. I moan out loud as he continues to leave open mouthed kisses all over my neck. My hips start to rotate on its own accord. This make out session went from zero to one hundred fast. I know we should stop because I'm so turned on and I can feel Dimitri's hard length poking my behind, but this is too hot to just stop. I want to do this forever. Just be in Dimitri's arm and kiss the daylight out of him. But like all good things, this had to come to a stop to. And my phone ringing obnoxiously loud did just that.

"You should answer that." I lean my forehead against Dimitri's forehead. Both of us breathing heavily. I let out a big sigh as I get off of Dimitri and grab my phone on the coffee table.

"Hey Lissa." I say. Dimitri excused himself to his room and a few minute later I hear the shower running.

"Was I interrupting something?" Lissa asks.

"No, why?" She was but I'm not going to tell her about it now. I'll give her the details later when I see her.

"You sound very annoyed." I didn't even realize. Well I am a bit. But it's a good thing she stopped me by calling. I don't want to think about what would have happened if she didn't. it's not fair to turn Dimitri on like that and then not go through with the act. I know I shouldn't have started the hip rotations.

"No, I'm good. What's up?" I ask.

"Adrian called me. He wants to call you but he is not sure if you will accept his calls." Lissa says. I sit back down on the couch. I did try to call him last week but he declined.

"Well, tell him I'll talk to him if he wants to. I just hope he won't freak out over Dimitri again." I hear Rosalie make soft crying noises through the phone and Lissa tries to comfort her softly.

"Okay. Well, he may be hurt. You are with Dimitri now and you two are living together. He doesn't have a right to flip out on you but if he is hurt by you and Dimitri, just let him be. That is the only way you two will come out of this. Don't over react, even if he does." She has a point. I did jump from Adrian to Dimitri pretty fast but I have had feelings for Dimitri since I met him. Adrian feels like a really good friend, a friend that I don't want to lose. But I have a bad temper and I know that I will explode if he acts like a scorned ex-boyfriend.

"I'll try to keep my cool. But only if he does." I ca practically hear Lissa roll her eyes over the phone. She always says that my temper will get me into serious trouble one day, but my charm will most likely get me out.

"I'm not choosing sides. I have to go; Rosalie got her shots today and she is being really fussy."

"Okay, give her a big kiss from her aunty Rose. Love you Liss." I end the call.

Meet me for lunch tomorrow and we can talk ~R

I send Adrian a quick text. I should have waited for him to call me first but I just want to get this over with. I want my friend back. The friend that I sat with for hours at the dinner and talked the night away.

Will be there at noon. Dinner? ~A

His respond is quick, almost like he was waiting by the phone for a text or call. Maybe not. Adrian has always been a quick responder.

Always ~R

I slide my phone into my jean pocket and lay my head back against the head rest.

"Everything okay?" Dimitri asks me as he comes back into the living room. His hair is still slightly wet from his shower.

"Yeah, nothing to worry about. I think I'm going to shower and then hit the hay." I kiss Dimitri gently on his lips and then head to get ready for bed.

Xxx

After a long and relaxing shower and one episode of Friends, I'm ready for bed. I heard Dimitri retire to his room twenty minutes ago. He must be sound asleep right now. I grab my charger to plug my phone in when I see that I have a text from an unknown number.

You may have moved out of your apartment, but I will find you. There is nothing and no one in this world that can keep me from you. Our love is too eternal. ~Unknown

My blood runs cold through my veins. It's him. He has my number. And soon he will know I live with Dimitri and he will find me. I feel a panic attack start to creep up my throat, but I swallow it down. No. He won't find me. Dimitri has taught me how to defend myself and if he does come for me, I'll be ready. He is not going to scare me away from Dimitri. i look back to my phone to read the text again but it has disappeared. There is just a blank open space under the unknown number. I exit the messenger app and go back in to find that the number is gone as well. How is that possible? He must be very good with technology if he can make messages disappear. I put my phone on the bedside table and lay back down on the bed. It's late and I have a busy day tomorrow. I have two locations shoots and two studio shoots. Lissa advertised that we do headshots for aspiring actors. There is apparently a lot of people who want to go into the movie industry in Missoula. I never knew photography could keep you so busy. So, I need my rest and I will not let him keep me awake. I close my eyes and try to leave all thoughts about him finding me again out of my head. I must have tossed and turned for forty-five minutes. I know in my heart that I'm safe here and Dimitri will protect me against anything but my brain is telling me that being alone right now is not a good idea. I walk slowly on my toes down the hall to Dimitri's room. His door is not closed completely so it doesn't make a sound when I open it. I stand at the foot of his bed and just look at him. He seems so at peace now. I can't wake him up. I just need to force myself to sleep. I start to turn around slowly when I hear movement.

"Rose? Is everything okay?" I turn back to Dimitri to see him sitting up in his bed. He looks wide awake and alert.

"No, I'm okay. I didn't mean to wake you. Sorry. Just go back to sleep." Dimitri gets out of his bed and walks towards me. He is only in long flannel pajama pants with now shirt. The moonlight coming in from the window makes him glow like he is some celestial being.

"I know something is bothering you. You can tell me." I rub the heel of my palm on my eye. I'm so tired, both physically and emotionally.

"I got a text from an unknown number, from him, saying that he will find me. But the text disappeared as soon as it came. And now I can't fall asleep." Dimitri strokes my cheek with the back of his hand so gently.

"Do you want me to sit with you until you fall asleep or do you want to sleep in here with me?" He offers.

"If you don't mind sharing your bed." I say with a small smile. We both get into the appropriate sides of the bed.

"Man, I thought my bed felt like a cloud. Yours must be heaven." It feels like I'm sinking into the mattress but in a comfortable way.

"It's a memory foam mattress. Very good for your body." Dimitri says. I turn to my side and look at him. He is also turned on his side facing me.

"I won't let him near you Rose. Not if I can help it." Dimitri says after a short silence. I reach over and place my hand on his cheek. He puts his hand over mine.

"Thank you, Dimitri." I scoot a bit closer to him and he wraps his arms around me. I have never slept in someone's arms willingly. I can feel Dimitri's breathing and his heart beat. He is so warm and the feeling of his naked skin on me is amazing. I can only imagine how it would feel is we were both naked. I nuzzle my face into the crook of his neck and slowly I fall deeper and deeper into dream land.