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He should've gone after her; Dimitri knew he should've gone after her. And maybe if she'd slammed his front door in her wake he would have. But the truth was…she'd scared the shit out of him.

If she'd yelled at him…or thrown things…or done even one thing that had resembled the Rose he thought he knew...he might have. But she'd stood there with such a look of perplexity on her face, spoken in such a calm voice that he knew it was over. No amount of chasing was going to change that.

He'd regretted the words the minute he'd said them. He'd been trying to say something entirely different, but that hardly mattered now. Rose wouldn't listen to anything he had to say, and he didn't blame her.

It was probably better this way, anyway; he knew what he was doing was wrong. And dammit—he'd tried to stay away from her. He'd tried to do the right thing. But tonight when he'd seen her at the bar…he hadn't been able to. The thought of another man's hands on her body…of another man being inside of her…of sleeping next to her…it had twisted his insides in a way they'd never been twisted before.

Everything about her sent him into overdrive: the way she smelled, her sexy grin, the way the ends of her hair brushed against his chest when she was riding him, the way her thighs tightened against his hips when she was ready to come…all of it.

And if it had just been the physical things he'd been drawn to, it would have been much easier to stay away from her; a quick lay was easy to come by.

But she'd opened up to him, shared things about her life with him. And he'd come dangerously close to developing a hero complex. For a little bit, he'd wanted nothing more than to bring her home with him, introduce her to his mother, and show him how a family could be. How a family should be.

He'd never met anyone he'd wanted to bring home to his mother. And the fact he'd wanted to take Rose —someone he barely knew—home to her had been on hell of a wakeup call.

Yes. It was definitely a good thing that his…whatever he'd been having with Rose…was over.

I'm on my way home.

She'd been gone much longer than she'd told Adrian she was going to be, so Rose figured she at least owed him a text. She slipped her phone in her pocket and wrapped her arms around herself, but her chill had nothing to do with the Maine October air. Dimitri's words had left her cold.

But really, Rose scolded herself, what should she have expected? She'd thrown herself at him after he'd been adamant that nothing could happen between them. She'd acted like a slut and worn his shirt to class, practically seducing him for the entire room to see.

There really was a lesson to be learned here, and Rose was determined not to have to ever have a repeat episode of what had happened in Dimitri's bedroom.

Her phone beeped to let her know Adrian had replied to her text, and she reached into her coat pocket and pulled it out.

I'll meet you there.

Rose sighed. The lastthing she needed was to be around anyone right now. She wanted to go home and wash Dimitri off her…that was what she wanted. Even with her jacked zipped up to her chin she could smell his cologne on her shirt, and right now it was just too much.

It's only 11:30. Just stay. You know you want to.

Adrian still hadn't texted her back by the time she got home, so Rose grabbed a pair of shorts and a tank top from her dresser and headed for the bathroom. A nice, hot shower should clear her mind.

"Hey, gorgeous."

"I thought I told you to stay at the bar with Christian and Liss," Rose said as she walked into her bedroom; she wasn't surprised to find Adrian on her bed.

"You know your hair's going to be a wreck in the morning if you go to bed with it wet," Adrian told her.

"You think I'm trying to impress you?" Rose shot back.

He grinned as he closed her copy of Cosmo magazine and dropped it in his lap. "If you really wanted me to stay at the bar, then you should've told me to meet you here. You know I can't follow directions."

Rose plopped down onto the bed beside him and grabbed the lotion off her nightstand. She squeezed some onto her hand and started rubbing it on her legs. "I put a pillow and a blanket on the couch for you," she told Adrian.

"I'm sleeping in here," he informed her.

"I'm sure Sydney would love that," Rose remarked dryly.

"Don't get too excited," Adrian said teasingly. "I can only sleep with you. Syd said I can't shag you."

Rose rolled her eyes. "Then you might want to go change. I'm ready to crash. Lights are going out in five," she informed him as she put her lotion back on her nightstand.

"I'm just gonna sleep in my clothes," Adrian told her. "My flight leaves early, and this way I won't have to change in the morning. Am I genius or what?"

Rose quirked a brow at him. "Or what," she answered as she turned off her lamp, then lay down so she was facing the wall.

"Where did you go tonight?" Adrian asked softly.

It was a minute before Rose answered. "I…had something I needed to take care of," she finally told him.

"And did you get it taken care of?" he prodded.

"Yes," she replied softly.

"Good."

Rose had a feeling that Adrian knew exactly where she'd been tonight, but she was too tired to ask how he'd found out. That would lead to a bunch of questions that she had no intention of answering.

For now, it was easier to let it go.

Dimitri had barely gotten a wink of sleep. He'd spent the night plagued with guilt over what he'd said to Roza. He didn't want her to think that she'd simply been convenient for him, that he'd only been using her for sex.

Sure, it had started out that way, but somehow, despite his every effort, it had become more than that.

Dimitri increased his speed, his knees aching every time his feet hit the pavement. He needed to get Rose out of his mind if he ever wanted to sleep again. Hopefully a good run would help him out with that.

And maybe it would have…if he'd kept his gaze straight ahead. He looked to the right and nearly went careening forward as he came to a halt. He tugged on the thin white cord at his neck until his ear buds came loose. On the other side of the street there was a yellow taxi pulled up to the curb, but that wasn't what caught his attention.

Rose, hair in disarray as if she'd spent the night carousing, stepped into the arms of a young man. He wasn't quite as tall as Dimitri was, but he was taller than Rose.

Dimitri scowled as she rested her cheek against the man's chest. As he lifted his arms around her waist and gave her a light squeeze, Dimitri couldn't help but notice how rumpled the other man's clothes were.

Or how little Rose was wearing.