First, I want to apologize for the delay of this chapter. I had a few medical issues come up that kept me from writing as much as I wanted. I was diagnosed with moderate to severe carpal tunnel a few years ago, and a week or so ago I developed a knot on my left wrist. Needless to say, it made it quite painful to type.

AN: This chapter has been revised as of 01/10/2017. A huge thank you to my friend and beta, Mordinette, for all of her help with getting these chapters fixed! Everything beyond this chapter will be all new content :)

A huge thank you to those who left reviews on the last chapter: ilovesos9467, Lisablackrose, Artamisofthehunt, maggiescousin, and guest! You guys are truly amazing, and I appreciate your taking the time out to leave a comment! A special thank you to Gigi256 and Artamisofthehunt of your PMs and just talking to me through some of my darker moments! It meant the world to me.

Chapter Eight

*Rose*

"So," Lissa started as she followed me into the changing room with an arm full of clothes that she tossed down onto the bench. We'd left Christian - much to his relief - at Best Buy to pick out a laptop for me while Lissa decided to drag me into countless clothing stores. "Are we going to talk about what happened this morning?"

I rolled my eyes, at both her question, and the ridiculous pile of clothes. "I don't know what you're talking about," I lied. I knew exactly what was on her mind, because it was the only thing on mine.

Dimitri. Had I been imagining it, or had he tried to kiss me? I had to have been imagining it. He barely knew me! And honestly, how could a man like that be interested in a girl like me?

What surprised me even more was just how badly I had wanted that kiss. I wanted it just as much as I feared it. In truth, I had never wanted a kiss so badly. The intense, smokey look in those warm brown eyes of his seemed to pierce right through me, as if he could see my soul, and liked what he saw. The way those eyes had traveled from mine and seemed to linger on my lips had been intoxicating.

It was so strange. I had never felt such an undeniable pull towards someone, not even Jesse. Not the way I did for Dimitri.

It was completely irrational, this almost instantaneous attraction for someone I'd just met, I knew. But there it was, and it was very real.

"You are such a bad liar, Rose," Lissa chided as she pulled her shirt over her head and grabbed another one from the pile to try on. "You like him. Dimitri, I mean."

I ignored her, instead focusing my attention on trying to pull up the pair of jeans I was trying on one handed. What the hell had I been thinking when I had agreed to this shopping trip? It was damn near impossible with my arm in a sling. I can't wait to get rid of this thing, I thought irritably.

"I knew you liked him," she continued, twisting her body around to check out her profile in the floor length mirror. "I think he would be good for you. I saw the look on his face. My God, Rose. He wants you. Bad."

I sighed as I finally shimmied the jeans up my hips, trying to ignore the shiver of delight that ran through me. In truth, the feeling was very much mutual. "I told you last night Liss, it's too soon. Honestly, I don't think I could trust anyone on that sort of level right now."

Not that I thought Dimitri was anything like Jesse. Hell, the man taught a women's self-defense class so that people like me could defend themselves against men like him. But I just couldn't open myself up to someone else romantically. Not yet. My heart was still too raw.

For all of my patented Rose Hathaway bravado, I was heartbroken. Jesse had been such a huge part of my life for so long, and I had truly been in love with him once. We'd had a good thing once, and I had been happy. It was hard to let that go.

I caught Lissa's sympathetic expression in the mirror's reflection. "I'm not saying sleep with him, Rose. But what harm could it do to just go on a date with him? You deserve something good in your life for once. And who knows? This guy could end up being the one for you."

"Maybe," I said, unconvinced. "But I thought the same thing about Jesse."

There wasn't much Lissa could say to that, so she decided to, thankfully, change the subject. "Thanksgiving is next week. Christian's parents want us to fly up to Pennsylvania for a couple of days." She paused, glancing over at me. "You know you're more than welcome to come with us."

I winced internally. I had forgotten all about Thanksgiving. This was a well-worn argument between Lissa and I, one that had been going on since my parents died. Every holiday, she and Christian would try to convince me to join them at one of their relative's houses, and every year I turned them down. Mostly due to the fact that I'd spent the majority of the holidays with Jesse's family. I had a feeling they would be pushing extra hard this year so that I wouldn't be alone.

"Thanks, Liss. But I think I'm going to stay here and work on the book," I replied, carefully slipping on a navy blue wrap dress that Lissa had apparently smuggled into my pile of clothes.

She turned to scold me, but it died on her lips when she saw me and her eyes widened. "Rose, that looks amazing on you. You have to get it." She made her way over to me and helped tie the sash around my waist. "Seriously, Rose. You have to buy this."

The dress was pretty. I turned my body to get a better look. It had been a very long time since I'd worn anything like this. It was made of chiffon, with capped sleeves, and it actually fit my body nicely. The skirt was shorter than I was used to, cutting off just below mid thigh. Jesse would have never allowed me to wear something this short in public.

I scowled at my reflection, noticing the blotchy bruises that decorated my long legs. I shook my head and started to take the dress off, but Lissa stopped me.

"Rose, stop it," she chastised, knowing me well enough to know where my dark thoughts had taken me. "The bruises will fade. The shit Jesse put you through will eventually fade, too. You just have to let go and move on."

I averted my gaze. I knew, logically, that she was right, but letting go of several years of abuse was easier said than done. Honestly, it was probably easier to let go of the good memories in comparison.

"Buy the dress," she insisted. "Or I'll buy it for you."

I rolled my eyes, fighting a smile. "You really are a pain in my ass."

She grinned. "Yeah, but you love me anyway."

Three pairs of jeans, four shirts, two dresses and skirts, a new pair of boots, and a gigantic hole in my credit card later, we finally met up with Christian at the food court.

"About time," he grumbled as we sat our bags down and joined him at the table. "What happened? Did you buy everything H&M had in stock?"

"Nearly," I murmured as I slid into the chair across from him, while Lissa took her place by his side. "We probably would have if your girlfriend had anything to say about it."

Christian snorted. "Yeah, that sounds about right."

Lissa playfully smacked him on the arm. "Shut up. Did you get Rose's laptop?"

Nodding, Christian reached underneath the table and pulled out a brown Asus box. "Nothing fancy, but it fit your budget." he explained. "Lightweight, i-seven processor, one terabyte of storage. Windows ten, and came pre-programmed with Microsoft Word. Also has an HD-webcam, and DVD player to distract you from working. The screen even detaches to become a tablet."

I snorted. Most of that gibberish meant nothing to me. I knew enough to get by though, and I was eager to get home and install Skype so Dimitri could finally see and speak to his family. I tried to ignore the little voice in my head that it was also an excuse to spend more time with him. "Thanks, Christian. I appreciate it."

"Anytime."

After we hit a few more stores, we headed to the local Super Target to buy some much-needed groceries for the house so that we didn't have to rely on takeout and peanut butter sandwiches. I left Lissa and Christian to the food while I went to grab a coffee from Starbucks before heading over to the book and magazine section.

I nearly dropped my white chocolate mocha when I noticed Dimitri standing in the book aisle, and holding one of my books.

I stood, frozen in place as I watched him skim over the back cover. He looked gorgeous standing there in a sleeveless black t-shirt, his sculpted biceps bare to the world, and tracksuit pants. His brown, shoulder length hair fell loose around his handsome face.

Fighting a smile, I quietly made my way over to him. "We have to stop meeting like this. Now I really am worried you're stalking me."

Startled, Dimitri nearly dropped the book as he turned to me. "Roza!"

"Sorry," I said sheepishly. "I didn't mean to startle you."

The corners of his lips twitched upwards as he brushed his hair out of his face. "I suppose it's only fair. I startled you this morning, so now we're even."

The mention of this morning brought back the memories of the near kiss in my kitchen, causing a wave of heat to pool low in my belly and my face to flush. Trying to hide my discomfort, I decided to change the subject and gestured to the book in his hands. "Doing a little light reading?"

Dimitri chuckled, looking a little embarrassed. "I'm on my lunch break. The gym I work at is across the street, and my little sister Viktoria has always raved about your books. I thought I would see what all of the fuss is about."

This time, I didn't try to hide my smile. "I thought you were only into Western novels, Mr. Belikov."

He grinned. "I am. But maybe I was more interested in the picture in the back than I was the actual book."

I stared at him, mouth gaped open in surprise. "Wh-"

Dimitri gave an embarrassed laugh as he put the book back on the shelf, refusing to meet my gaze. I could just barely see a hint of a blush crossing his cheeks that disappeared before I could convince myself it had actually been there. "Sorry. My mouth tends to get ahead of my brain sometimes."

An awkward silence settled between us and I shuffled my feet uncomfortably until Dimitri cleared his throat, bringing my attention back to him. "Listen, about this morning…"

I shook my head, cutting him off before he could finish. "I'm sorry about Christian. He can be a little over-protective at times, especially after…" My voice trailed off.

He gazed down at me from his lofty height, dark eyes searching mine. For what, I wasn't sure. Finally, he nodded, his face shutting down into an emotionless mask. "No apology necessary. I'm thankful you have someone like that in your life, Roza. Someone to watch out for you. I would certainly be the same."

Before I could reply, he glanced down at his watch and sighed. "I'm sorry, but I have to get back. My break is nearly over and I have another client coming in ten minutes."

A pang of disappointment shot through me, but I ignored it and flashed him a smile. "It's okay. I'll...see you around, Dimitri." I started to turn away from him, when I suddenly remembered the laptop. "Oh! I almost forgot."

He turned back to me, eyebrow arched quizzically. "Hmm?"

"I got my new laptop today. The offer to use it to Skype with your family still stands," I said. "Whenever you want."

Dimitri's expression softened and a look of awe settled on his features. "That's…" He reached his hand out as if to touch my face. He thought better of it, and gripped my arm instead, giving it a gentle squeeze, sending that same shock of energy flowing through me that seemed to happen every time he touched me. "That's very kind of you, Roza. Thank you. You have no idea how much that means to me."

The sincerity in his voice touched me and I smiled. "You're welcome."

With another gentle squeeze, he released my arm and turned away. "I'll see you soon, Roza."

It was late by the time we returned home, so Christian and Lissa started on dinner while I went upstairs to my room to set up the laptop. I needed to check my email, which I hadn't been able to do since the night before I went into the hospital after the confrontation with Jesse.

I was expecting an email from my attorney once the date for the trial had been set, and since I had yet to replace my cell phone, email was the only way I had to keep in touch with her.

I groaned as I logged into my account. One hundred and fifty-two unread messages. Mostly spam and newsletters from various book clubs I was a part of. I went through each of them, deleting the spam as I went.

I did, in fact, have an email from my lawyer that informed me the trial date had been set for January fourth, and that I needed to be back in town by then to testify.

I felt a mixture of relief and dread in the pit of my stomach. Relief due to the fact that there was finally an ending to this mess and I could put the entire situation behind me, though January was still a month and a half away.

The idea of seeing Jesse sent a shiver of fear through me. While a part of me still loved the man he used to be, an ever bigger part of me would be happy if I never had to see his face again.

I sent a quick response of acknowledgment to my lawyer, letting her know I had received the message and that I would indeed be there as requested.

Once sent, I continued going through my messages until one email made me stop as fear settled in my gut and my blood ran cold.

It was from Jesse, and had been sent just the day before. My hands shook as I hovered over the delete button, but decided against it. I didn't want to read it, but something in me made me open it anyway.

Rose,

I hope you're enjoying your little Hawaiian vacation. But don't get too comfortable there. Do you have any idea the trouble you've made for me? I've lost my job thanks to you. How the fuck am I supposed to pay for this shitty condo without a job?

We can still pretend this never happened, Rose. Just get your ass home, drop these fucking charges against me, and we can go back to the way we were. I know you. You can't make it alone. You need me, and I am willing to put all of this shit behind us and take you back. You know no one will ever love you the way I do. No one.

Be smart about this, Rose. Come home.

I'll be seeing you soon.

J.

No! Fear slammed into me as I frantically pushed away from the desk, my heart pounding in my chest. I couldn't breathe.

Nausea suddenly hit me and my stomach lurched. I rushed to the bathroom, barely making it to the toilet in time before emptying the contents of my stomach into it.

Jesse knew where I was, and I knew he was crazy enough to come find me.

"Rose!" I heard Lissa call from outside my door. "Dinner's ready!"

The thought of food made me ill as I climbed unsteadily to my feet. "I'll be right there," I replied, thankful my voice was more steady than I felt.

Rinsing my mouth out, I left the bathroom and headed downstairs to join my friends.

Lissa frowned when she saw my expression. "Hey, are you feeling okay? You're really pale."

"Fine," I lied, sitting down at the table across from her. "just really tired, I guess."

She shot a quick glance at Christian and shrugged, seeming nullified by my answer.

I watched as they piled spaghetti and garlic bread onto their plates. What was normally one of my favorite foods was causing my stomach to churn and bile to rise in my throat.

I knew I should tell them about the email, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. They worried enough about me as it was, and I didn't want to cause them any more stress. And I knew that if I told them, they would cancel their Thanksgiving plans to stay here with me, and I couldn't allow that.

So, I said nothing. Instead, I forced myself to join in as they discussed their holiday plans, and politely declined when they once again tried to talk me into coming with them.

The thought of staying in this big house alone now that Jesse knew where I was terrified me. But I refused to ruin Thanksgiving for my friends.

So what the hell was I going to do?

Suddenly, it hit me.

After dinner, I raced back to my room and grabbed the business card off my side table and dialed the number.

"Hello?" a tired, warm Russian accent answered on the third ring.

"Dimitri?" I asked timidly. "It's Rose. I'm sorry to bother you so late. But I was wondering if you had any openings for those self-defense classes you told me about."