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DIRECTION I AM GOING WITH ADRIAN..

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THANKS AGAIN! TERRI

CHAPTER 42

ADRIAN'S POV

I was packing what little I brought with me to Russia, when I thought I heard a knock at the door. I dismissed it knowing there would be no one here to see me.

I continued packing when I heard the knock again, only this time it was much louder. And to my surprise it was my door.

You could imagine my shock when I opened it to see who was standing in front of me. My heart nearly stopped beating as I took in the sight of her.

She stood there in the doorway; completely drenched, hair in her face, and her chest heaving from what I believed was from running here all the way from the Belikov home.

My eyes widened with surprise and disbelief. "Rose? What are y….?"

She threw herself into my arms, knocking me off balance. "I don't want to lose you, Adrian." She cried.

They were the most amazing words I've ever heard spoken. I held her tighter and whispered to her. "You could never lose me. I couldn't let you go even if I tried."

I kissed her hair, while breathing her in. It felt good to actually take a full breath of air into my lungs. It seemed as though I haven't taken a breath since I walked away, leaving her standing there all alone.

She pulled back to get a better look at me. As I reached forward and brushed her wet hair from her eyes while we just stared at each other. You could feel the energy between us.

Rose and I were connected more right now at this moment than we ever were. Something changed in that moment, the moment our eyes meet and she felt it too!

It was evident as we stood there in each other's arms. It felt as though one of us would die without the other. It was wonderful and frightening at the same time.

I had no idea what it meant and I sure the hell didn't want to ever find out.

I felt her shiver slightly. "Let's get you out of those wet clothes."

She looked at me like I had just lost my mind.

"Rose, that's not what I meant. You've got to be freezing. Don't deny it. I can feel you shivering."

"I am freezing. And good thing you weren't thinking that way!" She let out a small giggle as she warned me.

"I may be thinking of putting you on probation, yet again. And you most certainly haven't earned enough good behavior merits to get any kind of action from me. Not yet anyhow."

She gave me the most amazing smile. I knew the incident with Ashley wasn't forgotten, not by a long shot. But, it was obvious she was willing to try to forgive me.

I smiled back at her while leading her into the bedroom. "Come on! You're too much my Little Dhampir."

She had went into the bathroom to remove her wet clothes and hang them to dry. I sat on the bed, nervously waiting for her to come back out. I was scared to death to say anything, afraid that if I said the wrong thing she would walk out the door.

I was happy when she finally entered the bedroom. She looked so beautiful in my button down shirt as she walked toward me. I considered myself very lucky that she still wanted to be with me.

"Can I stay here with you? I am so tired." I felt both happy and sad at the same time. I was happy that she wanted to stay here with me, but sad that she felt like she had to ask me permission.

"Absolutely." I pulled down the covers allowing her to crawl under them; I covered her up, and turned to walk out the bedroom.

"Adrian?" Rose called to me.

I turned to her. "Yeah?"

"Where are you going? Don't you want to lay down with me?" The hurt was evident on her face as she ask the question.

I walked over to the bed. "Of course I want to sleep with you. But, I didn't want to push too far, or assume I had any right."

She patted the empty side of the bed. "Don't be ridiculous. Get in here."

I got in the bed and laid on my side to face her. I just stared at her face, but nothing else. No touching, no words, nothing.

"What's wrong Adrian?"

I grinned at her. "Nothing…. absolutely nothing. I am glad you're here with me... I am just afraid."

She furrowed her brow in confusion. "Afraid? Afraid of what? I am here with you. What is there to fear?"

"I am afraid to say the wrong thing or to even touch you." I admitted to her.

She ran her fingers through my hair while leaving a tingling sensation throughout my whole body. "Adrian, don't be scared to touch me… I love you."

"I love you, too! So much! I can't begin to tell you how sorry I am that I hurt you." My voice started to quiver from the emotions I was feeling. What ever did I do to deserve her.

I saw the tears form in her eyes and then they slowly started to drift down her cheeks. I've hurt her so much. I was a complete idiot.

I cupped her cheeks while gently brushing away her tears with my thumb. "I will never hurt you again. I promise, you will never cry another sorrowful tear because of me."

She admired me as she traced my lips with her finger. She had something she wanted to say, but she wouldn't for some reason. "Rose, what are you thinking? Please tell me."

It was then, a sob broke from her chest. Oh shit! I knew this was going to happen... What did I say?

"It's so stupid. It's just that…. I hate the fact that her lips touched yours. That you kissed her the way you kiss me. I can't bear the thought. It hurts so bad to think about it Adrian."

I held her body tightly against mine. I can only imagine the pain she is feeling. I feel like that every time I think of her and Dimitri together.

The deep love they shared, making a beautiful child together, and I couldn't compare to that. But yet, she never inflicted that pain on me.

I knew all about the situation beforehand. She has never caused me to doubt her or her feelings for me.

As far as Ethan was concerned, he was a wonderful reminder of their love. I was the lucky one who got to raise him as my own.

I was always jealous of a man who was no longer here with us and it didn't make sense for me to feel the way I did. I knew she loved me and I had to learn to let all of that go.

But, not Rose, she knows that Ashley is here, lives close to us. Rose's situation was nothing like mine. Hers was worse.

The pain she is feeling is different because the person was right in front of her as a painful reminder of my mistake. I caused her to feel it because I was weak. I've let me down.

"Rose, please don't cry. I never wanted to cause you pain. I was an idiot. I would take it all back if I could, but I can't." I held onto her.

"Christ Rose, how can I make this right? Tell me what you need and I will do it. I'll do anything." I pleaded for some kind of help to make it right.

"Just promise me, swear to me that you will never do it again. You won't be with anyone other than me. I can't bear the thought of you touching or kissing someone else other than me. Can you promise it and mean it, Adrian?"

I took her face in my hands, and locked my eyes with hers. "Rose, I will NEVER do anything like that again. I will stay faithful to you and only you until my dying day. I swear."

She held my gaze. "I forgive you."

I let out a relieved breath. "I am going to promise you something else. I am done drinking alcohol."

She started to laugh. "That's fine. Great even. But, I was hoping when we had our combined Bachelor/Bachelorette party in a couple weeks that we could let loose. I was hoping to live it up a bit.

How can you go to the Grand Caymans for a party and not drink? Maybe, you can quit after the wedding?"

I was in shock. "You're still going to marry me next month?"

She gave me that smile, the one that would make me do anything for her. "Hmmm. I was thinking about it. If you're lucky enough."

I grabbed her and pulled her against me once again. "Have I earned any good behavior merits yet?"

"Mr. Ivashkov, I've only been here an hour. How many merits do you feel you deserve or earned for that matter?"

I gave her a smirk. "I was hoping for enough to be able to kiss you."

She wrapped her arms around my neck. "I think you've earned enough for that."

I was so nervous to kiss her as I ran my fingertips every so lightly from her temple sliding them along her cheek, jaw, and rested them under her chin, lifting her face up to mine. I gently pressed my lips to hers.

It was nothing serious, just a soft, wonderful kiss. I started to pull away from her when she caught me off guard. Rose grabbed my hair, forcing my lips back to hers.

After a few incredible minutes, we pulled away breathless. She wasn't holding back as she started to undress me. I began kissing her again, more passionately this time.

"Rose." I whispered against her lips. "You have nothing to prove to me."

She jerked back from me. "You don't want to? You don't want me?"

I gave her a look like she was crazy. "Really? You can't possibly think that. I want nothing more than to make love to you. I just wanted you to be sure."

"Well, stop talking and show me how much you want me." She demanded as she pulled me back to her.

Hell, she didn't have to tell me twice as I started to slowly unbutton her shirt. My hands were trembling from the feel of her skin. I wasn't even sure how I can handle making love to her.

The way it feels when our skin touches is so intense. It is both the best and oddest sensation I ever felt. The only way logical way to describe it is when I touched her, I felt it.

I pulled away from her because I had to know if she was feeling the same thing.

"Rose? Can I ask you something?"

She laughed. "It's a strange time to be asking questions. But, yeah, sure."

"When I touch you does it feel different?"

"Different? Different how?" She asked me with a confused expression.

"I don't know, when we touch does it seems... maybe more intense?" I was having a hard time explaining it to her. Hell, I could barely explain it to myself.

"It's always intense. But, yeah. I understand what you mean. It seems that things have changed between us recently. Not in a bad way, a good way. I feel like we are connected, not in the mental capacity that Lissa and I are.

But, this feels like something similar, but not. Does that even make sense?"

I nodded my head. "Absolutely, I can feel what you're feeling. Not like emotions, or your thoughts. I can't describe it. It's not overpowering or anything. It's actually quite pleasurable.

It's not a real touch kind of feeling, exactly. But, maybe more of having a sense of what your physically feeling and that makes it more intense…I have no damn idea what I am trying to say." I laughed at myself for giving such a half-assed explanation to her.

So, I decided to try again. "I feel like you're an extension of myself. I feel as if you were to die, my life would end too! It is like one couldn't survive without the other. Is that how you feel?

I think when you gave me your blood, it bonded us, not in a mental way, but more of a physical way. It's a feeling I have no control over whatsoever. It feels engrained within me."

Her beautiful brown eyes stared into mine. "You mean we are soul mates….. in the literal sense. So, when I gave you my blood you think our physical souls merged somehow?"

"I'm not sure. But, I do know when I walked away from you earlier, it was like part of me was missing. And I only felt whole again when I held you in my arms."

"Wow! I am bonded all over the place and you are turning into a spirit wielding, shadow-kissed, possible part strigoi whatever." She laughed. "What a damn pair we make, huh?"

"As long as we remain a pair that's all I care about. The rest will work itself out."

She wrapped her arms me. "I really hope you're right."

"You're tired. Get some sleep."

She glanced up at me. "How do you know I am tired?"

I started laughing. "I can sense it, feel it, whatever you want to call it."

I wrapped her in my arms, and kissed her forehead. "Go to sleep my little dhampir. I will see you in the a few hours. "

ROSE'S POV

I was sleeping so good in that big, comfortable bed when I felt Adrian lightly shake me. "Rose, it's time to wake up."

I turned over and moaned. "I don't want too!"

Adrian laughed at me. "You have too..and besides, I have coffee and food here for you."

I opened one eye. "What kind of food?"

"You will just have to sit up and find out."

I let out a big, exaggerated sigh. "You suck!"

Adrian laughed again. "Yeah…sometimes I do. Eat your food."

He had coffee, fresh fruit, bagels, and pastries for me. I was starving. It seemed like the last few days I could barely eat. My stomach was constantly on edge.

But, with everything going on, I am not surprised I felt queasy.

I was quietly chewing my food when I noticed Adrian was staring at me. He seemed mesmerized with something. I mean I know I am beautiful, but...geesh!

I couldn't take it after a minute or so. I had to yell at him. "Adrian, Why the hell are you staring at me while I eat? It's nerve wracking."

He shook his head as if he were coming out of a daze. "I am sorry. I didn't realize I was staring so long."

He gave me that ridiculously gorgeous grin. "Are you feeling alright?" He had asked.

I shrugged my shoulders. "Yeah…I feel fine. Why? What is it?"

"Your aura is really different. I have no idea what it means. And I was just curious if you felt okay. I wasn't sensing anything, so I figured I would ask."

"What does it look like?" I was completely curious at this point.

"It is golden, with a trace of a black outline. But, you also have a shade of blue with light pink, and then a dark pink surrounding those colors. It's as if the dark pink is cradling the gold, blue, and light pink. The black outline surrounds the dark pink.

It's unlike anything I've ever seen before. The best way to describe it would be like looking at a rainbow in circular form. What's strange is that, gold is the aura color for spirit users and we both know you're not a spirit user."

"I don't know. I feel fine, so I guess it's nothing." I really did feel good. I was tired, but other than that, I actually felt great .

Adrian leaned in and brushed his lips to mine. "You're right. It's probably nothing." He paused a minute. "Rose, I didn't get a chance to tell you this morning. But, I am due to go back home in 8 hours."

"Yeah, Viktoria told me you were leaving. Do you have to go? You could stay with me at Olena's home." I didn't need to mention Dimitri's name knowing it really wasn't his home anymore.

"No..I can't do that. I've intruded on your visit long enough. And I really doubt if Dimitri's mother would roll out the welcome rug for me."

I took his hand in mine. "You would be surprised. She is the one who made me see reason. She is why I came here."

"Olena Belikov? She's the reason that you're here?"

"Well, not really the reason I'm here. She made me see why I needed to be here…with you. She felt you deserved a second chance."

"I would have never expected that." Adrian said with a look of astonishment.

"Why don't you come with me to meet Olena and her family?"

"I don't know. I wouldn't feel right."

"Adrian, you have to tell your son good-bye before you leave anyways. So, you're coming with me. Remember your on probation and you have to do what I say." I stuck my tongue out at him like I was a three year old.

"You don't play fair, Hathaway." His beautiful green eyes sparkled as he spoke to me.

"I never said I did. Now, get your fine ass dressed so we can leave." I smacked him as he got up from the bed.

Okay Guys! Hope you liked it…

I wasn't going to update tonight because I was so mad at my husband. BUT..I did! :D

I was afraid if I wrote.. Poor Adrian would have ended up being Strigoi food….Hand delivered by Rose…LOL

FYI...NEED YOU NOW…BY LADY ANTEBELLUM…set the tone for this chapter..:)