My fists hit the coarse fabric with another satisfying thud. The blood is singing through my veins, rejoicing in the dull stinging sensation in the tight skin over my knuckles. I punch again, so fast even I almost didn't see my movement. I revel in the result of my discipline, my training. I take a fierce delight in how my body rises to almost any challenge.

The rhythm takes me, and I whip my leg up like a thunderbolt, halting the bag's wild swinging in its tracks. The crack of my flesh on the canvas echoes through the room. I'm invincible.

So caught up in the moment, I spin around a second before I register that I've heard her cough. It's late, and I'm aware that outside the gym, the first rays of the sun are lighting up the world. I should be home, probably. But then again, so should she. Yet here she stands, with that gloating, possessive smirk on her face as she watches me.

My chest is heaving from my workout, and I can feel a layer of sweat glossing my skin. My hair sticks to the back of my neck, even though I've tied it up, and I can feel my muscles tense with complaint. In short, I'm suddenly aware of how I smell, and how sorely in need of a shower I am.

Evidently Rose disagrees. Surprise surprise.

"Mind if I join you?"

I grab my towel from the bench. "Actually I was just finishing up," I say, wiping at my face and neck. "I'm going to go shower."

"Oh yeah, I could see that."

Ah, clearly she knows me too well. A sheepish grin creeps across my face. "Fine. I was in the zone. But that was before I was so rudely interrupted."

That elicits a laugh like cigar smoke and honeycomb, and I pause to savour the sound.

She steps forward, comfort and confidence saturating every movement. But stiffer than normal. I notice now how she's holding tension in her shoulders. So that's why she's here so late.

"How long did the meeting go on for?" I ask.

A flash of amusement crosses her face, then settles into a heavy lidded smile. "8 hours. But of course they took breaks."

I hum my sympathy, dropping the near sodden towel back onto its former resting place. "Come sit."

Three strides forward in order to meet her in the middle of the space, as she gracefully sinks to the ground and crosses her legs. Perfect choreography, it would appear. Or just a routine we've gone through one hundred times before. She relaxes into my hands as I kneel behind her, and begin the process of easing the knotted tension in her muscles. My thumbs trace the network beneath her skin, moving from the tender spot just beneath her skull down to her shoulders that are tough as wood.

She lets out a groan as I work my fingers into the bunches of fibres, slowly working them loose after a whole day of standing still. She leans further back into me, so I can feel the swell of her ass pressed against my knees.

My brain goes momentarily blank.

Knowing full well what will happen, but unable to resist the temptation of having her in my hands, I move my legs out from under me, placing one on either side of hers. My fingers find her spine, and I begin to work my way down. She moans again, and her head lolls back onto my shoulder. The sound of her voice goes straight to my soul.

She is so, so gorgeous. And she feels so damn right here with me. I really should not be dwelling on this...here.

But her ass is against my thighs now, and once again, it's too much for me to resist. The innocent pale shell of her ear calls out to me, and I know exactly where my nose fits. Inhaling her heady scent, I press a kiss into the vulnerable skin just behind her jaw.

I may as well have tossed a match.

When her eyes snap open, they're filled with a flame so hot that it evaporates every thought in my head. Something else takes over in that moment, and I couldn't recall myself even if I wanted to.

I have her body pressed against my chest and her hot tongue explores my mouth, dripping with a claiming kind of arrogance that makes me want to show her just how much I belong to her. My hands grip the back of her head, and I pour everything she makes me feel right back into her. I find the back of her throat, deep and luxurious, and slowly pull back with her lip grasped firmly between my teeth. Her breath spills into my mouth and over my face, warming me further.

I can't get enough of her. No amount of distance is close enough for me, no amount of sensation enough to calm the deep craving.

And then her hand is in my hair, and my mouth is nipping, worshiping its way down the glorious column of her neck, drinking in her scent, and I forget that anything else exists. Closer. More.

I barely register the bright light around us like a spotlight, stripping away any possibility of hiding. I don't think about the people that could walk in at any moment. Guaranteed they'd leave almost immediately.

She's everything. Her face fills my field of vision, her presence spans my whole horizon. She's all I can smell, the only thing I can taste. She's familiar and exciting all at once.

Rose is spread out on the floor beneath me; the silky skin of her wrists a sonnet as I hold them tightly above her head, which only serves to press the rich perfection of her body against my chest. A growl escapes my throat, but I'm barely aware of it. Truimph shines in her eyes, and she bares her teeth in that way, making me remember the velvet slick confines of her mouth.

I lean forward, pressing her even closer to me, and whisper what she will only recognize as a string of Russian. But if my mother ever heard the words that just came out of my mouth, I'd be forced to hurl myself off a cliff.

Her breath picks up, sweeping me along with her. My meaning somehow transcends the language barrier, or maybe I've just said it before. We're caught, trapped together in a tempest. Nothing can keep me from her.

"Should we maybe take this back to the apartment?" The words come from someone I wish I didn't know right now. That responsible, respectable guardian who's managed to break through the tide of feeling churning in my head.

I can tell that her somewhat less respectable guardian is buried far deeper than my own, by the light in her eyes, the twitch of her lips, the breath in her voice. "Why? Nobody is going to come in here. Well. Apart from us."

"Roza..." I intend it as a reprimand, like we're back in the days when I could pretend to have control over her, but her name escapes my mouth low and rough.

She surfaces enough to roll her eyes, but then her hand is warm on my neck, nails biting into my skin with the effort it takes to pull me closer again.

So I oblige. I know we're being silly love-struck teenagers, not able to wait another second. But it's glorious. The truth is, I love being here with her. I love being ridiculous and horny and totally encapsulated in our own world.

It's all about her. The warmth of the knowledge that I would do anything to make her happy, and the certainty that she would do the same for me.

My mind and my body unite in the sensation of her presence.

Here's hoping no one needs to use the gym anytime soon.

Author's Note

Guess who's alive! (unless being dead inside disqualifies me from using that descriptor)

Thank you so much for reading this. Please feel free to let me know what you thought by leaving a review. It's always good to know someone's reading what I write, even if I am terrible with replies. Also, if you wish to favourite and follow, please do so. I post these random oneshots from time to time, and it's a good way to keep in the loop, as I never know when the next one will happen.

Apologies for any spelling errors; this fic is unBeta'd.

The VA universe and the characters therein are the intellectual property of Richelle Mead.