Thank you for reviewing guys! I'm kind of editing some stuff and it's turning out to move a little slower than I originally intended. You'll see the M rating justification shortly. ;)

Rose found herself knocking on Dimitri's door without knowing when she'd made the decision to go there. She was about two months too early – or eight months too late, depending on how you looked at it – but she had a present in one hand and a bottle of vodka in the other.

It was probably a little passe, giving vodka to a Russian, but she couldn't forego the opportunity to poke fun wherever she could.

She knocked a second time, louder. It had only been a few seconds, but whatever wave of blind courage had carried her here was retreating fast.

What if he thinks I'm here for something else? God, this is just like the lust charm. At least I'm not wearing that dress. She glanced down at her threadbare shorts and tank top pyjama combo and cursed under her breath.

"Rose?"

The door swung open and she noted gratefully that she wasn't the only one in pyjamas. Dimitri wore soft blue flannel pants and a grey V-neck shirt – loose and relaxed. His hair was a tumbled mess too, she noted affectionately. A good indicator that he'd been reading and running his hands through it. He did that lately.

"Hey," she finally answered with a bold smile. "I brought you a gift."

"Really?" he asked, moving aside as she ducked under his arm and into the small bedroom. "What for?"

"Either your birthday this year or Christmas last year," she answered, eyeing up the book that lay open and face down on the bed. She looked back at him and shook the two presents gently. "Or both."

"More like you to be late than early," he observed, closing the door softly. "Why not save them for this year?"

"I just wanted to see you open it." She threw the wrapped gift across the room, and he caught it easily. "Obviously it couldn't wait."

"Obviously." His tone was dry, but he smiled that warm smile she was becoming accustomed to.

"The vodka is more of a 'sorry-I-handed-you-your-ass-last-week-but-not-really' sort of thing," she continued as Dimitri turned the package in his hands thoughtfully. "I figured I would have the first drink, seeing as I won."

He shook his head indulgently without looking up. She wasn't going to let it go, even though they'd had a spars since with mixed results. "So more of a brag than a gift?" he asked.

She grinned and pulled herself up onto the TV cabinet, swinging her legs against the pine cupboards. The Guardian set up at Court was a lot nicer than the one at St Vlads. Most rooms had a private bathroom, and some even had kitchenettes, depending on how many strings your Moroi wanted to pull for you. Dimitri's was more basic, but he'd made it his own.

Rose's gaze travelled the room, alighting on things like the rumpled bedspread, the stack of books on the bedside table, wallet, keys and phone on the stand next to her.

"Is it a book?" he asked, sitting on the edge of the bed.

Rose rolled her eyes. "Just open it."

The beaten up gold wrapping paper tore away easily, and Rose was a little chagrined that he'd guessed right. What an obvious gift. Again. She glanced guiltily at the vodka. Was he difficult to buy for, or was she just particularly unimaginative?

Maybe she'd give him a CD for Christmas.

"Thank you," he said, dazzling her with a full smile.

"You're just being polite," she accused playfully, unscrewing the cap on the vodka.

"No, really." He stood, leaving the book on the bed, and caught her wrists in his hands. "Thank you."

Warmth curled in her stomach. Would she ever get used to the way he touched her now? All the time, and for no reason at all. Always like this – casual and innocent, almost platonic except for the burning she sometimes caught in his eyes.

She smiled up at him. "I'm glad you like it. I didn't know if you'd already read it but the girl at the store said it was her favourite."

"Haven't read it," he confirmed, taking the vodka and grabbing two glasses from the cabinet.

"Well thank God for small miracles," she joked, "a book he hasn't read yet."

"I don't read that much," Dimitri protested, pouring a shot into each glass. "I don't have the time."

"Court life seems more relaxed than one on one guarding," she said, accepting the glass with a nod of thanks. "You should have heaps of spare time."

He gave her a tight half smile in answer.

"What's wrong?"

His eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Nothing? Why?"

"That look wasn't nothing," she said pointedly. "So what's up?"

He paused, dark eyes locked with hers and warming with affection. "A month ago I'd almost forgotten what it was like to be around you," he mused.

"Forgot what it was like to have someone question everything you do?" she joked.

He looked down at his drink and didn't answer. "I took on Court for a few reasons. I had some concerns, and it's turned out to be what I was afraid it would be. I'm..."

"...not happy?" she finished for him.

He shook his head. "No, I'm not happy. But I'm not unhappy, if that makes sense. It's just not as fulfilling. Guarding one Moroi is more challenging. It means I do more with myself than just patrols and paperwork."

Rose nodded along emphatically, thinking back on the paperwork debacle of last week with distaste. "Are you thinking about taking on a permanent charge?"

"Maybe." He shrugged and lifted his glass. "What should we drink to?"

"My many victories," she answered with a cheeky grin.

"Your two victories," he corrected. "And my two victories."

"And all the ties in between," she declared.

Rose threw back the drink, her mind scrambling around the implications of his 'maybe'. 'Maybe' Dimitri was going to take on a different job. 'Maybe' he was going to disappear from Court – and her life – for good. Again. The uncertainty of it all made her heart jump and her chest ache.

The vodka was rough – admittedly, she hadn't had a lot of money to spare when she'd bribed Adrian to buy it for her last year, and she hadn't had a lot of straight alcohol recently. She struggled to keep a straight face, but judging by Dimitri's amused snort she wasn't doing a great job.

"From your old school file I thought you would be a pro at drinking," he teased lightly, patting her shoulder gently as she coughed violently.

"I'm not going to lie, it was mostly schnapps," she croaked, wiping the tears from her eyes.

Dimitri laughed, his hand lifting from her shoulder to one of the stray locks that had escaped her messy bun.

Her breath hitched as he tucked it gently back behind her ear, the brush of his fingers leaving a trail of sparks in their wake.

He was standing too close, she realised. Just like every other day since she'd seen him again. He always seemed so close that she had nowhere else to look but the bottomless warmth of chocolate eyes, nothing else to feel except the heat from his body – or was that just her?

The scent of his cologne mixed pleasantly with the sharp taste of vodka on her tongue. Would it taste the same on his? Her gaze dropped to his generous lips, tracing the shape of them.

"Roza." He said her name in a low rumble. The way his tongue rolled over the consonants made heat pool between her legs, and she hummed appreciatively in response.

His fingers traced the line of her jaw, the pad of his thumb dragging over her lips gently, encouraging them to part. Her breath on his fingers drew him closer, his free hand starting on her knee, sliding over the outside of her bare thigh, guiding her legs apart as he stepped between them.

"Roza, I want to kiss you," he murmured, capturing her hooded gaze with inescapable intensity, "and I want you to want it."

Only inches between them, with her panting helplessly against his thumb as it pressed gently against her bottom lip, and he was still wondering?

"Tell me," he urged, curling his fingers behind her knee, pulling her gently to the edge. "Ask me to kiss you."

Her answer was ready on her tongue – please, for the love of God, just kiss me - and her whole body buzzed with anticipation.

Then Dimitri frowned.

"What?" Rose asked, the sensual heat in her stomach cooling quickly.

His hand dropped from her cheek, and the hot trail he'd burned up her thigh with his fingers sizzled out as he pulled away.

"Hans," he growled, grabbing his vibrating phone from the cabinet with a curse. He stepped away as he opened the message, and Rose blinked at the rush of cool air that seemed to seep through her threadbare clothes.

She caught her breath and held it in her cheeks, working to calm her enthusiastic pulse as it beat double time. Everywhere he'd touched sang with pleasure, and the places he'd hadn't… she shivered and crossed her legs.

"What does he want?" she asked eagerly, half preoccupied by thoughts of what might have been if Hans had waited. The ghost of past kisses tingled pleasantly on her lips.

He glanced between her and the phone. "Nothing."

Rose laughed, uncrossing her legs and leaning back. "I don't believe you."

"It doesn't matter right now," he told her seriously, throwing his phone over his shoulder so that it bounced lightly on the bed.

"He needs a shift covered, doesn't he?" she pressed. "Right now?"

Dimitri shrugged, moving back towards her. "Maybe."

"You're not even going to answer?" she asked incredulously. "God, you're such a badass."

He smiled at the dig, tilting his head curiously as he stopped before her. "Do you want me to go?" he asked softly.

God, no, she thought, drinking in the way his soft shirt clung to his broad shoulders. She wanted him to stay and kiss her until she was dizzy, touch her until he satisfied all the parts of her that ached, overwhelm every sense until everything was only about him and the way he made her feel.

The strength of that desire tugged her heart down into her stomach, and the adrenaline rocketing through her had more to do with uncertainty than arousal.

Rose played with the hem of her shorts, pulling at a loose thread. "No," she answered honestly. "But maybe you should. I need to think about this."

"Think about what?"

About whether or not I can handle it if you leave again. "You know, about what we even are. What I want."

He hummed thoughtfully, eyebrows knitting together. "Rose, if I crossed a line, I want to apologise."

She shook her head. "You didn't." That might even be the problem. Here they were again, a breath away from falling into each others arms despite everything.

"If you need time, that's fine," Dimitri continued earnestly, trying to catch her gaze as she looked down at her knees. "But you should know that this can be whatever you want."

A coy half smile graced her lips. "What if I just want to be friends?"

Dimitri rolled his head back, working some tension out of his shoulders. "If that's what you want," he answered after a moment, his expression inscrutable. "Is that what you want?"

Rose shrugged as her hands found purchase in the smooth fabric of his shirt. "Would that frustrate you?" she teased, leaning forward so that her face was inches from his chest.

His stoic expression remained unchanged. "No."

Her wandering hands trailed down his torso, pulling at the thin fabric so that it stretched deliciously over his muscled chest, teasing the breath out of him in an unsteady rhythm.

"You wanted to think about this," he reminded her huskily as her hands flirted with indecency, toying with the hem of his shirt and tracing the muscles of his lower abdomen.

She grinned wickedly and looked up at him through her lashes. "I can't stop thinking about this."

He groaned, catching her hands with his. "I must be an idiot to stop you," he muttered, stepping away, "but I'm going to let Hans know that I'll take that shift."

The distance once again had a sobering effect, and Rose felt how flushed with heat she was from her own teasing. Played yourself, she thought wryly.

Thank God for Dimitri's self control, because she had none.

She pushed herself off the cabinet, landing lightly on the carpeted floor while Dimitri busied himself with his phone. "Were you serious about being friends?" she asked after he'd finished his message. "That it wouldn't bother you?"

He considered it as he dropped his phone back onto the bed. "If that's the only way to have you in my life? I would be happy."

"But would it bother you?"

"If you touched me like that?" His heated gaze swept over her body. "We might have some problems."

She laughed easily, pleased with his admission. "Maybe we should stay away from each other until I sort this out."

"We stayed away from each other for six months," he pointed out. "It didn't seem to help."

"Do you have any other suggestions?" she asked.

"We could have dinner tomorrow night," he offered, attentive dark eyes watching her closely.

"Like a date?" she asked, half joking.

Dimitri hummed his affirmation and her stomach flipped. "Unless you just want to be friends?"

"I don't want that," she said quietly. "I think a date would be interesting."

"Somewhere public," he ribbed gently, a sly smile lightening his eyes, "so you'd have to keep your hands to yourself."

Eyebrows rising, Rose crossed her arms. "You sure think a lot of yourself, don't you?"

"No, I just have a lot of experience with Rose Hathaway's impulse control."

Rose laughed. "I'll work on that."

His eyes sparkled as he made his way to her side. "Please don't." He was careful not to touch her even though the air simmered with tension, and Rose backed away. She didn't trust herself not to touch him again, and he didn't need any more evidence that she couldn't control herself.

"You have to get to that shift," she reminded him, backing into the door. He followed her playfully, reaching around her to open it.

The barest touch of his hand against her arm sent a charge of arousal through her core, and she inhaled sharply.

The cool air of the corridor hit her back, and for a moment she forgot why she was leaving. Was she insane?

Dimitri smiled at her reminder. "Yes, and you have to go, because I need to get changed."

Hazy memories of bare chested Dimitri danced across her mind, and she bit her lip lustfully. "You sure I can't stay for that bit?"

He laughed and pushed her out the door.