A/N: So... My first real attempt at writing anything of a non-G-rated nature, haha. There's not much that's terribly explicit (not sure if it really warrants the rating?) but I hope it's not too painful! XD Enjoy!
Despite the amount of persuasion it had taken from Nikola to convince Helen to go on vacation, she couldn't bring herself to regret agreeing. Vienna was, and had always been, beautiful at this time of year. Through the windows of their hotel they could see the mountains rising. Sunlight warmed the cold mist of morning, slanting into their room and onto their bed.
Not that Helen was feeling at all chilled. Recent and highly enthusiastic ministrations on Nikola's part had kept her quite warm, leaving a faint sheen of sweat on her skin as she sank back against the bed to catch her breath. A sated smile spread languidly across her face as she watched the sunbeams on the ceiling, widening as she lowered her gaze to admire the strands of gold in Nikola's unruly brown hair. (Somewhat unrulier than usual, Helen considered, given the way her fingers had been tangled through it mere minutes before.)
Nikola was whispering something she couldn't quite hear, pressing soft kisses to the inside of her thigh. A sigh of contentment escaped her as he brushed his lips over her skin, as he ran his hand over the leg she had hooked over his shoulder. Then it was quite a different sigh as he slipped under it and climbed onto the bed beside her.
Still, she supposed it would have been unrealistic to expect him to stay there the entire day (even if he might have tried if she had asked). Besides, his warmth was very welcome beside her as the sweat began to cool off her body and she could feel the chill of the morning air.
Nikola had curled up on his side next to her and was watching her with a tender light in his eyes and a rather smug smile. No doubt he was deriving great satisfaction from her uneven breathing.
"Helen, my dear," he murmured, edging closer. "Have I incapacitated you?"
"Only temporarily," she panted. "You're a menace to society."
"Perhaps you should lock me away in a dungeon and punish me."
Helen grinned. "You'd like that too much."
He leaned over and whispered in her ear. "Want to find out?"
Helen turned to face him, lips only inches from his. "Give me a moment to catch my breath and I'll take you up on that offer."
Nikola smirked at her. "My my, Helen, next you'll be telling me you packed the titanium cuffs in case we ran into a nest of deadly vampires." He adjusted his position on the bed, leaning in to kiss her jaw, lips caressing her skin for a moment before moving slowly down her neck.
"How do you know there isn't a nest of deadly vampires here?" Helen let her head fall back, stifling a groan as Nikola reached her throat and stopped, tongue swirling over her skin with tantalizing slowness.
"In that case," he said after a moment, breath hot on her neck. "I'd say we put them to good use before we need them to keep the deadly vampires at bay."
"Excellent plan." Helen's breath hitched as his kisses moved even lower, ghosting over her collarbone. "One small flaw, I'm afraid."
"What's that?"
Helen's lips curved as he kissed her once more, still waiting for an answer; then she flipped them both, pushing him onto his back and rolling on top of him. She caught a glimpse of his quick grin before capturing his lips in a fierce kiss. Nikola leaned up, prolonging it, his arms wrapping around her.
Helen adjusted her position on Nikola, smirking down at him. "The cuffs are in my suitcase and I find myself entirely disinclined to go and get them."
Nikola's grin widened, and Helen leaned down to kiss his dimples as he pulled her against him a little tighter. He ran his fingers lazily through her hair. "As always you present a stunning case, my dear. I really have no choice but to agree with you."
Helen chuckled and kissed him again. "I thought you might."
"And I try so hard to be roguish and unpredictable. You know me too well, Helen."
Helen smirked again. "Mmm… For example…" This time it was his breath that caught as she dragged her mouth down to his neck. He shivered when she let her teeth scrape against his skin, letting out a low moan.
"Oh, Helen," he managed. "I can work with that."
They collapsed together afterwards in a tangle of limbs, panting and holding tightly to each other as they came back to earth. Nikola curled up on top of her, warm and heavy, breathing ragged against her heart. A few strands of his sweat-dampened hair were plastered to his forehead, the rest of it tickling her chin and making her smile. One hand still lay to his side, entwined with hers.
The same wash of lazy contentment from before was beginning to overtake Helen again. Her eyes were half-closed as she reached up her free hand and combed gently through Nikola's hair, breathing in deep and collecting herself.
"Helen," he whispered, squeezing her hand.
"Nikola." Helen stroked his hair, brushing her fingers against his temple.
Their barriers came down at times like this: Nikola's voice had been pure adoration, and even Helen had let his name slip off her tongue tenderly, suffused with more affection than she usually showed.
They lay there together for a few minutes. Nikola started humming softly in the back of his throat, Helen still carding her fingers through his hair.
"Well, do you still want me to lock you up and punish you?" Helen asked with amusement.
He kissed her throat. "Oh Helen, do you really need to ask?"
Helen shook her head, a smile playing across her face. She rolled them over until she was laying atop him, sliding down so that she could kiss him. Nikola kissed her back slowly, unhurried, lips parting under hers.
"This is hardly punishment," he pointed out.
"It's not supposed to be." Helen kissed him again, holding him close and letting the taste of him fill her.
His arms wrapped around her again, surrounding her with warmth. Helen let out a sigh against his mouth as he caressed her, running his fingers through her hair, across her bare back, over the curve of her hips.
"Then what is it, Helen?" he asked, voice low as she broke their kiss for air. She nipped at his lips.
Helen's eyes strayed downwards, observing with pleasure the red marks she'd left on his pale neck earlier. They wouldn't last long – the only downfall to Nikola's healing powers - but seeing them still sent ripples of satisfaction running through her.
"This is dessert." She claimed his mouth again, kisses deepening as they pressed together.
Unfortunately, Helen's stomach picked that moment to rumble. She hadn't had anything to eat since yesterday evening, and it was now close to eleven o'clock. She and Nikola had spent most of the morning in bed.
Helen pulled back with a rueful smile.
"Maybe you should have a few more courses first," Nikola said, looking half-amused, half-contrite.
"Perhaps." Helen's lips twitched.
He pulled her down and kissed her tenderly. "Sorry, my dear," he murmured against her lips. "Forgot you were only part vampire."
She kissed his cheek. "No need to apologize, Nikola. But we may have to put a stop to this for a while."
Reluctantly, she pushed herself off him and fell back onto her pillow, stretching with a groan. She still felt so languid and relaxed, she could hardly bear to think of bathing and dressing right now.
"Then what say I go and get you something?" Nikola said, throwing an arm over her and snuggling close, nibbling at her earlobe. "After all, you know, it's my fault you're in bed so late anyway. I guess being with such a spectacular, mind-blowing, incredible lover such as myself has its downsides – "
"Thank you, Nikola," Helen said dryly. He grinned and bounded to his feet, disappearing into the bathroom, no doubt to clean himself up a bit before going downstairs.
Helen leaned over and fumbled around the floor for the dressing gown she'd worn to bed the night before (Nikola's favorite, a deep, rich red the color of wine, which he always got a lot of innuendo mileage out of). She managed to pull it on without getting up, and was just tying the front when Nikola came back into the room.
"Ooh, nice, Helen," he said, blurring over to his suitcase with vampiric speed and digging around in it. "Though I liked what you were wearing before."
"I could say the same for you," she replied as he pulled on his clothes, a light grey fitted suit with a matching waistcoat, trimmed in black. Very, very fitted… He turned slightly, giving Helen the perfect angle to admire the black silk backing of the waistcoat over his narrow frame, the way those very, very fitted pants clung to him.
Judging from his delighted expression, he was intentionally putting on a show for her. Helen might have been annoyed if she hadn't wanted to throw him up against a wall and peel that suit off piece by piece.
"Well, I don't think our fellow guests would appreciate me sashaying down to the breakfast bar fully nude. At least, some of them wouldn't."
Helen laughed. "You think you're positively irresistible, don't you?"
"Only to you." Nikola quirked an eyebrow, daring her to disagree with him.
"In your dreams, Nikola."
"Always. Now what do you want for breakfast, my love?" He walked over to the mirror (slowly, with his back to Helen) and fastened his tie, smirking at her reflection.
"I'll tell you, but only for a price."
He looked over at her as he finished knotting his tie, his forehead wrinkling. "What price is that?"
Helen lifted a hand and crooked her finger, beckoning him towards her. Dimples spread over his cheeks as he bestowed a brilliant smile on her and glided over, sitting on the bed next to her. "Dearest Helen," he said, "as much as I'd love to come to bed again, you won't get any breakfast if I do."
"To hell with breakfast," Helen muttered, and yanked him down to crush her lips against his.
Nikola let out a noise somewhere between a squeak and a groan before promptly melting into her arms. Helen's hands skimmed over his back, catching on the buckle on his waistcoat before moving down to his hips. She got a handful and squeezed, grinning as he drew in his breath sharply.
"Helen, you devilish woman," he breathed against her lips. "Neither of us are ever going to leave the room at this rate."
"And?" Helen pulled him down again, the soft moan he let out into her mouth reverberating through her. She wrapped a leg around him, trapping him further.
"Oh, I'd love it," he answered. "But my dear – " He pressed his lips to hers for a moment. "I might feel guilty if you starved to death because we got distracted making sweet passionate love to each other all week."
Helen pulled back, giving him an unimpressed look. "Sweet passionate love? Really, Nikola? Is that the best you can come up with?"
"Maybe I'll show you when I get back… after you'd had a full and nourishing breakfast, of course." His eyes were twinkling. "But until then, dear Helen…" He kissed her cheek and disentangled himself from her arms, grinning widely.
Helen frowned as his comfortably warm weight left her body. "Since when are you the responsible one?"
"Well I never said I was going to eat breakfast, did I?"
"Nonsense." Helen sat up, pulling her dressing gown tighter around her. Without Nikola nearby, she could feel more of the chill in the air. "If I eat, then you should as well."
"Helen, please. I'm a vampire. I don't need to eat."
"And when was the last time you had your plasma supplement, hmm? I know for a fact that it's been at least twenty-four hours, because I've been with you that whole time."
"Mmm, you certainly have." Nikola took a step towards her, looking as if he was rethinking his plan of a nourishing breakfast.
"I'll make you a proposal," Helen said.
He swallowed, though whether it was at her word choice or her rather throaty tone, Helen wasn't entirely sure. "What kind of proposal?"
"I'll eat your full and nourishing breakfast, if you have a dose of animal plasma. I won't have you starving just because you don't want to taste bad for a few hours."
"You know I don't mind, Nikola," she added, chuckling at the guilty expression on his face.
"Fine," he said, turning slightly red. "Deal."
Nikola was gone longer than Helen was expecting, and she began to feel rather sleepy. Damn that man, he'd worn her out and it wasn't even lunchtime yet. She slipped under the blankets, her eyes closing against her pillow. It was a strange feeling, not having any responsibilities to attend to. Helen thought she would get very tired of it after a few days, but right now, it was rather nice to just lie in bed and listen to the birds outside their window.
He finally returned about half an hour later, carrying a tray and humming under his breath. When he saw her curled up in bed, he stopped dead in his tracks and practically tiptoed the rest of the way.
"I'm not asleep, Nikola," she mumbled into his pillow. She had rolled over to his side about fifteen minutes ago.
"Oh, excellent," He set the tray down with a rattle and slid into bed with her, leaning over and kissing her forehead. "Miss me?"
Helen turned over and looked at him, still looking completely irresistible, eyes sparkling with mischief. "What sort of tea did they have?"
Nikola pouted. "Aww, Helen…."
"Well… Just a tiny bit." Helen was rewarded by a grin spreading across his face again. "Now hand over the tea and perhaps I will forgive you for leaving."
Nikola pushed the tray over to her and kissed her again.
"I see someone has been distracted from a full and nourishing breakfast," Helen said sarcastically.
"Hmm, you're winning me over with your wicked ways, Helen my dear. Eat up, I brought you all sorts of tasty treats. Including myself, of course."
Helen rolled her eyes but turned her attention to breakfast after that. Nikola lay next to her, arms crossed behind his head, watching her eat and occasionally kissing her hand or cheek.
"I believe you owe me something for this, Nikola," she pointed out as she finished the last bite and drank the rest of her tea.
Nikola sighed, getting up and going over to his suitcase again. He drew out a small silver case and opened it, plucking a vial of gold liquid out from its resting place inside. Tipping it back, he swallowed it in one gulp, his nose wrinkling in what Helen would never tell him she considered an entirely adorable way.
"Happy now?" He raised an eyebrow in an accusing fashion.
"Quite. And yourself?"
"Enough. Care for more dessert?"
Helen smiled. "I'd love some." She set the tray aside and got up, heading for the bathroom.
Nikola caught up to her. "And what did you have in mind?"
Helen told him, in very precise terms.
"Ohh." Nikola's voice came out in a groan. "Well then… Lead the way."
Catching his hand in hers, Helen did just that.
A/N: There might possibly be follow-ups to this, though it kind of depends on my schedule. Anyway, thanks for reading!