Ruby moved herself out of the bed eventually and walked down to the kitchen, she looked around the kitchen and sighed. Ruby could cook if she needed to, but more often than not she would find herself just buying food simply for the convenience of it, but now she had stupidly promised to cook a roast dinner for someone, not just someone…Damon Salvatore. The man currently watching TV in her bed, she shook her head, it had seemed like a great idea last night, she looked in the cupboards to see what food she actually had; it was as bad as she thought it was, she would have to go to the shops, she would have to leave Damon alone in her house. How did she manage to get herself into these situations? Ruby ascended the stairs and watched him before entering the room, he had fallen asleep with the remote in his hands, it came as a shock that he was even more beautiful when he was asleep, when all the traces of the things that had caused him pain and anger had lost their hold of his features.

Seeing Damon like this brought out a protective urge in Ruby, she felt as though she would do anything he asked of her, that he deserved to have someone in his life that would be prepared to offer that to him. How was it that someone who was clearly hiding so much made her feel more open and strong than she had felt in a long time. When she turned she stopped and basked in the feeling, it had been a long time since someone (other than Izzy and Jackson) had made her feel strong. Leaving the UK had been so hard, but the thoughts of relationships past made it that much easier, Ruby had spent 6 years in the relationship that had been the only thing that she had ever known. Ed had been the relationship that defined her, the two of them had grown together and she genuinely believed that she would spend the rest of her life with him, it came as a bit of a shock to find that he had been sleeping with her sister. A shock was probably an understatement, the bit that had been the most difficult to grasp was when he confessed to being madly in love with Ally, Ruby's parents accepted his declaration far too easily and urged Ruby to do the same. Ally was the golden girl, she had always been the one who her parents treated like she was made of porcelain, she was beautiful; blonde hair and bright blue eyes, she was stylish, artistic and had an awful temper. Ruby remembered back to all the times that her parents had made allowances for her deplorable behaviour, embarrassing herself in front of the whole family, speaking down to those that she saw as a threat.

The one time that Ruby had stepped in had been a changing point in the family dynamic, it was on Ruby's 24th Birthday and they had gone out for a family meal, Ally was upset as all the attention wasn't on her for a change, she refused to eat anything saying she felt "exhausted" and "sick", eventually the family made the decision to take the celebrations home. Ruby wasn't really upset by the behaviour because it had been commonplace since Ruby was a little girl, when they finally made it home the family sat in the living room and decided to play old family videos of Ruby's birthdays. When Ruby and her parents started to watch the video of her 7th birthday they all laughed at how Ally had been the centre of attention, meaning the camera was on her at all times. It was still funny when they saw the same thing in the video of Ruby's 8th, 9th and even 10th birthday. But slowly and surely the laughter seemed to die away when the same thing confronted them in the Ruby's 11th, 12th and 13th birthday videos, Ruby watched the pain etched on her parents' faces, it hurt to see them sad but she was glad that they could finally see it. Ally who had been watching in the corner became painfully aware of how the atmosphere had changed, she then did the only thing she knew how to do; get the attention back on her,

"did you ever stop to think how I felt growing up in the shadow of the princess?", Ruby stared at Ally.

"What?" she choked, was she serious?

"Why do you think I was so desperate for attention? Have you ever wondered what it's like living in the shadow of someone else?" Ally's voice was croaky and broken, Ruby began to actually believe what she was telling them. The thing that brought her back to reality was her mother's voice;

"I hardly think that's true Ally, I mean you saw those videos…they were Ruby's birthday parties, not yours", her mother's voice was weaker than Ally's had been.

"WHAT?" Ally stood up from her chair and started to pace around the lounge.

"Did you WATCH the same thing as me? Anyways why I am bothering to have this conversation with you, we all know who your favourite daughter is!" she threw her hands up.

"Don't talk to your mum like that!", Ruby watched her dad rise to his feet.

"Don't you get involved in this you fucking-" Ruby lurched forwards grabbing Ally's wrists.

"Sit down you spoilt little - BRAT!" she managed to push her back onto the sofa and stood between her parents and her sibling.

"You are so full of shit Ally and you know it! Living in a shadow?" Ruby sucked in a large breath. "Give me a fucking break!…have you not seen what we put up with from you?" Ruby knew that she had erupted, even if she had wanted to she couldn't stop the onslaught that was on the tip of her tongue.

"Tonight is MY birthday, MY FUCKING BIRTHDAY….NOT YOURS you selfish little cow!" she watched Ally who sat wide eyed on the sofa.

"Do you know what it's like to spend your whole life WATCHING from the side-lines? You wouldn't know what it's like to feel overshadowed. Not a chance in hell…" Ruby could feel the emotion tearing through her voice. The tears spilled over the edge, even though she fought it desperately,

"For once in your life, for once…just stop. Stop and think of someone other than yourself!", the emotion had been too much for Ruby to bear, she watched as both parents pulled her away and rushed to a now hysterical Ally. It was almost as if she was watching a scene in a film, she left shortly after the fallout. She then received a phone call at 3 in the morning telling her that Ally had taken an overdose, the relationship deteriorated after this, she tried to get her parents to see sense, get Ally the help she was crying out for but they said that she didn't want to see Ruby anymore, that it was her fault that she had done this. Her parents asked her not to visit for a few months, only being able to meet them for lunch at the local pub.

Every meeting fractured the relationship with her family that bit more, Ally began to suspect that her parents had been secretly meeting up with Ruby. She threatened to overdose again, demanding that her parents cut all contact, they did. This was one of the reasons that Izzy had tried so desperately to get her to come over, one of the many reasons that she had succeeded. The final blow had been the morning before she had booked her flight. Ruby had believed that Ed was going to propose any time, he had been acting odd for the past few weeks, being more closed off, coming home later than usual and not answering her texts. Ruby was the most relaxed person she knew in a relationship, she never complained when Ed went to strip clubs with friends, she accepted that porn was a natural need for men and didn't feel the want to even try to compete with the women that Ed would occasionally ogle at on the TV. Although she was the same as any girl with a list of insecurities; Ed had never given her reason to be jealous, they had always been very open with each other. Izzy had managed to convince Ruby that all of this strange behaviour was leading to something good, she had been through enough shit and Ed was going to do something good for them. She couldn't have been more wrong…

Ed had been sitting at the breakfast bar when Ruby had got home from work, she knew it wasn't going to be good news as soon as she saw the expression on his face,

"what's happened Ed?" she looked at him with sympathy, he looked grey.

"come and sit Rubz", something in Ruby's body wouldn't let her move.

"no, I prefer to stand thanks. What is it?" this was going to be a body blow, she prepared herself for the impact.

"the-there's someone else Rubz. I don't know how else to say this…Fuck" he paused as if he was struggling to breathe.

"just say it" Ruby whispered staring at the floor.

"It's all in here" she looked up to see him tapping on an envelope.

"She wanted us to leave without saying anything, b-but I just couldn't do that to you, to us. You deserve better than that" he sounded so sincere Ruby felt a pang of guilt but managed to shake it off.

"You think a fucking letter is going to cut it do you? Arent you at least going to tell me with who? How long? Why?...what the hell Ed? I thought we were happy!" Ruby clamped her mouth shut as she felt the sobs tearing through her voice. Her vision becoming blurred from the threatening onslaught of tears.

"Rubz…please" he raised his hands and moved toward her.

"Don't!" she whispered desperately "Don't touch me!" Ruby cowered as if she was being physically beaten. Ed moved quickly towards the door, ruby stared at him silently.

"Read the letter Ruby, if after that you want us to talk…." He glanced over his shoulder and gave a weak smile. It made Ruby want to wretch.

Once he had finally left Ruby dragged her leaden legs over to the counter and sat staring at the letter which had nothing but the word "Rubz" written on the front. Before she could bring herself to open the letter she pulled out her mobile and called Izzy, she left a voicemail simply saying "I'm coming". When she ripped the envelope open she read the first three sentences before she tore the letter into shreds…the only words that she could make out were "in love" "Ally" and the two that killed the most "we're sorry".

Ruby looked around at this small house in leafy Georgia, Atlanta that she now saw as home. She grabbed her keys and made her way to the front door.

Chapter 8

When Ruby returned from the shops she found that Damon was up and moving about in the kitchen, "I thought I would make myself useful, so I got out all the stuff you might need", Ruby smiled brightly at him.

"Thanks" she tried her best not to sound too chirpy.

"Can I help?" his bright eyes met hers, "you could peel some potatoes for me?" he raised an eyebrow; she suspected that Damon wasnt the cooking type.

"Too menial for you?" she questioned. Damon laughed at her statement and rolled his beautiful eyes.

"Give that here and get-a-cookin' missy" he pulled the knife from her hand and went to stand over the sink. He leisurely started to peel away, seemingly at ease with the potato peeler that Ruby had not yet mastered. She had spent her time preparing the chicken, she resisted the urge to pull faces when she had to remove the giblets which were still present. Once in the oven she moved onto the stuffing, Damon had taken on the vegetable prep duties and seemed to be breezing through them. When he had chopped the carrots and cabbage he went and sat on the stool opposite the counter that Ruby was mixing the stuffing on.

"need help?" he watched quizzically, cocking his head to the side. Ruby smiled and laughed quietly under her breath.

"No thanks Salvatore, I think I'll manage" she looked up and sharply breathed in, how could she have forgotten about those bloody bright blue eyes? They caught her out every time. Almost as if he knew what he had caused Damon gave her his most dazzling all American charming smile, Ruby shook her head, they both knew there was no getting away from this so she broke first.

"Does that work on every girl?" she arched her eyebrow trying to show her indifference. Damon rolled his shoulders back and stretched his arms toward the ceiling. Ruby could see the contours of the muscles that rippled beneath his grey t-shirt; she began scanning his upper torso. She quickly snapped out of it when she noticed the smirk that was now plastered on Damon's face, smug git she thought to herself. He was milking it so she decided to call him on it, damn the questions it would raise about the state of play in their friendship.

"You use it to get what you want don't you?" the words had escaped before she was able to filter them. Damon's eyes caught hers and he froze, he was speechless.

"huh?" was all he could muster.

"the way you look, it's…does it catch everyone off guard? Or is that just me?" Ruby started biting down on her lip hard, this was unchartered waters. She had pretty much just admitted to being attracted to- no, not even that. She had just admitted that she was dumbstruck by his beauty, but Ruby had seen how he played this game, she knew that every woman that she had seen Damon come into contact with turned into a jabbering mess, she was just admitting that she too was not immune to his charms.

Damon's mouth opened but there were no words that flowed, only a stream of garbled sounds that Ruby took to mean that he was struggling to answer. He pursed his lips and rested his head on his hands which were on the counter, the liminal space between them,

"I've never wanted for female attention, if that's what you mean?" the statement Damon sounded like a question, all too quickly he was becoming aware that he wanted to get this right, he cared about what she thought of him. His eyes burned into hers, he was taken aback by the wide eyed innocence he saw in this beautiful girl who stood before him, what should he say?…Damn it. He was normally full of witticisms, why was his brain failing him now?

Ruby shook her head as if removing all of the unfamiliar emotions that were now crashing around inside her skull.

"Never mind. I'm sorry, your love life is none of my business" she stared back into the bowl. Before she could say or do something else she felt a hand on her waist, she followed the pressure as it pulled her round to face the opposite way. Her eyes focused on the bare feet which were toe to toe with her fluffy pink slippers, Damon's index finger brushed underneath her jaw and gently tilted her head upwards until Ruby's eyes were level with his. For the first time in memory, the world had stopped, had literally stopped around them, all she could see were his eyes, his dark brow as it knitted together in concern. This was a new expression she was seeing, Ruby had grown used to the fact that Damon had more faces than a dice, she had begun to pride herself on knowing the difference between the real and false ones, and the one that was holding her gaze now was most definitely real. Before Ruby became aware of what she was doing she began lift her lips to meet his, Damon followed suit, his eyes lowered to her lips as they finally connected, it began as soft and gentle as he had meant it to be, but both suddenly became aware that the nature of the kiss had begun to change. Damon sighed into the kiss as he felt her soft hands frame his face and slide into his hair; he began to rhythmically move his tongue in sync with Ruby's, the two of them seemed to surrender themselves to the moment until it became clear that they needed to breathe. Rather than pull away completely Damon rested his forehead against Ruby's, feeling her soft breath against his parted lips made him want to kiss her again and again, but he resisted the urge, instead deciding to slowly open his eyes to see her watching him expectantly.

He gave her a small smile, her breathing relaxed and her eyes brightened, she was glad to see that he hadn't seemed to regret it, as if answering her silent thoughts he spoke;

"that was nice" he whispered softly, his lips still only a fraction away from hers. She heard the smile in his words and closed the gap between them again. This time his arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her toward him tightly, his tongue explored her mouth. She could also feel him pull her even closer as she gently sighed into his kiss, she was the one to eventually break the kiss, Damon moaned at the loss of contact as she stepped away from him.

"Stuffing!" Ruby pointed at the bowl behind her, she would have to communicate through one word answers until she could pick up brains that had been scattered by Damon's searing kiss. She was pretty sure that she had never been kissed like that once, let alone a second time, and if she was going to have any hope of finishing this dinner she would need to avoid all contact with his lips, body, face…any part of Damon Salvatore's anatomy.

Damon licked his lips, Ruby had tasted amazing, he had wanted to do that for a long time but even the thought had been nothing in preparation for how it really felt to hold her, kiss her…hear her making those sounds for him. He could hear her heart beating from where he was standing, watched as she chewed on her lips newly swollen from where he had been, he had to close his eyes to gain his composure…God, he wanted her so badly.

But this was different to any other conquest, he was fully aware that how he felt for her was unlike anything he had experienced in his long, long lifetime. He pushed all of his predatory instincts to the back of his mind, he would not do that to this girl…no, he would…he would,

God.

What could he do?

This was the first person he had allowed himself to know, to care, to…love? He didn't know if he was quite there yet, but it was only a matter of time until he would be deeply and utterly in love with this girl.

This ridiculously beautiful, clever, innocent, head strong and exceedingly clumsy girl.

Damon began to feel a dark despair wash over him, he would have to stop this before it got any further, he couldn't bear to cause any pain to Ruby, the thought made him feel physically sick. But the idea of telling her the truth of who, of what he was were far worse than anything he could imagine, when he opened his eyes he backed a few steps away from where they had only moments ago been kissing.

Ruby smiled at him, only to be met with Damon's saddened expression,

"Look Ruby, I've just remembered something. We will have to postpone this dinner.." his eyes had become glacial. He was back to being indifferent, Ruby felt her features fall.

"It's nearly ready Damon, cant whatever it is wait?" she knew it was pointless asking, but she couldn't hide the fear from her voice. She didn't understand how only moments ago they had both wanted each other, she knew that he was just as into it as she had been, apart from the obvious physical signals he had held her, met her eyes. How could he now regret it?

"is this about what just happened? I thought you- we both were…", Ruby's voice had become quiet and frail. Damon's composure was failing him, he moved toward her wanting to touch her, to kiss her, leave her in no doubt as to how much her touch affected him. He stopped himself from moving any closer, his hands balling into fists at his sides, he closed his eyes and spoke carefully and weightily.

"I'm not a good catch Ruby, you've seen me. I'm not the one you want…" before she had control over what she was doing Ruby was standing in front of him, both hands on his face. As his hands moved up to remove hers she had already captured his lips again, he clenched his eyes shut wanting desperately to fight it. Before he could do anything Ruby broke the kiss and breathed onto his lips;

"you don't get to do that Mr Salvatore…you don't get to run away from this" he looked at her to see the anger in her eyes, he kissed her with all the strength he had. His hands snaked around her body and pulled her upwards, Ruby felt his hand pull her thigh upwards she allowed herself to wrap both legs around his waist. He walked them over to the counter that was just behind them and placed her on the edge, Damon's kisses moved from her lips to her neck, he trailed open mouthed kisses up the nape and nipped at her ear "I cant fight you, I dont want to run" his low voice resonated in her ear and the vibrations caused her senses to heighten, she pulled his mouth back to hers and devoured his moans with each pulse of her tongue. Ruby pulled at his shirt, her shaking hands trying desperately to unbutton each one, Damon stopped kissing and kept his eyes on hers while he gently took her hands in his and helped her undo each one was trying desperately to keep calm, she knew that his track record in this department made her experiences obsolete, sensing her angsiety Damon took her hands and interwtined them with his own. His dark eyes never left hers.

Once they had successfully unbuttoned his shirt, Ruby took the initiative and pulled her t-shirt over her head revealing her bra; Damon's bright blue eyes scanned her body and he began to remove her slippers. Ruby covered her face with her hands

"oh my God! The slippers!" Damon found himself laughing as he gently pulled her hands away from her eyes.

"are you kidding me? These are sexy as hell!" he raised his eyebrows as he spoke while giving her his sideways grin. He then held one up and kissed it before chucking it over his shoulder. Her laughter made him give her a genuine smile, something that she had only seen a few times, she used her legs wrapped around his waist to pull him back to face her, her sudden confidence caught Damon off guard and made him laugh loudly. He then gently kissed the side of her mouth before leaving butterfly kisses further down onto her chest and neck.

"Shit! Cooker!" Ruby gave her most serious face. He saw straight through her and continued with his exploration.

"If I turn it off will you make it worth my while?" he gently kissed her bare shoulder as he spoke, he heard her sigh breathlessly, it sent a thrill through him. This was it, he was going to hell for this; but he was past the point of no return.

"I'm going upstairs" she gently pushed his chest and he obliged by moving to the side, he watched her as she swung her legs and jumped off the counter. Ruby padded over and turned off all the dials on the hob and went to the sink to wash her hands Damon was leaning on his elbows watching her, once she had washed her hands she began to move towards the stairs, she pulled Damon's hand gently and he obediently followed her upstairs.

The journey up the stairs was more intense than Ruby had been expecting, she suddenly became hyper aware of everything around her, the realisation that her room was a tip as well as the fact that she probably smelt like chicken fat but the one thing that stopped her from stopping was Damon. His thumb gently rubbed the top of her hand, his way of telling her that he too was as nervous as she was.

When they made it into the bedroom Damon circled his hands round Ruby's waist pulling her into his chest while gently kissed her neck, she felt his hands slowly move to the small of her back, just underneath where her bra, his hand moved to open the clasp. Ruby felt the bra slowly fall from her shoulders, gradually, she turned to face Damon; his eyes were dark. He slowly scanned her body before he allowed himself to meet the widened eyes of Ruby, she was terrified, he could see that, but the other emotions that stirred inside her eclipsed her fear, he pulled her into a deep kiss.

She began to pull at his belt buckle, finally managing to undo it as well as his top button. He smiled against Ruby's lips and ushered her toward the bed, he gently pushed her back onto the mattress, as he pushed his trousers down to his feet. He slowly crawled up over Ruby, never allowing his eyes to leave hers, once he reached her face Damon softly began to trail kisses along her jaw line and eventually his lips began to trace down her body.

His hands gently caressed her breasts, his tongue swirling around her nipple and allowing it to harden in his mouth, he heard the small sighs from Ruby and continued along his trail, his hot open mouthed kisses becoming more forceful as Ruby's sounds became more frequent. Once he had moved further down to her navel, Damon peeled off her shorts and knickers down her smooth legs and let them fall to the floor. He began to kiss the inside of her legs up to her inner thigh. Ruby had already become breathless, her heartbeat like a hummingbird's, once he gad made it to the apex of her thighs he began to kiss her outer lips before finally reaching her centre, gently he allowed his tongue to move and lap up what juices the excitement had created.

Knowing that he was responsible for turning this girl on only made him want her more.

Ruby's hands moved into his messed black hair, her breaths had become shallow and fast, Damon brought his fingers in and slowly began moving them rhythmically in and out while continuing to kiss, lick and suck Ruby into ecstasy. He felt her hands tighten in his hair and how her quiet sighs were now becoming longer moans that she was trying desperately to stifle. The thought of her holding back was enough to make him push into her harder, Ruby felt herself coil and explode, basking in the ripples of her orgasm.

Damon slowly kissed his way back up to her lips, Ruby grabbed his head and pulled it towards her mouth, both of their breaths mingled as Damon pulled down his boxers and Ruby could feel his errection. Damon stilled, he hovered over her looking down at her, Ruby was taken aback by how he was looking at her, she had never been looked at with so much lust, want and need...that was it. It was almost as if the both of them secretly knew that this was destined to happen. Before either of them spoke and ruined the moment he kissed her long and hard, he moved over her and held himself before he pushed into her. There was no going back he thought. Even if he could, he wouldnt want to, not with her...

He knew that this would be the moment that would change everything.

He would make love to this girl, he would be sealing his own fate, he held her gaze as he slowly entered her and began to move, Damon had never felt anything that had felt so right, his hand had become intertwined with Ruby's he heard her breathless cries of ecstasy which only pushed him on.

His lips brushed against her neck as he reached her ear and he whispered the words he had so desperately tried to avoid "I'm..in..love..with..you" each word punctuated by the gentle rocking between them, Ruby's legs tightened around his waist and allowed him to push even deeper ragged breathing fell into the side of his neck "Damon..Damon..I.." Ruby struggled to think of words, his being inside her, moving in unison was quite unlike anything she had ever known. Her grip around his shoulders tightened, she was building higher than she had ever been before, the connection was so much deeper than she thought possible.

She closed her eyes and let the feelings overtake her body, Damon rolled his hips in long powerful strokes and began to push higher as he felt her walls tighten around him, how had he been missing out on this? Is this what making love felt like? He would give it all up for her, for this, to be inside her, to love her..."I love you" Ruby sighed breathlessly. It was the answer that Damon had been waiting for, his strokes became longer and slower as he felt her come apart beneath him, he held her tighter, desperate not to lose their connection.

He felt Ruby climax around him as she breathlessly called his name like an unanswered prayer, it was his final undoing, he felt the fire rip through his body as he finally found his release lost inside her. Both kept kissing and undulating as the waves of pleasure slowly subsided, Damon had no intentions of moving; he wouldn't care if he spent the rest of time staring at this girl, he hadn't realised just how deeply he'd let himself fall for her. For the first time in over 200 years, Damon Salvatore had fallen in love.