"I had him, Elena, I had him." He was pacing furiously back and forth in front of the fire. "This could have all been over." The anger tore out of him and the ancient cut crystal holding the strongest bourbon on the market smashed into a thousand pieces among the flames. He was shaking with rage, staring at the smoldering shards. The half-crazed look on his face propelled me forward.
"Damon," I said, attempting to stop his frantic motions by reaching out to grab his arm. When he flinched away from my touch I was hurt, but persisted anyway. "Damon!" I grabbed his face between my hands until he met my gaze.
"We will survive this," I told him. "We always survive." His frenzied movements came to a halt as his captivating grey eyes stared into mine. The same familiar zing of attraction shivered through my body.
He was still staring at me with a deadly serious look on his face. "We're never getting Stephan back. You know that, right?" He whispered softly, his eyes betraying him with a look of deep sorrow. His realization made me think back to times in the past when Stephan had let me down. The memories were numerous. Stephan feeding on me because of Klaus's order, Stephan telling me he had never loved me, Stephan's extensive list of his victims in that hidden room in a small Chicago apartment, Stephan giving up on his humanity completely. I had come to my own realization.
"Then we'll let him go," I said seriously. "We have to let him go." The words nearly choked me coming out, but it was the truth. Neither of us could go on living our lives like this. Always on edge, trying to get someone back who had no desire to come home. It was an awful existence for us both. It couldn't go on any longer.
He was still staring at me. Our eyes couldn't seem to pull away from each other. I felt my body shiver again under his gaze and I knew he noticed. There had always been an undeniable attraction between Damon and I. He has an uncanny ability to know when I needed someone, he had saved my life countless times, he always knew what had to be done, even if it was a difficult decision, he was there for me even when I didn't want him to be.
Another series of images flashed through my head as we continued gazing at each other. Damon saving me from the car accident, him being the first thing I saw after waking up from death, his face inches away from mine as I drifted off to sleep, him dying in my arms as his eyes closed and he confessed his love, touching my lips to his as the life drained from his body.
All of these memories flashed through my mind in a matter of seconds. The silver/grey eyes still bored into my own. I hadn't realized how close our bodies had gotten as we had both unconsciously leaned forward. Our lips were mere inches from touching and I could feel his breath intermingling with my own. I saw him glance down to my lips and back up to my eyes, almost as a reflex. My heartbeat sped up and I could tell he could hear it as that small smile I found so attractive took over his features. My breathing hitched, and just as I saw him leaning his face towards my own…
A cell phone broke through the spell. The ring was loud and abrasive and certainly enough to knock some sense back into me. What was I doing? How could I betray Stephan like this? Damon stared at me a second longer before pulling out his phone and answering Katherine.
As they spoke I turned away, attempting to compose myself. It had always been Stephan. I had told myself over and over again, Damon was wrong for me. He was the bad boy that every girl wanted to make a mistake with. I was definitely not every girl. I had no interest in the bad boys, they were a waste of time. No matter how badly a girl wanted to believe she could change him, she couldn't. Damon would never change. Even as the thought passed through my mind, however, I knew it was wrong. He already had changed. He had let himself feel again and his emotions had changed him forever. He loved me, I wasn't stupid enough not to realize that, but more than that, he loved his brother. He had spent his whole life attempting to make Stephan's life miserable, but in the end was wasting his own trying to save it. Of course Damon had changed, I knew that first hand.
I turned back to him as the phone snapped shut. "I have to get going," I told him, not meeting his eyes. "Jeremy will wonder where I am." I saw him nod slowly as I gathered my coat and purse together and headed for the door. My head was spinning and I had to get out before I did something incredibly stupid.
I had nearly made it to the door when I heard a noise behind me and felt a soft hand land on my shoulder. I spun around to face him, opening my mouth to say God-knows-what, when his lips caught mine. I gasped and nearly pulled away in shock, but my body took over. Instead of pushing him away as I knew I should have, I gave in to something I had refused to acknowledge for so long. And, God, did I want it. Sighing, I wound my arms around his neck and pulled him closer, kissing him back, hard.
When he realized I wasn't going to push him away, his hesitation fell away and his mouth became more urgent, desperate. His kisses were hot and hard and I groaned against his mouth, pulling his body closer to my own. He gave me what I wanted. I felt my back hit the wooden door as his body pressed hard against mine. His experienced hands roamed over me in all the right ways, making me shiver with anticipation. Using the door for leverage, I wrapped my legs around him and he supported my weight effortlessly.
I felt a rush of air as he ran us up the stairs at vampire speed. I landed on my back on a giant, tan comforter. I looked up at him standing in front of me. His hair was tousled and his shirt partially unbuttoned, his breathing as ragged as my own. His eyes burned with desire as he stared down at me. Sitting up, I undid the rest of the buttons of his shirt and slid it off his broad shoulders. My hands slowly slid down and back up his torso, feeling the muscles tense beneath them. His eyes closed and his head rolled back slightly as I touched him. When I reached his shoulders again, I couldn't take it anymore. I roughly grabbed his face and pulled it down to my own. I lay back, pulling him down onto the bed with me.
I awoke the next morning with the sun warming my face. For a moment, I couldn't figure out where I was. Then suddenly, the memories came back. I was lying with my head on Damon's chest, his arms loosely thrown around me. His face, so often tortured with the stress and strain of our situation, was free and beautiful in sleep.
I lay in his arms, completely content, loving the way it made me feel safe and protected. My body felt fantastic; tired, but wonderful. After a few minutes of me staring at him, he seemed to sense my eyes on him and woke up. His eyes didn't open right away, but his arms tightened around me and I was glad to snuggle in closer.
"How do you feel?" He said softly, his voice still filled with sleep.
"Perfect," I sighed into his chest. "That was the best night of my life." I admitted sheepishly. This evoked that cocky grin that was so often present on his face.
"Well I am the oldest," He joked. "It's my job to do everything better." I laughed lightly and relaxed back into him.
"You know," I commented lightly. "This bed is about a mile wide." I demonstrated my point by rolling away to the other side playfully.
"Now just where do you think you're going?" He growled, laughing as well. He rolled to the other side with me, only to wrap his strong arms around me once more and playfully nibble my neck. I giggled girlishly as he flipped me over so I was pinned underneath him.
"You know," he commented jokingly. "If I didn't heal so quickly, you may have left some serious scars last night." He grinned down at me. "Seriously, ever heard of a manicure?" He picked up my right hand as an example, to show me. I laughed.
"Oh shut up, you know you liked it," I smirked and pulled his face down to mine again.
"I never said I didn't," he whispered against my lips, still smiling.