Damon grabbed her arm and turned her to face him. "Blair," he stated, his voice flat yet somehow full of emotion as he was famous for doing. "Those human men will never make you happy. With Chuck, and even with Louis, you will always only be a shadow to them. And with Dan, he will always be a shadow to you. You need a man who will be your equal. You're Blair Waldorf."
She fixed him with her characteristic, penetrating gaze as she attempted to show no emotion. Those eyes, though, they were so intense. She couldn't look away even if she had wanted to. She also didn't pull out of his grasp although she knew, for pride's sake, she should. "And what man could be my equal?" Her tone was haughty and proud, but she wanted to hear him answer her. She wanted to hear him say it.
"Me," Damon replied, releasing her and smirking his roguish smile. Damn, when he smiled like that...
"Is that so?" she asked, masking the well of emotions which sprang up at hearing that one word.
"We can be equals for the rest of forever..." he noted, taking one step toward her and filling the gap which had lay between them. She could smell his cologne and that spicy scent she always associated with him: the scent of a vampire. "All you have to do is say the word."
Looking up at him in mild surprise, she raised her perfectly-manicured eyebrows. "You would... you would let me make the choice...?"
"Of course," he commented, his hand cupping her face, pulling her gaze up to look him in the eye. He wanted a woman who would boldly face him, not just whine and cry about his affection and always run back to Stefan like Katherine and Elena did. Blair was like him, the only human woman he'd met who was enough of a woman to maintain her feminine beauty and her will. He wanted her so badly, but he couldn't tell her. She had to want him as badly in return. He refused to become the runner up in the race of love ever again.
Her warm fingertips brushed the back of his hand where it held her face, and she stared deeply into his eyes. Her pupils dilated as if he was compelling her, but he wasn't. He knew that look, it melted some little piece of him he'd always refused to allow melt. Experts say your pupils dilate when you look at the person you love. If he had a beating heart, it would be racing right now.
"I..." she swallowed. For once in her life, Blair Waldorf was at a loss for words. She wanted to ask him if he still loved Elena although part of her knew the answer. He had loved Elena, but he no longer did. A being who had lived a couple of centuries had plenty of time to change his mind. She also didn't want to sound like a jealous fool for asking something so stupid. She had more self-worth than that. But then she wanted to ask him so many things, and she couldn't get the words to come off of her tongue. Damon filled the silence for her.
"I can hear your heart beating," he commented, seemingly off topic. Blair's eyes held a questioning look now. His hand left her face, running over her shoulder and down to her side. "It speeds up when you look at me," he informed her, and she looked away out of pride and embarrassment. "You love me..." It wasn't a question as much as it was a statement. They both knew it was true, and Blair also knew it was a test from him, wanting her to confirm it as truth. She turned back to him and looked up into those ice blue eyes but said nothing. She'd played the 'say-it-first' game before, and she wouldn't play it again. Chuck had put her heart through enough, she didn't want to spend the rest of eternity dragging her mind through that same rut.
"I want to live forever," she commented quietly, drawing herself up proudly. Damon smiled and pulled her against his chest, feeling her heart beating now, faster and faster. That would be gone soon, and he wanted to revel in it. "You have to promise me one thing first..." Blair shrugged her shoulders noncommitally and feigned impatience as she looked back up at him, trying desperately not to think about how badly she wanted those strong arms to wrap around her and take her to his bed, or the backseat of a car, or anywhere really.
Without a word, Damon grabbed her face and leaned in, kissing her passionately and taking her breath away. She melted against him, her arms sliding naturally up his back to encircled his shoulders as she kissed him back. Her mind was on fire; she had never felt anything so raw and perfect in her life. When he finally let her go, she pouted sadly and looked into his captivating gaze as he pulled her chin up to look at him, so close. "Promise you will love me forever. Just say it, and I will be yours for an eternity, Blair."
There it was again. She had to say it. It wasn't fair. Damon hadn't said it; why did she have to be the first?
"Because when I look at you, I can't believe I've ever loved another woman before you," he commented, making her heart leap in her chest at the revelation. He said it. It was no longer a race. Damon Salvatore had said those words. "But I have to know you feel the same."
Blair stammered for a moment and swallowed to get her bearings. Finally, she smiled up at him and wrapped her arms around his neck, no longer afraid of the predator she held in her arms as she had been when she'd first learned what he was. "I will love you always and forever. I love you, I love you, I love you." She kissed him this time, and she promised herself she would never let him, or their love, go.
