Long, dark brown hair. Mesmerizingly brown eyes. Pouty lips. A soft jaw. Eyelashes longer than a doll's.
And a really great body.
This is my new PA? And I'm expected not to take her to bed. Good job, Caroline. Good damn job, Damon thought.
Damon approached her, this Elena, and stopped in front of her. Her eyes climbed up his body until they met his, and she held his gaze steadily. No wavering, no lip quivering, no blushing. If it wasn't for the way her tongue was flicking against her bottom lip, Damon would say she couldn't give a damn she was standing in front of him.
"Elena," He said slowly, trying her name out. It rolled off his tongue perfectly. "Hey."
"Hello," she replied demurely, holding his gaze for a second longer.
Demure. Damn. I don't do demure. But then again, I can't do her, so what does it matter? Damon reminded himself.
"You think you can keep up with a band's lifestyle?"
"I will give it my best shot."
His lips tugged to the side. "I'm sure you will, darling. Are you used to showing girls out of hotel rooms?"
"Not particularly, although I'm sure it is something I will have to get used to pretty quickly. Am I right, Mr Salvatore?"
Mr Salvatore? What the hell? Damon frowned. "My name is Damon."
"To those close to you, and forgive me for saying so, but I would rather like to keep my distance." Elena smiled, unruffled, and stepped to the side. "It is really great to meet you all. I'm sorry we are late. It is my fault."
She pulled out the spare chair between Caroline and Stefan, smoothing her dress under her ass, took a seat. She swept her hair around to one side, exposing her neck to Damon's line of view as he walked around the table and sat back down.
Damn. Damn. Damn. Damon cursed silently. What was with the hot PAs? Couldn't they hire some ugly-as-shit girl? Someone he wouldn't want to flip on their back every time they walked into a room? He could already tell Elena was going to be more of a problem than Rose was when they first hired her.
Elena was going test his resolve, pushing at patience he didn't have.
Elena smiled widely at something Stefan said. Yep. She is going to be a pain in my ass—just because of her existence, Damon thought.
"You look like you are ready to get to know her," Enzo muttered and leaned over. "And not in the way the rest of us are."
"Go to hell," Damon replied. Grabbing his beer, he brought the bottle to his lips and swigged. "Next time, I'm hiring the assistant."
Alaric snorted. "Caroline gave you the chance this time. You were busy with, what is her face? Angelica?"
"Who the hell is that?"
"Stacy? Nora? Andie?"
Damon pointed the neck of the bottle in his best friend's direction. "Andie. She sounds familiar."
Enzo choked and knocked his fist into his chest. "Jesus. Why doesn't this prick have a little black book yet?"
"Rumour has it that they don't make them big enough," Elena chimed in.
Damon darted his eyes across the table to Elena's, ignoring the three men's laughter. At least Caroline tried to hide hers.
Elena's lips curved up around her glass of wine. She took a small sip, her eyes dancing with unrestrained amusement, and Damon leaned back in his chair.
"Mr Salvatore, and now this? I don't think I like you very much already."
Her smiles widened, and she set her glass down. "Good. Then I already accomplished the first job on my list."
"You." Damon turned his attention to Caroline. "You are on the top of my dislike list. Right at the top."
Caroline sipped her drink, completely unaffected by Damon's words, and he turned his attention back to Elena. Whatever bravado she had just seconds ago was gone, because instead of looking at him, she was staring at the table.
Damon leaned back in his seat and kept his gaze trained on her. She calls me out, then refuses to look at me? Hell no. If you are going to sass me, keep it the hell up. Don't back down—and if you are going to, don't start sassing in the first place, he thought.
If this was going to be a pattern, Elena was going to last all of a week as their personal bitch.
The waiter came in and took their orders one by one. Still, Damon looked at Elena, waiting for her to look back. She didn't. She kept her gaze firmly on the menu, her voice quiet and hesitant as she ordered. His head tilted to the side.
How the hell can she sass me so bad and then turn into a mouse? Damon wondered.
"Filet mignon. Medium rare." Damon handed his menu to the waiter over his shoulder. He took it and presumably wrote the order down, because he left the room a minute or so later.
"Where are you from, Elena?" Damon asked.
"Virginia." Her answer was short.
"Where?"
"Richmond."
"Rich man's playground."
"Yes." Elena grabbed her glass, still looking at the table, and ended their conversation.
Damon tapped his fingers against the table top. Damon, he hated it when people didn't look at him when he talked to them. He especially hated it when a girl ignored him so blatantly. He couldn't take her to bed, sure, but it didn't mean he couldn't make her putty in his goddamn hands.
It didn't mean he couldn't sweet-talk her hoity-toity ass into bending to his every whim and desire.
"Eyes down, Damon," Alaric muttered.
"To her tits? No problem." Damon laughed.
"To your beer bottle, asshole," Alaric responded with a laugh of his own. "She is off-limits."
"Never been very good with those limit things." Damon swigged from his beer bottle. "They get in the way."
"No shit," Enzo added in a low voice. "That is the point."
Damon cut his eyes to Enzo, smirking. "You are a genius, Enzo. Unbelievable." Enzo flipped him off in response, and his gaze found Elena. "She is odd, huh?"
"Odd because she isn't on the floor panting with her legs open?"
"That, too. No—she is quiet, don't you think? I just tried being a nice little boss and she told me off."
"That is because you are a jackass," Alaric input. "Watch and learn." He turned his attention from Damon to Elena and tapped her arm.
Slowly, Elena faced him with a hesitant smile. "Yes?"
"Where did you go to college?" Alaric dived right in. "Sorry," he added when Elena blinked harshly. "Just wanted to know more about you. That is all." He followed his words with a charming smile, and she relaxed.
"Oh, I'm sorry. It caught me off guard." Elena straightened in her chair. "I studied at Harvard and am preparing for school."
Stefan choked on his beer. "No way. What the are you doing here sorting our shit out for?"
"Boys!" Caroline rolled her eyes. "Watch your language please!"
Elena smile widened, just a little. "I needed a change of scenery."
Dirty little liar, Damon thought.
"All the boys in Richmond too clean cut for you, darling?" Damon asked across the table.
"Actually," she responded calmly, folding her napkin in front of her, "you could learn a thing or two from them, Mr Salvatore. Like manners."
"I would love to, but men don't take lessons from boys."
"Damon, you are about as manly as a goldfish," Caroline butt in. "Oh, didn't you dump Charlotte because she messed with your family?" She raises an eyebrow.
"Doesn't mean a thing, Caroline," Damon threw back.
"Whatever. Lay off Elena and find some other girl to release your obvious frustration on."
Their eyes met in a tense stare that was only broken when their food was brought in. Caroline dropped her eyes to the plate of pizza in front of her and grabbed her knife and fork to cut it, ending their wordless battle as easily as she ended the conversation five seconds ago.
Damon Salvatore was never being soft with other people. Caroline was so damn blinded by his relationship with his friends and family that she had forgotten he was a total asshole to her for the last two years.
Once again, his gaze flicked to Elena, but hers was firmly focused on her plate. Damon grabbed his fork and looked at his own dinner. Caroline, Stefan, Enzo and Alaric…she looked at all of them when she talked to them. But when she talked to him….she was treating him like a piece of shit not worth being on her shoe.
Elena was soft spoken, but it was controlled and precise. Like every word was prepicked, and she was trying not to offend. Hell, even when she said something that could be offensive it was still nice.
Damon didn't believe she wanted a change of scenery. You don't go from the bright lights of Richmond and the harsh regime of Harvard to being a run-around for a band, he thought.
It sure as hell wasn't for the money they were paying her either. She had already admitted to a privileged upbringing, and if she didn't, it was obvious from that perfect hairdo and that damn dress.
All she didn't have was a sense of entitlement.
The girl was one big enigma, and hell if he didn't want to crack her code, if only to get under her skin and piss her off.
Empty plates were cleared from the table, and Caroline was chatting with Stefan. Alaric and Enzo cracked a joke, and Caroline and Stefan burst out in laughter. Elena watched them with a light smile, but it dropped when she glanced at Damon and saw him watching her.
Their eyes met for a split second, but something flashed in hers. Something that didn't usually glint in girls' eyes whenever they looked at him, so it was sure as hell not good.
"Caroline," she said softly, turning away from him. "I'm going to head back upstairs. It has been great to meet everyone, but I need to arrange for a new phone and credit card."
Caroline nodded without questioning her. "Of course. I will stop by your room at nine tomorrow. The guys will be practicing all day, which translates to us running around like headless chickens after them."
"We aren't that bad," Stefan grumbled.
Caroline raised an eyebrow, but she didn't respond.
Elena smiled. "Sounds like…fun. Night, everyone." She stood, waved awkwardly, and headed out of the room.
Why does she need a new phone and credit card? Damon wondered.
"Where are you going?" Caroline sighed heavily, looking at him.
Damon got up and flattened his hands on the table. "I'm going to tell her what you forgot—that she is our employee and we will get her a phone and credit card if she needs one."
Caroline rolled her eyes. "Trust me, I could tell her, but she would laugh at me. I can tell."
"Sure she will. You would give up convincing her after one 'no.' " Damon paused at the door. "But she will do whatever the hell I say because I'm her boss."
"Don't be a dick!" Alaric yelled after him.
Damon walked through the restaurant to the lobby and saw Elena leaning against the reception desk, nodding at something the receptionist said. Without the judgment of his brother and friends, he stopped and looked at her. Her hair fell all the way down her back, and her dress clung just tightly enough that he could tell it was concealing a killer body—and her legs went on forever. Aw, hell.
She smiled and straightened, turning for the elevator. Damon jogged across the lobby and beat her to the button, his thumb pushing it just seconds before hers did.
"Oh. Hi."
His lips tugged to the side. "Hi."
"Are you following me?"
"No, darling. I'm the followed, not the follower." Damon put his hand on the side of the door and let her walked into the elevator before him. He pushed the button to the fourth floor and leaned against the wall, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Obviously. Well, can I help you with something?"
"Dangerous question," he remarked, ignoring her subsequent eye roll. "You said you need a new phone and credit card."
"Correct." She tucked some of that dark brown hair behind her ear.
"Caroline should have told you that we will arrange that. For as long as you work for us."
"She told me she would get me a new phone but I don't think that is necessary, Mr Salvatore. I'm perfectly fine doing it myself."
"Sure you are, Elena, but you are not going to. You are our employee and we will take care of you."
"Well, thank you, but like I said, it isn't necessary." Elena smiled shyly and stepped out of the elevator ahead of him.
Damon's jaw clenched. He didn't give a damn if it was necessary or if she wanted it or not. "They will be in your name. We will take care of the phone bill, but the credit card is on you."
Her shoulders heaved and she turned her head halfway over her shoulder, her eyes on his feet. "Thank you, but no thank you."
Elena slid her key card into the slot, but before she could open the door, Damon snatched her hand away. She flinched in shock, and he turned her so she was facing me. Still, though, her eyes were on his shoulder.
"When you wake up tomorrow there will be a phone and credit card in reception waiting for you, and you will take it. And, Elena?" Damon cupped her jaw and forced her eyes upward. They crashed into his, blazing with annoyance, and he tilted his face towards hers, enjoying the hitch in her breath. "For someone concerned about my manners, you have a serious lack of them. When I talk to you, you have to look at me. Understand?"
Wordlessly, Elena stepped back, and Damon let his hand fell. She nodded once, quickly, and yanked on the door handle. She disappeared inside the room in a split second, leaving Damon standing in the middle of the hall, staring at the closed white door.
Wondering why the hell her annoyed gaze was riddled with fear.