DISCLAIMER: I own nothing.

"Hop on back."

Of course he has a motorcycle. Could he be any more attractive? Elena thought to herself. He wasn't the type of guy she'd normally go for, Damon had a huge ego, but he was charming. Besides that, the vibe he gave off almost screamed danger, an aspect she tried to stay away from her entire life, but now she found herself longing for a little danger in her life, and now that she was spending her time in a foreign country, it seemed like the perfect timing to go and explore her wild side.

"Where are we going?" she asked as she accepted the helmet Damon handed her.

"You'll find out." he said, smiling smugly at his date.

Riding through the city of Rome at an insane speed, Elena made sure to hold onto Damon tightly. The traffic in this country was ridiculous, nobody seemed to care about the rules and simply did as they desired. When she and Caroline rode their scooter this afternoon they almost got run over at least six times, but she felt safe with Damon because this city was his home, he knew exactly what to do and what not to do, he knew the back alleys were safer than the main roads even though they were incredibly narrow, especially for a motorcycle, and when they had no choice but to stick to the main roads, he managed to zig zag his way through the excessive amount of cars, scooters, cyclists and pedestrians perfectly.

Not having a clue of where they could be, Elena looked around as they slowed down, the loud noise of the city life became more faded as they were riding through a more quiet part of town.
A few minutes later the motorcycle came to a stop, and all Elena could see when stepping off was an empty grass field beside the river with a view of the city in the distance, and a sky filled with bright stars as she looked up. This wasn't even close to what she had imagined.

"I take it you like it?" Damon said after he took off his helmet and placed it by his bike, "At first I just wanted to take you out for drinks, but seeing as we've already done that, I thought why not take the drinks with us so we can enjoy them somewhere more private."

"This is.. Wow. I've never been on a date like this before."

"That's because you've never been on a date with me before."

Damon cocked an eyebrow at Elena as he grabbed a bottle of white wine and placed two wineglasses between his fingers.

Studying Damon was something Elena enjoyed doing, there was a certain kind of mystery surrounding him which intrigued her greatly. The way he popped the wine bottle and poured the liquid into her glass as he glimpsed at her, made her wonder why things as simple as these left her mesmerized.

"So, why Italy?"

Breaking free from her mesmerization, she explained how at first it was Caroline's idea, how to her it seemed like the perfect place for shopping and how it was supposed to be crawling with beautiful Italian guys, but to Elena it was the perfect place to explore, learn about the culture, let loose, and have a chance at a fresh start. She wanted adventure, and she convinced herself she would find it in Italy.

Damon, who was lying down, his body supported by his elbow leaning on the ground, took a sip of his wine and observed the girl sitting next to him as she was making a daisy chain.

"Well, you've certainly come to the right place." he said, looking up through his lashes, locking eyes with Elena.

"Oh yeah? Why's that?" she said smilingly as she fiddled with the flowers, her eyes fixated on Damon.

One side of his mouth curled upwards as he raised his eyebrows, "Spend more time with me, and you'll have the adventure of a lifetime."

This wasn't as he expected, or rather, she wasn't as he expected. Elena Gilbert was entirely something else. How could this girl have such effect on him so soon, or at all? How was it possible that ever since the first time he laid eyes on her he couldn't shake her? What was it about her that made him so confused? He wanted to get to know her, but he also kept refusing himself from doing that.

Fuck it. Just fuck it.

Those words kept repeating themselves in his head while he was staring down at Elena's lips. He allowed his hand to move towards her face and stroke her cheek softly with his fingers, and before she could say something he leaned in and kissed her.

For a second, Elena stopped breathing as she felt his soft lips caressing hers. Thousands of thoughts were racing through her mind as a tingly sensation rushed through her stomach. The scent of leather, wine, and a soft touch of Armani cologne entered her airways when she let herself turn off her thoughts to breathe in and engage in the kiss.

Her hands were moving to the back of his neck as he playfully bit her lower lip and placed gentle kisses on her chin and jawline while making his way to her neck. Her fingers were now entangled in Damon's hair, making him gasp as his lips found their way back to hers. He ran his hands down her back and her sides, grabbing her hips to pull her closer to him, causing Elena's heart to beat even faster.

The sweet kiss they started out with became increasingly more passionate now that she was sitting in Damon's lap. Except for the breathing that got heavier by the second, and the occasional soft moans that left their mouths, their surroundings were completely quiet.
Damon's hands started to caress her upper legs as he placed kisses on her chest, she felt his fingers slowly pushing her dress up as they worked their way towards her inner thighs.

Is this really happening? Oh god, no, not now, not yet.

Placing her hands on Damon's to move them away caused him to confusedly look up at her and ask if everything was all right. While assuring him she was fine, but she didn't want to take it further than this yet, she planted a soft kiss on his lips and locked her hands back around his neck.

"You are a mystery," Damon said in a husky voice, brushing back the few strands of hair dangling in front of Elena's face as he stared into her doe eyes, "one I would just love to unravel."

"I'm not a mystery," Elena giggled, "you are, you proved that at the bar last week. Did you get into a fight or something?"

"It was nothing, just.."

Damon paused and turned his head away from Elena when the sound of a car approaching them could be heard.

"..business."

As it came to a stop, two guys exited the vehicle, one of them loudly yelling Damon's last name, his tone of voice not sounding particularly friendly.

"Stay here." he whispered as Elena moved from his lap. Before approaching the two strangers, he walked up to his bag, which was laying beside his motorcycle, to grab something located inside of it.

Confused as to what was going on, Elena tried to listen in on the conversation the three, or well, two of them were having, but with no success, she couldn't understand a thing they were saying, however from the way they were communicating, she could tell it wasn't pretty.

"You fucked with the wrong guys, Salvatore." the stranger warned, taking a step closer towards Damon.

"I don't know what the hell you're talking about, but I'm pretty sure it's you who's fucking with the wrong guy here, so why don't you and your little friend there get back in your car and leave, I really don't feel like ruining my new jacket." Damon said, smiling satirically at the guy standing approximately 10 feet opposite of him.

"You beat up my cousin, you gotta pay."

Damon was actually surprised upon hearing someone say something like that to him, nobody talked to a Salvatore in such way, they knew better than to do that. This guy was either incredibly courageous or embarassingly clueless, either way, both possibilities caused Damon to burst out in laughter.

"You've got to be kidding me, the kid I beat up at the bar last week, that's your cousin? He owes me two grand, should've just paid me when he got the job done. Your family name may sound scary to some, but you're talking to a Salvatore here, friend. He's lucky he's still alive."

"You think I'm scared of you? Touch him again and I'll kill you and your pretty lady there myself." the guy threatened as he slowly moved closer to Damon, who was now reaching for his gun tucked behind the back of his black jeans.

"See this?" Damon said as he raised the weapon, steadily aiming at the target in front of him, "I don't get my money by the end of this week, I'll make sure the last thing you and your cousin remember is this little guy putting a bullet right.. between.. your eyes."

"Tony, he's got a gun man, lets leave it." the guy still standing beside the car was motioning at his friend.

"You and I, we're not done yet."

Wearing a malicious smile on his face and laughing under his breath, he gradually lowered his gun as Tony walked back to the car. Until the car engine started and they drove away, Damon stood there watching them as they left.

The goosebumps on Elena's skin and her quivering legs gave away how shaken up she was, she had to pinch herself to see if she might have been dreaming, which she hoped she was, but this was all real.

The lump starting to form in her throat made her voice sound trembling. "What the hell was that?!" she shouted, shoulders hunched and arms crossed, as if to protect herself from whatever Damon could do to her. This guy just pointed a gun at someone. She didn't know him, she couldn't possibly know what his intentions were.

Now standing right in front of Elena, he reached out his hand to brush her chin with his thumb, but as her hand lashed out at him, giving him a painful slap in the face, he immediately withdrew it.

"Don't.. touch me." she averted.

"I guess I deserved that," Damon said, letting out a deep sigh before continuing, "look, I didn't mean for this to happen. Are you all right?"

"I don't know what this business of yours is, but you just pointed a gun at someone. A freaking gun. Were you going to use that on me? Why the hell would you carry a gun with you on a date?!"

Shit, Elena, you really know how to pick 'em.

"Hey, hey," Damon spoke softly as he carefully placed his hands on the shaking girl's shoulders, her eyes were watery and her breaths short, "look at me, please."

Breathing in deeply, she slowly lifted her head up and looked him right in the eyes, surprised to see a worried expression on his face. She swallowed as she felt his hands lift from her shoulders to cup her face tenderly.

"I'm a dangerous guy, Elena, and I wouldn't care if you got involved in this mess if you were just some regular girl, but fuck, you're something else," he paused for a moment while letting go of Elena, his eyes glistening as they fixated on hers, "I'm sorry."

Breaking the eye contact, Elena glared down at his mouth, her bottom lip quivering. Without even hesitating, she kissed him. In response, Damon's hand reached up and tangled into her hair as he felt her lips melt into his. Tilting her head more to deepen the kiss, she felt his tongue tracing the contour of her lips, parting them to let him in. Her hands were stroking his face as their mouths moved in concord, Damon slid his hold around her body, pulling her closer to him as a rush of heat flowed through Elena causing her pulse to elevate and cling onto him.

"Let me," Damon said as he breathed in between kisses, "protect you."

As Elena tried to mumble something that resembled the word 'what', Damon broke the kiss, leaving her feeling empty somehow. She opened her eyes and looked at him while he explained why it wasn't safe for her if he wouldn't be around to protect her.

"These guys know what you look like, and now that they've seen you with me, they'll do anything in their power to get to you."

Elena's eyes narrowed, "How do you know they will come after me?"

"Because the same thing happened to my brother's girlfriend."

AN: Sorry this took so long to publish. It was a hard chapter for me to write (lots of dialogue wow!) and I've been busy with other things as well, but I finally finished it today and couldn't wait to upload it, I really hope you'll enjoy this chapter.
Thanks so much everyone for your support, it means a lot to me that there are people out there who like reading my story.