A/N: Firstly, thank you to everyone who has read, reviewed, favorited and subscribed to the story. I have to say the reviews for the last chapter kept me giggling for a while. I don't normally leave cliffhangers like that, and I know I've made you wait a week, but this chapter took me a little while to write. That said, I enjoyed every moment of writing it. I'm really happy with what I've got here and I hope you all like it too.
Picking up where chapter six left off...
Chapter 7
Damon watched with some amusement as Elena shot off the couch so fast she almost tripped over her feet.
"You…you can't be serious," she said to him, when she turned around to face him again.
The heat in his eyes left Elena with no doubt that he was absolutely serious, and her traitorous body was already reacting, telling her that it wholeheartedly approved of the idea.
"Oh, but I am," he told her, sitting up, holding the icepack against his ribs. "Next week I go on tour, and as far as I know you're coming with me. Four weeks of sharing hotels, Elena; twenty-eight days and nights of us being together, trying not to think about what it is we both want to do. We need to take the edge off this thing, or it's going to end badly."
"End badly?"
The predatory look that she had once seen on his face when he talked about Caroline was now in place again, but this time it was aimed at her. Elena tried to breathe, but it felt as if all the air had been sucked out of the room. He put the icepack down and stood up. Elena stood glued to the spot, as he slowly moved towards her.
"You want it," he said, taking a step. "I want it," he said, taking another step.
Elena shook her head, and swallowed. "You can't…I won't…" she trailed off as he came to a stop right in front of her.
"I won't be able to keep my hands off you, Elena."
"You have to fight it," she said breathlessly.
"I can't," he told her, cupping her face between his hands. "I want you too much."
"No, Damon, don't…"
Damon stopped her from protesting further by lowering his mouth to hers.
She needed to push him away; this should not be happening. He was her client and this was wrong, wrong, wrong. Oh, but then why did it feel so good? She could taste the bourbon on him, but instead of finding it repulsive, she found it intoxicating in every sense of the word. It had been a while since she'd been kissed by a man, but she didn't remember it ever feeling this good before. The hands that were braced on his chest should push him away, but instead they were delighting in finally being able to run over his naked torso. His tongue demanded entry to her mouth, and she opened for him, shivering with pleasure as he slid his tongue against hers. Instinctively, Elena wrapped her arms around his neck. She heard a noise, and it took her a moment to realize that the needy sound had come from her. Damon moaned in response and pulled her closer to him, so she could feel every inch of him pressed against her.
Damon had only intended to persuade her that he was right; to prove to her that their attraction was too much to fight, however, as soon as his lips had touched hers, the desire he'd been suppressing took over. He had known all along that she would be responsive; but the woman in his arms felt and tasted so good he couldn't pull back from her. He stopped thinking completely; the need to have her overwhelming all logic and thought. Damon was in the middle of calculating which surface he could lay her on, and how quickly he could get her out of her clothes, when she yanked her mouth away from his.
"No, Damon. I can't," she told him. "It will cost me my job."
Elena had felt herself being walked towards the couch when her common sense had finally kicked in. Was she really about to have sex with her client, in his living room? Was she really about to throw away her career to have sex with this man? It would probably be the best sex of her life, but that would be all it was – sex.
"I'm not going to tell anyone, Elena."
"What about Katherine? You're in some kind of relationship with her. How can I possibly trust what you say?"
Damon was reeling. She was saying no? After that kiss, she was saying no? His body felt as if it had been hotwired, and he couldn't shut the engine off. There was only one way a kiss like that should end, and it wasn't with her saying no. He tried to think, but there wasn't much blood going to the head that needed to think right now.
"I've been honest with you. I was the one who told you about Katherine in the first place."
"How do I know that wasn't just a ploy to get me into bed?"
Damon frowned. If he said he wouldn't tell Katherine, then he wouldn't tell Katherine. Yeah, but she didn't know that. He'd been telling her to stay away from him; telling her he was a threat to her, and now he just expected her to turn around and accept that they should throw all caution to the wind and sleep together. He would just have to make her believe he could be trusted, because the truth was, he had to have her.
"You can trust me. In fact I think sleeping together will help this whole situation with Katherine."
"Why on earth would you say that?"
"Katherine expects me to seduce you. She knows that I want you, and she knows you're attracted to me…"
"How…?"
"Because she knows these things and because she caught you watching me at the bar the other night." He ignored the way she blushed, and continued on. "If we sleep together, it'll kill the attraction, or at least make it manageable."
"But she still wants to see you seduce me."
"So, we'll let her see me trying. We'll both be able to resist, though," he said, with a smirk, "because we'll have already given in once and it will be out of our systems. Win-win."
Win-win was not exactly how Elena would put it. She'd never been one for gambling, especially with things that were important, like her job. Damon had been honest with her to the best of her knowledge, even brutally honest at times, but she couldn't afford to be wrong about him.
"Even if what you say is the truth, you're my client. I can't complicate our relationship by sleeping with you."
"Sleeping together once isn't going to complicate things; it will just help ease the tension so you can do your job, and I can stop thinking about seducing you. Do you know what turns me on, Elena?"
She shook her head, and swallowed nervously, watching him move towards her once again.
"A good chase," he whispered in her ear. "Take the chase out of it, and say yes to me. Sleep with me just once, you won't regret it."
Her body which had been humming with the aftershocks of their kiss was now burning with desire all over again. It would be insane to agree with him, right? But the question was, if she said no, how long could she resist him for? Four weeks of sharing hotels; twenty-eight days and nights of them being together, did she have any hope at all?
"And if I say yes?" she asked him thickly.
He was still standing so close to her, and she was finding it difficult to think.
"Are you saying yes, Elena?"
"I…I don't know. Katherine…"
"Will never know. It will be our little secret."
This could only end badly. She felt as if she were trapped between the devil and the deep blue sea. If she didn't sleep with him, things would continue to be awkward between them, and tense. He'd told her he couldn't keep his hands off her, and she could barely concentrate on anything but sex when he was in the room with her. And if she did sleep with him, things could still end up awkward, and she could lose her job.
Katherine was more than likely to find out, somehow. Just thinking about the other woman had Elena looking around the room suspiciously. Of course, Elena knew Katherine wasn't hiding in a cupboard, ready to pounce on her the moment she said yes, but the fear and slight paranoia were there anyway.
"Not here, and not now," she told him.
"Name your time and place," he said huskily.
"Tomorrow week; first night on tour," she said.
Damon wanted her now, not in a week's time; his body was still stirred by her closeness to him, but he would wait for her. The reason he wanted her so much had to be tied to the fact that he'd been trying to resist her. Now that she was giving into him, hopefully he'd be able to sleep with her and stop obsessing. This would be one hell of a long week, but she was worth the wait. Besides, his injuries would be all healed by then, and he wouldn't have to hold back.
"My room or yours?" he said with a devilish smile.
Elena's heart, which had never quite returned to its resting rate after his kiss, was suddenly racing again. Had she really just told her client she'd sleep with him on his book tour?
"Ah, I believe the finer details can be worked out later."
Noticing her hands were shaking slightly, she walked to the couch and picked up the icepack and walked with it back to the kitchen. She was unaware he had followed her until she turned around from the freezer, and found him right behind her. She needed something to do to calm her frazzled nerves.
"Coffee?"
Damon pointed to the cupboard above her. "Help yourself."
Once she had a steaming cup of coffee in her hands, she reminded herself again why she was there. "Want to tell me about your run-in with Mason Lockwood last night?"
Damon walked away from her. "Nope."
She followed him into the parlor.
"Who started it?"
"I don't remember."
"You don't remember?"
"That's what I said."
"Damon,"
"Elena,"
"Who threw the first punch?"
"He did."
"Why?"
"Because Mason Lockwood is a dick," Damon said, as if it was common knowledge and she should already understand this as 'fact'.
"Did you provoke him?"
"Define provoke."
"Did you converse with him?"
"Did I have a conversation with him? No."
"Damon…"
"I might have mentioned that that Edward Cullen guy could kick his ass on, 'The Werewolf Diaries."
"I didn't realize you were a Twilight fan."
"I'm not a twilight fan," Damon said, clearly disgusted by the thought.
Elena tried to hide her smile. "Of course not; that would be preposterous."
He did not look amused. "The guy sparkles; vampires don't sparkle."
"Obviously this is something you feel quite passionately about, so why did you make the comment to Mason in the first place?"
"Because I knew it would piss him off."
"And the reason you wanted to piss him off was…?"
Damon glared at her; she'd effectively manoeuvred him into talking about Mason, when he'd had absolutely no intention of saying a damn word. He doubted she'd like it if he told her it was his sexual frustration and jealousy over her that had sent him looking for a fight.
"We both know Katherine."
"Oh,"
Elena didn't know what else to say. They'd been fighting over Katherine? Hearing the other woman's name was a cold reminder that she'd not only agreed to go to bed with her client, but that effectively she would be sleeping with her evil colleague's boyfriend. Despite the fact that Damon and Katherine had some kind of perturbing open relationship, he obviously cared about her.
Damon could tell straight away what Elena was thinking. "It's not what you think."
"What am I thinking, Damon?"
"You think Mason and I were fighting about Katherine."
"You weren't?"
"No. I was in a bad mood. I was looking for a fight; Mason just happened to be there."
"And you both know Katherine how?"
"We were seeing her at the same time…a while ago."
"But that wasn't the reason you argued."
"It's the reason Katherine and I broke up, but not the reason Mason and I were fighting."
"So what, you were just fighting with Mason for the hell of it then?"
"It seemed like a good idea at the time," he said casually.
Elena shook her head. "You do know that kind of behavior won't…"
"Save the lecture, Elena. You're my publicist; your job is to make this go away, not tell me what I should or shouldn't do."
Elena saw red, but did not say anything. When she'd arrived she'd had every intention of telling him off, but she had a feeling she would need to pick her battles with this client. His arrogant and reckless ass would probably land him in more hot water and she would save her yelling for when it truly mattered. The fact that it had been personal between him and Mason could be spun in their favor, and she could fix things easily enough. Elena tried not to think about Katherine's part in it all as she downed the last mouthful of her coffee, but the subject of Katherine left a bad taste in her mouth. She walked out to the kitchen to rinse her cup.
Damon knew that hadn't gone well as he watched Elena walk back into the kitchen. She wasn't impressed by his fight with Mason, or the fact that Katherine's name had come up. That was too bad; he fought, he drank and he dated Katherine, and he didn't owe her an explanation for any of it. Yet he'd wanted to give her one. He'd wanted to justify his fight to her, and he'd wanted to explain why he was with Katherine.
"So," she said when she walked back into the room. "I have all the information I need and I should head off."
"Thanks for the ah…first aid." He gave her a lopsided grin.
"You should probably ice it again," She took her car keys out of her pocket.
"I'll see you on Thursday?" he asked her.
"You will. The launch starts at eight pm sharp."
"In other words don't be late?"
"You got it." She gave him a small smile before heading out the same door she came in.
Elena walked out the door, feeling as if she'd just signed her own death warrant. For one night with Damon, she would most likely lose her job. Just once he'd said; it would be their little secret, and then it would be back to business. She could only hope he was right.
The next week held a couple of surprises for Elena. Wednesday morning, she was in the coffee shop near work when she saw a familiar person sitting down, reading a newspaper. Despite the fact that Elena felt somewhat awkward about it, she didn't really want to leave the shop without saying something. After all, the other woman had always been pleasant to her, and helped her when she needed it. She walked over to the table once she had her coffee.
"Rose, hi."
"Elena, what are you doing here? Sorry, stupid question. You come here every morning to buy coffee." Rose put down her paper.
"Yeah, morning dose of caffeine number three." After an awkward moment, Elena added "Hey, I was sorry to hear about…you know."
"Thank you."
"Are you working somewhere else?"
"No."
After several minutes of awkward conversation in which Elena ascertained that Rose was meeting friends, Elena said goodbye. "Well, I should get going."
"Nice to see you again, Elena."
"You too."
"Oh, and Elena," Rose called after her.
Elena, who had already been walking away, turned around again.
"Yes."
"Be careful."
"Be careful?"
"Sorry, I know that sounds cryptic, just be careful, okay."
If those words weren't enough to worry her, Elena saw Lexie Branson and Anna Martin on her way out the door. The two of them were laughing together and talking and they didn't see her, but Elena watched from outside as the two women joined Rose. Now that was interesting. All three women had been fired for sleeping with clients. Anna had been gone for almost a year, and Lexie had been let go six months before that. Why were the three of them socializing together? They had never been close at work. No, something was definitely going on. Elena tried to push their meeting out of her head, but as the day wore on she couldn't help but wonder if she too would be joining them in the ranks of the departed from Mystic Falls PR soon enough.
Thursday night was the big kick-off to Damon's book tour. Mystic Falls PR did it for all of their clients; a tasteful party to farewell their clients before big events like publicity tours. It was just members of the press, partners and people from the firm, and normally Elena looked forward to these events, but the thought of seeing Damon again made her anxious. Now that she'd said she'd sleep with him, she just wanted to get it over and done with.
Elena donned her little black dress and was there just before eight as requested. She hoped Damon wouldn't be late. She was in luck; he arrived right at eight on the dot. He was wearing a suit, and she was completely unprepared for how good he looked in one. She tried not to stare as he walked in with Katherine. Of course he would be there with Katherine. They were, after all, an item. Elena wished she'd brought a date, but she'd called things off with Stefan. She couldn't date Stefan when she was planning on sleeping with Damon.
Elena grabbed a glass of champagne before she walked over to greet Damon and Katherine. She was as brief as possible, the peck she gave Damon on the cheek, making her tingle from head to foot. Her lack of eye contact and brief greeting did not go unnoticed by her client, judging by his raised eyebrow, but just seeing him reminded her of what they would be doing in just a few nights. Elena introduced him to a few members of the press before she excused herself and went to mingle. She would have much preferred to head for the shadows and drink a bottle or two of tequila, but she had a job to do and she would do it.
Elena was talking to Georgia Bell from the Mystic Falls Tribune for some time when the other woman digressed and started talking about her wedding plans. Elena could care less about whether the woman should have an outdoor wedding, or an indoor wedding, but at least it kept Elena busy doing little. She nodded and smiled in the right places and kept drinking.
"Oh, here comes my fiancé now."
Elena almost fell over when she saw Matt walking towards her; the very same Matt who had once been her fiancé.
"Elena," Matt greeted her with a warm hug and kiss on the cheek. "I see you've met Georgia."
So he had moved on and found someone who satisfied him. Obviously the pretty writer from The Tribune was not boring or unimaginative in bed.
"You two know each other?" Georgia asked.
"Yes," Elena said.
"Elena and I went to college together."
Their engagement and relationship didn't even warrant a mention, obviously.
"Really, how nice. It's wonderful when you run into old friends isn't it?" Georgia said conversationally, before turning to Matt. "Elena represents Damon."
"Georgia is a big fan of Damon's, aren't you Darling?"
"His books are just fabulous; but I don't need to tell you that, Elena. They've certainly helped me with this one." She kissed Matt passionately on the lips and the noise was enough to turn Elena's stomach. It was around the time she noticed her glass was empty.
"You wouldn't mind introducing them, would you Elena? Favor for an old friend."
"I'd be delighted," Elena said, resisting the urge to tell them both to go to hell.
Damon could see Elena was uncomfortable talking to the couple she was with, by the way she avoided eye contact with them and tapped her empty champagne flute. He'd watched her embrace the man, so she knew him, but she did not look happy. Damon looked around for Katherine; she was in the corner of the room talking to Elijah. Despite the fact that Elena clearly wanted to avoid him, he decided she could use a distraction. He hesitated for only a moment before moving across the room to his publicist, stopping only to pluck a glass of champagne off a passing tray on his way.
He knew something was wrong when Elena looked relieved to see him, and her eyes lit up when she noticed he had champagne. What he hadn't seen from across the room was how pale she was.
"Damon, this is Georgia Bell, she works for the Mystic Falls Tribune."
"I was just telling Elena how much I love your books, Damon, but I'm sure you hear that all the time."
"I never get sick of hearing it though."
Georgia laughed. "I hear you head off on tour on Monday?"
Damon felt Elena tense beside him and knew she was thinking about Monday night.
"I'm looking forward to it," he said softly, giving Elena a sideways look.
When he saw her blush he knew she understood his double meaning. The pink was far better than the lack of color that had been there a moment ago.
"Sorry, I don't think we've been introduced," Damon said to the man standing beside Georgia. He had no real interest in him other than the fact that he was most likely the reason Elena had been so pale in the first place.
"Sorry," Elena said. "This is Matthew Donovan, Georgia's fiancé."
"Your books are a great service to all us men," Matthew said to him.
Damon smiled tightly as he watched Elena down half of her champagne in one go. Something was going on here. He still hadn't figured out what when Georgia spoke again.
"Matt and I have just set a wedding date. You know, you should come to the wedding Elena. Elena and Matt went to college together," Georgia explained to him. "It's such a small world isn't it?"
"Indeed," Damon returned.
Judging by the strained smiles on both Matt and Elena's face right now, the two had known each other quite well in college. So, they had been lovers. Georgia seemed completely oblivious to the fact. Damon didn't think bumping into an ex-lover was a big deal, but from the way Elena had paled again, he'd bet they'd been more than lovers. It had been serious between the two of them. Did she still hold a torch for this guy? Had he broken her heart? Was he the reason she'd been out of the game for so long?
The thought that this guy had hurt her, made him want to throw a protective arm around Elena before sinking his knuckles into the other guy's face, making Damon wonder just what the hell was going on with him. He didn't get involved; he made it his business not to get involved, but this woman made him want to rescue her, protect her and take care of her. He didn't understand why this damsel in distress was getting to him so much. Jealousy that she might sleep with his brother was one thing, but to feel the same emotion because she may or may not care about this other guy made him think he was getting in too deep.
He couldn't let himself get in any deeper. Hadn't he heard time and again, while growing up, that the Salvatore men ruined women's lives? His father, his grandfather, his uncle; every single one of them had screwed over the women they'd been involved with. The only Salvatore who stood a chance of having a successful relationship was his brother. Somehow Stefan's sheer willingness to believe he could be different set him apart. Damon didn't know yet if Stefan's complete denial was genius or utter stupidity.
Either way, Damon knew that he was his father's son. If he hadn't believed it before, he certainly believed it after what happened with Lucy. He understood himself well enough to minimize the damage by not getting involved. It was the reason Katherine had appealed to him so much. He'd recognized something of a kindred spirit in her self-contained attitude and the fact that she didn't get involved. Falling for her though had been stupid; people like them didn't live happily ever after.
He couldn't change. He was who he was, and he wouldn't mess up Elena's life, no matter how much he liked her. So he would sleep with Elena; he would help her win her promotion, he would protect her from Katherine, and then he was done.
"Well, Damon, it was nice to meet you. Don't make me wait too long to read your next book," Georgia said to him.
He'd zoned out of the conversation and now Matt and Georgia were leaving. Damon said goodbye to them and then it was just him and Elena left standing there together.
"Are you enjoying yourself?" Elena asked him politely.
"The firm knows how to throw a party," he said to her.
"They do," she acknowledged, with a smile.
It was crazy how her smile made him want to smile. Avoiding her would be a good move for him. Pity he wouldn't have any chance of doing that while he was on tour. Once he slept with her, maybe he would be able to distance himself better, because right now all he wanted to do was ask her about Matt, ask her if she was okay, and tell her how beautiful she looked tonight.
"Well, I should go find Katherine," he said to her instead.
He watched her smile disappear, and called himself every name under the sun for saying the wrong thing. "You didn't bring Stefan?" he asked her.
She shook her head. "It didn't seem right to take things any further when we're planning on…"
She didn't finish her sentence, and she didn't need to. Of course she'd ended things with his brother. He was saved from making what would most likely be another stupid remark by Katherine's appearance at his side.
"Elena, shouldn't you be supervising the clean-up crew?"
Elena sighed inwardly. Katherine knew very well that supervising the clean-up crew was not her job, but she took every opportunity to demean her. Elena smiled sweetly at the other woman.
"Now Katherine, you know that doesn't fall under my job description. It's not the first time you've made that mistake either. Shall I have a copy of my job description sent up for you tomorrow morning, so you don't make that mistake again?"
Katherine sneered at her and Elena knew Katherine would make her pay for her comment tomorrow. Pointing out a colleague's mistake in front of a client was completely unprofessional, not to mention the fact that this client happened to be partnered with her colleague, however as she watched Damon try to keep the smirk off his face, Elena decided that it had been worth it.
"Damon, I'll call you in the next few days to finalize the departure details on Monday."
"Monday can't come soon enough, Elena," he said to her, before leaning in and kissing her on the cheek. It wasn't a quick peck either.
Elena nearly died on the spot, but Katherine's glare was enough to get her moving. With a quick smile in their general direction, Elena left them alone.
Elena drove home with a mental image of her and Damon in bed together. No doubt that was exactly what he had intended his parting comment to do. Strangely, the knot of dread in her stomach that had been there since she'd agreed to go to bed with him was turning into something resembling sweet anticipation. If she was going to go to bed with him, she was going to enjoy it. She'd wanted to sleep with a bad boy anyway, and she could learn a few tricks off him for her next relationship. She would sleep with Damon, enjoy him, and then it would be back to business. Everything was going to be just fine.
A/N: So, I'm really happy with where these characters are at the moment, and thoroughly enjoying writing this story for them.
It's Friday again, so I'll wish you all a happy and safe weekend. Thanks for reading and please review.
