Chapter 10

On Saturday morning, Elena heard someone knocking loudly on her hotel room door. She forced her eyes open and looked at the clock next to her bedside. It was nine in the morning. It was her first sleep in on tour, and now she was being interrupted. It couldn't be an emergency because if someone was in trouble they would call her mobile. That meant it was probably Damon. After their heated disagreement yesterday, she wasn't quite ready to face him, especially without make-up and clothes, but his knocking was becoming more and more persistent, and he would wake up the neighbors in a minute.

With a mumbled "hang-on", aimed in his general direction, she slipped out of the bed, put on her white silk dressing gown, and fastened it tightly around her before opening the door.

"Did I wake you?" he asked her innocently.

"Damon what are you…?"

"I brought you coffee," he told her, slipping past her into her hotel room, despite her murmured protest.

The room, which had never felt that big in the first place, felt even smaller with him standing in it. She might have had more to say, but he passed her a divine smelling cup of coffee. She normally rushed through her first coffee of the morning, but this one smelt so good. She moaned out loud after her first taste of the delicious hot liquid.

Damon turned away from her, and forced himself to remember why he was here. He was here to execute his plan, but it was going to be challenging when she made noises like that. The fact that he could see the outline of the red and black negligee under her robe; a robe which was completely see through, didn't help either. He told himself she would be his soon enough.

As Elena sipped her coffee, she noticed Damon was clean shaven and freshly showered.

"Your interview isn't until one. What are you doing here, Damon?"

"I thought the coffee would help with…this," he said, making a face.

"What's this?" she asked him, not following.

"Your mood generally tends to improve after coffee."

Elena stared at him. It was an accurate observation but she wasn't happy that he'd worked that out. He read and understood her so well that she couldn't keep much from him at all. Early morning was never her favorite time of day, but lately she'd been grumpier that usual due to the lack of sleep and ongoing arousal she'd been experiencing.

"This is my one morning to sleep in, and I still don't know why you're here," she said to him, choosing to ignore his comment.

"I came here to apologize," he said to her. "You know how to look after yourself."

Elena wasn't entirely comforted by his apology; something about his apology felt…off.

"That's not what you were saying yesterday."

"I changed my mind," he said with a shrug.

Something was definitely wrong here. His expression was innocent enough, but he was up to something.

"So, you won't be joining us tonight then?"

"And miss out on a date with Alexis? She used to be a gymnast," he told her, with a wink.

"You like Alexis," Elena stated.

"This could have been uncomfortable, after Monday, but since you're going out with Marc, I'm guessing you don't have a problem if I…?" he trailed off, waiting for her to answer.

So that's what he was up to. He was worried she would be upset by his interest in another woman. Why should she be upset? They had had an arranged night of sex, and now they were trying to put it behind them. Well she had been trying to put it behind them, and now it looked like he was finally trying to do the same.

This was a good thing, Elena told herself. His constant attention had been enough to make saying no to him an impossible task at the best of times. Even with him standing in her room, she was thinking about how much she wanted to get back into bed with him.

"No," Elena told him quickly, swallowing. "It's for the best."

"What is for the best?" he asked, moving towards her.

"You and I…with other people."

He grabbed her chin with his hand, forcing her to look at him. "It's not for the best, Elena. You're trying to run away from this, and I'm indulging you."

Her face was only inches from his, and as he held her face in place, his eyes focused on her lips.

"Is that what you think?" she asked him.

"I think you're a chicken."

He did not just call her a chicken for not sleeping with him.

"You know what I think? I think your ego is so fragile, that you can't possibly accept my answer would be no after sleeping with you."

He released her chin, and ran his eyes over her leisurely. When they reached her breasts, she felt her nipples pebble beneath his gaze. Of course her dressing gown had slipped and was partially open at the front, and the knowing look in his eyes told her that he could see the effect he had on her.

"You're not saying no because you don't want me, Elena. You want me as much as I want you, but you're pretending that you don't. That's why you're a chicken."

"If you had any idea what I would be risking for a few nights of satisfaction…"

"Oh I understand that you're scared. What you don't understand is that this isn't going away. We're stuck together for three more weeks, and it's only going to get worse."

He was right; but giving in felt too dangerous. It meant risking everything for a man – a man who would give her nothing but carnal knowledge in return. Part of her wanted to take that risk, but another part of her wouldn't let her. Her job was her life, and when she was working she knew exactly who she was; she was a confident and successful woman. When it came to men she had no idea what she was doing. She couldn't choose a man over her career.

"I can't…" she said. "I'm sorry."

"Well I'm not going to sit around waiting for you to be ready."

"I would never expect you to."

"Good. So I'm going to go out with Alexis and have a good time, and you should do the same with Marc."

Elena thought Damon's 'good time' would no doubt mean sleeping with Alexis. The thought didn't make her happy at all. Yesterday she'd wondered briefly if he might have been jealous of her going on a date, but now she was the one who felt jealous. None of this made sense. She had no right to be jealous. She couldn't tell him she wasn't interested and not expect him to pursue another woman. He was obviously fine with her dating Marc; actually, he was now telling her to go out with Marc.

"Does this mean you've revised your opinion of Marc?" she asked him, hopefully.

"The guy's trouble, Elena; but then so am I," he said to her, with a smirk. "You seem to like trouble, but I thought you might want some advice."

"I thought you came here to apologize."

"I did, but I also came to give you a few pointers for tonight."

Her first instinct was to argue that she didn't need his help, but the last advice he gave her was good advice, and it couldn't hurt to listen to what he said. She could always disregard it. But if he thought Marc was a jerk, why would he encourage her to go on this date? He didn't need her to date Marc so he could go out with Alexis. He could do what he wanted. She tried to concentrate on what he was saying.

"Don't drink anything he hands you."

"Damon, he's hardly going to…"

"Get rid of it straight away if you smell vanilla."

"Vanilla?" she asked, confused.

He held up a finger, motioning for her to be quiet. He then spent the next five minutes telling her what she should and shouldn't do on this date, and what Marc may or may not do.

"I don't get it. If you think he could do all of that, why would you tell me I should sleep with him?"

"Sleep with him? At what point did I just say, Elena throw all caution to the wind and sleep with him?"

"You didn't, but…"

"Exactly, I didn't."

"You said to have a good time."

"Since when does good time mean have sex with the guy?"

"I just thought you meant…you and Alexis."

"What is this, some sick game of tit for tat?" He shook his head at her. "I'll see you at one."

He walked out the door, leaving Elena confused. Was he going to sleep with Alexis or not?

After leaving her room, Damon took the lift down the ground floor. It had taken all of his will power to keep his hands off her. If he pushed too hard though, she would fight him. If he attempted to seduce her, she would fight it. He needed her to stop fighting so hard, and that meant backing right off and letting her come to him. He'd also told her just about every possible thing that could go wrong on her date tonight, and now he needed to go shopping for vanilla essence and laxatives. Depending on how this night went, Marc wouldn't know what hit him.

When Damon set foot in Cha-Chi's and saw the way couples were dancing on the floor, he knew exactly why Marc had suggested this place to Elena. It was an excuse for him to put his hands all over her. Elena looked so good tonight, that every man here was probably going to want to dance with her. He'd almost fallen over when he'd first caught a glimpse of her in her in a sequined black top, red and black skirt, and strappy black sandals.

Judging from the wide eyed expression she was also wearing right now, she hadn't expected anything like this either. She stood almost hypnotized, watching the way each couple had their hips literally glued together. A couple to the right of them was dancing so provocatively, he swore he saw Elena blush underneath the dim lighting. They all watched as the man slid down the woman's body, and kissed her chest, his hands massaging the soft mounds of the woman's backside.

Elena had been able to hear the Latin music from the street, and she had expected to find people salsa dancing, but this was far more uninhibited than anything she'd ever imagined. She didn't know if she could ever be that uninhibited. She certainly didn't want to try that with Marc. From the moment he'd picked her up, he hadn't stopped touching her.

"Look at the way they feel the music," Marc said to her.

"They're feeling it alright," Damon said loud enough for all of them to hear him.

"Come-on, we should eat first. I can't dance on an empty stomach," Alexis said.

Elena was aware of Marc's hand sitting heavily on the small of her back as he guided her up a rickety old staircase to the restaurant part of the club. From their booth upstairs they could see the dance floor perfectly. She ended up sitting opposite Damon somehow, and every time she looked up from the dance floor she looked right at him. Thankfully, Alexis seemed to be keeping him entertained, talking about a celebrity she'd interviewed a couple of weeks ago.

After a cocktail on an empty stomach, Elena was starting to relax. That was until Marc slung his arm across the back of the booth, and he moved closer to her. Suddenly, all the warnings Damon gave her this morning were coming back to her. As much as Elena didn't want to admit she was worried about the things Damon had said, she was suddenly glad he was here, even if he was on a date with someone else.

"How about a dance before dinner?" Alexis asked Damon.

"Do you want to dance, Elena?" Marc asked.

"After dinner," she told Marc.

After hearing her answer, Damon and Alexis left them to go and dance. Elena decided she really didn't like Alexis the moment she started dancing with Damon. Elena watched them dance from her spot in their booth. When Alexis wrapped her arms around Damon's neck and ground her hips against his, Elena had to turn away. She didn't need to see that; she didn't want to think about that. How had this happened? She wasn't even his girlfriend, but she didn't want Damon sleeping with anyone but her.

"What you don't understand is that this isn't going away. We're stuck together for the three weeks, and it's only going to get worse."

She was trying so hard to run from the attraction she felt to him, but her feelings and desires weren't subsiding at all.

"I can't wait to do that with you," Marc whispered in her ear. "You're so beautiful."

She shuddered as he moved even closer, and started to stroke her arm with his hand. Elena wondered again if Damon was right about this guy. What would she do if Marc didn't take no for an answer? When his hand slipped down to her knee, and started moving slowly up her thigh, she firmly removed it, but it found its way back again.

"Do you like it when I touch you?" Marc asked her, moving closer to her again, so she was sandwiched by the balcony railing and his body.

Elena would have thought the fact that she'd removed his hand would indicate that she didn't like it at all, but it seemed her date was as dense as the wooden table they were seated at.

"Mmm, you smell good," Marc said, burying his face in her hair.

His hands were becoming more persistent now. She'd never been in this situation before, and she really wasn't sure what she should do. She wanted to grind her heel into his foot, but this man was a host of a TV show connected to her PR company, and she couldn't. If she'd been at home she would have left and caught a cab, but since she was here on a double date, she wasn't quite ready to do that. Moreover, she wasn't entirely sure that her date wouldn't follow her.

"Will you excuse me, I need to use the ladies," she told him.

Marc slid out of the booth to let her past, and she literally ran to the bathroom. Elena closed the door behind her, and leaned on it for a moment, listening for footsteps. Had she really thought he might follow her in here? Either Damon's words had messed with her mind, or she was in serious trouble. She walked to the basin and splashed some water over her face.

Looking in the mirror she asked herself what the hell she was doing here. She hadn't wanted to come here in the first place, and she should have said so. Damon had warned her yesterday not to go out with Marc, but she'd wanted to prove him wrong. A small part of her had also thought that if she could go out with another man then maybe she could move past the attraction she had to her client. It looked like she'd been wrong, and now she was stuck on the date from hell.

When she left the bathroom she breathed a sigh of relief that Damon and Alexis were back at the table.

"We're going to get drinks," Marc said to her, standing up. "Do you want the same as you had before?"

Elena nodded as she slipped back into the booth, and tried not to worry about the fact that Marc would be handling her drink.

"How long has Damon been your client?" Alexis asked her, her eyes never leaving Damon.

"Just over a month."

"He said you're not allowed to date your clients."

"That's right," Elena told her, not knowing why Damon would have told her that.

"When I saw the two of you together yesterday, I thought you were together. I can't believe you haven't thought about it."

"How long have you and Marc been working together?" Elena asked her, changing the subject.

"A little over a year. He's nice enough, but he doesn't keep his hands to himself, if you know what I mean," Alexis said to her.

Even his co-worker had been able to see what Elena had clearly missed. Was Damon right about her? Was she naïve? If she was, it was only because she'd chosen to stay out of the game for so long, and now she was coming back into this whole dating game missing years of experience.

When the men reappeared with their drinks, she took hers and was about to take a sip of the electric blue cocktail when she caught a whiff of vanilla. Suddenly, not interested in touching it, she put the drink down and was relieved when their food arrived. As soon as she'd eaten, she would feign a headache and ask Damon to make sure Marc didn't follow her back to the hotel.

At least while Damon and Alexis were there, Marc settled for putting an arm around her, and that was it. Elena didn't know quite where to look, while she ate. She had the dancing to one side of her, Marc staring at her intensely on the other side of her, and Damon and Alexis were sharing food with each other in front of her. The loud music didn't really allow for much conversation, but she could easily hear Alexis and Damon flirting.

"I can't wait to get you back on that dance floor. God, am I being too forward?"

"I like a woman who knows what she wants," Damon told her.

Elena knew that he was speaking to Alexis, but it still felt like a jibe aimed at her after their conversation earlier. When they'd finally finished eating, Elena wanted to get out of there, but she needed to talk to Damon and ask him to keep an eye on her date when she left. No matter how much she tried to get his attention, however, he wouldn't be distracted long enough for her to tell him she needed to talk to him. When Marc suggested they dance, both Alexis and Damon jumped at the chance. Not wanting to be left alone with her date again she let herself be led down to the dance floor.

Elena took in all the other couples having fun, and wondered if there was something wrong with her because she wasn't enjoying herself. When Marc grabbed her ass for the tenth time, she decided it was time to leave the floor. She was looking for Damon when she realized that he and Alexis were actually dancing right beside them now. Seeing this as her opportunity to extricate herself from the situation, she called out for a partner swap. Marc was reluctant to let her go, and she could see Alexis wasn't overly happy about it, but she didn't care. Damon just raised an eyebrow at her when they started dancing together.

"Enjoying yourself?" he asked her.

She shuffled backwards and forwards with him. "No," she said, moving closer, so he could hear her. "He won't keep his hands to himself. You were right."

Damon thought Marc was one lucky guy right now. If he wasn't dancing with Elena, Damon would punch the guy's lights out. He had known Marc would try and feel her up, but he thought he'd wait until later. Obviously, he'd started on Elena straight away, and she looked upset. He pulled her closer.

"Are you alright?" he asked her.

Elena felt his hands on her waist, and realized she was okay. She was okay when she was with him. She was safe when she was with him. How could she feel so safe with someone who could destroy everything she'd been working so hard for? She put her hands on his shoulders, moving closer to him.

"I want to go back to the hotel," she told him.

He nodded, before skimming his hands up and down her sides. "I like your skirt," he told her.

"It twirls," she told him.

"Show me."

He grabbed her hand and spun her around. Elena felt a bit like a movie star as she watched her skirt spin outwards. When he spun her back towards him, her back ended up pressed to his front. Damon put his hands on her hips, and Elena moved with him, feeling the music. She threw and arm around his neck so she could look at him while they moved together. As she locked eyes with him, her heart sped up, and she decided that she actually liked this type of dancing after all. She just needed the right partner.

"I'm going to take you back to the hotel," he whispered in her ear.

"No, Damon. It's fine. Alexis…"

"Will deal with it."

He spun her round so that she was facing him.

"Damon…"

"Do you want me to stay here, or do you want me to take you back to the hotel?"

Elena knew what he was asking. Was he going home with Alexis or was he going home with her? Was she ready to give in and act on what was between them? She already knew the answer. She'd known the answer all week, but she'd been fighting against it. Fighting it really wasn't working out for her anymore.

"I want you to take me back to the hotel," she told him.

"Does this mean you're ready to try things my way?" he asked her.

"Yes."

Damon felt himself harden in response to her simple answer. He wanted her so badly; needed her so badly, and now he could finally surrender to the desire he'd been fighting against for so long. He wanted to kiss her desperately; he wanted to brand her and make sure she didn't think twice about what they were going to do, but he was aware of where they were, and who they were with. He wouldn't risk word getting back to Elena's boss, or to Katherine. Marc would get off easy tonight, Damon thought, throwing an arm around Elena's shoulders; because they were going straight back to the hotel before she could change her mind.

"Let's go," he told her.

A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. I appreciate all your support. Marc and Damon each had a line from Dirty Dancing 2 in this, and I blame that on the fact that I was listening to the soundtrack while writing this.

So, there will be a big change to the relationship in the next chapters. Don't worry I haven't forgotten about Katherine, and neither have they ;)

I hope you found something to enjoy while reading this. Thanks for reading, and please review.