A/N: Thank you for the lovely reviews and amazing feedback. This is a short one, next one will be much longer and more deal-breakers coming through (I'm currently in the process of moving houses and with very limited access to internet, as well as struggling to find the time to write in general - So sorry this might seem a bit rushed) Hope you enjoy this one x

Chapter 11

Elena stood in front of the mirror, clad in the towel that Damon handed to her - it was teasingly short, of course. The wet brown locks fell clumsily over her bare shoulders, small water droplets still dripping from the ends and the smell of Damon's musky shampoo heavily lingered. She stood looking at herself, or more accurately admiring the pure joy beaming from her face. She gently caressed the side of her neck, noting a very visible love bite peeking from under her right ear. A blush shot straight to her cheeks, a reminder of last night and early this morning… and a few minutes ago, in the shower. But it wasn't the sex that made her so happy. Although yes, it was mind blowing and she could easily classify herself as Damon Salvatore addict as of this morning - it was so much more than that. But she couldn't pinpoint what it was exactly, just yet.

"As much as I love you in this towel," Damon peeked from behind the door, raising his eyebrows suggestively. "Breakfast is ready, my lady."

"Damon!" She exclaimed with a pout on her face. "I was supposed to make breakfast for you."

He grinned, thinking just how damn cute she looked right now, and walked over, grabbing her by the waist and pulling her frame against his chest.

He lowered his face so that the tips of their noses were brushing against each other.

"Elena, there's no nice way to put it - but I really didn't want to see my kitchen go down in flames."

She gasped, laughing and abruptly pulled back, giving him a playful slap on the arm.

"You're a dick, you know that?"

"Goes without saying." He grinned, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I'll have you know that I know my way in the kitchen, and I'll prove it to you." She tapped him on the nose, and proudly walked away to grab a hairbrush from the cabinet.

"Not just in the kitchen, baby." He winked at her, devouring her toned legs and the mini towel barely covering her ass.

Before she could remark with a comment, he gave her a gentle smack on her perky behind.

"See you at the kitchen table!"

She shook her head with a light laugh.

"Incorrigible." She muttered, gently running the brush through her hair.

"You know, now that I've seen you naked I'm not really satisfied with any of the clothes that you wear."

Damon rolled his eyes and shook his head as he watched Elena walk into the kitchen wearing his blue shirt, her hair was neatly tied up in a ponytail and she was barefoot. She hooped up onto the stool chair and comfortably rested her chin on the palm of her hands.

"So technically I'll forever be ugly to you?" She teased, biting her bottom lip.

"Why bother with technicalities when we can just get to the practical side of things?" He murmured, leaving a peck in the hollow of her shoulder.

One hand gently caressed her bare thigh, as it then slowly made its way up her back, neck and finally settled on the back of her head. Skillfully, he began to massage the back of her scalp, which earned him a soft purr as Elena leaned back into his touch.

"Stop trying to seduce me." She muttered out with a small smile, her eyes closed in the pleasure of his touch.

"Oh, like I have to try." He chuckled softly.

Elena twirled around in the chair and looked up to see him gloating. She pulled his face down to hers by grabbing the back of his neck, and very softly touched interlaced their lips, making sure not to break their eye contact. She ran the tip of her tongue across his bottom lip, which earned her access into his mouth and their tongues brushed against the other seductively.

"Damon." Elena murmured out breathlessly in between their kisses.

"Mm?" He made an incoherent sound, his lips still devouring hers and unwilling to let go.

"Get me my coffee."

He instantly opened his eyes, and gave her a questioning look, clearly confused. A wide grin appeared on her face, as she sent him a brief wink and twirled back around.

"You are a little tease."

"And don't you love it."

And fuck it, he did. There was a witty response in Elena for everything, there was never an ordinary moment filled with boredom or awkward silence - she was challenging and despite what she thought, she knew exactly what she wanted from life. He would be damned if he couldn't give that to her.

He kissed the top of her head and walked over to brew the coffee, setting aside two white mugs with a dash of milk in them. She liked her morning coffee a little stronger than usual, and with no trace of sweetness. He shook his head a little surprised at himself, because after all why did he know this? Well, she seemed to be the only woman that he's ever listened to - whenever she spoke, his ears lingered in genuine interest.

Sometimes he felt like the more he knew, the better chance he had of figuring her out.

That it would help him piece the puzzles together, because he took note of how appreciative she was of him understanding the parts of her that even she couldn't fathom herself. Recently, he found himself wondering why there was such a strong pull between them - why was he so adamant on being the one she'd fully open up to. Is it love? No, it can't be. They barely knew each other. But was time an accurate indicator of love? And how do you recognize that you're in love with someone, when you've never felt it before.

He was abruptly pulled away from his thoughts by the doorbell ringing.

"Don't worry, I'll get it chef." She giggled and jumped of the stool, making her way to the door.

Elena didn't bother checking the peephole, as she unlocked the door and opened it up just enough to see the person on the other side. She startled at the sight, recognizing the elegant couple from the photograph last night, standing right in front of her - with blatant confusion painted over their faces.

"Surely the deliver guy is going to have a good morning, when you greet him looking like that." Damon rolled his eyes and muttered from the kitchen, somewhat unimpressed at someone else seeing her wearing just an over-sized shirt.

He made his way to the front door, noticing a baffled Elena and his parents with eerily similar facial expressions. His parents?! What on earth were they doing here?

"Mom, Dad - what are you doing here?" Damon asked a little taken back, as he walked over next to Elena and tried hard to refrain from laughing. She looked like she wanted to hide six feet under, her cheeks flared up and her small hands crept at the sides of her shirt - in a desperate plea to pull it down.

"Oh honey, we're sorry for intruding!" The brunette flashed a sincere smile in their direction. "We've been trying to contact you since Friday and we couldn't get through. Stefan's visiting for the week, I wanted to have both of my boys for dinner tomorrow night."

Ah, Stefan. He completely forgot about him coming over, it seemed like their conversation merely took place a few days ago, but clearly, it's already been a month. And that explained what his parents were doing in New York - they had an apartment near the company's headquarters, purposely for looking over the business and to meet both of their sons halfway. Apparently travelling to Richmond wasn't high in demand neither for Damon or Stefan.

"Sorry son, we didn't realize you had a guest." Giuseppe gestured at Elena, holding in a chuckle.

That chuckle - so it wasn't just the looks that he'd gotten from his father.

"No, it's fine. Sorry, this is Elena... My girlfriend." Damon looked over at Elena and saw the surprised look on her face - not exactly the best way to make things official, but it needed to be done one way or another, right?

"It's nice to meet you Mrs and Mr Salvatore." Elena smiled nervously and stuck her hand out unsure, as if things couldn't get any more awkward. Meeting your apparent boyfriend's parents for the very first time in his shirt and no pants? Check.

"Oh, don't Mrs me sweetie, I'm Lily! And this is Giuseppe." Lily said dismissively, the smile on her face growing wider as she squeezed her husband's arm. "It's lovely to meet you! You can't even imagine how happy it makes me to know that my boy is finally seeing someone."

Finally - How long has it been since that blonde bimbo?

Giuseppe briefly shook her hand and grinned, showing off his pearly white teeth and the small dimples on the side of his cheeks. "You should join us for dinner, Elena. It would be great to get to know you a bit better."

"Yes, that's a great idea! You'd get to meet Stefan and Lexi - his girlfriend. It would be so great to have all of us together."

Elena couldn't help but smile, they were good to the core and she instantly liked them.

"Okay mom, slow down - I don't want to scare her away just yet." Damon rolled his eyes. "We don't know what we're doing tomorrow, so I'll give you a call, okay?"

"Thank you very much for inviting me though, it's really kind of you." Elena added.

Giuseppe laughed and shook his head. "Yeah honey, let them make the decision. I'm sure we'll have plenty of occasions to meet with Elena and Damon. Now let's get going, I have to check in at the office."

Lily sighed and gave him the side eye. "On a Sunday?"

"Yep, business never sleeps." Giuseppe shrugged his shoulders and sent a brief wink to Damon.

"This man will be the death of me... I swear." She muttered out. "Okay then, I hope to see you soon Elena - take care of my boy." Lily pulled her into a brief hug, which surprised Elena - but she hugged her back, thankful for the genuine warmth.

"It was lovely meeting you both. And em, please excuse my attire." Elena blushed as her gaze briefly fell to her 'outfit'.

"Nonsense honey! Despite what you youngsters might think, we were also young and crazy about each other - once upon time. Especially in the beginning -"

Giuseppe cleared his throat. "Honey, I think they get it."

Lily blushed and giggled. "Okay, okay. We're out of here. Damon, you better call me today. Take care you two!"

"I will. Thanks, take care." Damon hugged his mum and shared a brief 'man hug' with his dad, as he finally shut the door behind them.

Elena released a deep breath that apparently, she'd been holding in and felt a bead of sweat building up on her forehead.

"That was probably the most embarrassing moment... Ever." She put her face in her hands.

"Hey, hey." Damon grabbed her by the waist and lifted her chin up, so that she was looking up at him.

"You did great. They loved you. If that wasn't the case - trust me, you would have felt it." He said truthfully.

"Really? So, the recipe to making a good impression on your parents is to be half naked?" She frowned at the image in her head - the only parents she'd ever met were Elijah's and that was after an entire year of dating, and yes, she was fully clothed.

"Well I'm sure none of the male population would have an issue with that." Damon laughed. "Okay, if it makes things better I can consider meeting your parents shirtless."

Elena glared at him and walked off to the kitchen.

"Oh, come on, babe."

"So, you're officially a thing now?" Enzo questioned, sitting down with a beer in his hand.

Damon shrugged off his leather jacket and placed it on the seat next to him. His pint glass was nicely set on the table. "I guess so. I mean she's the only girl that I've been seeing, and I want to be the only guy that she's seeing. The only thing left was to give it a label."

"And what did Elena think of that?" Enzo mused with an incessant gaze.

Damon grumbled a little. "Honestly, I have no clue. She's just so damn hard to read sometimes, and when it comes to me her feelings are completely guarded."

"Well, it's blatantly obvious that she's into you. Bonnie's constantly talking about it." He deliberated. "Elena's just a little scared off by long term commitment."

"Yeah, so I've heard." He snickered, twirling his phone in his hand. "It's only ironic that I fall for the girl who doesn't do relationships, when I've been running from them my whole damn life."

Enzo chuckled and took a sip from his glass. "Hey, let's not forget Andie. She really tried."

"What's up with the past tense, her efforts are still going strong." A cheery voice mused next to them.

Both Damon and Enzo snapped their heads up to see Alaric, standing by their table with that typical grin on his face.

"Ah, someone's finally been released from Jenna's grip." Damon mocked as Alaric high-fived Enzo before taking a seat next to him.

"You don't see me complaining." The sandy blonde smirked. "So, what are you two brooding about?" Alaric raised his brow and shifted his gaze from Damon to Enzo, who shrugged his shoulders in response.

"Elena this, Elena that. The usual, right?" Enzo offered wittingly.

"Fuck, what did you do now?" Alaric frowned. "You know I'll be the one getting an earful if you turn out to be an ass who hurts Jenna's favorite cousin."

"I didn't do anything." Damon defended himself. "Apparently calling things for what they are isn't the way to do it anymore.

"So, you got turned down?"

Damon growled and glared at Alaric.

"No, you idiot. She just doesn't know… where we stand, I guess." He sighed. "Basically, I'm a good fuck, but not necessarily the boyfriend type."

"And since when does this bother you? You were always in it for a quick fuck rather than the lovey-dovey stuff."

Yeah, when exactly did things change? At what point did the pretty little brunette get under his skin and become the subject of his constant interest. When did late night sex turn into goodnight kisses and comforting hugs? Fuck, he was deeper in it than he thought.

"Since Elena is… Elena." Damon simply stated with a shrug of his shoulders. There was no other way to put it. Elena being herself was enough to turn his world upside down.

"Well, you're coming to her niece's birthday party next week, aren't you?"

"Yeah, I guess so. I promised her a while ago."

"Honestly man, I really don't think it's you. Elena needs time to adjust, she's really had a rough year." Alaric sighed with an apologetic look.

"So maybe it's time someone tells me the truth. I'm getting tired of having to guess what made her the way she is. I won't judge, I just want to know what's going on with her."

"Ask. Maybe she'll open up…"