Just Us Chapter 25

Disclaimer: These wonderful characters do not belong to me but they live on in the hearts of all of their fans.

The difficult, dangerous and complicated was never just going to go away.

Okay, minor fluff warning for this long winded chapter but it had to be done. Beth and Mick making up, although, they didn't really have a fight.

Enjoy :) penni

Beth woke up alone the next morning. With no memory of getting changed into the pretty nightgown she was wearing, it could only mean that Mick had come to check on her at some stage during the night. She had been so emotionally drained she hadn't bothered to change out of the jeans and t shirt she had been wearing and simply lay down in the softness of the mattress, snuggled under the quilt and drifted off.

Where was he? Her man liked to kiss and cuddle in the early morning before life intervened in their world and separated them for the day. Beth snuggled further down into the quilt noticing the cold temperature of the room. Mick kept the air conditioning turned up so that he could stay with her the whole night instead of having to go back to his freezer. The chill reminded her that she was alone and not in the arms of the one person who would do anything for her, who loved her and cared for her like no one else would or ever could. What kind of stupid game was her mind was playing with her? What she knew to be true was warring with her insecurities, making her doubt and fear that what they had wouldn't last. That she would never be enough for him.

She listened for any sort of noise downstairs but heard nothing. Was Mick home? It was a work day so she got up groaning at the thought and headed for the shower. Since she only kept a few basics there in the way of clothes, and then nothing really suitable to wear to work, she only had what she had brought with her in the overnight bag that was still downstairs. Deciding to leave it for the time being, she slipped on Mick's robe over a fresh set of underwear. Drying her hair and doing her make up got pushed down of the list of things to do as the need for coffee grew by the second. It really was an addiction. On the way she stopped at the grey door before she heard movement downstairs. Mick was home and he was up.

Not being a morning person, she rarely felt like eating first thing. It was usually after noon before she even thought about anything but coffee. That had changed now especially when she stayed over at the loft. Mick always insisted that she needed to eat a proper breakfast and sometimes, like this morning, he would cook something for her. Beth walked over standing behind him to run her hands along his bare shoulders then down to wrap around his waist. Her face was pressed against his back and she could feel him react to the contact. She smiled when he grabbed one of her hands and kissed it quickly before turning his attention back to the pan on the stove.

"Make your coffee and I'll make some toast."

Beth planted a couple of little kisses across his back before she moved away from him, letting out a little sigh as she did. He wasn't ignoring her but it looked like he didn't want to play either. Beth waited patiently for the coffee maker to gurgle to life, licking her lips in anticipation at that first glorious sip. After she got the coffee going she leaned over Mick to look at the pan on the stove, scrambled eggs. It looked delicious but it was way too much and now he was making toast. Since when did he have a toaster?

"Mick, it looks great but I can't eat all that."

"You didn't have any dinner last night. Aren't you hungry?"

"A little bit."

"Mick."

"Mmmm."

"Are you mad?"

Mick stopped what he was doing and turned to face her, holding her away from him slightly.

"No, I'm not mad."

"You didn't come to bed." Her hands moved up his chest, over his shoulders and down again. Her fingers splayed wide so that she could touch even more of him.

Mick ran his hand through her still damp hair. "You had a lot on your mind last night. I thought you might need some space."

If anything Beth needed less space. She needed to know that he needed and wanted her as much as she needed and wanted him. Only her. That what they had was real. That it wasn't one sided, that they were in this together. Beth hated feeling insecure. She hated feeling out of balance with her emotions. There was no tangible reason for feeling inadequate and jealous. Mick told her he loved her all the time, showed her in the way he took care of her. She was being foolish. It was right there in the way he was looking at her right at that very moment.

Mick wrapped his arms around her, kissing the side of her face, her neck, and her shoulder. They both groaned, his voice muffled as he kissed the mark that she hadn't covered up yet. His mark. He lifted his head up to look at her, wanting to kiss her properly. Beth reached up to find his lips but he kept her waiting for contact, smiling his little lopsided smile as she groaned impatiently.

"I need to know that you trust me Beth."

Her hand slid down his cheek. "Last night wasn't about that."

"Wasn't it?"

"No, it was about me being jealous and stupid and feeling insecure about myself."

He took her hand and kissed it before holding it in his against his chest. How could she think he wanted anyone else when she could see what she did to him?

"Don't you listen to me when I tell you how much you mean to me, how much I love you? His voice was velvet smooth, almost a whisper.

"Yes sweetheart, I do listen." She whispered back, their lips close by this stage but not quite touching.

He untied the silky robe, letting his hands wander over her body, his fingers seeking to touch the bare skin between her lacy bra and panties. He bent his head to press his lips against the mark he had left on her breast a few nights ago. The two neat little holes that were for his eyes only, peeked out through the lace of her bra. The vampire felt Beth shudder against him and it made his desire for her almost unbearable. He pulled her closer, his body searching for hers, desperate to feel her locked against him. He ran his nose along the column of her throat. Her heart was pounding, her breath ragged and uneven, blood racing. Her desire for him flooded his senses.

The toaster popped up loudly with its burnt offering, breaking the spell and making them both grin.

He kissed her gently, took a deep breath and tied the robe back up.

"Eat your breakfast."

Beth was still in a blissful stupor so it took a moment for her to realise what he had said.

"What? Why?"

"You need to eat your breakfast." He pointed over at the plate with the now barely warm eggs.

"Stupid toaster." Beth grumbled sulkily as she sat down and started eating.

"Josef called earlier to say he was stopping by this morning and he should be here any minute."

Although the calling ahead thing was a new development, Josef had not got the hang of knocking when he arrived. Over the years Mick had preferred to 'entertain' his sporadic dates elsewhere and so there had been no chance of him getting caught with his pants down whenever Josef decided to drop by unannounced. Things were different now and the last thing Mick wanted was Josef barging in catching him and Beth in the middle of something.

Beth immediately understood what he was saying and grumbled under her breath something about Josef enjoying it since he was basically a dirty old pervert.

Mick laughed. "How about I pick you up from work and we can do something tonight. I'll take you somewhere nice for dinner."

Mick watched as she waved her fork around pretending to weigh up her options.

"Let's see. We could get dressed up and go to a stuffy restaurant and I could watch you, watch me, stuff my face." She took another mouthful of eggs. "Or, you could just watch me stuff my face here and then we could go and make out at the beach."

" Mmmm that sounds like a plan."

"It will give me something to look forward to after being stuck in a boring strategy conference all day. Ben thinks it will be good experience for me but I think that he likes the sound of his own voice just a little too much." She smiled and rolled her eyes for effect. At least she wouldn't have to spend any one on one time with him today.

Mick smiled back at her. "Actually, he's very good." He hated to admit it but he had to give credit where credit was due. The guy knew his way around a courtroom.

"How do you know that?"

"I was at the courthouse giving testimony on another case and I stopped by to listen."

"To check him out you mean." Beth teased.

"Yeah okay. That too."

"I used to go to listen to Josh sometimes but he didn't like it. He thought I was too distracting."

Mick leaned over across the counter. "I totally get that, come here." Beth met him in the middle. They kissed, gently at first, then deepening the kiss wanting more. Beth broke it off this time, his lips following hers as she pulled back from him.

"Please, don't let me interrupt you." Josef's voice broke the silence in the room. They had been so caught up in each other they hadn't heard him come in. He stood there with a grin on his face, clearly enjoying the show.

Beth looked at Mick, her expression conveying a silent 'see I told you'.

Mick was grateful that Beth was wearing underwear as her robe was gaping at the front exposing more of her that he wanted anyone else to see. He walked around the counter and covered her up. Beth blushed when she realised what had happened. Mick kissed her gently ignoring Josef's snide comment about him being a spoilsport and ruining all his fun.

"Sorry kids but I did call first. I need to speak to Mick privately."

Beth got the hint. "It's okay Josef, I need to get ready for work anyway."

The vampires watched entranced as the silky robe flapped around Beth's long bare legs and clung to her curves as she walked across the room, picked up her bag and disappeared up the stairs.

Josef whistled under his breath. "I had no idea that Blondie had such a great set of pins. I haven't seen legs like that since …."

"Yeah well enjoy brother because you won't be seeing those particular legs again any time soon."

"Don't tell me the inner vampire is feeling a little possessive about his woman?" Josef was teasing but he knew he had hit the nail on the head. "Not that I blame you for being a little skittish about her being around other vamps."

Mick was headed for the office not wanting to get drawn into a conversation about his growing desire to keep her away from anyone, vamp or human. Her rare blood alone was enough to have any vamp wanting to get to know her better. Anders' lab had been a testament to the high demand for rare blood types. "You wanted to talk?"

Josef noticed that Mick kept looking upstairs wanting to go and make sure that Beth was okay. He decided to help him out.

"You should probably get dressed too." Josef sat behind Mick's desk and tapped away at the computer keyboard to get to work. "I need to check on some stock reports first anyway."

Mick nodded and bounded up the stairs.

Beth was in the bathroom getting ready for work. She stopped what she was doing and looked back at Mick in the mirror when he walked in, mascara in hand.

"I'm sorry about that."

"It's okay, it's obviously something important."

Mick turned her around to face him. He couldn't let her go to work feeling that he had pushed her aside as soon as Josef had shown up. "This is important too Beth." He kissed her neck, instantly making her move closer to him. "Josef just isn't used to me having other priorities yet."

Beth let out a little gasp as he licked and sucked on her throat. "I missed you last night and this morning."

" I didn't think you'd want to…"

"Sharing a bed is not only about the sex Mick" Beth stated rather primly, pulling back from his embrace to look him in the eye. "It's about intimacy between us as a couple, being together in other ways."

Mick smiled back at her. He had basically said the same thing to Josef. It wasn't just about the sex. "I totally agree but we have never spent the night sleeping in the same bed without having sex before." His hands were wondering over her making her squirm. She could feel his burgeoning erection pressing into her.

"Mick, we can't. Josef is downstairs probably listening to us right now." He groaned loudly when her hand dipped into the waistband of his pyjamas.

"He's in the office making money so he will be too distracted to hear anything." It was only a little white lie.

"We don't have much time."

"We don't need much time." He had been hard since he had heard Beth in the shower earlier and started fantasising about what he wanted to do with her. He was already half way there and so was she.

"The shower?" He was so turned on he could hardly stand it. There was nothing that was going to stop what was going to happen next.

"Anything you want sweetheart." Beth giggled as Mick scooped her up and carried her into the shower area, turning on the tap while struggling to get her undressed and kiss her all at the same time.

Downstairs in the office, a smile slowly spread across Josef's face. He had actually managed to make some decent money in the short time since Mick had left. Some days, money just fell into his lap.

"Oh yeah," He muttered to himself. Mick's inner vampire was definitely staking his claim upstairs, letting the older vampire know Beth belonged to him. He had heard the entire conversation but had switched off now that things had progressed out of respect for his friends. Of course, he could just leave and let them have their privacy but then he would miss the awkwardness that would surely follow when the lovebirds finally emerged from their love nest.

There was no way he was going to miss that.

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