A/N: You knew this was coming….
"Kitten," I moaned as I drew her down onto the bed. "I only thought I was living before I met you. You'll love me until you die? That's not nearly long enough…."
No, not nearly. I'd spent almost 250 years surrounded by people yet alone, using woman after woman to fill an empty void inside myself that I didn't realize was there until I met her. I thought I was happy, or as close to it as a vampire could get, until she showed up and I realized what I'd been missing all along. Her. And I hoped she'd be by my side for a long, long time.
I drew her onto the bed and gently began to remove her clothes, then mine. For some reason, Kitten seemed emotionally delicate tonight. I chalked it up to the fear of losing her mum, the fear of losing me, and all the things she had gone through in the past day or so.
So I was especially gently with her. I rained her face and neck with butterfly kisses. Instead of suckling her breasts hard like I usually did, I licked them and teased them with my tongue. I ran my hands gently over her body, feeling her curves and loving each one of them with my hands.
In response, she ran her hands over me like she was trying to memorize my shape. Normally when we made love, she had her head thrown back, eyes closed in pleasure. But tonight she kept them open, watching me love her with my mouth and hands.
Finally, when I reached her center, I used careful, slow licks. I gently teased her with my tongue and fingers, feeling out the places she loved best. She let me taste her, love her, for a while, then pulled me up and kissed me, tasting herself on me.
"Bones…" she drew out, "I need you. God, do I need you…"
I covered her body with my own as gently as I could, because she just seemed so fragile. I entered her slowly, relishing in her tight warmth around me, and groaned. I began to move, slowly, pulling back just a tiny bit, then a bit more, then all the way as I had done the first time we were together like this.
She moaned and her hips came up to meet mine, but tears streamed down her face. I saw them and stopped immediately.
"What's wrong, luv? Am I hurting you? Did I hurt you?"
"No," she choked out, "I'm just so damned glad we all came through the fire like you said we would. I never thought I'd get to be with you like this again. Please, don't stop… don't stop, I need you to keep going…"
So together we moved, slowly. I would rest my weight on one arm to wipe the tears from one cheek, then switch to wipe the tears from the other. Her cheeks were so soft, her lips even softer from her crying. I couldn't stop myself from kissing her again, and again, and again…
Eventually our movements became more rapid, as both of us hurdled to an inevitable conclusion. Still, we kept our eyes open, and still, she wept. Inside, I felt like weeping, too – like she said, we had come through the fire. We had further to go before we were completely out of the woods yet, but I had my Kitten, and that was all that mattered.
As we reached completion together, looking into each other's eyes, hands locked together, I wondered if maybe this was the time to give her the red diamond – ask her to be mine in every way. But, when I thought more about it, I realized I wanted to do it the next day. We would have everything we needed to start a new life, together, and I wanted her to have the choice to accept me or not. Also, I wanted her mum there to see her daughter (hopefully) accept a vampire for the rest of her life.
As Kitten drifted off to sleep, cocooning in the blankets yet again, I stroked her hair and thought, this is bliss...
