Keeping Secrets
Ch. 15

Katie sat in her car in the school parking lot catching up on homework that she had failed to do when she saw Stefan drive up in an old, but very well taken care of sports car with the music blaring. He was throwing caution to the wind, tossing a big red flag in the air that Elena clearly didn't see since the two of them kissed then Elena walked off with a smile on her face. Katie tucked her finished homework into her bag then walked over to meet Stefan at his car. "You're not being inconspicuous." Katie said as he quickly closed the trunk and turned to her with a smile on his face. "You're not okay are you?" she asked with and appraising glare.

"I don't know what you're talking about." He told her with a tight lipped smile as he pushed the strap of his backpack higher on his shoulder.

"I'm not Elena, Stefan, I'm not going to let you lie to me. You're not acting like yourself." She told him as she placed her hand on the trunk and gave him a 'talk to me' look.

"I'm fine." He told her with a look that told her to stop asking questions.

"Look, I'm not going to tell Elena, but if you're not doing okay you need to talk to somebody. Let me be that somebody." She asked and he just took his sunglasses out of the neck of his shirt and put them on. "Okay. I'm not going to beg you to talk to me, but you can't say I didn't try to be there for you." she sighed and started walking with him to the school in silence.

When they walked into history and took a seat both Elena and Alaric gave her a questioning look. "Katie, what are you doing here I thought I had you in fifth period."

"They changed my schedule, something about there being too many people in period one Spanish." She shrugged and he started looking at a stack of papers on his desk.

"Ah, I over looked that notice." He told her then looked up to see two other kids walk in and take a seat only leaving one seat available in the room. "Which explains why you two are here."

"Okay, this week we're going to set aside our regular curriculum for a lesson in local history as we approach founder's day." Mr. Saltzman started. "Apparently the community leaders feel that's more important than world war two. But hey, what do I know?"

He was interrupted by Bonnie walking through the door. "Sorry I'm late." She told him as she shut the door.

"Looks like we'll be at full occupancy today. Welcome home, Bonnie." Alaric said as Bonnie took a seat. He started talking but Katie wasn't paying attention. Instead she gave Bonnie a smile that went unreturned. She brushed off Elena and Stefan too.

She and Elena gave each other 'what's up with her?' look then turned their eyes to their teacher. Bonnie was the first one out the door when class was over.

Elena and Katie tried several attempts throughout the day to talk to Bonnie, but she kept slipping away. It wasn't until after school that they managed to catch her on the way to her car. "Bonnie," Katie called and Bonnie stopped walking, "hey, how are you?"

"Yeah how's the family?" Elena added.

"We're dealing. It's been hard." Bonnie answered understandably vague.

"We all really missed you." Elena said as she pushed the strap of her bag higher on her shoulder.

"Yeah I just had so much to deal with after Grams funeral, and honestly after you told me that the tomb spell failed, I just really didn't want to come back." she told them.

Katie looked at Elena, "You told her over the phone?"

"I wanted her to know before she came home." Elena defended herself then turned back to Bonnie. "I hope you understand why I told you."

"I understand why. I just wish I didn't know." Bonnie's eyes turned a little cold as she looked at her two friends.

"Bonnie!" They heard Caroline say as she ran over and scooped Bonnie up in a hug making her smile. "Thank god you're home." She let go of Bonnie just as fast as she scooped her up. "I know we talked everyday, but I missed you. How are you doing?" Caroline asked in a whirlwind.

"Better, better. You know, just glad to be back. Trying to keep myself busy." Bonnie said giving Caroline more words than she had Elena and Katie.

"Well, I can help with that." Caroline said with a smile on her face. "Major wardrobe confab needed asap. You need to help me pick the perfect dress for the founder's court."

"The founder's court?" Elena asked. "Did I miss something?"

"The founder's court. You know, Miss Mystic Falls." Caroline told her like she should already know what she was talking about. "They announced it today and um, you and I and Katie are on it."

"Oh, my god, we signed up for that so long ago. I completely forgot." Elena replied

"So are you dropping out then?" Caroline asked sounding a little too hopeful.

"I can't." Elena said as she sank back into herself a little bit.

"No?" Caroline asked confused.

"Her mom is the one who wanted her to enter." Bonnie explained.

The three girls shared a look. "Hey, Katie," Tyler called from behind her and she looked over her shoulder to see him standing a few feet behind her with his hands in his pockets, "can we talk?"

"Yeah." She told him then looked at her friends. "I'll see you guys later." They walked away as Tyler walked up to her. "What's up?"

"I know you said you wanted to take a break for a few days, but I don't need a few days." He told her.

She pushed the strap of her bag up her shoulder. "Okay, so what does that mean?" she asked as she started walking to her car.

"It mean's that I don't want to break up with you." he told her as she came to her car.

She opened the driver's door and tossed her bag into the passenger seat. "Good, because I don't want to break up with you either." She told him and he smiled. "But," she held up her finger stopping him from being too happy too soon, "if this is going to work both of us need to make a few changes."

"Like what?" he asked with a sigh.

"Like I'm going to stop dancing with guys who aren't you." she started.

"And what change do I have to make?" he asked with pursed lips.

"You need to realize that I'm not the kid of girl that parties and gets drunk at public events. A bonfire, a random kegger in the woods…alone in my room with you…?" she said as she hooked her finger into the collar of his button up shirt and pulled him a little closer. "Sure, but I'm not going to be stupid and ruin my chances for a scholarship." He smirked down at her finger in his shirt. "Is that cool with you or is it a deal breaker?"

"It's cool." He told her as his smirk turned onto a smile. "You care about your future, I get it."

"Does that mean you'll be my escort for the Miss Mystic Falls founder's pageant?" she asked with a hopeful smile.

"You made the court?" he asked with a smile and raised brows

"Why do you look so surprised?" she asked with a small laugh.

"Well, because my mom is over that." He said with a tilt of his head.

"Regardless, I'm on it and I need an escort." She told him getting back on topic. "So will you?"

"Yes, I will learn the stupid dance and everything." He told her with a smile as he leaned in and pinned her between him and the open door of her car. She placed her hand on his chest and kissed him.

"Wanna help me find a dress?" she asked with another hopeful smile when the kiss broke.

"No, hard pass." He told her shake of his head.

"Okay fine." She sighed then pulled him back in for a kiss.


She was sitting at the bar at work, slacking off while writing what she was going to say when the judges did their whole, we want to get to know you before picking a winner, thing when she felt someone touch her shoulder making her jump and almost fall off of the stool. "Whoa there Katie Cat, didn't mean to scare you." Damon laughed while pulling her back onto the stool. "What are you concentrating so hard on?" he asked as he sat down and slid the paper across the bar and began to read it. "While I haven't helped the community first hand I have had a part in the-"

"Give me that back." Katie said trying to take it from him, but he lifted it high in the air and kept reading.

"go green campaign at school and made several donations to the M.F. beautification committee and the rec. center soup kitchen. My plans for the future are to go to Duke university and become a pediatrician." She finally managed to get it from him and stuff it in her bag to be worked on later. "What is that?"

"The speech I'm going to give the founders court judges." She told him as she walked around the bar and made him a glass of bourbon on the rocks.

"A pediatrician huh?" he asked as she slid him the glass.

"It's what I put on the paper when I signed up." She shrugged. "I didn't think I would actually make it. Now I have to buy yet another dress and heels and I have no idea what's appropriate for this kind of thing." She complained with a sigh. She saw Damon looking her up and down. "What?"

"Blue, one shoulder, flowy with one of those sparkly belts on the waist." He suggested, wiggling his fingers at her waist.

"I can't wear blue, Elena's claimed that color." She argued.

"Then red." He suggested.

"Really, a red dress with red hair?" she asked with a point to her ponytail.

"Wine red, it won't clash." He explained and she gave him an odd look. "I enjoy looking at women and I happen to pick up on what looks good on them. Don't judge me." He told her with a smirk as he leaned across the bar.

"Not judging." She said holding her hands up in surrender. "Just appreciating."

"Get back to work and stop breaking the law before they fire you." he told her with a jerk of his head to a couple that had been seated in her section when he walked in who were looking impatient.

"Crap." She said as she walked around the bar pulling the notepad out of her apron pocket as she did.

A few hours later, Bonnie came in a sat in Katie's section without realizing it. "Hey, what can I get for you?" she asked not getting even a small smile of a greeting out of her friend Bonnie told her what she wanted in the most uncaring unhappy voice in the world. "Are you made at me for something?" she asked not caring that this was keeping her from the work she was supposed to be doing. "I mean, you barely spoke to me the whole time you were gone and then you come back and you won't even look me in the eyes. So if I've done something I need to know about it so I can fix it."

"You haven't done anything, so you can't fix it." Bonnie told her with a frown.

"But there is something wrong." Katie argued.

"Look, I can't just sit back and pretend that everything is fine. Grams died protecting us from those tomb vampires and they're out. So Grams died for nothing." Bonnie explained.

"Do you blame me for that?" Katie asked, confused.

"No, I blame them." Bonnie told her coldly. "Damon and Stefan."

"Still waiting for the part where you explain why you're cutting me out of your life." Katie said getting a little aggravated.

"You're friends with them, Katie." She said as she looked down at her hands. "I'm not going put you or Elena in a position where you have to choose sides."

"Okay then, consider me Switzerland." Katie stated making Bonnie look up at her. "I'm living with my grandfather again. I wasn't safe with the Salvatore's. So if you decide you still want to be my friend, you know where I'll be." Katie told her then walked away.


The next day she got in from work and went up to her room only to freeze in the doorway when her eyes landed on a wine red, chiffon, one shoulder dress with a thin line of rhinestones around the waist, hanging in her window. Matching red suede lace up shoes with thick, easy to dance on, heels sat on the floor beside it. She instantly pulled her phone out of her bag and called The Hotter Salvatore Brother. "Surprise and you're welcome." He answered with a smile in his voice.

"Damon Salvatore, I did not ask you to buy me a dress. I don't need your charity." She scolded him. Even though she loved the dress she couldn't accept it.

"It's not charity it's a gift." He argued as she walked over and looked at the price tag only to find that the price had been taken off of it.

"Damon I can't accept this." She argued back not being able to take her eyes off of it.

"Well, do you like it?" he asked ignoring her statement.

"No it's absolutely hideous and I will not wear it." she told him sternly.

He was quiet for a second before he said, "You almost had me there for a minute. You love it and you know it."

"Fine it's freaking beautiful, but that doesn't change the fact that I can't keep it." she argued.

"You can and you will. If I don't see you wearing it at the pageant I am going to be very angry at you." he warned.

"Fine, I'll wear it." she gave in knowing there was no fighting him.


Katie, wearing her red heels, stood in the school cafeteria across from Tyler as his mom instructed them on the dance. "Honor your partner." She told them and they stepped up to each other and she curtsied as he bowed then they stepped back in line. "Let's focus, right hand around." They held up their hands and walked around each other. "Flirt with your eyes." She told them and Tyler gave her his best attempt at a flirty gaze making her crack a smile even though she was trying her best to be serious. "Left hand around." They did the same thing in the opposite direction. "Both hands." Katie was aware of Elena and Stefan talking throughout the whole lesson then Stefan grabbed Elena and twirled her around. "Oh, no. No, no, no, there's no touching during this part." Carol scolded the laughing couple. "It's about the simple intimacy of the near-touch." She told them then motioned for them to get back to it.

When they started waltzing Katie was surprised that Tyler had really good form. "You know how to dance?" she asked with a surprised smile.

"Have you met my mom?" he asked with a glance at his mother. "She made me take dance lessons specifically for situations like this."

"Oh." She said with a head tilt.

"Little tip," he started, "stiffen your arms more and act like you have a pole up your ass."

She bit her lips holding back a laugh as she did what he told her. "Looking good guys." Carol told the couple with a smile as she walked by and touched her son's shoulder. Tyler gave Katie a cocky smirk.


The day of the pageant Katie went to a salon and used the money she had intended on buying a dress with to get her hair and nails done then went to the founder's hall with her dress, shoes and makeup bag in hand. The other girl's dresses were all already hung up in the dressing room, so Katie added hers then headed to the room where the girls were getting ready. Elena and Caroline gave her a smile when she walked in and sat down at one of the free vanities complete with a lighted mirror.

After putting on some subtle makeup Katie headed to the dressing room to put her dress on. She thought the dressing room was empty but instead she walked in on Damon and Elena. "Oops. Sorry I'll just uh," she stared backing out of the room, but Damon grabbed her wrist and pulled her inside. "What's going on?"

"We all need to talk." Damon told them as Katie walked over a grabbed her dress.

"Does it have to be right now?" Elena asked waving her dress at Damon.

"Normally I would have a completely different outlook on what I'm about to tell you," Damon started talking and Elena gave Katie a questioning look as her friend started unbuttoning her shirt. "Katie, I'm trying to concentrate here." Damon said with an interested look at Katie.

"And I'm trying to get dressed before I'm late." Katie argued.

"Anyways." Damon blinked rapidly and turned his eyes to Elena. "Since what I'm about to tell you could really inconvenience me, I'll… squeal."

"What are you talking about?" Elena asked still holding her dress in her hands while Katie slipped hers over her head.

"Stefan's still drinking human blood." Damon told her.

"Called it, but he refused to admit it to me." Katie said as she took her shorts off under the dress. "Someone wanna zip me?" she asked turning her back on to the two of them.

"What?" Elena asked and Katie knew she was talking to Damon.

"Yeah." Damon answered as he walked over and zipped up Katie's dress. She walked around Damon and sat down on the white couch in the room. "A month ago I would have rejoiced." Damon kept talking as he watched Katie switch her flip flops for the red heels. "But with the council back on the alert it is not a good time for Stefan to fly off the handle."

"I know he's been a little edgy, but he said that was normal." Elena argued with Damon then turned to look at Katie as she stood up and moved to look at herself in the mirror. "And you called it?" she asked her friend. "Why can't you just have a little faith in him?"

"It's not about faith, Elena, it's about seeing what's right in front of your face." Katie said as she straightened her dress.

"He has a fridge full of stolen blood bank contraband in the house." Damon told Elena making her sit down on the couch. "He has no idea what normal is. His entire existence isn't normal." Katie, seeing that the dress was as perfect as it was going to get turned from the mirror to look at her friends. "Normal to a vampire is drinking human blood. But he spent all this time fighting it when he should have been learning how to control it. and now it's controlling him instead."

"I can't believe it. I mean, it's Stefan we're talking about here." Elena said not wanting to accept what she was being told.

"Stefan on human blood, Elena." Damon argued. "He'll do anything, he'll say anything, because he's not going to want to stop."

"He had me keeping secrets from you." Katie spoke up as she moved to stand next to Damon.

He looked across his shoulder at her and looked her up and down. "You look gorgeous by the way."

"Thank you." she told him with a smile.

"Wait what do you mean he had you keeping secrets from me?" Elena asked as she stood up.

"The night after you gave him your blood I walked in on him binging blood bags." Katie explained. "He made me promise not to tell you."

"Oh my god, this is all my fault. I'm the one who fed him the blood in the first place." Elena said as she started pacing the room.

"What's going on in here?" Stefan asked as he opened the dressing room door.

"Just…filling Elena and Katie in on your extracurricular activities." Damon answered as he turned to look at him. "Although I think Katie already had her suspicions."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Stefan said with a shake of his head.

"I know about the blood Stefan." Elena told him with one of her judgy little looks.

"We're just gonna...go." Damon said holding his hand out for Katie to come with him. She followed him out to see that the other girls were lining up to walk down the stairs.

Katie was third in the line up and as the first girls name was called Carol walked over to Katie with a smile on her face. "You look beautiful." She told her as she adjusted a curl that was framing Katie's face. "Good luck."

"Miss Katie Finnegan." Her name was called and suddenly Katie felt as if her heart was going to beat out of her chest.

She made herself take a deep breath and let it out then plastered a smile onto her face as she started walking down the curving stairs. The red chiffon of her dress flowed over the stairs behind her creating a beautiful contrast of white and red. However when Tyler and Damon's eyes landed on her neither of them were looking at her feet.

When Katie's eyes landed on Tyler's awe struck face her smile turned into one that lit up the room. Damon found himself frowning at the younger man as Katie took his hand and walked with him outside.

But when Katie saw Elena walk out with Damon instead of Stefan she felt a pang of jealousy shoot through her. Tyler cleared his throat reminding her that she was supposed to be keeping eye contact with him. So she looked at him and made herself forget about Damon and Elena. It wasn't hard once the music started playing and the two of them started the choreographed dance.

By the end of it she found herself only thinking about Tyler. "I really want to kiss you right now." Katie whispered to him as he escorted her to the stage.

"Save it for when you win." Tyler told her as he let go of her hand and went to stand in the crowd.

"Where's Amber?" She heard Caroline ask Elena and Katie realized that they had been missing a girl and an escort.

"Before I crown the winner," Mayor Lockwood said as he walked up to stand on the corner of the stage, "I would like to offer a personal thank you to all of these young ladies for their efforts to better our community." Katie put on a close lipped, polite, but genuine smile as everyone clapped. "So without further ado," Katie's heart raced with anticipation, "it is my honor to announce our very own Miss Mystic Falls...Miss Caroline Forbs!" The Mayor motioned to Caroline and Katie's heart fell to her feet.

But when Caroline turned to her Katie plastered on a smile and hugged her friend. "I actually won." She told Elena who hugged her too.

Katie tried to keep her face cheerful and not the least bit disappointed, but she felt herself failing. After Caroline got her sash and was awarded her scholarship they all walked off the stage, met at the bottom of the steps by their escorts then were allowed to enjoy the rest of the party. "I think you should've won." Tyler told her as he let go of her hand and wrapped his arm around her waist.

"Thanks." She told him with a sad smile.

"I do too." Katie turned to see Carol behind her. "I tried to argue that you managed to help the community while balancing school and work without your grades slipping, but they didn't listen." She said with a shrug.

"Caroline's worked really hard for this and the title meant more to her than just a scholarship." Katie said with a small smile and a shrug. "The right girl won."

Carol smiled at Katie and patted Tyler on the shoulder as she walked off. "How did you win my mom over?" He asked looking impressed.

"I have my ways." She told him coyly. "So…I didn't win the scholarship, but I did manage to make it through that dance without tripping over this dress in these heels. Does that still qualify me for a victory kiss?" She asked.

He wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her. "Did I see jealousy on your face when Elena walked out with Damon?" Tyler asked making her frown.

"No, you saw worry. She was supposed to be with Stefan, but he disappeared." She explained. "He's been going through something here lately and I'm worried about him. Speaking of which will you excuse me for a minute? I really need to talk to Elena." She asked and he nodded. "Thank you." She pecked him on the lips then picked up her dress and started looking for Elena and Damon. She ran into them as they were headed out of the front doors. "Hey, where's Stefan?" She asked as she rushed after them noticing Bonnie behind her.

"I think he took Amber." Damon explained and when they got into the parking lot they heard a scream off in the woods. "Come on, this way."

They followed the sound to find Stefan feeding on the crying blond. "Oh my god. Stefan!" Katie yelled sounding like she was scalding a misbehaving child.

"Stefan!" Elena yelled sounding scared as they all stopped a somewhat safe distance away from the raging vampire.

Stefan turned to look at the four of them. Katie and Elena stood at Damon's sides while Bonnie stood further behind them. "Stefan. Come on. Get control of it." Damon started coaxing him. "It's okay. Come on." He walked cautiously over to his brother. "Breathe through it man."

As soon as Damon touched him Stefan growled and threw him into the distance. He started walking over to the three girls, blood dripping from his mouth and veins popping under his eyes. He was halfway to them when he stopped and started grunting in pain as he grabbed his head. Elena and Katie turn around to see Bonnie glaring at Stefan with her hands at her sides and her palms facing out.

After a few seconds of agony Bonnie stopped and Stefan, no longer raging, looked at all of them with scared eyes full of regret. "It's okay, Stefan." Damon tried, but Stefan turned from them and ran.

"Okay, I'm going to call Sheriff Forbs. You three found her and called me. You got it?" He asked as he walked over to Amber and compelled her to forget what happened.

Police cars started showing up before Damon could even pull out his phone. Soon they saw some EMS workers along with the Sheriff walking over. The EMS practically jumped Amber while the Sheriff pulled Damon to the side.

After talking to him and Amber the Sheriff walked over to the girls and Damon. "She doesn't remember what happened."

"It's a good thing the girls got here when they did. She lost a lot of blood." Damon told her.

"And you didn't see anything?" The sheriff asked and while Elena looked at Bonnie, Katie looked at the sheriff and shook her head no.

"No, we just...found her and then called Damon." Elena answered for all of them.

"Is she going to be okay?" Bonnie asked.

"It looks like it, yeah. Why don't you girls go back to the party? Damon and I can take it from here." Sheriff Forbs told them and they all nodded and left.

While Elena and Bonnie talked Katie went back inside to find Tyler. "Hey, where have you been?" Tyler asked as she walked up to him where he stood at the bar drinking a soda.

"That's a long story that I'd rather tell you later." She sighed as she wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Are you okay?" he asked as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Yeah I just needed a hug." She answered feeling stupid as she let go of him. "Wanna tell your parents that you're staying at a friend's house and stay the night with me?" She asked.

"Are you serious?" He asked with a laugh.

"As a heart attack." She answered with a smile. "My grandpa won't say anything to anyone."

"Sure." He answered as he placed his hand on the back of her neck and kissed her.

"Then I will see you later." She told him as she let him go. "I'm going to head home and get out of this dress and take the ten pounds of hairspray and bobby pins out of my hair."


She had just gotten out of the shower when she heard her text tone chime. So she dried her hand and picked up the phone to see a text from The Hotter Salvatore Brother. "Stefan is locked away thanks to Elena and one if Alaric's vervain darts. Just wanted to let you know Mystic Falls is relatively safe again."

"Thanks, Damon." she typed then hit send.

"Good night Katie Cat."

"Goodnight."

She closed her phone and put it on her desk. She had just put on a tank top and shorts when she heard a knock on the door. She ran down stairs to see her grandfather shake Tyler's hand and let him in. "Hey." She greeted him from the stairs and waved him up. "Come on."

He followed her up the stairs and to her room. "So are you going to tell me where you disappeared to tonight?" He asked not letting it go.

"Elena, Bonnie and I found Amber in the woods with a big bite on her shoulder and neck." She answered. "I didn't want to talk about it at the party." She sat down in the middle of the bed and placed a pillow in her lap.

"Is she okay?" Tyler asked as he sat down next to her.

"Yeah, they said she'll be fine. She just… lost a lot of blood." Katie shrugged.

"Are you okay?" He asked placing his hand over hers as he threaded their fingers together.

"Yeah, it's just been a really eventful day and all I want to do right now is vegg out with you. Wanna watch a movie?" She asked as with a point to the tv hanging on the wall across from the foot of the bed.

"Sure." Tyler answered so Katie slid off the bed and started looking through the DVDs that lined the shelves of the bookshelf in the room.

"What are you in the mood for?" She asked as he slid off the bed and walked over to look with her.

"Scary." He answered as he wrapped his arm around her waist.

"Have you seen ghost ship?" She asked holding up the DVD case.

"Nope." He answered so she popped it into the dvd player then grabbed the remote and they got comfortable on the bed.

"This is probably going to make me sound crazy, but I love the opening scene of this movie." She said as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and she snuggled into his side.

They watched as someone flipped a lever making metal cable wind up on a spool, pulling it so tight that it the cable snapped. It sliced through all the people on the ships dance floor and they slowly slipped apart and fell to the floor in pieces, leaving a little girl alive, screaming at the carnage around her. "What is wrong with you?" He asked when the scene was over.

"I told you…I'm crazy." She said with a laugh and Tyler just shook his head.

As they watched the movie Tyler flipped her hand over and started lightly drawing on her palm with the tips of her fingers. The light touch sent a relaxing wave of pleasure through her.

When the credits rolled on the tv, playing music in the background, Tyler kissed her, laying her back on the bed. As they kissed she grabbed the hem of his shirt and pulled it over his head. As she threw it to the side, not caring where it landed, Tyler started kissing her neck, pulling a quiet moan from somewhere deep inside her.

Her hands slid down the smooth taunt skin of his back as she rolled them over. He slid his strong hands up her sides under her shirt pushing it up as far as he could. With a small smile she grabbed it and flung it to the side then leaned down. A deep moan left his lips when she started kissing his neck.

She wasn't surprised when she felt him start unhooking her bra. It wasn't surprising that he wanted more since they had been dating for two months and hadn't gone further than heavy make out sessions. What surprised her were the butterflies that started fluttering in her stomach. Butterflies that let her know that she was capable of loving someone other than Damon.

She sat up and tossed her bra onto the pile of shirts then looked down at Tyler's body, sliding her hands over the contours of his abs while he caressed her thin, curvy sides. She smiled softly as she moved her eyes to his. "God, you're beautiful." His honest compliment made her smile grow bigger.

"Thank you." she told him then fell forward, bracing herself with her hands on each side of his head. "You're pretty damn handsome yourself." She told him, her face just a few inches from his.

He closed the gap, pressing his lips to hers in a kiss that quickly deepened until Katie kissed his jaw then down to his neck. As she stayed there, alternating between kissing and nibbling Tyler's hands explored her back and chest, pulling a moan from her as his thumbs slid across the peaks of her breasts.

Deciding she needed more from him, she started trailing kisses down his chest and stomach until she got to the waist line of his jeans. She sat up on her knees, between his legs and looked at him with lustful eyes as she started unbuckling his belt. Still looking him in the eyes she unbuttoned and unzipped his pants. "Come here." He told her with a jerk of his head and a smirk on his face. So she crawled back up him, he caught her face in his hand and pressed his lips to hers as he flipped them over and stood up letting his jeans fall to the floor.

She made it a point to keep her eyes on his face as his boxers followed and he hooked his fingers into her cheer shorts and panties and pulled them down at the same time. As he tossed them to the floor, Katie sat up and grabbed the back on his neck, pulling him down for a kiss as he crawled on top of her. His hand gripped her thigh and pulled her long, toned leg up and around his hip.

He stopped kissing her and pulled back to look her in the eyes as he sank into her. A sigh left her lips and she pressed her fingertips into his back. "Tyler." She sighed his name then pressed her lips back to his.


Katie laid on her side her head on Tyler's shoulder while he wrapped his arm around her, brushing his finger tips up and down her side. "You okay?" he asked with a look down at her. "You're really quiet."

"Yeah." Katie answered, looking up at him with a smile. "I'm awesome."

He pecked her on the lips with a smile. "Good." It was comfortably quiet for a while until he broke the silence. "Do you really want to be a pediatrician?" Katie picked her head up to look into he chocolate eyes, giving him a questioning look. "Mom mentioned it."

"I used to, yeah. It's what I've been working toward my whole life." She answered as she put her head back down on his shoulder.

"But you don't want to anymore?" He asked as he picked up some of her hair then let it slip though his fingers.

"I don't know. I've realized that not only am I doing all I can just to stay in the top twenty of our class, but I don't do well in high stress situations. And if I'm having to fight this hard now then I'm afraid that once I get into college I'm going to get chewed up and spit out." She told him then took in a deep breath.

"So what do you want to do instead?" He asked.

"I've been thinking about becoming a song writer." She admitted.

"Can you sing?" He asked looking down at her even though she couldn't see him.

"Good enough to get my songs heard, but I'm nothing amazing." She brushed it off. "Who knows, I night end up working at the grill for the rest of my life for all I know." She sighed as she rolled over onto her stomach to look at him. As the reality of what she'd just done with him set in a smile took over her face.

"What?" he asked with a small laugh at her.

"You make me really happy." She admitted.

Tyler slid his hand over her cheek and pulled her down for a kiss that made her eyes slip shut. "You make me happy too." He whispered and kissed her again then laid back and tucked his arm behind his head. Katie laid her head on his shoulder and snuggled into his side. "Sometimes all I can feel is anger. Exercising helps, but when I'm with you…I'm calm."

Katie just looked up at him and smiled before he pecked her on the lips. "I'm glad I can be your escape." She told him as she brushed her finger across his bottom lip. "Because you're mine."

They ended falling asleep in each other's arms.