Maximus stared down at Zelda's dozing form, the gentle rise and fall of her chest holding his attention as her earlier words echoed back to him. I love you. He'd had lovers before who'd said those words in the heat of passion, but he'd known that they weren't true. They loved what he did to them, not him as a person.
When Zelda said them though, he'd known without a shadow of a doubt that she loved him, every part of him. It was intoxicating, the knowledge that this woman held his heart in her hands and had every intention of protecting it.
Even a year ago he would have written this off as impossible, a beautiful woman who loved him dozing contently on his chest as he reveled in their first time being intimate. And what a time it had been.
He'd slept with many women over the years, but all those instances paled in comparison to what he and Zelda had just shared. He'd heard married friends say that making love and having sex were two entirely different things, but he'd never believed them. Now, he knew without a doubt that there was a difference.
He'd never felt such an intense connection with anyone, not even those he'd sired. If he felt that every time they slept together then he would die happy, hopefully in a few millennium. Now that he had Zelda, the thought of spending anything less than the rest of his life with her was sacrilege.
Absentmindedly, his hands began to stroke down her back. She had a light coating of sweat that she'd have to shower to get rid of, but when he took a deep inhale the only scent he could make out was hers and his. He took a moment to be grateful her first time had gone so smoothly, sometimes even if you were gentle tears happened and pain was short to follow.
The entire time he'd been between her legs he'd been nervous of causing her some kind of pain, he'd been careful not to show it, lest he make her more nervous but now that the act was finished with no hiccups he could finally relax. The first time was always the diciest, and now that they'd successfully crested that hill, he had full confidence that the rest of their couplings would be just as grand.
Glancing out the window, he grimaced as dawn began to break. While it didn't instantly knock him unconscious anymore, it was still draining. As he felt the sun's pull drag him into sleep, he sent up a prayer of thanks for the woman dozing on his chest. He wasn't sure what he'd done in his life to deserve her, but he'd do his best to make her feel like the most cherished woman on the planet.
I woke up slowly, light from the early morning sun blinding me as I cuddled further into Maximus's side. A dull soreness between my legs brought back the memories of our previous night and everything that had happened. A slow smile curled across my lips as I remembered.
We'd had our first time and confessed to one another, two things that I thought would never happen to me just a year ago. Biting back the urge to squirm in happiness, not wanting to wake Maximus with my wiggling, I did a mental happy dance.
The new progress in our relationship brought questions. Would he want me to not say I loved him in front of people? He hadn't been bothered by random displays of affection, as long as they weren't inappropriate or at a bad time. And what about how often I could say it? I honestly believed I could tell him I loved him every day without any problem but had he been kidding before when he'd mentioned not minding the thought? Would it irritate him if I started sending him off with a kiss and an 'I love you' like a romance cliché?
My eyes wandered over his lips from where he laid next to me, his arm thrown over my hip as he wrapped himself around me like a barricade. The urge to wake him was strong, the thought of telling him again how much he meant to me tugging at me until I finally gave in. He'd said last night that he didn't mind hearing me say I loved him, so I'd say it whenever I wanted and if he had a problem with it, he'd tell me.
Nodding to myself, I inched forward, ignoring the slight pain in my lower hips as I rested in front of him. My lips trailed across his, pausing to see if he woke up, only to continue when he didn't. Sliding my tongue across his lower lip, I sucked it between my teeth until I heard him let out a low groan of approval.
Grey eyes opened to meet mine, the haze of sleep already fading into the green of desire. Before we could get too far into it, I brushed my mouth against his in a more innocent kiss. "I love you."
Any doubt I'd had about his reaction to the words faded as his eyes crinkled with joy before he returned my kiss, his nose rubbing against mine in an Eskimo kiss. "I love you too."
I wiggled happily against him; I'd never get tired of hearing that. Apparently, neither did he, because in the next second he'd dragged me tight against his chest to mouth at my throat. His tongue slid across the vein in my throat, the thrill of arousal it sent south almost making me forget my soreness. While the thought of another round was beyond appealing, I knew better than to do so while stile sore.
Raising a finger to his lips, I stopped him from biting down. "I don't mind if you drink, but can we wait for round two? I'm still a bit sore from last night." I knew he could pull blood from me without the arousing agent in his venom, although he'd told me it was tricky. If he wanted to feed from me I had no problem with it, but I didn't feel quite up to another round of love making right this instant.
His mouth immediately left my throat, pulling back enough for me to see the concern in his eyes as they bled back to grey. Calloused hands trailed between us, shifting the blanket off so he could see better only to scowl at the light bruises that had formed around my hips and lower.
Before he could work himself up, I cupped his jaw and pulled him into a kiss. "I know that look and don't beat yourself up over those. Last night was perfect, I wouldn't change anything about it. I just bruise easily, I always have. Please, don't think you hurt me because you didn't."
He seemed to struggle with it for a minute, his fingers stroking over the bruises with a touch light enough to not prod them. Eventually, he sighed. "I'll try, but I don't like that I did that. I could have sworn I kept my strength under control throughout it."
I ran my hand up into his hair and tugged until he was down to my level again. "You did. I'm telling you I bruise insanely easily. Besides, I've been told soreness is normal after a good night like we had. If that's the price to pay for it then I'll happily deal with it."
He huffed indignantly but didn't remove my hand. "I'd prefer to be paying for it than you."
I dropped a kiss against his mouth, erasing the almost pout before pulling back. "If it bothers you that much I can always take a bit of your blood?" It didn't bother me in the slightest, but the dark edge to his eyes said that it did bother him and that mattered to me. I didn't want him to be worrying about if he was bruising me while we were in bed, I preferred him as passionate as he'd been last night without a care in the world.
In answer, he dropped his mouth to his wrist and bit before offering it to me wordlessly. I took it without complaint, sliding my tongue across his skin and watching as his eyes sparked emerald. I shifted, feeling as the bruises healed nearly instantly. Once they were completely gone, I smiled at him. "All better."
The previous concern left his gaze, warmth coming back as his distress faded. "Good, if you bruise that easily then I may give you a bit of my blood each night. It also has the added benefit of lengthening your life."
The mention of lengthening my life caught my attention. "By how long?" Now my curiosity was fired up, we hadn't gotten around to discussing this yet and now it nagged at my mind. Would he want me to change over? I wasn't sure how I felt about that, to be honest.
The thought of spending centuries with him wasn't hard to consider, but it was daunting to think about dying, even if it was only briefly. Maximus's brow crunched as he watched me warily.
"With just a few drops a day, it would extend your life indefinitely. I hope that's not a problem?" His tone had lost its previous joy, replaced with wariness that sat wrong with me. Did he think I was going to insist on him not giving me blood?
While I was hesitant to take the full plunge and shed my humanity, I would never have gotten this serious with him if I hadn't intended to stay with him for his life, not mine. Staying human and refusing his blood would ensure my life span was considerably shorter than his, I could never leave him alone like that.
Seeing his fear, I quickly moved to extinguish it. Cupping his face, I made him look at me when I spoke. "No problem at all. I want to spend as many years as possible by your side, so it only makes sense to drink your blood."
He visibly deflated, his worry evaporating as he let his head drop into my throat. His next words were muffled, but I still made them out. "Praise the Lord, I thought for a moment that discussion was going to have a heartbreaking ending."
His obvious relief made me cringe in sympathy, "I'd never do that to you. While the thought of fully turning is daunting, if it came down to turn into a vampire or leave you alone after I die a human, I'd choose to be turned despite my discomfort with the idea."
Maximus pulled back from my throat, gratitude shining alongside his love. "I'll never force you to turn, but I would like to have the sire bond with you. You'd be able to feel everything I do and there's no one in the world I'd rather have full access to my emotions."
The thought was tempting, I wouldn't lie. I would also be stronger, faster and harder to kill, which I'm sure Maximus would appreciate. As my eyes drifted down to my useless legs, a question prodded me, refusing to leave until I voiced it.
"How would me being a vampire work with," I paused to gesture to my legs, "this."
Maximus stroked his thumb over my knee, the touch not registering through my nerve dead legs. "I could heal this, if it's what you want. I never brought it up before because I didn't want you to think I was trying to change you. I came into this relationship with the full understanding that you are in a wheelchair. I would never try to change you, unless it was something you wanted."
His eyes never wavered from me, the intensity making me swallow past my suddenly dry throat. How many times had I raged against the attack that had taken my legs? Taken my ability to dance, run, play, or even wrap my legs around the man I adored most? I knew Maximus would never force me to do anything, this included.
While the thought of being healed again was beyond tempting, I still had doubts. "Would I need to be turned for you to heal it?" My eyes had dropped to my legs, refusing to rise to meet his as I questioned him.
His hands cradled my face, carefully guiding my sight back to him before he answered. The soft lines around his mouth and eyes telling me that he knew how uncomfortable a subject this was for me. "No, you could still be human. I would have to reopen the injury though, to pour my blood over it. Then it would heal you back to what you were before this happened."
The thought of reopening that injury made my stomach heave. I could still remember the pain, fear and revulsion from that time. The sharp bite of the knife into my lower back and the counter he pinned me against. Could I allow someone else, even if it was Maximus, to cause that injury again? Would it make for an increase in nightmares?
And most importantly, would it make me fear Maximus? While I knew it would be different this time, no sexual assault and I would know it was coming, I wasn't sure how I felt about Maximus being the one to do it.
His arm immediately tightened around me again, his mouth dropping to my ear as he soothed. "You don't need to answer right now. Take your time and think it over. I love you as you are and if you chose to stay like this for the rest of our lives then I would still love you just the same."
His words helped me relax again, he was right. There was time to consider this later, for now I just wanted to bask in the progress we'd made and the happiness being with him brought.
I nodded, "I'll think about it, it is tempting but I'm not sure if I'd want you to be the one causing the injury. I don't want the past trauma to carry over into our relationship anymore than it already does."
Maximus understood, I could see it in his eyes as he hummed in agreement. We both fell into a comfortable silence, content to hold one another as the morning dawned bright and early.
It felt like minutes, but was actually hours before Maximus began to get ready for his day. I didn't try to stop him, I would have more time with him later and he had important duties to oversee. Now that Samir was back, he would take over some of Maximus's duties, freeing him to relax more, to my relief.
When Maximus bent to give me our customary hug goodbye, I tugged him down into a kiss. I made sure not to turn it into anything extreme, not wanting to make him late to work. When he pulled back with equal amounts of confusion and contentment, I smiled sheepishly. "Have a good day, Sweetheart."
He froze in place, every muscle stiffening as he processed the words. Did he not like nicknames? We'd never really discussed using them, but it just seemed right to call him something. Maybe he just didn't like sweetheart. It was a bit childish…
When he didn't move for another moment, I tried another one. "Er, Honey?" He twitched, but again made no other noise of approval or disgust.
Groaning to myself, I burst out. "Throw me a bone here, Babe. I can't tell if you're irritated by this or not with your poker face!"
That seemed to snap him out of it. His mouth clicked shut from its previous position hanging open. Clearing his throat, he apologized. "Sorry, you surprised me. I'm not irritated, not in the slightest. If you want to call me any of those, feel free. Don't be startled if I freeze the first few times, it's an adjustment period."
I relaxed, glad he wasn't irritated with it because I really liked nicknames and as my lover, he was the one I wanted to give one to the most. "Do you have a preference for which ones you want to be called? And I'm guessing you don't want me to use them in front of people right?"
Maximus blinked in confusion, "Why wouldn't I want you to use them with people around?"
I hesitated, not sure how to word it. "Because your friends could tease you? You know, having your partner calling you sugary sweet nicknames and all that? I was told it's childish and demeaning for most men…"
His face set in a grimace as he crouched to be at my level, "Rest assured, I don't mind you using any nickname you choose, of your before mentioned choices, whenever you want. The only ones I consider friends in the castle are Samir and Vlad, both of whom will tease me relentlessly either way. I'd prefer to hear your terms of endearment and ignore their words, than the reverse."
I sighed in relief, glad that he didn't have a problem with it since I really wanted to use nicknames with him. It may be childish, but I loved coming up with nicknames, and I couldn't wait to find the perfect one for Maximus. Until then, I'd stick with whatever came to mind, although I was leaning toward sweetheart. Not manly, but to me he was one so…
"I'll keep that in mind, if you ever get tired of it just let me know-." He cut me off with a kiss, successfully making me forget the rest of my sentence.
"I'll never be tired of it, but to put your mind at ease, I'll tell you if I do." I gave a dazed nod as he pulled back, his chuckle only registering after he had breezed out the door.
Shaking myself back to the present, I turned my wheels toward the kitchen. Breakfast, then I could think on the nicknames to use on him to make him freeze up. While I wouldn't purposefully do it with Vlad or Samir in the room, it would be fun to see how long before he'd adjusted. It wasn't often I took him by surprise so I'd enjoy this for however long it lasted.