Chapter 4

As she walked from her bathroom to her vanity, trying to remove the pins in her hair, she felt him. When she lifted her eyes she met his in mirror. He took the pin from her hand and in silence started removing the rest. When it fell to her back he dragged his hands through her hair.

She watched him. She couldn't stop looking at his face. She thought she would never see him again. In the months after Esther, she became very honest with herself. She actually took a honest look at her feelings. She loved him.

Matt had been her first boyfriend, but they had grown up together. It was sort of expected for them to date and it made sense, but she loved him as a friend.

Stefan came along when she needed someone to treat her like she was special and at the time it felt like she was the most important person in the world to him and she liked that, but it was a lie. Stefan wanted Katherine, she was just a stand in. She would always have feelings for Stefan as her first real love, but she didn't love him anymore.

Damon had confused her. His apparent devotion had flattered her. She had liked it in a sense. That devotion for her was also a lie though, he was devoted to Katherine, and she was not Katherine and never would be. Even if she could develop more than fond feelings for him, how could she date one of her best friend's rapists? How could she love a man that killed her brother with his bare hands because she didn't return his feelings?

And then came Elijah.

When she started being honest with herself she realised that the guys she had known were mere boys. Elijah was a man. There was no comparison. He stood head and shoulders above the rest.

She loved the fact that he knew she wasn't Katherine from the first moment that he saw her. She loved that he never lied to her. She loved that he listened when she spoke and took her opinion and decisions seriously. She loved that even though he wore a mask, crafted through a 1000 years, he still sometimes let her glimpse behind it. He trusted her enough to let her have a peak. Something she knew he almost never did, sometimes not even with his siblings.

She had promised herself that given the chance, she had to tell him. He didn't have to return her feelings, but she had to let him know that she could live without anyone else, but the thought of him not walking the earth anymore almost broke her.

She had been staring, but he was staring right back. Their eyes locked in the mirror. She turned around and threw herself in his arms. Not caring that she only had on a slip, she pressed a face to his neck and her body against him. It only took a second for him to crush her to him and rest his head against her shoulder. She didn't know how long they stood like that, it could have been hours. Just feeling him against her, feeling his arms around her and taking in his woodsy scent made her head spin and her heart ache.

She put a bit of space between them and brought her hand to his face. Stroking under his eyes, down his jaw and dragging her thumb across his lips. She was fascinated. Before she could second guess herself she started placing small kisses everywhere her hand had touched, until she reached his lips. Cupping his jaw, she kissed him. Kissed him like she couldn't breathe without him. He was only frozen for seconds before he kissed her back, and when he demanded entry to her mouth she opened to him with no hesitation. She poured all the love she felt for him into the kiss. If this was her only moment with him she wanted it to be a memory he would never forget. When breathing became a must she rested her forehead against his and just breathed him in.

"Lijah, stay. Please stay?"

The look in his eyes warmed her to the core. She felt like he was looking at all of her, like there wasn't anything he didn't see. She steered him backwards to the bed, while removing his jacket and tie. And he let her, he even helped. Hope blossomed in her heart. He sat down when the back of his knees touched the bed. She helped him get rid of his shoes and couldn't stop her hands from caressing up his thighs to his belt. He didn't stop her, his hands were in her hair. He helped her drag his pants off. He pulled her between his legs and pulled her close to start kissing her again. She straddled his lap, pressing herself as close as she could, throwing her arms around his shoulders and pressing her hands in his hair. They didn't stop kissing. She felt so alive.

"Love me" she whispered "make me yours, let me make you mine".

"Elena…God...nothing would make me happier, I have wanted to make you mine for a long time. You are mistaken though, sweetheart, you don't need to make me yours. I have always been yours." His words lit a fire in her soul.

He took her apart and put her back together, he worshiped her body for hours. She lost count of how many times she fell over the edge before he entered her. When he joined his body with hers she fell whole for the first time ever. Every other sexual encounter she had before, disappeared into nothingness. Nothing had ever been this perfect. When they fell over the edge together, it was blinding.

Come hell or high water, as long as he wanted her, she would never let him go.