Chapter Two

"Wow" he thought to himself as he watched her walking down the stairs. He grabbed onto the baluster when the sight of her almost knocked him off his feet. He swallowed hard and took a deep breath, trying to straighten his thoughts. Her eyes shining brightly, brought out by the colour of her dress sent a shiver all over his body and he almost swayed on his feet.

Bonnie stood at the bottom of the stairs and gave him a little smile. The dress that Carnina had picked out for her felt great against her skin and she had never felt so sensual in her whole life before. Not even when Caroline had given her one of her many make overs. Carnina might have been in her eighties, but that woman sure did know what suited Bonnie. The dress brought out her eyes and hugged every single inch of her curves.

"So how do I look?" she asked him, watching his eyes go back to normal and she felt incredible when he gave her that lop sided smile that she loved so much.

"You look amazing" he said breathlessly. "You really do" he couldn't bring himself to take his eyes off her and at that moment he wished that he hadn't booked them a table at his favourite restaurant so that they could stay right there. But he had promised her and so he was taking her out for the evening. "Are you ready?" he winked at her holding out his arm for her and his insides shook with delight when he took his arm for him to lead her out to the cab waiting for them outside.

"So where are we going?" she asked him, but he shook his head and smiled at her teasingly.

"You will find out soon enough" he held open the door for her and he watched her draped in emerald silk slip into the back and he found himself still standing there staring in after her.

"Are you going to get in" the cab driver asked him and shaking his head he climbed into the back of the cab and sat down next to Bonnie.

For the second time in many days he had no idea what to say to her. He couldn't speak. He was completely speechless and he had trouble breathing again. His nerves wound him as tight as a spring. He felt all hot under the collar and he had no idea how to behave anymore. He had never felt that way his whole entire life and at that moment he thought he was going mad. Maybe he had already gone mad and he was trapped in some mental asylum dreaming up his whole life and he was just drugged up on some strong meds. But turning to look at her just as the cab pulled to a stop, he knew it was all real and nothing felt more real than the way she made him feel whenever she caught him looking at her and the smile she gave him back.

She started to laugh when Damon accidentally poured wine over the table cloth and he looked at her and she could have sworn that his face pinked a little. That confused her. When did he become embarrassed. But more importantly, when did Damon spill anything. Especially anything that had any alcohol in it, but she shook the absurd thoughts away. Maybe she just didn't notice him as much before as she did now with every single movement that he made.

"Dick" he scorned himself under his breath after he filled her glass with the red wine and she slowly took a sip.

He had never been such a bumbling idiot around anyone before. But for some reason since having his talk with Alba, he went from confident charmer to a complete moron in the time it took a normal person to blink. He didn't even feel rational anymore. He felt like that any second now he was going to fall off his chair and keep falling forever.

And the more she looked across the table at him and smiling at him like that, the more he felt his confidence ebb away to leave behind some pathetic fool that couldn't even hold a knife and fork.

"Pull yourself together" he thought to himself. "It is Bonnie. Your best friend. The woman that you are in love with. You know her. You can be yourself around her. Stop being a dick"

"Are you ok?" she asked him putting down her wine glass and eyeing him. "You look a little freaked out right now"

"I'm fine" he told her as he knocked over the salt cellar reaching for his wine glass. "Shit" he cried out in alarm as the liquid ran across the table and almost flowed onto her dress. "I'm sorry" he gasped as he leapt to his feet and started to wipe up the spill with his napkin and she started to giggle and sitting back down slowly he started to laugh along with her.

"Damon, relax" she reached across the table and patted the back of his hand with her own and her breath caught in her throat when his skin touched her own and she looked at him and he stared right back at her.

"I just want tonight to be perfect" he told her honestly. "This is the first time that you and I have ever had dinner out in such a nice place"

"No matter what" she reassured him, the smile never leaving her gaze. "We are going to have a great time. So no stressing yourself out, ok?"

"Ok" he grinned at her, taking a few deep breaths. "Do you wonder what is going on back home?" he asked her before he had thought about it and once the words were out of his mouth he wished that he could suck them all right back in.

She nodded, placing both of her hands on the table and clasping them together. "But I know that everything is going to be fine. It isn't Stefan they want. They think it was you that killed Julian. After the fight" she picked up her glass and watched the colour drain from his face.

"How do you know about that?" he asked her, worried what she would think of him.

"You should know by now that there isn't a lot that I don't know" she smirked at him and his heart stood still in his chest. "Stefan was worried about you"

"Then why didn't he bother to come and find me after he broke my face?" Damon asked her, again wishing that he hadn't spoken. "Not that I don't prefer you being sat there and not him" he laughed lightly before taking a sip from his glass and he hoped that she wouldn't see how much his nerves were on edge around her now.

"He couldn't" she told him, her hand reaching across the table to hold onto his. "Caroline was taken to the hospital. The babies are syphons and he had to be with her and so you are stuck with me" she gave a little smile and squeezed his hand. "Not that I am not a lot more fun to be with then Stefan" she winked at him as the waiter brought their food over.

"So I won the sitter lottery then" he raised his eyebrows, cutting into his steak.

"You did" she teased him and he dropped his folk and bending down to retrieve it he banged his head on the table and cursed under his breath. "Runaway folk" he laughed back in his seat. "Think it took a dislike to the cow"

Bonnie couldn't help but laugh at him again. "What has gotten into you tonight?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "Guess the sun has fried my brain a little" he told her, wishing the ground would open up and swallow him whole.

The rest of the meal went without a hitch and he thanked his lucky stars that he hadn't made more of an idiot out of himself than he already had. When the music started playing he longed to ask her to dance. But for the life of him he couldn't think of a way to ask her without sounding dumb and so he sat there and drank his whisky in silence whilst watching the other dancers flow like water around the floor.

"Dance?" she asked him and he spun on his seat and nodded at her, thanking her silently for that one simple word that meant the wold to him.

"I would love to dance" he got to his feet smoothly and held out his hand for her and she stole his last breath away when she lightly placed her hand into his and got to her feet as they made their way onto the dance floor.

He knew he wasn't about to mess up with this. He had had too many lessons growing up and he had always thought himself to be an excellent dancer and he couldn't wait to show off his moves to her. But the music was too loud with too much of a beat. But there was no way that he could get up to the DJ box to get him to change the rhythm of the music and so he made himself adapt to the new sounds that he still hadn't developed a taste for.

Grabbing a hold of her hands he started to move along to the music, watching her body move within the silk made him think thoughts that he knew he shouldn't before kissing her. And there it was, the thought of her lips touching his made his brain crash out on him again.

Glancing around at a few other dancers he saw a few of the men watching her and he felt both pride and annoyance at them all. Bonnie was there with him and he didn't like them all looking at her. Each one of them was undressing her with their eyes and if it wasn't for Bonnie's hand clutching onto his, he would have made each one eat their own eyeballs. He shook the thoughts away.

"Behave" he told himself under his breath closing his eyes and when he opened them again he looked down at her and pulling her closer to him he dipped her backwards as the music dipped and she started to laugh in glee and pulling her back up towards him he held her close to his body.

The closeness of them both out in the middle of the dance floor with the loud music combined with looking deeply into her eyes made the crowds float away until all that was left was just the two of them alone. Everyone else melted away. The music stopped. No sounds could be heard anymore apart from his heart beating out of control in his ears and bending down he kissed her softly. Her mouth immediately responding to his. His hand held onto her face and he quickly fell deeply into their kiss. His mind fell away from him when he felt her arms snake around his neck, pulling him closer to her.

He pulled away and looked down at her bright shining green eyes, a light lighting her up from within and taking her hand he led her back through the crowd back to the table and throwing down some money he picked up his jacket and turning he slipped it around her and grabbing her face in both of his hands he kissed her full on the mouth again for a brief moment before taking her hand and leading her outside and hailing a cab and both of them climbed quickly into the back with Damon giving the driver the address back to the house.

He settled in next to her and pulled her into his arms and kissed the top of her dark head, closing his eyes and he knew that he had finally come home.

"I love you, Bonbon" he whispered into her hair, breathing her in. "I am never going to let you go"

"I love you, Damon" she whispered back, his heart exploding with all the love he allowed himself to suddenly feel for her. "I will never let you" he pulled her face up to his and he kissed her long and hard. His mind exploded with fireworks and his mouth erupted from the sheer taste of her. He was helpless in falling even more for her and for the first time in his life he didn't ever want to land.

The cab pulled up outside the house and Damon threw money at the drive and grabbing Bonnie by the hand he helped her out of the car and pulled her along the pathway that lead round to the back of the house.

"Where are we going?" she asked him, laughing at his haste.

"You'll see" he smiled back at her over his shoulder.

"Some of us are not so good in the dark" she told him after almost falling over a crack in the paving and stopping he turned and picked her up in his arms.

"Close your eyes" her whispered to her and she did and he loved that she was so trusting of him and smiling down at her he started to run. "Are you ok?" he asked her, setting her back down on her feet again and holding her steady.

Bonnie turned and looked up at the tree house standing like a great big majestic building in front of them and turning back to face him, she frowned.

"I made a vow to my grandmother before she died that I would bring my one true love here the second that I found her" he looked from her to the tree house, his heart starting to beat fast again,

"I'm your true love" she whispered, breathlessly, hardly daring to believe what her ears were telling her.

Damon looked back down at her and nodded. "I hadn't seen it before, but it was always you, Bonnie." he bent towards her and kissed her and wrapping his arms around her he picked her up. "It will always be you" he carried her up the spiral steps and inside, closing the door behind them with his foot.

Sitting next to her on the window seat he slipped his arm around her, pulling her into him. Both of them looking out of the window up at the night sky lit with a thousand stars. He could feet her heart beating fast into the side of his body to match the pace of his own and he shifted slightly where he sat and looked down into her shining green eyes, the mere sight of her lighting him up from within.

"I will never forgive myself for not seeing you sooner" he told her honestly and he never would.

"I forgive you" she smiled back at him, lifting his heart a little higher.

He took her face in both his hands and kissed her long and hard on the mouth before falling backwards from the window seat and pulling her with him, where she landed on the top of him and rolling over he stared deeply into her eyes lying on his side.

The smile lingering in his eyes he tugged at the strings of her dress and it fell open. His hand running up the outside of her body. The sight of her alone sent shivers racing all over his body. But touching her did things to his mind that no other woman ever had. He leaned in and planted soft kisses along her shoulder towards the nape of her neck. His fangs coming out to play and gently he nipped at her collar bone before he travelled down to the edge of her breasts, his fangs slipping back inside his gums to be replaced by soft gentle lips planting tiny kisses and nibbles and he lost his mind when she moaned underneath him.

Damon gasped at the sounds she made, both of his arms snaking around her back and he pulled her closer to him, his body pressing down hard onto hers. He wanted to be even closer to her than he already was. He pulled away from her and sat down on his knees, staring down at her in her black underwear, his breathing went out of control and ripping his shirt off his own back he threw it behind him and unbuttoned his pants and tugged them off, almost falling on top of her, but his hands hit the floor either side of her head and he leant down and kissed her full on the mouth. Her hands ran through his hair, grabbing him hard and pulling him into her and he couldn't help the groans that were escaping him now.

His hand ran down the full length of her body and she moved slowly under him, turning his mind and body to mush. He had to have her. He just couldn't wait. Her pull on him was a lot stronger than he had ever experienced before. She was breathtakingly beautiful and she was now his.

His hands roamed to places that he never knew she would allow. His left hand travelled down over her stomach whilst the other travelled up towards the back of her head and cupping her she kissed her hard whilst his left hand found just where it wanted to be and she started to cry out underneath him.

"You are so beautiful" he whispered into the side of her face as he felt his excitement growing even more and he had no other choice but to give into it.

Damon moved a little more on top of her as he slid down her underwear, his mouth was kissing hers with an hunger than seemed to consume them both as he felt himself slip home. They both cried out in pleasure and she bit his lip hard enough to break the skin and feeling the blood flow he felt her kissing him with an intensity that stole him away from himself and losing his mind again, he fell even more in love with her.

"Pancakes" she grinned up at him after him placed a plate in front of her at the table. "I missed these annoying things" she picked up the cream and squirted out two small fangs and looked up at him as he sat down opposite her, a smile on his face that she had never seen him wear before now.

"Me too" he replied before taking a sip from his OJ. "It wasn't all bad was it?"

She shook her head, still smiling at him brightly. "No, there were so many great moments, too" she started to laugh as she squirted out fangs on to his pancakes and he winked at her. "We did after all watch the bodyguard a gazillion times and I think that might have been where you learnt that wicked move from when you carried me like some kind of knight in dirty armour" sitting back down she collapsed into a fit of giggles.

"That Kevin Costner knows a thing or too" he laughed back, shoving a forkful of pancake into his mouth. "I have missed this" his face suddenly became serious. "I missed us just being together like this and I don't even have to try hard to imagine that the whole world's population have vanished, leaving behind just you and me" he reached across the table and covered her hand with his own. "I really do love you, you know" she nodded getting to her feet and eyed her suspiciously. "Where are you going?"

"To bed" she informed him, picking up the squirty cream and with a little wink. "Are you coming to join me?" she called back over her shoulder and he leapt to his feet and she started to run, with him giving chase. "You cheater" she cried out, collapsing against him, wrapping both arms around his neck when he caught her at the foot of the stairs and picking her up, he kissed her and carried her the rest of the way up the stairs.

"But you so love me anyway" he nibbled the side of her neck, making her squeal out in delight.

"I do" she breathed breathlessly into his chest, feeling his strong arms holding her close to his body.

"And I love you more for it" he told her kicking open the bedroom door before kicking it closed behind them and making a run for the huge bed and jumping on it with her still in his arms. "God I could eat you all up" he let her fall back onto the bed and he dived on top of her, his mouth hitting between her breasts, planting so many kisses that they both lost count. "And never stop"

She lay back in his arms, her head resting on his shoulders. "It was never love at first sight for us. It was with you and Elena" she told him closing her eyes, wishing that she didn't feel the way she did about her best friend, but she couldn't help but feel jealous over her for the first time in her life.

"There is no such thing as love at first sight" he told her, running his hand through her hair before crushing the ends gently between his fingers.

"No?" She asked him, closing her eyes, savouring the feeling.

"There is only lust at first sight and that isn't real and doesn't last" he moved down the bed and rolled onto his side, facing her. "Love comes from taking a deeper look"

She smiled at him as she caressed his face. "And did you take a deeper look?"

He nodded, leaning over and kissing her softly. "I looked right into your soul and finally saw what I was missing" he kissed her again and once again she stole his breath away. The very feel of her lips on his caressing her very soul alight with a flame so strong that he feared it would burn him from the inside out. "What I thought I felt for Elena, is nowhere as near or as strong as what I feel for you, Bonnie Shelia Bennet" he grinned at her, kissing her on the chin and giving it a little nibble, making her cry out in a fit of giggles. "Let's put it this way" he told her, her hand in his and he watched his own fingers curling around her tiny delicate ones. "I have been searching all my life for someone to make me feel the way you do" he told her, propping himself up on his elbow again. "For a hundred and fifty years I have been looking for that one person to spend my life with. To live my life with. But what I have kept finding was someone to spend the long lonely dark nights with and I don't want that anymore" he pulled himself up onto his knees, taking her hand in his and kissing it. "And I would want nothing more than to spend every single one of those with you, bathed in your own light" his hand moved under his pillow too fast for her to see. "Bonnie" he said with the lop sided smile she loved so much. "Will you spend the rest of forever with me and be my wife?"

Her eyes lit up and she flew into his arms, wrapping her arms around his neck, kissing him breathless.

"Is that a yes?" He asked her with a happy chuckle.

'Yes" she cried out, kissing him again.

"Yes' he repeated, hardly daring to believe what she was saying.

"Yes" she burst into giggles, pulling back to look deeply into his eyes. 'I will spend every night with you for the rest of forever"

"I am going to hold you to that one" he kissed her again, harder than he meant too and pulled back a little, but she surprised him when she grabbed him and pulled his face even harder into her own and falling into her arms, he let go.

"Never let me go" she whispered to him and he pulled back slightly in alarm.

"I promise that I will never leave you"

Damon's soul seemed to take off. His heart lifted with a light he rejoiced in and grabbing her he kissed her hard, pulling her down onto the bed they made love and he had never before experienced the emotional charge it gave him. It felt even better than his first real taste of blood and he knew then that nothing would ever be able to compare to how she made him feel, again. He was a man in love and now he felt it, he knew that the past few times hadn't even come close.