Don't own the sexy Elijah and lovely Elena!

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Chapter Eighteen

A dream that I could never see,
you were the touch of romance for me,
the sweet nothings, the heady feelings,
you broke the hedonistic cage,
finally I was free...

'So, do you like it?' Her eyes were expectant as she watched Elijah taste another spoonful of her French onion soup. This fiancé of hers was very elusive.

He was off to his official meetings before she even woke, and he returned after she'd gone to bed. She'd tried questioning him numerous times about his behavior, but he'd always made some excuse about her health and some shit like that.

Three weeks of distant communication was all she could take when she decided she needed to stage an intervention.

So, from past two days, she was successfully sharing breakfast and dinner with him. Well, it was another matter altogether that her sleep schedule was shot to hell, and she'd somewhat camped on his door, but hey she was getting results, right?

So, here she sat across from him with a bowl of soup that she'd made from scratch herself sitting innocently between them.

'It's wonderful,' he said after spooning some more soup in his mouth.

'Duh, Elijah! I know it's good, but you could've at least feigned a bit more animation. It sounded more like an official statement than a compliment,' she complained.

He gave her a brief smile before uttering, 'it's more flavorful than any meal I've yet to taste, lovely Elena.'

Her heart stuttered, and he lowered his eyes.

He always did this. Any time they were on the verge of making progress on the relationship front, he drew back.

Kol said it was the effect of his "Prude Prince" disease which had come back with a vengeance.

Elena liked Kol. He was funny, and she could talk about Elijah non-stop with him.

Elena didn't know how she'd got along with her would-be husband before the accident, but now when she saw him, there was this feeling that started unfurling in her heart. It was a slow, soft brush of tentative attraction that was much sweeter than any feeling she'd ever felt.

Try as she might, Elijah had self-control of a saint. No matter how revealing her dress was, no matter no high her heels were—his eyes never strayed anywhere from her face.

She'd asked Kol if he was asexual, and Kol had burst out laughing.

Prince Elijah Mikaelson was one hot commodity and he succeeded in escaping her clutches every frigging time.

She didn't think any woman had tried as many tricks as she had to corner her betrothed. It was hard to believe on days like this that theirs was a love match.

But Kol said Elijah loved her, and she liked to believe that Kol was right.

'So, how was your day?' she asked after some time while he was moving his spoon moodily in the spoon.

His startled eyes met her and she was taken aback.

There was so much surprise in his dark eyes as if she'd never asked about his day before. Had she been a different person back then—before her accident? Had she not loved Elijah enough? Had she been one of those women who tagged along with royalty just for lavish lifestyle and money?

She didn't know why but the thought left a bitter aftertaste in her mouth.

'My day was like every other day,' he answered evasively.

'I don't remember your normal days, so, enlighten me.'

He looked at her as if he didn't know what to do. He'd looked at her just like this when she'd seen him for the first time. As if he were scared of her. But that was a preposterous thought, wasn't it?

'Please, Elijah,' she urged softly.

With a forced smile he started telling her all about the boring meetings, the frustrating talks of contract and bland coffee.

She'd never heard anything so riveting before.

His lips moved, but she was too far gone to notice the words. She just stared at him in wondrous fascination—this man who she was set to marry. What had she done to deserve him?

She remembered the nights when she'd first been discharged from hospital and he'd brought her here. He'd sat at her bedside for the first couple of days, bossing doctors around at the slightest sound of her discomfort. She remembered the soft touch on her forehead and his quiet apologies when he'd thought she hadn't been listening.

He was a very attractive man. But that was not the only thing that attracted her towards him.

He was truthful, steadfast and sincere.

He respected her.

He'd never tried to take advantage of her, even though she'd wanted him to.

She was getting tired of his no touch policy.

'Elijah,' she interrupted.

'Yes, Elena.'

'Am I undesirable?'

She'd taken him by surprise. There was no sound for first twenty seconds as he looked at her and blinked.

'Elena?'

'Do you not find me attractive anymore?' She left her chair to stand in front of him.

His eyes were wide as they rose to meet hers. He looked like a deer caught in headlights.

With his lips slightly parted, tie loosened around his collar, disheveled hair—he looked like the man of her dreams. Honest, hardworking, in awe of her and loving.

Well, she would have to work a bit on the public display of affection part.

'Were you like this before my accident? So distant and apprehensive?'

She put her hands on his shoulder and held his gaze for another moment. Making sure not to break the stare, she sat on his thighs, her legs bracketing his. The fabric of his trousers was soft beneath her skin that had been exposed when her nightgown had ridden up. Her fingers locked together at the nape of his neck and she faced Prince Mikaelson upfront, closest to him she'd ever been.

The man looked like he was going to have a coronary any moment. Her thighs tightened on the either side of his and she could finally see his dilated pupils.

She affected Prince Mikaelson, all right!

He was just a bit too good at hiding it.

'Now that you can't escape, care to tell me where my engagement ring is?' she asked pleasantly as her fingers started moving softly at his nape.

He gulped and she stored it away to review later as a mini victory.

'I-I-gave—'

'Did I blackmail you into proposing to me?'

'No.' He shook his head frantically as if the idea alone was contagious somehow.

'Good. Then why aren't there any pictures of us here?'

'Kol—'

'Do you stutter this much at all your business meetings?' Her fingers had delved into the hair at the back of his head.

The question made him smile. 'I believe this is the first time I'm stuttering, lovely Elena.'

'You should smile more often,' she said. 'It brings out your eyes.'

'My ordinary brown eyes?'

'Your deep amber colored eyes that make me lose my thought process,' she whispered.

'So, Prince Mikaelson, my engagement ring?'

'Elena—'

'I know what you're going to say—' she lowered her forehead to his, '—that I'm a different person after the accident and we should wait. But I don't wanna wait, Elijah.'

He closed his eyes as if what she said was hurting him.

'I don't know who I was before the accident but I know who I am now, and I like who I am now, Elijah. I love waking up early to catch you before you can run to your business empire so that you don't have to face me. I love waiting for you at night so that I can have dinner with you. I love dressing up in outrageous clothes to catch your eye.' She placed a kiss on his brow.

His breathing was labored as if he'd run a mile in a minute.

'I love shopping for lingerie, even when I know you won't take your eyes off my face long enough to appreciate them.' She kissed his eyes; soft pecks that made his breath hitch.

'I love being Elijah's Elena when I dream…'

The softest touch of lips at the corner of his mouth was his unraveling point.

'You'll hate me once you remember, Elena.' His anguish tugged at her soul. What had this man done that he thought she won't forgive him?

'Try me, Elijah,' she said with a smile.

'You don't understand,' he gritted. His hands that had stayed firmly by his side rose to tug her closer to his chest. She could hear the thundering beats of his heart.

'We weren't like this before, Elena. We weren't Elijah and Elena. I was Prince Mikaelson and you were Elena Gilbert. Elijah and Elena didn't exist.'

Oh, poor man. So burdened by his sins he was that he couldn't see she was ready to forgive him for all of it.

Even if she didn't remember what "all of it" was!

'We weren't betrothed,' he gasped out.

'I know,' she said in return.

'What?' His hands dropped from where they were resting on her waist.

'I have amnesia, Elijah. I'm not suffering from stupidity.' She took his hands and put them where they'd been before. 'No engagement ring, no photos—I'd be an utter loon to believe the crazy story Kol cooked up.'

'But, you've been—'

'Behaving as if you were my fiancé? Maybe I like being yours.'

'Mine?' he asked in a haze that had gripped him in its clutches and that was making common sense fly out of the room.

'Yours,' she agreed.

'You don't know how much I love you, Elena…'

He moved slowly towards her, still afraid that this was one cruel dream again that he'd wake from as soon as his lips touched hers.

But nothing happened except for Elena bridging the gap.

It was not like the kiss they'd shared in his hotel room—one that had been all fire and passion, all tongue, teeth, and lips. This was slow, sweet seduction that Elena was leading and he followed. Her lips tasted his again and again as if she wanted to commit the taste to her mind lest she forget it.

It was the tentative romance that he'd never thought he'd ever experience.

He fucking sighed against her lips!

'So, my engagement ring?' she asked against his lips.

'Do you want it right now?' His fingers worked to free her hair as hers speared leisurely in his.

'I would rather have another kiss…'

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