Chapter 11
Her choice was to stay out in the woods surprisingly, though they wouldn't end up sleeping outside. They ended up going down the hill further into the woods so it would be easier to build a fire. Damon had reluctantly let her go to start one before the sun went completely down. It wasn't hard gathering dry wood because of how hot it'd been lately. Now they sat in front of the fire, Damon once again pulling Jessenia into his arms and sat her between his legs, her knees drawn up while his were bent on either side of her.
"Is this better?" Damon asked, taking a long swallow from the bottle of bourbon.
Jessenia nodded, the heat from the fire washing over her and calmed her down a little more, her trust very slowly building for Damon. "Whose turn is it?" She couldn't remember because they'd taken an hour and a half break.
"I believe it was yours."
"Do you have feelings for Elena?" Now was the time to ask that again.
Damon was quiet for a few minutes, just staring into the fire, thinking of how to answer her question. "I did at one point." He admitted finally, leaning back against the tree. "But not anymore. Have you ever had feelings for someone who didn't want you?"
"No." She whispered, lowering her head. "I'm a hermit so I never partied, smoked and this is my first time tasting any kind of alcohol. Is that what happened with Elena? You fell in love with her and she didn't want you?"
"For a little while I thought she wanted me instead of Stefan. She started dating Stefan before me, even though we met first. I compelled her though to forget and then Stefan came into the picture." Damon answered, snorting as he took a nice long swallow, drinking away his pain like always. "I was really stupid and you know what's even worse than that?" Jessenia shook her head, staying silent. "It's not the first time I let it happen."
Frowning, Jessenia slowly turned her head to look in his eyes, not sure what to make of vampires having feelings. "I'm sorry, that wasn't fair to you. Who was the first woman that did that to you?"
"I do believe it's my turn to ask you a question." Damon retorted, tapping her nose gently with his finger. "Since you've never had feelings for someone and you're a self-proclaimed hermit, that would mean you've never had sex, right?"
Jessenia choked on a sip of bourbon she'd taken when he asked her that, trying not to cough because it would make it worse. "Wrong pipe." She croaked out, not expecting to be asked about her sexuality.
"That's a good enough answer for me." Damon chuckled softly, pouring more bourbon into her cup, suddenly remembering the kiss they shared. "Hmm…"
"What?" Jessenia was a little snappy because she hadn't expected the conversation to turn to…this topic.
"Ask your question and then I'll tell you." Damon stated, setting the bottle aside to give both of them a small break, even though it took A LOT to get him drunk.
"Who was the other woman that hurt you the way Elena did?" Jessenia decided if they were delving into personal information, she wasn't backing down.
"I don't get HURT, I face reality." Damon corrected her, suddenly wondering himself if this was such a good idea because now she was asking about… "Katherine. And yes, the same woman that changed Caroline. She also changed me and my brother into vampires."
Katherine sounded like a very old vampire and Jessenia filed that information away to investigate more about her at a later time. "Next question."
"That kiss we shared, it was your first one wasn't it?"
Damon grinned, even though he somewhat forced it on her. The important thing was she enjoyed it and felt the same spark between them he had, one he couldn't seem to let go. Turning back around to stare into the fire, Jessenia curled up against him, scooting down a bit to get more comfortable.
"Yeah." She hoped he changed the subject because right now her face felt like it was on fire.
"That's what I thought and now you're embarrassed about it." He stated the obvious, running his fingers through her hair gently. "No reason to be embarrassed, Senia. I quite enjoyed it and wouldn't mind doing it again."
"I'm sure you wouldn't." Jessenia clasped her hands together in her lap, doing a full body shiver against him. "What did Katherine do to you?"
Damon heaved a sigh, expecting her to ask that next, even as he tried to get her mind away from that subject. "My brother and I both wanted Katherine and we started rivaling for her affections. Katherine took advantage of that and started seeing both of us. Stefan said she compelled us to do whatever she wanted, to rival against each other, but I don't believe that. What I DO believe is that she played us like fiddles, like toys, and was planning on changing both of us into vampires. I was willing to give up everything, my own life, to be with her and I never knew she was seeing Stefan behind my back. I think she compelled Stefan though, honestly, which is why I can't kill my brother. To make a long boring story short, Katherine came back months ago and told me that she never loved me, it was always Stefan. We thought she was dead, but we were wrong and I'm not getting into that right now. I spent over a hundred years pining, loving and wanting a woman that never felt the same way. And that is my boring, meaningless story about love."
Her heart went out to Damon while he explained his history with Katherine, feeling the sadness pouring from him. Slowly sitting up, Jessenia moved to straddle his lap again and cupped his face in her soft hands, forcing their eyes to meet. Jessenia was starting to see a whole other side to Damon Salvatore, making the attraction she'd been trying to ignore grow and heighten.
"You didn't deserve that, Damon." She murmured sympathetically, blinking when he pulled away from her, making her hands drop to her lap.
"I don't need your pity."
"I'm not giving you pity. Yes, it sucks that you were in love or had feelings or whatever with two women that didn't want you, but that just means it wasn't meant to be. Everything happens for a reason." Jessenia extracted herself from his arms and stood up, wrapping her arms around herself. "Me being here with you right now in these woods was meant to happen. You attacking me was even meant to happen because it got us here. Hell, even you kissing me was meant to happen. I'm not giving you an ounce of pity. All I'm saying is I'm sorry that it happened to you, you didn't deserve it and now we can move on."
"You're right." Damon stood up from the grass and dusted his pants off, deciding now would be a good time to head back to the house. "That's exactly what I plan on doing, Senia."
"What do you mean?" Jessenia swallowed hard, feeling Damon grab her hand and turned her to face him. "Damon…"
"Ssshhhh…"
Damon pressed his finger to her lips, stopping her from saying anything and replaced it with his lips. This kiss was different than the first one, a lot softer and more passionate, every part of her melting. She wanted to push him away because of what he did to her, but this day had been so wonderful, the most fun she'd ever had.
It wasn't over yet either, the moon shining bright over them.
Even though she hadn't said it was alright to kiss her, Jessenia wasn't going to hold it against him unless he started breaking more of her stipulations. He wasn't hurting her or manhandling. Just simply holding her close against him, all Jessenia could do was wrap her arms around his neck, burying one of her hands in his soft black hair.
When Damon knew she needed air to breathe, he reluctantly broke the kiss and stared into her eyes, waiting for her to lash out at him. "That's what I mean." He whispered, running a finger down her cheek and admired her swollen succulent lips. "Probably shouldn't have done that, huh?"
Jessenia opened and closed her mouth several times, finally able to get her voice box working again. "I don't understand…" She whispered, suddenly remembering what they were talking about before he kissed her. "Oh."
"It's getting late, let's head back to the house and talk more." He suggested, giving her a chance to gather her thoughts and released her to put the fire out.
Jessenia nodded and stepped back a few feet, watching as he put the fire out quickly. The speed was a definite perk in this situation and Jessenia was suddenly thankful that Damon made her bring a sweatshirt. She pulled it on, the night air cooling off after the hot summer day. Once the fire was completely out, Damon grabbed Jessenia's hand and lead her back through the woods to his car, opening the door for her. Jessenia slipped in, buckled up and a few seconds later, they were headed back to his house.
The drive was made in silence, which Damon was fine with because he knew he'd shocked Jessenia with the kiss. He didn't regret it though, it was just delicious as the first time. What Jessenia said about moving on was a very good idea and Damon planned on doing it…with her.
She had nobody pining for her that he knew about and, if there was anyone, he would dispose of them. Jessenia was his and nobody was going to take her away from him. However, if Jessenia didn't want anything to do with him after their twenty four hours together was up, he wouldn't bother her again like he promised. Damon was a man of his word, but something told him after that kiss in the woods, he had her wrapped.
Pulling up to the house, Damon cut the ignition and started to get out, freezing when Jessenia stopped him. "I-I don't want to have sex tonight." She somewhat blurted out, the fire rushing up her neck to her cheeks.
"We won't." Damon said, turning to face her and took her hand, pressing a soft kiss to the back of it. "Not unless you change your mind." Or he seduced her, which Damon was still thinking about doing.
"Thank you."
Damon nodded and stepped out, flying over to her side to open the door for her and extended his hand. "Come on, the night is still young beautiful." They walked into the house and Damon automatically knew Stefan was staying the night at Elena's, which was very convenient for him. "How about something to eat?" He suggested, guiding her into the kitchen. "You've gotta be starving by now."
"You eat…food?" Jessenia blushed when Damon merely raised an eyebrow down at her.
"It helps with the craving for blood. As long as I maintain a balance of blood in my system, my body functions regularly. I'm thinking a steak dinner, is that okay with you?" Of course he would have his meat cooked rare because it would have some kind of blood in it, which would satisfy him for the moment.
"Yeah that sounds fine." Jessenia looked around the pristine kitchen, running her fingertips over the counter and looked over at Damon. "Do you need help with anything?"
"No, I want you to go sit down and relax while I cook. Have a drink if you want." Damon stated with a smile, pulling the steaks out of the refrigerator. "This won't take long."
Jessenia did as he said and walked out of the kitchen, heading for the parlor where the fireplace roared with life. She went down the few stairs and looked over at the spot Damon had threatened to kill her. It made her question what she was doing and why she was even here with him. Forcing herself to keep walking, Jessenia spotted the small bar and walked over, suddenly needing a drink.
'I'm going to turn into a lush at this rate.' She thought, pouring some liquor in a tumbler before heading over to sit on the couch.
"Why don't you go get more comfortable?" Damon proposed, smirking when she jumped, not letting it faze him. "There's a bathroom down the hall or you can use my room, which is the last one."
"Okay." Jessenia reached down to grab her bag and stood up, jumping again when Damon stood right in front of her. "I'm never going to get used to that."
"Still jumpy?" He placed a hand on her shoulder, wondering what had changed in the last five minutes that he was in the kitchen. Then Damon figured it out. "I won't hurt you, Senia."
"I know you won't. I just…It all came back to me and…" Jessenia's words were cut off by another heart stopping kiss, her hands gripping his wrists to keep herself steady.
Damon broke the kiss when he felt her relax against him, fingering her chin gently. "Now go get more comfortable." He ordered, turning her and gently nudged her toward the hall, tempted to smack her ass, refraining.
Flushing, Jessenia walked down the hall, found the bathroom and stepped inside, closing the door behind her. She looked in the mirror, staring back at her reflection and ran the faucet to splash some cold water on her face, the heat slowly diminishing. Undressing, Jessenia contemplated taking a shower and decided it couldn't hurt, not wanting to smell like the woods anymore.
Turning the shower sprays on, Jessenia stepped inside and closed her eyes as the warm water cascaded over her, thoughts of Damon instantly entering her mind. She finished twenty minutes later and stepped out, feeling refreshed after spending nearly all day in the woods. Jessenia pulled on a pair of red cotton shorts with a matching camisole that had a bra underneath.
It wasn't an ordinary bra though, it basically looked like a half-camisole with lace, the same color as her regular camisole. They were extremely comfortable and she had one in every color that they made them in. Deciding to just leave her hair down, Jessenia packed her dirty clothes in her bag before stepping out, shutting the light off.
"Bout time. I was about to call the search party." Damon joked, standing at the bar having a drink and turned to look at her, knowing if his heart beat it would've stopped. "Feel better? Dinner's ready."
"I hope you don't mind that I used your shower…" Jessenia smiled when he waved her off, padding over to the couch where the plates of delicious food were. "This smells incredible."
"Of course it does. I made it."
Damon winked when she rolled her eyes and immediately dug into his food, Jessenia doing the same. Once they were done, Damon gathered the dishes and put them in the kitchen before guiding Jessenia to his room. All Jessenia could do was follow him, no longer afraid because, if Damon wanted to kill her, she would be dead already.