Enjoy!
Beth drifts off quickly, but for Daryl he is not so lucky and sleep alludes him. The hunter's body is still humming, full of restless energy unspent, and laying so close to Beth isn't helping. He meant it when he said he'd stay with her forever, but maybe staying in this bed is not so wise. Daryl shifts his body against the headboard trying to find a more comfortable position, but each time he does, Beth goes with him, as though anticipating his movements even in her sleep. Her wild hair tickles his arms and chest, and the thin blanket that seperates his body from hers does nothing to prevent the twitch of his dick when one of her thighs accidently brushes up against his through the fabric.
Every instinct Daryl has is telling him to run. Run hard and fast away from this woman who has no idea the depravity of his thoughts. Everything about this situation is foreign to him. Sure he and Beth had messed around, but he never let it go beyond that. Beth was still young, and he just didn't want her to grow to regret it. ...More than that though, Daryl never truly felt like he deserved her affections.
The few women of his past had meant nothing more to him than a quick fuck, usually after following Merle around on one of his late night booze binges. If Daryl was with a woman he was almost always drunk. He had to be. Growing up they way he did made anything else near impossible. He hated himself, and he hated to be touched. But with Beth it was different... With Beth he just didn't want to screw it up. Fuck if he wasn't already failing her. The girls only been back for a couple of months. She's still recovering for God's sake, and all his sick mind can think of is how he'd like to fuck her six ways from Sunday. He will be doing her a favour if he leaves.
Then again this is Beth, and he loves her. She is everything good in his world. Everything he never had or ever knew he wanted. So if Beth needs him to stay here with her, than he will do just that.
The hunter closes his eyes, concentrating on the steady rhythm of Beth's breathing, as he leans his head against the back of his free arm and tries to quiet his thoughts. The moment Daryl starts drift off, Beth rolls into him and presses her tight ass firmly up against the side of his hip. That's it! He can't do this anymore. He has to do something, anything. "Fuck!" He just needs to get out of this bed!
Deciding it a perfect time to let Maggie and the others know Beth is resting soundly, Daryl carefully slides his arm out from under Beth's head and gently rests it back down on the pillow.
He then walks to the door on silent feet, but once there can't bring himself to turn the knob. There's no explaining it really. He simply feels tethered to the girl by some unseen force and it anchors him to the spot. Now that there's more space between them though, Daryl's mind starts to clear and he realizes there's nowhere else he'd rather be. He sinks to the floor a safe distance away, propping his back against the door as he pulls out the journal from inside the pocket of his vest, thinking this a perfect time to write an inscription on the inside cover before gifting it to her.
The hunter glances over at Beth's sleeping form, seeking inspiration as he fumbles over the perfect words in his brain to express how he feels. Why is he so terrible at this? He notices how the soft glow of the candle that burns on night table radiates off of Beth's alabaster skin. She looks so peaceful in sleep. With her muscles relaxed, the fine lines of fear and stress brought on by her nightmare melt off the delicate features of her face, and leave her looking a serene and quiet beauty. Beth is nothing short of breathtaking.
Mindlessly, Daryl begins to doodle her image onto the paper, starting with the tight curls around her hairline, and then expanding the picture out to include her much thicker golden tresses that splay across the pillow. He pauses momentarily to study the pink undertones of her skin while she sleeps, and then spends a significant amount of time trying to capture exactly, the soft texture of her lips and the sharp ridge of her jaw.
Beth's eyes flutter open to the soothing sound of Daryl's pencil scratching across the page, for which she keeps perfectly still. Quietly observing the fine precision of the hunter's hand movements as he glides it back and forth across the paper in quick shallow strokes and long lesurely lines. He tilts the pencil ever-so-slightly in his calloused fingers, and appears to her to be deep in thought as he continues to shade in certain details around the edges. Beth watching as his brows scrunch together in thoughtful concentration; And her blue orbs beaming at the adorably cute way he pokes the tip of his tongue out from behind his lips as he focuses on his task. It warms her heart to see him like this, and she can't help the brilliant smile that flashes across her face just for him.
Out of nowhere Daryl lets out a frustrated huff as he studies the page with a critical eye. "What'd you do that for? Yer smilin' just ruined the whole fuckin' thing."
His words are harsh, but his boyish smile and lighthearted tone, let her know he isn't angry. "You knew I was awake?"
"Hard not too. The second you open your eyes, your face lights up like that damn Christmas tree."
"I'll take that as a compliment," Beth replies. Then bringing her knees to her chest, she shuffles under the covers so as to sit a little higher on the bed, and stares over at the hunter who sits cross-legged on the floor. "What are you doing over there anyway?"
"Couldn't sleep," he answers softly.
Beth studies him a moment, curiously noting the glint she sees spark in one of his blue eyes as it briefly peeks out from under his long fringe. It's almost as if he's got a secret. "What?" she smiles.
Daryl peers up from the paper and smiles back at her from across the room. His gravelly voice stays low, but his smile grows wider. In fact it practically shoots forth from his eyes. "You move around a lot when you sleep."
The slight blush of his cheeks lends to the inexplicable heat that washes over hers when he says those words, and darn it if doesn't look good saying 'em, and this will never do. Quickly Beth shakes the thoughts from her head, deciding it safer to carry on with the conversation at hand. "So you took up art then?," she sarcastically jokes. "Just don't say you drew me asleep on the bed all gross and drooling ok."
"You are pretty hideous," Daryl teases back, darting his eyes up quickly to meet hers once more. He wants to make sure Beth knows he is joking.
She does.
"I should probably just throw this away then," he responds. A sly smirk forms on his face, and with no intention on following through, but curious as to what she will do, Daryl carefully tares the page from the note book and folds it in half at a snails pace, before slowly making his way to the trash can.
Calling his bluff, Beth refuses to react until the very last second, then suddenly pushes back the covers and scoots clumsily off the bed with her arms outstretched, begging for him to stop. "No! Wait!"
Daryl chuckles to himself as he looks up,"I's only kidding Beth, but it ain't any go...od." There is only silence as the hunter stares stunned at the pretty blonde, not quite believing what his eyes are telling him. He chews at the inside corner of his cheek, and thinks that the sight of Beth like this is gonna cause him to die right here. With the picture in his hand all but forgotten, the silent pause continues for a few beats more before he realizes just how intently he is staring. Nervously, Daryl tries to advert his gaze, forcing his eyes down to the floor. He is unable to hold them there for long however, and with a mind of their own, his sharp eyes begin to burn a slow trail up Beth's impossibly long limbs. They are trim and toned in all the right places from months spent running from the dead; And at the top of those remarkable legs sits a pair of cotton, camouflage bikini briefs. Daryl is in complete awe.
A significant strip of perfectly formed flesh exposed at the apex of her hips and up past her navel, seperates her underware from a nearly transparent, it is so thin tank-top that hugs every line and curve of her tiny frame like a second skin. Beth's golden hair cascades down her shoulders in messy waves to sit just above two small nubs that poke up from the fabric, one at the the peak of each of her exquisite breasts. As Daryl stands gaping, his dick twitches once more. Damn, this woman's sexy as hell!
Beth's body heat rises as she watches him watch her. She sees the nervous quality to Daryl's gaze and finds it facinating. That he is nervous at all surprises her. Not that it stops him from looking mind you. He just seems shy about it is all. Like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar, and she can't quite believe that it is her who is causing this incredibly rare and arousing look to appear on his face. Beth's whole body trembles in anticipation, and deep inside she hears the music of her happy dance begin to play.
It is clear Daryl wants her. It's written on every line and turn of his body, and the tension she feels in the air is suffocating. The hunter's eyes change before her very own. Dark and hooded, they begin to take on the animalistic look of a panther getting ready to pounce and devour his much willing prey. The steel-blue of his eyes turning into deep pools of sin as Beth stands before him, swearing she can almost see the devil himself dancing in Daryl's dilated orbs. Her tummy does a backflip as her song plays on, but like so many times before, she simply cannot handle the intensity of his gaze and is forced to look away.
The second Beth's eyes hit the floor Daryl clears his throat and turns around, obviously embarrassed.
In Beth's mind there is no reason for him to be, but his discomfort pains her. If only he would look up she could put his mind at ease, reassure him that she's ok with it, likes it in fact. "Daryl?"
"Yah." He doesn't look at her.
"The picture... Can I see it?" Beth beams her very brightest smile his way and refuses to cover a single inch of her exposed flesh, but Daryl keeps his eyes trained on the door, internally berating himself for his behaviour. How the hell could he do that to her. Look at her like she's just some piece of ass for the taking. And why the hell isn't she screaming for him to go, to get lost? Why's she so worried about that damn picture in his hand? Maybe she didn't noticed... Who the hell's he kidding, Beth isn't blind. She probably just wants to see his face before she lets him have it.
There's something in the tone of her voice though. Something that tells him that maybe he is wrong. Daryl brings his head up slowly... very slowly to meet her gaze, and when his eyes fall on hers all his fears melt away.
Beth is beat red from head to toe, but the smile that graces her beautiful face is anything but angry. Suddenly the hunter's confidence returns unabashed; And with a smirk so wicked a walker would cringe, he darts a quick glance at the paper and then back to the blonde. "Na Beth. I just don't think I can part with it," he drawls.
"But you were gonna throw it out."
Daryl's lips widen into a cocky grin and he gives her a wink. "If you want it, yer gonna have to come over here and take it."
His tone remains light, but Beth doesn't for one second miss the edge that creeps into his voice when he says those words. It's the edge that excites her. He is not playing games. That statement is as forward as Daryl Dixon will ever get. He has thrown down the gauntlet and wants her to decide what to do about it. He wants her to be sure.
Beth narrows her blue eyes just a bit, and attempts to speak in a saltry voice that doesn't quite fit her. "That sounds like a challenge Mr. Dixon."
There is no hesitation. "That's a fact," he growls, cocky as all hell. Waving the paper in his hand, he teases her with it, tests her, ever pushing to see the next crazy thing this woman will do to surprise him.
"Is that so?"